Chapter Text
"Do you want to try it? Deculein." Catur tilted his head to the east to look at the man who had been standing silently all this time.
"What is that?" Deculein said, pointing at the food that looked like worms to him on the street vendor's cart.
"For God's sake?!! You don't know this food." Catur was shocked to death to find someone who didn't know mie ayam, even inland tribes should know what mie ayam is.
"Deculein, listen to this. I would even willingly surrender my soul to the devil for just one bite. This is 'mie ayam,' one of the famous foods here, even one of the city names on this continent is nicknamed mie ayam. Wait!! You don't know what mie ayam is... don't tell me... you're an alien," Catur accused with a shocked face while stepping backward like someone about to be sentenced to death.
Mie: noodle
Ayam: chicken
Mie ayam: chicken noodle (this is similar to pasta)
"..." remained silent without uttering a word. Before Deculein could make an excuse, he was already pulled by Catur toward the provided plastic chair to enjoy a portion of mie ayam.
"Sir, 2 portions of mie ayam, dine in." The seller just nodded and began to work on the ordered request.
First, he separated one clump of noodles from the others, putting it into the pot along with the mustard greens. While waiting for the noodles to become tender, he began to chop the chicken into small pieces and placed the chicken into two different bowls. The chicken went in, and now it was time for the secret spice, along with the scallions and roasted shallots, entering the bowl. Added with salt and a little touch of kaffir lime (similar to lemon), the noodles were almost done. Just waiting for the noodles to soften.
On the other hand, an awkwardness occurred between two of them. This was the first time Deculein, who was legally an aristocrat, sat on a short plastic chair whose height was probably only 70 cm. Which meant he had to sit with his legs wide open while eating that clump of worms? Oh no, his dignity as a nobleman had been ruined.
Oh, if only he weren't restrained by the bastard next to him, maybe he would have already created a high-backed chair to eat, ahh no. He wouldn't think about creating a chair, at most he would escape and find a way to return to his dimension. The place where Deculein's character was supposed to be.
Unconsciously, time kept ticking until the noodles were served right in front of Deculein's view. "Hey? Are you going to eat or not, my hands are already hot." Catur held out the bowl containing the noodles with an annoyed glare because if Deculein didn't take the bowl containing the noodles soon, he wouldn't be able to enjoy his noodles. There was no table to put his things down, the only way was to put it on the floor. But Catur was not willing to put his beloved noodles next to his feet.
Slowly Deculein accepted it with an outstretched hand; it felt hot. Maybe Deculein's hand would blister if he weren't used to things like this.
The noodles looked better than before, the aroma spreading everywhere. On the left end, there was a pile of chopped chicken, in the middle, fried shallots were scattered, and on the right end, there were crackers that were perfect to eat when softened by the noodle broth.
"How do you eat Mie? ayam?" he said softly while staring intently at the man beside him. He didn't know what would happen if he ate directly without obeying the rules regarding this matter, maybe Catur would scold him like a noodle police.
Just like Italians get angry when their pasta is broken in half or maybe sushi eaten using a fork (don't take it seriously, I only used it as an example).
"As you like, do you know about something called pasta? Yeah, it's similar, but here pasta is considered a luxury food, only rich people eat it often. Besides, the price is 3x higher compared to mie ayam. Ughh, even though it tastes just the same..."
He said softly while spinning the fork and making the noodles turn into a single-bite clump. Being confused, Deculein just imitated Catur's way of eating. When the long noodle touched his mouth, it turned out the taste wasn't too bad.
In between their eating, it was filled with light chatter related to mie ayam. They were so engrossed in eating until the sound of breaking glass was heard.
"A fight breaking out in broad daylight?" he asked when he saw an Adventurer trying to kill a drunk man at the far end of the bar.
"Ummhh ohhhmm, otuuii" he tried to answer but his mouth was filled with food so Deculein silenced him to finish eating before answering his question.
"Swallow it first before speaking," Deculein groaned, seeing broth splattered around the mouth. His mysophobia kicked in, making him disgusted and knit his brows. If it weren't for something, Deculein would have surely wiped Catur's facial skin clean until it peeled off.
"Mhhh, they are adventurers, you could also say they are hunters. Usually, they target people on the 'wanted' posters.. like me."
"Really? no wonder your face looks like a criminal's face."
"Damn it, of course. My head is worth a huge amount, you know, as much as a villa here," Catur grumbled.