The taste of money

Gordo and Fergun were diligently spinning the marakash which was getting golden yellow on the outside. They could not stop whispering among them about the mysterious youth that invaded their kitchen.

"Did you catch his name?" Fergun suddenly asked.

"Hmmm. Now that I think about it. I don't think he introduced himself. He must think us lowly cooks are below him." Gordo said with dissatisfaction in his voice.

"Did you ever see someone cook this way?" Fergun asked after he nodded.

"It must be a method from where he is from. He could not speak our language, so he must not be from around here. I wonder which hunter sold him this beast." Gordo replied.

"What will you do with the entrails?" Fergun asked.

"I will give them to my wife. Why, do you want some?" Gordo asked with a glee.

Fergun looked at him but didn't reply even after a long time.

"Huh. How about we split them in half? Except the heart. You can have the liver instead of the heart. And we split the other stuff." Gordo said after he saw the hesitation on Fergun's face.

"All right. Thank you Gordo." Fergun exclaimed happily.

"You should thank that nameless snob. It's not like I paid for it." Gordo laughed.

Then they both laughed.

They both knew that if their lord had money, they would not be his cooks. And since he didn't have money, he did not pay them much. They lived no better than farmers except their work was in a warm kitchen instead in the sweltering heat, rain or even cold.

They felt satisfied with their job. Their meager skills were enough for their lord, and they could also bring home the leftovers.

Harrison was not aware of the first impression he left on the two cooks as he met up with Sheina again and spent the next two hours studying the local language. He trusted the cooks to be following his instructions and estimated the marakash would be done by dinner time.

Sheina was yawning by the time they finished today's lessons and even Harrison had to admit that learning the language although it brought a sense of novelty was anything but exciting.

The only excitement he felt was when he got a new skill.

Polyglot skill unlocked.

Polyglot skill LVL. 1 acquired.

Bonus Wisdom +1 (not applied since over 10)

Bonus Intelligence +1 (not applied since over 10)

"Shall we continue tomorrow," Sheina asked, feeling mentally exhausted asking questions and explaining Harrison's doubts.

"Yeah, let's continue tomorrow," Harrison answered, feeling anxious about the spit-roast dinner he let the two cooks finish.

As Sheina excused herself, he made his way back to the kitchen where Fergun was spinning the spit-roast and Gordo was watching him with drool coming out of his mouth.

After giving the translating sphere to Gordo he asked. "How are things going?"

"It looks good Sir," replied Gordo, as he was startled by Harrison coming suddenly from behind.

"Ok, let's get it out. It looks done and I see you took out the vegetables already." Harrison said.

"Yes. They were done a while ago, and we were afraid they would burn by the time Sir would get here, so we took them out." Gordo explained.

Harrison nodded and Gordo explained to Fergun that they would be taking the spit-roast from the enormous pizza-oven.

It was hot, so they needed to use a couple of wet rags before they could lift out the stake with the marakash on it. They put the whole thing on a big platter and poured the roasted vegetables around it.

Harrison was satisfied with the color and the smell the roasted marakash exuded.

As he came to the dining room Salmoon was already there sipping on some wine and greeted him.

"How was your day?" Salmoon inquired.

Salmoon was just about to shake his head and gesture for the translation sphere as

Harrison looked at him and smiled before he replied.

"It was great. Sheina taught me your language and I learned a lot of interesting new stuff. I also have a surprise for you but let's wait for Sheina to join us."

Salmoon looked at him wearily before nodding.

'I can't believe he just started learning, and he is able to speak so fluently. The boy is a genius.'

Salmoon thought to himself.

"I talked with a friend of mine about teaching you how to handle weapons. He should be coming by tomorrow." Salmoon said before taking another sip of wine.

"That's great. Thank you." Harrison said. He did not get the whole sentence, but he got the gist of it and knew how to reply.

Sheina soon walked into the dinning room in a red dress.

The red color suited her a lot more than the green tones she was wearing before. It made her look a lot more lively and passionate.

"Good evening father. Evening … " She wanted to say Harrison's name, but she still didn't know what to call him. It made her feel awkward.

Harrison just smiled, returned the greeting and nodded. Her smile said the awkwardness was gone.

Soon both cooks came out of the kitchen carrying the big platter and set it down in the middle of the table.

Shalmoon and Sheina were looking at the spit-roast and at the cooks with amazement.

"What is this?" Shalmoon asked.

"It's roasted marakash done according to your guests wishes." Gordo explained.

Sheina looked at Harrison and asked. "Did you cook this for us? Where did you get a marakash?"

Giving her the translation sphere to make things easier told the same lie to her as the one he told the cooks, about a hunter he knew due to him not wanting to expose his inventory.

The cooks brought a carving knife and Salmoon carved some meat for Sheina and Harrison before he placed some on his platter.

The meat was delicious by itself and paired with the wine it was even better. They all enjoyed seconds as the cooks drooled in the kitchen.

Gordo kept coming out of the kitchen asking if they needed anything and Shalmoon waved him away after thanking him for the meal.

Shalmoon gestured to Sheina for the sphere.

"How did you come up with this method of cooking marakash? Did you remember your past?" Salmoon asked.

"Unfortunately I have no idea. It just seemed natural." Harrison answered.

Shalmoon nodded in understanding before he said, "Thank you. It's been awhile since I had marakash. It must not have been cheap."

"You are welcome. I can get more if you want." Harrison replied and Shalmoon gave him a weird look. Hunters would rarely sell marakash meat to someone cheaply so he found it weird Harrison was so confident in his exclamation. Anyway, it was a good thing the boy had some connections other than himself and Sheina so he let it go.

After they finished eating their fill Shalmoon excused himself saying he had an evening business meeting to attend to.

Being left alone with Shena she used the sphere to ask him about the name of the hunter which Harrison avoided telling her by saying he doesn't know.

"How could YOU forget his name? Are you lying to me?" Sheina asked in doubt.

Harrison looked around and used the sphere to transmit his voice into her head.

'It's one of those who attacked you. I went and got it from the spring. I didn't know they were worth a lot of money until Gordo told me. I will get the other three too. The water there is freezing so they should be good for one day.'

'Ahhhh. I am sorry for doubting you but why did you lie to my father?' Sheina asked.

'I wanted to avoid the nude topic as much as possible.' He told her, as he knew this would end the topic and he was right. Sheina blushed and excused herself running away like a frightened rabbit.

Shaking his head he went to the kitchen.

'How come she is teasing me one moment and in the next one she is like a frightened bunny. Ahh women.'

He gave the sphere to Gordo before telling him that he and Fergun can have the rest of the marakash for their families and also the guards.

Gordo and Fergun thanked him profusely as they hurried to clean up the dining room and split up what was left of the marakash. They hurriedly went back to their families and delivered some of the packages to the guards on duty on the way. Most of the marakash that was left was for their wifes and children but even with the lesser quality meat the guards were more than satisfied.

Their wifes and children were especially happy getting such a rare treat and both of them were showered with emotions of happiness from them. Even the stoic Fergun was grinning as his children wore satisfied smiles.

As Gordo was enjoying the marakash only one thought came to mind.

'This is the taste of money.'

Harrison would disagree. In his opinion money tasted really bad.