Chapter 53

Chapter 53: A Twenty-Dish Spread and Ria's Finger Sizes

We arrived at the clearing on the outskirts of the forest, and I opened Acresia.

It was to take out the large tent.

Seeing it, Ruina was startled.

"Could that be Yaike's Treasury......?"

Yaike's Treasury was brought up once again.

Ria corrected her on my behalf.

"It is not Yaike's Treasury."

"......Looking more closely, it does appear to be different. The patterns rippling across it are the complete opposite of Yaike's Treasury."

"The opposite?"

"Yes, Lady Ria, please look closely at the ancient rune language patterns rippling here."

I examined the patterns Ruina was pointing at as well.

Complex patterns radiated outward like waves.

'I cannot make any sense of it even looking at it.'

Meanwhile, Ria, who had considerable knowledge of ancient rune language, was nodding.

"Old ancient rune language patterns are intricately intertwined."

"Yes, similar patterns are also depicted in the illustrations of Yaike's Treasury. These are the normal patterns, and the patterns in the Yaike's Treasury illustrations appear to be an inverted version of these."

"I see."

I still could not make sense of it.

In any case, there was now one more piece of evidence that Yaike's Treasury and Acresia were different things.

I then took out the large tent and began setting it up.

The spear knight Neville helped from the side.

"What a fascinating tent. Thank you for lending it to us. We will make good use of it while we build our house."

"You are going to build a house yourselves?"

"Yes, my father is a carpenter, so I helped him build wooden houses a lot since I was young."

"Ah."

I had been thinking about whether I should buy a mobile home for them, but since they were going to build one themselves, there was no need.

'Building it yourself does have a certain charm to it.'

But saying they would build a house meant they intended to settle here permanently.

In any case, after putting up the large tent, I also set up a medium-sized tent.

A space for Ruina.

Since I could not have men and women sharing the same tent.

Ria, who had been talking with Ruina, came over and said.

"Seon-u, I am going to go calm Rin down. If any of my comrades are rude to you, please let me know."

"All right."

I said all right, but only in words.

I had no real intention of tattling.

Now it was just me and the four of them.

After finishing with the tents.

I set up the large water tank.

It was the same one the three S-Rank members had used before.

Watching me, Vice Commander Garrett remarked.

"You possess remarkable abilities, Sir Seon-u. Then again, the Commander's lover could not possibly be an ordinary person."

"I was simply fortunate enough to obtain good abilities."

"Haha! Modest, too. In any case......, thank you truly. If you had not persuaded her, Lady Ria might never have allowed us to stay here."

"I am not so sure. If you had actually collapsed, she would have reluctantly given in."

"That may be true. In fact, that was exactly what we were counting on. We were hoping she would give in right before we breathed our last."

They had been prepared for a situation right on the brink of death. How tenacious.

Then Ruina, who had been silent, asked me.

"Sir Seon-u, how exactly did you win Lady Ria over?"

She was not rude, but the look in her eyes was still far from friendly.

She seemed to be having difficulty accepting me as Ria's lover.

"Hmm, I have not heard from Ria exactly how it happened. But I would guess......"

"You would guess?"

"That it was probably thanks to warm food."

"With food......?"

"Yes. I used to be a chef, and I think providing her with delicious food was the biggest factor. I will prepare dinner for all of you later as well."

All four of them swallowed hard at that.

Among them, Neville spoke up.

"So you were a chef. We have been suffering for so long, eating nothing but toxic things while wandering the Rift. Finally, we can have a proper meal."

"I know, it was truly miserable. Stomach pains every single day."

Benny rubbed his belly.

Ruina said to them.

"If not for my detoxification magic, you all would have been poisoned to death long ago."

She could do detoxification magic too?

She could heal, erect Barriers, and even detoxify.

Mages truly were all-purpose.

I could see why a knight order needed a mage.

Ruina then looked at me and said.

"I will look forward to the food. Let us see if it is truly warm enough to have made Lady Ria fall for it."

I had been given homework.

The homework of satisfying four people with warm food.

***

I headed back to the house and checked on Rin first.

Rin was already laughing and playing with Ria as though she had never been scared at all.

Relieved by the sight, I came out to the living room.

Then I thought about what to cook.

'What is the warmest food?'

Storytelling is also very important when it comes to food.

The concept for this meal was warmth.

The warmest food to me.

That was the table my father used to set for me.

Korean cuisine made up of rice, soup, and side dishes.

'On my birthday, he would grill all sorts of fish and even make braised short ribs.'

My father was not exactly the most skilled cook, but his meals were always warm.

'All right, let us go with Korean cuisine.'

And not just any Korean cuisine — a lavish Korean full-course meal grand enough to make the table legs bend.

First, I soaked the beef short ribs in cold water to draw out the blood. I planned to leave them soaking for about an hour.

In the meantime, I quickly blanched and seasoned the vegetable side dishes — spinach, dried bracken, bellflower root, and seasoned bean sprouts.

Right after that, I pan-fried handmade donggeurangtteng, Rolled Egg Omelette, hobakjeon, and buchujeon.

Then I grilled three types of fish — saury, yellow croaker, and tonguesole.

'A Korean full-course meal has to have many dishes and be generous to look impressive.'

Particularly in the Jeolla region, many full-course restaurants set tables so loaded that the legs seemed to bend.

For the meat dishes, in addition to the ribs, I also made stir-fried pork kimchi to eat with blanched tofu.

Also known as dubu kimchi.

I stored each completed dish in Acresia right away so it would not get cold.

I then blanched the blood-drained beef short ribs in boiling water for five minutes to remove impurities, washed them, and put them in the Pressure Cooker to braise with seasoning.

'I need to open all the windows.'

I was cooking with no fewer than five burners going at once.

It was truly a storm of cooking.

'At this speed, I could run a buffet with no problem.'

Even while cooking, I kept the kitchen tidy between tasks.

Maintaining cleanliness even during cooking was a hallmark of a fine dining chef.

Before long, Ria came into the living room carrying Rin, saw the kitchen, and exclaimed in admiration.

"Wow, what is all this?"

"I am preparing to serve our guests."

"You do not have to go this far......"

"They are your precious comrades, Ria. I need to earn some points with my cooking."

"Should I help?"

"No, I will handle it alone. Go play with Rin."

"All right."

I then made japchae.

I boiled a refreshing beef radish soup.

I also prepared Nutritious Stone-Pot Rice loaded with Glace Mushrooms and other wholesome ingredients.

In addition, I placed the pickled preserves and fermented side dishes I had prepared in advance into small bowls.

All of that together made a twenty-dish spread.

All cooking was complete.

I had produced a twenty-dish spread in under two hours.

Watching the whole process, Ria was amazed.

"It was like watching acrobatics. I could not have managed even ten dishes. As expected, my cooking teacher is in a league of his own."

"I surprised myself too. I had originally planned about twelve dishes, but as I kept going, I kept adding one more. Maybe it is because my Agility and Dexterity stats have increased, making my hands faster."

"That is true. You are definitely faster than when we first met. Every motion, including your knife work."

It was not just my motions that had gotten faster.

My mental processing speed had increased too.

Thanks to that, even when I worked on multiple dishes simultaneously, everything meshed together like clockwork.

My multitasking ability had improved that much.

There was a hypothesis that mental processing speed among stats was influenced by Mana.

The rumor went that as Mana increased, mana sensitivity heightened, which developed one's senses and also accelerated mental processing.

It was unconfirmed hearsay, but having experienced it firsthand, it seemed to be accurate.

Anyway, after wiping down the marble island counter where I had been cooking, I said to Ria.

"Let us go eat together at the outdoor Wooden Platform Bench."

"Sounds good. I will hold Rin while we eat. It will also help her get used to the new faces."

"All right."

And so, Ria carrying Rin and I headed for the bench.

Ria spoke to Bell, who had been resting in front of the bench.

"Bell, go call the others."

"Woof!"

Bell dashed off toward the forest.

Bell's comprehension of words was growing as quickly as Rin's.

A moment later, the four of them truly came following Bell.

"Please sit at the bench."

"Yes, Commander."

To those who answered, Ria said firmly.

"Commander is forbidden."

"Understood, Lady Ria."

Once they were seated, I unfolded a large floor table onto the bench from Acresia.

Then I began laying out the numerous dishes.

Braised beef short ribs, dubu kimchi, donggeurangtteng, Rolled Egg Omelette, hobakjeon, buchujeon, grilled saury, grilled yellow croaker, and grilled tonguesole.

Spinach, bracken, bellflower root, seasoned Bean Sprouts, dried seaweed, and stir-fried shishito peppers with anchovies.

Japchae, beef radish soup, Nutritious Stone-Pot Rice.

Plus various pickled preserves and fermented side dishes.

"What on earth is all this......?"

"What in the......?"

"How many dishes are there?"

"Good heavens......"

Everyone was too stunned to close their mouths.

The massive table was packed to the brim with enough food to make its legs bend.

"This is what I consider the warmest table of food. These will be unfamiliar dishes for you, so I am not sure if they will suit your palates, but I prepared them as a welcome gesture. Please, eat as much as you like."

"Thank you......!"

"We will eat well."

"I do not even know where to start."

Then Ria, who had the most experience with Korean food, stepped in.

She first showed them how to scoop the Nutritious Stone-Pot Rice into a separate bowl.

Then she poured hot water from a kettle into the stone pot, closed the lid, and explained that this would soften the scorched rice at the bottom for eating later.

After that, she said.

"Just taste the dishes one by one with the rice you set aside."

"Understood, Captain."

Since they were not allowed to call her Commander, Neville called her Captain instead.

Ria did not object to that, apparently permitting it.

The former knight order members then began sampling the dishes one by one with their forks.

"This dish made from bird eggs is delicious."

He was talking about the Rolled Egg Omelette.

"This braised meat with bones is really good."

He was talking about the braised beef short ribs.

"I really like these vegetables."

The Vice Commander seemed to enjoy the seasoned vegetables.

Among the twenty-dish Korean full-course spread, Ruina's favorite was.

"This meat stew — it warms you all the way to the core."

It was the beef radish soup.

She had similar tastes to Ria.

Seeing that, Ria was delighted.

"Right? I really love beef radish soup too."

"Really? We have the same taste, Lady Ria."

It must have been unfamiliar Korean food, but fortunately everyone was eating well.

Of course, they were cautious with each new dish they tried.

'I deliberately excluded foods that tend to be polarizing.'

Things like stir-fried eggplant, soy sauce marinated crab, or dried yellow corvina.

Or hongeo samhap, which was an essential part of Korean full-course meals.

I had not made or served any dishes that might be hit or miss for Korean food beginners.

Of course, I personally loved them so much I could eat them endlessly.

'Ah, now that I think about it, I forgot to make yukjeon.'

That was a dish that absolutely should not have been left out of a Korean full-course meal. What a foolish mistake.

In any case, Ria and I also began eating.

However, we barely touched the main side dishes.

Despite the massive quantity, the four former knight order members ate so voraciously that everything ran out in no time.

They even started fighting over the last remaining piece of braised short ribs.

'In terms of weight, I made about fifteen servings of braised short ribs......'

On top of that, the dubu kimchi, assorted pancakes, grilled fish, japchae, and so on.

They cleaned out every last bit of the main dishes without leaving a single morsel.

'So Ria has been a light eater all along......'

Whether it was because they were knights, or because they had gone so long without proper meals and had pent-up resentment about it, they ate incredibly well either way.

"It was delicious even though it was unfamiliar food. Your cooking skills are truly the best, Sir Seon-u."

"It has been so long since I feasted like this. Thank you for the wonderful meal!"

"It was really delicious."

The three men expressed their thanks.

Then Ruina scratched her cheek with her index finger and said.

"I understand now what it means for food to be warm......, it truly was a warm and delicious spread."

In the end, I won everyone over and completed my homework.

"I am glad to have your approval."

Ria tilted her head curiously.

"What did you all talk about when I was not around?"

When no one answered, the spiky-haired Neville spoke up.

"We talked about how Sir Seon-u won Lady Ria over. Sir Seon-u said he thought it was probably thanks to his cooking."

"......"

Ria's face turned red.

Seeing that, Neville and Garrett said.

"Wow...... Captain, this is a truly unfamiliar sight. You have completely turned into a maiden in love."

"Indeed, hahaha! Lady Ria, it is a lovely sight."

Ria, who had been embarrassed, took a deep breath to regain her composure and then said.

"That is right. Thanks to Seon-u's kindness and warm food, my exhausted body and heart melted. Before I knew it, my heart had been stolen."

Ria admitted it candidly.

Then Neville went one step further.

"So when do you plan to hold the ceremony?"

"Huh......?"

"......"

Ria and I were both at a loss for words.

Seeing our reaction, Neville quickly tried to recover.

"Was that an inappropriate question? I was joking, just joking."

For a moment, things became awkward between Ria and me.

"Haha......"

We could only laugh it off.

***

After dinner was over and everything was cleaned up.

As darkness fell, Ria put Rin to sleep and came to the living room.

She sat down beside me on the sofa and leaned against my shoulder.

"Today was truly a hectic day."

"It was. You did great."

Come to think of it, I had bought clothing gifts but had not even given them to her yet.

I would give them to her tomorrow.

Ah, speaking of clothes, there was something I just remembered.

"Ria, give me your hand."

"My hand? Why?"

"The workshop making your Drake Leather Armor is doing the final touches and wants to make gauntlets for you, but they need your hand and finger sizes."

"I do not need gauntlets that cover the fingers. Forearm guards are sufficient."

"Really? Then I will talk to the workshop again. But just in case, let me measure your sizes anyway."

Saying that, I took out a string and ruler from Acresia.

I wrapped the string around each finger and measured the length of the wrapped string with the ruler.

I recorded each finger's measurement in detail.

'In truth, I only need the left ring finger.'

The claim about measuring finger sizes for gauntlets was a lie.

Ria's armor was already completed.

The purpose of measuring finger sizes was to find out her left ring finger size for a ring.