Chapter 873: Is The Dragon Ok?

I made enough food for everyone that was in the room so that no one would be left out and it wouldn’t be weird for my girls to eat with us.

Although... I did make an effort to make the dishes I present to Vieretha look more ’luxurious’ with better presentation and plating since I thought it would be a problem if it’s seen that I’m treating her like everyone else.

At least I know for a fact that the taste of all the food remained the same though, so it’s not like I was giving my girls crappier food in favour of Vieretha.

Even so, I still made quite a lot of food even if I do say so myself... Which was inevitable because Vieretha was really captivated by my performance and kept clapping and asking for more.

To be honest, she looked quite cute when she was doing that so I couldn’t help myself and did as she asked.

So before I knew it, I had plate after plate of food piling up on the counter which is why everyone was eating the food I made right now.

And I guess it was to be expected at this point but... The result of that was all of them reacting just as we thought they would...

"Wha... What is this?!! Why is this so good?!"

"I... I never thought that food could taste this good!!"

"Is this even possible?!"

"Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming..."

"To think that I could even taste something like this in my lifetime... I have no regrets..."

Vieretha’s bodyguards were just praising the food with every bite like a broken recorder while my girls were eating my food while filling the room with lewd moans.

On the other hand... Vieretha had taken a single bite of the food I had placed in front of her before completely stopping. The black Dragonling having been stuck in that position for the past few minutes without moving an inch.

I was worried that the food was poison or something to Dragonlings but her bodyguards who were Dragonlings were wolfing down the food with no problems so I doubt that was the case.

So either she was so shocked by how bad the food tasted and could not move because of it... Or the food was too good for her that she was now frozen in awe.

If this was the old me, I would have thought it was the former but now I’ve come to terms with the fact that my cooking might be something that is bugged so the real reason is probably the latter.

I waved my hand in front of the black Dragonling, "Hello? Lady Iceborne? Are you there? Are you alright?"

Yeah, I figured calling her by just ’Vier’ wasn’t really the best idea now so I held back.

She finally showed a reaction by blinking before she slowly turned her head to me, "What... What was I doing? Last I remembered, I was being led through a white gate and a beautiful woman with white hair and wearing white clothes was holding on to my hand..."

I chuckled, "Ahahaha~ That’s quite the imagination you have there, Lady Iceborne. I’m afraid that didn’t happen and you’re still here in your restaurant. You might want to eat the food here quickly as they’re best eaten hot."

She blinked at me again as though she was having trouble comprehending what she had just heard so I just left her to it.

Instead, I took the chance where everyone was distracted to also start eating my own share of the food I made.

Hmmm~ This is pretty good~ They definitely did not skimp out on the ingredients here~ Everything tastes really good~

Yep, yep, these are all good quality stuff~ I’m so glad I got to use them to cook~

Right as I placed the last bite of food inside my mouth, I realised that the room had suddenly gone quiet.

When I turned back around, I found my girls looking completely satisfied as they laid on the floor while Vieretha’s bodyguards were slumped over on the ground in despair.

Vieretha had also gone silent but at least the food in front of her had all been eaten clean without even a single speck left on the plates.

She was still staring off into space so I think she’s having her hallucinations again.

Eh? What the heck happened?

I mean... My girls are acting as normal but why are the bodyguards looking like they were told their family’s pet dog died or something?

Wait... In this universe, having a pet dog is already something abnormal so I guess that saying doesn’t make sense here anymore.

Whatever, that doesn’t matter anyway.

I went over to check on Vieretha first, "Lady Iceborne?"

"I can’t..." She muttered.

"Hmm? What? You can’t what?"

"I can’t... This can’t... I can’t..." She repeated.

Err... Is she ok? Hello? Do you need some water? Stomach pills maybe? Maybe she just want seconds?

While I was wondering what exactly was the problem with her, she suddenly spun her head towards me and looked at me with a wide, unblinking gaze.

"Lady Tera... There is something of importance that I have to deal with. Would it be alright for us to end this meeting right now?"

Eh? Well... I don’t mind but... You look kind of scary right now... Did I do something wrong?

I didn’t answer her immediately since I was still surprised by her sudden change in attitude so she continued, "You do not need to worry, Lady Tera. I have already arranged for a room to be prepared for you. I will have someone guide you to it tonight, please do not hold back. Any expenses you have today will be waived."

That wasn’t what I’m worried about but it’s clear Vieretha wasn’t going to tell me the reason for this sudden change of plans so I doubt I would be getting the information I want from her right now either...

Thus, I excused myself and gathered my girls before leaving the place.

There was a staff member outside waiting for us and he immediately took us to the lift to show us up to our room.

My girls were still a little out of it even when we reached the room, but at least they managed to get there on their own two feet.

The room that was given to us for the night was as luxurious as the one that we stayed at the Grand Honpeki. Even the layout was a little familiar so I wonder if one of them took inspiration from the other?

"So... What are your thoughts about her?" I asked my girls, ignoring Yumiko who was currently laying on my lap so I could give her belly rubs. "Do you girls know anything about that Dragonling?"

I was already expecting Mara to speak about it but the contents of her words were quite surprising.

"All I can say about her is... If you intend to take her as one of your harem, Captain... I would rank her just above or below Yumiko in terms of having weird tastes."

Eh? What does that even mean?

Before I could clarify, Amber was the next to answer my question.

"I heard about their family before~ To put it in a blunt way, their family are ruthless business magnates. They have their finger in almost everything that you can imagine and there’s a saying that goes if you dig into a business entity deep enough, you will find traces leading back to the Iceborne family~"

"I didn’t know there was such a family like that."

Amber shrugged, "Well... They don’t really show themselves to the public and it’s not like they do anything that would make them stand out on the GalaNet anyway. They just do their businesses quietly."

Hmm... So basically people all know about them but they don’t really pay attention or follow them.

"So what is known about them? Can they be trusted?" I asked.

Ries poked her fingers together, "I don’t think they’ve done anything bad like hiding big guns from people so maybe they’re good?"

I’m not sure if you can just base it on whether someone is good or bad just on that though... But I guess she turned out to be correct about Kaito so what do I know?

Mara nodded at me, "I cannot say for sure about the entire family itself since my information network does not extend to them... But I can tell you that the Vieretha girl has no malicious thoughts against you at least, Captain."

I tilted my head at her, "Then what is she trying to do with me? She seems to be really interested in me for some reason."

Mara actually averted her gaze and took a moment before finally answering me, "I... Don’t think it would be a good idea for me to share it, Captain... I think you will figure it out soon anyway so it’ll be fine..."

Figure it out? Why does it sound so ominous? Are you sure this is going to be ok, Mara?

Heck... Am I going to be ok?