Chapter 612 – BACK TO SELLING ON A CITY CORNER, THE AROMA OF SPICY GRILLED CHICKEN, AND THE QUEEN OF DEATH’S BUSINESS IDEA

The dawn sun cast a warm golden light over the metropolis of Nocture. From the balcony of her main palace, Sylvia stood with both arms resting on the cold marble railing. She gazed at the magnificent expanse of the city, which had grown rapidly and was now home to more than thirteen million souls. Below, buildings of magical iron and quartz stone stood solid, linked by energy rail lines that glided smoothly through them. The morning wind carried the fresh scent of the hanging gardens and the warmth of citizens just starting their day.

Sylvia sighed softly. Life in Nocture ran thanks to Sofia’s leadership very smoothly. Still, for a Queen of Death used to wandering, staying in the palace too long left her feeling a little restless. She wanted to go down to the streets, walk the corners of the commercial district, and see for herself how her people lived.

But the classic problem stood before her again: how could she walk around without causing a mass commotion?

If she walked out in her true form with no disguise, the people of Nocture, who worshiped and revered her like a guardian goddess, would kneel at once, cheer, and greet her with absolute reverence. Her hope of enjoying a quiet day would vanish in an instant.

"Should I disguise myself like I did before?" Sylvia murmured softly, tapping her fingers on the marble railing.

Her memory suddenly drifted back to the past, when she had roamed the central market of the Helios Empire’s capital. Back then she had disguised herself as an ordinary traveling merchant to gather important information and enjoy the bustle of the mortal world. She remembered how fun it had been to sell dried spices and imported cloth, and finally to open an instant-ramen stall that drew a long, winding line through the night market.

"But the situation in Nocture is different," Sylvia thought. In the Helios capital back then, quality food ingredients had been very scarce. In Nocture now, thanks to the global food monopoly and the modern farming system Sofia had designed, almost every kind of food ingredient, exotic spice, and even mutated monster meat was available in abundance in the city markets.

"If I only sold dried spices or ordinary market food, there would be nothing interesting to gain. Everything is too common here," she continued in her mind.

’You’ve been spacing out for too long,’ a crisp telepathic voice interrupted her thoughts.

Sylvia turned to the side. Sol, the Golden Dragon, who now chose the form of a tiny golden cat that looked like it was made of crystal shards, was hopping casually from the windowsill onto her shoulder. His soft golden fur reflected the morning sun beautifully.

"I’m thinking of going down into the city," Sylvia said, gently stroking Sol’s head. "But I need a reason and something fun to do. Do you want to come?"

’Come? Of course I’m coming!’ Sol answered eagerly, his ears twitching happily. ’My stomach is already calling me to duty. I heard the merchants in the eastern district just harvested mutant pork and fresh crystal fruit this morning!’

"Remember," Sylvia warned with a faint smile, "today we’re just taking a relaxed stroll. Don’t cause a commotion."

’I never cause commotions,’ Sol replied in an adorably defensive tone. ’If people get too excited when they see my beauty, that’s not my fault.’

Noir popped halfway out of the shadow of Sylvia’s robe and stared at Sol with glowing red eyes. ’This golden cat always has a thousand excuses to justify his greed.’

’Shut up, you black zombie dragon!’ Sol fired back quickly.

Sylvia could only chuckle and shake her head at her two pets. With a graceful motion, she summoned a plain cloth cloak with a black hood from her system storage. The cloak carried a low-grade disguise enchantment that could blur her divine aura and hide her pale face from a passing glance. Her long black hair was tied neatly beneath the hood.

After making sure her disguise was perfect, Sylvia left the palace through a side gate without drawing the guards’ attention.

In the morning, Nocture’s commercial district already pulsed with warm life. The clean quartz-stone streets were filled with crowds of citizens of every race, humans, dwarves, elves, and beastkin, coming and going with goods to sell or simply looking for breakfast. Magic shops, spice-scented coffeehouses, and clothing stores displayed their wares behind gleaming crystal glass.

Sylvia walked leisurely through the crowd. It felt wonderful to experience the lively atmosphere of the city without being swarmed by thousands of guards or officials bowing in respect.

However, hiding Sol’s majesty turned out to be a challenge of its own.

As they passed through the open-air food market, the savory aroma of grilled meat and the sweetness of warm pastries filled the air. Sol, sitting on Sylvia’s shoulder, could not suppress his culinary instincts. His tiny nose twitched, and his golden eyes sparkled as he gazed at the neatly lined food stalls.

A beastkin merchant in the form of a large bear, who was turning cuts of meat on a magic stone grill, suddenly stopped what he was doing. His eyes were fixed on the tiny horned golden cat on the shoulder of the hooded girl passing by.

"W-Wait a moment!" the bear merchant cried in a hoarse but enthusiastic voice. "That golden cat... isn’t that the Golden Dragon Guardian of the Palace, His Majesty Sol?!"

Sylvia flinched slightly, while Sol puffed out his chest proudly on her shoulder.

"Good heavens, it is! It’s His Majesty Sol!" another merchant beside him cried.

Within seconds, several merchants around the stall hurried to serve small plates of their best goods. The bear merchant handed over a piece of grilled rib, still steaming hot, with a mouthwatering reddish-brown sauce.

"Please, have a taste, Your Majesty Sol! This is fresh Mutant Bull rib from the southern coastal ranch!" the bear merchant said with a beaming face.

"Try this sweet cheesecake too, Your Majesty! It’s made specially with crystal cow milk!" added an elf woman who sold pastries at the next stall.

Sol happily accepted the little plates with a thin thread of air manipulation. He threw away all the dignity of an ancient dragon and devoured the grilled meat in a single bite.

Sylvia, feeling embarrassed, quickly reached into her cloak pocket. She took out several pure gold coins, finely minted by the Nocture palace treasury, to pay for everything Sol was gobbling up.

"How much is the total? I’ll pay for it," Sylvia said, her voice disguised to sound lower.

But as soon as the bear merchant saw the gold coins in Sylvia’s hand, he hurriedly waved both hands wide and bowed deeply in respect.

"No! Please don’t, Miss! We absolutely cannot accept money from you or from the Palace!" the bear merchant said sincerely. "Before this city stood under the Queen of Death’s protection, we lived in fear every day. Our families were hunted by zombies, oppressed by corrupt nobles, and we never knew whether we would have food tomorrow."

The elf merchant beside him nodded slowly too, her eyes misty as she remembered the past. "That’s right, Miss. In Nocture, the payment system does use physical bronze, silver, and gold coins, fairly, for everyday trade. But for a little bit of food like this, given to the Palace’s pet? This is our small way of saying thank you. Thanks to the Queen of Death and Empress Sofia, we have homes, jobs, and absolute security. Giving a little food is an honor for us!"

The other merchants around them nodded in agreement, warm smiles on their faces. There was no pretense in their gazes, only deep gratitude for the peace they now enjoyed.

Sylvia fell silent for a moment. She looked at the gold coins in her palm, then at the sincerely smiling faces of her people. A strange warmth flowed through her chest, a satisfaction that no magical power or divine title could buy.

"I understand," Sylvia said quietly, putting her gold coins back into her pocket. "Thank you for your kindness."

"May the Queen of Death always bless our city!" the merchants called out as Sylvia continued on her way.

Sol, now chewing on the cheesecake with eyes narrowed in satisfaction, whispered through telepathy, ’See? I didn’t ask. They gave it to me themselves.’

"But it was your stomach that prompted them," Sylvia replied, lightly patting the golden cat’s head.

As she kept walking along the city’s main streets, Sylvia began to observe her surroundings carefully. Her True Sight mapped the flow of Nocture’s life. The city was almost perfect. The clean water supply ran smoothly, energy transport operated on time, and security was assured in every corner.

But when she saw a dwarf messenger hurrying along with a stack of paper letters toward the administration tower, Sylvia suddenly realized something.

One important element was still missing from the efficiency of this giant city: instant communication at mass scale.

Sylvia touched the hologram bracelet on her wrist. This projection bracelet was a magical communication device she had designed by combining Lumina technology with the residue dust of Monster Cores. For now, it had only been distributed in limited numbers to the commanders of the Death Legion, the fleet’s ship officers, and high palace officials. The general public still relied on physical bulletin boards, paper letters, or magic pigeons for long-distance communication.

"A mass communication network based on these hologram bracelets is something the people badly need," Sylvia murmured in her heart. "If all thirteen million citizens of Nocture had access to this device, trade coordination, city news, and even emergency calls could be handled in seconds."

She pictured herself setting up a roadside stall to sell hologram bracelets in person. But Sylvia quickly shook her head.

"No... that wouldn’t suit," she thought. Hologram bracelets required magic matrix configuration, registration of the user’s soul identity, and distribution through centralized energy servers. Selling high-tech magical devices on the roadside would only be troublesome and feel stiff.

"Building the factory, forming the communications company, and distributing the hologram bracelets en masse should be left entirely to Alicia," she decided. Alicia, with her patience and meticulous care as the Spirit Emperor, was far better suited to managing Nocture’s mass-technology company.

Then what could she do herself to fill her free time tomorrow?

Sylvia smiled faintly beneath her hood. The memory of selling ramen at the night market in the Helios capital drifted back into her mind. The feeling of cooking amid the crowd, listening to customers laugh, and seeing the satisfaction on people’s faces as they tasted a delicious dish... it was one of the purest forms of entertainment she had ever known in this harsh post-apocalyptic world.

"I’ll go back to selling food," she declared firmly.

But what dish? She had already made ramen. Ordinary grilled pork or beef had spread all over Nocture.

She needed something simple, easy to eat on the street, yet with an addictive flavor that the people of this new world had never tasted.

"Grilled chicken," Sylvia murmured.

And not just ordinary grilled chicken. Sylvia imagined pieces of high-quality chicken marinated in special spices, grilled until the skin was crisp and the meat tender and savory, then brushed with a variety of secret blended sauces.

There would be a sweet-spicy sauce with mutated chili extract that burned the tongue yet left you wanting more, a rich and savory honey-butter sauce, a thick melted-cheese sauce, and an exotic black-pepper spice sauce that warmed the throat. This variety of sauces was guaranteed to create a new taste sensation that had never existed on any continent!

"This is the perfect plan," Sylvia said with full confidence.

’Grilled chicken with spicy sauce?’ Sol looked up quickly, his eyes sparkling. ’Do I get the post of head taste tester?’

"You can be the taste tester," Sylvia replied, "but if you finish off half the ingredients before we start selling, I’ll have Noir lock you inside the shadow."

’So cruel...’ Sol grumbled softly, though drool was already dripping as he imagined how delicious the grilled chicken sauce would be.

Noir laughed coldly from the shadows. ’I would gladly carry out that order, Your Majesty.’

After walking around to her heart’s content and noting an ideal corner of the market to open a stall, a strategic spot near the crystal square of the northern commercial district, Sylvia decided to return to the palace.

On reaching the castle, Sylvia did not rest right away. She headed for her alchemy room and her spacious private kitchen in the west tower. The place was equipped with the most advanced magic-based cooking equipment, including a non-stick mana-crystal grill that could control temperature precisely, and pure copper vessels for mixing sauces.

Sylvia opened her System Storage. This virtual storage space, with its absolute time-stasis properties, held dozens of tons of fresh food ingredients she had collected from all over the continents. She took out dozens of carcasses of high-grade mutated fowl, with very dense and juicy muscle fibers.

With a Demigod’s precision and an expert’s nimble speed, Sylvia set to work:

1. Preparing the Meat: The mutated chickens were cut into portions just right for street food, then soaked for several hours in a special marinade of magic garlic, ginger, pure sea salt, and spice oil so the flavor would seep all the way to the bone.

2. Brewing the Main Sauce (Deadly Spicy Sauce): Sylvia pounded blood-red mutated chilies she had found in the Tianhua transition forest, mixed with the thick sweet soy sauce made in Nocture, a little magic lime juice, and sesame oil. The aroma was so sharp and pungent that Sol, watching from afar, sneezed again and again.

3. Brewing the Side Sauces: She also made a honey-butter sauce from crystal bee honey, a melted-cheese sauce that gleamed golden, and a warm-scented black-pepper sauce.

4. Stall Equipment: Sylvia prepared a portable wooden table covered with heat-resistant magic iron sheets, a mana-crystal stove, eco-friendly plates made of magic bamboo fiber, and an open grill designed specially so the aroma of the smoke would spread far into the air.

Time passed unnoticed. As night deepened, all the goods and blended sauces were ready, stored neatly in perfect freshness inside her System Storage.

Sylvia wiped a little sweat from her forehead and gazed at the neat stacks of sauce containers and chicken with great satisfaction.

"All the preparations are done," Sylvia murmured with a satisfied smile.

Tomorrow morning, on a busy corner of Nocture’s square, the Queen of Death would go back to the streets as a secret grilled-chicken vendor. And she could hardly wait to see how her people would react when they tasted the delicious new flavor she had created.