The owner of the grocery store kept his promise this time. The supply convoy from the southeast arrived late and quietly in the early morning of the next day.
The reason for the procrastination seems to be related to himself. The boss is obviously preparing for something, so he has stocked up too much goods. After breakfast, around 7 o'clock, when Henry and the others came over, they had not finished unloading the goods. He handed the things to the workers in the business to take care of, and then ran over to communicate with the three of them.
To be fair, such a small purchase shouldn't have garnered him so much enthusiasm. But this boss is obviously a person who knows the goods. He can tell at a glance that Henry and Mira are wearing mithril brooches on their chests. Such a well-made brooch is enough to buy 80-90% of the goods in his store. Combined with their other equipment and appearance, they looked very much like young and promising mercenaries.
Everyone will subjectively match other people with stereotypes because of their own desires in certain aspects.
Henry and Mira didn't even say this. The owner of the grocer's store just judged people by their appearance with his own taste for goods, and then put them in the trap of "Young and promising, and he seemed to be a rich servant." The image of a member of the Corps.
This is the habitual thinking of empirical studies that can be seen everywhere. In this busy world, people rarely have the opportunity to truly understand someone's inner mind and thinking. Therefore, judging people by their appearance, identifying the other person through certain details and fitting them into a certain impression template during a chance encounter, has become a behavior that is not wrong in most cases.
There is no need for sages to talk about it, even the Luoan girl knows the reason why the other party's attitude is so friendly. In the eyes of the boss, the two of them, who had only communicated for two days, were rare potential big customers. Building a good relationship and leaving a good impression was obviously beneficial.
Because it can make many things much more convenient, the two of them did not intend to make too many excuses, such as "their mercenary group is only of a small scale", and Galeva who was traveling with him was obviously attracted by the owner of the grocery store. Due to his lack of experience, he did not notice the reason for the difference in the boss's attitude.
Even if they speak different languages, have different appearances and cultures, and have different taboos and likes, human beings always have the same psychology and desires.
Words, smiles; flattering gestures, humble gestures that are hard to dislike. All actions are to achieve certain goals, some are tangible wealth benefits, and some are just a matter of one's own concerns, hoping to gain some relief.
What the old innkeeper said last night had some impact. After he said everything, the look he looked at Henry made Mira feel a little confused for some reason. In contrast, Galeva pushed himself too hard and started racking his brains to think about questions he couldn't answer because of the history the store manager told him.
Who is right and who is wrong in what the royal family and the great swordsman did? As a Suomir, which side should he support? Such a question is difficult for even a sage to come to a conclusion, not to mention a mere porter. If you are simple-minded and insist on digging into something like this, you will not be able to pull yourself back once you enter Galeva.
Thinking about overly complicated problems led to his mind wandering and stumbling. In less than 12 hours, the young man had several bruises on his body, which made him grin all over.
But fortunately, the pain finally made him give up thinking for the time being, and he didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
The old store manager didn't mention any of these things in the morning the next morning after a night, as if what he said last night was just an illusion caused by fatigue. He said hello in the same normal way as the previous two days, just said: "I have to leave", and continued to be busy with his own things.
The three people who had gone to get their supplies early checked out of the room and walked towards the northeastern exit of Cuihu Town with various supplies and equipment.
Because the goods were delayed, the business owner made up a little change. After collecting a little more supplies for them, I also got some local specialty persimmons as gifts.
This highly sweet snack is produced in the central and northern part of the empire. Due to the influence of exchanges, people in Cuihu Town are now very fond of it. Human beings are naturally fond of sweet things, and because honey and sugar are quite expensive, what common people can afford to eat occasionally are more dried fruit snacks like this.
The price is not particularly expensive for upper-class mercenaries and businessmen, but it is obviously a good choice to please people and leave a good impression.
While waiting for the things to be sorted, the three of them learned about the dragon-winged knights through the loud-mouthed grocery store owner, although they did not take the initiative to ask.
Partially consistent with the rumors circulating in the town, the reason why the knights left Talwa Suta and came to Green Lake Town was indeed related to the Great Swordsman. However, the rumor in the second half that the turbulent war is about to begin is obviously to add fuel to the fire. As the representative of the royal family's will, the purpose of the Dragon Wing Knight coming here is actually to stabilize people's hearts.
For more than two days, in a place where ordinary people could not see, the captain of the Dragon Wing Knights squadron had some discussions with the leader of the caravan that was preparing to transfer assets. Sometime on the third night of Henry's arrival in Green Lake Town, they reached a certain agreement, causing the caravan members to give up going south.
The dragon-winged knights and caravans who had reached an agreement formed a mighty procession early in the morning and set off on their way back north. Many townspeople who got up earlier than the three of them witnessed this scene. Most people were still baffled by this, and only a few people suddenly realized that the caravan wanted to escape and was persuaded to go back by the knights. I thought that after this, some new rumors would start to spread, but the matter was finally resolved, the caravans and knights had left, people lost the enthusiasm of the discussion, and let it go.
The morning teahouse in Cuihu Town opened very early. The three people walking towards the northeast saw white smoke rising from the chimney from a distance, and the aroma that followed it came in waves.
The cold-loving rapeseed crop is widely planted in the large plains east of Southern Aurora and in the central and northern parts of the empire. In addition to wool and iron ore, the edible oil squeezed from rapeseed is another popular export item in the north. .
The Abu Serra Prairie produces spices that are sold by the southern city-state alliance, and it is naturally expensive to ship them so far away. Although some seasoning plants are also grown locally, overall the seasonings available to the Suomir people are still slightly inferior to those in the southern part of the empire.
The small and hot southern Lamanite country likes to have a sour mouth, and the residents around Parnira also have this tendency. It is common to add tomato meat sauce to noodles, and even many fish are stewed in tomato sauce. This is because food is more likely to spoil in a humid and hot environment, and it can be better concealed by adjusting it with sourness. Over time, this formed local eating habits.
In contrast, residents in the north, which are close to the rape production areas and have a lot of cooking oil, naturally rely on frying and barbecue for their cooking methods.
It is close to the sea, so the salt production is not low. Adding the two together, almost anyone can predict that northern cuisine is heavy in oil and salt, so our Luoan girl is not actually used to eating the Suomir dishes in the small hotel.
But this morning teahouse at the northeast exit of Cuihu Town is not like this. The alluring aroma spreads far away, but it is not so strong that it makes people feel sick. They had planned to just eat some dry food for breakfast, and the three people who had already eaten a few persimmons all stopped involuntarily. Mira turned her head to look at Henry with a "whoosh", while Galeva said He sniffed and swallowed, forgetting even the bruises he had hit and the question he couldn't figure out.
"If you want to take a short distance, it's a mountain road. You won't find any fish if you don't pass through lakes. I'll probably eat biscuits and soup most of the time in the next few days, so." Henry shrugged, and Mira's eyes immediately lit up.
The three of them approached the morning teahouse, and the boss who was handling the food raised his head.
"Hey, are you three?" He spoke Lamanite, and judging from his appearance, he was indeed a Lamanite. The boss wore loose clothes that made it easier to move around, and wore a Suomir-style three-cornered hat like the Romans. This hat, which is more fitting than the padrossi-style large-brimmed round-brimmed hat, is just right as a chef's hat. He put his hair on his head. They are stuffed into the hat to prevent them from accidentally falling into food.
Similar to his own style, the decoration of the store is also an alternative in the small Suomir town of Cuihu Town. Although there are many other Laman style houses, this house obviously incorporates the owner's own aesthetics. The overall painting is quite bright, and several pigs are painted on it - and this It is also the source of the aroma of his food.
On a slightly cold autumn morning, the lard in the earthen pot the boss had on hand was all solidified. He dug it out with a small iron spoon and knocked it on the edge of the huge square iron frying pan. The milky white lard fell on the frying pan, and the heat came from the large piece of firewood below, quickly causing the lard to spread.
"Lard, not rapeseed oil, smells much better, right?" The horse was led aside, and the three of them sat down around a table. Since there were not many customers at this time, the boss started chatting with them. He was obviously a typical Lamanite and eloquent, but the three of them just watched him skillfully put food on the iron plate where oil and water began to "sizzle" without answering.
First some sliced bacon, then the sausages that the Suomir people like to eat. When slaughtering livestock, carefully peel off the casings, stuff the chopped meat with seasonings inside, and tie a knot at short intervals to make sausage.
For ordinary people, meat was not an everyday thing in the past and today. So naturally this practice is a special celebration of the harvest season. However, after contact with the empire and various commercial transactions began to drive the economy, meat became more common in such restaurants.
The food and preparations were Suomir-style, but Lamanite improvements were added to the seasonings and details. I have to admit that overall it is much better than the typical Suomir food cooked by the old owner of the inn, although a meal here is more expensive.
In Parnira, where the literacy rate is quite high, shop signs and even the names of dishes written on wooden boards can be seen everywhere. But when you get to Cuihu Town, there is only the name of the town and a few other slogans, so you have to ask verbally to know the price of the food.
After a brief exchange with the boss, the three decided to eat a full breakfast for the last time before departure, so they ordered a quite large portion in total.
The large breakfast for three people cost Galeva a dumbfounded price. We happened to arrive in the Northland, and we were able to use the unit of price measurement that Henry and Mira were familiar with but had not used for a long time— — Danno.
This word, which means tax in the Danlasso dialect, is a common unit of measure on the west coast, and is also more or less popular in Suomir, which is also in the north, due to its widespread influence.
Back then, on the Ecasta Plain in the Kingdom of Avenela, a plate of free-range pork sold in a small hotel was worth about 6 Danno. In comparison, the same amount of bacon and sausages in Green Lake Town are now more than ten times more expensive.
At first glance, this morning tea shop sounds like a very shady shop, but one thing that needs to be mentioned is——
Avenella people.
Don't know how to cook.
6 Danno's plate of free-range pork is not seasoned in any way. It is just boiled in water and served for you to slice. Considering factors such as saving firewood and time, many times the pork is still bleeding when served, which means it is not completely cooked.
This is not the only thing that is frightening. On the Acasta Plain, which is located at the foot of the Tambur Mountains and surrounded by forests, there are some concerns about preventing cattle and sheep from poachers, but omnivorous pigs are completely free-range.
They eat almost everything from human and animal feces to mushrooms in the mountains, so when you cut into pork with a knife, you can often see white dots like rice grains in the middle of the muscle fibers - these are all parasite eggs.
Pork that's undercooked, underseasoned, and will give you diarrhea and roundworms is nothing like bacon raised and carefully prepared in captivity. What further causes the price difference is the seasonings and other ingredients used in cooking. The Lamani culture, which has been passed down for thousands of years, is famous for its delicious food. As it conquers other ethnic groups, absorbs culture and exchanges between countries, it gradually becomes able to accommodate people from all over the world. taste, and therefore more acceptable to the public.
Although the Suomir cuisine improved by Laman may be less authentic in the eyes of locals, it is a very good choice for Laman businessmen and foreign tourists.
While Henry and the three of them were taking orders for breakfast, many new guests also sat down. The helper, who looked like the store manager's daughter, quickly brought the food that had just been processed in front of him and had the aroma that attracted the three of them to one of them. I think this person must be a regular customer who always arrives on time, because the time is just right, the pre-cooked food has just dropped to the temperature that can be eaten, and he came here.
A large breakfast for three people cost an Ella silver coin worth 150 Danos in one go.
This currency issued by the Southern City-State Alliance is not only popular on the west coast, it is also quite common in countries like Suomir where the royal mint is not particularly outstanding.
In addition to a large plate of sausages and bacon for three people, which cost 90 Dannos, the remaining money was three large ceramic cups of morning tea, some pancakes and fried potato cubes. The boss's amount of oil and heat were just right. The pancakes and potato cubes were crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside. There was no dry, hard-to-eat feeling like those made by people with poor cooking skills.
There were more and more customers in the morning tea shop. The boss's daughter was so busy that she forgot about their table. It wasn't until they all had eaten a lot that she brought a small plate of chopped green onions for seasoning and said with a cheerful smile. The tone of his voice taught the three of them to roll the bacon, sausage and potato pieces into the pancakes, and then sprinkle them with chopped green onions.
"This is how Highlanders eat. My mother is a Highlander." The girl said with a smile, then bowed and ran to another table to get busy.
The rolled pancakes softened the somewhat strong taste of Suomir sausage and bacon for outsiders, and the sweet potato cubes further promoted the integration of it all, plus the finishing touch of chopped green onion, with a slightly bitter taste. The hot tea with a sweet aftertaste enters your throat.
"Ah——" The refreshing feeling made the three of them exhale in unison.
Even Galeva briefly forgot that this delicacy cost him half a week's worth of hard work.
Such a satisfying breakfast provides full physical and mental motivation for those who are about to embark on the journey.
"There are also pre-made pancakes that can be taken away, although they are not as long-lasting as biscuits. Just bake them on the fire when you eat them." After checking out and starting to go on the road again, the boss smiled at the three of them. People say this.
"..." Mira and Henry looked at each other, and the sage shrugged.
"If this continues, I won't be able to eat the biscuits in the future." He said.
"I don't care." The Luoan girl rolled her eyes and grabbed her wallet.
