The two women went out to hunt and forage. The two men needed to recover more even with the potions, and it wasn't like they'd be in danger while the repellent was working.

Finn pretended that he didn't see the looks each team member sent each other, just continuing with his thing. He couldn't blame them for their guardedness at all, and they were definitely preparing for an escape route in case he was an evil ass.

Anyway, the men handled the mouth of the cave, slowly reducing the opening with loose rock created by the earlier explosion. While they did so, Finn made the fire. There was an akward silence at first with the two men nudging each other. Finn pretended not to see it and just focused on making his fire.

"So…you are an innkeeper. Can you tell us why you are here in this area?" the dwarf, who had introduced himself as Durgan, asked. He was fairly polite, so it wasn't an offensive question.

"I was sent to hunt some Brootrats and saw the smoke. I happen to need a hiding place, so…" he said. It was too far-fetched for them to hear he was actively entering rat mobs.

"Alone?" the dwarf asked, looking at him up and down. They were probably analyzing his low level and knew that it was impossible for him to survive alone.

"Well," he said. "I had a beast repelling potion," he said.

This made the two straighten and stare at him, suddenly apologetic when they thought about the two bottles consumed by their group.

Such an effective beast-repelling potion was probably very expensive, but it was really worth that price in their opinion.

"My Inn isn't too far, just a couple of hours away," he said, looking at the two. "Would you like a place to stay for the night?"

"This…"

"I'll give you a discount if you escort me safely."

Marcus was friendly, but even he was a bit cynical. "You mean you're asking for us to go outside, into the sea of monsters, to follow you to a mysterious 'resting place' in the middle of the forest?"

That sounded like a euphemism for a grave, didn't it?

Finn's lips twitched.

"Hey, am I still so suspicious?"

"It's not like that, it's just really unbelievable someone could come, bring potions, and save us. You don't seem to have a high level either," Marcus laughed. If he had been healthy, he'd have slapped his back in brotherly affection, but he was injured.

Speaking of this, he took a look at his wound.

Durgan blinked. "It's clotting already," he said, and then looked at his own wound. Because the blood had dried and their equipment was messy, it wasn't easy to see.

"Why are your potions so good? Is it the superior kind? No, even the superior kind would work a bit less than this," Durgan asked Finn, genuinely curious.

Potions generally took much longer to work on their bodies, especially since their levels were high, so the effectiveness of the potions was less.

"It's…special," Finn said. He knew from Ren and the others that the basic potions were around 500 danas, and superior ones ranged from 1500 to 2000 danas.

On the other hand, a piece of gold here was equivalent to 10,000 danas, so his potions were definitely much more expensive. Fortunately, from what he gathered from their reaction, his pricing was worth it, especially so because he could make them available when they were so far away from the legitimate towns.

About ten or fifteen minutes later, the girls returned with some loot. Nona brought a lot of meat that she could carry, while Leiah was the one in charge of the herbs and fruits. Apparently, she was also the team's herbalist, though she mentioned her knowledge was just surface-level.

Anyway, he arranged the stones and the branches so he could make a barbecue. While he did so, he asked the girls to divide some branches into skewers, which he then used to stab meat, fruit, herbs, and vegetables.

He then took out the only sauce he brought out. It was in one of the used bottles he got after consuming potions. It was really fragile though so he always had to be careful. Thank goodness for his space.

It was called Roasted Matis sauce, which was one of the few sauces he created in the past few days. After all, he couldn't be making them all from scratch every time. His ingredients were limited anyway, so it was really practical to make premade sauces and condiments.

This was his go-to for barbecue, which he knew was the only type of cooking he'd be able to do in the wild.

It was made of roasted matis pulp which he roasted as the base. He then added sunberry reduction (it was sweet and sour, like tamarind), crushed veilroot bulb (to add pungency like garlic and onion), a dash of nettleflame powder (for spicy kick), and bindergrain brew (which he couldn't age yet due to the lack of time, but it would do).

There was also ivara oil for gloss and thickness, and cracked purplestep seeds for saltiness. There was also some sapsurge sap added in, automatically softening the meat.

He had to do a bit of trial and error until he found the combination and consistency that he wanted.

In terms of taste, it was tangy like tomato and tamarind, but it also had a deep roasted sweetness and subtle smoke with lingering heat as an aftertaste.

He placed the meat perpendicular to the fire, held steady by the rocks and the sticks. With his brush, he brushed the sauce over the meat. They listened to the crackling sound of meat cooking.

Hiss

Immediately, the scent wafted their noses and spread around the cave. People gulped unconsciously. Finn enjoyed cooking and looking at their reactions, while the rest couldn't help but lean forward as their eyes stuck to the meat.

Finn smiled. Enticement, done~

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