Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 171

“Meliot… Meliot Sandalphon made that dish.”

Keinzel’s eyes widened.

The sensation of fighting him with swords was still vivid.

Meliot made chicken soup every day for the weakened Lucia.

It contained the wish for his lover to regain her health.

Keinzel used that to create a 7-star dish for the first time.

‘If that’s the case, it makes sense that Meliot’s chicken soup, which is the original, is also 7-star. But…’

Keinzel looked at John and muttered.

“…Meliot was cursed and became a Berserker. That was 10 years ago. And I ate the chicken soup a year and a half ago. The timeline doesn’t match at all?”

John grinned and rummaged through the pile of trash in the corner.

Inside was a box with strange patterns engraved on it.

“It’s a magic tool that can store things for a very long time.”

“So, you put the chicken soup in there?!”

“That’s right. When I opened it at the scheduled time, it was warm and steamy, as if it had just been cooked.”

Bishop gave a further explanation, as if he knew the magic tool.

— I remember making that magic tool. It’s the type that freezes time. If you put something inside, it can be preserved in perfect condition. However.

‘However?’

— There’s a very minor drawback that you can’t take out the contents until about 10 years have passed.

Keinzel’s lips trembled.

‘…That’s a fatal flaw!’

That meant Meliot made the chicken soup for the soul almost 12 years ago.

Something clicked.

‘Meliot definitely made chicken soup while longing for his lover amidst fierce battles. So, the timing roughly matches…’

In the end, Meliot made the chicken soup. John delivered it to Keinzel.

Then there must be someone who prepared everything. Now it was time to hear about it.

“Keinzel, young master. Before I tell you that story, there is something I must explain first. You may or may not remember, but I was a soldier of the Gistad Territory.”

“J, John, you were?”

John took off his top, revealing his shoulder with hideous scars.

“That’s why I couldn’t participate in the war. But I came from a family that has protected the Gistad Territory for generations. The Lord… that is, your father, Keinzel, entrusted me with this.”

“So, you’re saying my father told you to deliver the chicken soup?”

“Yes. And the Gistad Territory became the final battleground of the Seven Sins War and disappeared from the map. Perhaps no one knows that I was a soldier there.”

Keinzel’s father, the former Lord of Gistad Territory, Payne.

He knew that Keinzel would come to the Stanis Knight Academy with a cursed body.

That’s why he left the medium to break the curse in John’s hands.

“But you said that magic tool can’t be opened until 10 years have passed. So, what? If I hadn’t endured here for 3 years, my curse wouldn’t have been lifted even now?”

“But you endured. The Lord believed in you. If he were alive, he would have been very proud.”

“……”

Keinzel looked at John’s wrinkled face.

This man had been working as a cleaner for 10 years to deliver chicken soup to him.

“Thank you, Keinzel, young master. I couldn’t fight in the Seven Sins War because of my shoulder injury. The Lord entrusted such a useless old man with a very important mission. And now I have accomplished it. Ah, ah!”

“It’s not John who I should thank, but…”

How many people are involved in one bowl of soup?

Just thinking about it made him feel dizzy.

He felt like he knew why he was so moved by the chicken soup.

It contained the hearts of so many people.

Keinzel’s hands trembled. He wanted to cook.

For John, who waited 10 years to deliver the chicken soup.

For Meliot, who shared the dish he made for his lover.

And for his father, who believed in him.

He headed to the kitchen as if possessed.

@

In the kitchen, soldiers who came to support the cooking were preparing ingredients.

They saw Keinzel and shouted with expressions as if they were about to faint.

“A, aren’t you Sir Keinzel!”

“Sorry, but can I borrow the kitchen?”

“Please use it as much as you want!”

The soldiers’ eyes widened at the sight of him familiarly taking out ingredients from the warehouse.

“Actually, I also came to support the cooking and did odd jobs in the kitchen.”

“Is that true?”

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, so I’ll prepare the ingredients for you instead.”

Keinzel looked at the mountain of onions and potatoes. And he cast Onion Swordsmanship.

Then the kitchen knife he was holding increased to seven and began to move at an incredible speed.

“T, that’s intermediate swordsmanship?! He’s cooking with intermediate swordsmanship!”

They were soldiers working at the Knight Academy.

That’s why they felt how amazing the Onion Swordsmanship unfolding in Keinzel’s hands was.

Peeled onions piled up in an instant, and pure white potatoes lined up.

That was already a feat beyond the realm of cooking.

“Oh my god, all that…”

Keinzel, who finished the work that the soldiers had to do all night in 10 minutes, began to cook in earnest.

‘Chicken soup is Meliot’s dish. Then what I will make is…’

A soup called ‘borscht’ that Keinzel enjoyed eating in the North came to Keinzel’s mind.

It was a dish made by boiling greasy meat and fresh vegetables to withstand the cold weather and eating it with sour cream.

The vegetables that go into borscht usually use cheap cabbage, potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.

It was like soul food for Keinzel and John, who were born and raised in the North.

Keinzel first boiled the broth that would be the base.

The ingredients are a piece of meat, carrots, onions, garlic, and peppercorns.

Add about 3 liters of water to it and boil it until it is reduced by half.

“Oh, I shouldn’t forget to add bay leaves to remove the fishy smell of the meat.”

The meat was soaked in cold water in advance to remove the blood.

While the broth was boiling, he had to prepare and stir-fry the vegetables.

At the same time, the soldiers widened their eyes at the sight of him cutting cabbage, onions, potatoes, and carrots.

“H, he’s not just cutting vegetables quickly! He’s shredding onions and cabbage, slicing potatoes and carrots thickly, and skimming off the foam from the broth! Besides, the thicknesses are all the same!”

With this skill, Keinzel was able to make several dishes at the same time.

Keinzel, who finished preparing the vegetables in an instant, started stir-frying them this time.

You have to stir-fry onions and carrots and add them to bring out the unique taste and aroma of borscht. Stir-fry them well until they soften.

And when it’s cooked to some extent, add tomato paste.

Finally, stir-fry the finely chopped beets. You have to add purple beets and boil them to make a delicious borscht.

“Do you stir-fry the beets too?”

“Usually, they are added as they are to give a deep color, but if you stir-fry them, the bitter or earthy taste disappears, making it a cleaner borscht.”

“I see!”

Keinzel put the vegetables that had been stir-fried well with tomato paste into the broth and started boiling it.

It is important to simmer it gently. The soup turned a clear red color as the beets and tomato paste mixed.

It was a borscht that looked delicious just by looking at it.

As the soup began to boil, hungry trainee knights flocked.

“Hey, doesn’t something smell really good?”

“I definitely ate a lot for dinner, but why am I so hungry…”

“Ugh… I don’t know who’s cooking… Haa, just give me one bowl!”

Keinzel divided the well-boiled borscht into plates and asked.

It was too much for just John and him to eat anyway.

“Do you happen to have sour cream? You have to sprinkle it on borscht to get the real taste.”

Sour cream is made by fermenting whipped cream, and it has a soft and sour taste.

“I’m sorry, but we only have whipped cream.”

“Okay, then bring that. Oh, and I’m going to start serving right away, so get in line if you want to eat.”

“Gulp… Are you sharing it with us too?”

“I made too much.”

Then the soldier raised both hands.

He was already dying to eat borscht.

However, he couldn’t ask for it because Keinzel was the one cooking it.

The soldier ran outside as if he would bring a cow if there was no whipped cream.

And he came back with a large bowl full of whipped cream.

“Originally, sour cream is made by adding plain yogurt to it and fermenting it. But now there’s not enough time…”

Keinzel took out lemon juice and mixed it with whipped cream.

Then the whipped cream began to clump together.

This is because the acidic components in lemon juice coagulate the protein in the cream.

“The flavor is a little less, but I can’t help it. This will be a rough substitute for sour cream.”

The soldier was impressed.

“It’s like alchemy!”

In fact, it was something he learned from Bishop, so it was a type of alchemy.

Keinzel sprinkled the borscht with freshly made sour cream. Then, a soup that looked like it would warm your body just by looking at it was completed.

“Let’s just say you guys made this so it doesn’t get too noisy.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier, who answered in a loud voice, began to move the plates full of borscht.

The instructor, who found the cafeteria noisy, came in with a glare.

“What are you eating so deliciously without sleeping!”

“Ah, instructor, please try this too. I’ve never eaten such delicious soup before.”

“Hmm, borscht. Oh, but the smell…”

The instructor, who came to scold the trainee knights, sat down and started eating borscht.

“It’s really delicious, right?”

“H, it’s definitely amazing! But who made this?”

“Well, I don’t know. Haha!”

However, not everyone was laughing and chatting. There was also a trainee knight wiping away tears while eating borscht.

The instructor, who thought it was strange, asked.

“Why, what’s wrong? Doesn’t it suit your taste?”

“That’s not it… I was born and raised in the North. But this taste is the same as the soup my mother made…”

“Cough, cough! A grown man shouldn’t do that. The greatest reward is to train hard and become a great knight. Like Sir Keinzel.”

“Yes, sir!”

What was contained there was not soup, but a longing for home.

@

Keinzel came out of the kitchen with two bowls of borscht. And he returned to the accommodation where John was waiting.

John’s eyes widened as he looked at the borscht.

“You cooked it properly in the Northern style. Oh, even sour cream!”

“Of course. It doesn’t taste right without it.”

So the two began to eat the borscht, which was steaming.

John exclaimed.

“It’s a taste that really warms my heart. It’s like I can see the Gistad Territory when I close my eyes.”

The hometown that John remembers no longer exists. It disappeared without leaving anything behind due to the Seven Sins War.

But knowing that, there is also a longing that can be recalled.

‘…And new people are filling the void.’

Keinzel told John what he was thinking.

“If it’s okay with you, John, come to the Gistad Territory. We’re short of hands these days.”

“R, really? I can only clean because I injured my shoulder…”

“If it’s your shoulder, I’ll introduce you to a priest I know. If you get proper treatment, you’ll be able to move.”

“T, thank you, Sir Keinzel… No, Lord Keinzel!”

Keinzel shared the borscht with John, who was happy.

The finished dish was 6-star, perhaps because he used instant sour cream.

But his whole body was warmed as if he had eaten a 7-star dish.

Keinzel was sure. This is the same feeling I felt when I got the Aura Sword.

He took out the Joma Mirror with trembling hands.

It was vibrating like crazy, as if it was broken.

And eventually.

Crack-!

The Joma Mirror couldn’t withstand it and cracked.

How much change is taking place that it is showing such a huge reaction?

[6-star dish ‘Borscht that evokes longing’ has been completed.]

[Many guests were moved by your cooking.]

·········.

······.

[You have realized the ‘Gistad’ heart contained in the dish.]

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

·········.

······.

[Aura Blade – Signature has been registered.]

An aura sword was floating around Keinzel before he knew it.

“…Is this my Aura Blade?”

It was a sword so beautiful that he was mesmerized.

The meaning of soul food #3