Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 288

Abhim muttered, his voice trembling with emotion.

“Chieftain Karib…”

“…I know what you’re thinking. But the one who’s evil is the deceiver, James, not you who was deceived. I wanted to say this. I’m so glad I could meet you before my time ran out.”

Abhim lowered his head, feeling a surge of warmth inside.

He had lived his whole life burdened by the guilt of his tribe’s annihilation. But now, Karib, his chieftain and father, had absolved him, saying it wasn’t his fault.

If he hadn’t met him today, he would have carried that self-reproach to his grave.

However, the two Orc fathers didn’t have much time to relish their reunion.

It took over two hours for a thousand Orc slaves to finish the beef stew.

To proceed with their escape, they couldn’t afford to hesitate.

“First, let’s talk in detail once we’re out of here. James van Jackson, the lord of this place, is frighteningly strong. Even the tribe’s greatest warrior wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”

Keinzel, who had been observing the reunion from behind Abhim, interjected.

“I’m sorry, but could you elaborate?”

“You are…”

“I am Gray, the great warrior of the Flame Plunderer Tribe.”

“Haha, forgive my tardiness. I am Karib of the Crushed Heart Tribe. But have you prepared an escape route?”

“Of course.”

“In northern Hampshire, there’s a wide river that flows to the sea. Once we reach it, we can get to Oakland in half a day.”

The sight of over a thousand Orcs sprinting across the dark plains was truly something to behold.

Meanwhile, Karib explained the extent of James’s power, based on his own experience.

“The man who will become our enemy if we continue liberating Orc slaves like this… We need as much information as possible.”

“James’s physical abilities are enough to rival the tribe’s great warrior. What’s especially terrifying is the Mystic Art he calls ‘Bullet Time.’ When activated, his movements become incredibly fast.”

‘An Aura Blade [a technique using life energy to enhance abilities] related to speed?’

However, Karib wasn’t finished. He narrowed his eyes and pointed to a tree swaying in the wind.

“But there was one strange thing. It wasn’t just his body that became faster.”

Karib explained that he had witnessed the fight between James and the tribe’s warrior up close.

Orc warriors are too strong to be used as slaves. So, most are either crippled using Dream Incense [a drug that weakens Orcs] or sold as cowboys.

However, sometimes individuals appear who are resistant to Dream Incense.

Whenever that happened, James would draw his sword and personally behead them.

“There are several canyons around here, so the wind blows strongly. It was only for a moment, but not only the branches swaying in the wind but also falling leaves were moving incredibly fast.”

“…It seems it’s not just about moving the body quickly.”

“Anyway, be careful if you fight him. He has beheaded countless Orc warriors and drunk their blood. He’s a frighteningly strong man.”

Keinzel recalled the characteristics of Aura that Gawain had once described.

Aura Blades manifest in countless ways depending on the user.

Maximizing physical abilities, creating wings of light, manipulating gravity, etc.

Most of them are activated around the user.

However, sometimes it affects other objects, not the user.

The ‘Ego Sword,’ where the sword moves according to the wielder’s will, falls into that category.

‘And the rarest is the one that affects the entire range. James’s Aura Blade probably falls into that category.’

Distorting the laws of the world with one’s will and creating miracles.

That was closer to magic than an Aura Blade.

‘It’s hard to deal with him with my current abilities. Then…’

I need to complete the new cooking skill, Sous Vide [a cooking technique where food is vacuum-sealed and cooked in a water bath], as soon as possible. Besides, Karib, who witnessed it firsthand, is right here.

“But I heard that during the great drought, you shared your preserved food with the humans.”

“There was such a thing. But it ended badly.”

“What method did you use to preserve the food back then?”

Karib stroked his chin, pondering.

He couldn’t quite recall, as it was so long ago. But he managed to grasp a faint clue.

“It must have been drying. If you slice fruits or fish thinly and dry them in the sun, you can eat them for at least a year or two.”

“…I see.”

Keinzel felt a pang of disappointment, having hoped for something more magical.

‘At this rate, I’m just going around in circles.’

“I don’t know why you’re asking such things, but thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to meet Abhim again. I have no regrets, even if I die now.”

Karib looked at Keinzel with a burning gaze and bowed repeatedly.

“I’ll accept your thanks after we’ve liberated all the remaining slaves.”

“That’s very reassuring.”

Thus, under Keinzel’s guidance, a thousand Orcs safely reached the river.

The reason such a large group could move undetected was thanks to Sitri.

She used her raven, Odin, to deliver crucial information. Without Sitri’s help, escaping with a thousand Orc slaves so easily would have been impossible.

* * *

Two more days passed.

In that time, nearly ten thousand Orc slaves had escaped from humans and returned to their own kind.

From James’s perspective, it was like a fire had been lit under his feet.

Something was bound to happen soon.

Besides, the limit to erase the brand with water cuisine was slowly being reached.

Orc chefs needed to create new dishes.

Keinzel gathered five Orc chefs in the workshop, which had become as familiar as his own home, and began to speak.

“The next dish we’ll make is cheese.”

“Cheese, you say?”

“The soil contains numerous enzymes, some of which coagulate animal milk to make cheese. Aging it in an underground storage enhances the flavor. It’s perfectly suited for earth cuisine.”

Especially in Gaul [ancient region of Western Europe], which enjoys dairy products, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different cheeses.

Some cheeses are creamy and melt easily, while others are as hard as stone.

Even hardened cheese behaves differently when heated; some melt well, while others become sticky.

The reason for this variety lies in the different enzymes and manufacturing methods used.

Just as he was about to explain further, a lightning bolt flashed through Keinzel’s mind.

To fill the Sous Vide slot, he had to create a dish that could be preserved for a long time while maintaining the original ingredients’ flavor.

‘Drying… It’s the oldest food preservation method.’

Dried food, which removes moisture to extend shelf life, has existed for millennia.

Because it was such a common method, he assumed it wasn’t suitable for new cuisine.

However, drying was already an integral part of the dishes Keinzel made.

Among the noodles made by kneading flour, there are dried noodles that can be preserved for a long time by drying them in the sun to reduce moisture.

Perhaps he was too fixated on the idea of ‘new cuisine’ that had never existed before?

‘Even the same cheese can be sliced and eaten between bread, or melted and dipped in bread. By changing the form, it becomes a completely different dish. If I combine the dishes I’ve made so far that have preservability, surely…’

Fish and chips was a dish familiar to anyone from Britannia [historical region encompassing Great Britain].

Keinzel had made it countless times. And then he saw it.

The moment he put the fish coated in flour dough into the boiling oil, the moisture inside the flour instantly evaporated.

The same thing as drying, but at an incredibly fast speed.

Maybe he could apply that to noodles?

Having reached a conclusion, Keinzel acted immediately. He instructed the Orc chefs to collect milk for cheese and began kneading the noodles.

‘The noodles should be as thin as possible.’

First, he sprinkled salt and water on the flour and began to knead it. When it became somewhat sticky, he added bittern [a concentrated solution of mineral salts].

Soon, noodles that looked chewy just by looking at them were ready.

Keinzel fried them in oil. He watched as the moisture inside the flour escaped instantly, creating countless holes in the noodles.

‘This, this is it!’

He removed the noodles, now crisply fried, and dried them in the shade for about half a day, turning them into small bricks.

These would store much longer than simply dried noodles.

But it couldn’t be called a dish yet. When he put them in water and boiled them for a few minutes, water entered the holes, and they began to return to their original state.

‘Good. If I mix it with a sauce made of vinegar and sesame seeds…’

Royten, curious about Keinzel’s unfamiliar creation, poked his head in.

“Perfect timing. Do you want to try it?”

“Can I?”

“Of course.”

Royten was excited and grabbed a fork. Having eaten Keinzel’s food daily, his palate had become quite refined.

He would surely provide a proper evaluation of the new preservation noodles.

Thin and curly noodles, perhaps because they were fried in oil.

Slurp-!

He rolled them up with a fork and put them in his mouth, savoring the smooth texture.

The sauce, flavored only with vinegar and sesame seeds, clung to the noodles, and the more he chewed, the more savory and sour flavors spread.

The balance between the noodles and the sauce was fantastic. In particular, the chewy noodles had a strange umami [savory taste] that he had never tasted before.

This was because they were fried in the fat left over from making beef stew, collected and melted down.

Royten, having devoured all the noodles in an instant, exclaimed,

“This is really delicious! What kind of dish is it?”

“It’s called Sesame Cold Noodles, and it uses specially made noodles.”

“Specially made noodles?”

Basically, it was a type of Lamian [Chinese pulled noodles] since it was made using grabbed and stretched dough.

But Lamian was somewhat difficult to pronounce.

Keinzel smiled and named the newly made noodles.

“Ramen. They’re fried in oil and hardened, then slightly dried, so I think they can be stored and eaten for at least a year.”

At that moment, the Magic Tracker vibrated, as if it had been waiting.

Ding-

[5-star dish ‘Curly and Delicious Sesame Cold Noodle Ramen’ has been completed.]

[The power to maintain the state of the ingredients has melted into the ‘Sous Vide’ skill.]

[‘Sous Vide’ has been created.]

‘Yes!’

Keinzel had to suppress the urge to shout.

After struggling more than with Brilliant Road, he finally acquired a new cooking skill.

Seasoned chicken that enhanced the chicken’s flavor with vacuum and low temperature, and preservation food using the Pharaoh’s embalming techniques.

The memory of grilling flash-frozen hot dogs using the flames of Flambe was as vivid as if he could reach out and touch it.

‘I especially had a lot of trouble making canned food. Compared to that, ramen was simpler than I thought.’

It was a dish he wouldn’t have even attempted if he hadn’t learned how to make Lamian from Jeok-un.

Keinzel touched the headdress he had been carefully keeping in his arms. Someday, if he got the chance, he would deliver it to Jeok-un’s daughter, Sang-ah, in the Ming Dynasty [historical Chinese dynasty].

He was planning to go to the Ming Dynasty soon to fulfill that promise.

“Then, shall we check what kind of skill Sous Vide is?”

Brilliant Road made it possible to find a breakthrough even against a much stronger enemy.

Surely Sous Vide was a skill with the same level of ability, or even greater.

Keinzel opened the status window to examine the newly acquired cooking skill, Sous Vide.