Chapter 49

Chapter : 49

It was all over.

My territory was safe now. At last, I could call it my home. A home was not merely a place where people lived. It was a place of peace for the heart, a nest. Only somewhere you could set down every burden and sink deeply into comfort could be called a home.

Now this territory, this manor, was my home.

What should I do today? To celebrate acquiring a home, I wanted to do something special.

After eating a light breakfast, I went to find the head chef. When I came looking for him right after the meal, he nearly jumped out of his skin. It seemed Raphael had once thrown a fit because he had disliked his breakfast. The way he kept sneaking glances at my face looked painfully anxious.

First, I decided to reassure him and offered a few words of praise.

“I enjoyed breakfast. I feel this every time I eat, but you are quite skilled. It is almost a shame I cannot eat your cooking at the Academy. What is your secret?”

“I imagine it is thanks to the consideration you show in allowing us to procure good ingredients, my lord.”

I forced out a laugh at the empty flattery.

“Ahh. Yes. Thank you for always giving me satisfying meals.”

“Thank you.... But what brings you here?”

“Do you know something called chili peppers?”

I had expected the head chef to say he did not know. If he answered that he did not, I had only meant to explain what chili peppers were and ask whether there was any ingredient similar to my description. It did not have to be chili peppers specifically, as long as it could produce a similar flavor or color.

To my surprise, the answer I had hoped for came from the head chef’s mouth.

“Yes. I know them. They are ingredients with a prickling, spicy flavor, are they not?”

“You know them? Wow, that works out. Then could you perhaps obtain chili peppers separately? As many different varieties as possible, if you can.”

“Yes, well.... It is possible, but may I ask what you intend to use them for?”

“There is something I want to eat.”

“Ah, in that case, I should naturally make it for you. What dish would you like?”

“No, it is something I ate at the Academy, and they said it was food from a distant place. It would be difficult for you to make it, Head Chef.”

“Then do you mean to make it yourself?”

“Yes. Why?”

The head chef’s brows twitched left and right, and then he nodded awkwardly, pretending to understand.

“Yes.... Understood. In that case, I will prepare several varieties. It is not difficult, so please wait a little.”

After two hours, the head chef brought me several kinds of chili peppers. As he handed them to me, he explained.

“From what I heard people saying in the market, chili peppers have only recently become popular in this region. Originally, they were something eaten only in far-off regions. Spicy flavor usually makes people think of poison, does it not? It was something only demi-humans with nothing else to eat would consume.”

“Ahh.”

“Perhaps because of that, there were not many in the market. They were fairly expensive, and I spent quite a bit buying them. Shall I reduce this month’s food budget?”

“No, I should pay for the chili peppers separately.”

“Thank you.”

After receiving the chili peppers from him, I moved to the kitchen. Whether because everyone was uncomfortable with the sign that I was about to do something, or because they were being considerate of me, the kitchen was completely empty. Seeing the fire bell polished until it squeaked told me what they thought of me.

Well, that made sense. A man who usually never entered the kitchen had suddenly said there was something he wanted to eat, then picked up a knife and a pot. It was the perfect setup for an accident. I needed to be careful....

Holding three kinds of chili peppers, I deliberated. All three were so bright red that they made my mouth water just by looking at them. Then which of these should I use to make Tteokbokki?

“Hmm....”

As I examined them carefully, I chose the smallest and most wrinkled variety. Judging by its appearance, it seemed easy to crush into powder. According to the head chef’s explanation, this one was the spiciest, so the flavor should be good as well.

I spread out a mat, laid the chili peppers on it, and dried them in the sunlight. As I watched them gradually lose moisture, I wondered how I should crush them. Removing the seeds was already decided for the sake of the chili powder’s color. The problem came after that. How could I grind them properly?

That question remained even after I brought the dried chili peppers to the kitchen and removed the seeds. How should I crush them?

When my hands stopped and I stood still, the head chef, who had been watching me from afar, approached. He looked as though he was worried a child might cause some kind of accident, which embarrassed me, but I endured it.

“My lord, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I want to crush these into powder. How should I do it?”

“There is a mill, is there not?”

“Here?”

“Yes....”

The head chef said it in an incredulous tone. Apparently, the people of the territory were required to use the mill owned by the lord, and they paid a fee each time.

It was such basic common sense that I smoothly pretended to have simply forgotten and moved past it.

As I carried the dried chili peppers away, I felt that perhaps it was fortunate I had possessed Raphael after all. How lucky was it to have a territory that ran without issue even if its lord was clueless? I was happy to have Koromang.

I ground the chili peppers at the mill, then returned to the kitchen and began making Tteokbokki. My heart pounded. I poured the chili powder I had ground at the mill into a stock made by simmering anchovies. I used honey in place of starch syrup. A sweet scent and a spicy smell that made me cough tickled my nose.

I stirred the seasoning together, then poured in the rice cakes along with the vegetables. Today’s vegetables included a lot of green onions. That was because I liked green onions.

Wheat-flour tteok was quite disappointing in texture compared to rice-flour tteok. Still, it had an advantage: it absorbed the seasoning better. Watching the tteok turn red made saliva rush into my mouth.

As I stirred so the tteok would not stick to the bottom, Koromang came rushing over. I wondered whether the smell had stirred her appetite too, but that was not it.

“A guest has arrived!”

“Now?”

“Yes....”

Judging by the way the guest had come recklessly without prior notice, he was not someone with manners. However, considering that Koromang had not handled him at her own discretion and had instead hurried to inform me, he was not some peddler either. It was a guest I needed to know about. Who on earth was it?

Before going to see that so-called guest, I wanted to taste just one piece of tteok, but I held back and asked,

“Who is this guest?”

“It is hard to believe, but.... He says he is the Master of the Magic Tower! I tried to drive him away, but judging by the force of the mana pouring from his hand, I thought it might be true!”

“Ah.”

“Do you know who he is? Should I let him in?”

“Yes, he is probably my friend. Probably.”

---

At Koromang’s words, I went toward the front gate and found Ian standing there. When our eyes met, he smiled and waved.

“It is nice to see you after so long. From the look of your face, you seem to have been well.”

“Yes, I have. What about you? You are not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“I am unharmed.”

“I’m glad we are meeting while you are healthy. What about food? It is about time for lunch....”

“I have not eaten yet, but I am not hungry.”

“You do not eat meals when you are hungry. You eat them when it is time to eat. Come on.”

I had gained someone to eat the Tteokbokki I had meant to eat alone. I had cooked enough to eat until my stomach burst, so there was plenty. I led Ian toward the kitchen. Ian followed me inside while subtly looking around here and there.

When I served Tteokbokki onto a plate, Ian looked back and forth between the food and me before speaking.

“What is this? Since it is on a plate, it does seem like food.”

“Tteokbokki. It is good. Try it.”

Ian speared a piece of tteok with his fork and put it in his mouth. Perhaps it was hotter than he expected, because he flinched, but in the end he chewed and swallowed it.

“It is spicy.”

“Yes. It is spicy food. How does it taste?”

“Very spicy. Extremely so. Whew....”

Fortunately, it seemed to have turned out properly spicy. Reassured by his impression, I put a piece of tteok in my own mouth as well. I slipped it in neatly so the sauce would not get on my lips and chewed.

My impression was... exactly the same as Ian’s. It was spicy. Very spicy.

Aaaagh! Aaaagh!

Raphael was hopeless with spicy food!

The taste of the Tteokbokki itself was good. It was quite similar to the flavor I had eaten in the modern world. It was extremely satisfying Tteokbokki. But Raphael’s tongue rejected it. The moment I ate a single piece of tteok, heat rose through my body, and sweat poured out of me.

Still, I am going to eat it.

This was Tteokbokki I had worked hard to prepare. I could not give up. Apart from how hard the spiciness was to endure, the flavor of the Tteokbokki itself was outstanding. I could not leave it behind.

“Haaah! Huaaagh!”

When I continued eating the Tteokbokki, Ian glanced at me, then resumed his meal as well.

We devoured the Tteokbokki while pouring out sweat and tears. After chewing through one piece of tteok, we rested for a while, and with neither of us caring one bit about table manners, we smeared sauce across our plates and ate the tteok one piece at a time.

The spicy taste of home nearly brought tears streaming down my face.

After it took us quite some time to finish all the Tteokbokki, Ian spoke.

“I killed Dimagen.”

“I see.”

I wiped the bead of sweat running down my forehead with the back of my hand. While I was still suffering from the spiciness of the Tteokbokki, Ian shrugged.

“You are not surprised.”

“Yes. Yes. You said you would kill him. So the moment I saw you, I thought, Ah, he must have already killed him.”

“Is that so....”

“How do you feel? You accomplished the thing you wanted so badly. Is it as satisfying as you imagined?”

“If you heard how I killed him, it would be cruel enough to send shivers down your spine. I thought that would make me feel satisfied.”

“How did you kill him, then?”

It was information I did not necessarily need to know, but I was quite curious. Perhaps the one to die by Ian’s hand might have been me instead of Dimagen. If Bishot and Ian had ended up together, that could have happened. It was already a future I had avoided, but I wanted to know what might have happened if I had failed to avoid it.

Ian described the process of killing Dimagen in detail. As I listened, groans escaped me on their own. Ugh. Ahh. Hrrgh.

-How should I beat that bastard to death?

That was what my sister had said. Ahh. So this was how Ian beat someone to death. I found myself truly glad I had become friends with him.

“I see. So you killed him like that.”

“Let us stop with the filthy talk here. Now then, since I have received your hospitality, shall we check? Let us see how much you have improved since I left the Academy.”

“I worked hard.”

“Let us see the results.”

“How?”

“Attack me. Any way you like.”

If he had been proposing a fight, I would have refused immediately. What if something went wrong and even one blow grazed me? It would hurt. But Ian had told me to attack him as I pleased. He had said nothing about counterattacking, so I should be able to hit him without concern.

“If that is all, then fine.”

I took Ian outside. To avoid damaging nearby buildings while competing with magic, we moved toward the outskirts, and once again, it was the training ground. The same place where I had fought Jericho.

Ian spread both arms and let them hang downward. His long sleeves covered his hands.

“Attack me. Do not worry about me.”

He was offering to look over my magic, so there was no need to decline.

I released mana. I spread low-density mana around me like smoke. After preparing it so I could convert it into Mana Bullets at any time, I observed Ian. He stood defenseless, not preparing at all for my attack. There was no need to wait, so I immediately fired a Mana Bullet.