Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 125

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Now officially working at Iron Hammer, Cainchel decided to test his cooking skills first.

Using Brilliant Road on the dragon meat, he recalled the extent of his cooking abilities.

[Your cooking level is sufficient to bring out the true flavor of the ingredients.]

[Your gourmet level is too low to assess the condition of the ingredients.]

[Your mastery of basic swordsmanship for preparing ingredients is insufficient.]

‘So, to cook a dragon, I need at least a 6-star cooking skill. It would be best if my gourmet skill could also reach 6 stars…’

Even without knowing the condition of the ingredients, cooking itself is possible.

Therefore, what Cainchel needed now was to create as many dishes as possible.

Until his level of basic swordsmanship reached the next stage.

‘The reason I was able to raise my level of basic swordsmanship so quickly was because I cooked for hundreds of people at the training center.’

The more a place lacks chefs, the greater the burden on one person.

That’s why he chose Iron Hammer.

Moreover, dwarves consider ‘a drink after hard work’ as the greatest pleasure.

The growth rate of cooking skills varies greatly depending on customer satisfaction.

In that sense, dwarves were the best customers he could ask for.

Cainchel ran his finger across the countertop. It was greasy and shiny with grime.

‘I need to start by cleaning the kitchen.’

Until six months ago, the kitchen wasn’t this bad.

But chefs with skills and experience began to leave Iron Hammer one by one.

Cainchel smiled bitterly, knowing the reason.

And as the number of staff decreased, those who had only made the assigned dishes became responsible for the entire kitchen.

The result was this.

‘…Even without a head chef, this is too much of a mess.’

It seemed he needed to meet the chef working here to find out the reason.

It was almost time to prepare the meal.

But the people who were supposed to be cooking were nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, they arrived two hours later.

Three men in chef’s uniforms, yawning, entered the kitchen.

The uniforms were so unwashed that it was hard to tell what their original color had been.

They saw Cainchel standing in the center of the kitchen and whispered among themselves.

“Hey, Vino. That guy looks like the new head chef?”

“Technically, he’s temporary. I heard he’s only staying for a month.”

“Those filthy, bearded dwarf bastards… They must have complained about the food again. What’s their problem? They don’t lift a finger and get three meals a day. They even get dessert after meals. And we make them a special dish once a week. But they throw axes at us for the slightest thing!”

The oldest-looking of the three men, Vino, muttered.

“I heard the head chef was new, so I thought someone great had come, but it’s just a greenhorn? Carne, Uova, take a look.”

Carne and Uova nodded.

“He’s leaving in a month anyway, so there’s no need to treat him with respect. There’s no one else to work in the kitchen, are they going to kick us out?”

“Hehehe. Let’s just fry some nuggets and potato scraps and go play cards.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Seeing this, Cainchel narrowed his eyes.

The lack of staff was similar to the Stanise Training Center’s kitchen.

However, the chefs working there might have lacked motivation, but they had a sense of responsibility.

‘No wonder the kitchen is in this state.’

Cainchel introduced himself simply to Vino, Uova, and Carne.

“I’m ‘Al,’ and I’ll be working as the head chef for the next month.”

It was a made-up name, but no one seemed to suspect it.

“Deputy Head Chef Vino.”

“Head Chef Uova.”

“Entremetier [a chef specializing in appetizers] Carne.”

Strangely, they all had names related to food.

Vino’s was wine, Uova’s was egg, and Carne’s was meat.

After the brief introductions, Vino added with a listless expression.

“I don’t know where you’ve worked before, but you’re leaving in a month anyway. Let’s just take it easy and get along.”

“Yeah, yeah. Vino used to work as a steak chef at a high-end restaurant in Britton.”

Apparently, he had been recognized for his experience and promoted to deputy head chef.

Cainchel shrugged and said.

“I used to make ice cream at a dessert shop.”

“Ice cream? What’s that?”

“Me neither, Vino.”

It seemed that the rumors about ice cream hadn’t spread this far.

If they knew about ice cream, they would have reacted differently.

Uova raised a thick finger with a fierce expression.

He pointed it at Vino and said.

“Don’t brag about making a few desserts that kids eat! Nobles lined up to eat the steak that Vino here grilled!”

It was as if he thought the status of the customers enhanced his own value.

When Cainchel said nothing, a triumphant smile appeared on Uova’s face.

“Tell me, who ate the food you made? Do you even have any names to mention? Probably just some kids in the neighborhood.”

“The regulars who ate my food? It’s not polite to reveal their names, so I’ll just mention their status.”

“Well, that’s fine.”

“…If I had to name a regular, the young lady of a merchant guild comes to mind first. She has to eat at least one meal of my cooking every day.”

“…!”

A merchant guild meant at least a count or an incredibly wealthy person.

That young lady must have been living on all sorts of delicacies.

And yet? She had to eat this person’s cooking every day?

“And the Archbishop of the Deus Church came to eat my desserts once a week. He said he couldn’t come more often because it cost 1 gold each.”

“O, one gold?”

Even a full course at the high-end restaurant where Vino worked was only half that price.

But a dessert cost 1 gold?

Was he really expecting them to believe that?

But Cainchel’s story didn’t end there.

“Besides that, the Queen of the Elves and the Prince of Deutschland are also regulars of my cooking.”

There were countless people who had eaten his food, but those were the ones that came to mind first.

Uova screamed, unable to believe it.

“N, no way! How could such great people be regulars!”

“I’ve never heard such nonsense! Why don’t you just say you were a royal chef? That would be more believable.”

“The person who taught me to cook was a royal chef.”

“Why is your tongue so long! You don’t cook with your tongue, do you?”

It wasn’t just suspicion, but a tone that assumed he was lying.

It felt refreshing to be treated like this after so long.

Eventually, Vino, who couldn’t stand it any longer, scratched the back of his head and said.

“We’ll find out when you cook anyway. Unless you’re an idiot, you wouldn’t tell a lie that would be exposed right away. Right? Head Chef? Oh, but I’m sorry. All we have prepared is potatoes and nuggets.”

“That’s not a problem. I thought you all would be late, so I prepared the ingredients in advance. And today’s lunch menu will be Pomodoro Spaghetti [spaghetti with tomato sauce] and Beef Pie.”

“D, don’t change the menu without permission!”

“Isn’t it the head chef’s job to plan the menu?”

Vino snorted with a resentful expression.

Until now, he, the deputy head chef, had planned the menu. Of course, the menu consisted of things that could be made as quickly and in as large a quantity as possible.

That way, he could enjoy his remaining time.

Beef pie was a dish that required a lot of time and effort.

To make enough for the dwarves to eat their fill would take up all the remaining time.

“There’s no way you can make that kind of dish from now!”

“The stew for the pie was made in advance, so all you have to do is bake it in the oven, and the tomato sauce and noodles for the Pomodoro Spaghetti are ready, so you should start boiling the noodles right away. Let’s see how much time is left… It’s a bit tight. You should start cooking right away.”

“Y, you… Where did you get such a blatant lie…”

Vino gritted his teeth and entered the ingredient storage.

He had suspected something was wrong from the moment he started listing the names of his regulars.

But there was no way he could have prepared all those ingredients in such a short time.

When he opened this door, it would be empty…

“Aaaah! Aaaah!”

Startled, Vino stumbled backward, stepped on a wok lying on the floor, and slipped.

“V, Vino?!”

Uova followed Vino and peeked into the storage room. Then his eyes widened.

What was inside was unbelievable.

“…T, the ingredient storage is…”

“Full…”

The two muttered at the same time, as if they were one person.

‘Why are they so surprised by this?’

Cainchel had simply done what he used to do every day at the training center.

Prepare the ingredients for the food that hundreds of people would eat and put them in the storage in advance.

That would cut the chef’s labor in half.

Apparently, that looked incredibly surprising to Vino and Uova.

Cainchel smiled and said.

“Then let’s start cooking.”

@

Vino watched Cainchel cook with astonished eyes.

The ingredients were cut into bite-sized pieces with the kitchen knife he wielded effortlessly.

Tomatoes were mushy and required careful attention to peel.

But the moment his hand touched them, only the flesh remained and went into the pot.

At that speed, it was entirely possible that he had finished preparing all the ingredients in two hours.

“Hoo, I wish I could do it a little faster.”

“Y, you’re doing the work of three or four people at the same time, and you want to do it faster? What kind of kitchen have you been through?!”

But it wasn’t just speed that was fast.

The beef stew that Cainchel was boiling smelled unbelievably good.

Beef pie was made by wrapping the thick beef stew in crispy pastry and baking it.

While Cainchel was away for a moment.

Vino, who was working next to him, scooped up the boiling beef stew with a ladle and tasted it.

“What kind of meat is this… The texture is tough, but it’s been cooked well, so the more you chew, the more savory it becomes. And the various spices blend into the rich flavor of the meat very naturally without ruining it. This is good enough to be served as a main menu in a high-end restaurant…”

Vino didn’t realize it, but the meat in the stew was actually Giant Sand Worm.

The taste of this stew alone showed how skilled the new head chef was.

Vino swallowed hard without realizing it.

Maybe everything he said was true.

“The daughter of a merchant… The Queen of the Elves… And a member of a royal family. A person who has all of them as regulars is here…”

The surprises didn’t end there.

The outside was noisy, and dozens of dwarves had gathered.

They shouted in unison to bring out the food quickly.

“Is it really true that we can eat the chef’s food that Bitist praised so highly from today!”

“But when is the food coming out?”

“I’m so hungry that my stomach is sticking to my back!”

“Ugh! Smell this pie baking! Just smelling it makes my appetite grow!”

The dwarves sat at the table, holding knives and forks, waiting for the food to come out.

Were they really dwarves who had come to eat, or had they come to fight a war?

It had been a long time since he had seen customers so full of anticipation.

While Vino was staring at the dwarves, speechless, a loud voice rang out.

“Beef pie is here!”

“Pomodoro Spaghetti is ready!”

Just because an empty head chef had come. The kitchen, which had been a mess, began to function properly.

As hungry people flocked in, Cainchel’s hands, which were cooking in the kitchen, moved even faster.

‘My body is light. It’s like the kitchen knife and I have become one.’

The basic swordsmanship that had already exceeded its limits was about to exceed its limits once again.

In front of delicious food #1