Chapter 46 - Dinner with Friends
As dusk began to lose its color, Irma and Marcella arrived at the Green Tower.
Finally, their schedules had aligned, so Dahlia had invited them to the tower for drinks.
"Dahlia! You look so beautiful, I'm surprised! It really suits you!"
As soon as they entered the tower, Irma, in a red dress, rushed over and hugged her.
The power of makeup was truly remarkable. With just a few strokes and a touch of color, it could make someone look one or two steps better than their natural appearance.
"Thank you. It's just makeup, that's all. But you look beautiful too, Irma. That dress really suits you."
"Hehe, thanks. Marcella bought it for me."
Behind Irma, Marcella, whose name had been called, was simply watching Dahlia with his reddish-brown eyes.
"Marcella, stop freezing up and say something!"
"Sorry... I was just surprised. Honestly, makeup’s kind of scary. But, your usual look is cute, and this is just as beautiful, it really suits you."
Dahlia froze upon hearing him say it with a serious face.
However, this was all thanks to the makeup effect, and it was a line Marcella had blurted out after Irma nudged him.
Not knowing how to respond, Dahlia sought help from her friend.
"Come on, Irma, Marcella-san’s pushing himself, so stop him!"
"Marcella, I won't be jealous, so feel free to praise beautiful Dahlia as much as you want."
"Yeah! I’m such a lucky guy to be drinking with two beautiful women tonight!"
With Irma’s words, they all returned to their usual rhythm and climbed the tower’s stairs, laughing together.
"Marcella-san, Irma, thank you so much for all your help, from the broken engagement to being a guarantor for my company. I really appreciate it."
Once they were seated at the table, Dahlia bowed deeply in gratitude.
Things had been hectic lately, but it hadn’t been long since her engagement had been annulled.
She had vented her frustrations to Irma, and Marcella had helped with her move and acted as a guarantor for her company. She had been constantly relying on this couple for support.
"Dahlia, stop! I didn’t do anything."
"That’s right, Dahlia-chan, if we’d made it public that you needed guarantors for your company, everyone would’ve wanted to do it. No need for thanks."
"But you really did help me, and I owe you both so much. So today, feel free to eat and drink as much as you want."
"Alright, then."
"I'll enjoy the food and drinks without holding back."
She prepared black ale for Marcella, and white ale for herself and Irma, then made the first toast.
She entrusted the toast to Marcella.
"Here’s to the establishment of the Rossetti Company, Irma’s beauty salon flourishing, and to our fortune tomorrow. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
Marcella downed his drink in one go. Irma also quickly finished half of hers.
Both of them could drink as much as Dahlia.
The heat from the day made the cold ale feel especially refreshing as it slid down their throats.
"Delicious... it really is nice when it’s cold..."
"Drinking something like this makes me really wish for a big refrigerator..."
The two of them said, their expressions reflecting a shared thought.
A larger refrigerator was still quite expensive for common folk.
Even a medium-sized fridge only had enough space to hold fresh goods like meat and fish, so keeping drinks cold was still difficult. Usually, they’d have to chill them in water or use a wooden box with ice magic stones.
Someday, it would be nice if refrigerators and ice magic stones became more affordable—thinking this, Dahlia stood up.
"Well then, let’s eat."
Dahlia brought over two compact magic stoves, pots, and a few large plates from the kitchen.
"This is a compact magic stove, right?"
"You’re going to fry this on the table with the pot here?"
"Yes, I was thinking of having freshly fried skewers. This pot is for the vegetables, and this one is for everything else. The seasonings are salt, lemon, pepper, and there's also mayonnaise, so feel free to choose whatever you like."
The main dish was skewers, chosen to go well with the ale.
The ingredients included cubes of beef and pork, shrimp, scallops, kraken, small fish, peppers, shiitake mushrooms, pre-cooked small onions, carrots, and baby potatoes.
It was great that they could easily make skewers at the table.
Unlike stoves from Dahlia’s past life, the magic stone-powered stoves didn’t require worrying about heat from a gas canister.
However, the process of handling oil for frying and the cleaning afterward was just as troublesome as before.
"Be careful not to bring the glasses too close to the pot. If water gets in, the oil will splatter."
"Got it. I’ll give it a try."
"Irma, don’t put too many in at once, the oil temperature will drop."
"Oh, right. I was thinking like I’m frying chicken... but with these, you can eat them right after frying, right?"
As she spoke, Irma submerged shrimp and scallops on skewers into the oil.
The sound of small bubbles rising was enough to stimulate their appetites.
Beside her, Marcella was carefully submerging a pepper skewer into the oil, not letting go as if frozen in place.
"Marcella-san, you can let go, it’s fine."
"Doesn’t frying this feel a little tense?"
"Using fire at the dining table isn't something we do often. It's dangerous if there are young children around, so it can only be used when it's just adults, or when adults can supervise... Oh, I should write that in the instruction manual too."
"Dahlia, write it down, write it down. And then forget about it. It would be a disgrace to the skewers and ale!"
"Got it."
Irma, who had already put several skewers into the pot, stopped her, and Dahlia quickly wrote it down in her pocket notebook. Then, she joined in the skewer-frying task as well.
"All done!"
Irma carefully sprinkled salt on a crispy fried shrimp skewer but then immediately popped it into her mouth in one bite.
"Hot!"
"Are you okay, Irma?!"
"I’m fine! Just pour some ale down here!"
Was she really okay? Dahlia felt a bit concerned, but seeing the big smile as Irma drank, she decided to leave her be.
Next to her, Marcella was steadily munching on vegetables. Dahlia wondered if he was holding back, since she knew Marcella liked both meat and fish.
"Marcella-san, there’s still meat and fish, so don’t hesitate to eat."
"I’m not holding back at all. First, I’ve got to try everything."
His serious reply made Dahlia leave him to his own devices.
She was about to start eating too, but couldn’t decide what to have first.
For now, Dahlia fried the scallop skewer in front of her and tried it with some salt. Despite its small size, she was surprised by how juicy it was when she bit into it.
She fried the shrimp until it was slightly crispy, and it turned out to have a fun, snack-like taste.
The beef skewer was tasty, but what surprised her the most was the small onion. She didn’t expect it to become so sweet, and she ate the second one without adding anything, savoring only its sweetness.
While eating a baby potato skewer with salt and pepper, she suddenly remembered the first time she drank with Volf.
The black pepper fries back then seemed even better than these baby potatoes.
Maybe next time, instead of baby potatoes, she could try frying some larger potatoes more slowly.
"Dahlia-chan... this is really something."
Marcella’s voice was a bit lower than usual, and Dahlia hurriedly looked up.
He was holding a black ale in his left hand and a shitake mushroom skewer in his right, frowning slightly.
"Marcella-san, did you burn yourself?"
"No, but I eat this, drink ale, eat this again, and the ale gets even better... how long is this going to go on..."
"Don’t hold back. There’s plenty of ingredients left, and I have a whole dozen of black ale."
"Thanks. If I drink too much, just tell me, and we’ll settle up with some sweet red wine."
It was a fair exchange of drinks for drinks, a simple understanding between drinkers.
"Dahlia, I think this is dangerous too. Especially around here."
Irma tugged at the waistband of her red dress, her face showing a slight concern.
Indeed, her figure seemed a little rounder than when they first arrived. Well, maybe it was just her imagination.
"Forget it, Irma. When we have delicious ale and skewers, these little things don’t matter."
"...Right, I suppose. Tomorrow, I’ll just work harder again."
Dahlia, hearing those words, also began to worry a bit about her own waistline.
Comments
Post a Comment