Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 48

Kainchel smirked, seeing the enemies swarming before him. No matter how many there were, he could handle them all with this.

“Onion Swordsmanship!”

Then, the kitchen knife Kainchel was holding multiplied into two and began to move at an incredible speed.

The piled-up tomatoes were peeled and chopped, disappearing into the pot with a soft *poof*.

From afar, the trainee knights who were watching Kainchel cook exclaimed in admiration.

“Did he just use intermediate swordsmanship?”

“It definitely split into two swords. He clearly used Illusion Sword [a technique that creates the illusion of multiple blades].”

“Using intermediate swordsmanship to prepare ingredients….”

The underachiever who hadn’t escaped the bottom ranks for three years had become the number two rookie.

Some people began to spy on Kainchel, wondering if he was doing some special training.

However, after several days, they hadn’t found out anything.

During work hours, Kainchel received the same training as the other trainee knights.

And at other times, he locked himself in the kitchen and only cooked.

“Maybe there’s a Sword Knight among the chefs working in the kitchen? He’s secretly teaching him swordsmanship when no one’s watching.”

“Gordon certainly had a master-like aura just standing there… But I was on night watch and didn’t see him teaching swordsmanship in the kitchen?”

A dark shadow fell behind the onlookers.

It was Gordon Lambolton himself, who was in charge of the entire kitchen.

“It’s Gordon, not Golem! And entry into the kitchen is prohibited except for authorized personnel. I’ll have to report this to the instructor.”

“……Ugh! I-I’m sorry!”

After chasing away the onlookers, Gordon watched Kainchel cook with deep eyes.

Today’s breakfast menu was vegetable soup with tomatoes.

Since hundreds of people had to eat, a huge amount of tomatoes was needed.

When there weren’t enough people, they had to stay in the kitchen until late at night every day to prepare the ingredients.

But Kainchel was finishing it at an incredible speed using two kitchen knives.

He was doing the work of two people alone.

It was understandable that the two chefs were asking every day for Kainchel to be officially hired into the kitchen.

And that wasn’t all.

After finishing the ingredients, Kainchel began to make food for the chefs with the leftover ingredients.

He lightly sprinkled salt inside the tomatoes with the tops cut off. Then, he began to tear the bread soaked in milk into small pieces.

With just that, Gordon realized what Kainchel was trying to make.

“He’s going to make baked tomatoes. A dish that breaks the stereotype that tomatoes are only eaten in salads or soups and turns them into a main course.”

He finely minced the pork left over from the soup, then mixed it with bread, minced garlic, raisins, pine nuts, onions, parsley, and eggs, and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Stuffing it tightly into the tomatoes completed the preparation for making baked tomatoes.

Kainchel went to the preheated oven and began to grease a dish with olive oil.

Gordon’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s like he knows the temperature inside the oven just by looking at it. Even if he received the blessing of fire, that’s impossible without innate talent… Moreover, usually, people don’t even think about using intermediate swordsmanship in cooking. No, they can’t. And he’s only been holding a kitchen knife for half a year….”

Kainchel put the breadcrumb-sprinkled tomatoes on the dish and put them in the oven. Now, it would be done after baking for about an hour.

After finishing the work, Kainchel washed the used dishes and took out the steel for sharpening knives.

Sharpening the kitchen knife before and after cooking was the basics.

However, most people didn’t do it. The reason was that they didn’t have enough time, but it was because they were lazy.

A sigh of admiration escaped from Gordon’s mouth.

“The basics are the most important for making delicious food. I wish the other chefs would watch and learn.”

Watching Kainchel cook reminded Gordon of his younger self.

He worked hard on everything, no matter how trivial, if it was necessary for the kitchen.

That accumulated, and Gordon was eventually given the glorious position of imperial chef.

But all that was left was cooled passion and the stigma of disobeying the orders of the Holy King Aslan.

In the end, he continued to spend his nights drinking.

But after a newcomer came into the kitchen, it felt like a extinguished oven was burning again.

Gordon recalled the dream he had when he first started cooking.

The world is wide, and there are countless countries. And there are even more diverse dishes than that.

He wanted to gather only the advantages of all cooking methods and create the most delicious dish.

Then, wouldn’t an ultimate dish be born that transcends borders and even races, and that everyone would say is delicious?

But Gordon was too old to do that already.

More than half of his golden hair had turned white. And deep wrinkles had formed on his forehead. It would be impossible to even leave Britannia for the rest of his life.

Knowing that, Gordon collected cookbooks from all over the world.

He tried to reach the ultimate dish by gathering the knowledge contained therein. However, he couldn’t make a proper dish with just the arrangement of letters written in the book.

Unless you see it directly, it’s hard to know the difference between paprika and bell peppers.

No matter how well a great writer writes, it’s the same as being unable to explain the taste of truffles, caviar, and foie gras, which are called the three major delicacies [expensive and rare foods considered delicacies].

A sigh escaped from Gordon’s tightly closed lips.

If it’s a dream that he can’t achieve with his own power, he can find someone to pass it on to.

But that was also too late.

“If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have sent them back….”

After Gordon was demoted to the Stanist Knight Academy, countless chefs came and knelt, asking him to take them as disciples.

Of course, Gordon, who had lost his motivation, cursed harshly and chased them all away.

It didn’t take long for those people to stop coming.

The rumor spread that he only drank every day and didn’t cook properly.

He suddenly began to regret it.

“Hoo…. I should cook something for the first time in a while.”

Watching Kainchel cook made Gordon strangely want to grab a kitchen knife.

@

“The flavor of the tomato with the meat juice soaked in it, aaaaah!”

“Mmm. Delicious. Really, did Sir Kainchel make this dish?”

“That’s right! And he even made it for us to eat, so I don’t know how grateful I am! The sweetness of the tomato, the meat juice, and the subtle scent of raisins make it so delicious, right? This is really good enough to be served as a main course. Ah, I can feel the flavor of the Mediterranean….”

“Hmm. I got such a great meal for breakfast, so I should bake some pound cake for a snack.”

The voices of the chefs eating the meat-filled baked tomatoes through the wall could be heard.

Kainchel chuckled.

The person who actually made the dish was hiding in the corner of the food storage, reading the report that Zeke had investigated.

“Let’s see… He likes demure and quiet young ladies with brown hair… Why did you write this when I asked you to find out about his culinary preferences! Ugh! You even wrote down their three sizes!”

Kainchel almost tore the precious report in half in an instant.

After taking a few deep breaths, he was finally able to read the rest properly.

“Let’s see… I already know that Vincent’s father is Hector van Sven, the Swordmaster of Temperance, so I’ll skip that….”

Kainchel’s gaze was fixed on one part of the item about Vincent’s family.

“……His mother was a noble from the Gallia Kingdom. Her name is Rosemary. She died at the end of the Seven Deadly Sins War….”

The report described the situation in detail.

Even Lucifer, the King of Pride, who was called the strongest of the Seven Deadly Sins, was defeated by the Holy King Aslan and the Seven Virtues.

People rejoiced at the fact that this long and tiring war was finally coming to an end.

However, the longer the war lasted, the stronger the Gluttony King Beelzebub’s undead army became.

This was because those who died at the hands of Beelzebub were resurrected as undead.

In the end, the war could not be ended with just local battles.

And….

“……In the end, even the wife of the Swordmaster of Temperance becomes an undead at the hands of Beelzebub. What’s scary about Beelzebub is the situation itself where you have to kill your loved ones with your own hands. Vincent couldn’t bring himself to kill his undead mother with his own hands. Then Hector drew his sword….”

The report was written in a calm tone. But the content contained within was so horrific.

“Hector loved his wife more than anyone else. But he knew that if he, the commander of the Seven Virtues, gave in to his personal feelings and didn’t kill the undead in front of him, the situation would become uncontrollably serious. So, without a moment’s hesitation, he beheaded Rosemary, who had become an undead. His son Vincent, who watched it in front of his eyes, cried out, but no emotion appeared on Hector’s face….”

Kainchel couldn’t read the next part at all.

He suddenly recalled the words left by Goethe, who was called a great writer, about the Seven Deadly Sins.

― If you make the lives of the people who survived the Seven Deadly Sins War extreme, most of them will be tragedies.

It was definitely something like that.

Turning the page of the report, it was written in detail about Vincent after the Seven Deadly Sins War.

“Vincent, who was quiet and enjoyed poetry and literature, disappeared. He came to worship strength more than anyone else. And he began to say as a habit that Rosemary died because she was weak….”

The report also briefly described Rosemary.

Rosemary, who was sickly, spent most of the year in bed.

Unlike the always warm Gallia Kingdom, Britannia is a country with four distinct seasons.

She must not have adapted to the change.

To cure her constitution, Hector called a priest with strong divine power and fed her all kinds of elixirs [medicinal preparations], but there was no improvement.

Rosemary loved her husband and son more than anyone else, and she lived being loved as much as she loved them.

Kainchel turned the page of the report. It was as thick as a book.

It explained in detail why the human Vincent had such a twisted personality.

And finally, Kainchel found a hint of a dish that would move Vincent’s heart.

― Vincent visited restaurants with talented chefs every weekend. He always orders ‘Coq au Vin’ [chicken braised in wine]. And after taking a bite of the dish, he shook his head as if it wasn’t the taste he was looking for.

“……This is it.”

Kainchel’s hands began to tremble.

Zeke had completed this huge report in just a week.

He must have been digging through the back alleys, meeting soldiers who were under Hector in the Seven Deadly Sins War, and managers who worked at Vincent’s house.

Even though he has a slightly quirky personality, his skills must be acknowledged.

Vincent’s mother, Rosemary, was from the Gallia Kingdom.

And Coq au Vin was one of the most common home-style dishes in Gallia.

As the name suggests, it was a boiled dish made by simmering chicken in wine, pork fat, mushrooms, and other ingredients.

‘……Even if she was a noble lady, Rosemary, who cherished her family, would have made dishes herself for her family on special days. After the war, Vincent erased his mother from his heart. But he couldn’t forget the taste of the dish his mother made.’

Kainchel’s hands began to tremble with excitement.

‘Vincent was not satisfied even after eating Coq au Vin made by a talented chef. That is, it was a completely different taste from what Rosemary made.’

Coq au Vin with memories of his mother. If he could make that, he could melt Vincent’s coldly frozen heart.

Kainchel’s eyes lit up.

First, he decided to go to the restaurant Vincent had visited and eat Coq au Vin.

Then he would know what was missing and why Vincent was not satisfied.

Aura Sword #3