New Recruit Banquet (2)
New Recruit Banquet (2)
Hildea is the most precious person to me.
Because she is the decision-maker who can bring me, Piel Marshall, parched for promotion, to a higher place.
So early on (though Hildea doesn't know it), I swore an oath.
That any and all delicious food would be fed to Hildea first.
That in the Marshall gourmet rank, Hildea would always shine at the highest tier of 6 stars.
'Hildea, I'm sorry. I decided to feed samgyeopsal to these pitiable people before you. But I believe you will understand. Since you're a commander generous to your subordinates.'
These are the ones who caused a disturbance out of true loyalty and ended up in this state because of the Noble Council's attack.
And such people will now become my hands and feet, absolutely incapable of betrayal.
From my position, I can't help but give them the best hospitality.
'But still, I'll let Hildea be the first to try the lettuce ssam.'
Lettuce and rice.
I decided not to bring out those two during this party.
***
"Major Piel, let your blood fall here."
The moment Hildea spoke.
Luna and the penal unit flinched and looked at Piel.
'Come to think of it, who on earth is he?'
That young-faced major had saved them from the aftereffects of the Mandrake Root using something called a Pain Blocker.
They felt absolutely none of the extreme pain that the healing should have originally imposed.
If the existence of the Pain Blocker were revealed, the world would be turned upside down.
'And those noodle dishes. They're strange.'
Thin and chewy noodle strands, the amazing aroma stimulating the nose from the soup.
Even though their constitution was such that just eating flour made their stomachs churn, they ate half of it because the taste and texture were excessively superb.
'Is he perhaps Hildea's fiancé?'
Looking at the way Hildea dotes on Piel, it seems plausible.
The way he instantly provided that enormous quantity of noodle dishes calling it a special meal is also like that.
The cautious attitude the high-ranking commanders show towards him adds to the certainty.
'I guess he's the son of a wealthy family. He must have consistently sent supplies that allowed the 3rd Army to hold out, and that won Hildea's heart.'
At that moment, Piel opened his mouth.
"From now on, all unit members will move for their meal."
***
A one-bite ssam of samgyeopsal on fresh lettuce, with golden-brown grilled, greasy, thick pork belly layered over grains of rice, grilled garlic, fresh garlic slices, ssamjang, kimchi grilled in pork lard, bean sprouts, and chives,
was reserved as a first experience for Hildea.
Even though lettuce, perilla leaves, and rice grains would be omitted.
I was going to stuff them until their bellies burst with everything else.
I took control of the training grounds.
I locked it down so no one could enter or peek inside.
'Since they're knights, about 100 stone grill plates should do. Or not? Should I give 1 or 2 plates per person?'
First, I gave one stone grill plate per 2 people.
Unit Commander Luna sat at the same stone grill plate as me.
The knights hesitantly gathered around me and Luna, watching.
"From now on, a dish called samgyeopsal will be served to you all."
"...Samgyeopsal?"
"What is that?"
"It's a name I've never heard before...."
"Watch how it's grilled closely, and follow along."
【Requesting supply of 1,010 units of raw samgyeopsal for grilling (1kg, plastic wrap packaging).】
【Garlic, ssamjang, kimchi, bean sprouts....】
A pile of 1,010 units of plastic-wrapped raw samgyeopsal appeared next to them.
"M-Meat...!"
"That much meat...."
"D-Don't tell me you intend to feed it all to us?"
Seeing the samgyeopsal piled up like a mountain, everyone's eyes turned wild and their hands trembled.
I was reminded of gambling addicts for no reason, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
Thinking that it was the complacent supply support of the rear nobles that made them this way, made me angry.
"Everyone watch carefully."
Chiiik, jigeul-jigeul, chiiik.
As soon as the samgyeopsal was placed on the stone grill plate heated by barbecue charcoal, a savory meat aroma spread everywhere.
The knights were already swallowing hard, revealing an unbearable appetite.
I didn't forget to put on the kimchi, bean sprouts, chives, and garlic too.
The pork fat flowing out of the meat mixed with the vegetable sides, adding to the savory heating sensation.
When I cut the thick samgyeopsal with scissors and tongs and laid it out nicely, the rare inner flesh was exposed to heat, causing a subtle Maillard reaction.
I checked on Luna.
Luna, who had only been nibbling at the cup ramen, was now slack-jawed with wide eyes and mouth, drooling slightly.
'Aha, so you have this kind of taste?'
I picked up a piece of meat with the tongs and raised it high into the air so everyone could see it clearly.
"Look, this is the most appetizingly grilled state, so remember it and apply it in practice. Understood?"
"Yes!"
I liked their bold, hearty response.
At first, I had considered the concept of a superior politely using honorifics, but I decided to just handle them firmly.
It's for the future.
'You each need to become an ace who can take charge of everything.'
I intend to utilize them to the absolute limit.
They're people who won't worry me about betrayal for life, even if I pass down the detailed knowledge of US military supplies.
'If I diligently teach them field manuals with the tactical PDA, later on, I could probably even have them try piloting Abrams tanks or Apaches, right?'
When will I even be able to get tanks and helicopters supplied....
'The Sword of Subordination alone isn't enough. I have to make them trust and follow me from their hearts.'
The smell of grilling samgyeopsal wafted from all over.
The knights, their eyes bloodshot, gazed ecstatically at the beautiful form of the samgyeopsal turning golden brown.
"The meat doesn't have any gamey smell at all. How can this be possible?"
"I have never seen meat with such fine grain and thick muscle layers before."
"Even when we manage to catch and butcher wild boars or mountain beasts, there are few parts worth eating, but this meat is just...!"
Could wild animals barely surviving in the harsh wilderness possibly compare to meat from specialized improved breeds refined over a long time by clever experts using advanced breeding techniques?
It's the 'industrialization' of taste, born from the collective intelligence of billions for the purpose of 'eating deliciously.'
What sits before their eyes is not simple meat.
It is the modern livestock industry itself.
"Captain Luna, how is it?"
"D-Delicious...! I-It's the first time I'm eating meat this delicious!"
Luna was even shedding tears as she inhaled the samgyeopsal like a storm.
It's something I'm sorry to say to Hildea, but she has secured the number one spot for reactions in my heart.
To see someone eating so deliciously yet so pitifully and poignantly.
My heart truly swells with emotion.
'Was this how my grandmother felt, trying to feed me all sorts of things every time I went to the countryside?'
Why is she so thin, it's so pitiful to see.
The frontline with its poor supplies, the determination that left them no choice but to cause a disturbance, the long time they had to suffer in prison....
Hoping that all that pain would be washed away by the meat juice fat dripping from the samgyeopsal.
I took out the soju.
"Alcohol cannot be left out when there's meat! Everyone take 5 bottles each! Maintain order!"
"Woaaaa! It's alcohol!"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"Um, but what should we call you, Major-nim?"
"First, take the alcohol, go and sit down!"
"Ah, understood, sir!"
When I feigned a stern yell, everyone quickly grabbed the soju and scattered to their places.
Everyone was eating the meat frantically.
"Such tender and savory meat! I can't believe it!"
"Wild buffalo meat doesn't even compare! Has such meat truly existed in this world!"
"Is this thick fruit (garlic) a vegetable or a spice? The texture and pungent, stimulating taste are as if the two were mixed together...!"
"My tongue is hot. How on earth was this red plant leaf (kimchi) made? My tongue is hot and sore, but it goes so well with the samgyeopsal that I keep reaching for it!"
As soon as the meat was grilled, everyone devoured it at a terrifying speed.
The speed of eating couldn't keep up with the speed of grilling at all.
This won't do.
"I will distribute one more stone grill plate per seat! Take charcoal too!"
"Woaaaa! Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
The penal unit members excitedly took the stone grill plates and charcoal and set them up in no time.
Indeed, for the mana knights of Midraeland, 1 stone grill plate (6 servings size) per person is the basics.
I showed them how to open the soju.
Medieval knights don't need glasses. Everyone readied themselves to drink the soju straight from the bottle.
I also discarded the glass, raised my soju bottle high, and shouted.
"Drink! This is an order!"
"We will drink!"
"We will follow the order!"
Luna also started chugging the soju, holding the bottle with both hands.
Her small face and mouth quickly emptied one-third of it in an instant without spilling a single drop of soju.
"Keuk...!"
"S-Such an intense alcohol...!"
"It burns like my throat is melting...!"
Probably because they had only drunk fermented alcohol around 10 proof, they couldn't keep their wits about them even with 34-proof 'Fresh' ethanol.
How cute. It's amusing.
I'm already looking forward to the reaction when I give them 90-proof whiskey later on.
***
Brigadier General Bertenhal.
He was the second-in-command of the penal unit, originally the highest-ranking next to Luna.
Now that everyone had fallen to the rank of private, the old titles and ranks were meaningless.
But he couldn't pull himself together and floundered in the endlessly surging onslaught of flavor.
'What on earth, this kind of taste.'
I dare to assert.
This is a luxury no king of any country, no, not even the empire's emperor, would have experienced.
And no meat is this tender.
No meat is this savory.
No meat is this thickly packed with fine-grained flesh.
This meat is truly on another level.
Just by placing it on a stone grill plate heated over charcoal, the grease full of meat juice drips down drop by drop.
And yet the meat doesn't become dry and crumbly, but rather cooks to an even better texture for eating.
'Could this be the kind of meat you'd get from catching a Kanureus?'
Kanureus, the white cow said in myths to be raised by the gods.
A being from myth whose taste was so intoxicatingly brilliant that the gods took every last one away to the heavenly realm.
The taste of samgyeopsal was that outstanding.
Combined with the soju (34-proof Fresh) that burned the throat hotly, the meat goes down endlessly to the point where waiting for it to grill is a torment.
But he persistently waited until it was completely cooked.
The other knights were the same.
Because....
'Because we were ordered to eat it only after it was properly grilled....'
Who on earth is he?
From what I briefly heard, his name seemed to be Piel.
Is he really the fiancé of Commander-in-Chief Hildea?
Commander Rebecca also seemed to show tremendous interest in him.
One thing that was certain was that this young major was very wealthy and generous.
"Everyone, crack open a new bottle! Execute!"
"Execute!"
Everyone shouted thunderously, cracking open new soju bottles and raising them high with both hands.
Piel held a soju bottle in one hand.
And in the other hand, he drew the <Sword of Subordination> from his waist and raised it high.
The sun was setting far away before they knew it.
The twilight spreading behind his back gave a strangely mysterious sense of immersion.
"I swear. I, Piel Marshall, will never forget the loyalty you have given to the kingdom."
Piel looked around at the knights one by one with solemn yet polite eyes.
"I, the major, will not treat you as a penal unit. I will respect you as comrades to whom I can trust my back. Because you are not traitors, but loyal subjects."
Bertenhal's eyes reddened without him realizing it.
The other knights also watched with eyes heated and bloodshot.
Piel shouted in a ringing voice.
"I will inform you of the 3 principles you must absolutely observe!
Principle 1! Do not harm me, Piel Marshall, in any form!
Principle 2! Thoroughly follow my orders as long as they do not violate the first!
Principle 3! Protect and safeguard your own lives and the lives of your comrades within the bounds that do not violate Principles 1 and 2! That is all!"
Piel's speech was not over yet.
"If you fulfill your duties, I will hold a party like today's for you every week, and I will provide enough food so you can train past your limits every single day!"
Bertenhal, unable to suppress his burning heart any longer, jumped to his feet.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
As he started stomping his feet, other knights also sprang up before long and started stomping their feet in rhythm.
"This is an order. From this moment on, eat and drink until you are sick and tired of alcohol and meat."
Afterwards, an uncontrollable frenzy of a samgyeopsal and soju party went on and on.
When everyone was pleasantly drunk and groggy, Piel finally drew the Sword of Subordination again.
"Well then, shall we proceed with the imprinting ritual? May this major shed blood here?"
"What? Major-nim! Why haven't you shed blood yet? Please quickly make us into your gladiator slaves, sir!"
Brigadier General Bertenhal urged him with unfocused eyes, and the knights also cheered, giggling.
"Piel! Piel! Piel! Piel!"
The knights, utterly intoxicated by the livestock industry, chemical seasonings, and ethanol born from modern Earth's food science,
all gave a standing ovation as they watched Piel perform the authentication of shedding blood on the <Sword of Subordination>.
The moment the sword stained with drops of blood shone, everyone let out a thunderous cheer.
A bond and sense of belonging that transcended the forced loyalty granted by the Sword of Subordination seized the 202 members of the penal unit.
The commander and subordinates had truly become one body.
It was the sticky solidarity born from food science.
***
Damn it, Hildea smelled the samgyeopsal.
Because, of all days, the wind today happened to blow refreshingly from the training grounds towards the official residence....