Once they had finished lunch, Marcus and Mrazivý continued their tour of the estate's grounds.
There were several gardens featuring rare plants that normally did not grow in Aezam, or even on the continent, and it was the first time that Marcus and Mrazivý were seeing many of them.
Eventually they reached one garden that was heavily guarded and inside had several plants that produce natural treasures growing in it.
Looking around it reminded them of the atrium attached to Borealia's royal castle, though the cultivation was on a much smaller scale.
"I am surprised that you are able to grow natural treasures here. It is not an easy process." Mrazivý said, impressed.
In Borealia's castle, the enchantments necessary for the cultivation had been created by one of Boreas' companions who was a nature magic specialist and the superior nature spirit Salvia who still watched over the area and helped the natural treasures grow.
However, here their enchantments were not nearly as good and there was no nature spirit tending to the area.
"Oh, you have seen somewhere else where they grow natural treasures? This is the only place in all of Aezam where we have had any success by pouring in a great deal of resources and consulting the foremost experts. It is a great achievement that our clan takes pride in." Amira said, her interest clear to see.
"Yes, on our travels we have seen other places that grow natural treasures." Mrazivý answered vaguely.
Naturally she was not going to say where they had seen this before since it would give away that they came from Borealia.
"So, what type of natural treasures are gown here?" Marcus asked, changing the topic of conversation so that Amira did not ask for any more details.
Luckily this did the trick and Amira began listing off the natural treasures that were grown within the grand elder's estate.
'It seems like a lot of effort for only these low-level natural treasures. None of them are even of a high enough quality to have and effect on anyone over level thirty.' Marcus thought once Amira had finished her explanation.
Still, being able to have access to natural treasures of any quality was a huge feat and while none of the ones grown here would be able to help those that had already reached a certain level they were invaluable in raising the stats of high ranking members of the Eazim Clan.
Time continued to pass as Amira showed them around the estate, until the sky began to take on and orange and red hue indicating that they day was coming to an end.
Heading back inside, Marcus and Mrazivý were brought to the main dining hall where they would be having dinner.
Akeem was noticeably not present this time, apparently busy with work and eating in his office.
Except there was someone else waiting for them, and their appearance was quite the shock.
'An angel!?' Marcus thought seeing the young woman who was standing by the table with a proud smile on her face.
She had dark black hair and golden eyes which were not all that unusual, but sprouting out of her back were pure white wings that looked a bit too small to actually provide enough lift to allow the woman to fly.
Gob smacked, Marcus could not hold back on reflexively appraising the woman and was shocked to find that she was level sixty-two.
Along with finding this out, he was able to determine her race which was labeled as Half-Guruda and her name was Layla Adel.
"You two must be the guests that I have been hearing so much about." Layla said with a bright smile. "I received a letter stating that one of you also has a passion for cooking and wanted to meet with me, so I made all of my specialties for you to try tonight."
With her arms outstretched, Layla, brought everyone's attention back to the rows of food that lined the large dining room table.
Frankly there was easily enough there to comfortably feed twenty people, yet it would only be Marcus, Mrazivý, and Amira who would be eating it.
Among the dishes were some Marcus had already seen in Aezam, but others were things he recognized form elsewhere, while a few completely new to him.
"I suppose that you must be the estate's head she then?" Marcus said.
"Yep, that would be me. Names Layla, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
After her introduction Marcus and Mrazivý introduced themselves before sitting down at the table filled with food.
"Which one of you is the one interested in cooking?" Layla said, looking between Marcus and Mrazivý.
Raising his hand Marcus brought Layla's attention to him, and she moved to sit right next to him.
Normally this would have not been something that would be allowed and could be seen as rude since Layla was technically counted among the servants of the estate, but as Amira had said, she was rather eccentric and did what she wanted.
Of course, neither Marcus nor Mrazivý cared all that much for formalities and were not offended in anyway by Layla joining them. Though Amira was stiff as a a board since she had no idea that Layla had been planning this. Especially since she had only received a letter about Marcus' interest in meeting her just a few hours ago.
"What do you think of this?" Layal said, serving up one of her dishes to Marcus.
Taking a bite of the roasted vegetables before him, Marcus carefully tasted the food and gauged what ingredients were used.
He then gave his honest opinion to Layla the best he could and she began vigorously nodding her head.
"I see, you actually do have some skill with cooking. You are not someone who just dabbles in it frivolously." Layal said, a sparkle in her eyes.
It was at this point Marcus realized Layla had been testing him to see if he was actually good enough at cooking to warrant her attention.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ After eating a few more dishes and giving his opinion and doing his best to explain the ingredients and how the flavors worked together Layla seemed quite satisfied.
On the other hand, Amira had barely touched her food, since she had not prepared herself for Layla's ambush and was unsure if she should intervene.
Mrazivý was simply enjoying the food while Marcus talked about cooking with Layla. She was not completely inept when it came to such matter and she was interested to a degree, but her passions were more with eating good food rather than cooking.
"Seems like you are the real deal. It has been a while since I was able to have such an interesting discussion. The other chefs here are good, but the only know about he food native to Aezam for the most part." Layla said.
Marcus knew about plenty of other dishes from his time on Earth and Borealia and had made for an interesting conversation partner.
Yet their was a dish that had been served here today that he had not once seen coming to Mirrion, but was very prevalent on earth.
"Where exactly did you learn how to make pizza?" Marcus asked, picking up one of the slices.
"Oh, you know about pizza!" Layla said, obviously excited. "My father taught it to me years ago. He knew several strange but delicious dishes I have not found anywhere else. He is the one who initially taught me how to cook."
Hearing this Marcus felt that his suspicion had been all but confirmed.
At first, he thought that Layla had come from Earth like him, but Mrazivý had not mentioned her having the Personal Status unique skill that all reincarnations and transmigration had when she used her dragon eyes on Layla.
But if her father was the one who taught her these dishes that originated from Earth, then it was likely he was either a reincarnation or a transmigration.
"It sounds like your father is an incredible chef. Does he happen to still be alive?" Marcus asked his curiosity overflowing.
"Yeah, my dad is still around and off on his own journey around the world. I can't imagine him ever kicking the bucket with how strong he is." Layla said, admiration in her eyes. She clearly looked up to her father.
Unfortunately, when Marcus probed more about him, he only learned that Layla had no idea where he currently was.
Apparently every few years he would send her a letter telling her about where he had been and what he was up to, but it had been two years since his last one so he could be anywhere.
'At least I was able to get his name.' Marcus thought.
He figured he could ask boreas about Layla's father and see if he knew about him. The man was several centuries old and had been around, so it was possible.
"Now, enough about my father. In the letter it said you have some rare ingredients from the Chelmer Resort. If you do not mind letting me work with them, I will be more than happy to teach you traditional cuisine from Aezam."
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