Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 201

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Chapter 61: Witches’ Sabbath

Keinzel believed that knowing how to use power was more important than the power itself.

‘I managed to get a declaration of defeat with such ridiculous sophistry [clever but deceptive reasoning], but Morgana’s mind hasn’t truly changed. From now on, I’ll win her over with a bowl of food.’

Keinzel handed Morgana the calf liver left over from cooking.

“Would you look at this first?”

The smoothly cut surface was impressive, even to Morgana, who knew little about cooking.

“I can certainly see the effort you put into removing the smell. But how on earth do you use a knife to get such a cut?”

Keinzel took out the mithril knife he wore on his waist.

A knight always keeps his sword close. Keinzel also carried a knife, except when bathing.

When he infused the blade with Aura [a magical energy], a brilliant light poured out, powerful enough to take on a demon.

“Mi, Mithril knife… I understand now. But that’s not the secret to liver dishes, is it? You’d need at least a myth-grade artifact as a cooking tool.”

‘Hmm. Aegis, which I used as a tool, was definitely a myth-grade artifact, right? Is she developing not only her five senses but also a sixth sense?’

He had used a slightly special tool for cooking, but that shouldn’t matter.

Keinzel licked his lips and said.

“Actually, this is calf liver, but it’s from a Gorgon calf.”

“Go, Gorgon?! So… what I ate was made with Gorgon liver?”

Morgana’s face, which had barely regained some color, turned white again.

A Gorgon is a monster resembling a bull covered in metal scales.

It spews a petrifying breath that can’t be countered alone with even the slightest touch.

Morgana quickly put her finger in her mouth and touched her mucous membrane.

If petrification starts, it begins where the food first made contact.

“…Fortunately, I didn’t get petrified. But what on earth were you thinking, feeding me such strange food!”

“I removed all the poison and petrifying breath, so you don’t have to worry.”

“That’s not the problem!”

“The rich flavor of the dish you just ate was only possible because it was Gorgon’s liver. Calf liver has less odor, but also less flavor. Besides, your blood recovered so quickly for the same reason.”

Keinzel paused, then looked into Morgana’s eyes and continued.

“There are some rather unusual foods in cooking. Ggonge-ran [partially developed chicken embryo], made by boiling eggs just before they hatch. Scorpions or grasshoppers are fried crispy in oil and eaten like snacks. Foods like Blodpalt [Swedish blood pancakes] or Kiviak [fermented seabirds] have such a strong odor that they’re difficult for first-timers to eat. But some people consider them delicacies because they are delicious.”

“…Cooking should be delicious? No matter what ingredients you use?”

“Of course, you shouldn’t put anything harmful in it. That’s not food, it’s poison. So, what did you think of the food I made?”

“It was really delicious. So delicious that I’d want to eat it again if I had the chance.”

“You think so too, right?”

“Ah.”

Morgana opened her eyes wide as if she had realized something.

She understood why he had hidden the dish’s identity and made her eat it.

In the end, it was all to get a positive reaction from Morgana.

Even if it was power gained through a contract with a demon, power is just power.

Ultimately, she agreed with Keinzel. She accepted the choice she had been denying her whole life.

[7-star dish ‘Self-Contradictory Calf Liver Steak’ has been completed.]

[Proficiency of Aura Blade greatly increases.]

‘7 stars…!’

It meant he had succeeded in putting his heart into the dish.

Morgana couldn’t accept her choice. She had lived her whole life regretting her contract with the demon.

But a bowl of food moved her soul.

“…I never thought I’d be comforted like this by a newbie. But the food you made was definitely delicious. That’s right. Rather than using good ingredients and making them taste bad, it’s better to use monster meat and make it taste good. So, is it my turn this time?”

“My turn?”

“You’re not thinking of just talking and ending it, are you?”

In the end, Keinzel was half-forced to listen to the story of how Morgana came to contract with the demon.

@

Morgana came from a prestigious family that had produced many Sword Masters for generations.

“But I didn’t have any talent. It was as if Morgan, born a year earlier, had taken it all away.”

Having heard that, Keinzel realized something strange.

Morgana’s full name is Morgan le Fay. But it seemed odd to say her talent was taken by Morgan.

When asked, Morgana smiled and replied.

“After all, what I said earlier was a trick. Well, that’s not important now. Yes, I’m not Morgan le Fay. I was just a small, weak, and foolish child who couldn’t do anything.”

Morgan was born with tremendous talent for swordsmanship. He became a Sword Knight at the young age of 11.

If he continued to grow like that, he would become a Sword Master at a very young age.

“11 years old…”

Even Hector’s son, Vincent, seemed insignificant compared to Morgan’s talent.

But tragedy struck.

“Morgan left to train as a knight, seeking experience. And he never came back.”

He was said to have been hit by a stray arrow while trying to wipe out a bandit hideout. It was such an absurd end.

‘A child who had just become a Sword Knight wouldn’t have had the余裕 [composure/ability] to use Aura for defense. If he had waited just one more year, the result would have been different.’

“Madam Head, my birth mother, was weak-hearted. After losing her husband, Morgan was the only person she could trust. Me? I told you, I was an ugly duckling who couldn’t do anything well.”

In the end, Madam Head was said to have gone crazy after grieving for three days and nights.

Unable to accept her son’s death, she began to call her daughter Morgan.

“In the end, I started living as Morgan le Fay from then on. Ironically, I was happy at first. Just swinging my sword made Madam Head happy.”

Morgana trained every day, pushing herself to her limits, to gain Madam Head’s recognition.

But she had terribly no talent for swordsmanship.

“I decided to abandon my name and live as Morgan, but I couldn’t even do that properly. Then a demon appeared in front of me. And when I came to my senses, I had the mark of a witch and incredibly sensitive five senses. Would you like to see? It’s a little embarrassing, but I’ll show you if you want.”

“…It’s okay.”

Using the extrasensory perception, the efficiency of mana cultivation increased dramatically. Morgana became a Sword Knight in an instant.

Ten years after taking up the sword, she finally stood on the same starting line as Morgan.

“How is it? Isn’t it a really stupid story?”

“Wait a minute. Something’s wrong.”

Keinzel called the sleeping Bishop. There was something he needed to confirm.

‘Bishop, usually the power that demons give is necromancy, curses, or black magic rooted in the Seven Deadly Sins, right?’

― Hmm. You know it well. That’s right. It is unprecedented for a demon to give humans extrasensory perception that enhances their five senses.

‘I knew it…’

Keinzel told him the results after hearing the whole story.

“Perhaps Morgana was scammed.”

“…A scam?”

“Demons are so cunning that they never pay full price for anything. Ah, I heard this from Goethe, a master of demonology.”

Goethe had been writing a novel for several years about a mediocre scholar who had a contract with a demon.

The data he researched was enormous, even to Keinzel, who was an amateur.

Goethe’s knowledge of demons was enough to argue with the scholars of the Academy.

“You mean…”

“Perhaps the extrasensory perception wasn’t a power that Morgana originally had. The demon tricked her into thinking he gave her a power that was just beginning to emerge.”

Wasn’t it just that Morgana’s talent was waiting for the right time to bloom?

It is said that the later a flower blooms, the more beautiful and vibrant its color.

“Ah, ahahaha! If that’s true, it’s a pathetic ending that makes me want to cry.”

“Besides, if you could become a Sword Master by selling your soul, there wouldn’t be only seven in Britannia.”

Was that the final blow?

Morgana began to cry like a child.

There could be nothing more cruel for her, who had lived her whole life regretting her contract with the demon.

Keinzel took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped Morgana’s tears.

If everything was a demon’s trick, there was still a chance for a counterattack.

“As I said, to reinsert the sealing stone, we need the witch’s connection to the Demon Realm. Using that means you don’t have to worry about your soul being taken by the demon anymore.”

“…What does that mean?”

“In simple terms, let’s overturn that unfair contract. Tell them to come and argue if they can. Of course, if they can come.”

“… !”

If the sealing stone blocks the door to the Demon Realm again, demons won’t be able to cross over as easily as before.

Besides, no matter how I think about it, the demon that Morgana contracted with is low-level. If he was high-ranking, he would have bragged about himself for hours.

In the end, Morgana happily agreed to cooperate in closing the door to the Demon Realm.

Elizabeth pouted and grumbled, as if she didn’t like the situation.

“Tch, if you’re not a witch, what am I going to tease you with…”

At that moment, the cloak Keinzel was wearing bulged, and Leman, who had been waiting, popped out.

“Something terrible has happened, Master!”

Leman was assisting Keinzel in many ways by using his ability to turn his body into several bats.

And one of his clones was guarding the door to the Demon Realm.

“What is it? Did something happen to the door?”

“As expected, you are the Master. That’s right. The door opened and closed very slightly, and a huge arm popped out!”

It seems many demons are waiting for the door to open completely.

Morgana seemed to like Leman, so she grabbed his wings with both hands and rubbed her cheeks against him.

“Can’t you give me this?”

“No! Leman belongs to the Master!”

It was fortunate that Morgana and Leman seemed to get along well.

“We can’t just leave Leman on guard. If we’re not careful, the demon might force the door open.”

“I agree. We’ll have to divide the group into two.”

Calliope has to eat the food Keinzel makes, so she can’t be separated.

And Morgana must also be with us to find other witches.

In the end, Gawain and Elizabeth will go to the north where the door to the Demon Realm is.

Keinzel, Calliope, and Morgana decided to be in charge of searching for other witches.

“…It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. Then I’ll have to play with my cute disciple.”

“S, Teacher?!”

Avel’s face turned bright red. I wondered what he was doing regularly.

Keinzel sighed as he looked at Morgana, who he would be with for a while.

Even though she had softened a lot, they had been fighting to the death until half a day ago.

It’s uncomfortable.

A lot.

Whether she knew Keinzel’s feelings or not, Morgana smiled and said.

“Unfortunately, I only know one witch. She’s not very sociable, so she doesn’t attend Sabbaths.”

“Sabbath…”

It was a word that meant a secret witches’ banquet.

On that day, witches from all over the world gather in one place.

“Then the destination is the Kingdom of Gallia. The Crimson Witch lives there.”

“The Crimson Witch?!”

“Yes, Báthory Erzsébet [Elizabeth Báthory]. She is known as a woman who killed many virgins and bathed in their blood. Unlike me, subduing her will never be easy.”
Witches’ Sabbath #2