Ch 351: Who Says Coffee Tastes Like Dishwater? This Is Delicious!

It had been a week since Yselle joined the Adventurer’s Guild. During that week, she had taken on almost every type of commission, all to experience the life of an adventurer as Bal had once described.

“Yselle, you’ve been with the Guild for a week now. How does it feel?”

Bal walked over to Yselle carrying coffee. For some reason, Bal had recently become obsessed with coffee; despite its bitterness, he found it rather stimulating.

“It’s alright. It’s easier than cleaning up the Black Tide.”

“That’s good. If you encounter any difficulties, you can ask us for help. Don’t try to be too strong on your own.”

“Don’t worry. Speaking of which, Mr. Bal, what are you drinking? It has a strange aroma.”

“You mean the coffee? Want to try some?”

“Sure.”

Bal took a small cup and poured some of his coffee into it, handing it to Yselle. Yselle sniffed it; the unique aroma gave her a false impression of the coffee’s taste, so she took a sip. The instant her tongue touched the coffee, the bitter and sour taste made Yselle’s face contort.

“Ugh, so disgusting! This tastes like dishwater! How can you like this stuff?!”

Seeing Yselle’s reaction, Bal found it normal.

“Maybe next time I should add some milk and sugar. Want to try that?”

“No, you keep it.”

Yselle looked at the remaining coffee in her cup. Following the principle of not wasting anything, she finished it. Then, with a look of disgust, she placed the cup on the coffee table and took two of Bal’s freshly baked cookies, popping them into her mouth.

“These biscuits are delicious.”

“Haha, these are Philia’s favorite tea and snacks. To satisfy her taste, I’ve experimented many times!”

“It seems Miss Phia has excellent taste. From now on, I’ll eat whatever Miss Phia eats.”

“Oh? Really? What if I say cilantro?”

Philia entered the room from the backyard, her hands still slightly soiled; it seemed she had been tending to her glass greenhouse. Upon hearing “cilantro,” Yselle’s expression became even more unpleasant than after drinking the coffee.

“Wow, Miss Phia, you’re bullying me too!”

“Humph, they should bloom tomorrow. Should I call you then?”

“Yes, yes!”

After hearing Yselle’s reply, Philia contentedly went to the bathroom to clean the soil and sweat from her hands and face.

“Where’s Nia?”

Bal suddenly sat up, remembering Nia.

“Nia hasn’t come downstairs for breakfast since this morning. What’s wrong? No, I have to go check on her.”

“Me too!”

Bal got up and headed upstairs, Yselle following close behind. The two arrived at the door of Nia’s room and Bal knocked.

“Nia, are you there?”

There was no answer, so Bal knocked again.

“Nia?”

Still no answer. Worried that something had happened to Nia, Bal kicked open the door and entered her room. Nia was fast asleep, seemingly undisturbed by Bal’s knocking.

“Ah, Bal, Yselle, what are you doing here?”

Grey stood at the doorway with a water bottle and cup, looking questioningly at Bal and Yselle.

“Grey, you’re just in time. Nia hasn’t come downstairs for breakfast since this morning, and she didn’t respond to my knocking. What’s going on?”

“Oh, that’s it. You needn’t worry. Yesterday, I went out to gather herbs with her, and we ended up in a cave. There were a lot of rare herbs inside, and Nia and I spent the whole night collecting them. We only returned just before dawn, and she went straight to bed and slept until now.”

“That scared me. I thought something happened to her.”

“Sorry to worry you. I’ll wake her up now.”

Grey entered the room, placing the water bottle and cup on the table. He went to the bed and gently nudged Nia.

“Nia, wake up.”

“Mmm… let me sleep a little longer…”

“Breakfast is ready.”

Bal’s announcement of breakfast was effective; Nia immediately opened her eyes and sat up.

“Food! Breakfast! Ow!”

Nia, still looking for food, received a solid punch on the head from Bal. She rubbed her head and looked at him.

“What was that for? That hurt! You violent brother.”

“Don’t you want to see what time it is?”

“Huh?”

Nia looked at the clock. It was already 4 PM. If they returned at 5 AM at the latest, Nia had slept for 11 hours.

“You lazy fox, no more all-nighters next time.”

“Yes, I know. So, where’s the food?”

“Dinner is at 6. If you’re really hungry, get up. There are some cookies I baked in the living room.”

“Okay! Cookies!”

Seeing Nia’s lively state, Bal and Yselle breathed a sigh of relief. They turned and walked downstairs to the living room. After a while, Nia also came to the living room and started eating cookies as soon as she sat down.

“Brother’s cookies are still so delicious. By the way, don’t you guys feel like it’s getting colder and colder recently?”

“Huh? Isn’t it winter? It’s bound to be cold.”

Yselle answered Nia, but Nia shook her head. She poured herself a cup of tea, took a sip, and continued.

“You don’t know, this time last year, although it was also cold, it wasn’t cold enough to freeze the stream.”

“Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit anomalous.”

Philia, coming from the bathroom, sat next to Bal.

“The Cat Demon Tribe who manage the ski resort also told me that the wind and snow on the snow mountain are very strong, and the ski resort can’t operate normally. If it weren’t for the temperature control magic I set up there, they would probably have frozen to death.”

“Is it that serious?”

Bal looked at Philia questioningly, and Philia nodded.

“Why would I lie? They also said they could hear the roar of a dragon in the mountains at night.”

“Ah?”

“Anyway, something unusual must have happened on the snow mountain, otherwise this winter would be too abnormal.”

Bal thought for a moment, then looked at Yselle.

“Yselle, exciting times are coming. Are you interested?”

“Yes! What is it?”

“I’m planning to explore the heart of the Death Mountain Range. Since someone went there a long time ago, it means there must be a passage. What do you think?”

“Sounds kind of boring.”

“Well, that’s not necessarily true. Do you know why that snow mountain is called Death Mountain Range?”

Yselle shook her head, so Bal had Philia explain it to her.

“So, it’s blocked by blizzards all year round, and you can’t get in?”

“Right, but last year, when Philia and I went to excavate a ruin, we discovered that many people had reached the heart of the Death Mountain Range. In other words, there must be a path leading to the heart of the mountain that we haven’t discovered. I plan to find that path and investigate what happened on the snow mountain.”

“Great! I’m in!”

Yselle immediately raised her hand to join, followed by Nia.

“Me too, me too! Take me with you!”

Bal looked at Philia, who said calmly.

“I’m your wife. Wherever you go, I go. Don’t forget, we’re bound together. If something happens to you and I can’t find you, it’ll be troublesome. I want to live a few more years.”

“You’re my wife indeed.”

Bal turned his gaze to Grey.

“Grey, what about you? It’s okay if you don’t go.”

“Don’t say that. Nia is my wife, so I have to go with you.”

“Okay, then it’s just the five of us!”

“What about Philia? She’s still young. Is it okay if you’re not around her?”

Yselle asked Bal about Philia.

“Xiaoyue will help take care of Philia, so she should be fine. We’ll just use teleportation magic to return for the night.”

“Okay.”