Chapter 40: The Body and the Land are One (3) "To find ingredients that can make bunsik taste even better?"
Craid, who had finished off five servings of omurice in an instant, slowly lifted his head.
"From now on, if possible, I want to try making bunsik with local ingredients. Something like this could happen again, where I can't return to Korea."
"Well, that's why these days I'm only eating half of what I usually do. That's always a shame."
Craid smacked his lips as he looked down at the plate, wiped clean without a single grain of rice left.
"And bunsik made with local ingredients definitely tasted better than before. Could this be because of that too?"
"As expected of you, Sir Craid. I used eggs obtained from Falstead Castle."
"I see…"
Even before, he had been thoroughly satisfied with the food truck's bunsik.
Ingredients that could make even his tongue happier.
Craid set down his fork, folded his arms, and listened intently to Jinseo.
"But unfortunately, I'm not a hunting specialist. If you're trying to get meat through hunting, wouldn't it be better to leave it to a professional hunter?"
"There aren't many monsters on the Francia Continent that can be used as ingredients, are there?"
"Monsters?"
"Since we're on the topic, please try this."
Jinseo brought out a bunsik dish on a plate—something he had obtained during his trip with Oswald and had never shown Craid even once.
Golden-brown fried food that didn't look much different from the three-piece set he normally sold.
But the moment Craid took a bite, a memory buried deep in his mind began to revive.
"T-this taste…"
Craid's eyes widened slightly—he who always maintained composure no matter what he ate.
"Have you had it before?"
"This springy texture… My tongue definitely remembers it. Yes—kraken."
Craid, who had traveled all over the continent in search of food and a chef who could satisfy him.
And among those years, ten years ago, while crossing the sea by ship, he had encountered a kraken exactly once.
Because of the disadvantage of fighting on a ship, he had struggled more than expected, but in the end he defeated the kraken alone.
Yet even after obtaining such excellent ingredients, there had been no chef aboard who knew how to use them properly.
In the end, he had only eaten the kraken grilled—this was his first time having it as fried food.
"So it was the kraken you said you obtained during the lord's procession."
"Since you've obviously defeated far more monsters than I have, you must have more ingredients than me, right?"
"Wait."
Craid didn't answer immediately. Instead, he devoured the remaining kraken fried food on the plate in the blink of an eye.
After finishing, he pulled out a roll of paper towel and wiped his mouth, his eyes filled with regret.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any right now. I'm not qualified to obtain a subspace storage to store monster meat."
A subspace storage was a unique means obtainable only by those proficient in magic.
He prided himself on being second to none with a sword, but as for magic, he was an outsider.
There were realms no one could reach, no matter how hard they worked.
"But I can go get it myself. For delicious bunsik, I can swing this sword as much as needed. I have comrades I've done monster subjugations with many times, so I'll call them too."
"May I participate as well?"
"You?"
In an instant, Craid's eyes sharpened.
"It could be dangerous. No—it will definitely be dangerous. Edible monsters mostly appear in dungeons."
"I know. So I'll help as long as I'm not in the way. More importantly, while you're away from here, you'll have a hard time holding back from bunsik."
"That's true. Even so, the usual me wouldn't enter a dungeon with a chef, no matter how hungry I was."
Craid stopped mid-sentence and downed the fish-cake broth in a paper cup in one go.
He waited for Jinseo to back down until the salty taste in his mouth completely faded.
But Jinseo looked at him with an unhurried expression and didn't yield.
"But that only applies to ordinary chefs. Still, there's no need for you to jump in yourself."
"There are several reasons, but… for better bunsik, I suppose?"
"For better bunsik… Fine. I'll lend you my strength."
Craid reached his right arm behind his back.
And for the first time in front of Jinseo, he gripped the massive sword slung across his back—not a fork and knife—in his right hand.
"What? This time you're leaving to get ingredients?"
Jason, who had stopped by his original lodging to pack spare clothes, heard the news late and panicked.
"And you're going with Sir Craid? To hunt edible monsters?"
"We'll explore a dungeon with the people he introduces, and I'll directly buy ingredients from the merchant Oswald told me about."
"Th-then! Am I coming too?"
Jason, though currently focused on making bunsik, had once aimed to become a swordsman.
He didn't want to miss the chance to go on an adventure with Craid, who stood at the very pinnacle of swordsmen.
"You can't. It could be dangerous to accompany a dungeon expedition."
"Ah…"
A sigh escaped Jason's mouth.
It was the exact same expression he made when the long straight block he desperately wanted didn't appear in TeX-ris and he failed to clear the stage.
"Instead, think of it as having leave until I return, and rest."
"Working here and eating bunsik is better than leave…"
Jason's shoulders drooped, and he let out a long sigh.
At that moment, Nero quietly flew over and lightly placed a paw on his head.
"Are you comforting me?"
Meow.
"Thanks. But it's really such a good opportunity…"
Jason couldn't let it go and stole a sidelong glance at Jinseo.
If he left him like this, it was obvious he'd lose all motivation and just sigh until Jinseo returned.
"Instead, I'll give you ingredients you can use to make bunsik, so think of it as doing cooking training while I'm gone."
"C-cooking training?"
"Yes. And you can enjoy what you make while you train."
Jinseo patted Jason's shoulder, hoping he would devote himself more to cooking.
From what Jinseo had seen so far, whenever Jason was given an assignment, he wasn't the type to give up easily.
I can ask the Dean to handle ingredient storage… Come to think of it, it would've been nice if the Dean had come to the tasting, but in the end, he didn't.
Jinseo had been told the Dean couldn't come because he was doing research to understand the food truck's structure, but Jinseo found it hard to accept.
Just yesterday, when the tasting was brought up, he had looked ready to cancel everything and attend.
It feels like he didn't come for another reason, but it's not my place to meddle.
More precisely, the moment he heard that Cardinal Fedora would also be invited, his attitude changed completely.
Jinseo guessed that if he had invited Painpault first and Fedora later, the one who would have stayed away might have been the granddaughter, not the grandfather.
"All right. Honestly, I'm still clumsy with ramen and gimbap, so I should work on that."
"Ah, rather than that—since we're at it…"
Jinseo decided to try something he had been meaning to attempt soon, but had kept postponing.
Installing a branch of the food truck.
Until now, it had been impossible because the food truck's level was too low.
On top of that, it had been hard to find trustworthy staff, and the gap in hygiene awareness was large, so he hadn't been able to set up a branch.
But the current food truck level had reached 35, the minimum required for branch installation.
And as time passed, Jinseo had come to believe he could trust Aston and Jason with it.
Neither of them was perfect, but for running the business in his absence due to unavoidable circumstances, he judged it would be fine.
AI, I'm going to install the branch you explained before. You said there were restrictions, right?
{The types of menu items, drinks, and other food that can be sold through an existing mobile cooking facility are limited.}
We can sell tteok-twig-sun-ramen-gimbap?
{Yes, that is correct.}
Then that's enough.
Tteok-twig-sun-ramen-gimbap had already firmly established itself as the food truck's popular menu item.
If they only served that, they wouldn't have to face crazed customers like they had when they returned to the castle last time.
More than anything, it was urgent to prevent Oswald from following along in person just because he couldn't eat ramen.
"How about installing a branch of the food truck here, and having you run it while I'm away, Jason?"
"A branch? Me?"
With the conversation suddenly shifting from cooking training to a branch, Jason was flustered.
"I don't think I could do that alone."
"I'll ask Sir Aston as well."
"Ah, then it's definitely possible!"
"And then Jason, you'll be the manager."
"Me?"
Not just working at the branch—being suddenly appointed manager.
Jason's confusion turned into outright tension.
"Th-that's nonsense! Whether you judge by cooking skill or status, shouldn't Sir Aston do it?"
"Well, Sir Aston is the knight commander, so wouldn't it be difficult because of his status? He'll be coming to help the branch business, that's all."
"Th-that's true. You're right. Still…"
Jason accepted Jinseo's reasoning, but rather than relaxing, he became even more tense.
"Manager… Me, a manager…"
Even while feeling happy, Jason muttered to himself, thinking it was far too heavy a responsibility for him.
Still, Jinseo judged it would be fine since Aston would handle the practical manager role.
"Ah, come to think of it, you won't be able to play games for a while. Are you sad?"
"Games aren't important right now! I've been given the important role of manager—how could something like a game matter?"
"You're holding back from games… That's surprising."
"Ah! Seriously, hyung!"
Seeing Jason show patience comparable to Oswald, who once endured a whole day without ramen, Jinseo couldn't help but be impressed.
In any case, he had confirmed Jason's passion for bunsik, so he could leave with peace of mind.
On the day Jinseo set off on yet another journey to secure ingredients directly from the Francia Continent,
he left Falstead Castle with countless regular customers seeing him off.
Unfortunately, Fedora and Painpault were the only two who didn't show their faces.
I expected this, so I told them separately… but it almost makes me curious what the circumstances are.
He was convinced they both chose not to come because they didn't want to run into each other.
Hoping that by the time he returned to Falstead Castle their relationship would improve even a little, Jinseo drove the food truck onward.
"Sir Craid, if you're truly uncomfortable, you can ride in the extra trailer."
"It's fine."
Because of his height, Craid had reclined the passenger seat as far back as possible and was sitting almost lying down.
Even so, he had no complaints, since the ride was far more comfortable than a carriage.
"We said we'd meet your comrades here, right?"
Jinseo turned on the navigator and asked while pointing to the edge of a forest south of Falstead Castle.
"They'll be waiting first."
"Then it's fine even if we arrive early."
During the previous procession, they'd had to match speed with the rest of the party, but not now.
And the road leading south wasn't bumpy—it had been neatly maintained.
Jinseo decided to use a function he had upgraded but never gotten to use.
"I'm going to speed up."
AI, engage the nitro booster.
{Yes, understood.}
The moment Jinseo gave the order, red flames burst out from behind the extra trailer and a roaring sound rang out.
Meow?
Startled, Nero in the extra trailer scrambled back up onto the cat tower.
"Oh…"
Jinseo let out a gasp and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Across the vast land of the Francia Continent, where there was no speed limit, the food truck began to race forward, kicking up sand.
"F-fast…"
Watching the scenery whip past the window, Craid blinked.
The sensation of speed, incomparable even to riding a carriage, was enough to make his stomach churn.
"Fast."
Even so, Craid's expression was no different than usual.
Though veins were bulging out over both hands gripping beneath the seat.
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