Episode 118

“How dare you….!”

Catherine was even angrier because of her surprise.

Karem was being punished immediately.

The punishment hadn’t even ended yet, and he had the audacity to get up on his own!

It wasn’t because she was angry at Karem for betraying her by focusing on fermenting a weird bean dough with strange yeast instead of making the sweet dessert she had hoped for.

It was definitely not because of the dessert!

But Catherine couldn’t help but hesitate.

As the air from the corridor pushed through the thick, pungent smell that filled the room, a rich, undeniable scent brushed against Catherine’s nostrils.

The kind of faint, unfamiliar distillery smell she had never smelled before.

Following that, the sweet and salty aroma filled the air, leaving a deep umami taste on her tongue just from the smell.

Catherine lowered her raised arm and tilted her head.

The anger that had risen in her mind vanished, and in its place, curiosity filled her.

“What is this, exactly?”

“The smell is quite pleasant, isn’t it?”

“No, I thought the result would be similar to the disgusting smell, like Garam, but I never expected this.”

“Huh? Disgusting? Oh. Oh, I see.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It smells like the leftover odor from the failed Meju. Wait a moment.”

“No need to open the windows.”

Karem stopped Catherine, and with a wave of her hand, she cast a light purification spell, and an invisible, intangible barrier swept across the room.

The terrible smell that filled the room completely vanished.

And the smell rising from the Barrel of Abundance exploded like groundwater bursting forth, quickly occupying the entire room.

“Wow, that smell was really awful.”

Karem, whose nose had been completely numb after entering the room, now realized just how awful the smell had been.

It made sense now that Catherine had gotten angry after suddenly encountering such a smell.

However, Catherine had no intention of getting angrier.

No, to be more precise, she didn’t have the time to think about it.

As Catherine took a deep breath, her nose, which had been constantly tortured by the irregular, awful smell when she first entered, regained its vitality.

A faint smell of strong distillery liquor.

Then a brief scent of sea breeze waved through.

A sweet, rich fruity aroma.

And through the smell that wrapped around her entire tongue, she could feel the subtle umami taste.

The scent following behind her was the same.

It had a slight sweet fragrance, but it couldn’t compare to the full umami smell she had sensed earlier.

But the subtle, nutty scent reminded her of dough waiting to go into the oven or the smell of malted barley being steamed for beer.

The gentle, comforting nutty fragrance calmed Catherine’s nose, which had been overwhelmed by so much sensory input in such a short time.

“Right. This nutty smell is the scent of the few so-called successful products you mentioned?”

“Yes. I must have discarded dozens, if not hundreds, before these.”

The past few days had been incredibly unpleasant.

Just thinking back on it made Karem dizzy.

Boiling peas, peeling their skins, mashing them evenly, mixing with flour and yeast, shaping them into bricks, binding them with straw, rolling them in straw and putting them in the 100x magical barrel, discarding failures and returning to the previous steps over and over, repeating it hundreds of times.

Even though Karem had thought he could take it easy because of the magical tools, that was an illusion.

Boiling peas by the sack in secret in the early morning, peeling them, mashing and shaping them, putting them in and taking them out of barrels—repeating all of it hundreds of times—was pure backbreaking labor!

But the result was nothing short of brilliant.

Look! Applaud! This shimmering, fragrant black liquid!

“Kid, why do you have that excited look on your face?”

“No, it’s just that the hardships of the past few days crossed my mind.”

“Hmm. So, that liquid? A seasoning? Alcohol? Anyway, what’s it called?”

“Uh…”

Karem, distracted by the soy sauce, suddenly felt his mind freeze as he tried to recall.

How should I localize soy sauce? If I just call it soy sauce the Korean way, they’ll complain about the meaning or the odd pronunciation. Maybe I should go with something more familiar, huh?

Karem shook his head, trying to focus.

“Well, it’s a seasoning, and the name is… uh… soy sauce.”

“What? Soy sauce?”

“Yep, soy sauce.”

Catherine frowned without thinking.

Where did that name come from? It seems so unfamiliar.

But compared to Karem’s usual (by Europa standards) dreadful naming sense, it wasn’t bad at all.

The name was simple, and though she didn’t know the meaning, the sound of it was nice.

“Did you develop this yourself?”

“Uh, yes. Probably? Have you ever heard of a sauce made by fermenting beans like this?”

“I’ve heard of cheap garam made with low-grade fish or paste made from leftover beer ingredients and yeast, but beans? That’s a first for me.”

“Now that you’re here, why don’t you taste a little bit?”

Karem said that as he took a small spoonful of the soy sauce he had prepared for tasting and walked over to Catherine.

From afar, the sauce just looked black, but as it came closer, Catherine could see the brown color deepening towards the edges of the black soy sauce in the metal spoon.

And the smell.

A salty aroma, with a hint of sweet and salty.

At first, she thought he was making some kind of garam, but the smell of the soy sauce was so addictive that she felt guilty for thinking that.

“You’re not telling me it tastes like garam, just with a nice smell, right?”

“Hehe, you still don’t trust me enough.”

“You always cause trouble at the worst times, so of course, I don’t trust you. But is this all it is?”

“It’s really salty just to eat on its own.”

“Hmm, I do tend to be salty.”

Catherine glared at Karem and carefully sipped the soy sauce from the small spoon.

Slurp.

“Ugh!?”

“Oh, did you choke? Here’s a handkerchief—”

“Ugh, cough! Never mind, just put it down.”

Catherine was just shocked by the intense salty taste that struck her mouth.

While calming Karem’s fuss, Catherine coughed lightly, running her tongue over the roof of her mouth as she savored the taste.

Only half of what was in the small dessert spoon.

Just a few drops and it was this salty.

She was about to complain about how much salt was used when…

The overwhelming umami taste that spread across her entire tongue made her close her mouth.

Did he make this with beans?

The smell had a faint nuttiness, but the taste was completely different.

As she got used to the intense saltiness, a complex fruit fragrance, hard to explain, subtly filled her mouth.

As she tried to pinpoint the different fruity smells mixed with the balsamic vinegar’s light scent over the umami of garam, the umami flavor started to dominate her senses, drawing her full attention.

Naturally, with the saltiness already stimulating her tongue, the rising umami made her mouth water like a flood.

She swallowed the remnants naturally, but the lingering flavor was still vivid.

In fact, as the salty taste disappeared with her saliva, the lingering aroma met the umami that had remained, reigniting Catherine’s forgotten appetite.

Gurgle.

An unexpected hunger.

Catherine felt an uncomfortable emptiness.

“The umami of garam. The rich scent of balsamic vinegar. It’s denser than gravy but more fragrant than garam, cleaner than balsamic vinegar, and lighter than gravy. And it’s just made from beans?”

The only drawback might be the lingering aftertaste on her tongue, but considering she ate the original sauce without adding anything or pairing it with any ingredients, the fact that the only downside was the aftertaste was impressive.

“Heh, to create something this extravagant. Why?”

“Well, I made sauce with tomatoes, so there’s no reason it wouldn’t work with beans. And, above all, it’s for Prince Godwin.”

“What? Prince Godwin?”

“Well, oats just don’t go well with butter.”

Karem resealed the Barrel of Abundance, which was filled with soy sauce.

“Prince Godwin needs to lose weight, so he can’t use butter freely.”

That’s why it was soy sauce.

Unlike butter, which you need to add in chunks, soy sauce could enhance the flavor with just a spoonful.

If you roast it, it’s stronger than any seasoning, and its uses are endless—from salads, soups, and stews to grilled dishes and sauces.

Eating raw vegetables and just boiled meat to lose weight is the lowest of the low.

A true expert’s diet is one that lets you eat deliciously while losing weight.

Of course, there was a bit of silly competition and nostalgia mixed in with his homemade tomato paste, but so what?

Karem chuckled, thinking about the harmony between butter and soy sauce.

“But I think the biggest problem still isn’t solved?”

“Yes? What problem are you talking about?”

“Oats. Oats. In the end, it’s something we’re supposed to feed to the prince, right?”

“Y-yes? Why is that important?”

“Well, even if the prince agrees, the biggest obstacle still remains, doesn’t it?”

“An obstacle?”

“Yes. Not one, but two. And if things go wrong, it could even be three.”

Karem blinked his eyes.

Who in their right mind would openly block the eldest son of the Felwinter family from eating something…

Two, no, three people came to mind.

“Lord and Lady Felwinter, and Iona…?”

Catherine raised an eyebrow as if asking if he had just realized.

“When it comes to cooking, they lose their minds. How could they say anything good about feeding livestock feed to the precious eldest son?”

“Hmm… I don’t think you’ll be locked up for heresy, right?”

“Who knows?”

Catherine shrugged and shook her head.

Karem bit his lips, feeling anxious.

It had been quite a while since he confidently mentioned the diet, and now he couldn’t change it for something else.

No, before that, he couldn’t think of any other alternatives.

“So, kid. What are you going to do?”

“At this point, there’s only one solution, right?”

“Yeah, and do you have the perfect solution?”

“Of course, we’ll just have to get permission from the Duke and Duchess.”

“What, what!?”

“If one of them gives permission, it’s possible. Especially if it’s the Duchess, the one who told Prince Godwin to lose weight.”

“…Fine, I’ll help you avoid prison, even if you get punished.”

Catherine shook her head as if there was no stopping it.

But she also thought that this might not be such a bad thing after all.

Maybe he had grown arrogant from his success at such a young age. If that’s the case, experiencing failure here might lay the foundation for future growth.

Catherine watched Karem, who was cleaning up the scene, with a lukewarm gaze.

‘Damn. He was secretly making miso there too. If he pulls that out, it will really blow up.’

Meanwhile, the culprit was thinking about something entirely different.

When Karem requested an audience, the Felwinter couple were having a light conversation and enjoying a peaceful time, so the request was immediately accepted, and Karem could meet with them.

“Oats? Are you really telling me that will help Prince Godwin lose weight? Hmm, if you’re so confident, let’s see it.”

“Oats, huh. Well, it would be good for Godwin to experience it.”

He’s actually allowing this?

Catherine couldn’t hide her shock as she saw the Duke and Duchess not only accept Karem’s proposal but actually agree to it so readily.