Chapter – 579 – Drunken Dragon
Right, I guess it’s time to go.
I was determined to have a leisurely day today. That’s right, let’s have a leisurely morning first before heading towards the employees’ quarters later that afternoon.
The slaves- I mean, my employees were instructed to casually clean up the main house and garden before [1] gathering at the pizza/bread oven area.
“I have some souvenirs for everyone, so make sure to gather there in the afternoon, alright?” I said.
All of my familiars were napping after a heavy breakfast, but Fer somehow still managed to overhear me and said, “Umu, if you’re planning to eat something delicious, make sure to call us.”
Haha, look at you and your priorities…
Anyway, after a relaxing morning of coffee and browsing through [Net Super] for fun, I made my way slowly towards the back… and found everyone cheerfully working at the Alban family field. By everyone, I meant everyone aside from the two ex-adventurers looking after the gate.
“What is everyone doing?”
“Ah, it’s Mukouda-san…”
Everyone turned to me and waved.
“I don’t feel good if I don’t work during the day…”
“I feel nervous not doing anything…”
“What do I do with ‘free time’…”
So on and so forth.
Eh…
“I mean, can’t you take a nap under the trees or something?” I asked.
Everyone looked at me as though I was speaking gibberish. Here I thought everyone knew the pleasure of daytime naps. I mean, just look at my familiars, they are champions at eating, sleeping and napping whenever they are at home.
“What about you guys?” I asked the ex-adventurers. There were only Tabitha, Bartel and Peter at the fields since the twins were currently at the gates.
“Well, although we’re technically on call, there’s really not much to do and watching the gate isn’t at all taxing.”
“We don’t feel good about not working.”
“Yeah.”
“I see…”
Here I thought that everyone was being overworked thanks to the increased output of soaps, shampoo etc and asked them whether they needed more people, but somehow, they interpreted this as me being dissatisfied with their work and increased their repacking speed to the point that they have leisure time to spare.
“No, I mean, I would like this to be a good working space for everyone, which is why I thought of bringing in more people. Especially since it’s possible that we will have an increased order for everything. That’s why I thought of getting more workers. It has nothing to do with your very excellent work ethic.”
“I-is that so…”
“Mukouda-san is too kind…”
“Ahem, anyway, I really value all of you. So, here are some souvenirs from the Royal Capital!”
Let’s change the subject to souvenirs.
The ladies received a stole each, and yes, [1] this includes Tabitha. The staff recommended some popular floral designs which I hesitated to buy for Tabitha but in the end just went for it. She’s in a relationship now, so it’s possible that she might want to look pretty, right?
For the men, I chose to buy something called [2] ‘bolo ties’, which was coming into fashion with the people at the Royal Capital. Per my experience with the coin purse last time, I made sure to choose items that were not too flashy, not too valuable, but still attractive to the eye. [1] The storekeeper was kind enough to show me things at a certain budget so that I could freely choose the designs without having to worry about the cost.
While I was having fun choosing gifts, a bolo tie set with bright green jade caught my eye and I ended up buying one for myself as well.
Well, I’m happy to see everyone unwrap their presents so cheerfully.
Lotte was hopping about with joy, trailing the stole behind her like a banner while Aiya, Teresa and Seria-chan happily placed theirs around their shoulders.
Tabitha had wrapped herself in the stole and was saying to Peter with a blush, “Does it look good on me?”
…I guess that’s the life of a normie for you.
The men also looked happy with their gifts, although they did not show it as openly as the women did. I guess that’s pretty typical for men.
“Ah, by the way, what did you manage to harvest today?” I said as a way to change the topic.
“We harvested onions, potatoes and broccoli,” said Alban-san.
“Oh, right. I left some broccoli seeds with you…” I said absently.
“Here’s the broccoli!” Lotte-chan shouted, holding up a very perfect specimen of the little tree-shaped vegetable.
Goodness, the potatoes and onions also look very good…
“Shall we have a barbecue today?”
“YAY!!”
With the help of the ladies and my Solitary Chef title, meat and vegetables for a barbecue feast were soon prepared. By the way, since there was no time to marinate the meat, I decided that we should just cook the meat pieces unseasoned and slather on storebought Yakiniku sauce as we were cooking the meat.
Since I have plenty of standard-grade Dungeon Beef and Pork, that was what we used for the impromptu BBQ feast.
As expected, as soon as the meat was done, everyone began to stuff themselves with the delicious charcoal-grilled meat. Ah, well, that’s pretty much standard practice for new barbecue eaters.
For myself, I kept my meat consumption in moderation and loaded up on delicious vegetables. Grilled onions are sweet and aromatic when dipped into the meat sauce, you know? The delicate onions match well with the savoury heartiness of the meat sauce very well.
More importantly, “Alban’s vegetables are the best!”
“Dad’s vegetables are the best in town!”
“Lotte-chan, that’s not right. Your dad’s vegetables are the best in the world!”
“Wow! My dad is the best in the world!”
“No, no, that’s a bit…” said Alban.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! If Mukouda-san says so, it must be true!” said Teresa cheerfully
“That’s right, that’s right, I could eat Alban’s delicious vegetables every day and never get tired of it!” said Toni.
“Indeed, even the children enjoy eating Alban’s vegetables,” said Aiya happily.
“Lotte still likes meat best!” said Lotte.
“… …” all the adults were speechless.
“Oi! Seconds!”
“Seconds here too, please.”
“”Same here!””
“”Sui too~!””
Naturally, we cannot have a barbecue session without the presence of the Gluttonous Quartet.
“Yes, yes, here you go,” I said as I picked up more grilled meat and vegetables with my trusty kitchen tongs. “Oh, looks like this one is done too.”
By ‘this one’, I meant the Seafood and Veggie Ajillo made with Giant Scallops, mushrooms and some of Alban’s delicious broccoli. The Ajillo was made on a skillet with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and sliced hawk claw chillies.
To maximise flavour, I only added the scallops and veggies once it started simmering.
“Hmm, the fire looks good here,” I said as I scattered some freshly ground black pepper over the Ajillo. “Okay everyone, it’s ready. Ajillo is the perfect alcohol snack.”
Alcohol lovers immediately rushed towards me. In the lead was Bartel the Dwarf, followed by Luke and Irvin. These two were supposed to be guarding the gates today, but since it was a barbecue, everyone came to participate.
With free-flowing beer and whisky, all the drinkers soon began feeling a little tipsy. With Ajillo as a beer snack, everyone drank even more.
Grandpa Gon said, “I wish to have this beer too.”
So, I [3] bought a keg and let him have the whole thing.
“The Great Dragon-sama is a good drinker!” Bartel shouted.
“Yo, drink, drink, Dragon-sama!” Luke yelled.
“Cheers! Dragon-sama!” Irvin howled.
It was rare for my servants to address Grandpa Gon so casually, it looked like the beer had made them a little too comfortable around our resident Ancient Dragon. Alcohol is really amazing.
Oh look, Bartel is pouring two whole bottles of whisky into a deep bowl. I wonder what he is doing-
“Try this one, it tastes waaay better~”
Huh? Wait, “Don’t-!!”
But it was too late.
Grandpa Gon had already downed the whole bowl of whisky. “Kuuhh~~ that was delicious~~!!”
“Right? This whisky drink is really awesome! Have some more~”
“Ooh, yes, seconds~”
“Hey, that whisky is really strong, are you really alright with that?” I asked Grandpa Gon.
“Hm? I’m sure it will be fine, Master.”
[1] I mean, sure Grandpa Gon’s real body was about 20 storeys tall, but he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol until he joined my party, so I was really not sure what his tolerance level was like. Still, it’s not like I could stop them from drinking themselves stupid.
While the drunkards were getting drunk on the drinks side of the party. The sensible side of the barbecue party grilled some very excellent potatoes in aluminium foil and kitchen paper. We opened the packets and had perfectly baked potatoes with a dollop of butter on top.
It was a lovely way to end the barbecue lunch.
The drunks were still drinking.
“Hey, don’t overdo it you guys,” I said to the drinking party. “Grandpa Gon, you too. The rest of us will be going now.”
“Okay, Mukouda-san~~”
“Yes, Master.”
The next morning. [4]
“I knew this would happen,” I said as I looked at the sprawled bodies next to the barbecue. Luke and Irvin were a given, but I was somewhat surprised to see Bartel on the floor as well. Weren’t Dwarves supposed to have special immunity against hangovers or something?
In contrast, I was less surprised to see a dragon sprawled on its back, its belly exposed to the sunlight as it snored. Then, I shifted my gaze to the pile of glass bottles that once contained whisky, the even bigger pile of beer bottles and finally, the stack of beer kegs.
“Tsk, tsk, who would believe that’s the Ancient Dragon?” said Fer with a grin on his face.
“”That is very not dragon-like,”” said Dora-chan.
I see that this little dragon had already forgotten the times when he over ate and fell asleep on his back. Well, it was cute when small dragons do it, but… eh?
“Hey, Sui, what are you doing?” I stammered.
Sui was bouncing up and down on Grandpa Gon’s belly.
“”Whee~~””
“… so, who wants breakfast?”
[Gumihou: Cut off some superfluous forced comedy moments]
[1] Add details
[2] Original was ループタイwhich could be a rope tie or loop tie (Google Translate) or Poler Tie (jp.wikipedia)… after much googling, and reverse imaging… it turned out to be ‘Bolo Tie’…
Tsk
[3] Come on, surely you can buy a keg of beer!?
[4] Deleted the ‘huaargh, nyamu nyamu, good morning’ x 4 scene
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