Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 122

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37. The Hungry

To enter Iron Hammer, one must pass through the heavily guarded main gate.

There wasn’t even a common back door to be seen.

This meant that the lord of Iron Hammer was reluctant to expose the identities of the dwarves.

“Hmm… This has become tricky. But isn’t this why I came along?”

Zeke took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.

“Don’t tell me you have a secret passage into the castle?”

“Something like that. Refining iron requires a tremendous amount of water. That means there’s a huge underground waterway beneath here.”

When he unfolded the paper, it contained the entire layout of the underground waterways in Iron Hammer.

Kainchel’s eyes widened. With that, he could enter Iron Hammer no matter how well guarded the walls were.

Where on earth did he get that?

Zeke chuckled and waved his finger.

“Isn’t everything possible with money? Oh, right, this is 20 gold. I’ll keep track of it.”

“That’s expensive!”

But it was worth more than that.

After all, he had earned nearly 300 gold during the Autumn Festival.

Ice cream was so scarce that people couldn’t buy it even if they had the money.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how popular it was.

‘First, I need to go to a tributary of the Forever River and find the passage connected to the waterway.’

Kainchel activated his Aura Sword. Aura spread throughout his body, sharpening his senses.

Splash!

After swimming in the river for about 10 minutes, he found a cave connected to the underground waterway.

“…Is it here.”

Kainchel took out a light orb and illuminated the area.

The endless underground waterway revealed itself.

Creating an underground structure of this scale was impossible for anyone but dwarves.

It was a sight that made you feel their capabilities.

Zeke touched the transparent film covering his face, marveling at it.

Thanks to the air inside, Zeke, who wasn’t a Sword Knight, could stay submerged for nearly 10 minutes.

“You called this meringue, right? I’ve met many Sword Knights, but you’re the first to use Aura like this, brother.”

An underground waterway so dark that you couldn’t see an inch ahead without a light orb.

The two slowly moved through the passage where only the sound of flowing water could be heard.

“It’s to the right here.”

Inside the underground waterway, there were several forks, most of which led to the river.

Without a proper map, they would have wandered around for a long time.

‘But the atmosphere is strangely eerie and sticky.’

Kainchel had felt a similar sensation in the underground of Pelga.

A village where people died from an epidemic and turned into ghouls, now disappeared from the map.

‘Could it be…?’

Kainchel quietly drew his sword. He strained his ears and heard a groan.

Ughhhhh…

“Wait here for a moment. It seems there are Undead in the underground waterway.”

“U-Undead?”

Zeke’s face tensed, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

Creatures that moved only by their hunger for the living, Ghouls.

Already, dozens of ghouls surrounded Kainchel.

It was such a sudden appearance that even Fallen Star hadn’t detected them.

“Ughhhhh…”

But the clothes they were wearing looked strangely familiar.

A cloth that was originally pure white, stained with blood, pus, and dust. Wide sleeves used to handle hot things.

“What, those are chef uniforms?”

The ghouls that appeared in the underground waterway were chefs.

No, to be precise, they were people who used to be chefs.

From where they had come from, the ghouls were completely blocking their escape route.

Instead of running away, Zeke took out a sharp dagger from his pocket.

“Brother! The escape route is blocked! Where on earth did these ghouls come from?”

“It seems someone turned them into ghouls and dumped them here…”

Kainchel gritted his teeth and swung his sword. Each time, the ghouls’ limbs flew off like dry firewood.

“Kheu… Keueok… Keuk!”

Ghouls that only moved according to their instincts.

They were no match for Kainchel, who freely wielded the Aura Sword.

Hot air leaked out between his rough breaths.

The face of the Oracle, who was searching for her missing father, came to mind.

Surely, they were also someone’s father and husband. But why were they turned into Undead and dumped in the underground waterway?

Because they couldn’t cook the Immortal Cells properly?

Or because they knew too much?

‘Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like Gordon is here.’

“Onion Swordsmanship!”

Then, the Aura-imbued blade extended. When he swung it, the bodies of the ghouls surrounding Kainchel were cut in half.

The curse of gluttony takes hold in bodies that are already dead. Releasing the curse won’t bring them back to life.

‘…Then at least I have to stop them from wandering around forever to eat living people.’

Kainchel tightened his grip on the sword.

“Keueooo…”

And he swung his sword at the ghoul trying to pounce on him. Yellow pus flowed out from the half-rotten body instead of blood.

In less than 10 minutes, dozens of ghouls returned to where they belonged.

Zeke, who had confirmed that all the attacking ghouls had fallen, shook off the pus from his dagger.

Perhaps because it was his first real battle in a while, he had a strangely excited look on his face.

“As expected, brother! Ghouls are no match for you now!”

“No match…”

This was the first time he had such an unpleasant victory. To think that someone was doing such a heinous thing in his territory.

Alejandro Algedi.

Kainchel quietly muttered the name.

@

When they came out of the underground waterway, they were in the back alleys of Iron Hammer.

Kainchel hid in the shadows and surveyed the situation.

Carts carrying raw materials were abandoned on the main street.

The anvils in the blacksmiths, where the sound of hammering should have been echoing, were cold.

It seemed that the commander’s words about the strike were true.

‘Hoo, at least I made it to Iron Hammer. Ghouls popping out from underground, and a strike causing chaos above…’

As if sensing someone, the tightly closed door opened, and a gruff voice was heard.

“Where are you wandering around, young man! Angry dwarves are roaming the streets! Get out of here!”

It seemed like a worker in Iron Hammer.

‘Is he telling me to come in?’

He waited for a moment, but there was no other reaction. Kainchel passed through the creaking door and went inside.

The old man introduced himself as Jack.

He was a fairly well-known blacksmith.

But he had his work taken away by dwarven artisans and was now hauling raw materials.

Kainchel took out a silver coin from his pocket and placed it in Jack’s hand. Then his expression softened.

“What on earth is going on? I heard there’s a strike.”

“It’s a long story…”

“It’s okay. I have plenty of time.”

Jack lit a tobacco leaf and began to explain.

Dwarves consider it their greatest joy to dig the earth, mine minerals, and hammer weapons.

However, they are not good at things necessary for living, such as cooking and cleaning.

“Baron Brigham made this proposal to the dwarves. He said he would provide everything they needed for life, in exchange for working here.”

That’s how Iron Hammer was created.

“Who is Baron Brigham?”

“He’s the nobleman who manages Iron Hammer. Count Algedi, the great lord, can’t rule all the territories alone, can he?”

In other words, he was the real power here.

Kainchel nodded and listened to Jack’s story.

“For a while, things went better than expected. After all, dwarves don’t have the talent to sell things. It was a good deal for them too, since they no longer had to sell the weapons they worked so hard to make at ridiculously low prices. But problems started a few weeks ago.”

Dwarves don’t care about somewhat poor conditions as long as they can demonstrate their talents.

“But Baron Brigham didn’t know that there was one thing that dwarves absolutely couldn’t stand.”

Jack sighed and pointed to the withered bread on the table.

“Food?”

“That’s right! After sweating all day, they enjoy cool beer and meat. That’s the joy of their lives.”

“But it seems that’s not happening properly.”

“Starting a few months ago, the quality of the food served has become ridiculously bad. Slimy pudding made of who knows what, nuggets fried in rancid oil, withered bread… When they complained about the soup with maggots wriggling in it, do you know what they said?”

Jack tore at his remaining hair in agony.

“They told us to take them out and eat it! Is that something a human would say?”

It was a terrible thing to even imagine. But Jack’s story didn’t end there.

“Even then, we could tolerate it to some extent. Because we could go to pubs and restaurants after work and buy delicious food. But they all left! There’s not a single decent cook left here now!”

It would be okay if they were humans.

Because they could cook and eat themselves.

But dwarves can’t even bake potatoes properly and burn them black.

Dwarves were worse than children when it came to cooking.

“Eventually, Beatest Blue Mountain declared a strike. The condition was to provide three delicious meals a day.”

Beatest, the first to strike.

It was a title given to the head of the clan that managed the many anvils.

‘Blue Mountain was the Beatest?’

The letter of introduction he received from Head Merchant Tas suddenly felt heavy.

“Do you know where the chefs who left Iron Hammer went?”

“How would I know that! I guess they’re in Britton now, working hard to cook.”

Zeke, who had been listening to the story without a word, poked him in the side.

And moved only his lips to speak.

— Brother, then those ghouls.

Kainchel nodded. They must be the chefs who worked in Iron Hammer.

‘They ordered them to cook the Immortal Cells. And when they couldn’t make it properly…’

This time, Kainchel took out a gold coin instead of a silver coin and placed it in Jack’s hand.

“Hehe! You shouldn’t have…”

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’m sure of what I need to do. By the way, do you know where I can meet Blue Mountain?”

“Don’t even think about wandering outside! If you run into hungry dwarves, you might get hurt by the axes they’re wielding!”

“That won’t happen. Because I’m the person they’ve been looking for.”

“What do you mean?”

Kainchel took out the Mithril kitchen knife he was wearing on his waist.

“I’m a chef.”

Jack’s eyes widened.

The Hungry #2