CHAPTER 142
CHAPTER 142
Better in person than the rumors.
From early morning, a steady rain was falling.
“Hmm, without sunlight, I can’t promote rapid growth.”
Idnia took vegetables from storage to bring to the kitchen.
There was still enough stock, but it would be wise to prepare for the possibility of prolonged rain.
“Oh, Lady Idnia… what should we do…?”
“Ah, please carry these. And we’ll make clay balls by firing mud.”
Idnia issued instructions to the students who had volunteered to assist her.
“And for making fertilizer… hmm, we need to produce nitrides. It would be difficult to have you extract them yourselves, so can any of you use lightning-based magic?”
“I’ve heard that’s a very dangerous offensive magic.”
“It’s said to be even more dangerous on rainy days like this.”
“There’s no need for offensive-level magic. It would be enough if you can use it in the atmosphere to generate nitrides, but that can’t be helped. We’ll have to extract from other soil to supplement.”
The difference in efficiency between when Idnia used extraction magic and when the other students did was too great. So having them perform extraction magic would bring no benefit.
Thus, Idnia assigned them miscellaneous tasks.
The problem was that these tasks were so miscellaneous that it was obvious to anyone that Idnia did not actually need their help.
“They tasted the food yesterday and it was surprisingly good, so we volunteered….”
“Now that I look at it, Lady Idnia doesn’t really need us.”
“What should we do? We need to be of some help somehow….”
The students of Dunais Academy were carefully selected elites. In other words, this was the first time they had encountered a situation where they were not particularly useful in a task.
Having grown up as precious children from wealthy households, they were now experiencing what it felt like to be surplus, which left them anxious.
“Everyone.”
“Yes.”
“It’s only natural that you’re not helpful right away. You’re doing tasks you haven’t done before. I’m teaching you how to work, so it’s only natural that you can’t do it yet. I understand that as young talents of the Empire, you have pride, but no one can be good at everything from the very beginning.”
Idnia spoke gently, understanding why they were uneasy.
“Most elites tend to overestimate their own abilities and judge others purely by capability. I would prefer that you not become cruel toward the weak, nor assume that what you enjoy is something you deserve purely by your own merit.”
If these students were to become pillars of the Empire and important talents of the world, they should be the kind of people who are generous and understanding toward the weak.
With that in mind, Idnia generously taught them how to perform the work and even explained the systems of her garden.
“Baking the clay is done to eliminate pests and diseases in the soil. Additionally, shaping them into pots like this reduces damage caused by moles.”
While repotting the garden, Idnia explained the purpose behind each task to the students and moved the vegetables from storage to the kitchen.
The kitchen was a space equipped with a hearth, pot hangers, a cooking counter, and a large cupboard for storing ingredients. While it had enough stoves and pots to feed a large number of people, that was all it had.
It was quite inconvenient for training swordsmanship or studying there.
As expected, it was designed so as not to infringe upon the value of the reading room or training hall.
In the kitchen, foul-smelling fish scraps were placed inside wooden barrels.
There were also yellowed outer leaves of vegetables and insect-eaten biscuits.
“This is today’s set of ingredients.”
“Ugh….”
They had expected the ingredients wouldn’t be of high quality, but just looking at them was nauseating.
“These look like fish remnants. Are they cat food?”
“There’s some strange liquid floating in the fish scraps.”
“Ah, I asked them yesterday to remove the innards in advance, but it came like this again.”
Idnia let out a sigh. She had already asked the gatekeeper Gibbs yesterday to pass on instructions to the supplier after seeing this condition, but it seems the message didn’t get through properly. Perhaps she should communicate directly with the fishermen through Black Wolf instead.
“Ugh.”
The Euros students who had come to assist Idnia, driven by curiosity, approached the fish scraps and sniffed them.
A strong, unpleasant fishy odor hit them. However, despite the smell, the flesh and bones did not seem spoiled.
“Alright, let’s get to work. Do it like this. Remove the innards.”
Idnia used telekinetic magic to lift and remove the entrails.
“And we’ll boil the fish scraps.”
“The fish scraps?”
“I mean the fish bones and heads.”
“You boil the bones?”
“It produces broth. You’ve learned heat magic, correct?”
Seeing the bewildered reactions of students who had never cooked before, Idnia took out a potion bottle.
“Before starting, we should clean the cooking counter, pots, and utensils. Could you dilute this in water and use it to wash them?”
“What is this?”
“A disinfectant.”
“A disinfectant?”
‘It’s an aqueous sodium hypochlorite solution. But explaining that probably wouldn’t make sense to them.’
It was more commonly known in Korea under the brand name bleach. Since it could be made from salt water, it wasn’t difficult for Idnia to produce.
Following Idnia’s instructions, the students diluted the sodium hypochlorite solution in water and used it to wipe the cooking surfaces, knives, stoves, ovens, and so on. As the disinfectant reacted with bacteria, a distinct smell filled the air.
“Ugh? What is this?”
“Is it toxic gas?”
“No, it’s nothing to worry about if inhaled. The concentration is low.”
Idnia reassured them and then cast extraction magic on the fish flesh.
“Extract.”
Idnia drew something out from the fish.
“Huh?”
“What is that?”
“It’s the source of the fishy smell.”
“…Pardon?”
Everyone was surprised as they checked the smell of the fish container again.
Indeed, the fishy odor had disappeared.
“Wait… how did you extract that? Others failed even when they used extraction magic.”
“Let’s just call it my own technique.”
‘The main culprit behind the fishy odor is trimethylamine, a protein-derived substance, and it’s water-soluble. If you don’t understand its properties, you end up extracting from too many parts.’
Idnia had removed the trimethylamine from the fish, eliminating the odor, then placed the cleaned fish in a cloth and put it into the pot.
“Add water here and boil it using heat magic.”
“Yes, understood.”
The students, now given a task they could actually perform, followed the instructions with enthusiasm.
Idnia then prepared the vegetables.
From the standard ingredients provided by the academy, she cut away any spoiled parts and placed the usable portions along with additional vegetables from storage onto the disinfected cooking counter.
“Chop these finely. It’s easier if you use telekinesis.”
Idnia used telekinesis to bring the vegetables onto the cutting board and sliced them with a kitchen knife.
If you hold them by hand, you risk cutting yourself, and the pieces fall apart, making further cutting difficult. Using telekinesis avoids these issues.
“Wow.”
“Of course, if you’re skilled with shaping magic, you can do this too.”
Idnia then used shaping magic, which she had learned just the day before, to create a large mixer.
A large rotating blade and container were formed. She poured the vegetables in and activated rotation magic on the blades, chopping everything thoroughly.
“…Ah….”
“How can she construct such a complex structure….”
Although they had learned shaping magic from Professor Rakius, very few could use it properly. None could create such complex forms in a single attempt like Idnia.
‘Well, it’s basically just a scaled-up mixer from Earth. I’ve seen things like this many times.’
Idnia transferred the chopped vegetables into a large wok and added cooking oil, salt, basil powder, wild sansho pepper powder, and another unknown powder.
“What is that?”
“Oh, that’s a seasoning I made.”
Idnia had taken leftover bread and biscuits, fermented and broken them down to extract fructose. The remaining material was then subjected to secondary fermentation to extract monosodium glutamate, MSG, a chemical seasoning. That was what she was using here.
Stir-frying the vegetables together with the seasoning filled the kitchen with a fragrant aroma.
“Wow.”
“We’ve only been eating meat and bread until now.”
“So vegetables can smell this good.”
Although they were children of wealthy families in a world where food culture was not well developed, they had mainly eaten bread, pastries, and meat, without realizing the value of vegetables.
“Now, combine this with the fish broth, and we’ll make fish balls from the fish meat. Normally, it would need to boil more vigorously, but….”
“But?”
“Extract.”
Idnia used extraction magic to quickly pull the broth from the fish scraps and bones, then removed the fish flesh wrapped in cloth.
“Now we separate the meat.”
Using shaping magic again, Idnia created a device resembling a meat grinder with two rotating blades and a handle. She placed the fish meat inside and spun it.
Long, thin backbone pieces were easily removed, while the flesh and head bones were ground down. The longer backbone fragments were pulled out with telekinesis and discarded. As she gradually narrowed the spacing of the blades and continued grinding while adding salt, the mixture gained elasticity and began to bind together.
Idnia then used shaping magic once more to create something like a takoyaki mold, pressed the fish mixture into balls, and dropped them into the boiling broth.
Since objects created by shaping magic disappear when the magic is released, it was easy to form the fish balls.
“…….”
“We can’t use shaping magic that well.”
“Th-this is incredible.”
Everyone was stunned by Idnia’s extraordinary magical skill.
Isolde and Fiona, who had already learned magic in advance and were considered prodigies at Dunais Academy, were on a different level—but Idnia far surpassed even them.
Her practical use of magic was extremely refined. She freely created tools as needed and adjusted them with remarkable speed.
Seeing Idnia use magic in practice made it clear why she could clear out an entire shop on her own.
“As you improve, you’ll be able to do this too. And you don’t have to do it exactly like me. In fact, you can just use a ladle like this….”
Idnia used a round scoop, like an ice cream scoop, to portion out fish paste and drop it into the broth.
“That works too. See?”
“I see.”
Everyone tried to follow Idnia’s method, but while Idnia made hundreds of fish balls alone, the five of them together could barely make ten.
Idnia finished turning all the prepared fish paste into fish balls and dropped them into the broth, then washed her hands.
“Alright, please serve this. I have some personal research to attend to….”
Idnia left the rest to the students and departed.
She had already done most of the work by herself, so there wasn’t much left for them to do.
“…….”
“Wow, I’m called a genius in my hometown too.”
“Hey, are you comparing yourself to her? She’s Lady Betelgeuse.”
“Still, why did she break off her engagement with the crown prince? With someone of her caliber, even if House Betelgeuse had fallen….”
At first, when they didn’t know Idnia’s true character, they had assumed it was inevitable that a fallen ducal house could not possibly take on the role of empress, and thus her broken engagement with the crown prince made sense.
But now, seeing who Idnia truly was… even if she were merely a minor noble from a rural house, she seemed more than qualified to become the crown princess.
‘Is there something wrong with His Highness the Crown Prince?’
Such impure thoughts even began to arise.