A Food Stall is better than Lia's Cooking

Sending us all away, Milla heads off for whatever business she has to take care of while Lia and I go look for a carriage to buy. Although I still feel like we should just take one as we're leaving but Lia drags me along carriage shopping despite my protests.

"So what kind of carriage do you think we should get?"

"I'm still in favour of taking someone else's. You save money this way."

"What's up with you always trying to hoard money like this? You have so much money, yet all you do is keep it stored away. What's the point of it if you never spend it?"

"I just have this compulsion to do anything I can to hoard it. Also, it's easier to just take one at random than it is to spend time thinking about what to get and then having to negotiate a price."

"You're not entirely wrong with your argument, but I still feel like something is off. Anyways, we are at the shop. Just let me deal with getting the carriage then I will take you around sightseeing."

I just take a seat nearby and watch as Lia picks a decent looking carriage. While it doesn't look as fancy as the others from outside the hotel, excluding the Giant's carriage, it is still several leagues ahead of our previous one. It Doesn't seem like it will shake nearly as much as the old broken piece of junk. The outside appearance is infinitely nicer and doesn't look as if I would get a splinter just by touching it. But it seems that Lia is having a bit of a problem with the price.

While Lia's clothing is rather simple, the material isn't very easy to get and is rather expensive, and the seller knows this and is just trying to sell the carriage at a value much higher than its real cost. Since I seldom buy anything, I'm not too certain on the prices but from the way Lia is speaking, the 8 gold coins are probably too much.

"You can't be serious, there is no way this worth more than 4 gold coins at the very most. I've seen carriages far better than this for 8 gold coins."

"Don't misunderstand Miss, the reason I charge 8 is because of the exquisite quality and craftsmanship of the wood used to make this. Quality like this is hard to come by and its the last one of its kind that we have, thus it has been given a price of 8 gold coins."

With the two of them still argue I get up and inspect the carriage. The wood is certainly nicer than our old one, but I've seen better when I was messing with those travelling merchants a while ago, and it didn't seem like it was anything special. Looking to the side I still see that the two of them are arguing. There is a much better way to deal with this than peacefully negotiate.

Going through my stomach storage I find a sword I took from some bloke a while back and regurgitate it. Ignoring the looks of fear and surprise, I walk over to the salesperson and bring the blade to their throat.

"One gold for the carriage or your head, pick one."

"The gold! the gold! You can have it for one gold coin, just don't kill me!"

"That's what I thought. Be grateful we are even giving you any money at all."

I swallow the sword again and just to make sure that he doesn't renege on the agreement I head back towards the carriage and swallow that too. Oh, those faces are priceless. The priceless expressions of everyone as they see me open my jaw far beyond what should be possible and swallow a carriage whole are great, this is the shit I live for. Having taken care of our business here I walk out from the shop with Lia following close behind me as she stops me.

"Please never take things out from that storage of yours again when you're in front of me, it's absolutely disgusting. But thank you for the help, I guess in the end the bandit's way is the best choice for stubborn merchants like him."

"Don't get me wrong, I just wanted to hurry up and get to sightseeing. If I hadn't intervened then I doubt either of you would have come to a conclusion for a while... also don't tell Milla."

"ha, so even the great Dragon Cordelia is afraid of an angry Milla."

"... You're lucky you are Dragonoid, otherwise, you'd be dead right now."

"I know, I'm well aware of your temperament. It would be strange for me not to know after spending so much time with you, in fact, most of the people at Mount Dragspear are aware of it. Why do you think the only people who ever visit you are Dragonoids, it's because you clearly show lenience towards us."

"... Just take me sightseeing..."

Lia ends up taking me to a bunch of boring places that I don't really care for, so when she wasn't looking I ran off... and now I'm lost. Well, at least I've got some food and it is great. Even in my past life, I never ate anything this good. The meat is both spiced and cooked to absolute perfection. And this rum goes well with it too. Between literal rocks and dirt to the whatever poison Lia calls her cooking, this is easily the best thing I've ever eaten, and it's just a skewered side dish at a food stall.

But before I can place a second order I hand is placed on both of my shoulders. Looking to my left is Lia and on my right is Milla.

"Just what do you think you're doing? Did I not make myself clear that everyone is supposed to be meeting up for dinner at the Smoking Boar? Yet here you are, snacking on meat skewers half an hour before the meeting time. Lia, pay for her meal, I'm going to drag her to the restaurant while we wait for the others. Moreover, I have some things I need to discuss with you, Cordelia, in regards to tomorrow."

"I swear I'll be back for more of these meat skewers before leaving. They're so much better than Lia's poisonous cooking."

While being dragged away I managed to get those last words out and the old Dragonoid stall owner breaks into a smile upon knowing that I enjoyed his skewers. But Lia quickly pays him and begins chasing us, claiming that her cooking isn't that bad.

But even Milla agrees, "no, your cooking really is that bad."

After a short walk, the three of us arrive at a fancy looking restaurant. A savouring aroma fills the halls as we are guided into a private room.

"Now then, let's talk about the plan for tomorrow."