The Omnipurpose Restaurant in Dungeon City

“Please make a dish that is hard but becomes soft.”
“A dish that is hard but becomes soft, huh.”
Following Seria, it’s another abstract order.
Well, at least it’s about the state of the food, so is it a bit less abstract?
‘Interesting. I don’t dislike this kind of order.’
Rather, it’s a favorite.
Like last time, Jin liked these abstract orders.
It’s not like an ordinary restaurant, there’s atmosphere and romance!
Isn’t this the reason why Jin insists on maintaining custom orders, to receive such unique orders?
“By the way, customer? Do you perhaps have some worries?”
So the reason Jin followed up with a question was also from that romance, or more precisely, from the meddlesome image of a drama chef.
“What do you mean all of a sudden?”
“People who make abstract orders usually have some kind of worry. So I wondered if you might be the same, customer.”
Like Seria, people who make abstract requests not directly related to food often have some worry.
If they really want to eat something, they’ll mention specific information like the taste, texture, or ingredients of the food they want to eat.
They don’t make abstract requests like “food that’s hard but becomes soft”, that’s what I mean.
‘If they had said a soft dish with hard-textured toppings, that would be different.’
It seemed that wasn’t the case, so I asked.
If needed, I could provide some counseling.
“….That’s quite a sharp insight. Did you perhaps already know about me?”
“No? Who are you?”
What’s this? Suddenly pulling a “Do you know me?” here?
Where does this confidence come from that everyone would know you if asked like that…
“I am Fiona Valen of the Griffin’s Claw Knight Order.”
“Ah!”
Oh, why is it actually someone I know?
Hearing the name, a character came to Jin’s mind.
“The White Golem of the Knight Order?”
“That’s correct.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It slipped out.”
“No, it’s fine. I hear it often, so I don’t mind.”
The expressionless female knight in front of me, Fiona Valen, was a major NPC belonging to the Knight Order.
She was a somewhat famous NPC with the nickname “The White Golem of the Knight Order” due to her robot-like rigid handling of matters, expressionless face, and cool silver-haired cold beauty image.
She was also like the face of the Knight Order, often appearing in occasional Knight Order-related events.
I should have noticed from the silver hair and female knight description, but when it becomes reality, it’s not easy to recall clearly.
By the way, she’s incredibly strong. She also has high influence within the Knight Order.
In other words, she’s just the right person to make connections with, which is the purpose of opening this Omnipurpose Restaurant.
Jin’s attitude, which was already submissive to powerful knights, became even more ingratiating.
“It seems you do know.”
“Yes, so Fiona-ssi?”
“Call me Lady Valen.”
Jin, who was trying to act familiar, immediately raised the honorific at the knight’s stern rebuke.
“Ah, yes, I’ve heard rumors about Lady Valen.”
“Then it seems you don’t know me directly.”
“I suppose so.”
While Jin does know about Fiona, it’s only information obtained from the game, so it’s not a lie.
“If you had said you knew me directly just now, I would have suspected you as a suspicious person trying to dig up information about me.”
Fiona makes a scary statement expressionlessly and nonchalantly.
To someone who doesn’t know her, it might sound like a suffocating threat, but.
To Jin, who knows Fiona to some extent, it sounded different.
‘So it’s kind of like a joke.’
You can tell by looking at her eyebrows.
Didn’t they round by about 0.5mm from the perfect expressionlessness earlier?
She’s throwing what she considers a joke and feeling proud of herself.
According to the “Guide to Distinguishing Fiona’s Emotions Based on Eyebrow Changes” compiled by some pervert, that’s how it is.
‘Come to think of it, analyzing and compiling that in detail was no ordinary perversion.’
Anyway, thanks to that, I’m using it well now.
If she really suspected me, she wouldn’t openly tell me to be careful because she could suspect me, she’d just quietly observe.
A professional knight, especially Fiona, wouldn’t do that, so it must be a joke.
“I’m glad I only heard rumors, haha.”
That’s why I could laugh it off without trembling.
Perhaps pleased that her joke was well-received, Fiona asked in a (slightly) softer tone than before.
“Then, did you really notice just from my order? I never thought I’d be caught out while ordering food. Are all chefs so sharp?”
“Well? I guess it differs from person to person? I don’t know much about other chefs myself.”
“Hmm, anyway, you’re right that I do have a worry. It seems that did influence my abstract order as you said.”
“May I ask about it, if that’s okay?”
“That would be a bit difficult. I can’t share personal matters with someone who hasn’t been verified yet.”
A sharp refusal.
As expected of someone who pathologically adheres to rules.
Well, it’s natural if you think about it.
After all, Jin just received a grace period. I’m still in a preliminary criminal status.
Given Fiona’s personality, there’s no way she’d spill everything to such a person.
“I understand. Then, could you tell me after the verification is complete?”
“If there are no problems, then yes, that’s fine.”
In that case, it’s simple.
All I need to do is pass the verification and resolve her suspicions.
‘In the end, it’s just about serving delicious food like usual, right?’
Yes, a chef speaks through their cooking, don’t they?
If I serve a dish that satisfies the customer’s order, the problem will be solved.
It would be even better if it helps resolve her worries, like with Seria.
‘Then, what kind of food should I make?’
There’s no point in wondering what food Fiona wants to eat.
Because even Fiona herself probably doesn’t know what she wants to eat.
She didn’t come here for a meal in the first place, did she?
‘Something hard but becomes soft. It seems difficult at first glance, but it’s actually not that hard.’
There are several things that come to mind right away.
There are dishes that Fiona might be familiar with, and dishes she might not be familiar with.
Both main dishes and desserts are possible.
Among the thoughts floating in his mind, Jin finally chose one.
“Alright, I’ve decided. Lady Valen?”
“Yes, what dish is it?”
Perhaps influenced by their earlier conversation, Fiona’s eyebrows showed subtle interest as Jin confidently announced:
“The dish I’ll serve is stir-fried cartilage.”
“….Bones, you say?”
Of course, Fiona’s reaction was close to disbelief beyond surprise.
Well, he said the cooking ingredient was bones, not something else.
“Bones would certainly be hard, but how exactly do you eat bones?”
“Well? I’ll let you know after you’ve eaten it.”
Yes, it’s a secret~
With that kind of reaction, it wouldn’t be fun to tell her in advance.
Leaving behind Fiona, who was showing a very rare expression of confusion, Jin started preparing the dish.
First, he takes out cartilage cut to appropriate sizes from the refrigerator and washes them clean.
“So it really was bones. Not a metaphor or anything.”
“Of course, I’m clearly cooking real bones.”
Fiona, who was watching discreetly, confirmed that it wasn’t a metaphor or wordplay but real bones, and made a subtle expression.
Analyzing as a Fiona expression expert, Jin interpreted it as surprise, worry, and a bit of expectation? That was roughly the feeling.
She seemed worried if it would really be edible food, but also expectant about the unusual ingredient.

‘If that’s the case, I should live up to those expectations.’
He puts the cleanly washed cartilage in a pan, adds just enough water to barely cover them, adds sake and pepper, and parboils them.
This process removes the gamey smell from the cartilage and impurities stuck to the bones.
‘I’ll let this boil for a while.’
In the meantime, I need to prepare other vegetables and seasoning sauce.
The vegetables are the basic trio for stir-fry dishes.
Green onions, onions, and cabbage are prepared by cutting them into bite-sized pieces.
“By the way, Lady Valen? Can you handle spicy food?”
“Spicy food, you say? If I must say, I can eat it. As a knight, I’m used to pain. But why do you ask?”
“I’m not daring to torture you or anything, so please don’t be suspicious. Look at this chart and choose a level that seems okay for you.”
When he handed over the spiciness level chart completed thanks to Seria and asked her to choose, Fiona chose a spiciness level as instructed, though still suspicious.
It was clearly visible through her eyebrows that she intended to wait and see until the food came out.
‘And the spiciness level she chose is 1.5.’
It’s the best level for average people to eat.
Of course, by this world’s standards.
Based on that standard, he makes a seasoning sauce by mixing red pepper powder and gochujang as a base, along with soy sauce, sugar, starch syrup, oyster sauce, etc.
Bubble bubble-
By the time he finished preparing the vegetables and seasoning sauce, the water parboiling the cartilage was also boiling.
‘At this point, I’ll discard the water.’
Swoosh-
After discarding the water and draining the cartilage, he puts them back in the pan, adds cooking oil, and turns up the heat.
Whoosh!
He stir-fries until the remaining moisture evaporates, then adds the prepared seasoning sauce and mixes it in.
Sizzle sizzle-
As the savory smell of the oil from the bit of meat stuck to the cartilage and the seasoning starts to spread as it caramelizes.
“It’s quite an appetite-stimulating smell.”
Sniff sniff-
Even Fiona, who was watching, started showing interest by sniffing.
“Not yet, it’s not over here.”
This is the highlight, when Fiona’s interest is focused.
He throws the vegetables into the sufficiently heated pan!
Swoosh!
Whoosh!
He shows off a flashy fire show while swirling the pan widely.
“Ooh… This is, quite spectacular. Was the reason for fully exposing the kitchen to show this kind of sight?”
“That’s one of the reasons.”
No matter how rigid a knight she is, it seems the cooking show she saw for the first time in front of her eyes was quite exciting.
Her gaze followed every time flames rose from the pan.
Her eyebrows kept twitching, which was an extremely intense reaction for Fiona.
“Now I’ll finish it up.”
Once the vegetables are properly cooked with the fire flavor, he drizzles a bit of sesame oil at the end, stir-fries a few more times, then transfers it to a plate.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds prettily on top, and.
“Stir-fried cartilage is complete.”
Ding-!
[Stir-fried Cartilage]
[Permanently increases Strength +1, Agility +1 upon first consumption]
[Increases Joint Flexibility +20% for 12 hours upon consumption]
The completion guarantee message arrives.
As always, after skimming through it, he placed the plate with the completed stir-fried cartilage in front of Fiona.
“Ah, this is actually a drinking snack, but would you like some alcohol too?”
“I’m still on duty, so alcohol is not appropriate. And don’t forget that you haven’t obtained a liquor sales permit yet.”
“Yes…”
I asked just in case because she had inquired if we sell alcohol earlier, but I didn’t even break even.
Anyway, if there’s none, we can eat without it.
“Then, would you like to try it?”
I started to look forward to seeing what kind of reaction the rigid knight would show.