If Meow-Da knew what Lucy was curious about, he could actually answer her question perfectly.
It was just that the creature Meow-Da spoke of would be completely within Lucy's blind spot of knowledge. After all, this was actually the product of dried and ground mushrooms collected from the Mosswine, a unique species from that world of Monster Hunters.
Following the savory aroma of the fungi was a scent like rosemary and pepper, along with a hint of sweetness and a spice that enhanced the flavor and catered to the taste. But when it came down to it, these were just similar descriptions.
These were similar spices that Lucy tried hard to distinguish based on her own knowledge. But what she could be certain of was that the two were absolutely not the same thing. Because this flavor was actually even more harmonious and unique than those seasonings.
And the texture brought by this piece of roast meat was even more unparalleled. The rich fat created a sensation of melting like water the instant it entered the mouth, yet the muscle within retained a chewiness similar to beef.
This kind of juice, which would only appear in high-grade Wagyu rich in fat, combined with the just-right chewiness that remained despite the perfect tenderness, made Lucy find it perfectly unbelievable. It was so perfect that she couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
That old geezer back home had told her that he had already taken her to taste all the delicacies in New Eridu; as expected, those words were fake. If she had obediently continued to stay in that house, then she would never have been able to experience everything she was experiencing now in her entire life.
Just like this plate of roast meat before her eyes. For many things, one still had to truly run out from that home and see them with one's own eyes to count as having truly experienced them.
And besides the roast meat, the other portion of pan-seared heart meat made Lucy linger even more, unwilling to leave. It was clearly the heart part, yet as it entered her mouth, this heart meat did not possess any of the strange tastes typical of internal organs. What remained was the pure fragrance of meat.
Usually, as heart meat that would become extremely stiff due to being fully cooked if roasted for just a little while longer, many chefs would choose not to cook it completely when roasting to avoid this situation. Just like in foreign countries when roasting organs like liver, they would choose to only roast the exterior until it changed color, while keeping the interior in an almost raw state to ensure its texture wouldn't turn into a hard sponge.
The so-called 'doneness' of steaks was also for this reason. But the portion in front of her was different. Through the cross-section separated by her knife and fork, Lucy could clearly see that this piece of heart meat was cooked well-done. And even though the inside was completely cooked through, this piece of heart meat still maintained an extremely tender texture and incomparably abundant juices.
Undoubtedly, this was much more troublesome than simple pan-searing or cooking to a certain degree of rareness. But because of this, it also became even more delicious. After all, no matter what, raw meat would always bring a trace of a faint gamey smell belonging to meat.
Although it could be made difficult to detect through the freshness of the raw materials and the suppression of seasonings, existence was existence. It was just that various steps made most people feel it was acceptable. But for people with extremely sensitive tongues, they could always sense this trace of discordance that seemed to be there yet not there.
And this heart meat, paired with the mushrooms served as a side dish, was also a type of roasted mushroom with a unique flavor that Lucy had completely never seen before. However, this could pair perfectly with the heart meat, taking this dish to a higher level.
It was just that after tasting carefully, Lucy discovered that this mushroom wasn't the same thing as the mushroom raw material used as seasoning powder in the roast meat just now, as she had thought. It was just that the deliciousness contained within was equally unparalleled.
Accompanying Lucy's attentive observation, she surprisingly discovered something. That was, the heart meat she originally thought was a pile of cut-up hearts from multiple animals was actually cut from a single, incomparably gigantic heart.
And a creature that required such a large heart to support it... Could it be that this was the heart of that monster that appeared outside the Hollows seen on the news yesterday?!!!
Monsters were actually edible?!!!
Although humans always carried a natural fear towards unknown creatures, this fear would be greatly alleviated when the other party turned into a dish placed in front of oneself. Moreover, the meat in front of her was simply too fragrant.
Even though she felt a little weird in her heart, the sheer deliciousness still prevented Lucy from stopping the motion of sending meat into her mouth. And without realizing this point, the others adapted even more. As for the informed Silver Squad, out of trust in Andrew, even if what Andrew served was poison, they would have eaten it without changing their expressions.
Everything was extremely perfect, but for Lucy, the atmosphere of the gathering in front of her was more like a potluck than a banquet. However, calculating carefully, although there were many people, in the final analysis, it was just a normal family gathering for Blazewood.
It wasn't until this family gathering, which could be said to be of banquet scale, ended, and she felt the sense of fullness in her belly, that Lucy forcibly pulled her attention back from the dinner.
It had to be said. Even having tasted countless delicacies, the deliciousness of this meal could be called unique. At least this meat was indeed absolutely unique. After all, that was monster meat!
Now, even if she went home right now to face that old geezer, she could say a sentence that she had experienced something he absolutely had never experienced! Not knowing if it was because her physical exertion was too great or the taste was simply too delicious, she was also full, but this time Lucy felt her food intake was directly close to one-third larger than usual.
However, Lucy soon discovered more differences beyond just food intake. Apart from the sense of fullness coming from her stomach, a deep, unprecedented sense of hunger suddenly transmitted from various parts of her body.
It was as if an incredibly sumptuous feast had suddenly been placed in front of a person who had been starving for a week. However, this sense of hunger only lasted for a few seconds. It didn't disappear, but rather, a stream of warm energy began to surge and flow continuously from her stomach towards her entire internal organs.
Wherever it went, the sense of hunger vanished instantly. Until all the internal organs were completely wrapped, this energy began to spread towards her limbs and bones. After the sense of hunger disappeared, Lucy felt as if her body had soaked into a hot spring. It was warm and extremely comfortable.
Closely following that was a feeling that her physical constitution had received an all-around enhancement under the nourishment of this energy. Although the body's sense of strength would always be a little ethereal—like the illusion people always have that their strength becomes much greater when they are extremely angry—this time, for some reason, Lucy felt this wasn't an illusion.
She subconsciously clenched her palm, wanting to find someone to verify it instinctively. But when she turned her head wanting to ask Caesar if she had noticed this, she saw Caesar still stuffing a half-piece of steak into her mouth in one bite, eating with such abandon that her mouth was full of oil.
She sighed. Without asking, she knew the other party definitely hadn't noticed this. Lucy couldn't help but secretly curse 'idiot' in her heart. Subsequently, she began to look for Andrew's figure.
It was just that... when she started to look around, Lucy suddenly discovered that Andrew, who logically should be the one most able to answer her doubts, had disappeared. At least after scanning the entire living room, Lucy didn't find Andrew's figure.
However, besides Andrew being gone, it seemed a few other people were missing too? It was just that as Lucy who had just arrived not long ago, she hadn't remembered that many people, so it was difficult to determine if this was an illusion or not.
But at least, the idol Astra Yao, who was the other protagonist of that concert, was indeed missing. Meow-Da was actually still busy in the dining room, looking at the satisfied appearance of others regarding the dinner with a face full of smiles.
Disregarding the rest, Lucy immediately jabbed Caesar, who was eating happily, with her elbow and asked: "Caesar, did you notice where Andrew went?"
Caesar, who was sending a whole piece of steak into her mouth with a fork, was instantly choked a little by the caught-off-guard elbow strike. After fiercely patting her own chest to smooth the meat down, Caesar turned her head back with a bit of bewilderment and said: "Huh? What did you say?"
The face full of dullness made Lucy cover her face involuntarily. For a moment, she was a little speechless and choked with emotion. However, she still suppressed her temper and repeated the question just now once more, but what she got was Caesar's even more bewildered face.
"I don't know. I just remember Andrew arranged a room for each of us, saying to rest well tonight and start training tomorrow. After that, I'm not clear."
"Ah... Caesar, you idiot! I shouldn't have asked you!"
Lucy, who didn't find any clues, could only retract her gaze, preparing to ask exactly what was going on during tomorrow's training.
The setting sun gradually sank into the horizon; dark blue tore at the red sky, shrouding the entire sky in the curtain of night. Without the dazzling sun, the stars covered by the light finally appeared in the sky as well.
Night had already gradually shrouded Andrew's room, making the originally bright room become dim. As the leader of this Blazewood stronghold, Andrew was pushed into this largest empty room by everyone together when assigning rooms at the very beginning.
The previous simple layout had been further decorated in these two days through Belle's remote guidance, led by Anby and Nicole. On the wall that was originally just ordinary windows, a huge floor-to-ceiling window had been installed, allowing one to clearly see the unique scenery of the Outer Ring outside the window through this transparent glass.
Set off by the empty yellow sand, the sky instead became incomparably clear. At the same time, in front of this floor-to-ceiling window, Belle had arranged for two extremely wide sofas to be placed, facing the vast and boundless scenery outside the window in a V-shape. At least for seating the current four people, it was more than enough.
And under the gradually darkening sky, on the table in front, the light emitting a faint orange glow illuminated the small space on the table, outlining the silhouettes on the sofa. By the dim light, Andrew looked at Astra Yao and Belle who were pressing closely against him on his left and right.
On the left was Belle's body, incomparably soft because she rarely exercised, while on the right was Astra Yao's body, which was soft yet carried a certain elasticity due to dance training. With softness on both the left and right, Andrew didn't quite dare to move.
Meanwhile, Evelyn, who saw that there were no empty spots beside Andrew, sat on the other side of Astra Yao, looking at the three in the middle with a bit of envy. But it was a pity that the left and right were already occupied; she no longer had a position.
The food served had long been wiped clean by the three. But Andrew, who thought it was over and was just preparing to go out and head downstairs, was grabbed by Belle and Astra Yao. Subsequently, he discovered that at some point, an empty wine glass had appeared in front of him.
Not just for himself. But there was one in front of all four people. As if they had discussed the plan long ago, Belle and Astra Yao placed the wine glass in front of Andrew with incomparable tacit understanding, while Evelyn silently began to take out all the alcohol that had been hidden in the room's cabinet at some unknown time.
The variety was rich, making Andrew feel that they had perhaps brought one of every kind of alcohol sold in the store. As Andrew looked closely, there were even many that were high-proof. Among them, a bottle with a label marked with the specially enlarged number '97%', containing a transparent liquid, was incomparably conspicuous.
It made Andrew freeze just looking at it. Although he didn't know when Belle had arranged for someone to do this, wanting to run now was already impossible. Especially Andrew, whose two arms were hugged from the left and right, couldn't struggle in the slightest.
It wasn't that his strength wasn't enough. Just relying on Belle and Astra Yao's strength—even if their strength was directly multiplied by ten, Andrew had full confidence that each of his hands could directly and forcibly break free with just one hand. He could even suppress the two of them in reverse.
Andrew didn't plan to do that. After all, compared to counter-suppression, he was more afraid that if he used a little force, he would hurt, or even injure them. Most importantly, Andrew actually didn't prepare to escape either.
After all, not to mention the ample mutual trust Andrew had with Belle, Astra Yao, and Evelyn after several incidents, Meow-Da's words earlier had already made Andrew decide to take responsibility. No matter what plans they actually had for him, Andrew didn't prepare to run away.
It was just that Belle and Astra Yao didn't know Andrew's mindset had already changed; deeply afraid he would run away, the two pressed tightly against Andrew's body. They directly used the softness of their entire bodies to suppress him.
But it had to be said, their method was extremely successful. This was much more reliable than something like iron chains. It directly made Andrew not dare to move at all, deeply afraid that if his movements were too big, he would accidentally hurt the two.
Seeing the two of them looking like they were guarding strictly against a thief and turning a deaf ear to outside matters, Andrew could only first allow Evelyn to place all the cocktail ingredients and tools in front of him, waiting until Evelyn's preparation work ended to ask them what exactly they wanted to do.
Watching silently as Evelyn placed the final ingredients like mint salt and powdered sugar on the table and confirming everything had been taken out, the two beside him finally let go of Andrew. Looking at Belle's triumphant expression, Andrew asked with a bit of helplessness:
"So, what exactly are you guys trying to do?"
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New Story: ZZZ: Mr. Ethereal Does Not Want to See a Tragedy
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