Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 196

Kainchel looked around with a bewildered expression. It wasn’t just the presence of Red Cloud that had changed.

Beside Red Cloud, the noodle-making station was covered in dark red filth.

Upon closer inspection, it was a congealed mixture of blood and pus.

‘Master couldn’t stand even a speck of dust on his utensils. But this…….’

Opening the warehouse, which used to be full of fresh ingredients, revealed only half-rotten wheat and foul-smelling dried meat.

‘And the numerous knife marks on the once-pristine kitchen walls……. What on earth happened here?’

Stepping outside, he saw a soldier cleaning up the mess.

The soldier, noticing Kainchel, saluted loudly.

“Oh? Commander, I thought you said you had business inside? By the way, could you do something about Metatron? He’s been radiating killing intent on the deck, waiting for you to come out……. It’s hell for soldiers like us who can’t handle aura.”

“……Elizabeth waited for three years?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. You entered the room about half an hour ago…….”

“3, 30 minutes?!”

Something was wrong.

Kainchel vividly remembered receiving cooking techniques from Red Cloud for three years.

Even now, he was confident in making the best handmade noodles with just flour, salt, and brine.

But was all of that just a dream?

Going to the deck, Elizabeth was indeed waiting as the soldier said. She smiled brightly and waved at Kainchel.

“I knew there was something between me and the kid! Hahaha! I knew you’d come! Oh, and I asked the market to set up a direct gate. Let’s go eat seafood today, and head to Britannia tomorrow morning.”

Whether it was a request or a threat, that wasn’t the important thing right now.

‘She couldn’t have been waiting for three years. It must be only 30 minutes, right?’

Even so, something was still strange.

“Ugh, ugh, aaaaaaack……!”

Looking towards the source of the scream, a soldier who had stepped on a rotten part of the deck was falling into the sea.

The soldier was more than 10 meters away from Kainchel.

Even if he activated his booster and ran right now, he wouldn’t be able to save him.

Kainchel reached out his hand towards the soldier and activated his cooking skill.

‘Noodle Making……!’

Then, noodles made of aura burst from his palm.

The noodles flew at an incredible speed and instantly bound the soldier’s hands.

‘……Now!’

As he put strength into his hand and pulled, the incredibly stretched noodles returned to their original form. It was an unbelievable elasticity.

The soldier, who had narrowly escaped death, stared wide-eyed at the noodles binding his arms.

“C, Commander, did you save me? Thank you so much!”

“Be more careful from now on. What would have happened without the kid? By the way, what is this thin thread? It looks incredibly tough.”

Elizabeth touched the noodles extending from Kainchel’s hand, marveling. This thin strand had supported the body of an adult man.

If you used several of them, you might even be able to lift a castle gate.

“It’s noodles made of aura. Seems pretty useful, right?”

“Noodles? I always want to pull things like this. Here, grrr!”

She grabbed the noodles with both hands and tried to pull, but they only stretched and didn’t break. Elizabeth frowned.

“Ugh……. What is this? Why is it so tough?”

Eventually, she had to use aura to cut the noodles.

‘If I weave dozens of thin noodles together to make them thicker, I might even be able to tie up Elizabeth?’

Kainchel briefly explained how he acquired the noodle-making skill. However, he had to replace the concept of noodles with pasta for Elizabeth, who didn’t understand it.

“A technique to draw out aura thinly and long, like making pasta. I’ve never seen anyone use aura like that before. And you learned that from someone named Red Cloud?”

“Yes. It took three years to learn everything. But in reality, only 30 minutes passed. I don’t know how this is possible.”

Elizabeth thought for a moment and shared a story from her long experience.

“What you experienced was a kind of mental acceleration. You know that time isn’t absolute, but relative, right? In the world of the dead, one second can stretch into hundreds of years, and vice versa.”

“The world of the dead……. So, Master Red Cloud is…….”

Kainchel recalled the three years he spent with Red Cloud.

He remembered Red Cloud laughing heartily as he listened to the story of how Kainchel attracted so many people with his honey butter sandwiches.

He shed tears of emotion at the part where Frellia, who had been asleep for ten years, opened her eyes.

The two were sometimes rivals, competing in their cooking skills. They shared the dishes they made and talked about their impressions all night long.

Even if all of that happened in a fleeting moment of less than 30 minutes.

Kainchel believed that Red Cloud’s heart in it was genuine.

“Red Cloud probably died at the hands of pirates. The cause was likely the hairpin he had hidden away because he wanted to give it to his daughter. We’ll have to interrogate the surviving pirates for more details.”

“……I’ll leave that to you.”

“Anyway, this is really amazing. The soul of a dead person who died with regrets is easily corrupted. But he remained your teacher until the end. It’s an incredible will that I want to pay my respects to.”

Elizabeth paid her respects as she looked at the kitchen where Kainchel had been taught by Red Cloud.

Red Cloud had said he wanted to make the best noodles for his daughter, for whom he had never been able to do anything in his life.

Perhaps he had passed on his noodle-making skills to him, hoping he would do it instead?

“Ah, right. Elizabeth, you said you wanted to eat seafood.”

“Y, yeah.”

“Then please wait a moment. I’ll make you seafood noodles right now.”

Kainchel would have to leave this place soon. Before that, he wanted to show his master, whom he met in death, the results of his training.

@

It wasn’t difficult to find fresh sea bream at the Edinburgh fish market.

It boasted a flavor worthy of being called the king of fish, and it was a delicious ingredient no matter how it was cooked.

The plan was to melt all the flavors of one sea bream into the noodles he was about to make.

The kitchen he borrowed from the innkeeper in exchange for gold coins was a bit cramped, but it was usable.

Kainchel first skillfully filleted the sea bream.

‘I’ll boil the head and bones to make soup, and grill the flesh to use as a garnish.’

He sprinkled salt and pepper in advance, then brushed butter on it while grilling.

First, he filled a pot with water, added the bones and head, and started boiling.

Then, he added a little bit of clear rice wine to remove the fishy smell.

It was a wine made with half rice and half wheat.

This would make the somewhat strong sea bream soup go well with the flour noodles.

As the soup began to simmer, an incredibly fragrant smell began to fill the air.

To not be overpowered by the taste of sea bream, he needed noodles with that much elasticity.

‘Handmade noodles are the perfect match for that……!’

Kainchel began to knead the flour in earnest. There was no need to recall Red Cloud’s teachings. Everything was remembered by Kainchel’s body.

Pulling the dough, which had an unbelievable elasticity, instantly doubled its length. It had to be folded in half while rotating it. That way, the thickness of the noodles would be consistent.

Paang-!

Pang!

Every time Kainchel’s hand moved, new noodles were created. It was a beautiful sight, like watching a noble lady dancing at a ball.

“Kid! I finished the interrogation. I’ll tell you the details later. But you’re making noodles……. W, wow……!”

Elizabeth, who had entered the kitchen, saw Kainchel making handmade noodles.

The spectacle of countless noodles being created from his fingertips.

It was an even more beautiful sight than a group dance performed by numerous dancers.

In the end, Elizabeth had to watch the handmade noodles being completed for a while, mesmerized.

‘I need to make sea bream steak while the noodles are boiling.’

He grilled the pre-seasoned sea bream on a pan with olive oil. He deliberately left the skin on. The fat attached to it was the essence of the sea bream’s flavor.

With a sizzling sound, once the flesh was cooked to some extent, he added pink pepper, lemon juice, and plenty of butter.

They had to be completely reduced so that all the flavors would be absorbed into the sea bream flesh.

Opening the pot where the soup was boiling, an even richer aroma emanated from the reduced broth.

Thanks to the clear rice wine added as a hidden flavor, there was no fishy smell at all.

“Okay, this is no joke……. This is the most luxurious sea bream soup I’ve ever had. And to be able to eat sea bream steak with it……. One dish contains everything about sea bream!”

Although it’s rarely eaten in Britannia, the head is the most delicious part of the fish. The secret to this rich flavor is that the bones and head are put in whole and boiled for a long time.

Kainchel filled a plate with plenty of broth and added the boiled noodles. If you boil them together in the soup, the taste of the flour will ruin the balance. It’s important to boil them separately like this.

Finally, he placed the well-grilled sea bream steak on top and sprinkled parsley powder on it.

“Here’s a special sea bream noodle dish. Eat it with the noodles and sea bream.”

“Okay, I’ll enjoy it!”

Elizabeth started by eating the sea bream steak first.

She already knew Kainchel’s grilling skills well. But who knew he could grill fish this well.

The well-grilled flesh had a rich flavor that came out with every bite. The moderately charred skin was savory, giving it another flavor.

“Ugh, I’m going crazy! This alone is enough!”

“Try eating it with the soup and noodles this time.”

“Okay!”

She took a bite of the sea bream steak, cut into easy-to-eat pieces, and brought it to her mouth with plenty of noodles.

As she swallowed it, something unbelievable happened.

The chewy and elastic noodles, enough to bounce off her teeth, and the taste of sea bream were felt.

“What is this? It’s completely different from when I ate just the fish. It’s like the noodles are dancing in my mouth……!”

And what about the sea bream soup? Thanks to the clear rice wine added as a hidden flavor, it was in perfect harmony with the noodles.

Moreover, that wasn’t all that was contained in the sea bream noodles.

The more she ate, the more something deep inside her heart warmed up. Eventually, Elizabeth’s eyes turned red.

“Huh? It’s delicious, but it’s strange……. I feel sad for some reason…….”

Kainchel, who tasted the handmade noodles he made, nodded with a satisfied expression.

It felt like he was eating noodles made by Red Cloud.

‘Master. Please watch over me. I will hone the skills you taught me even more perfectly and make the best noodles.’

But first, he had to return to Britannia. Promising himself that he would make the best noodles someday, Kainchel hugged the hairpin left by his master tightly in his arms.

Elizabeth, who had eaten her fill of sea bream noodles, suddenly said as if she had just remembered.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Gawain said he wanted to fight you.”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t contact that person?”

“I don’t know. Maybe something changed his mind. But there’s something that guy says every day.”

Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and imitated a frivolous voice.

“This body doesn’t listen to the orders of anyone weaker than me! Euhahaha!”

“……The Sword Master of Patience says things like that?”

“Well, isn’t that roughly why?”

It seemed like there was one more thing he had to do when he went to Britannia.