Traveling through various miniature worlds with a small restaurant

After Lin Xiaoqian slowly coaxed out the information, the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, Lilith, finally unveiled the mystery of this magical world to her.

She was currently on one of the busiest commercial streets near Starshine Magic Academy. The entire street was either selling magic items or alchemy equipment, with very few restaurants, let alone those like Lin Xiaoqian's that stayed open until late at night.

There's a tavern called Hunter at the end of the alley that's open until the early hours, but it's usually where mercenaries from the Emerald Forest gather to eat roasted meat, drink wheat beer, chat, and brag about how awesome they are.

Lin Xiaoqian thought to herself that this was a misunderstanding. She should have known better than to marinate the chicken legs at noon. She had only been frying the chicken legs to get a better texture and flavor.

Lilith said that Starshine Magic Academy is the largest and most famous magic academy in the entire continent of Iria, located in the very center of the continent.

To the south it borders the extremely dangerous Emerald Forest, so this area not only has many mercenaries, but it is also the place where you can see the most species on the entire continent.

In addition, surrounding the Starshine Magic Academy on the other three sides are some small countries. These small countries form a kingdom alliance, whose overall strength is no less than that of other major powers.

However, Starshine Magic Academy is in a neutral position and does not belong to any country.

Lilith's family, the O'Connor family, belonged to the Etherland Empire, a major country in the far north. This country had a Royal Magic Academy, but Lilith did not choose the Royal Magic Academy. Instead, she came to the Starshine Magic Academy. She did not say why.

Lilith also mentioned some other major powers, but the names of Western countries were too complicated and long, and Lin Xiaoqian couldn't remember any of them.

However, Lin Xiaoqian was quite interested in the Emerald Forest. It was said that the depths of the Emerald Forest were the lair of the elves, and she had never seen an elf before.

In movies, elves are depicted as tall, fair-skinned, and beautiful. I wonder if the real elves are like that.

After chatting for a long time, Lilith said goodbye. No matter how Lin Xiaoqian tried to persuade her, she still left the silver coin behind. Lin Xiaoqian had no choice but to give her two fried chicken legs to take away.

Lilith didn't refuse; she blushed, thanked her, and accepted the gift.

Five fried chicken legs were sold that night, and Lin Xiaoqian was in a good mood, so she fried a few chicken wings for herself.

After all the marinated chicken legs were fried, it was already five o'clock in the morning. After putting all the fried chicken legs into the warehouse, Lin Xiaoqian went upstairs to wash off the oil fumes, changed into a comfortable set of pajamas, and fell fast asleep on the bed.

As the sun shines into Fairy Lane, the entire street slowly awakens, and many shops begin to open for business.

The shop owner, a middle-aged man wearing a monocle, slowly opened the shop door with a frown, then used magic to clean the entrance spotless.

He doesn't know whose family was frying something late last night, but the smell wafted through the window and kept him awake, so he didn't feel well this morning.

"Hey, Philip, old buddy, guess what I dreamt about last night?" A chubby old man came out of the shop next door and greeted Philip.

"I dreamt that I was hugging a fried chicken leg bigger than my head and gnawing on it. When I woke up in the morning, I was hugging a pillow, and the pillow was covered in drool. Do you think I'm craving fried chicken legs because I haven't had any lately? Hahahaha." He said, hugging his beer belly and laughing non-stop.

Philip glanced at the fat old man: "Old Henry, someone was indeed frying something last night in the early hours of the morning. The aroma even wafted through the glass into my house."

Old Henry was taken aback: "There's only one tavern and one restaurant nearby, Hunter's Restaurant. Hunter's Restaurant closes before 10 p.m. every night, and Hunter's Tavern only sells roast meat, not fried meat. Who would make fried meat so late at night?"

Philip shook his head: "I don't know. I've never heard of anyone on this street who can make fried meat that smells so good."

Old Henry stroked his chin thoughtfully, when suddenly his peripheral vision caught sight of something, he paused, then looked across the street and exclaimed, "Philip, look! When did a new shop appear across from ours?"

The street was wide, with a flower bed and a fountain in the middle. He didn't even notice when he opened his door in the morning that the long-empty shop across the street had been renovated.

"I'll go take a look!"

Old Henry, always eager for a good show, quickly ran over to investigate.

He pressed his face against the crack in the glass door and sniffed hard.

With a look of delighted surprise: "This is exactly the taste!"

He turned to Philip, who was slowly walking over, and said, "The smell of fried meat is coming from this shop. I see a lot of tables and chairs inside; it looks like a restaurant."

Philip looked up at the words on the door and found he couldn't understand them.

Then I looked inside through the glass door.

Why isn't the door open?

Old Henry sniffed again: "The Hunter's Restaurant doesn't open until nine in the morning, so this place probably isn't open yet."

Just then, the shop next door opened its door, and a woman came out—Ms. Elena, the owner of the magic robe shop.

She yawned, her eyes glazed over, and looked somewhat listless as she greeted the two of them: "Hey, good morning, what are you two doing standing here?"

Old Henry and Philip exchanged a glance, and Philip asked, "Ms. Elena, do you know when a new shop opened next to yours?"

Elena paused in her yawn, glanced to the side, and frowned: "Huh? I didn't notice, when did this empty shop get a new owner?"

She walked to the glass door and looked closely. She smelled the familiar fragrance and her expression changed. No wonder she couldn't sleep last night because of the fragrance. It turned out that the culprit was so close to her!

Damn it, I couldn't sleep at all last night after smelling that aroma. My stomach was growling with hunger, so I had no choice but to eat the rye bread I bought for breakfast. But I was still drooling from the smell until around 5 a.m.

She didn't fall asleep until around 6 a.m., but she had to get up around 7 a.m. to open the shop for business, which is why she wasn't in good spirits.

Seeing the culprit with the shop door tightly shut, the three had no choice but to return to their own shop.

Elena even went to the Hunter's Restaurant a while later to buy some fried poultry, and some of the nearby shop owners who had been persecuted by Lin Xiaoqian's fried chicken legs did the same.

So today, the fried meat at the Hunter's Restaurant is selling exceptionally well, which is quite strange to the restaurant owner.

However, Elena only ate two bites of the fried poultry at the Hunter's Restaurant and then stopped. The portion of meat was quite large, but some parts were undercooked and others were overcooked.

Although it was topped with the Hunter's Restaurant's most famous gravy and served with her favorite mashed potatoes and baked chickpeas, Elena still felt that the taste was a little lacking.