FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife

'This coffee might turn out to be the key to my survival here long term,' I thought, only to then raise my eyes over to the other two in the room. 'But for that to happen…'

By now, Saintess was fully focused on sucking on the piece of hard, chocolate-flavored candy that she already managed to free from its wrapper and stuff into her mouth.

And her face…

Seeing it, I couldn't help but smile myself.

Her eyes were widened in shock even greater than when she tasted the instant mashed potatoes with bacon. Her cheeks grew slightly flushed while her entire jaw moved all around as she sucked on the piece of candy with all her might, only to then keep swallowing her own, candy-flavored saliva.

"Just make sure not to bite on it. It will make the taste more intense, but you will go through the candy way, way too fast if you do so," I suggested, fully aware of the trap of doing so.

'Given how it could be years before I can figure out how to manufacture anything like that, it's best to make each candy count,' I thought…

Only to hear quite the characteristic crunch next.

My face froze, just like did Selia.

And as our eyes met—

"I'm sorry, I guess?" I spoke, not exactly sure how I was supposed to react. And as the Saintess' face took a trip from guilt, through surprise all the way to curiosity, I quickly shook my head. "For planting the idea in your head, that is. But seriously, I don't have any more of those, so I would suggest you make them count, okay?"

I wouldn't put the task of recreating candy in this world into a realm of impossibility. But for that to happen, and on a sustainable scale?

'There's a reason why it wasn't until the late stage of the first wave of industrialization that candy-making even became a thing.'

Seeing how the Saintess rushed to unwrap another piece without uttering a single word, I could only shake my head, pretending to give up while actually observing the other party in the room — Greg.

Contrary to the Saintess, he didn't seem all that interested in the pack of candies in her hand. Instead, his eyes instantly drew to the wrapper that Selia simply tossed away.

By now, he had already moved to the other side of the counter — an action I sadly missed, leaving me to question just how the hell did he do so, when the counter was a perfect fit into the hole of the wall that separated the customer area of the building from the actual workshop on its other side.

'Did he jump over it?' I thought, squinting my eyes right as Greg leaned down and picked up the discarded piece of plastic, only to stare at it for a moment as his fingers played with it. He stretched it as much as he could, tried to perfectly even out every single crease of it, only to then pull back and watch how it semi-regained its original, bent form.

It was after a series of those tests that he finally turned his eyes back… not to the Saintess, but to my face.

For a moment, he just stared right into my eyes before sighing out and shaking his head.

"A findling, huh?" he muttered while still shaking his head, only to go back to the counter and—

And just like I expected, grabbing its edge only to jump up, toss his body over the wooden board and then land on the other side with ease.

'Never knew dwarves could be so agile,' I thought, gulping down my spit as I imagined the man armed with an axe, his short posture making him an incredibly annoying target on the battlefield, all the while he boasted both the strength to carry a massive, twin-bladed axe and the agility to move like a shadow throughout the battlefield.

'Once again, I can't let the notion of what I think I know stop me from learning what I can actually see before my eyes,' I thought, taking a deep breath and then heaving it out along with all my expectations over the qualities and quirks the dwarven race should possess.

"Greg!"

In the short time it took me to think all of that, Saintess only managed to freeze on the spot and throw her acquaintance a furious glare. For the very first time since we stepped inside, she went as far as to openly grab the handle of her sword.

And after going through that death's jungle with her, I knew all about the threat contained within this simple, unassuming gesture.

"Don't you worry that pretty head of yours," Greg merely sighed. "It's not my business what he's doing here or how you found him. Instead," Greg's face changed once again, this time softening up and even producing a small yet extremely genuine smile. "What I'm not sure about, though, is whether to be happy or to be sad for you. So, I will stay positive and say," the dwarf coughed in his fist before leaning over the counter and looking straight at the Saintess, "good for you."

By all means, those words should serve to diffuse the situation, at least for a tiny little bit.

Wasn't Greg's smile sincere enough for that to happen?

And yet, against all my expectations, Selia's face only grew more fierce.

In the end, though, she didn't explode. Instead, she took her hand off the handle of her sword and turned on the spot.

"Come on, we are leaving," she spat through her teeth, already marching down the hall and towards the doors.

But there was just one more…

Okay, two more things I wanted to learn from this place.

And while the first one I could openly ask about, the second?

That part required me to move up to the counter first so I could take a peek at the smithy's actual inside!

"Before we go, may I ask one question?" I asked, directing my face and my voice towards the Saintess while glancing over towards Greg—

"What?!"

Clearly not in the mood, for whatever reason it could be, the Saintess… still stopped to listen to my request.

"Do you guys have some milk and honey, by any chance?" I asked while moving up to the counter and then mirroring Greg's position by leaning over it and then staring him right in the eyes for a few seconds, only to then openly look past him and into the belly of the dwarf's smithy.

"What are you, a fair maiden in need of a beauty bath?" Greg snorted with disregard, his expression instantly taking on a darker color.

"No, not for me to bathe in," I shook my head only to then look away from the counter and over my arm, back at the Saintess. "I might have one hell of a special drink that I actually might be able to cultivate the materials for. And even for me, someone extremely used to drinking it, its taste only truly shines once mellowed down with milk and its bitterness removed by something sweet."

To be perfectly honest, I didn't dare to expect this project of mine to proceed easily. After all, to get even a single cup of the coffee done would require far more preparation than just boiling the water and pouring it into the cup as was the case with the instant food I offered the Saintess back in the jungle.

And yet…

"Oh, and since everyone here already knows I'm a foundling, I believe it's only right for me to reveal how this drink became even more popular than all sorts of alcohol combined."