Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Ria Wants a Child

Kim Myeong-hun, Jeong Ye-rim, and Joel continued to stay at the restaurant outpost.

Like the other Hunters, they camped in the Rift and helped out with the work.

Beyond their front-of-house duties, they assisted with restaurant cleaning, vegetable prep, and various other tasks.

'I should find lodging for the three front-of-house staff soon.'

I would need to set up at least a small mobile housing unit near the restaurant.

Employee welfare deserved attention too.

The lunch service began.

Customers came in and started taking the seats assigned by the front-of-house staff.

Then orders came in.

'Three bowls of Drake bone broth soup.'

The very first order was for Drake bone broth soup.

I ladled the lukewarm bone broth from the stockpot into earthenware pots.

I heated the broth on the burner.

Once it reached a boil, I turned off the heat, added sliced brisket and knee bones, topped it with green onions, and placed it on a tray.

Ria set up the rice, side dishes, and mixed radish kimchi.

I spoke to Kim Myeong-hun and Joel as they were about to serve.

"Some customers may not be familiar with soup rice, so please explain that they can add salt and pepper to taste. They can put the rice directly into the soup or eat it on the side, but in Korea, mixing the rice in is the more common way."

"Got it."

With that, the first table's order went out.

The second table ordered one bowl of bone broth soup and three servings of fried rice.

I began making the fried rice using the powerful magical burner.

The key ingredient in this Chinese-style fried rice was the fat skimmed from making the Drake bone broth soup.

'The reason old-school Chinese cooking tasted better than modern Chinese cooking is precisely because they used lard.'

Chinese cuisine simply tasted better when prepared with animal fat rather than vegetable oil.

These days, Chinese restaurants that used lard were hard to find because it clogged the drains.

Setting that aside, I added a scoop of the solidified Drake fat to the wok on medium heat to coat it, then poured in ten beaten eggs and began stir-frying.

I then dumped in a large batch of rice and pressed it firmly with a big ladle to prevent clumping, tossing and frying it briskly.

Then I temporarily set aside the partially cooked egg fried rice.

Next, I stir-fried small-diced pork in more Drake fat, almost deep-frying it.

'This is how you get the meat golden and crispy.'

The texture was better this way, and it eliminated any gamey pork smell.

Old-school Chinese fried rice used small-diced pork like this far more often than ground meat.

I then added shrimp, finely chopped green onions, diced onions, and diced carrots, tossing the wok to impart that smoky wok hei flavor.

I threw the previously prepared egg fried rice back into the wok.

I seasoned it with oyster sauce, seasoned salt, and white pepper.

FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

Every time I tossed the wok, the powerful magical burner's flames licked the ingredients, infusing them with wok hei.

Ria watched the process with fascination.

"My husband is so cool. You are always at your most handsome when you are doing your job."

I answered with a smile.

I continued tossing the wok.

Fried rice needed to be stir-fried long enough that the ingredients did not burn but reached peak flavor.

After sufficient tossing, I used the technique of flipping the wok to scoop the rice directly into the ladle.

"Wow, that is amazing."

"If you practice a few times, you could do it too, Ria."

"Really? Teach me next time."

"I will."

Since it was a large ladle, one full scoop was a single serving, but I still added an extra half-scoop onto each plate.

My restaurant always served at least one-and-a-half portions.

'Hunters have high basal metabolic rates, after all.'

Kim Myeong-hun then came over and quietly showed me an order slip.

"Chef, the Drake bone broth soup is a massive hit. The customers are eating it while just raving about it nonstop."

"Really? Then we might sell out of everything I prepared today."

Approximately 22 servings remained.

I continued making fried rice.

And ladling bone broth soup into earthenware pots to heat.

Ria set up each completed dish on a tray with side dishes and handed it off to the front-of-house staff.

'There are an unusual number of reorders today.'

In particular, those who ate the fried rice tended to add an order of bone broth soup.

And those who had the bone broth soup tended to add an order of fried rice.

This was because customers who had ordered different dishes were recommending them to each other.

We cleared every order that came in.

The Drake bone broth soup sold out at 25 servings, and we sold 87 servings of fried rice.

A total of 67 customers visited the restaurant today, yet we sold 112 servings.

'Thanks to that, today's revenue was excellent.'

Today's estimated revenue: over 555 million won.

Of that, 500 million was from the Drake bone broth soup sales alone.

***

The number of stat dishes had grown to six.

The three-piece Drake dish set, Horn Rabbit Restorative Soup, Master's Mackerel Mandragora Braise, and then Master's Cockatrice Boneless Braised Chicken and Braised Spicy Chicken.

On top of that, there was the Wine Imbued with Dragon Mana.

I had also started selling salads made with A-Rank vegetables that increased Mana.

The salad ingredients changed daily.

Regardless of the ingredients, the Mana increase was a fixed 0.2.

After a period of selling these premium stat dishes, the results were in.

'I have finally surpassed 20 billion won in revenue.'

I had reached my revenue target.

It was time to start looking into purchasing a building, or if building from scratch, scouting for land.

However, building from scratch would take at least a year and a half.

On the other hand, purchasing an existing building and remodeling it could reportedly be done in as few as several months.

'If there is a good property on a good site, I will buy it. If not, I will have to build from scratch.'

I was envisioning roughly a six-to-seven-story building.

Setting revenue aside, if I combined my savings with the spoils Ria and I had steadily accumulated from our hunts in the southern volcanic zone, my total assets came to approximately 24 billion won.

And today, as always, I set out on a hunt with Ria.

'Aside from the occasional rest day, we head out to hunt every night after putting Rin to sleep.'

I had wanted to see the far end of the southern volcanic zone at least once.

After heading south nearly every day for close to two months —

"Seon-u......? Is that what I think it is over there?"

"Yeah...... it looks like we have reached the end."

At the end of the southern volcanic zone was the sea.

"That is the ocean, right......? Not just a large lake?"

"We will need to get closer to know for sure, but I think it is the ocean."

When we drew near, a vast expanse of ocean unfolded before our eyes.

"Wow, this is incredible."

"There is even an ocean inside the Rift."

If there was an ocean, could there be seafood as well?

Or perhaps sea-dwelling monsters.

We had occasionally encountered lake-dwelling monsters.

Fishfolk-like creatures.

However, those were monsters that could not be used as food.

'I wonder if there are any edible sea monsters.'

Ria and I explored the nighttime ocean.

The Fourth Floor of the Rift was illuminated by a satellite, so it was not too dark even at night.

As we walked along the coast, we came upon a sandy beach.

"This is a nice spot."

"It is. Shall we spread out a mat and rest here for a bit?"

"Let us do that."

We spread a mat on the beach and sat side by side.

Ria leaned against me.

"This is wonderful."

"It really is. Come to think of it, we are newlyweds, yet we have been doing nothing but working."

"Haha! That is true. Running the restaurant during the day, hunting like this at night. Even though it is work, I am happy just being able to go places like this with you, Seon-u."

"I feel the same way."

Still, I did wish we had more time to simply enjoy each other's company.

Ria turned to look at me.

Even in the dark, her eyes sparkled like sapphires, and they were beautiful.

I felt as though I could be pulled into those eyes.

"I see you every day, but I am still amazed every time."

"By what?"

"By how beautiful you are, Ria."

"Oh, stop. That is embarrassing."

I kissed her lips.

After sharing a kiss, we each cracked open a can of beer.

"I am happy."

"I am happy too."

Something came to mind, and I asked Ria.

"Ria, is there anything you want to achieve going forward?"

I was steadily achieving everything I wanted.

I wondered if there were any wishes of Ria's that I did not know about.

"Something I want to achieve? Hmm......"

She pondered deeply.

Then her face flushed red.

What could it be?

After hesitating, Ria finally spoke.

"A sibling."

"A sibling? You are an only child, so you always wanted a sibling?"

Ria shook her head at that.

"No, not a sibling for me."

"Then?"

"......A sibling for Rin."

"Um......? Ah......"

Ria and I regarded Rin as our own daughter.

A sibling for Rin would mean that Ria wanted to have a child.

Ria continued,

"I thought it would be nice for Rin to have a little sibling. I was reading her a picture book about young siblings, and Rin pointed at the illustration and asked what a sibling was. So I explained it to her."

"And what did Rin say?"

"When I asked if she wanted a sibling, she nodded and said she did."

"Really? I see. A sibling — then we should have one."

In order to have a child......

Ria's lips and mine drew closer once more.

But then —

SPLASH!

Something splashed on the surface of the water.

"What was that......?"

"Hold on."

Ria closed her eyes and focused on her Presence Detection.

"It is a monster."

A moment later, something began rising from the sea.

Its head emerged first.

A smooth, rounded dome, like a bald scalp.

"Is that...... an octopus?"

Then, following the head, its legs came slapping against the surface as it fully revealed itself.

What emerged was a monster that resembled an octopus.

Including its legs, it looked to be roughly seven meters in length.

A true giant octopus.

The creature began approaching our stretch of beach.

Ria drew her sword.

I pulled out my spear from Acresia.

'I have to catch that thing!'

Boiled octopus slices, takoyaki, spicy octopus seafood stew, restorative seafood soup, and more.

Dishes I could make with octopus flooded my mind.

There might be toxins in the octopus monster, but with Glace Mushrooms, that would not be a problem.

"Ria, we absolutely must catch that octopus."

"Got it."

I worried it might flee.

But my concern was unfounded.

The creature came onto the beach of its own accord.

It then approached us and swung its tentacles.

But the speed was easily dodgeable.

BOOM!

One tentacle slammed down on the sand with a sound like a firecracker going off.

Sand sprayed in all directions.

But at most, it seemed to be a high-grade monster.

"Seon-u, I will handle it."

Ria shot forward like a flash of light, slicing through the gap between the octopus's body and tentacles.

'She severed the exact area where the octopus's nerves are concentrated.'

The octopus monster went limp immediately.

That is what you get for interrupting Ria's and my happy moment.

In any case, thanks to the creature, we had obtained a giant octopus.

Ria and I immediately began butchering the giant octopus monster.

"Split the body open lengthwise so I can remove the innards."

"Okay."

We split the body open and extracted the innards.

From it, I retrieved a magic stone.

As expected, the creature had been a high-grade monster.

My eye for appraising monsters had improved that much.

We then broke down the massive body meat and tentacles into manageable pieces.

With the butchering complete —

"Ria, shall we make a stew with this octopus monster?"

"A stew? Sounds great."

"Let us make a stew and have another drink."

"Sure."

On the beach, I took out a table, cutting board, and kitchen knives, and immediately began cooking.

I took out the octopus tentacles, cut them into appropriate sizes, scrubbed them thoroughly with flour, and rinsed them under running water to remove any impurities.

Then I added chicken, abalone, and — since there might be toxins — Glace Mushrooms as well, and let it all simmer in the pressure cooker.

A restorative seafood soup.

While waiting, I thought things over.

'It seems like various types of monsters inhabit the sea, and among them, there are probably many that are edible.'

I had been lamenting the lack of seafood ingredients, having had only land-based meats available.

Then, beyond the southern volcanic zone, I had discovered the sea and learned that monsters inhabited it.

As if reading my thoughts, Ria said,

"Seon-u, the sea is too dangerous."

"Yeah, I know. If we built a sailboat, went out, and it sank in the middle of the ocean, we would be as good as dead."

"Exactly."

"The only options are catching small monsters with a fishing rod or hunting ones that come ashore on their own like this one."

In any case, I had made one significant haul today.

From handling it during butchering, I could tell the octopus monster's flesh was far firmer than regular octopus.

Whether it would actually be edible remained to be seen.

That was precisely why I was using the pressure cooker to tenderize it through thorough simmering.

Whether it would become tender enough to eat was uncertain.

'They say the taurine in octopus is good for stamina.'

As it happened, Ria had just expressed her wish to have a child.

After a full hour of simmering and ten minutes of resting, I opened the pressure cooker.

A system message appeared.