"Ming, these are the little cookies made by Mr. Baking, they look so cute!"

The Paladin couldn’t understand the aesthetic of the Flame Demon girl at all. That charcoal-like food was hardly what one could call cute.

Mr. Baking’s face remained as cold as ever, but his eyebrows had softened quite a bit amidst Rufus’s praise.

"It’s not a little cookie, it should be called ’Literary Society Cookie’."

What kind of bizarre name is that? Ming looked at his counter, which held five small boxes, each filled with similar black cookies, identical in color and shape. Ming even suspected that this guy was just a petty swindler on gourmet street, looking to make easy money; with the prohibition on brawls, the scammers of the city had grown bolder by the day.

Ming didn’t fancy such food, nor did he want these cookies to ruin his date with Rufus Flameheart.

"Rufus, let’s go take a look over there." The Paladin pointed to the store across the street with the sign ’Sailors’ Home’, "Sailors’ Home is an old establishment in the City of Wandering, their signature dish, ’Old Sailor Pancake’, will definitely make you fall in love with the taste of sea salt and orange sauce. How about it, shall we go take a look?"

Long before Ming finished describing it, the Flame Demon girl’s eyes widened with curiosity, clearly intrigued by the prospect of new foods, "But Mr. Baking has already recommended his food to me, shouldn’t I try it? Wouldn’t it be impolite not to?"

"That kind of unappetizing thing, Rufus, you shouldn’t try it."

"That kind of brainless man, Miss Flame Demon, you need not try."

Same tone, similar phrasing, different speakers, identical frown.

Store Manager Mr. Baking and Paladin Ming glanced at each other, the air charged with rising tension.

"I... I’m not ready to try it with Ming yet..." Rufus covered her face, and a sudden burst of Blazing Flame Nova revealed the girl’s shyness.

And blew the standoff between the two men away.

Ming looked at Mr. Baking, who was giving him a deadpan stare.

"Where are you from? Andrei Culinary Society? Never heard of it. So, Mr. Baking, what makes you think your skills can surpass my favorite ’Old Sailor Pancake’?"

Mr. Baking lifted his head, "Because I can easily replicate any human cuisine. Just give me the recipe, no, just let me taste it, and I can recreate its original flavor. I might even surpass it. The cookies I bake aren’t charred because I can’t do better; they’re this way because I want them to be, so they are."

Ming looked into Baking’s eyes and found himself believing him a little. A person’s gaze reveals much. But how could he show weakness in front of Rufus?

"You don’t understand ’Old Sailor Pancake’ at all!"

"Indeed, I don’t. It seems you are a regular customer at the Sailors’ Home, right? Then why don’t you explain what ’Old Sailor Pancake’ is?"

Drawing from memory, Ming started to describe the Sailors’ Home’s famous dish.

Mr. Baking pinched his chin during Ming’s explanation, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking his head. By the time Ming finished, his mouth was parched, but seeing the admiration and anticipation in the Flame Demon girl’s eyes, Ming felt much better.

Mr. Baking spoke up.

"So, are there really old sailors in the Old Sailor Pancake?"

"?" Ming cleaned out his own ears, "What did you say?"

"I’m asking if the so-called Old Sailor Pancake has any real old sailors in it. Otherwise, why call it Old Sailor Pancake."

Ming felt the man was being unreasonable, so he retorted.

"Haha, so your ’Literary Society Cookies’, do they have literary society added in them?"

"Yes, they do."

"What?" Ming looked at the charcoal-like cookies on the table, "Really?"

"Yes," Mr. Baking said nonchalantly as he pulled out a drawer and produced a half-eaten thigh bone, "Bone powder ground from the bones of Literary Society members—I’ve added that. Every cookie has it."

Paladin Ming finally understood that Mr. Baking was a Liches, an evil one who even burned the bones of his comrades to ash; these cookies were made of cremains.

"This..."

"Amazing!" The Flame Demon girl felt no discomfort; she excitedly gazed at the cookie in her hand, "So this really does have Literary Society in it!"

These were cookies made from ashes. Ming grimaced as Rufus bit into a cookie enthusiastically.

With simple chews of her delicate lips, the girl’s eyes suddenly widened.

"Delicious!!!" Rufus Flameheart hopped around on the spot, clutching Ming’s arm, apparently liking the taste of the cookie very much.

The Flame Demon didn’t have human funerary customs, so she felt no aversion to cremains—if she liked it, they might as well buy some.

Ming looked at the five small boxes of cookies on the counter and casually took one.

"How much for this one?"

"Ten Olious."

"That’s expensive; it’s just a box of cookies," Ming thought about his Paladin days, ascetic as a monk—when had he ever been so extravagant? "Well, as long as Rufus is happy, it’s fine."

"Ten Olious, one cookie."

Foolish Liches! Why don’t you go rob someone!

Ming roared inwardly; he hadn’t inherited any fortune upon returning home, his entire fortune was barely over a hundred Olious saved from his Paladin days.

Maybe he should look at the other cookies—aren’t there four more boxes there?

But then...

"Twenty Olious, per piece."