He seriously considered it, but he respected food too much to soil it uselessly.

He'd just need to find new ways to get some money from them…

For now, while preparing the food, they listened to the chatter. At this time, the groups were spread across the living room, the dining table, and some were already lounging on their beds before they took a bath.

Urgh.

Some people here had no sense of hygiene.

"Yeah, but the other halfkins would've gone berserk no matter if it killed them," another mercenary said after cursing, blaming the halfkins for misbehaving. "Those simple-minded fools just wouldn't listen."

Halfkin were popular because of how exotic they were. Beastkin were extremely strong, and they had special abilities. These abilities were inherited by blood and were said to be quite strong.

However, their fertility was extremely low, and they didn't have the brains to create big empires. At best, they could create small towns, nothing else. They developed more into a network of villages.

The halfkins might get certain abilities associated with the pureblooded beastkin, but they would never manifest as powerfully.

That said, halfkins were also pitiful. They would get only a portion of what was special in the race of each parent, never achieving what the race was known for.

That was to say, they would never be as strong as their beastkin parent, nor would they be able to receive any of the blood inheritances. Similarly, they would not have the intellect or even the fecundity of humans.

At best, they would be physically stronger than normal humans, but the amount of skills they could learn was limited, so if the human was strong and gained a lot of skill, the field was easily leveled.

The beastkins and halfkins were also known to be very simple-minded and had a lack of critical thinking skills as a default. So they ended up in unsavory oaths to serve nobles without knowing it.

Before the armistice, they managed to secure their place as one of the powerful races, simply because they were belligerent by default. The motto was to attack, or even kill, outsiders first and then ask later.

This was unlike half-elves, who were still seen as superior because of their stronger magic ability and intellect compared to humans, though they also had a problem with their numbers.

Halflings, the cross between dwarves and humans, lived relatively normally in the human territories, too, except for some bullying and some mockery, but it rarely turned to something bad enough for authorities to make a scene.

(Well, this was what Durgan said, anyway. Finn doubted it was really that mild). That said, Finn was fairly sure that if Durgan was bullied, he would definitely make a scene for him.

In any case, the food was completed about an hour later, and it was set up ala carte on the table.

They looked delicious, and the famished big men immediately dug in, eyes widening as soon as they buried their teeth into the savory meat. They did not expect it to be so good!

"I have never eaten something so delicious!" they commented.

"I feel like I can eat this for days on end!"

"It feels like my tongue is taken elsewhere!"

And so on.

"Does anyone have assessment tools?" Finn asked, and the merchants looked at him.

They were chewing their food and enjoying it, and they realized it really felt special. Most high-ranking merchants and mercenaries owned an assessment tool or skill, and they used it on their food.

"E-Essence food! All of them!!"

"What?"

The flash of greed passed by several eyes again, and Finn's lips twitched, swearing he wished he had slow-acting poison somewhere. Again, though, he didn't want to disrespect food like that.

"As you can see, these are all valuable food. This means that your money is not wasted at all," Finn said, setting up the stage for the upped price for food later on.

"Hey, wanna serve as my family's chef? I'll pay you well," one merchant said, and the others chimed in and offered a higher salary.

They all had the attitude of competing for him, but their tone assumed that he'd definitely take their offers.

He did not want to poison them. Repeat. Brainwash oneself. No. Poison—

His attention was pulled back to the present when the big man started to clear the table. The snobbish merchants made sure to get their share, disgusted about eating with the mercenaries (they were too weak to make a scene about it), but also getting obsessed with the food.

"It's really essence food…" Vara, a merchant, said. "This is much more delicious than the ones I had in Town, and those cost thousands of danas per serving."

The average meal in a typical town was around 70-100 danas, and 20 danas would be spent per meal if one was just eating light gruel and old bread. The cheapest of the cheap Essence Food was easily hundreds of times more expensive, primarily because of the rarity of ingredients, as well as the wasted materials when it failed.

Another quality of essence food was not just their effect, but the fact that they had much longer shelf life too. It was basically having a potion, but with longer efficiency.

Anyway, the bidding for him continued while Finn fought with himself whether he could disrespect food and poison these bastards.

"I can also provide you with a small house."

"I can let you marry my precious daughter!" Vara said, and the other merchants scoffed at him.

"That female brindlejaw?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" "YOU'RE CALLING MY DAUGHTER FAT?!"

"Isn't she??"

Anyway, before it could turn to a fight, Finn raised his hand. "We're not for hire. And it's a trade secret," Finn said. "This food can only be eaten here, in the Wanderer's Refuge! You know how essence is denser in these parts, right?"

"Anyway, didn't I say the food would be worth it?"

He leaned down. "For the next meal, I can give you guys a few options: Cook yourself, I have a campfire outside you can use for free.

"You can buy special barbecue sauces from me for 1 gold or 3 magic cores. It's a sauce you add to your meat while cooking. While it wouldn't turn it to an essence food, it would elevate the taste by probably 1000%.

"And another: We can cook a set meal for you. It would be starch, meat dish, and a vegetable dish for 5 gold or 15 essence cores."

He smiled. "What do you guys think?"

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