Beta Read By - XxNaRutoUcHiHaxX, Agni_Ravan_Asura
-Serie POV-
What resided inside the building was not an all-powerful being as she had imagined. She figured whatever entity dwelled in here was so powerful that if it wished to, it could easily destroy the entire world
Or at least that was her thought process. Of course, reality is far different than one's expectations. Meeting the owner of the establishment further reinforced her belief, because he was just a scrawny weak kid.
Rather than being disappointed, she felt relieved as her worst fear didn't happen, like a god-like entity that was indifferent toward all life and wanted to wipe them out because they felt annoyed. Thankfully, the owner is a human male, a young man who just got out of his teenage days.
It was quite surprising to know that he was the owner of this establishment, it's a bit hard to believe but she didn't feel like he was lying considering her thousands of years of experience had made her a very good judge of character. This boy didn't feel like a liar to her, his body language didn't say so, and his facial expression didn't look like one.
That's why she trusted his words, despite how crazy this situation seemed to be.
Looking at the boy, she doesn't feel anything special about him either, he doesn't even have any mana or anything-
Hm..? What's that?
A seal?
Before she could investigate any further, she was interrupted by his words and couldn't continue as she needed to concentrate to know anything about that seal.
—
So we made a deal about exchanging questions and answering them truthfully, which was good news for her as she wouldn't have to investigate and possibly get inaccurate information. That's why this deal is very good, at least for her, after all, knowledge is the most powerful tool if used correctly.
And she would stand true to that statement for the rest of her life. Whatever knowledge he could provide about this establishment is a priority for her.
It's not like she could force him, as she couldn't harm him no matter what spell she uses, it appears that it's simply impossible to harm anything in this place.
Anyone or anything that steps in this place is immortal in a sense.
Before we could begin our question-and-answer episode, he asked her what she wanted to eat.
At first, she wanted to answer that it didn't matter, however, it got her thinking, maybe this place has it, this place is pretty bizarre even to her so maybe just maybe, she could eat that long-forgotten dish that she dearly wanted to taste once more after not tasting it for more than a millennial.
Even back in the day, that dish was rare. Only royalty could have the honor of tasting such a meal because the main ingredient of that particular dish is very rare, it used to be exotic to the point that only 10 of such species could be found in a year.
Breeding these creatures was impossible as well as the species didn't possess a concept of gender, they could only be created under very specific conditions, rendering it impossible to convert them into livestock.
That's why Pig Wyverns are very rare commodities.
Then she told him. "It's been a long time since I've eaten a dish called fried wyvern pig."
She deliberately told him the name of the dish, and not directly asked to get her the exotic dish to see how he would react.
She was pretty disappointed when a look of confusion appeared on the human's face, indicating that he had no idea about the dish she was talking about.
"If you have no idea what it is then you can cook anything you think is good, don't worry about my previous request, after all, there's hardly anyone who knows about that dish anymore. Not to mention most of its ingredients including the most important one, the wyvern pig are long gone. It's been several hundred years since I've seen one alive."
Serie spoke in a resigned yet somehow expected outcome of tone, knowing that she wouldn't be able to taste that long-lost dish from the annals of history.
As soon as she said those words, a look of disturbance flashed throughout his face. No, that emotion felt closer to annoyance than disturbance. She had no idea why he was annoyed, she couldn't recall doing something that caused him to be annoyed with her.
Then suddenly, his expression changed to something different…?
From his eyes, she saw that he was looking at a space in the air, as if something was there, which there wasn't because she couldn't feel anything. Whatever he's looking at is certainly not made out of mana.
She could just label him as a delusional human but being in this building and interacting with this young human male, Serie is completely sure that he's sane, it's just he's seeing something that she couldn't.
How intriguing.
After a while, he looked like he found what he was looking for, that kind of expression.
His expression then changed into surprise, later to resignation.
Serie wonders what he was seeing for him to act like that.
Then to answer her question, he replied.
"It's not like I don't have it, however, I can't access it with my current fund."
He has it..?!
Her eyes widened, these days not many things could surprise her anymore as she has seen way too much in her long lifespan, it is the curse of her long-live race after all.
Experiencing things that many species couldn't.
It doesn't help the fact that most elves don't forget what they already saw, that's why boredom was one of the things elves couldn't get rid of.
Either way, if he truly has it. Then she shouldn't hesitate to obtain them because there are very, very few things that she actively wants and this dish was one of such things.
"Do you have the dish?"
"Yeah, it's just expensive-" He tried to say, but she immediately cut him off and said.
"I don't care, tell me the amount you need and I'll pay for it."
Serie has enough treasures that she accumulated from her long life, and most of them have historical value, not to mention religious ones.
Because the things that Vivian owns in the past were naturally inherited by her, and if the church got the news of this they wouldn't spare a single moment, not to obtain those 'sacred artifacts', it would be annoying. It wasn't like she couldn't handle herself, it was just annoying being pestered by those humans.
While she doesn't exactly hate their species, she doesn't like them either simply because of their short lifespan. It's one of the main reasons why she tended to avoid humans in general, after knowing what will happen after, there's no point in befriending someone with a meager lifespan. Not only would it hurt her emotionally, she wouldn't forget them for a lifetime. Like a curse, It wasn't worth it.
"Are you sure..? I mean-"
Serie frowned, she wasn't the type to repeat herself because whenever she made a decision, she wouldn't change her mind and would see through it.
"I don't care how much it is to you, I can afford it."
Serie took out the fairy crystal from her pouch, she knew what this thing and frankly she didn't care as a fairy, in general, had a different perspective than a human, while it's disrespectful to use the deceased as a battery, it isn't the case with fairies instead they would be grateful instead because even in death they still have their uses they simply had a different morals than humanity.
"I heard that humans find this valuable, if you truly can get the dish I want, then I am willing to add more of these if it's not enough." Serie knows exactly why this is valuable to humans, although they don't know the origin of this crystal. They just happen to stumble upon one and they 'discovered' it as an alternative mana source, without truly knowing where it came from.
A moment later, he took the fairy crystal from her hand, then suddenly the crystal vanished in a flash.
Serie's mind blanked, as she was certain that there was no man involved, if there was she would have felt it or else it would be quite an embarrassment for a Great Mage like her.
Meaning, that it's an alternative source of mystical energy that isn't magic, these implications simply blow her mind, the things she could do with this other source.
Serie wonders if she could somehow replicate it.
Then she shook her head and realized that the young man expressed the look of shock as if he saw something ridiculous.
"Is there a problem?"
Serie had a feeling that if she didn't say anything, he would be rooted in the same spot for a few minutes.
He snapped out of it and then gave her a look of disbelief, then started shaking his head drastically. "No, no, not at all. It's just overwhelming to see how valuable that crystal is, actually with its value you can have hundreds of the dishes you wanted and there would still be some money left."
That's good, however, she doesn't care about how much the crystal is, to her the exotic meal was worth more than that tiny crystal that she doesn't have a use for.
"I don't care about the money, it's something unnecessary to me, after a decade and a dozen more, money will always change. It isn't anything of value to me. You can have the rest of it, so can you give me the fried wyvern pig?"
After staring at her for a while, he said. "Alright, if that is what you wish."
As soon as he did, another flash of light happened, but this time it was on a larger scale than the previous one.
Soon a familiar aroma assaulted her nose, unable to contain her drool, however, she quickly used her magic to wipe the drool from her mouth before the human could notice.
Even with years of experience, she couldn't contain her excitement to eat something that she thought she would never taste again in her lifetime.
"Here's your meal."
He placed it on her table and was now face to face with the dish that was long forgotten by most of humanity and simply thought of as a myth.
Serie couldn't stop herself from smiling, she couldn't remember the last time she smiled genuinely but right now, her focus was on the dish laid in front of her.
She used the fork that was in the container on her table and she took a bite of the fried wyvern pig.
The flavor exploded in her mouth, causing her to shiver unconsciously. No this wasn't the same dish that she remembered dearly, while it was delicious…this one was simply on another level.
It's like she just had an orgasm in a single bite. It's just that good.
Serie was sure that her taste buds after this would never be the same.
—
A/N: Just a recap of the previous chapter but from Serie's perspective.
Anyway, it took time to make this because I had to make sure the conversation of the previous chapter was accurate. It was annoying to write but regardless it was fun.
Anyway, the conversation between the two of them isn't quite done yet.
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