“Wahaha! But putting aside that bizarre food weapon that doesn’t seem edible, what will Seongnyeo Shia do now?”
Shia glared at Lilybet with her angry eyes.
Before her unexpected encounter with Elizaveta IV, the Mint Queen of England in Green City, Shia’s original plan was to explore the strange, lawless city.
With no monsters designated for extermination or hunting by the Hunter Association, all that was left for Shia was to wander around this peculiar green city.
“Hey, Seongnyeo Shia! If you have nothing to do, why not work with me?”
“Work? What kind of work?”
“O Queen of this foreign land, speak to me before you address Shia.”
“Wahaha! Hero Emperor! It’s nothing dangerous! I just suggested we open a restaurant together!”
Come to think of it, she did mention opening a restaurant just before landing in Green City.
‘But I don’t think I mentioned anything about a restaurant in front of Her Majesty? Did she install a bug on me or something?’
The thought slipped out while Shia had casually mentioned it in a lodging room where her family gathered.
Shia had wondered when the Queen might have implanted a bug on her, but if she were planning something harmful, Menelapie and Teresa would have noticed first.
“As you know, the food supply car of the Hunter Train has been contaminated with the corpse of the Uranium Dragon, making it inedible. The other hunters are very dissatisfied about it. Isn’t it said that a Hunter’s power comes from cooking?”
In reality, hunters consume an enormous amount of calories compared to ordinary people.
For a hunter to feel satisfied, they need to eat at least five servings based on an average person’s diet. In cases of heavy eaters, it can go beyond twenty servings.
From the perspective of Shia, a Fairy of Justice, both ordinary people and hunters seemed to be eating like birds.
Nevertheless, the situation for the hunters was one where they normally enjoyed delicious meals, only to be stuck on a train, eating canned food now, leading to inevitable cravings for proper meals.
Especially if they were to stay in this lawless green city for at least a month—it would only worsen.
“Wahaha! Actually, I came out for a stroll because I was so bored, but once I came out, I found there wasn’t much to do! In movies or games, the protagonist who stumbles into a lawless city often gets caught up in gang wars and meets fearsome beings ruling the underground… but us hunters didn’t come here to rule Green City, did we? After all, when tomorrow comes, the dead residents and mafia are going to come back to life, so it seems futile to try to rule a dungeon like this!”
“Some hunters seem to be just freely hunting monsters, though?”
“Without an extermination order, I can’t just bomb the city!”
“Surprisingly non-violent, huh?”
“Wahaha! While violence does solve everything, if you rely on violence for even small entertainment, that’s just tyranny!”
Shia nodded at Lilybet’s words.
Shia too wanted to enjoy this place like an ordinary tourist rather than rampaging through Green City.
Experiencing the delicious dish of the Grasshopper Chef was a rare treat that had come along her travel path.
She felt a benevolent desire to share this wonderful culinary journey with the poor hunters suffering with tasteless canned food.
And while she knew that running a restaurant was difficult… Shia already had plenty of cooking experience, hadn’t she?
If one were to question whether that cooking experience would resonate with the public or not, it would spark doubt, but the fact remained that she had quite a lot of cooking experience.
“Well, why not? Let’s just do it.”
—
Hana, upon hearing the reason for Shia to open a restaurant here, blinked for a moment.
It’s rather normal than expected.
It’s a saint-like reason to want to serve good food to hunters suffering from bad meals!
“So, you’re currently operating… a temporary restaurant here?”
“Yep! By the way, you’re my first customer!”
“……”
“After only four hours of opening, you’re my monumental first customer!”
The Grasshopper Chef’s restaurant now proudly displayed the sign of [Alley Shia’s Restaurant].
“But where’s the chef?”
“Of course, it’s me!”
“……..”
Hearing that Shia is the chef made Hana feel a little less confident, but what could she do?
The sign clearly read [Alley Shia’s Restaurant]…
By the way, Hana had also begun to accumulate some knowledge about Shia.
Just visiting the genre hunter gallery, one could find countless broadcasts and scripts laid out, and looking at the Hunter Wiki revealed a lot of information about Shia.
“What about that Grasshopper Chef I haven’t seen before?”
“Assistant!”
“Uh… nice to meet you… Mangjidan… Grasshopper…”
“What do you mean by….”
At least it was fortunate that the original owner of the restaurant, the Grasshopper Chef, was an assistant.
From the apron she wore and her deft hands as she chopped onions and leeks, Hana could easily tell she was a culinary expert.
It wasn’t just the eyes of the Slime Empress; even through Hana’s human eyes, it was evident.
And surprisingly, the Grasshopper Chef had not said a single word since Lilybet’s arrival. She merely nodded in agreement when they suggested to run a restaurant together.
Even as a loyal fan of Shia who had watched her broadcasts from the very beginning, there could be a reason for the silence, but she had been quite talkative the first time they met. Now, she seemed to be as quiet as if she had known Lilybet all along.
“So what’s that England Queen doing?”
“Wahaha! Do you know what a mascot is? Just by standing still, one can draw attention from customers…”
“So she’s not doing anything, huh?”
“That’s rude! How dare you!”
“Shut up, you brat.”
“Haha! What a scary little witch!”
“You know me, so calling me little? Want to die?”
“By the way, Teresa is a maid!”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Later, it was told that Teresa ended up wearing a server uniform because she lost a game of rock-paper-scissors to Shia.
Given the supernatural vision and reflexes of the Mangja Seongnyeo, it wasn’t surprising she would lose in rock-paper-scissors against Teresa’s current vessel.
“And Menelapie is both serving and acting as a security guard!”
“Hmm, just being served is quite a nice experience.”
Menelapie leaned against the restaurant entrance, dressed in a mafia-like black suit.
If one looked closely, she resembled a loan shark coming to collect money from the restaurant. Considering her tall and striking figure, she also resembled a guard or bodyguard chasing away rowdy customers.
In fact, Menelapie had no particular thoughts.
She was just doing what Shia told her to do; listening to Shia’s words and requests was the happiest thing for her.
Well, she did think it might actually be somewhat fun.
“Now, choose something!”
“……”
However, Hana wasn’t very hungry.
“To be honest, I’m not really hungry….”
“Eh, really?”
She hadn’t come this far because she was hungry, but to find the voice of [Mother].
Even though Shia was a follower, she didn’t seem to want to force Hana into eating against her will, so her shoulders drooped.
“Gee… I guess there’s nothing to be done…”
“Well then, I have some work to do, so I’ll be going first. Good luck with the restaurant…. Ugh!!”
Pzzzzzt!!
In that moment, Hana’s survival instinct picked up on a fierce, murderous glare from behind Shia.
Menelapie and Teresa.
The moment they saw Hana showing signs of rejecting Shia’s dish, those two always stuck to Shia with eyes that could tear apart a person… No, the Slime Empress, into pieces.
[Eat When It’s Time. Eat Or You’ll Be Killed.]
Despite their completely different usual dispositions and traits, the sight of those two uniting to threaten someone out of fear that Shia might be disappointed in her restaurant was terrifying.
Shiver shiver shiver…
“Hmm? Hana, why are you suddenly trembling? Cold?”
“Ah, it’s nothing… uh, no, I’m fine…”
With the hero and the black witch watching her closely, Hana felt a sense of her life force freezing in less than a second simply from the heavy pressure they exuded.
“Um, um, thinking about it again… I think I’m hungry…?”
“Really!?”
“Wahaha, what luck for Seongnyeo Shia! First customer!”
“Teresa! Bring the menu to the customers!”
“Yes, here you go, your Majesty.”
“……”
Teresa’s demeanor before Shia, which screamed, ‘I find this annoying. I’m not interested. Ugh,’ while releasing the aura of ‘I’ll kill you if Shia is disappointed,’ was beyond bizarre and terrifying.
Hana experienced goosebumps as she turned her eyes toward the menu Teresa threw down.
Fried Bladed Centipede…?
Pass.
Even as the Slime Empress, Hana had a human body with human taste buds.
Eating bugs was too much for her.
Hell’s Chicken of the Execution Chickens?
She liked chicken, but the modifier attached to it was quite intimidating.
Hana moved her eyes again.
Bladed Centipede Soup, Smoked Mermaid Tail, and Human Corruption Porridge? The Human Corruption Porridge feels like you’re seriously vetting whether I’m going to eat a human or not, so pass… What’s this, Elder Mandragora Samgyetang?
With food ingredients like Bladed Centipede, Mermaid, and Elder Mandragora, Hana found herself visualizing the bug fairy sisters enjoying a leisurely rest in the Hunter Train’s sauna car.
It was a bit absurd, but they were all honest, nice people.
And like Hana, they probably belong to Shia’s entourage or something similar.
‘No way, are you saying you’d cook those guys…?’
Yeah, probably not.
However, Hana couldn’t shake off her uneasy feeling, so she decided to choose another menu item.
The variety of options was surprisingly extensive.
Some items even featured [Order Made] and [Omakase], which meant Shia would whip something up on her own.
‘But isn’t Omakase something you only do if you are really confident in cooking…?’
No, that wouldn’t do.
This was also giving her anxiety.
The more pressing issue was that if she now said she couldn’t order, she could feel the burning gaze from behind, Menelapie and Teresa, fixated on her.
Amid those thoughts, Hana discovered a rather ordinary yet decent dish.
Oh, Jack and Bean Sprout Soup?
It was quite surprising that there was bean sprout soup in a back alley restaurant in Green City.
Surely, it couldn’t go wrong, right?
Other dishes had pretty wild modifiers attached, but Jack and Bean Sprout Soup seemed exceedingly ordinary.
“I’ll have the Jack and Bean Sprout Soup, please.”
“Okay! Grasshopper! One Jack and Bean Sprout Soup!”
“…Got it…”
Upon that, the Grasshopper Chef immediately began prepping the ingredients.
Bean sprout soup is treated as a hangover remedy, a comforting food known for having an excellent taste with common ingredients.
Shia first served Hana a bowl of rice topped with a poached Wyvern egg yolk.
Hmm, this is quite a nice poached egg…?
Hana, seeing a bright yellow, plump poached egg for the first time, swallowed her saliva.
It was said that bean sprout soup often had egg added, so the Wyvern egg yolk served as a superb side dish or ingredient.
As Hana marveled at the poached Wyvern egg, Shia focused on inspecting the ingredients for Jack and Bean Sprout Soup.
“Let’s see, to make the bean sprout soup tasty…”
Jack and bean sprouts.
Green onions.
Boiled squid… that should be good because I can use the leftover from the octopus soup I made earlier.
And some stock is needed too.
Since the Grasshopper Chef has been simmering stock elsewhere, she can use that too.
For seasoning the bean sprouts, we need shrimp paste, minced garlic, minced green onions, soy sauce, and chili powder.
With a considerable quantity to serve, it should at least be based on eight servings.
“The most important thing is the anchovy and kelp stock, huh?”
“I’ll handle it… just stay still…!”
“Eh, I can cook too…”
Fortunately, there was still some anchovy and kelp resting blissfully in one corner of Shia’s bulk dispensary drone.
Since she usually didn’t make soup dishes, she had left them untouched, but now the anchovies and kelp would finally see some use.
Shia grabbed a handful of anchovies and kelp and tossed them into the stock pot.
In went a whole radish, and to eliminate the fishy smell, a bottle of cooking wine, then roughly four liters of water.
“Now, let it simmer for about 15 minutes… and later, we’ll strain it all out…”
“Then I’ll prepare the squid!”
While the cooking process itself was simple, the stock made by Shia was impressively quick and of high quality.
As they collected the leftover squid from the earlier making of octopus tangtang, they had more than enough ingredients for Jack and Bean Sprout Soup.
After all, they weren’t dealing with just one or two squid of human size; several would suffice.
Just blanching the squid in boiling water shortly and cutting it into sizes convenient for soup was all that remained.
In the course of this, Shia covertly stole some of the raw squid with her tentacles, but no one noticed, so it was fine.
Once the squid was ready, all that was left was the most important ingredient, Jack and bean sprouts.
“Pour the anchovy stock in, add the Jack and bean sprouts, cover it up, and let it boil on high heat for about five minutes, then it’s ready.”
For reference, if the lid is lifted mid-way, it might give off a fishy smell, so it needs to be boiled thoroughly.
Once Jack and bean sprouts boil, that’s when you drop in the seasoning.
In went a whole jar of shrimp paste, a cup of minced garlic, all the minced green onions, a cup of soy sauce, and about two cups of chili powder.
After mixing it all in, the Jack and bean sprouts would be complete.
Lastly, pour in the broth and squid. After garnishing with green onions and simmering for three minutes before adding rice…
“Ta-da! Jack and Bean Sprout Soup is complete!”
“Wow.”
“Clap clap.”
“Wahaha, that looks delicious! But isn’t it a bit too spicy?”
“Clap clap clap.”
“By the way, the Wyvern egg yolk can be mixed in the soup or eaten separately!”
The Jack and Bean Sprout Soup was now served with the rich accompaniment of the Wyvern egg yolk.
“Wow… it’s even better than I expected?”
“Hehe, right? Right?”
With quite excellent completion and flavor to the soup, even Hana was surprised.
However, there was a problem.
“But, Shia?”
“Hmm?”
“This bean sprout… it’s growing, you know?”
Wiggle wiggle.
The bean sprouts are… getting bigger.
At first, Hana thought it was a trick of the light.
But it wasn’t a trick.
Even during the cooking process, the bean sprouts had grown bigger than before. At this moment, now, they were still growing in real time, forcing Hana to stop her hand just before she was about to eat.
“Excuse me, Ms. Owner?”
“Yep!”
“Uh, the bean sprouts keep multiplying…?”
“If the quantity increases, that’s a good thing~”
“No, I mean, they are growing.”
“If the quantity increases, that’s a good thing~ (2)”
“No, they keep growing!! Upwards! They’re growing vertically!! How do I even eat this!?”
Just as the name suggests, Jack and Bean Sprout.
In this otherworldly realm, when the bean sprouts meet water, they grow infinitely well, just like in the fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Despite Hana’s objections, Shia merely tilted her head in confusion.
“Don’t you have a mouth, Hana? Why can’t you eat this?”
“No, then you eat it, Shia!!!”
“Oh, really!?”
Before Hana could say anything, Shia grabbed the Jack and Bean Sprout Soup, which was still bubbling and growing straight up.
“You told me to eat?! This is a jackpot~!”
And in one go, she gulped it down in one shot.
“Gah! Swallow!”
“……..”
“Swallow, swallow, swallow…! Om nom nom!”
In an instant, that tiny mouth opened wide enough to swallow the soup like it was just a cup of water. Hana was left bewildered, unsure of whether she was looking at a monster or if Shia was the real monster.
Is this a saint…?
“Phew! That’s delicious~!”
“Wait, you really ate it all…”
“Wahaha! Amazing Seongnyeo Shia! To eat it all in one go!”
“Hehe, it’s just the basics for my Shia.”
“Wow, you’re acting proud when I didn’t praise you at all!”
Hana didn’t want to think about what would happen to those magical bean sprouts when they were consumed inside Shia’s stomach, so she turned her head away from this surreal reality.
And turning her head, she found Teresa, arms crossed, looking up at her.
“Hey, pay up.”
“Excuse me?”
“Since you ordered food, now hand over the money.”
“No, this is extortion…”
“What did you say?”
“………”
Oh damn.
Seeing the magical energy swirling from Teresa’s hand, Hana teared up and took out her wallet from her Hunter suit pocket.
It was now clear that this wasn’t a restaurant. It was a wicked back alley restaurant designed to extract the Hunters’ money by devious means.
The basics of a lawless mafia alley are swindling.
Weak hunters can’t survive here…
