Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 278

First, the muscles all over his body swelled up as if he had used Heaven-Shaking Earth-Splitting [an exaggerated expression for immense power].

That much was a common sight, but the real change began after that.

Fangs jutted out from his slightly parted lips, and then his hair fell out in clumps.

Gawain placed his hand on his head, now completely bald, with a blank expression.

“My, my, my hair! What, what, what’s going on? Are you saying I’ve gone bald…? No! This can’t be happening!”

Gawain’s face turned pale, then blue, as he faced the desperate situation.

Keinzel’s eyes widened as he watched Gawain’s transformation.

“…What is that? It’s not just his complexion changing, his entire race is changing!”

Muscles about to burst. Fangs sticking out as if they would pierce his nose.

And, decisively, vivid green skin.

Gawain had become a fine Orc.

Sedaniel, pleased with her work, puffed out her chest with a triumphant expression.

“Ahem. How is it? Isn’t it great? Isn’t this a perfect Orc that wouldn’t be out of place anywhere?”

Gawain, now an Orc, grabbed Sedaniel’s shoulders with trembling hands.

And he tried to shout at her to change him back right away.

“Kueek, Kuweeeeek!”

But all that came out of his mouth was a bizarre shriek, not even Orcish.

“Well. Fortunately, it seems like all you’ve lost is your voice. You should be happy, that’s not too bad.”

“Beuhihik!”

Keinzel had to break out the Chimaek [Korean fried chicken and beer] he had been saving to calm down the agitated Gawain.

Gawain was only able to regain his composure after holding chicken drumsticks in both hands.

He still couldn’t speak properly, but Keinzel could read lips.

Gawain could as well.

“Keinzel… what is going on? Why am I bald… no, why did I become an Orc?”

“By the way, you look great as an Orc, Brother. Your fangs are impressive, and your muscles are awesome.”

“Haha… Maybe I should try to pick up an Orc woman… No, that’s not the point!”

Gawain frowned and turned his gaze to Sedaniel. Judging from the situation, she must have cast some kind of curse on him.

“A curse? How rude. Don’t compare the power of the Mermaid Clan to something so low-grade. Only mermaids can change not only their own appearance but also the appearance of others, among all races.”

Keinzel stroked Gawain’s body, which had completely transformed into an Orc, and asked.

“So you’re saying you did this with your ability?”

“How is it? Isn’t it great? It’s called Mimicry. However, all you can change is the appearance, and you lose one of your senses in return. It seems Gawain lost his voice.”

It was definitely an amazing ability. The Monster Lord must have learned of the intruder’s presence through the death of the Sea Serpent.

To operate in the New World, they needed to hide their identities.

Gawain nodded.

“That’s right. Our goal is the Archduke of Hell, not war. In this form, we won’t stand out anywhere in the Republic, so it’s perfect for moving discreetly. But why does a strange sound keep coming out when I only move my lips?”

“Hehe. It’s because your oral structure has changed. It’ll go back to normal when you undo the Mimicry, so don’t worry too much.”

“That’s a relief, Lady Mermaid.”

Mimicry is a unique ability of the Mermaid race. Even if you use magic or spells, it is impossible to find out their true identity.

It is said that it will never be undone unless you deliberately tear off the scales.

Gawain drew the sword he was wearing on his waist and infused it with Aura.

Then a brilliant Aura Sword burst out.

“Except for the slight change in muscle mass, I can fight the same as when I was human. This is really awesome! Except for the hair, of course.”

Mermaids, who mainly operate in the sea, are all masters of lip-reading. This is because it is very difficult to have direct conversations in the water.

So there was no problem in communication between the Orc and the Mermaid.

Sedaniel cast Mimicry on Keinzel as well. Keinzel shrugged, looking at his body, which had turned into a plausible Orc.

For some reason, Gawain burst into anger.

“What, why does Keinzel have hair!? Do that for me too!”

“Sorry. The appearance is a representation of the possibility of being born into that race, so I can’t change it.”

“So I have to keep going like this?!”

“If you want, I’ll change only you back to your original form. Of course, only if that’s okay with you.”

“…Wait a minute. I’m sure Keinzel said he brought a very plausible disguise tool. I think it would be better to hide our identities with that.”

“Ah, that? I have something I’ve been using for a long time. Would you like to see it?”

“Hmm.”

Keinzel took out a clown costume that he had been carefully keeping in his two-dimensional pocket.

Gawain’s eyes twitched when he saw it.

“Damn it, I hate being bald and clowns!”

* * *

Keinzel headed to Auckland, the nearest port city.

To get there, they had to walk for days through a wide, dusty wilderness.

The Argon Republic is made up of numerous autonomous regions in a vast land ten times the size of Britannia.

Most of the territory is undeveloped, and all kinds of monsters that are rare in Britannia live there.

That was what Keinzel was aiming for.

“But what sense did you lose as a result of Mimicry? No matter how I look at it, everything from your five senses to your vocal cords seems to be fine?”

“Well, I can’t hear at all.”

“You can’t hear? Then what about the sound of the water earlier?”

“That’s because of this.”

Keinzel held out his hand, and a tentacle parasitizing in his body popped out.

The Bishop is mentally connected through a neural network. And the slime is like a sensory organ all over its body.

Even if he can’t hear, he can feel the sound waves through the jelly.

“Once I get used to hearing, I’m going to try to control other senses next.”

Once he gets used to it, the amount of information he can obtain will definitely increase several times. Surely something ridiculous will become possible.

“Using the penalty of Mimicry as a material to get stronger. You’re still the best chef. But why are we going to Auckland? There’s nothing there?”

“We’re going there to register as cowboys [monster hunters].”

“Cowboys?”

“It’s a kind of vigilante group that operates throughout Argon. Monsters attack almost every day, so they need a force that can fight them. There’s even a trading company that buys by-products from monsters.”

“So, in simple terms, they’re mercenaries who specialize in hunting monsters?”

“Something like that.”

The agent of Archduke Andras of Hell is in the Imperial Family of the Argon Republic.

However, unless he knew who he was, he couldn’t just rush in.

If he missed him by mistake, Citri’s safety would be in danger.

He needed to move as carefully as possible.

So Keinzel decided to meet the Orc Chieftain first. According to Citri, they were being thoroughly used by Andras.

Surely he would be able to find traces of the Archduke of Hell from them.

“But how are you going to meet the Chieftain? You don’t even know where he is, and even if you did, I don’t think he’d meet you.”

Keinzel smiled and pointed to his body, which had turned into an Orc.

“Now that I’m in this body, I should use it as much as possible. Some of the many Orc tribes are now preparing for a life-or-death independence war. Of course, they’ll need a lot of strong warriors.”

Keinzel inflicted a fatal wound on Gran Karark in the battle against him. He was one of the top five strongest among hundreds of thousands of Orcs. That void will definitely be very large.

But what if an incredibly strong member of the same race appeared out of nowhere?

“Ah! So you’re saying that if you make a name for yourself as an Orc, you’ll be contacted.”

“That’s why I chose to be a cowboy. If I hunt monsters like crazy, I can naturally become famous.”

Keinzel recalled what he had experienced in the dungeon of Mino Territory with Abel and Kundam.

He had just attacked the dungeon to defeat the Wolf King Sirius. But he became so famous that there was no one in the neighborhood who didn’t know his name.

Besides, he wanted to eat the meat of various monsters that only lived in the New World.

Which one would be the most delicious?

Gawain’s eyes narrowed. His Aura Blade ‘Ten People, Ten Colors’ unleashes its true power in large-scale battles.

Monster hunting was like a solo stage prepared for Gawain.

“That sounds like fun.”

“Then let’s go to the smithy and get some suitable armor before we go to the Cowboy Guild.”

“Hmm? Isn’t the armor you’re wearing now good enough? It’s made of Mithril.”

“It’s too good. There’s no way a rookie who just came to the city from the countryside would wear something like this.”

“Haha! That’s true.”

As the two entered the smithy, the hero of Britannia disappeared.

And what came out of there was just a vigorous young Orc.

* * *

The place where the cowboys gathered was not far from the smithy.

As he entered, dozens of eyes focused on Keinzel.

“I haven’t seen him before.”

“Is he a newbie?”

“Look at the armor he’s wearing. Where did he pick it up?”

“I hate those Orc bastards. They’re only strong, they can’t do anything else. I guess we can only use them as porters.”

“I think he ran away from a farm somewhere? I can smell it, I can smell it.”

Keinzel ignored the noisy cowboys and headed to the reception desk.

There, a man with a scar on one eye was yawning lazily.

You can receive subjugation requests here for a small fee.

The receptionist looked up and down at Keinzel and Gawain and asked.

“I’ve never seen your face before, so take out your registration card if you have one. You look like you’re strong enough, and there are a lot of Lizardmen out there causing trouble.”

Keinzel spoke in as clumsy a tone as possible.

“Gray, must register. Want to work. Cowboy make good money.”

Then the receptionist’s eyebrows twitched. He was uneasy, and it turned out to be a rookie who didn’t even know where he came from.

Just in case, he looked at the other Orc behind him.

“Kueek, Kuweeeeek!”

“…Shibal [Korean slang, similar to ‘damn’]. They’re all doing it. Can’t one of them even speak the common language? Sorry, did you say Gray? Stop making that pig squealing sound.”

“I am Gray. This is Green.”

It was a pseudonym based on skin color.

“Anyway, Gray. If you want to be a cowboy, you have to prove your skills. You have to catch a monster nearby or play an active role in a duel with the branch manager. Can you do it?”

Normally, he wouldn’t even look at such a bumpkin. However, a number of skilled Orc cowboys have disappeared for about a year.

Keinzel smiled and placed something wrapped in a cloth on the table.

“What is it? It looks like blood is dripping, is it meat? Sorry, but giving me something like this doesn’t mean I’ll register you as a cowboy. Okay, if you have nothing to do, go away. I’m busy.”

The receptionist, who was waving his hand with an indifferent expression, fell backward in his chair as Keinzel unwrapped the bundle.

“G, G, Gorgon…?”

What was there was the monster Gorgon, which had suddenly begun to appear near Auckland.

It was a very dangerous guy with skin so thick that even a knife couldn’t penetrate it, and it shot a ray that petrified those who were hit.

“W, With this, is it enough proof…?”

The receptionist got up from the floor and asked in a completely different tone than before.

“Did Gray really subdue this?”

“…Then did I pick it up?”

“Haha. Gray, Green. Welcome to the Cowboy Auckland Branch. Please wait outside for a moment and we will register you as cowboys.”

The faces of the cowboys who were sitting at the table drinking from noon were sweating.

The reason they were here was because of that Gorgon.

How could they go out to catch monsters when such a dangerous guy was wandering around?

It was hard to believe that the clumsy Orc had subdued it.

Then the door opened and a man with a sharp impression came in.

The receptionist bowed and greeted him.

“Ah, Branch Manager.”

“What is it? A newbie? New cowboys are always welcome. But even if there is a shortage of manpower, if we accept all the riffraff, what will happen to the Auckland branch? Go and get a sparring sword. I’ll check your skills myself.”

The man called the branch manager narrowed his eyes and began to look up and down at Keinzel and Gawain.

“I’ve been doing this for twenty years. Now I know how strong a guy is just by looking at him. He looks useful on the outside, but those muscles may have been gained from farm work. It’s not suitable for combat. But since he’s an Orc, it’ll be good for exercise after dinner.”

“Sparring, can become cowboy if do?”

The branch manager smirked.

“Well, if you even touch my body once, I’ll do that for you. If you want, come at me with that blue-skinned guy in the back. I’ll take you on at the same time.”

Keinzel turned around because he heard a snickering sound from somewhere.

There, Gawain, who couldn’t hold back his laughter, had collapsed and was rolling on the floor.