Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 139

Richard von Frerremann had survived this long thanks to his picky eating habits.

He wouldn’t drink blood that didn’t taste good, even when starving.

Moreover, he only fed enough to avoid harming his source.

That’s why he remained unscathed while other vampires were meeting their ends with stakes in their hearts.

Lehmann chattered incessantly while Cainchel prepared the meal.

“Mademoiselle, do you know why I created the Goodblood Auction House?”

“Isn’t it because the underground grand auction house, where countless desires converge, is an ideal feeding ground for vampires?”

That was the correct answer. That’s why the auction house was named Goodblood.

Guests who visit the underground auction house seek to fulfill desires such as vanity, possessiveness, and lust.

They receive what they want, and we receive blood in return.”

Instead of answering, Lehmann knelt before Abel.

“I have been waiting here for hundreds of years, just to meet you! It was love at first sight, Mademoiselle. Would you grant me the honor of kissing your hand?”

“······.”

Abel ignored Lehmann with an indifferent expression. Honestly, it was overwhelming.

For vampires, feeding is said to be akin to sexual intercourse.

So, saying it was love at first sight wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

“And I swear on the honor of Richard von Frerremann that I will not cause any harm in the process of feeding! Draining someone dry is not gentlemanly. I, Lehmann, would never do such a barbaric thing, even if a stake were driven into my heart, so you don’t have to worry!”

Did he think he sounded impressive? A smug smile appeared on Lehmann’s lips.

“Haa······.”

A sigh of annoyance escaped Abel’s lips. Lehmann was already smug, as if he had won some unspoken bet.

“Are you aware that nutrients in vegetables like spinach, or seafood like oysters and clams, are helpful for blood regeneration?”

“I know that much.”

“That’s good! Please tell me if you need anything. Oh, and you shouldn’t drink coffee or black tea after being fed on.”

“Can’t you just shut up? The bet hasn’t even started yet.”

“I shall do as Mademoiselle wishes.”

Lehmann pretended to cover his mouth with both hands.

Abel was strangely popular with chatterboxes, just like Saint-Germain.

While Abel and Lehmann were engaged in their peculiar conversation,

Cainchel began to seriously prepare blood dishes.

First, he made black pudding [a type of blood sausage] with the intestines and fat of a pig, drawing the blood fresh.

Lehmann, who was watching, shrugged.

“Certainly, black pudding is a popular dish made with animal blood. But can such a common dish truly satisfy Mademoiselle?”

“The cooking has only just begun. I’m going to make a full course meal made with blood.”

“A full course? But surely the only blood dishes eaten in Britannia are black pudding or sausages, or perhaps Schwarzsauer [a German blood soup]?”

Lehmann was correct.

The Deus Church considered drinking animal blood impure, even if they ate the meat.

So, except for the north where meat was scarce, dishes using animal blood had hardly developed.

‘But if I use the Brilliant Road, I can get countless blood dish recipes, even ones that suit the taste of vampires.’

The reason for preparing various animals was for that very reason.

While the black pudding cooked in the pot, Cainchel made a sauce to accompany it.

First, he made an incision in the neck of a fattened goose and hung it upside down on a string to easily collect the blood.

He poured a generous amount of sweet red wine into the collected blood, along with plenty of honey and gem salt, adding a few cloves and simmering until it thickened.

Abel, who had been pushing away the clinging Lehmann, widened her eyes.

“Is this really a sauce made with blood? It has a very sweet and fragrant scent. It smells delicious.”

Cainchel answered loudly, as if to ensure Lehmann heard.

“This is a sauce called Grand Veneur [a classic French game sauce], sometimes used in French cuisine. I put as much blood as possible without spoiling the taste, so it will have a very rich flavor.”

“Gulp.”

Lehmann, who swallowed his saliva involuntarily, scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“Even with such a flavorful sauce, black pudding is still just black pudding. That level of cooking is not enough!”

“Then, while the sauce simmers, let’s make tiet canh [a Vietnamese blood soup], a blood appetizer.”

“Tiet canh?”

Lehmann, who had lived for hundreds of years, tilted his head, as if hearing the name for the first time.

An exotic dish with a difficult pronunciation.

Cainchel mixed goat and rabbit blood and boiled tendons and cartilage to extract gelatin.

Before he knew it, Lehmann forgot to talk and became absorbed in watching Cainchel cook.

“Good heavens… Is that really animal blood? It smells as rich and fragrant as a high-class courtesan. Tiet canh… Just hearing the name, I can’t imagine what the dish will look like.”

‘Of course, this uses a recipe from a foreign country thousands of kilometers away.’

It was a dish made by mixing animal blood with meat, liver, peanuts, etc., and solidifying it into a kind of savory pudding.

The animal blood, which had turned into pudding, was served with raw goat liver.

“Then next, let’s bake veriohukainen [Finnish blood pancakes].”

“What kind of blood dish is that?”

“It’s a type of pancake made with animal blood.”

That was also the first time he had heard the name.

The man in front of him kept making food that made his mouth water just by looking at it.

Was he a vampire in his previous life?

‘He’s completely hooked on the food I’m making. He’s definitely never seen blood cooked like this before.’

Cainchel mixed cow and duck blood with flour and added beer.

‘Kneading with Fire Fist will make the yeast in the beer make the pancake even softer.’

The dough, which would normally have to be fermented for at least two hours, swelled up in an instant.

Lehmann, who had already glimpsed Cainchel’s memories, knew about Fire Fist.

But knowing it and seeing it in action were different.

The faster Cainchel’s hands moved as he cooked, the greater Lehmann’s expectations grew.

Cainchel mixed honey butter, eggs, and some spices into the dough made with blood and flour.

‘It’s important to use a small pan to make the edges of the pancake crispy.’

As the veriohukainen began to cook, Lehmann looked like he was about to faint from ecstasy.

“Ugh, uhm, but I have Mademoiselle… Ugh uh uhm…”

Lehmann agonized.

He wanted to rush in and tear it apart the moment the pancake was done.

But that would be too ungentlemanly.

“Then next, let’s make blood stew.”

In the end, Lehmann raised both hands.

If he watched him cook any longer, he felt like he would do something ungentlemanly.

“There are still plenty of recipes left, but let’s try these first.”

“How many dishes can you make with blood!”

“Well, there are about fifty right now. But if I use the Brilliant Road a few more times, I can find a lot more.”

Before he knew it, steaming black pudding and mouth-watering veriohukainen were on the table.

And tiet canh was placed nearby.

Basically, Lehmann was a light eater, but today, it seemed like he would have to loosen the belt he was tightening for the first time in a while.

“Then, enjoy your meal.”

@

First, he took a large spoonful of tiet canh, the appetizer, and brought it to his mouth.

The blood, which had turned into a soft custard pudding thanks to the gelatin, stimulated Lehmann’s tongue.

“Hmm, hmm!”

A satisfied sigh escaped involuntarily at the sweet and fragrant taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

He almost blurted out that it was delicious without realizing it, but he couldn’t give in this easily.

Next, it was time to eat the strangely named pancake.

When he cut it into small pieces with a knife and brought it to his mouth, he felt the fluffiness unique to well-risen bread.

And the rich-tasting blood contained within was so sweet that he almost collapsed.

You couldn’t create this kind of taste with just a dish tailored to human tastes.

“This is a dish made for vampires… I never thought something like this would exist…”

Basically, the taste of blood that humans and vampires perceive is different.

Blood that is only fishy and bitter to humans tastes fragrant and sweet to Lehmann.

Cainchel cooked in such a way that he could highlight the original taste of the ingredients as much as possible without spoiling them.

“Certainly, animal blood may seem inferior to vampires. But you can only be called a chef if you can make delicious dishes with such ingredients.”

Cainchel recalled when he was first called a chef by Gordon.

The emotion at that time was similar to what he felt when he became a Sword Knight.

Lehmann finally reached for the black pudding with Grand Veneur sauce.

Before he knew it, the gentleman who had been handling the fork and knife elegantly had disappeared. He was eating the food with both hands like a barbarian.

When he bit into the plump black pudding made with pig intestines, he felt the rich juice and the sweet and fragrant taste of blood.

“Ah, ah······.”

The emotion was the same as when a human who had only eaten raw meat tasted cooked food for the first time.

That much of an amazing and transformative experience.

Even if it was a dish made with blood, it was only made for humans.

But the dish he was eating now was made only for himself.

That was the first emotion that Lehmann, a vampire with a near-immortal lifespan, had ever felt.

Lehmann looked at Cainchel with moist eyes.

The meaning of a vampire’s existence is only to drink human blood.

So other vampires drank blood with the intention to dominate humans, and eventually died with stakes in their hearts.

So what Lehmann chose was to find blood that tasted even better.

He had lived for that for hundreds of years.

But the food that Cainchel made tasted better than any blood he had ever tasted.

Maybe he had lived until now to eat Cainchel’s food.

Lehmann rushed at Cainchel with eyes that sparkled to the point of being burdensome.

It was the moment when a vampire who had been searching for the ideal food for hundreds of years met a chef who could make it.

“······Monsieur! This is the first time I have eaten food made by a human so deliciously! I think I could eat this kind of food for the rest of my life!”

“Then let’s say I won the bet. Is that okay?”

“Of course! I still desire Mademoiselle’s blood, but I will refrain from feeding like a gentleman!”

Lehmann sent a clingy gaze that was burdensome.

Even dishes made with animal blood were so delicious.

But what if······.

[You have created a dish for vampires with perfect skill. Your proficiency in drawing animal blood is very high.]

[Your sense of drawing out the opponent’s blood has been sublimated into the ‘Blood Drain’ skill.]

······.

···.

[You have created a new meaning of existence for the guest through cooking.]

[The power to contain the heart has been incorporated into the ‘Aura Blade’ skill.]

[Aura Blade: 6/10]

‘Oh, the slot for the Aura Blade skill is registered in this way too?’

But there was something among the messages that appeared in the Jo Ma Kyung that bothered him.

The part about moving the guest’s heart with cooking and even finding a new meaning of existence.

Maybe he had done something amazing?

Lehmann knelt in front of Cainchel as if he had made a decision, literally the figure of a knight pledging allegiance.

“Monsieur, please accept me as your subordinate. I will serve you as my lord for the rest of my life.”

Goodblood Auction House #4