"Are you a priest from the Cathedral?"
Seeing Gut casting Goddess Magic using the Spell book, the old beggar immediately panicked.
He definitely couldn't win against this person in a fight - someone with the strength to tear apart a solid wooden door with bare hands could probably break his old bones too.
But if he made false accusations, the other party was a priest who believed in the Goddess - in the Holy Capital, it was obvious which side people would believe.
However, if he took no action at all, once that girl was healed and woke up, he'd definitely face several years in prison.
With this thought, the old beggar's goal became clear.
While Gut was concentrating on casting Healing Magic on the girl, he slowly pressed his back against the wall, carefully inching toward the outside bit by bit. After reaching near the doorway, he gritted his teeth, broke into a mad sprint, and tried to escape.
After all, he was just a beggar with no status or savings - begging anywhere was the same. At worst, he could run to the Royal Capital and lay low for a couple of years.
However, the old beggar's dream naturally couldn't come true. From the moment he started moving along the wall, Gut had noticed his abnormal behavior.
The reason he let him continue was partly because the girl's healing was still in progress, and partly because Gut wanted to see what tricks this old beggar would try.
But obviously, Gut had overestimated him - this old fool had no other thoughts besides wanting to run.
Closing the Spell book in his hand, Gut slapped the back of the old beggar's head.
Just this one strike left the old man dizzy and sprawled on the ground wailing continuously, unable to stand up anymore.
Gut stepped forward, picked up his Spell book and patted it a few times, wiping off the dust.
This could be considered using the Goddess's teachings to convince people through (physical) reasoning.
After subduing this old guy, Gut curiously looked into the room, wondering why that girl hadn't come out yet.
When Gut had closed the Spell book to hit someone, he had already felt the slight movement of the girl's eyelashes with his palm. Logically, she should have fully awakened by now.
Gut was somewhat worried, so he dragged the old man back and looked at the beautiful girl lying in the rental room.
Now her eyes were open and her expression had returned, but she still lay on the ground showing no sign of getting up.
Seeing this scene, Gut kicked the old beggar and demanded, "You drugged her too?!"
"Quickly, where's the antidote?"
"I'm innocent!" the old beggar cried out in pain. "Priest sir, please investigate! Those drugs are so expensive - how could a beggar like me afford them!"
"She's just a beggar girl I picked up in the alley today. When I found her, she was already unconscious."
"Really, wearing such nice clothes and being so beautiful, there are plenty of ways to make money - why compete with us for food?"
"Shut up."
Gut kicked some sand into the old beggar's mouth, crouched beside the girl, and helped her sit up from the ground.
Bringing his ear close to the girl's mouth, Gut inquired:
"How does your body feel? Do you need me to use Healing Magic on you again?"
The girl gently shook her head, giving Gut a response.
Seeing that communication was working, Gut continued asking, "Where do you feel uncomfortable now? How can I help you?"
"Hungry..."
Hearing the girl's weak response, Gut felt both sympathetic and amused. So this beautiful girl couldn't move because she was starving.
Looking at her current state, she probably couldn't walk even with his support. Gut simply lifted her up in his arms and carried her all the way to the restaurant from before.
At this moment in the restaurant, Zenn sat in a corner, staring at each other with the restaurant server.
"I say, customer, our menu is just one page, and you've been flipping through it for several minutes. Haven't you decided what to eat yet?"
"Ah? Any-anything's fine."
Server: ...
"Then shall I serve you our signature dish, mixed seafood iron plate rice?"
"Sea-seafood?" A trace of fear flashed in Zenn's eyes. He was about to muster courage to ask if the server could change it to a different flavor, but the server urged him again.
"Th-then that one."
The socially anxious Zenn didn't dare make another choice and could only agree.
"Two portions of iron plate rice for you two customers, right?"
"Make it three portions!"
Gut's voice came from the restaurant entrance. The server saw it was the young man from before, who had gone out for a trip and came back with someone in his arms.
So he whistled playfully, indicating no problem, then specifically asked Gut, "Young man, do you want me to add a few extra portions of oysters to your mixed seafood iron plate rice?"
"That won't be necessary."
After placing the somewhat blushing girl on a chair, Gut brought the server to the counter and pulled out several silver coins from his money pouch, placing them on the counter.
"Sir, this is too much."
Both the boss sitting at the counter and the server were startled, saying these silver coins were too much.
"No problem. Please add more ingredients to the seafood iron plate rice, and I'd like to borrow your kitchen."
"This..."
Adding more ingredients was certainly no problem. The Holy Capital wasn't far from the coastline, so seafood prices weren't high.
But borrowing the kitchen...
Considering these silver coins, the boss thought about it and agreed.
Under the server's guidance, Gut entered the restaurant's back kitchen domain.
After asking the bearded chef who was cooking where the rice was located, Gut picked up a clean pot, took a small amount of rice, washed it clean, and began cooking it with clear water.
During the cooking process, the bearded chef curiously glanced over here, saw that Gut was just boiling a pot of rice soup, shook his head, and stopped looking.
However, Gut, who was standing in front of the stove leisurely stirring the rice with a spatula, suddenly froze in place.
[Ding!]
[Talent trait [Otherworld Culinary God] successfully triggered]
[This dish (rice soup) is affected by unknown factors and will be granted special effects - significantly restore stamina (Tip: the more perfect the cooking, the higher this bonus)]
"Huh?!" Gut exclaimed in surprise.
"This trait can actually trigger?! And the timing is quite perfect!"
Meanwhile, in the restaurant.
Zenn looked at the beautiful sister sitting beside him, who also didn't like to talk, and let out a long sigh of relief.
He immediately developed considerable fondness for her.
Great, a sister who wouldn't actively try to chat with him was simply wonderful.
However, what Zenn didn't know was that the beautiful sister sitting beside him was rubbing her stomach and nearly fainting from hunger.
Having not eaten for nearly two days, she was already starving. Now being brought to a restaurant, smelling the wonderful aroma of surrounding food but unable to eat it...
The girl rested her head on the table and simply closed her eyes.
In the back kitchen.
Looking at the rice soup that had been simmering for half an hour, the rice grains had already bloomed and the soup had become quite thick.
Standing at the stove, Gut hesitated slightly but still turned off the flame and served it out.
[Ding!]
[Dish preparation complete]
[Strange Rice Soup (Enchanted)]
[Score: 48 points]
[Description: A rather failed rice soup. Food ingredients, cooking utensils, cooking time, and cooking process were all rather unsuccessful.]
[The finished rice soup lacks pure and natural rice fragrance, doesn't present uniform milky white color; in texture, the soup is slightly thin, failing to achieve qualified thickness]
[Effects: After consumption, can invigorate qi and generate fluids, quickly supplement nutrition, suitable for those with weak constitution]
[Enchantment Effect: After consumption, will slightly restore stamina (due to low score, enchantment effect is reduced)]
Looking at this rice soup with decent appearance in the bowl, Gut was somewhat puzzled - such quality couldn't even reach the passing line?
How strict were the Otherworld Culinary God's scoring standards?
Forget it, why bother with this scoring system?
After all, his main profession was a mage, not a professional chef. As long as the dishes he made were edible and wouldn't kill anyone, that was enough.
With these thoughts, the slight depression in Gut's heart immediately disappeared, and he walked out of the back kitchen carrying this large portion of rice soup.
"Click"
As this dish was placed on the table, the beautiful girl who had been maintaining power-saving mode while lying on the table slowly lifted her head.
At this moment, Gut, who brought her food, seemed to radiate holy light in the girl's eyes.
Gut asked the server for several small bowls, used a soup spoon to serve the girl a portion and placed it beside her, saying thoughtfully:
"After long periods without food, the intestines become quite fragile. I suggest drinking some rice porridge first before eating the main meal."
"Mm."
The girl nodded weakly.
Using the spoon to scoop up a spoonful of white rice soup and putting it in her mouth, her taste buds, blank for so long, were instantly occupied by this gentle rice fragrance.
The milky white liquid flowed down the girl's throat, and the water and sugar content in the rice soup quickly nourished the girl's parched body.
After drinking half a bowl of rice soup, a strange look flashed in the girl's eyes.
This rice soup seemed to have magical power, making her feel warm all over. It felt like some invisible force was constantly surging and expanding within her body, gradually filling her empty body quickly and helping her recover considerable stamina very rapidly.
Born into a great noble family of the Royal Capital, the girl wasn't an ignorant child and naturally knew this couldn't be the effect of ordinary rice porridge.
This kind gentleman must have added extremely precious Magic Potion to the rice soup after cooking.
Only this way could ordinary rice porridge have such miraculous effects.
But... he shouldn't know about my noble status, so why would he use such precious potion on a stranger, and in such a secretive way without letting the recipient know?
Instantly, the girl remembered the Goddess Magic this gentleman had used when awakening her, and immediately had an answer in her mind.
He must be a priest with extremely devout faith, possessing noble and selfless character.
"Miss, is there anything else you need help with?"
Noticing the girl's gaze lingering on his face for a long time, Gut looked toward the girl and asked.
"Ah, no."
"I just wanted to express my most sincere gratitude to you, that's all."
[Ding!]
As the girl's words fell, the system notification sounded in Gut's ears again.
[Ding!]
[Daily Task: Good Deed of the Day completed]
Being able to help him complete a daily task showed that the girl's gratitude was indeed sincere.
Gut nodded lightly, accepting the girl's thanks, and picked up the soup spoon, asking if she wanted some more.
"That would be troublesome for you."
After serving the girl another full bowl, during the handover, Gut unexpectedly noticed his junior Zenn sitting beside the girl. This socially anxious young boy was staring straight at the rice porridge, seeming to want a bowl too but too embarrassed to ask.
Seeing this, Gut simply asked Zenn, "Junior, do you want a portion too?"
"Any-anything's fine with me."
"Then that's a yes."
By now, Gut was gradually able to read his junior's true thoughts from his responses.
But communicating through guesswork long-term wasn't ideal. After serving Zenn a portion of rice porridge, Gut began planning in his mind how to reform this junior's personality.
As the saying goes, "Introverts are extroverts' toys." Perhaps in the future, he could try having this socially anxious young boy show his face more often - it might have positive effects.
While thinking, Gut also served himself a bowl of rice porridge, drinking while waiting for the main course to be served.
This restaurant's preparation time was really too long.
After another ten-plus minutes, the restaurant server finally came out with an apologetic expression, carrying a large portion of sumptuous seafood iron plate rice.
While setting down knives, forks, and utensils for everyone, he explained the reason for the slow service.
Due to the lack of squid ink, a key ingredient for seafood iron plate rice, the boss had sent the server to temporarily purchase a batch from the market, which caused the extended preparation time.
Gut: ...
Though he felt this reason was quite absurd, since things had come to this point, he might as well enjoy the delicious food.
As the server lifted the lid, immediately, a rich seafood aroma wafted over.
On the rice that had been dyed jet black and slightly undercooked by squid ink, various sumptuous seafoods were embedded.
During the cooking process, as the iron plate stewed, the sweet juices of various seafoods gradually seeped into the rice, giving each distinct grain a unique taste experience.
As long as one could accept the ocean's fresh taste, it was an incomparable delicacy.
The Seafood Iron Plate Rice of this world had striking similarities to Spain's Paella from his previous life.
Or rather, they were exactly the same.
Under similar geographical environments and food production, industrious and wise people created the same delicacy and spread it just as widely.
Starting from small fishing villages along the coast, traveling along seafood trade routes, through the Royal Capital, through the Holy Capital, then through other cities and towns, bringing this culinary delight to places far beyond people's imagination.
During the meal, Gut asked this girl why she had ended up on the streets of the Holy Capital and fainted from hunger.
Faced with questions from her savior who had protected her innocence, the girl hesitated slightly but still answered.
"I actually ran away from home secretly."
"I heard that my brother would be participating in the mage examinations hosted by the Continental Magic Association in the Holy Capital, so I ran here several days early."
"Since I ran away secretly, I didn't bring much money - only two gold coins. But I thought this amount should last until I met my brother."
"That's not wrong." Gut nodded in agreement, while making some guesses about the girl's identity.
Gold coins had quite good purchasing power. From the fact that she could easily bring out two gold coins, this girl's home was definitely a noble family.
----------
Powerstones?
For 20 advance chapters: patreon.com/michaeltranslates