Another Night at the Isekai Ryoken

    Hifumi is running the yaki grill, crisping up cluckcluck and eel and offal in various sauces. There is a good number of Landers as well as some Adventurers in having dinner or drinks. On a stool near the wall between the bar and the garden sits Sozoku, the in house bard. She's playing something soft and cheerful while a kitten plays under her stool.

    Day trips are a wonder, and even though Tae usually enjoys staying at home, every once in a while she can be coaxed away from Mac Anu, provided it's not too distant a trip. And so it is that they arrive here, a pair of women entering, hands clasped. Since a Ryokan is the destination, they are wearing kimono, the traditional look including geta and tabi.
    They linger just inside the door for a moment. Tae enjoys a deep breath of the delicious scents in the air. Standing at a few inches over five feet, she looks rather tiny next to Wake. The Baroness's lips curve into a kind smile as she leads the way farther in. When she is greeted by.. well, whoever greets her, she will make it clear her intention is to eat and to get the best room for a couple.

    Hifumi lifts a hand and waves. "Hello there welcome to the Isekai Ryoken." one of his girls would normaly greet someone at the door but he's shouting from the bar because he does that kind of thing when new Adventurers come in. "The home of food, from another world." he winks and grins widely. "I serve Japanese staples, and specialties. Would you ladies like a kotatsu, I know it's cold out. Or would you rather have a seat at the bar where the yaki and eel come to you still steaming?" the man seems cheeful even as he turns skewers on a charcoal grill that sits in a 'window' in the wall between the full kitchen and the bar.

    Baroness Wake doesn't even have to consult Tae on this one. "Steaming yaki is pretty hard to turn down," she calls back clearly. She settles with Tae at the bar between two groups of Landers. "It's a pleasure to be here," Wake says warmly as she settles in. "I'm Wake, and this is my fiance, Tae. I have heard of this place more than once, and I'm happy we've finally been able to visit."
    Tae grins almost impishly at the introductions. Something in there amuses her. But when it comes to the food, she's all business. "Your food smells amazing," she nearly croons out. "I feel like we're in excellent hands tonight." She likes the scent so much that she closes her eyes, letting her other senses take over. The sound of the sizzling meat, the scents mingling so enchantingly in the air. "If there is any true magic in the world, it is the kind that is happening here," she declares.

    Hifumi smiles, "I keep the real magic down here." he points under the bar, and a dragon made of flowers and leaves pokes it's head out, a little puff of incense scented smoke drifts from it's snout. "Up here." he nods at the grill "I keep love. So what sounds good? I have udon or miso if you want soup to start you off. I have onigiri, omlet rice, curry rice, or just a side bowl of rice. Seaweed salad, and pickled plumbs for astringents. And of course, I have grunty offal, cluckcluck, and eel on the yaki grill." he flips a skewer "I have real beer, real wine, real liqour, and menu sake... because seriously you can't tell the difference between any drink on the menu system and cheep sake." he winks.

    "Oh my goodness, this is heaven," purs out Tae. She is a foodie, herself. "I would love some rice with a softboiled egg. And please, I adore miso, as well." She isn't afraid to spend on good food, and anyone who cooks with love is a hero in her book.
    Baroness Wake is clearly delighted to see her love so happy. For a time, she just loses herself in that pleasure. But she really does need to pay attention and order as well. "Oh, for drinks, sake for my lady, and a red wine for me. Dry as you can manage, please. I would like the salad and the eel yaki. Actually, if you could give us a small plate of everything off the grill we'd enjoy it all."

    Hifumi chuckles "Alright." he nods to the fox Cait Sith who pours the drinks and gets the soup and salad. Hifumi calls the order for rice and egg through the window and starts loading skewers on the grill, the smell of searing meat and rich sauces filling the air from the smoke off the grill channeling up a chimney. "There we are." he says "Haven't seen you around before, you two aren't with New World. You moving around here for trade, or hunting, or following up a quest line?" he asks flipping skewers as the little flower dragon watches him cook.

    "We've come up from Mac Anu," explains Wake. "We're both part of Olympus, and I hope that doesn't matter. We are here to enjoy time together, to share some of that time with new friends, and to learn more through one of the eternal languages: food."
    Tae laughs softly, "Wow, someone has been listening to me. All my time cooking for you were clearly not wasted." For a time, her focus is rather distracted. The miso has her attention captured. "Your work is greatly appreciated." She looks to the Cait Sith and smiles and nods politely, "Thank you all for this. I love cooking, but I also love enjoying the work of others."

    Hifumi nods and moves several yaki skewers to a plate and sets it between you two. Everything is crispy and the cluck cluck and eel have a rich sauce, the offal is well cleaned and the perfect blend of crispy, chewy, and barnyardy without being stinky or rank. The salad is made with pickeled seaweed and a seed sauce that is quite like seseme.

    The chef/owner says "I was trained in the other world." he says "And now I get to run this place." he slaps his bartender lightly on the shoulder. "And now we get to eat, drink, and be merry and bring that to the people Lander and Adventurer alike right old man?" he grins and the cait sith rolls his eyes at the 'young' man who is his boss.

    Wake doesn't wait long before trying the salad. She politely covers her mouth as she tells Tae, "You /have/ to try this. Right now." Only when the woman does as ordered is Wake satisfied. And Tae is having a divine experience. "Oh my god, it's so close to the real thing. How did you find something like sesame here? Where did you find it?" She has to have this.
    Wake laughs at Tae's enthusiasm and is already trying the grunty. It makes her think of steak, and that's a good thing. The red wine is lifted, cradled in a hand, and she breathes in the scent of it, savoring the memory of the grunty offal's flavor before she takes her first drink. It's her turn to be lost. Fortunately, she does recover rather quickly.
    "You are a king among chefs, my friend," Wake proclaims. "I'll have to tell all my friends to come here. And drag them here if they delay too long.

    Hifumi chuckles "That comes I think from the Dutchy." he says "This is the Nine Tails Dominion." he says with a chuckle "We trade with everyone. My foods from the other world aren't exact, cluck cluck isn't exactly chicken, grunty isn't exactly pork." he shrugs "But with some tasting of raw ingreedients, and talking with the people of the Merchant Princess, and you can get almost anything." he grins "I do my best, I slaved fifteen years at the feet of real masters." he shrugs "And now I get to put all of that to the real test in making my food in another world. Bringing Japanese tastes to the Nine Tails tongues." he says and laughs with one of the Landers at the bar. Sliping a plate of sweet grilled eel in front of the WereFang woman and giving her a wink.

    "It may not be exact, but it's wonderful. You've really found a way to fuse a bit of home with this world." Tae is trying a bit of everything, now. Eel, cluckcluck, grunty, salad, and her rice. She pauses at the end and realizes aloud, "You know, you've done something that I don't think I gave much consideration to. You've brought our world to the Landers. The Landers have always been sharing their world with us, and I've always felt enriched by that. The stories, the music, the food." Something has clicked in her mind, "I really believe it's time I think more carefully about how to give back, as well."
    Baroness Wake sits back, listening as Tae's excitement comes through. She hasn't seen her this animated in some time. She's quite pleased. "Whatever you've come up with, dear, I'm sure it will be great, and I'll support you every step of the way," she says.
    Wake's attention shifts back to Hifumi. "You must get a lot of people coming through here on one quest of another. Do you have any news? I travel frequently, but I haven't had the opportunity to get more than the lay of the land, especially with my work as of late taking up so much of my time."

    Hifumi nods "Well, the undead are becoming quite the problem. Graveyards are being infested, towns are being raided, there are kidnappings. It's a real problem, the goblins seem to be an issue after the last Wave of calamity, the soul eater's attack. The forest was mostly burnt down to help contain the blight but the goblins are getting up to something." he slides a long metal pipe out of his belt and tucks some shag tobacco in it. He holds it down. "Flame dart on low snapdragon." he says the little flower dragon acting as a lighter for him before he lifts the pipe and takes a slow draw of smoke. "Hmm, folks are starting to hit the right levels for for the second half of the spider dungeons... duno if anyone's cleared it yet but they're are some who are past the tenth level mark and can head out and try it once they kill the first floor boss." he hmms "Yuuki won the Grand Balancing of the Scales that was an exciting bit of PvP for sure, looks like the SEA is taking a break from raiding the tower... I dunno if they're hitting areas where being under leveled is a real problem, or if it's the Waves of Calamity that have them slowing down." he shrugs a bit at that and puffs on his kiseru.

    Some of the news, Wake was aware of. She's personally had a few skirmishes with undead and defeated some of the goblins near the blighted forest. She's been quite busy. For all that, though, what most gets her attention is the last bit. "The impact of the Waves is of great concern to me," she says softly. "I have heard some strange things about what followed. It seems that the enemy leader self-identified as a player from another world. Of course we've no means to validate that at the moment, but if proves true, it is a strange thing, indeed."
    Tae detects work talk going on. But that's okay, she knows her fiance cannot relax without that kind of conversation. "The Waves are a danger, and I hope that the clearing parties slow down and make sure they don't get too far ahead of themselves. What good is it to clear several floors if disaster comes of it?" She would add something a bit more biting to that comment, but she doesn't want to alarm the Landers. They are the innocent ones who always seem to end up paying the price during the Waves.

    Hifumi gives a bit of a shrug and puffs his pipe "I haven't been able to confirm anything about Adventurers from any world other than our old world." he says, the man talks as if the old world is gone, almost like a refugee who's moved to a new country. "I'm NineTails, I wasn't able to get out to battle in the last two waves but I do make sure to help keep my neighbors here safe."

    "That's honestly appreciated," says Wake. "I'm from the Dukedom, myself, but I travel very often, and sadly not generally to places nearly as welcoming as this. I think everywhere we go, we need to protect our neighbors, especially the Landers."
    Wake and Tae are both very social creatures, though each in their own way. Tae always wants to know about the people here, while Wake is clearly focused on action and problems to address. It makes for quite a conversation. Only well alone into the evening do they stop. Possibly due to the excellent food making them quite comfortable and relaxed.
    Finally, they ask to be taken to their room for the night. With many a 'thank you' and only after saying 'good night' at least three or four times, they do indeed go to rest.