Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

268 Grub and chow

With the list of the guests getting bigger and longer the complexity of the ceremony also reached a simpler status, the culinary items were reduced in number in favour of unity and ease of preparation, but the flavour was not under compromise, Lady Mito decided to forgo all the external sources of food and with the help of the servants choose some of the best meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, sea fruits, flowers and grains, since the garden in the private dimension made everything grow better and amplified taste and nutritional value, the servants decided to rear some of the most edible animals and food items in the garden, with so many biomes, as long as a specimen had some life to it, it could thrive in the garden, and since Yunan had never asked the servants to stop they got themselves a very big collection, one that once Lady Mito tasted she had her mind set on using for the wedding.

The garden was a magnificent place and with the help of the genie, it was easy to plough and plant, feed the animals, clean the pens and finally harvest or capture for slaughter. Thus the feast menu was created, a seven-dish menu that would be remembered for eternity, first was a light appetizer soup made simply of the rarest and vegetables and herbs Yunan got his hands on, all of it was boiled in room-sized containers, then all of the ingredients in each soup container were minced into fine sand-sized grains, after cooking the soup a few more hours, the soup was left to rest resulting in a crystal clear soup and a big deposit of finely minced ingredients to be used as stuffing for other dishes.

The next dish was a salad made of 77 different vegetables diced into bits small enough to fit the 77 kinds in the same portion, the salad did not have any kind of the usual flavouring agents, not even salt, the combination of 77 different types of vegetables carried all the flavour needed for the salad, making it rich and healthy at the same time. The salad was served after the soup because some people would order more and needed to ease their bellies for the main courses.

Next came the meats, a stuffed pheasant-like bird as big as a swallow with bones so light and fragile they could be eaten without arm or fear of choking, each guest would get about 3 to 5 of these since the quantity was a limited, and no guest may be allowed more, afterwards was a deer kid stake, roasted with the Queen bee's honey and on the flames from burning a very fragrant tree, next came the fatty pork ribs, cooked to the point one could suck the meat off of the bone like it was soup, the tender meat was sweet and gentle to relive the after-effects of the deer and honey combo.

The fish dish was a collection of different things, slices of shark, orca, naga, and water drake, add in clams and oysters as big as a palm, crab and shellfish seasoned with seaweeds and other plants and you get a wonderful mix that makes you salivate from the smell of it alone. The final dish was dessert, a fruit salad, a fruitcake, pudding made by powdered fruits instead of ordinary flour. The accompanying drinks were mainly juices extracted from the fruits, vegetables and fats of the prepared dishes, there were no alcoholic beverages served and the strongest thing was nothing but lava wine, it was to be served between courses and during the main ceremony.

Lava wine had not changed its look much since Yunan started dumping every decomposable thing under the sun in that pit, it still looked like flowing lava, veins of scarlet fire crisscrossing in the golden fluid, it looked thicker than it was and tasted like nothing it looked, it was sweet and sour, one gulp, salty and fishy the next, the flavour changed with each gulp and not two people could get the same taste without trying out enough lava wine to fill the wedding venue.

The copious amounts of lava wine that was stored finally had a place to shine, since the current version of the lava wine was ever so changing Lady Mito decided to use the previous versions from the older holding vats to cater to certain tastes that did not like the ever-changing taste of the wine, Mito seemed to take for granted that the novelty of the lava wine would die fast, she has been drinking that stuff instead of water ever since the engagement and thus forgot how it felt to take the first gulp and feel drunk without influence of anything that clouds the mind.

Lady Mito has been eating and drinking for weeks to make sure everything was perfectly made and stored, thanks to the genie there were no issues with that, even the servants were only needed to wear a ring designed by the genie and they could be granted access based on the time and need, with this the food and venue were ready, next was the most boring part of the wedding planning, seating, decoration and dresses, Yunan and Balin were regretting ever learning to smith and forge, so they brought in Mina, the heart of the mountain to share some of their misery, meanwhile, Asterion and Helios were making flower bouquets while Yggdrasil was reduced to growing flowers in all shapes and colours to satisfy the requirements of lady Mito, who was ordering them around like common servants, she did not know who they were, she only knew they were here for the wedding and she made use of them as soon as they got in her sight even before asking for their names, anyone who was welcomed in the private dimension were trustworthy and reliable enough for her to put to work.

Soon even the girls taking geisha training were also included in the preparations working hard according to the orders of the grand observer. The excuse that they got to hear so many times from Lady Mito was "for the sake of my daughter's wedding all must toil without rest nor respite". No one had it in them to argue with her or retort because they were planning on making the wedding into a big memorable mess for all the wrong reasons.