Episode 199

“I woke up because I’m hungry. Your back is too comfortable, so I didn’t want to get up. It’s a problematic back! It’s too warm!”

“Is there something wrong with being warm? You’re talking nonsense even though I’m carrying you.”

“Hehehe.”

Having just woken up, she shows no sign of wanting to get off my back. She giggles, presses her face against my back, and then stays still.

“This isn’t nonsense. There’s a problem… It’s so warm that I’m getting sleepy again.”

I can’t stop her.

Moreover, this isn’t the time for a conversation. We need to know when and where to talk. Let’s deal with the thugs in front of us first. As I approached leisurely, an impatient thug started yelling at Ricent while glaring at her.

“Are you Ricent?”

“No, I’m not.”

Ricent denied it, and it was such a confident denial.

“You’re saying you’re not?”

Could it really work to deny it? If so, she’s truly a hopeless fool.

“Of course she’d say no, you idiot!”

Thud-!

Then, the thug was kicked by his colleague and rolled away.

The quality of these thugs is so low, I can’t even respond. The situation itself feels utterly unrealistic. It’s completely out of touch with reality.

Ricent, with a torn handkerchief plugging her nose to stop the bleeding, shakes her head.

She continues to insist that she’s not Ricent.

“I really am not!”

“Stop saying ridiculous things. Here’s a picture. It’s exactly the same!”

“No, look! The noses are different!”

“The nose?”

“The nose in the picture doesn’t have this!”

She proudly points at the handkerchief I gave her. What is this?

It’s getting to the point where I can’t even be bothered to listen.

“Ms. Ricent.”

“Yes?”

“Come here. I told you, didn’t I?”

“What, what do you mean?”

“See? You’re Ricent! You just answered that guy!”

“Oh, really. Didn’t I tell you? I said I would crush any interference. And I said we’ll win first place with the food. No matter what the judges or anyone else does!”

“Yes, yes…you did.”

“First, I’m going to crush this pathetic interference. Watch. Rurin, blow these guys away.”

“To where should I send them?”

“Just send them up into the sky? Whether they live or die, that’s their luck.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!”

Rurin got excited, and immediately, the people in front of us flew up into the sky.

Whooosh-!

What a tremendous whirl! It’s like they were caught in a tornado.

“Hehehe. They’re all gone!”

At the same time, screams are heard.

“Kyaaah!”

“Ahhh!”

“What is this?!”

Kyaaah, this was Ricent’s scream. Rurin had blown everyone in front of us away. Well, I did tell Rurin to blow them all away, but we need to exclude our own side.

“Hey, you idiot!”

“Why, why, why are you shouting…?”

“Carefully put down that woman with the handkerchief stuck to her nose.”

“Huh? You told me to blow them all away!”

“She’s on our side!”

“Our side?”

Even if you ask with an expression that clearly doesn’t understand, well, it’s impossible for a human to settle in Rurin’s mind with just a couple of meetings.

“Forget it, just put her down.”

“Understood. That’s not difficult.”

Rurin used magic again, and Ricent gently landed in front of us. Ricent, still shocked, stared at me with a dazed expression.

Her nose was already bleeding, and after flying around, her hair was completely messed up and she looked utterly disheveled.

“Wh-what’s going on…?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Of course, I’m surprised! Wh-what’s going on?! Why suddenly…?”

“I told you I would crush it. It’s magic. Actually, this person here is a mage.”

“Wh-what? A mage?!”

Ricent looked horrified and stunned.

“Really?”

After flying through the air, Ricent shakily walked toward Rurin.

With eyes full of admiration.

“Ah! I understand now! You’re the one who ate those cool and hot noodles with me the other day!”

Then, as if she had just remembered, Rurin suddenly clapped her hands. Was she thinking about that all this time?

After hearing that Rurin was a mage, Ricent became more composed. Mostly in front of Rurin.

She was acting as if she would gladly sacrifice her liver and gallbladder. It seemed like she thought that since the mage was on our side, we might actually win.

Well, it’s easy if she thinks that way.

Anyway, I had explained that we could break the interference, and since winning the cooking competition depended purely on taste, I decided to showcase another dish for that.

The cooking competition was just part of the festival, and to actually win, we had to sell a lot of dishes the next day. So, rather than making something that’s hard to eat separately, I thought it would be better to go for something easier to prepare, and thus, I chose skewer dishes.

“I’ve made five types of skewers. Actually, there are endless variations of skewers, but if there were too many, it’d be overwhelming, so I focused on just five.”

“Oh my, it smells so good!”

As she looked at the five different skewers I made, Ricent started jumping up and down.

“First, let’s try them by type. Heh. This one is the most common grilled skewer. It’s slightly spicy.”

I handed a skewer to Ricent. Rurin was already holding one.

This is the same dish as the grilled chicken skewers sold most frequently on the streets of Korea. Of course, the ingredients are from Ma’a.

Surprisingly, the skewers worked better than when made with a broth. It was easier to control the unique smell than with a soup.

“Let me try it.”

Ricent grabbed the skewer I handed her and brought it to her mouth.

“Oh my! This is really delicious! The taste…”

Ricent said it was delicious once and was about to repeat it when suddenly her face contorted, and she finally exploded.

“Ahhh! It’s too spicy!!!”

She jumped up and started running around wildly. In the end, she hit her forehead on a pillar in that state. But the pain from the spice seemed worse as she kept jumping around.

“What is that creature? Tsk tsk.”

Rurin watched Ricent like that and also moved her skewer. She gripped the skewer tightly and opened her mouth.

“Well, if you’re trained by spicy fire noodles, this won’t be that bad for you.”

“Ahhh, that! Fire noodles! That stuff isn’t meant for humans! This one’s not as red, so it should be fine. The problem is always with the red ones.”

Seyrena lost in an unexpected first defeat. Anyway, Rurin opened her mouth and bit off a piece of the skewer, chewing it. The sauce stained the corners of her mouth.

It was an inevitable result when Rurin met the shape of the skewer.

“Mmm, it’s nothing special. What’s all that fuss about with that?”

“Huh? What’s wrong? Why are you acting like that?”

Rurin suddenly jumped up without saying a word. Then she opened her mouth.

“Hey, you’re not thinking…thinking of using a breath attack, are you…?”

“……”

“Kaaaaaaah! No, stop it!”

Even if it’s not magic, a breath attack is not allowed.

I had to block her mouth with mine. I ended up kissing her by accident.

“Ugh ugh ugh!”

An emergency measure to stop the breath attack.

Then, I hastily summoned some milk. I didn’t have time to go looking for it.

Rurin began to drink the milk in large gulps, but she still started running around wildly, as if in pain.

Come to think of it, why does my mouth, which blocked Rurin’s, hurt? It’s burning… Is this the pain from the spice?

Something feels off.

So, I bit off the half-eaten skewer Rurin had left. Ugh. This isn’t spicy—it’s almost torture-level spicy.

It’s so spicy that I spat it out immediately.

It’s only natural that they’re jumping around like that after eating something like this.

Why?

I used Korean chili powder, so why is it so spicy? I was baffled and went into the kitchen. The bag didn’t say “Korean chili powder”, though…

I had brought ingredients from the lair to make the most important sauce for the skewers, but it looks like I grabbed the wrong chili powder.

What I used was the spiciest chili in this world.

Maybe I got confused since the powder looked similar?

This thing’s color is similar to Korean chili powder. The color it produces is almost identical to Korean chili powder.

But the spice level is like night and day.

This is as spicy as the Earth’s Bhut Jolokia, and just a little bit of it could make someone who can’t handle spice faint.

I kept it because it was amazing that such a spicy thing exists in this world, and now I’ve used it?

But why does it look so similar in color?

This is something you’d use to prank someone. I came out and looked at Rurin and Ricent.

The restaurant was already in chaos. The tables were shattered.

Even I, who spat out the food, had sweat gathering on my forehead.

It took an entire hour for the two of them to calm down. The amount of milk consumed exceeded ten packs.

Moreover, Ricent was still hiccupping.

When I handed her the second skewer, she replied with a horrified expression.

“Hic, that…that…can’t I not eat it? Hic… How could you mess up the ingredients?!”

“I said I’m sorry. But don’t worry, this one isn’t spicy at all.”

“Is that really true? Hic!”

“Yes. No problem at all. Now, Rurin! You trust me absolutely, right?”

“You…”

“Why? Oh? What’s with that look of doubt?”

“…Think about what you did earlier!”

Rurin growled and frowned. I had nothing to say. I should’ve just crawled into a rat hole, but…

But still, I had to restore the lost honor, so I couldn’t back down.

“So you trust me, right?”

I looked at her desperately again. Then she groaned and lowered her head.

“That’s cheating, looking at me like that! I do trust you. Even if you try to kill me, I’d still trust you, so I have no choice. Give it here!”

Rurin grabbed the skewer boldly. She looked radiant with confidence. Heh heh.

Anyway, there’s zero chance that this one will be spicy.

It’s not Korean-style chicken skewers, it’s Japanese yakitori. There are no spicy additives at all. The base is soy sauce. It’s not spicy at all, it’s sweet and salty, just perfectly balanced. You could call it the ultimate sweet-salty combination.

The skewer Rurin picked up now is made from Maa’s thigh meat, covered in soy sauce. Chicken thigh meat skewers like this are called “momo” in Japan.

The fat is just right, and it’s a bit more savory than other cuts. That savory flavor is its charm. The rich, sweet soy sauce flavor is also something Rurin loves.

So there’s absolutely no problem.

Rurin opened her mouth wide, but perhaps remembering the earlier incident, she carefully took a small bite at the end. Compared to the bold way she grabbed it, it seemed, how should I say it, a bit pitiful?

“Hmmmm, ugh, nom nom. Oh?”

She chewed cautiously with a scowl, but suddenly her face lit up.

She moved her eyes and tongue around, tasting it. Soon, she realized it was a flavor she liked and started devouring the remaining skewer. It didn’t take long for only the skewer to be left in Rurin’s hand.

And with her mouth full of skewers, she said through the chewing.

“This is delicious! And this one isn’t spicy!”

Rurin shouting,

“This one is delicious, this one is not spicy!”

I shrugged and looked at Ricent, with a look that said ‘look at that’.