Chapter 143: The Nation of Cuisine, Girvante (1) The Kingdom of Girvante—a country that takes cooking more seriously than any other and values food above all else in life, clothing, and shelter.
King Lanster II of Girvante invited Jinseo, the founder of bunsik, to the royal palace.
More sincere about eating than anyone, he couldn't be satisfied with only tasting tteok-twig-sun—a mere part of bunsik. Wanting to fully enjoy a wider variety of bunsik, he sent the invitation to Jinseo.
Unlike Ashred Continent or Crudian Continent, they weren't heading to a continent of other races, so the magic pendant with translation functions wasn't particularly necessary.
For that reason, Jinseo expected many people would join this trip to Girvante, but unexpectedly, only a small group ended up participating.
As soon as the autumn festival ended, Painfolt threw himself back into tracking the traces his twin brother had left behind, and the dwarf mages, to assist him, also shut themselves away in the mage tower and refused to come out.
The other dwarves had no room to spare to follow Jinseo, because they had to handle the surge in forge orders after the autumn festival.
"Haah… I really wanted to visit the Kingdom of Girvante, but it can't be helped. We can't turn away customers who come to enjoy bunsik."
"I feel the same, but we can't let people start saying the taste dropped while Jinseo was away."
Jason and Aston, who decided to run the Mobile Cooking Facility branch instead of following Jinseo, couldn't hide their regret.
The autumn festival was already over, but there were still many tourists visiting Falstead Castle and Dwarf Town to enjoy bunsik, all the sights, and the convenient facilities, so the two helpers had to stay behind with heavy hearts.
Angelica and the Mobile Cooking Facility delivery staff also stayed in Dwarf Town, like Jason, to handle the increased bunsik delivery orders.
Because of various scheduling issues beyond that, only a small number of people ended up accompanying Jinseo to the Kingdom of Girvante.
Fedora, the Cardinal of the Heirem Order.¹
Craid, Hayward, and Julien.²
And Greg—Craid's father, who would also serve as their guide. Five people total.
They could have asked Charlotte and arrived instantly at the royal palace by teleportation magic, but instead, they decided to go only as far as near Girvante's eastern border, then drive the Mobile Cooking Facility the rest of the way.
Jinseo was exhausted from working nonstop throughout the ten-day autumn festival, so he wanted to treat the trip through Girvante—on the eastern side of the Francia Continent—as a journey in itself.
While he was at it, he also held out hope that he might be able to investigate Rainfolt's whereabouts in Girvante—the twin brother of Painfolt.
Greg, taking the opportunity to travel with Jinseo, arranged his schedule so he could personally visit and inspect his restaurants, which had branches spread throughout the Kingdom of Girvante.
The Kingdom of Girvante, located in the east of the Francia Continent.
The reason it was famous as the kingdom of cuisine was that all its citizens were serious about eating, and because the conditions were in place to enjoy a rich variety of food.
A vast grain belt in the north of the kingdom.
All manner of seafood harvested from the rolling sea beyond the eastern coastline.
All kinds of livestock raised on the wide plains to the south.
By the standards of the Francia Continent, there was no country with more abundant conditions for food than this one.
"What a fascinating vehicle."
Sitting in the passenger seat, Greg looked out at the scenery flashing by, thoroughly pleased with the ride.
"To move this fast with almost no shaking… the more I learn, the more curious I get."
Greg opened the storage compartment and took out a can of DeX among the assorted drinks inside.
He wasn't a big eater like his son Craid, but his interest in food was just as strong as his son's.
So even just the fun of choosing and drinking beverages he'd never tasted before made the road to the royal palace nothing but enjoyable.
"It's great because it's not inconvenient at all to eat while traveling. Riding in a carriage is terribly uncomfortable in that regard."
"Your son said the same thing."
"Did he?"
Greg smiled and tore open a bag of SaeXkkang.
"By the way, what do you think of the Kingdom of Girvante?"
"Like the Kingdom of Doren, it's truly a peaceful place."
Since crossing Girvante's border, Jinseo hadn't encountered a single monster, and it was still the same now, even as they crossed the mountain range that cut through the southern part of the kingdom.
"They say monsters still occasionally appear in the western forest, but in other regions, they've practically died out. That's why people can focus solely on making and eating delicious food without worrying about anything else."
"I heard it suffered greatly from war in the past, but it seems things have improved a lot now?"
"Even back then, everyone tried hard to at least make sure they ate properly. Now people have more breathing room and starvation has decreased, but they haven't forgotten the suffering from those war years. Hunger is the greatest pain for the people of Girvante, you see."
Listening to Greg, Jinseo slowly reduced the Mobile Cooking Facility's speed.
The wide road narrowed, and the condition of the road worsened.
"As I told you before, there are quite a lot of people in Girvante who are truly serious about cooking. So I'll warn you in advance—something troublesome could happen."
"Troublesome?"
"Today makes the third day since we entered Girvante. The rumor that the Mobile Cooking Facility has arrived must have spread quickly—by now, it'll be known across the entire kingdom."
Still facing forward, Greg noticed something and pointed with his right index finger.
"So around now, people who've been waiting to meet you are bound to appear."
The bushes in the direction Greg pointed rustled, and a man suddenly emerged.
Holding something long in his right hand.
*A bandit… like the ones you only hear about?*³
"Stop! My name is—"
Vroooom.
Before the unknown man could even finish speaking, Jinseo accelerated and drove straight past.
"So bandits show up even in a place like this."
"Bandits? I don't think so. Take another look."
At Greg's words, Jinseo stopped, lowered the driver's-side window, and leaned his head out.
"That isn't a sword?"
Jinseo reversed and returned to the side of the unknown man.
"What did you say earlier?"
"Stop!"
"Yes, so I stopped."
"Th-that's right! My name is Skelson! For twenty years, I have honed only one thing—noodles! I am a noodle specialist!"
"What? You said—ah. I see."
Jinseo didn't understand what he was even talking about, but he could understand after seeing the long dough rolling pin in his right hand.
"A wandering chef. There are quite a few people in Girvante who don't stay in one place—they roam around, training their cooking."
Greg explained it casually while munching on SaeXkkang, like it was nothing.
"Ah… right…"
Jinseo just stared blankly at the man who introduced himself as Skelson.
Facing a situation you'd only see in a cooking manga in real life left him mentally scrambled.
But Jinseo, who had seen far worse situations in this other world many times, quickly pulled himself together and got out of the Mobile Cooking Facility.
"So you are Lee Jinseo, creator of that mysterious cuisine—bunsik?"
"I wouldn't say creator. I just introduced bunsik to the Francia Continent first."
"I heard that among bunsik there is a noodle dish that shocked everyone. Come—shall we test our skills in a noodle duel—"
"Please wait a moment."
Jinseo cut Skelson off and went into the kitchen.
Five minutes later, Jinseo held out a yukgaejang saX-myeon cup noodle filled with hot water.
"Want to try cup noodles?"
Slurp.
"Ah… ahh…"
Slurp.
"To call myself a noodle chef without knowing this flavor! I've wasted my life!"
Skelson, self-proclaimed noodle expert, devoured the cup noodles Jinseo kept handing him.
First, yukgaejang saX-myeon.
Then, a TuX-udon cup noodle.⁴
By the time he finished a third one—WangX-kkeong—he couldn't even think about presenting his own noodle dish anymore.⁵
"Um… didn't you say you wanted a noodle duel with me?"
"I did."
"Aren't you going to do it?"
"After I finish eating!"
Slurp.
After drinking even the last drops of broth at the bottom, Skelson closed his eyes and regretted the lingering savoriness fading from his mouth.
But flavor can't remain forever.
He opened his eyes again, recalling the joy brought by the cup noodles—a noodle dish he'd never seen in his life.
"Hoo… that was a truly satisfying noodle dish."
"So the duel?"
"I lost. No, I have lost. Ah—no! I lost!"
"Already? You haven't even tried properly cooked ramyeon yet."
"What did you say? Properly cooked ramyeon?"
Jinseo meant only that ramyeon could produce a fuller taste than cup noodles.
But to Skelson, it sounded like there existed a "true ramyeon" that surpassed cup noodles.
"Teach me ramyeon!"
"What?"
"I will not leave until I learn ramyeon! Allow me to accompany you! Please!"
"As for me, ever since I devoted myself to confectionery at age ten, for thirty years—"
"Want a ChocoX Pie?"
With an indifferent expression, Jinseo took out a ChocoX Pie and a carton of plain white milk and handed them to the man blocking the front of the Mobile Cooking Facility.
"T-this sweetness… I've never tasted anything like it!"
The man's face, once brimming with determination to defeat Jinseo, turned blissful the moment he bit into the ChocoX Pie.
Then he drank the plain milk to wash it down and gasped in admiration again—while eyes watched him from behind.
"I'm impressed."
"Understandable. I was the same at first. But it wasn't only the first time—every time I ate something Jinseo served, I kept getting shocked."
"Looking at his expression, there's nothing more to see."
"He's completely gone."
Four wandering chefs looked at the man shoveling down the ChocoX Pie with a "we were like that too" expression.
"H-how did you make a cookie like this?"
"I didn't make it. I brought it from my homeland."
"Where is that country? I want to go!"
"Ah, that would be difficult. Instead, want a WeX-s? Unlike that one, this is a crunchy cookie. And since you seem to like sweets, I'll bring you GaX chocolate too."⁶⁷
As the man kept eating the snacks Jinseo brought out one after another, he became—just as the other wandering chefs predicted—the fifth wandering chef to join the Mobile Cooking Facility.
It happened to be dinner time, so Jinseo served all kinds of bunsik to the wandering chefs.
They each had confidence in their own specialties—noodles, soups, meats, snacks, and more—but when it came to Jinseo's bunsik, all they could do was sincerely marvel and enjoy the taste.
Of course, being chefs, they didn't stop at simply eating and feeling happy.
"Fried food goes with tteokbokki broth, after all. This really is the orthodox way to use tteokbokki broth—just like Jinseo taught us first."
"It even goes well mixed with sundae. But sundae offal will probably be very polarizing depending on the part. Dipping liver, sure, but lungs are really…"
"Tsk, you people… you don't know how to eat bunsik properly. You have to dip gimbap too!"
As they speared tteokbokki with toothpicks, they held a deep discussion on the topic: "Just how far can tteokbokki broth be utilized?"
"Anyone want jolmyeon?"
But their serious mood only lasted a moment.
The instant Jinseo brought out a new menu item, the wandering chefs all rushed to the counter seats to get theirs.
"It's sour! It's sweet! And… it's spicy!"
"To think three different flavors could harmonize this well!"
"Yes—this is true noodle cuisine. I've learned again this time!"
As they ate the newly served bunsik, the discussion ended, replaced by a tasting session overflowing with exaggerated reactions.
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