Weiss And Leopin (6)

In this era, healing magic had not developed that much, and treatment generally meant medicinal herbs or potions made by alchemists.

Among those potions, the one said to stand at the very peak was the “Elixir.”

It was so expensive and precious that it was called a “drinkable gemstone.”

As for how precious it was, even the Hero who traveled the world to defeat the Demon King had only managed to obtain a single bottle.

The medicinal liquid inside the crystal bottle shone in seven colors, as though the secret treasures of the entire world had been packed into it.

Leopin unintentionally widened his eyes at its beauty and said, “A-amazing…!”

“Th… that was from the treasure vault too?”

To Leopin, whose voice trembled, Weiss said, “Yes,” as though it were nothing.

“When I took out the Evil Remains Cloth, I thought I might as well bring it along too.”

“I-is that okay!? Taking out something that precious!?”

“Even if Father has it, he only keeps it on display, and once I become the heir, everything in the treasure vault will belong to me. I simply took an advance on it.”

“B-but even so, that’s still…!”

Before the legendary secret medicine, Leopin was completely awestruck.

However, Weiss looked bored as he flicked the bottle with his finger.

“More importantly, I’ve figured out why the soup tastes bad. This thing is the cause.”

Leopin immediately objected, “No, I don’t think that’s it…”

Weiss put the Elixir in his pocket and took a sip of the soup.

“Hmm, can I recover the taste from here by adding some seasoning or something…?”

Weiss groaned as he stood up and headed toward the kitchen counter.

Then, even more outrageous cooking began.

“If it’s salty, I suppose I’ll try adding sugar.”

“Now the flavor should be balanced… guh… sweet…!”

“Then chili peppers. These green chili peppers probably aren’t very spicy.”

“S-spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicy!?!?”

“That was so spicy I thought I was going to black out…! I need to add a large amount of honey…!”

“Guh… guhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?!?”

Weiss made a huge fuss all by himself every time he tasted it, and finally flipped over and collapsed.

“Wh… what is this soup…!? Both its color and its taste are like a blood pond in hell…! M… me…! To think that I, who am perfect no matter what I do, would create something this horrifying…!”

Weiss stared trembling at the boiling pot as though he had accidentally summoned a demon.

He was about to throw it into the trash, stockpot and all, while saying, “This must not exist in this world!” so Leopin hurriedly stopped him.

“C-calm down, Weiss! You really are terrible only at cooking!”

“This is some kind of mistake! Mistakes must be corrected! I will remake it from scratch!”

“I told you to calm down! The precious Elixir will go to waste!”

“Uuugh…!”

After Leopin admonished him, Weiss dropped his shoulders limply.

“M… me, making something like this, something like this…!”

Even Weiss, who was supposed to be perfect at everything, seemed to be bad only at cooking.

The shock was enormous, and he hung his head like someone who had dropped his wallet.

Leopin wondered whether there was some way to restore both Weiss and the soup to normal.

He looked around the kitchen and found something.

“Could you leave this to me for a bit?”

After saying that, Leopin picked up the leftover bread that had been tossed into a basket in the corner of the kitchen.

With a haggard face, Weiss stared vaguely at Leopin.

“Hey, Leopin, that is black bread for the servants to eat. And it is so hard and dried out that even the servants won’t eat those leftovers.”

“Yeah, but this is exactly what we need.”

Leopin went to the kitchen counter and used a butcher knife to cut up the dried-out bread.

He topped the bright-red soup with the bread cut into cubes.

“With this, the flavor should be just right.”

Weiss was the son of a distinguished Sage family, in other words, the son of an upper-class household.

People of the upper class, even if it was freshly baked, would never put cheap black bread into their mouths, treating it as vulgar food.

However, he was different at that moment.

“Really? Let me see…” Though half in doubt, as if his curiosity had been stimulated, he voluntarily ate the soup with black bread in it.

Then his eyes sparkled behind his glasses.

“I-it’s delicious!? The bread has softened and become creamy, the soup has soaked into it, and it is sweet and salty and perfect! The blood pond soup of hell has instantly become like wine that angels would want a share of! Amazing, Leopin! Was this your idea too!?”

“Yeah, in the slums, we get black bread that nobody wants anymore, soak it in water, and eat it. So I thought it might be even better with soup and tried it… Yeah, it’s good!”

Weiss’s soup, which had been too salty to eat, was transformed into the finest feast by Leopin’s quick thinking.

Like growing children, the two had seconds of the soup again and again, emptying the pot.

“Phew, that was delicious…”

“I’ve never had soup this good before…”

Weiss and Leopin sat side by side on the bench, rubbing their full bellies.

“If my intellect and Leopin’s dexterity are combined, there is nothing we cannot do.”

Leopin responded by bumping his fist against the one Weiss offered as he said that.

“Yeah. We’re an invincible duo…!”