The Chef Of The Battlefield

“Honey, I asked you to watch the place, and now you’ve run here already?”

“No, I did everything I was supposed to!”

Rurin shouted confidently. Her small clenched fist pleaded her innocence.

“Really?”

Nod nod nod. Rurin nodded strongly again. She really did grill the mushrooms!

The two arrived at the kitchen.

“Not a single one grilled. But where did all the Sekun mushrooms go? Did you eat them?”

At El’s words, Rurin looked shocked and started overturning the grill area. But there was nothing. None at all. She even lifted the grill and searched through nearby bushes, but no mushrooms.

“I definitely grilled them. Not all were grilled, but some were! I grilled and left them here, so where did they all go?”

It was strange. Rurin was bewildered. Things that should be there weren’t.

“Were you hungry?”

“Even if I was hungry, I wouldn’t eat that!”

Remembering the sour taste of raw Sekun mushrooms, Rurin shook her head.

“Then did you dislike grilling and just burn them all?”

“No, no! That’s not true! I’m innocent!”

“Hmm. Really?”

“Yes!”

“Then did a wild dog take them?”

“We got them! They say the theft was successful!”

“Oh, really?”

Just yesterday, they lost momentum against Greek’s soldiers. In truth, they were completely defeated by the strategies El devised, but Duke Rilaik refused to admit that.

He blamed his defeat on the strange food that enhanced the enemy soldiers’ abilities.

He could never admit being outsmarted by a rookie count.

“Then summon the chefs immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

Not army cooks, but chefs directly under the duke were called. The duke presented the mushrooms before them.

“Examine this. Do you know what it is? It looks like a mushroom, at least.”

At the duke’s order, three chefs of the duke’s household began inspecting the mushrooms with serious expressions.

“Hm, they’re grilled.”

“They seem well grilled.”

Saying things like this.

They weren’t asked for impressions. Naturally, the duke exploded.

“No one asked for that!”

“Well, these are mushrooms we’ve never seen. If the enemy used them, maybe they’re native to that region…”

The duke was dumbfounded. That was something even he could think of, as a supposed ingredient expert.

“Enough. So you’re saying eating this caused the enhancement effect, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness. That is certain. They confirmed it several times.”

“Good, then summon all unit commanders!”

“Yes!”

“You cook this. I heard it was boiled. So do the same. You can’t fail at that, right?”

“Yes, yes! That’s exactly our specialty!”

The chefs quickly cooked a mushroom soup with the grilled mushrooms and served it.

“Your Highness, the ingredients themselves didn’t taste great. About that…”

“That’s okay. They’re not eating it for flavor. What else?”

“Hm, no poison. Everyone who drank the broth showed no change. But there wasn’t really any effect…”

“I heard you have to eat the mushrooms, not just the broth. That makes sense.”

By Duke Rilaik’s order, the unit commanders soon entered one by one. Usually, commanders were all nobles.

“This is the enhancement mushroom the enemy uses. They eat this and fight. If it really works, we’ll find a way to get it.”

“Is this for real?”

“Could it be true?”

Murmurs. The summoned nobles got noisy. Then soon, they put mushrooms in their mouths.

Orders are orders, and since poison was checked, everyone swallowed the mushrooms.

Sweet.

The broth’s taste, unlike the sweet candy-like Sekun mushroom, distorted everyone’s expressions. Then, at that moment—

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Everyone started turning to stone. At that shocking scene, Duke Rilaik was speechless.

“What, what is this! You guys, this is the enemy’s trick. The enemy’s trick! What exactly did you bring?”

“Your Highness, we’ve committed a grave sin.”

When the royal duke got angry, the officers who had plotted knelt in fear.

Thud thud!

The duke kicked the officers mercilessly.

“In this case, kidnap that chef. During the next battle, kidnap her. There won’t be many people in the enemy’s barracks during battle, so it shouldn’t be impossible. Even if we kill her, we must find out the secret of this enhancement!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Duke Rilaik caught his breath. There was no progress. They ravaged one fief, killed and slaughtered, tasted blood, but were blocked by the Greek army’s reinforcements, so he was very irritated.

Trampling this land, ravaging it, and making all enemy empire people slaves.

That was why the duke and enemy emperor started the war. It was a very barbaric country.

“Ughhhhh!”

Rurin was frustrated. Though El treated it as a wild dog snatching the mushrooms, it was still unfair.

She definitely grilled them but it was treated as if she hadn’t.

Why the hell did they disappear?

How dare someone mess with a sleeping dragon’s nostrils. Rurin was determined to find out.

She would find the culprit and crush them. The vicious one who framed them to make El and her fight.

Of course, they didn’t fight, but the near fight was important.

“Fine. I’ll show you the dragon’s sense of smell.”

Rurin started sniffing around the kitchen.

But she failed.

“Hm, it’s El’s scent. Good. Hehe.”

If a dragon’s sense of smell was like a dog’s, it would be annoying. What smell? Rurin’s scent investigation ended with only sniffing El’s chef uniform smell.

“Then I’ll use my brain.”

She definitely put them here and went to find El. But they were gone.

Hmmm.

Rurin started twisting the ends of her long hair. That meant someone took them during that time.

“I don’t know.”

Just as her brainstorming investigation abruptly ended, a masked group stormed into the kitchen.

A special unit of the duke’s household, who killed guards at the empty barracks, entered.

“You’ll have to come with us.”

They stood before Rurin and said.

“Hm? What is this?”

El was out scouting to see how the fight went. Rurin welcomed them and clapped her hands.

“I see! You guys took it? My mushrooms?”

“Yes. I took them.”

Among them, a masked man who was also a spy coolly admitted it.

“That’s exactly why our master wants to see you. If you come quietly, you won’t get hurt.”

“So, is there another mastermind who framed me? Fine. Take me to him immediately!”

Rurin also calmly agreed.

“What?”

The masked men who tried to drag her away were dumbfounded instead.

Anyway, as a result, Rurin confidently reached the enemy’s barracks.

“Wait here a moment.”

“What is there to wait for! Ugh. This is annoying. Annoying!”

Soon, the duke called Rurin.

As Rurin entered the large barracks, the duke was angry again.

“Damn it, we’re losing again? Why? It’s all because of that damn chef!”

He, leading the main army by order of the emperor of Narya Empire, could not defeat a small fief’s troops.

That was absurd.

“Your Highness. That’s why I brought the chef here.”

The special unit leader who brought Rurin said this, and Duke Rilaik’s fierce expression slightly softened.

Duke Rilaik stroked his beard and looked at Rurin.

“Is this woman the enemy’s chef?”

“Yes, that’s right. She was the one grilling the mushrooms that turned people to stone last time.”

“I see. So you’re the one who ordered all this? How dare you frame me? I grilled those mushrooms and they disappeared, so El didn’t believe me!”

Rurin’s anger meter started rising.

“You insolent brat! How dare you raise your head and talk back to His Highness? Kneel at once!”

“No need to be so harsh. How about this—will you cook for our army? If so, I’ll forget this disrespect and guarantee you wealth and honor.”

Duke Rilaik gestured to his officers with a satisfied look and made the offer to Rurin.

“No. Rather, you all should go before El and kneel.”

Rurin firmly refused but made a somewhat peaceful proposal to the duke.

For Rurin, it was an extremely peaceful proposal.

“What are you talking about? Who is El? And kneel?”

“Your Highness, I think she’s gone a bit mad. Hey, are you sure you brought the chef?”

“Yes. We definitely saw her cooking!”

“Fine. Just kill her. Insolent one. And send her head to Greek. The enhancement mushrooms are tempting, but if we kill that chef, the enemy won’t be able to use them anymore.”

“Yes, Your Highness. What are you waiting for? Drag her away and execute her now!”

The duke, who couldn’t stand the disrespect, ordered the masked men forward. They reached for Rurin’s arm.

To drag her out.

But that was like pushing a self-destruct button.

“Don’t touch meeeeee!”

Eventually, Rurin’s anger exploded.

Kwaaahhhhhhh!

The invasion force of the Narya Empire flew high into the sky like that.

They flew so far away no one could find them.

“Ugh. I got so pissed I blew them all away. El mustn’t find out!”

Rurin puffed up her cheeks.

Then she teleported and quickly escaped from the scene.

“Rurin?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“What’s with your look? Why is your hair such a mess?”

“I don’t know! More importantly, stop telling me to grill this and don’t go anywhere! Stay with me!”

“Master!”

At that moment, Greek ran into the kitchen. He looked very surprised.

“Why are you acting like that? At least don’t behave like that here.”

“That’s not the problem. The enemy commander Duke Rilaik and the barracks where his leadership was disappeared somewhere. The enemy lost their leader and retreated, and we pursued the retreating army in force, winning a great victory.”

“You’re saying the commander duke and all his subordinate officers disappeared?”

El blinked in disbelief. What sort of thing was that?

“Yes. It’s truly a strange thing. But we won. Master. Victory!”

Greek jumped happily. It was his first victory.

Of course, the biggest reason the Narya Empire retreated so quickly was because they unknowingly framed Rurin.

El and Greek had no idea about that.

The Narya Empire side also wouldn’t figure out why they lost.

“That’s good. War shouldn’t drag on too long. Rurin, come here. I’ll comb your hair.”

“Okay!”

Rurin nodded and took El’s hand.