73. Return to Garond

The possibility that the Destiny God was a fellow reincarnator left me reeling, but it wasn't something I could solve just by dwelling on it. For now, I decided to put the matter on hold. If the god truly intended for me to know the truth, there would surely be further signs eventually.

Regardless, my top priority right now was the Eternal Dream Flower. Using Granny Pearl’s memory as a guide, we searched the area until we found a cluster in bloom. Their white petals shimmered with a faint, intermittent glow, creating a truly fantastical atmosphere.

To my eyes, they looked like they were blooming beautifully, but Pearl insisted they seemed a bit wilted. It was time for the Sealed Bottle of Spirit Essence to do its job. The process was simple: I just had to unseal the bottle and leave it near the flowers. Since it would take some time for the spirit essence to saturate the area, we had to spend the night on Mt. Miranda. It grew quite cold, but Pearl used her Warm Air Magic to keep the tent toasty, making the night surprisingly comfortable.

"Alright, this should do it. I’ll handle the harvesting myself, so you lot go and pick up those magic stones rolling around everywhere."

By the next morning, the spirit essence had been restored, and the Eternal Dream Flowers were ready to be gathered. Leaving the delicate work to Pearl, the rest of us focused on scavenging magic stones. Naturally, these were the remains of the Killer Apes. It seemed that even the monsters that vanished when the dungeon collapsed had left their stones behind; they were scattered across the ground in such quantities that they looked like common pebbles. I couldn't even begin to guess just how many Killer Apes had been here...

In addition to the stones, we also managed to salvage a fair amount of fur. If the Adventurer's Guild was willing to buy them, they might fetch a decent price, though I wasn't entirely sure of their market value.

"Well then, I've finished gathering the flowers."

"Good," Lowell said. "Now all we need are the dragon materials."

With Pearl’s task complete, we were one step closer. As Lowell noted, once we had the dragon materials, we could finally brew Spira's Medicine. To make that happen, I really had to give the Cooking Contest my all.

On our way back, I asked the group to take a small detour.

It was slightly off the main path back to the Royal Capital, but there was a dairy farm in the area. I wanted to buy Milk and Eggs. I hadn't seen Milk for sale in the capital's markets yet, so buying it directly from the source was the best option.

While eggs were available in the city, they were hard to buy in bulk. Since they were essential for making my hamburger patties, I wanted to secure a steady supply.

The farm apparently produced cheese as well, but it was already promised to specific wholesale partners, so I couldn't buy any for myself.

Interestingly, while the milk came from normal cows just like in my previous life, the eggs came from a species of large bird. They were massive creatures, yet gentle enough to be easily domesticated. They didn't lay as many eggs as chickens, but they made up for it in size; a single egg seemed to be equivalent to about five chicken eggs.

We continued hunting monsters as we made our way back to the capital. Our primary targets were Rush Bulls, a type of cow-like magic beast. I had been using Orc’s Mystery Meat as a substitute, but a real hamburger patty required beef. Besides, if I ran out of orc meat, it wasn't easy to go out and get more on short notice. It was much more convenient to rely on monsters that lived closer to the city.

With the ingredients more or less secured, we finally returned to the Royal Capital. It had been nearly two weeks since we set out, and I had a mountain of tasks waiting for me.

The day after our return from the Mt. Miranda expedition.

I headed to Master Zardan’s workshop to check on the mincer prototypes.

"Aha! They're beauties, aren't they?"

The Master greeted me by showing off a row of machines—Prototype No. 1, No. 2... there were dozens of them!

"Why did you make so many?" I asked, stunned.

"Well, obviously, it's so I can eat a delicious Teriyaki Burger! Since these prototypes determine the quality of the meat, of course I'd get fired up. My apprentices even competed to see who could make the best one, so it turned into some great training for them!"

Master Zardan let out a boisterous laugh.

I was grateful, of course, but I wondered if the workshop was actually making a profit on this. Then again, I figured this trial-and-error process would benefit them in the long run.

If the Teriyaki Burger became as popular as I expected, I planned to sell the recipe to the guild. When that happened, mincers would become a necessity for every kitchen. I intended to outsource all that production to the Zardan Workshop.

Furthermore, if the Master won a dragon scale in the Arms Contest, I planned to trade him the manufacturing and sales rights for the mincer in exchange for it. He had insisted that a hundred Teriyaki Burgers would be payment enough, but that didn't feel like a fair trade to me.

The rights to the mincer would likely yield far more profit than a single dragon scale in the future, making it a more balanced deal. Of course, all of this hinged on whether the Teriyaki Burger actually took off.

"Which one do you recommend?" I asked.

"Let's see. If you're planning to sell in bulk at the contest, then this is the one."

The Master pointed to a large mincer. To my surprise, it was a magic tool! As long as a magic stone was slotted in, it would automatically grind meat into minced meat. It was a bit bulky, but since I could just grind a large batch and store it in my Storage Ring, the size wasn't an issue for me.

In the end, I took the large magic mincer and a small, hand-cranked version.

"Alright then, I'm looking forward to those Teriyaki Burgers as a reward!"

"Ah... about that..."

I felt bad for the excited Master, but I couldn't make them immediately. I still had to use the new mincer to prepare the meat. I had to ask him to soothe the other artisans, who were all peeking out from the back of the workshop with hopeful eyes.

We eventually settled on a delivery of thirty burgers—two for each person. I also insisted on paying a proper fee for the work. Since the Master's own estimates were notoriously unreliable, I had consulted Luranna beforehand to determine a fair price.

Since it was a negotiation between an artisan and a client, there wasn't a strictly fixed rate, especially for custom orders from a master craftsman, which tended to be expensive. Taking into account our future business relationship, we settled on one Gold Coin.

I explained the reasoning behind the price to the Master, but—

"Oh, is that so? Well, if you say so, I'll take it! More importantly, just make sure those Teriyaki Burgers get here as soon as possible!"

He didn't seem particularly interested in the money. The man desperately needed to hire an accountant.