Chapter 92 Underground Food
‘Gobron’ refers to ‘Shark Lizard Beast’ in Dwarven language.
Gobron's Nest is the only inn in Aldus King City that is willing to accommodate non-grey dwarves.
It is built at the northern end of the Dark Lake District, in a group of small caves underneath the Blade Market.
Through the cold and damp corridor, you can reach the central cavern that serves as the restaurant.
With the restaurant as the center, the builders dug out small guest rooms with different shapes extending from all directions.
Although these rooms are small and uncomfortably dark, they are simple and sturdy and can provide a certain degree of security.
"Are we still going to the Smoky Quartz Cave today?" Xisaya opened the door curtain made of Los animal skin, put her right hand on her chest, bowed her slender waist, and entered the small box.
Through the flickering candlelight in the darkness, she saw that Brian had been sitting at the stone table waiting for her for a long time.
Yesterday, she and Brian went to the Smoky Quartz Cave, where the stone giants live.
Who would have thought that this group of stone giants, who were indifferent to the world and liked to live a peaceful and quiet life in seclusion, drove them out mercilessly without even letting Brian say a few words.
If she hadn't reacted quickly enough, she would have been hit by a boulder the size of a millstone thrown by a stone giant guard who looked like he was about to go crazy.
Although she couldn't help laughing when she was lying alone on the bed afterwards and recalling Brian's embarrassment when he ran away, but for some reason, when she saw him sitting in front of her again, she completely laughed. He couldn't come out anymore, and even felt a little inexplicably guilty.
"That's right." Brian didn't bother to look up at the sword mage who walked in, and just replied in a slightly depressed tone.
Hearing this, Hesiah sat lightly on the cold stone chair.
She supported her face with her hands, stared at Brian across from her, and stretched out her white, slender fingers slightly boredly to twist the hair hanging down the side of her face.
She saw a look of sadness that she rarely saw on his face that had strong lines yet still had the softness of an elf, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows were as deep as furrows.
The two of them have been together almost inseparable for such a long time, letting her know that whenever Brian starts to concentrate on thinking about a problem, he often has this standard frowning look, but she can clearly feel it. , this time he really encountered something troublesome.
Hisiah felt a little embarrassed when she thought that not only could she not be of any help, but she was also secretly amused.
She glanced at Brian secretly, twirled her fingertips around her hanging hair, thought seriously for a moment, and tentatively expressed her thoughts to him:
"Brian, I don't think we need to keep an eye on the stone giant. If that doesn't work, let's go back to the surface first. In this case, I can help you bring some reinforcements."
Hope Saya thought of the Duchess and the Mage Tower in Arabay City.
She believed that as long as she returned to the surface, with her own identity and status, and with the help of the Mage Tower, she could instantly teleport an elite team from the Battle Mage Legion over to assist Brian.
In this situation, this is almost the only way she can help him.
"I appreciate your kindness, but this method is obviously a bit ill-considered." Brian raised his eyelids to look at Hesiah and rejected her proposal without thinking:
"Because the area from King Aldus City to the surface is the Mokou Mountains, which is at least half a month away from Arabe City."
In fact, he also concealed some things from the sword mage.
Although he knew that King Aldus City definitely had a passage to the surface, he did not know where exactly this passage was.
I just roughly know that the passage is hidden in the area where the derro dwarves live.
Fortunately, he also knew that there was a conspicuous broken spire near the passage, which prevented him from searching aimlessly.
".Obviously a little thoughtless." The question Xisiya was thinking about was obviously not the focus. She repeated these words secretly, feeling a little speechless in her heart.
Because in her opinion, lack of consideration and lack of brains actually mean the same thing.
In other words, he was roundaboutly saying that she had no brains, and that he was kind enough to help him, but he was ridiculed instead.
Forget it, seeing your scowl, let’s start with I won’t argue with you anymore, Hesiah looked at Brian and thought magnanimously.
After all, she still has information about the Nese Scroll. She believes that when things here are over, Brian will definitely take the initiative to find her. Take it back.
Thinking back on it afterwards, she was shocked to find that a cautious person like him would blatantly place something as precious as the Nese Scroll in front of her.
She immediately realized that Brian's purpose of doing this was probably to arouse her curiosity, and when she brought it up stupidly and ignorantly, she happened to ask and explore Cormier. The whereabouts of the kingdom's two Nese scrolls.
In this case, she would be even less likely to let him easily get the opportunity to view the scroll. She must make good use of this opportunity and make him pay something.
Hesiah's silver-grey eyes wandered up and down Brian's body, and a subtle smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Of course Brian didn't know that his casual words had already caused the sword mage opposite to start thinking about himself, and at the same time, he didn't look up to see the other party's weird smile.
He was silent for a moment, then suddenly clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and said to her with a very firm attitude:
"We will go there again today. If the stone giant guard still dares to block the way, we will beat him until he begs for mercy." So far, I don’t believe that such a big movement will not attract the attention of their clan leader.”
In fact, he doesn’t want to offend these neutral stone giants at all, but if he wants to carry out his plan, he must. Get help from the stone giant clan.
And the most important thing is that these stone men invented a very magical magic gem 'Stone Whisperer Crystal', which is something he must get.
However, what depressed him was that the stone men guarding the Smoky Quartz Cave were as smelly and hard as his racial characteristics. No matter how he explained it, even the demon lord brought it up, but they just refused to report it. He let them go without spreading rumors or believing them. In the end, he even hit the two of them on the head with a stone as big as a millstone.
Since it was too soft, he could only get something hard. He wanted to see if the head of this iron-headed stone giant was as smelly and hard as the stones in the latrine.
Just after he returned to the hotel yesterday, he activated a four-ring evocation spell "Bigby Battering Ram" from the arcane fire, so he used his head to test its power first.
After thinking about the problem, Brian's frown slowly relaxed, showing a smile, and said to Hesiah, "Let's eat later. After the meal, we will go directly to smoke. Crystal Cave."
"Yeah." Seeing Brian's familiar confident smile appear again, Hesaya relaxed, smiled at him instinctively, and nodded gently.
She felt that since she met Brian, she rarely used her brain to think about problems.
She always subconsciously thinks that he definitely has his reasons for choosing to do this, and she just needs to implement it seriously.
This made her feel vaguely that she might have really taken over the position of guard.
Although the sword mages of the Kingdom of Cormyr are almost all the best guards in the royal family, she did not choose the sword mages for the position of guard.
Never mind that much for now, let’s wait until we return to the surface. Hesaya found a fairly pertinent reason for herself and forcibly dispelled the chaotic thoughts in her mind.
It won’t take a while.
Two halfling servants brought the hot food over.
Seeing the fragrant mushroom soup, Brian immediately threw away the stone giant's nonsense.
In his opinion, nothing is as important as filling his own stomach.
From the time he left the small world where he was born until now, he found that half a year had passed without him knowing it.
After escaping from the ancient Orens city of the dark elves, he spent almost all his time immersed in hunting underground monsters and gaining experience points.
Just like a wilderness ranger on the surface, away from the hotbed and hot bath life habits, embarking on thrilling escape and survival journeys.
This is why after he came to the gray dwarf city, he knew that there were very urgent things to do at the moment, but he still did not forget to use his own conditions and rare leisure time to enjoy a comfortable life. Life.
Because he knows the importance of combining work and rest.
Even in this world where gods dominate and mortals can master extraordinary powers, mental fatigue cannot be easily restored by magic or potions.
For Brian, burning life is not about overdrafting. No matter how strong your body is and full of mental strength, you will get tired sometimes.
Combining work and rest is a survival strategy for stepping on the ladder of the strong, and the body is the capital to support becoming stronger, and rest is the prelude to running wildly.
As a noble master, he would not be like a monk who likes to explore his own potential through ascetic practices that are almost self-mutilating.
Moreover, even the monks themselves will involuntarily stop when their bodies reach a certain limit, open their bodies and minds, relax wholeheartedly, and use meditation to Quietly realize the results of your practice.
Therefore, rationally arranging effective practice according to the time relationship is an important condition for him to learn spells. Because of the improvement in spell learning efficiency, what is most needed is a clear and agile mind.
As a spell caster, proper rest and relaxation are not only beneficial, but also necessary.
This can not only improve the efficiency of his research on arcane knowledge, but also keep his brain awake and agile forever, so that he will not become incompetent, furious, and lose his mind over trivial things.
When a person cannot see or care about anything except magic, he is actually crazy. A madman who has no sense even talks about studying mysteries and exploring the unknown places of the multiverse.
Especially in a desolate world like the Underdark.
In the surface world, animals kill to obtain food in order to survive, but the creatures that haunt this underground dark labyrinth do not kill to survive.
Because survival itself is their ordeal.
Affected by the radiation of the ley lines, they will be driven by various reasons to commit murder, madness, hatred, and the evil and out-of-control atmosphere that etches every stone.
They kill because only in killing can they find relief.
When your eyes have seen the phantoms in the underdark, witnessed the inescapable doomsday scene, and are always wandering in the dark and twisting tunnels.
Even if your heart is strong enough, it will be affected to varying degrees.
In this case, only proper relaxation can relieve this oppressive and breathless feeling and prevent it from collapse and falling into madness.
When Brian was a slave and stayed in the ancient city of Orens, he can still vividly remember the creepy kiss of the drow wizard Jonara.
If he had not killed the drow wizard with his own hands, he would have found comfort in Santila, a rebellious drow girl, that made him happy both physically and mentally.
He might actually leave some psychological shadow.
Recalling the unpleasant memories, Brian laughed and immediately patted his forehead to dispel them. He focused on the food on the stone table and started to serve the soup in a bowl.
"What kind of soup did you order this time?" Hesiah took the thick soup handed over by Brian, sniffed it, and asked curiously.
"All the mushroom soup in the Underdark." Brian said to her with a smile.
"What a strange name. Does it have any special meaning?" Hesiah asked as usual.
“Actually, this hearty mushroom soup is named after the tradition of the svirfnebeasts, who, in the tense atmosphere of entertaining guests, frantically rush in and out of their pantries and fungus gardens to bring out the treats. Guest food is sometimes called 'welcome soup'"
While tasting the delicious mushroom soup, Brian recalled the knowledge in his mind and said to her:
"Mushroom soup itself is a meal for the deep gnomes. It is filled with colorful mushrooms, green beans, peas, sweet flint corn, and red bell peppers from the surface world. Here, the gray dwarves boldly eat the fungus. The ingredients of , fire moss and luminous mushrooms are mixed together to make people feel warm and comfortable when drinking it, which can resist the damp and cold atmosphere in the ground."
"It looks pretty good" Xisayya looked into the soup. Colorful mushrooms, she seemed to think of something, and said with a smile:
"Brian, you know, when I saw the red mushrooms in the soup, I suddenly thought of Timo's favorite song "Red Umbrella, White Pole", did you teach him this song? "
"You think too much, how could I teach him such a childish children's song?" Brian said. face, curling his lips in pretended disdain.
“That’s true.”
Hesiah nodded with conviction. She took a small sip of mushroom soup gracefully, feeling the unique taste of the underground world. She nodded slightly with satisfaction and said:
"Listen When you explained the ingredients and origin of this soup, I suddenly remembered that there seems to be a similar food in Sword Bay, but it was too long and I couldn’t remember the name.”
“It’s all the seafood soup in Sword Bay. Let's go." Brian finished the last sip of soup in the bowl, filled it with another bowl, and said to her:
"I used to travel around the port cities in the Sword Coast region, such as Neverwinter City and Bo Available in both Dur's Gate and Waterdeep, this timeless sea-breeze dish features cod, haddock, clams and mussels, all bathed in a light fish and tomato broth. , and finish it with licorice-flavored aperitif and a little fennel.
Some taverns even make their own special version, adding crispy red pepper, garlic and olive oil to the seafood. Mixed with Aldani sauce, the seafood soup is also perfect for soaking toasted herb bread, and no adventurer or rogue pirate will refuse such a perfect soup. ”
Listening to Brian's introduction, Hesiah was so surprised that he was speechless.
She found that the knowledge possessed by this battle mage was too rich.
Although he is a half-elf, it can be seen from his bright eyes and face that he is not even thirty years old.
Hisaya couldn't help but begin to doubt his true identity.
“What a pity.”
Brian glanced at her and sighed with fake disappointment, "The surface world leading here is the Kingdom of Cormyr. This means that for a long time in the future, we will not be able to go to the distant Sword Coast to taste this kind of food." Delicious."
"That's not necessarily the case." Hesiah shook his head slightly and gave Brian a mysterious smile.
“In fact, in our city of Susa, there is also a tavern where you can make this stewed seafood soup. If you have a chance, I will take you to taste it.”
“ Susar City?" Brian raised his eyebrows in surprise, looked at the sword mage opposite, and showed an inexplicable smile. He put down the spoon in his hand and said doubtfully:
"Honestly, Cormyr I have also stayed in the Susar Imperial City for a long time, but I never knew about this.”
"That's because this tavern is built on a thousand-year-old oak tree at Susal Pier."
Seeing that Brian finally had something he didn't know, and asked him for advice, Hesiah was very helpful. A smile appeared on her lips, and she immediately introduced him enthusiastically: "It's called the Green Dragon Hotel. It's a hotel opened by a green dragon who believes in the god of nature. It's also called the Last Home Hotel."< br>
It is indeed the final destination, because this green dragon died in the Dragon Cult's Dragon Madness Rebellion, Brian thought to himself.
"You were not born in Arabe City, how come you know so much about a corner hotel like Susar." He nodded thoughtfully and asked coldly.
“Huh?. That’s because I learned my skills as a sword mage in Susar City.”
Hesaya was stunned for a moment, quickly organized his words, and explained to him, "When I was eight years old, I was sent to the city of Susar to learn arcane arts and sword skills from the palace mage."
"That's it."
Brian did not continue to ask. He chuckled, pointed to another delicacy on the table with his spoon, and said to her: "Try the special food of the gray dwarves, the Underdark. Lotus pancake with special fire moss sauce'"
"This dish is sometimes called 'mushroom double dish'. This fiery dwarf delicacy can even arouse your favorite spicy food. 's taste buds for tieflings."
He pointed to the plate of food that resembled chips and petal-shaped slices, "These tubers are made from the bright white roots of Underdark lotus and bluecap fungi, steamed. Then cut into crispy slices, perfect for dipping”
Before Brian could finish speaking, Hesiah couldn't help but twist a petal-shaped slice, dip it into the sauce on the plate, and taste it with relish.
However, to her disbelief, this crispy and sweet slice had just been put into her mouth, ready to be chewed slowly.
She immediately felt a spicy taste like a raging fire, going straight into her throat and stimulating the tip of her tongue. It was so spicy that she felt that all the bones in her body were burning and painful. Her throat seemed to be filled with flames and could spray. A ball of fire came out.
“Why is this so spicy?” Hesiah, who was blushing from the spicy food, looked at Brian complainingly. She threw away the food in her hand, stuck out her tongue, and kept pumping it like a puppy. Air conditioning.
Looking at Hesiah’s red face and funny appearance, Brian couldn’t help laughing. He threw a spherical fungus to her and said to her calmly:
"Actually, the highlight of this dish is the fire moss, which is made from ancient orange fire moss fungi and is ground into a delicious hot sauce. If you can't bear the spiciness, you must eat it with water polo mushrooms. You won't be able to After I finished speaking, he started eating directly, and he still blamed me." Hesiah quickly took the water polo mushroom handed over by Brian and put it in his mouth.
She found that although the ball-shaped fungus was bland and tasteless, it was as chewy as a sponge, and the spicy taste in her mouth receded very quickly.
After the pleasant meal, Brian stood up from his seat with satisfaction and greeted Hesiah: "Let's go."
"Where to go?" Hesiah stood up Follow his footsteps and ask questions knowingly.
"Where else can we go."
Brian did not look back, quickened his pace, and said as he walked, "Go to the Smoky Quartz Cave and beat up the stone men blocking the road."
He knew After leaving this time, I am afraid that I will rarely have the opportunity to come to this hotel again.
(End of this chapter)