Chapter 98 - 97 This Meal Cost How Much!

With Freid announcing that diner was ready both Marcus and Lilia quickly got out of the bath and dried off before going back into the changing room.

Once inside they saw that their were two dresses that had been laid out for them, a royal blue and bright yellow.

After picking them up Marcus could tell by the sizes' of the dresses that the yellow one was meant for Lilia while the Blue was for Marcus.

Marcus handed the yellow dress to Lilia and stared a bit dubiously at the blue dress.

He had never worn a dress before and was deciding whether to put it on or slip back into his dirty clothing.

'I guess I could bring forth the set of clothes I started this world in, but they are pretty bad quality and would not fit my current body very well.'

Marcus then looked at the set of clothes he had been given at the beginning of his journey from Marianna that had belonged to her deceased mother.

However, the clothes were currently quite dirty and had holes throughout since he had done the majority of his fighting while wearing them.

Realizing he really did not have any other option Marcus decided to wear the dress figuring that if he was going to be masquerading as Irene for a while, he would have to get used to wearing girls' clothing.

Unfortunately, having the will to and being able to, were two different things as Marcus struggled to get the royal blue dress on.

'Ugh, why is this so hard, how do you put this thing on. I tried putting it on over me like a shirt and that did not work, and I could only get one leg through the top.'

Marcus spent a good three minutes utterly failing to get the royal blue dress on before Lilia came over and said, "Um I think it would help if you undid the zipper first."

Marcus looked at Lilia with a face of confusion since he had already looked for a zipper but had found none.

However, Lilia came over and pulled a thin piece of fabric away revealing the zipper on the side of the dress.

Marcus with a look of defeat slowly undid the zipper and began slipping into the dress when Lilia said, "Before you put on the dress you should probably wear some underwear since it will be difficult to get on otherwise."

Marcus then saw the pair of underwear left out for him and looked at Lilia with pleading eyes asking for assistance.

Lilia understanding Marcus' dilemma grabbed the bra that had been left out and helped Marcus into it.

Once the bra had been properly put on with the help of Lilia, Marcus began putting on the pair of panties when he a few questions popped into his mind.

'Why the hell does Wade have this stuff and how the hell did he know my measurements, when even I do not know them. Also, this dress and underwear is too similar to what was on Earth and I doubt that these designs came about by accident.'

While Marcus pondered these thought there was again another knock on the door and Freid said, "Is everything alright in there, it has been taking a while and the food will get cold if we do not leave soon."

Hearing this Marcus threw the lingering questions he had into the back of his mind and opened the door to find the Freid was standing in the hall waiting for them.

When Freid saw Marcus come through the door for just a moment, he was mesmerized by his kingdom toppling beauty.

However, being the professional he is Freid quickly got his senses back under control and began leading the way to the dining room.

Soon the three of them came into a massive hall that had a grand chandelier hanging from the top of the ceiling and a luxurious table that could easily sit thirty people.

Sitting at the head of the table Wade was already waiting, ready to begin the meal.

However, when he caught site of Marcus who was using Irene's form, Wade could not help but stare since now that he was cleaned up and wearing a beautiful dress, it would be hard to find someone that could match his looks.

Marcus seeing Wade's stare looked directly at Wade and gave him a bright smile causing him to avert his eyes.

'As someone who lived their first twenty-eight years as a guy, I of course know how difficult it is to not stare at a beautiful woman, but I can also tell that while you are great at being a conniving royal investigator you have no real experience with women.'

Marcus thought about teasing Wade a bit more, but decided against it since he was still trying to get used to the fact he could be either a woman or a man at any time.

'It certainly is going to take some getting used to, but at the end of the day I am still me whichever form I take.'

He and Lilia then took their seats on either side of Wade and Freid began bringing out the first dish.

To start with he brought out an appetizer that looked kind of like raw bacon that was wrapped around some sort of cheese and served on top of a fruit that was incredibly close to a tomato.

Picking it up with his fork Marcus took a bite of the dish and immediately the delicious flavors of the food washed over his mouth.

'Damn, that is good. The meat tastes like pork, the cheese has a mellow but rich flavor, and this fruit tastes quite good though not exactly like a tomato.'

Marcus quickly finished off the two pieces of the dish on his plate and let out a satisfied huff after taking a big gulp of water.

However, the appetizer was only the beginning as the next dish that was brought out was a fragrant soup that used mushrooms as its main ingredient.

Taking a sip of the soup Marcus fully enjoyed the perfect flavor and texture of the broth.

Moving his attention next to the mushrooms he took one out and to his astonishment he recognized the mushroom.

It looked exactly like one of the mushrooms he had found in the woods back when he was training.

Marcus then looked over at Wade and said, "Are you sure you want to serve these so casually I recognize these mushrooms and I know they are natural treasures, surely they must be incredibly rare and expensive."

Wade looked over at Marcus with a shocked face since he never expected him to know what these mushrooms are.

Wade then put his spoon down and said, "These are indeed natural treasures but each one is only worth about seven gold each. Truth be told they are the most abundant natural treasure, and they stop working on people above level ten and are only able to raise people's stats by a couple dozen points before no longer having any effect. They are however, incredibly tasty so you will find them used often in noble dishes, so feel free to eat them without reservation."

Marcus looked over at Lilia who was still thoroughly enjoying the soup and was certainly getting some benefit out of the mushrooms.

'Well while they are not doing anything for me those mushrooms will increase Lilia's stats a bit further and at this point even though she is only level three her stats are probably similar to someone at level ten.'

With his worries cleared up Marcus continued enjoying the soup savoring the flavor of each of the mushrooms.

Once the three of them had finished off the mushroom soup Fried brought out the main dish which consisted of some herb roasted vegetables and a large piece of fish that resembled a tuna steak.

Marcus immediately cut off a piece of the fish and put it into his mouth and when the piece of fish made contact with his tongue it practically melted.

With just one taste of the fish Marcus was hooked and had already eaten half of the fish steak before he even remembered that there were also vegetables.

Marcus quickly calmed himself down and took a bite of the vegetables that were completely different from anything he had ever seen before.

The first bite was similar to a tofu that had been marinated in a sweet and sour sauce and was quite delicious as well as having a great texture.

With the discovery of one vegetable that tasted incredible Marcus quickly went on to eat the others finding that each one was just as good as the last until there were no more vegetables to be had on his plate.

After every vegetable was gone Marcus once again turned his attention towards the fish steak and finished off the rest of it becoming quite satisfied.

'That had to be the best meal I have ever had on this world or my old one. The ingredients on this world are certainly top notch and seem to surpass even the wide array back on Earth.'

After beginning incredibly satisfied by the delicious meal he had just eaten Marcus was ready to get some rest when Freid brought out desert.

On a silver plater laid a delicious freshly baked pie that smelled absolutely great.

Freid expertly cut off a piece for each of them and then poured a light amount of cream on top.

Marcus could see that the pie filling was some type of vibrant orange fruit.

Taking a bite Marcus was surprised to find that the fruit was quite tart and not sweet, but with the addition of the sweet cream and crust the pie was absolutely delicious.

Soon the piece of pie that was given to each member at the table was finished off leaving three satisfied individuals.

Marcus then asked Wade the question that had been weighing on his mind for a while.

"Wade how much exactly would this meal cost, it seemed like it would be incredibly expensive on the mushrooms alone, would it be around fifty gold or something."

Wade the gave Marcus a mischievous look and said, "No you would never be able to afford this meal on a mere fifty gold, just the ingredient alone would run around four hundred gold and with the cost of service it would cost at least five hundred."

Marcus then stared at his stomach imagining that he had just eaten five hundred gold and Lilia who heard this practically passed out from shock hearing the price.