Chapter 82: 82. Mushroom meat burger

Arendale is a fairly bustling city, home to various types of creatures, such as humans, fairies, elves, dwarves, half-humans, and others. Arendale is a large trading city, ruled by a duke who is known to be very powerful and wise.

Riki and Twaila were just walking around there. It happened to be daytime in Arendale, so it was very crowded.

So far, Riki had bought three items. They were fruits similar to apples but black in color, large oval-shaped red avocados, and large oranges the size of volleyballs.

Having already bought three types of unique fruits, Riki was now looking for cakes or bread. For some reason, Riki was always interested in food. Since he had the identity of a merchant, he could immediately join the market and sell anything.

The currencies there were bronze coins, silver coins, and gold coins.

A small bronze coin was equivalent to one dollar, a large bronze coin was equivalent to ten dollars, a small silver coin was equivalent to twenty dollars, while a large silver coin was equivalent to fifty dollars. Then, there are small gold coins, which are equivalent to one hundred dollars, and large gold coins, which are equivalent to five hundred dollars.

And the gold coin that Riki has is a large gold coin.

At first, Riki was confused by the currency there, but a few minutes later he had adapted.

According to Riki, the price of food in Arendale is quite expensive, because the cheapest is one large bronze coin.

After looking around, they found several bakeries selling various types of bread, such as wheat bread, plain bread, baguettes, and others.

Riki bought bread from three shops, and suddenly his mission was complete.

[You have completed your mission, which was to buy ten items with a total price of one large gold coin and one large silver coin]

[Your reward is an additional 300 large gold coins]

Although Riki thought the prices in Arendale were quite expensive, with just one large gold coin, Riki had gotten a lot of food. For fruit, Riki bought one sack of each, weighing about five kilograms. As for bread, Riki bought three large boxes from each shop.

So, it makes sense that Riki spent around $550 on food there.

However, Riki still felt unsatisfied. He wanted to buy a few other things, and his choice fell on a merchant whose wares were completely ignored by everyone else. In fact, Riki’s detection skill could show that the merchant was selling good quality items.

Riki approached the vendor and noticed a mushroom that looked ordinary, white in color and shaped like an umbrella. His detection skills told him that it was a white mushroom with a savory taste that would make any dish delicious. It was suitable as an additional ingredient to enhance the flavor of a dish.

In addition to mushrooms, the vendor also sold various types of fresh cheese of the highest quality.

"Are you interested in buying any of my goods?" asked the vendor, smiling slightly, because he already knew that his goods were not attractive at all.

Riki nodded, "Yes, I’ll buy everything."

The vendor was silent, showing no reaction, even though Riki thought he would be happy.

"Wait a minute, I think I heard you wrong."

"I want to buy everything, all of this," said Riki.

The vendor was very surprised, "Are you sure?"

Riki nodded, "Of course I’m sure, how much is the total?"

"Oh, thank you, sir! I thought I wouldn’t sell anything today because all of this is unsold merchandise in Arendale. They don’t like white mushrooms, or rather, they don’t know how to cook them. But in my village, these mushrooms are very popular because they taste good. The total is two small gold coins."

Riki bought one large gold coin from the merchant.

"I’m sorry, but I don’t have any change."

Riki shook his head, "No need, just consider this as thank you, because I finally found these mushrooms, and also... the quality of this cheese is also very good. Buy whatever your children want so they’ll be happy." Riki said, then he left immediately afterwards.

The merchant couldn’t believe that there was such a generous person in Arendale.

"May you always be blessed, sir," he muttered.

***

"Can I help you, master?" asked Twaila.

Riki turned to the fairy flying beside him.

"Today you will replace me to go to the Oceanica Hotel with Jake. Report on the condition of the hotel, or what needs to be repaired," said Riki.

"Well, I’m also very happy to become human, because they really like me, especially Jake, he’s so nice and handsome! He looks like the duke of Arendale," said the fairy.

Riki chuckled, even the fairy knew who was handsome.

"Really?"

The fairy nodded, "That’s right, the duke of Arendale’s name is Daniel, he’s a year older than Jake, but they look very similar! You have to meet the duke of Arendale, master!"

"No need, Twaila, I’m only there to look for business opportunities. And this morning, I want to prove whether the mushrooms and cheese from there are better than the ingredients in this world," said Riki.

That morning, Riki woke up at six o’clock. He couldn’t wait to make the food he had been thinking about all night.

Namely, mushroom burgers. So, he mixed minced meat for the burgers with chopped white mushrooms. Riki also used two types of cheese for the burgers.

Because Riki wanted some people to try it and wanted to know their reactions, he made several mushroom meat burgers.

"Later, give this to Jake, okay? And the other one is for you. Remember to share it with Jake, then ask him what he thinks about this burger, whether it’s delicious or not."

"Isn’t my opinion enough?"

Riki looked at Twaila with annoyance.

One thing about the fairy that annoyed Riki was that she really liked to eat. Riki had to stop her from eating all the food, otherwise it would all go into her small stomach.

"Of course not, because everyone’s opinion is different—I’ll give you lots of food later if you do everything well," said Riki.

He thought having a fairy assistant would be free, but it turned out not to be. She ate all the food she saw.

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

That morning felt very long. Riki was too excited to make something new. Not only did he make burgers, he also made a vegetable stir-fry. He used long beans, green eggplant, and white mushrooms. He added chopped beef leftovers from making burgers. Riki only seasoned it with chili, shallots, garlic, sweet soy sauce, and a little pepper. He didn’t need to add any other seasonings; it already tasted very good.

After finishing breakfast alone with Twaila, Riki finally got ready to go to university. He had two classes with two different lecturers.

He didn’t forget to bring some burgers to share, because he wanted to see people’s reactions when they ate them.

Just as Riki finished getting ready, he received a call from Anton, who said he was already downstairs to pick Riki up.

At that moment, Riki didn’t refuse, because he had the same class as Anton. Even when they were in the car, Anton didn’t say anything. He just sat quietly and drove the car.

Riki realized that Anton looked like he was carrying a heavy burden.

"Anton, are you okay?" asked Riki.

Once again, Anton showed his fake smile.

"I’m fine, really."

"No, you don’t look fine, I can see it. Tell me what’s wrong, maybe I can help," said Riki.

Anton turned to Riki, "It’s precisely because of that..."

"What?"

"It’s precisely because you’ve been so good to me, always helping me even though I used to be so mean to you."

Riki fell silent. He never imagined that his kindness could hurt others. Riki knew for sure that Anton felt very guilty right now. Especially his mother, and also someone he had always considered his father, had done something completely unforgivable. They had been arrested and were under investigation.

Anton probably couldn’t believe that his mother had been so cruel to Riki’s family, and he didn’t think he deserved Riki’s help at this moment.

"Then work harder, earn a lot of money, and you can pay me back what I lent you," said Riki.

Actually, he had already given up on the money to pay off the bank debt. But Riki didn’t want Anton to feel even more guilty because of it.

"Of course, from now on I will be your personal driver and you can tell me to do anything. I’m serious, so..."

"You quit working for Kaivan?"

Anton nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! That way, I can help you directly, right? You have so many businesses, I might be able to help you too."

Riki knew that people changed quickly. But he didn’t expect that the person he used to hate, who he always cursed for always doing bad things to him, was now his brother, and what’s more, he could also be a genuinely good person.

It was really ridiculous.

On the other hand, the person he used to love, Hannah, had become a complete stranger. Riki couldn’t even recognize her anymore.

"Well then, Anton, take this, we have to share it with our friends." Riki handed Anton a box of burgers he had cooked that morning.

"Oh, what’s this?"

"If people like it, then I’ll sell it later."

Anton’s eyes widened.

It turned out that what Zeno said last night, that Riki always had business ideas every day, wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.

"Are you going to open a burger restaurant?"

"Maybe."