Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 45

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“Ah, that was a good meal.”

In the end, Abel ate all five lobsters by himself.

A small stature and a delicate body that was hard to believe belonged to a trainee knight.

Where did all that food disappear to?

After eating, Abel wiped his mouth with elegant gestures and spoke as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“They say that friends usually share secrets.”

“Well… some people do.”

“Actually, I have a secret that I can never tell anyone else. Aren’t you curious what it is?”

Keinzel chuckled.

Abel’s tone was light, as if he were joking.

“Did you hide a secret base in the forest near the territory? Any kid in their prime would have something like that. Hiding there every day and doing all sorts of bad things…”

Abel pouted.

“It’s not like that. It’s really important. I really want you to hear it.”

In an instant, the air grew heavy.

Abel was still smiling, but there was a strange determination in his eyes.

Keinzel swallowed hard and said,

“…If that’s the case, I’d rather not hear it. Isn’t it dangerous if it gets out? It’s better for fewer people to know the secret.”

“It’s getting harder and harder to hide anyway. I need someone to talk to. I can trust you enough to tell you.”

“Why me? You have Wagon as a friend. He’s a bit frivolous, but he has too much pride to go around blabbing other people’s secrets.”

Abel looked at the dishes piled up on the table and said,

“Eating the food you make makes me feel strangely relieved. It makes me feel so happy. I’m sure my secret will be exposed someday. I’d rather tell you with my own mouth before that happens.”

Keinzel quietly nodded. It was the first time he had heard Abel say such things.

What kind of secret was he hiding?

Abel always wore a small ring on his left pinky finger. He wouldn’t even take it off when he took a bath.

He put his lips to it and whispered quietly.

“What is revealed is the true form. Polymorph release…” [Polymorph is a magic that changes the appearance of a person or object.]

Then Abel’s appearance changed.

His small stature and delicate body remained the same, but the atmosphere was different. Abel was a handsome man who would be called a pretty boy in just a few years.

But his femininity had intensified.

Much longer eyelashes. Large eyes. Like a flower bud in full bloom, he had become a beautiful woman that any man would turn to look at.

Almost as beautiful as Frellia.

Keinzel swallowed hard.

He had a vague idea.

Abel always brought around a sorcerer who was too good to be just for maintaining Polymorph. It would be strange without other magical tools.

And no matter how much he swung his sword, his novice swordsmanship stopped at 7-star, and his stamina didn’t change.

In addition, Abel was receiving contemptuous glances from his family, who said that he didn’t suit being a knight.

That meant…

“Abel… you don’t mean…”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m an elf. A half-elf, to be exact.”

Then he revealed the long ears hidden between his considerably longer hair.

The tips were slightly red, as if he were embarrassed.

“…”

“What, what! You nodded as if you knew everything! Why are you making that betrayed face! What on earth were you imagining?!”

How could he possibly say that he thought he was a cross-dressing woman?

Abel turned his body while sitting in the chair.

“See? I have elven blood flowing through me, even if it’s only half. A double breed of human and elf… that’s me.”

A half-elf, a double breed, possessed the characteristics of both humans and elves.

Moreover, they were often persecuted as evidence of succumbing to the seduction of Asmodeus, the King of Lust [a powerful demon associated with temptation and sin].

Abel chuckled.

“Don’t you know what will happen if I don’t hide my feminine appearance and long ears with Polymorph magic? Besides, Polymorph consumes a lot of mana, so unless I have a dedicated sorcerer, the magic will wear off in less than half a day.”

If he weren’t a noble, he would have already been branded a witch and burned at the stake.

A sorcerer who could maintain Polymorph magic was incredibly expensive.

It was like paying expensive tuition fees.

He seemed to know why he was so anxious about his swordsmanship skills not improving.

“So, the reason why Lord Kain hates you is…”

“That’s right. We have different mothers. In other words, I’m proof that my father cheated. The Carters family will definitely be inherited by my brother, and I have to leave the house before that happens. Otherwise, I’ll be killed by my brother’s hand.”

Keinzel couldn’t say anything.

How could he say such chilling things with a smile? He felt like he knew what Abel was thinking when he swung his sword.

“Even though I’m only half, I’m still half elf, so I have a tree. Its name is Lynn. So, when it’s just the two of you, you can call me Abelin.”

Keinzel sighed.

“Save those embarrassing words for when you propose to a woman, like you said.”

“You idiot. That will never happen. Like most double breeds, half-elves are infertile.”

“…In, infertile?”

“Since I don’t have reproductive functions, it’s more accurate to say that I don’t have a gender.”

“In, infertile…”

Abel picked up the lobster piled up on the table.

“So, as one desire is reduced, most double breeds are great gourmets. So, if you give them delicious food like this and say romantic things, anyone would fall for it. Well, as long as there’s a tree left, I’m almost immortal, so I have to put up with that much. And I can eat as much meat as I want, which elves can’t.”

“So, that dangling thing was a fake made with magic…”

“Why are you so shocked by that! Just shut up already!”

Abel sighed. But having someone to share his secret with made him feel much more comfortable.

Keinzel, who had been looking blank for a while, finally managed to pull himself together.

“Abel. Let’s work together to figure out how to keep your identity from being exposed from now on. First of all, your true form is dangerous. You don’t know it, but it’s really dangerous. Anyway, the magic keeps going as long as you wear the ring, right?”

“Yeah. But I have to have the sorcerer recharge it three times a day.”

“I can recharge it for you in an emergency.”

“…Is that even possible?”

“And even if the magic wears off, you have to hide those long ears somehow. Like a headband…”

As the two put their heads together, good ideas popped out in an instant.

@

“I can’t believe Abel was a half-elf…”

Abel, who had revealed his secret, seemed to have put down a heavy burden.

“Will I ever be able to reveal my secret like that someday?”

Since wielding the kitchen knife, Keinzel had been able to raise his swordsmanship level by cooking.

If it were right after the heat wave, he would have told Abel his secret as a sign of trust.

But he learned that high-level dishes contained the power to undo the curse of the Seven Deadly Sins.

And there was someone who didn’t want that to be known.

The ghoul he met in Felga was clear evidence that the war with the Seven Deadly Sins was not over yet.

If he rashly said what he knew, even Abel would be in danger.

He had already reported the appearance of the ghoul to the military command through Abel.

Something would definitely move once that news was delivered.

‘I asked Zeke to find out about the situation in Felga, just in case…’

Keinzel was standing at the gate of Citizen, waiting for his turn.

He was going to hear about the situation in Felga from Zeke and make Frellia a honey butter sandwich.

The expression on the soldier who received the pass changed strangely.

“Are you ‘Jack the Butcher,’ the silver-ranked mercenary?”

“…That’s right.”

“Commercial cities are always short of manpower. Silver-ranked mercenaries are always welcome.”

The mercenary registration card that Zeke, a mithril-ranked mercenary, had obtained for him.

But what was with that awesome nickname?

Keinzel paid 1 silver as a toll and passed through the gate. After walking for a while, the Nine Cats Inn, where he always met Zeke, appeared.

Inside the inn, a bearded bartender was sitting and smoking a pipe. There were no other customers in sight.

“They say a cat has two lives.”

“Isn’t it nine?”

“Seven of them died ten years ago.”

Then, without a word, the bartender took Keinzel to the inn on the second floor.

A system where you say a pre-arranged password and they tell you where Zeke is.

Then he went back down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. Zeke, who was hiding there, was startled and muttered.

“How did you know there were cutthroats hiding on the second floor?”

Keinzel put away the sword he had drawn the moment Fallen Star sensed hostility and said,

“I just have a good sense.”

“Heehee! Are you really not thinking about becoming a mercenary? Actually, being a mercenary is a pretty good job if you just take care of your own life.”

“…I’ll politely decline.”

“Bro! But I told you to act as if you really became the target when you disguise yourself. I put on some soot and wore tattered clothes, but your actions are still too stiff. Follow me. Ka-ack, spit! You fucking bastard!”

After thinking for a moment, Keinzel decided to follow the demonstration of the skilled instructor.

“Ka-ack, spit! You fucking bastard!”

“Oh, that was good. The way you looked down on the enemy at the end was atmospheric. That’s right, a silver-ranked mercenary has to have that much tenacity.”

Zekefrid was an expert in disguise and investigation, so much so that he was called a detective. What he learned from him might seem vulgar, but it would definitely be of great help in the future.

“Then I investigated what you asked me to. First of all, about Felga…”

Keinzel’s body trembled as he listened to Zeke’s explanation.

He thought that even if he reported that ghouls had appeared, the higher-ups would ignore it. So he even mobilized the Carters family’s connections.

‘I can’t believe they wiped out Felga itself… That way, the evidence that ghouls appeared will disappear from this world. Someone is hiding the fact that the war with the Seven Deadly Sins is not over yet. Could it be the Virtues?’

There was nothing certain.

But it was certain that he had to move more carefully in the future.

‘I need to decide who to trust and who to suspect.’

Zeke chuckled and said,

“Oh, right, bro. Did you know that the son of the famous Hector van Sven, the Swordmaster of Temperance, is attending the Stanis Knight Academy?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Oh, anyone who eats sword-rice [a metaphor for those who train in swordsmanship] wants to meet the Virtues. I heard that he’s going to visit Stanis soon to see his son.”

“…”

“But isn’t it funny? Why now? It’s supposed to be to congratulate Vincent on being recognized as a Sword Knight. But that was a long time ago. Besides, why is he trying to meet his son now, after not seeing him for three years? Don’t you want to know the reason, bro?”

Zeke’s eyes lit up.

Keinzel reflexively activated Fallen Star.

‘…There’s no hostility. Does that mean it’s just curiosity? Or maybe that guy already knows that I’m a trainee knight at Stanis.’

As long as the Count gives him money, Zeke will move according to Keinzel’s orders.

But he couldn’t let his guard down.

“But you said that it was the Sacrifice Fire that destroys the impure that wiped out Felga, right?”

“Yes!”

And Hector was the only knight who could give them orders.

Keinzel bit his lip.

The report that he saw the ghoul was filed under Abel’s name.

‘Maybe he’s coming to see the person who witnessed the ghoul with his own eyes. Hector is moving himself, so there must be inquisitors from Sacrifice with him…’

“Abel is in danger!”

Of course, Abel was also a noble, so they couldn’t openly harm him.

But what if Abel’s identity was revealed by the inquisitors?

Surely something terrible beyond imagination would happen.

His friend Abel, who had even revealed his precious secret to him. He wanted to protect him no matter what.

‘Count Wellride said he would grant me anything I wanted in exchange for making him honey butter sandwiches every week.’

It seemed like the time had come to use that authority.

Cooking for a Friend #5