The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 131 The Talkative Rumi and the Elf (Please Subscribe!)

"Oh? The henchmen of the Sandalwood Forest?"

The dwarf who had been kicked to the ground sat up abruptly, showing no anger whatsoever. Instead, he asked with considerable interest,

"I grew up listening to your stories, though I don't know if there were any exaggerations. But you know, I was born in Sandalwood Forest too. When I was a little kid, I often saw that ranger, Markwin. Later, I stopped seeing him and found out he'd resigned and left with a group of adventurers. I heard that adventurer group was quite eccentric: a human rogue, a dwarf ranger, a dwarf warrior, and a dragonborn priest. Oh, and there was an elf too, the warlock from your team. Speaking of which, do elves really exist? I thought it was just a made-up legend. I've never seen an elf before. Does she look a lot like that half-elf boss? I heard elves are all very beautiful and tall and thin. Doesn't she have a cute head like mine? Does she eat grass all day? By the way, this egg roll tastes so bland it's making me want to fart..."

"Cut off his goatee! Is anyone going to do something about this damn chatterbox?!"

The gravel slammed heavily against the table with a loud "bang," startling all the diners.

The half-elf shopkeeper with the mohawk couldn't help but speak up to stop him:

"Guests over there, in order to provide everyone with a pleasant dining experience, our restaurant prohibits loud noise. If you really can't control your mouths, I can only invite you to the Orc Restaurant next door for barbecue."

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry."

Wendy stood up awkwardly, quickly walked over to the boss, and handed him a platinum coin.

The half-elf boss raised an eyebrow.

The platinum coins issued by Longjincheng are engraved with an ancient dragon design.

Ten gold coins can be exchanged for one platinum coin, but banks have always stored their assets in gold coins, so they will not make the exchange for others.

As a result, this type of currency has always circulated only among nobles, since ordinary consumption simply cannot reach the level of platinum coins.

Its collectible value alone is enough to appease the boss's anger:

"Okay, but you need to keep your voices down, understand? I've been watching you for a long time."

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry."

Wendy clasped her hands together, her pretty face flushed with embarrassment, and returned to her seat, unable to resist negotiating with the two shorter men in front of her:
“Listen, Gravel, Rumi, we’re now in a high-end restaurant on the commercial street, not some noisy tavern in the [Sewer]. We should be mindful of our words, actions, and manners—”

"Huh? Why are there so many rules about eating a meal?"

The stone didn't understand. Instinctively, it reached for the bacon roll with its hand, but after a moment's hesitation, it chose to use its fork to pick it up and bring it to its mouth.
"I just don't like the way the Elf Vegetables are made. The plate is bigger than a dwarf's face, and in the end, they only put eight bacon rolls with the vegetable hearts on it."

Why are there eight of them? Why can't they just fill the whole plate? Why draw patterns with sauce in so many empty spaces?

As he spoke, he took a bite of the bacon roll in his mouth.

Elf cuisine is inseparable from the accompaniment of green leaves. Even when the pebbles were craving the bacon fat to burst in their mouths, they only tasted a crisp, slightly sweet flavor, subtly mixed with the fragrance and tartness of lemon.

"Damn it, this isn't bacon at all! It's a cucumber roll disguised as bacon, and it even has 'green spear' inside!"

As a human, Wendy prefers to call it asparagus:

"I think it's quite delicious... Of course, it was my mistake to bring you here. It was indeed my desire to try elven cuisine that led me to invite you to eat in the shopping street. I apologize for this wrong choice."

"Only women like you and that guy Sharti like to eat this kind of thing."

"Is Sharti the elf companion? What does she look like? Is she really as beautiful as the rumors say? She must have a big head, right? Aren't all the elves said to have disappeared? Why is she in this world? Doesn't she have parents? I heard from my friends back home that she seems to be hanging out with Markwin, acting as a forest ranger..."

"What else could he look like? Pointy ears, tall, oh, and a head of white hair."

Beautiful? Why do you think women without hair are beautiful?

Her head was very small, almost smaller than the palm of my hand.

Damn it! Can you please stop asking me questions about her?

At first, the gravel had the leisure to answer, but it soon discovered that the more it answered the other person's questions, the more the other person would talk.

He wanted to slam his fist on the table, but he held back because his employer was right in front of him.

Pointing to the dwarf beside him who looked like a curious child, he practically spat out the words:
"So why did you choose to let [Chatterbox Rumi] join this team? Don't you know that because of this trait, major taverns, including [The Sewer], have already blacklisted him?"

This bastard's problem isn't just that he talks too much.

He was clearly just saying whatever came to mind!

"Well, putting aside his talkative nature, this gentleman is indeed a seasoned adventurer..."

Wendy answered truthfully, but while she was explaining, Rumi continued to chatter on, trying to ask more questions about the characteristics of 'elves'.

For a fleeting moment, she felt as if, above Rumi's head, a bubble of speech, like those in the comic books she'd read as a child, had appeared above the characters' heads, each bubble displaying a line from the character's speech—

Rumi's bubbles were likely large enough to fill the entire Dragongold City. Eventually, even Wendy couldn't take it anymore and wanted to ask the talkative dwarf to shut up and focus on his meal.

But a woman who had been slumped over the table beside her slowly sat up, picked up a drop of sweet oil from her plate with her fork, and flicked it in front of Rumi, while chanting an obscure incantation:

"[Suggestion Technique] - Shut up."

[Suggestion, Second Ring Bewitching Spell: Uses magic to influence a creature within 15 meters that you can see and understand, and gives it a certain action suggestion in the form of at most one or two sentences.]

The implied language must make the behavior sound reasonable.

Demanding that a creature stab itself or sacrifice itself, or perform any obviously harmful action, will directly cancel the spell's effect.

Under the influence of the magic, the chattering Rumi visibly slowed down, his eyes rolled back, and he looked like he was about to shut his mouth.

But the next moment, he continued speaking as if he were completely unaffected:
“Madam, suggestion can’t influence an action that is clearly harmful to me. What’s the difference between you stopping me from speaking and killing me? Of course, I’m not saying all this willingly either; it’s like chewing a snack, you know? If you don’t have something in your mouth, like a fruit or gum, you feel like something’s missing—”

With a loud "bang," a piece of gravel struck Rumi squarely on the back of the neck, causing his massive head to slam into the plate in front of him, finally bringing some peace to his ears.
"I should have done this a long time ago."

Wendy breathed a sigh of relief, feeling more relaxed. She turned to look at the woman sitting beside her casting a spell:

"Miss Star, thank you..."

However, the recruited academy mage seemed very tired and had already fallen asleep on the table again.

She blinked, suddenly realizing that the dwarf in front of her was actually the only adventurer in their group who, apart from his height, could be considered normal.
"I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have assembled an adventure team so hastily."

Shattered Stone snorted coldly:
"You don't really expect to find a few normal people among a bunch of adventurers, do you? Liking to sleep and being talkative are normal quirks—"

Have you ever seen a zombie paladin who spouts nothing but glory? Ha, I have!

"But isn't it precisely because of these diverse companions you encounter on your adventure that the whole process becomes more interesting?"

Wendy blinked, then suddenly said,
"This is much more interesting than staying at home every day."

“Little girl, don’t think that adventure is easy—it’s often accompanied by pain and death.”

Shattered Stone didn't know much about his employer, only that he was the kind of nobleman who, out of curiosity about the world, had formed a team as a hobby and embarked on an adventure.

Such teams generally don't last long and will disband after the nobles become bored and distressed.

Before joining [Sandalwood Claws], he had encountered similar employers.

"I understood the moment I walked out of the Dawn Forest alive."

Wendy, however, said,

“I know my own abilities are insufficient, which is why I need experienced adventurers like you to guide me and help me grow… That’s why I’m willing to pay such a high price to hire you.”

Anyway, let's not talk about me now. While Mr. Rumi is still unconscious, could you tell me about your former teammates?

"【The minions of the Sandalwood Forest】?"

"No, no, it's the person you were trying to avoid."

"Huh? You're interested in him?"

"Actually, I'm interested in your story of traversing the Dawn and Dusk Forest. I asked that person about it before—"

“Donkey Weinberg,” Stone muttered, “that should be his name…”

"That Mr. Tang Qi said he would be publishing a book soon. But I forgot to ask him the title, so I haven't been able to find it all this time..."

"Books? He seems to have mentioned something like that?"

Shattered Stone began to recall Tang Qi's boastful words after he got drunk that night.

"Tang Qi's Guide to the Dawn and Dusk Forest? That should be the title."

"So you knew? That's great."

As Wendy spoke, she unconsciously quickened her pace of eating.

"Then you'd better not tell me the details, lest I lose interest in the book after I know the process."

I'll go look for that book later.

(End of this chapter)