Chapter 380:
Good Neighbors
LIZZY WAS PACING AROUND the food stall, her face tense with worry. “Okay, we’ve written down the prices, now all we need to do is cook them… Everything’s okay, right? Yeah…yeah, we’re good.”
“Please, Miss Lizzy, try to relax.”
“I’ll be okay… Yeah, I’m fine.”
You don’t look okay to me at all. Oh, now you’re quadruple-checking the prices.
The day after our talk, we went straight to the merchant guild to register our marinade with them. Next, we asked if we could use it before its verification and got special permission to do so. My father said that each merchant guild seemed to have little differences in their rules, but since I couldn’t remember a thing about the last time we’d done this, I had no idea what those differences were. The food stall Kohl borrowed from a friend was well maintained and ready to use without any fuss, so we were opening shop today.
Kohl entered the food stall with my father, carrying bags filled with marinated baaba meat hanging off their shoulders.
“Yikes, Lizzy is a nervous wreck.”
“Ivy, you okay?”
“I’m fine. Everything’s ready—all we need to do is cook the meat.”
I took the bags from them and took out the marinated baaba meat from inside. Once everything I needed was out, I shut the other items back in my food-grade magic box, which was equipped with time-stopping and chilling functions.
Kohl lit the grill. After adjusting the fire levels, he turned to me and my father and bowed humbly.
“Miss Ivy, Mr. Druid, thank you so much.”
“No problem! We really enjoyed ourselves,” my father said.
“We sure did! And our task ends here.”
Everything was prepped, so the baaba meat would probably be good to go. It was all up to Kohl’s and Lizzy’s skill with a grill. The only hurdle that remained was baaba’s bad reputation, but if people would take just one bite, I was sure their opinion of it would change for the better.
“Ivy, we should head out.”
“Yeah. Good luck, you two.”
We stepped away from the food stall.
“Oh, please wait! Could you just stay until we’ve cooked our first batch so you can give it a final taste test?”
A final taste test? But it’s very easy to make after it’s been prepped, so there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it. We’ve mixed the marinade together and already taste-tested it, too, so I don’t think we need to do any more taste-testing… I wonder what’s wrong?
“Thanks, I’ll take a piece,” my dad said, flashing a smile at Kohl. “Hey, Ivy, we’re the first customers.”
Oh, that’s right! We’re this food stall’s first customers. Gee…now I’m getting excited!
“Yeah, I’m excited!”
This sort of thing doesn’t happen often in life.
“Er, but you aren’t exactly customers…” Kohl stammered, a look of confusion on his face. I couldn’t help but laugh at his flustered demeanor.
“Mr. Kohl, you don’t often get the chance to be somebody’s first customer. It’s an honor.”
“Oh, really?” Kohl scratched his head.
“Well, I’m flattered that our special first customers are Miss Ivy and Mr. Druid,” Lizzy said, handing Kohl some raw baaba. Kohl put it on the wire grilling net and nodded, muttering, “You have a point.” As he grilled the baaba, a savory aroma spread through the air. Since we’d added a little extra fruit to this marinade, it had a floral note to it as well.
“What a beautiful smell,” said someone passing by.
“It sure is. But it’s baaba,” someone else observed.
“Huh? Ugh, now I’m not so sure…”
Baaba really isn’t that popular, is it? I guess we’ll just have to be patient as we spread the gospel.
“Here you go, Miss.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I took the leaf-wrapped package from Kohl. Since he had placed some root vegetables beneath the meat, it was just the right temperature… Actually, it was a bit hot, but not too hot to eat. Still, I thought maybe it should be a little cooler.
“Maybe you should put a few more vegetables at the base.”
“Is it too hot?” my father asked, setting the parcel of meat on his hand. Then he got a strange look on his face and said, “Kohl, you are putting a wooden board under the vegetables, aren’t you?”
To stop things from overheating, you’re supposed to put a thin wooden board between the leaf and the vegetables. Kohl’s eyes darted around in reply to my father’s question.
“Oh no! They’re in the cupboard!”
Noticing the awkward exchange between my father and Kohl, Lizzy quickly flung the cupboard door open. Inside was a stack of thin wooden boards. Wait, last time I checked, those were next to the stack of leaves on the table.
“I’m so sorry, I accidentally put these in the cupboard when we were taking inventory earlier…”
“Lizzy, it’s okay, just calm down,” Kohl said.
Lizzy’s head bobbed up and down in a lengthy nod. She was usually the levelheaded one, so it was a surprise seeing her get so worked up at a time like this. My father and I were going to head back to the plaza after they set up, but we decided to watch over them from a distance for a little while instead.
They’re opening just before lunchtime. If things go well, they should have a few customers. But thinking back on the conversation of those ladies earlier, it might end up being pretty hard. I sighed nervously.
“Worrying won’t help, Ivy. It all comes down to their skill and luck now.”
“I know. But I really am glad they managed to get extensions on their loans.”
Lizzy and Kohl had loans from the merchant guild. We’d brought a little of the marinated baaba to them while they negotiated, and we were all thrilled when they received a year-long extension on their loans. If they worked hard for the next year, they could save both themselves and their parents from slavery. And if the baaba meat sold well, that would help other ranchers, too.
“If only people would just try the baaba, I know it’ll sell well.”
It was now lunchtime, and Main Street was bustling with people. Some were lured to the food stall by the smell, but they passed once they found out it was baaba. I couldn’t believe people would turn down free samples. Well, yeah actually, I can believe it. When I grilled a plain piece of baaba that one time, it did taste pretty gross.
“Ooh, there you are!”
Huh? That lady’s voice sounds familiar…
“Aha! It’s our neighbors!”
Our lady neighbors from the plaza had come to Main Street…and they’d brought a giant herd of their friends with them. Since they’d been so drunk the night we were eating the baaba meat, I doubted if they would actually show up.
“Wow, they really came.” My father looked just as surprised as I was.
“Are you sure about this? It’s baaba.”
“Wow, it really is a baaba food stall. Is this a joke?” the newcomers asked their friends with concern.
“I dunno, but it smelled so good, and that lady behind the grill scarfed it down like a pig—I just had to see what the hype was all about!”
Lizzy, the “lady who scarfed it down like a pig,” turned bright red. “Yeah, well, it was much yummier than I could have imagined. I normally eat daintily, I swear! I mean it!”
But the lady only chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, it’s okay for a lady to eat a lot. A lot of us do.”
Between Lizzy’s beet-red face and Kohl’s nervousness about the crashing wave of women, I wondered if they were going to be okay.
“Anyway, I’m gonna try some. What about you girls?”
“Er, what do you think?”
“Hmm…”
The curious lady was excited to eat, but the other ones still weren’t on board with the idea.
“Um, we do have free samples, if you’d like to try some.”
“Thanks.”
The lady who was going to buy some anyway took a bite of the free sample, but her friends still looked like they were on the fence.
“Whoa, how is this… What?! This can’t be baaba. It isn’t baaba, right?”
As she marveled over her morsel, the other ladies’ curiosity was piqued.
“Oh, so it’s not baaba?”
“If it’s not baaba, why does your sign say it is?”
“Um, this really is baaba meat,” Lizzy explained, her voice cracking a little. “We marinate it overnight and slather it in the marinade, too.” Lizzy was almost shouting now—that was the only way she could be heard over the gabbing gang of ladies. Her voice was so loud that it boomed throughout the area, making people other than the group of ladies notice the food cart.
“So, um, I’ll take three, please,” the first lady told Kohl, holding up three fingers.
“Thank you, Miss. I’ll get them grilled for you right away.”
The other ladies flocked around Lizzy to get their free samples. The passersby who happened to see this got curious and took some samples as well.
“Wow, this is great! This would pair wonderfully with that wine I bought today.”
“Oh, there you go again with the wine! But yeah, it is awfully tender. Can you believe a tough meat like that being this tender?”
“I think I need another taste.”
“Idiot, one bite is more than enough to know it’s good. Excuse me, I’ll take two, please!”
“Two for me as well!”
People quickly flocked to the food stall. The original group of ladies formed a line, and the next people to get free samples queued up behind them.
“I think they’re going to be okay,” I said.
“Yeah. That lady is a powerhouse.”
“That’s for sure.”
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