Chapter 124: Little Black Bug

……

All in all, Su You suddenly felt rather glad that she’d managed to get her hands on this advanced cooking skill book.

In her previous save file, she’d actually considered giving Meike a cooking skill book as well, but at that time Meike had already reached his skill limit, and every single one of his skills was maxed out.

She couldn’t bear to use an item to erase any of those powerful combat skills just to let him learn a cooking skill that was neither here nor there and would never reach max level anyway… Plus, she’d only recruited Meike when her territory was already fairly prosperous, so she wasn’t worried about him wasting ingredients—she wasn’t short on supplies.

But now, things were different. Meike had just arrived, so he definitely didn’t have many skills yet. Teaching him cooking wouldn’t be a problem.

Su You tossed the skill book into her inventory, then walked out of Residential House 4.

But just as she stepped out the door, she seemed to sense something dart past her feet with a whoosh.

Before she could react and figure out what had just happened, she saw Lyle rushing over to her, looking anxious.

“My lord, are you alright?”

Su You shook her head, about to turn around and see what exactly had just shot past her, when suddenly—boom!—the main gate of the territory was blown open.

Su You: ?!

Her eyelid twitched. Looking up, she saw a middle-aged man in a tattered mage’s robe—someone who looked vaguely familiar—storming into the territory with an imposing air.

“Where’s that little black bug?! Get out here, you! Stealing my food and then complaining about it—just you wait, I’ll roast you into a steak and show you what real gourmet food tastes like!”

“If you’ve got the guts to say my cooking is bad, then you’ve got the guts to come out and face me! What are you hiding for?!”

Su You: ……

Well… even though Su You didn’t know exactly what had happened, based on her understanding of Meike and the information in his words, she could more or less guess the situation.

The “little black bug” Meike mentioned was probably the creature he’d just fought, and the fight had started because the “little black bug” said Meike’s cooking was bad…

Yeah, that made sense. Meike wasn’t angry because the “little black bug” stole his food, but because it said his cooking tasted awful.

Maybe other people wouldn’t understand Meike’s logic, but Su You did… Well, actually, she didn’t really understand it either, but she knew that’s just how Meike’s mind worked.

But regardless, that was no excuse for Meike to go smashing up her territory.

“Lyle.” Su You pointed behind her, at Residential House 4. “Something just ran in there. See if you can catch it. If you can’t, that’s fine—your safety comes first. Just block it inside and don’t let it escape.”

Lyle hesitated—a rare thing, as he usually followed Su You’s orders without question—because there was still a very dangerous person here.

Su You could see the worry in his eyes, but she didn’t have time to explain. She just indicated that she’d be fine, then walked toward Meike.

Her confidence didn’t come from the skill book, but from the system’s protection.

Any NPC recruited from the tavern, no matter how eccentric their behavior, would have an extremely low desire to attack the person who recruited them.

Unless someone deliberately provoked them, they would never attack unprompted.

Of course, it was possible that the data-driven world could delete this bit of programming, but even if it did, Meike wasn’t a violent person. His aggression was only directed at those who mocked his cooking or disrupted him while he was cooking… or at other creatures.

Under normal circumstances, he would never harm the innocent. So Su You was unlikely to be in any danger—unless she lost her mind and started mocking his cooking like that “little black bug.”

Lyle didn’t know any of this, so naturally he was worried. But when he saw Su You safely walk up to Meike, he hesitated, then chose to follow her instructions and went into Residential House 4 to look for the “thing” she’d mentioned that had slipped inside.

……

Meanwhile, Su You had already reached Meike.

Although Meike was angry about his cooking being insulted, most of his rage had already been vented in the earlier fight. The reason he’d blown open the gate and rushed in now was simply an instinctive reaction to chase the “little black bug”—he didn’t actually have any grudge or ill will toward the territory itself.

So when he saw Su You, his attitude wasn’t exactly friendly, but he wasn’t as furious as before either.

Su You knew Meike’s temperament well. She wasn’t sure if he was exactly the same as before, but his current attitude said it all.

He didn’t attack Su You, but he didn’t apologize either.

“Consider this your compensation for the damage to your territory. Where’s your lord? Tell them to come out. Some stinking creature ran into your territory—I’m going to drag it out.” Meike tossed Su You a gold coin, sounding a bit annoyed, his eyes darting around as if searching for the “little black bug” that had insulted his cooking.

Su You didn’t stand on ceremony—she put the gold coin straight into her backpack.

Seeing this, Meike frowned, about to say something, but Su You spoke first.

“I’m the lord here. I accept your compensation. If you want to look for that so-called stinker in my territory, I won’t stop you, but you can’t make a mess, and you absolutely can’t…” Su You pointed at the blasted stone gate. “…randomly destroy buildings in my territory.”

Meike had thought she was just someone trying to pocket the gold coin, but she’d actually said she was the lord…

He found it a little odd, but didn’t say much. Whoever the lord was, it didn’t matter to him—this wasn’t his territory anyway. What mattered most right now was finding the guy who dared say his cooking was bad.

“I’m just here to find that stinker. As long as your territory doesn’t shelter it, I won’t cause any trouble.” With that, Meike snorted, glanced around at the territory, and after seeing how simple and sparse the place was, quickly got a basic sense of it.

It was a small territory, but that was fine—fewer buildings, smaller area, easier to search.

Just as he was about to go check each building, Su You suddenly called out to him.

“I just saw a black shadow dart into that house. Why not check there first?”

(End of chapter)"

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