For a Vampire, Drinking Blood with Interruptions Takes Tremendous Patience
For a Vampire, Drinking Blood with Interruptions Takes Tremendous Patience
The next morning.
Bubble, bubble.
A pot filled with onions, green onions, whole garlic, radish, whole peppercorns, and six Coco birds bubbled away.
I'd arrived a little earlier than usual, intent on serving a fine breakfast.
"Good morning!"
The knights who'd come at dawn for training filed into the restaurant along with Andrea.
Sweat still trickled down the faces of the knights and Andrea after their workout.
Bldi, who'd been sitting alone fidgeting her feet, flinched at their entrance and stared at the knights.
"Ah, hello."
"Oh, Bldi. How are you today?"
"......Yes."
Apparently, during the week I'd been away in Lilyan, she'd grown close enough to the knights to hold a conversation.
But.
"Good morning!"
"Kyaaak!"
The moment Ivan appeared, Bldi yelped and fled into the kitchen.
She squeezed behind the wall between the refrigerators—her usual hiding spot—and peeked out.
"Ivan, you came too."
"Yes. I was curious about the method Andrea is teaching the knights."
"Tch! If the boss hadn't given permission, I wouldn't have shown you anything!"
"Did you get a good look at the training?"
"Yes, thanks to you I've grasped the flow of it."
Already?
"Hah, unbelievable. If it were that quick to pick up, those knights wouldn't have suffered so much."
Ever since that incident back in Lilyan, Andrea had taken a particular dislike to Ivan and was especially sharp with him.
But I couldn't just brush that off.
Who was Ivan, after all?
He was the male lead of a romance fantasy novel, slathered in protagonist buffs.
His claim probably wasn't entirely false.
"Give it a try."
"Understood."
Shing!
Ivan drew his sword and summoned Sword Energy along the blade.
Ooom!
A thin, precise Sword Energy sheathed his blade smoothly.
Unlike the blunt Sword Energy the other knights produced, this was thin and razor-sharp.
"Whoa...."
Heimer, Hamilton, and the other knights stared at Ivan's Sword Energy in astonishment.
Having endured Andrea's grueling training, they knew firsthand how hard it was to refine Sword Energy that thin.
Even after over a month of learning mana flow, they'd only managed to thin theirs to about half its original thickness.
Yet Ivan had done it in one go.
'Hope they don't get discouraged....'
Ivan was not someone who could be measured by normal standards.
After savoring the knights' stunned expressions for a moment, Ivan smiled and said,
"I believe this proves my point. The true food of chivalry is gukbap. Claiming that mere donkatsu qualifies as a chivalrous dish is hardly adequate!"
Heimer bit his lip.
"That's not right! No matter how skilled you are, that does not make it proper chivalry! A knight's mindset when wielding a sword is more important to chivalry! Is a criminal wielding a demon sword a true knight?!"
Heimer shouted in rebuttal.
Why are you looking at me while saying that?
He looked as if he wanted me to agree.
"Are you calling me a demon sword?"
"I'm saying that you, who clings only to gukbap and refuses to consider anything else, possess a narrow-minded view—that is heresy."
"Hmph. You spout sophistry because your skills are lacking. To lend weight to your words, you must improve your abilities!"
The two knights glared at each other.
And then Andrea, almost simultaneously, delivered a chop to the crowns of both their heads.
Smack!
Whack!
"Urk!"
"Aack!"
It was too fast; neither even had time to dodge.
"Nghhh...."
Andrea, watching the two knights clutch their heads in agony, clicked her tongue.
"Don't fight like idiots."
"Ngh... pervert elf...."
"Lady Andrea...."
Andrea, as ever.
She'd shut them both down in one move.
Truly a reliable elf.
"The one true answer to your chivalry argument is meat. Meat is the source of all delicious food."
She squared her shoulders proudly, then turned to me and asked,
"Right, boss?"
"......."
Are all sword-users like this?
"Don't ask me. I'm not a knight anymore."
I waved my hands and decided to stay out of their dispute.
If I kept listening, I felt like my brain would turn to muscle too.
Andrea had sorted it out anyway; there was no need for me to get involved.
Regardless, Ivan's skill was the real deal.
"Ivan."
"Yes, Sir Lucas."
"Your Sword Energy is perfect."
"Thank you."
"Then come here and help me out for a moment, will you?"
"What kind of help?"
"Preparing ingredients."
While I made breakfast, I needed someone to handle the prep work for me.
'He's not going to come back and kill me later for making him work, right?'
No matter how crazy romance fantasy male leads can be, they're not that deranged.
Given Ivan's recent behavior, he didn't seem like the cold-blooded character from the novel.
'Maybe he'd become callous in the novel after losing his whole family and being hunted by the Emperor's knights.'
So if Princess Diana never becomes a tyrant...
Maybe Ivan would just turn out to be a reasonably stubborn, not-quite-insane knight.
"While I simmer this, I need your help for a bit. Just julienne them thin, like this."
Ivan, eyeing the Coco broth bubbling in the pot, smacked his lips and nodded.
"Understood!"
Ivan picked up a kitchen knife.
The knights who'd finished training went off to wash up, and Andrea sat at a table, slightly apart, quietly watching me.
Meanwhile, I let the Coco broth simmer longer.
After about thirty minutes, I fished out the Coco, set them aside, and let the broth simmer a bit more so the vegetables could release more flavor.
"That smells delicious."
Andrea sniffed.
"Want a taste?"
"Ah, no. I'm fine."
When I offered her a spoon, she waved her hands and backed away as if troubled.
"Why?"
"W-well, I just finished exercising, you know? Ha ha ha...."
Bldi, who'd been drinking the blood I'd prepared that morning, gave the flustered Andrea a long look, then scurried over to my side.
"I think it's because she smells."
"Hey, Bldi!"
"I-it's true."
"Urgh... S-screw it, I'm going to wash up!"
"The restaurant has a shower room, you know."
"The guys are in there, how can I go in?"
Face flushed red, Andrea hurried back to the dormitory.
Beside the reducing broth, I sliced potatoes and green onions thinly.
Chop, chop, chop!
After setting aside the chives cut to suitable lengths, I dusted the dough I'd kneaded while the knights trained with flour and sliced it into noodles just thick enough to provide a satisfying chew.
While I did that, I scooped out the solids from the well-steeped broth.
In two large pots, I placed three Coco birds each.
I poured the rich broth over the Coco and brought it to a rolling boil.
I added fish sauce, soup soy sauce, and a pinch of MSG, then added the potatoes, green onions, and chives and boiled it.
Since the Coco was already cooked through, I just needed to boil until the potatoes were tender.
Once we'd eaten about half the Coco, I'd add the noodles.
I carried the bubbling pots to the table.
The knights, now fresh from their showers, and Andrea helped me set out the side dishes.
In a spare moment, I made a dipping sauce specifically for the Coco.
I ladled out some of the remaining broth, then in a small bowl mixed chili powder, soy sauce, pepper, minced garlic, vinegar, the sliced chives, and green onions—chop, chop, chop.
This would serve as a dipping sauce for the Coco and noodles.
"Sorry I'm late. I heard everyone was having an early breakfast today."
"Greetings! When Sir Lucas said it would be best to eat well before starting work, I came right over!"
Riman and Blackbeard arrived, carrying an unfamiliar bottle.
"Everyone's here? What's that you've got there...?"
"The carbonation process you requested last time has shown progress, so I brought a test sample."
"You wouldn't believe how much I argued with this stubborn mage. Hahaha!"
"Thanks to him, I'm tearing my hair out."
His sigh carried all the hardship of the past few days.
Everyone gathered around the well-set pots of whole Coco.
The five knights, Ivan, Andrea, Riman and Blackbeard, me, and finally Bldi.
I ladled out Coco legs and breast meat into the bowls of those gathered around the steaming pot, according to their preferences.
Most Imperials preferred breast meat over legs.
At first I didn't get it, but lately I've come to suspect—
Maybe it's because Coco breast is less dry than chicken breast.
'Thigh meat is still the best, though.'
"Smells wonderful."
"Hmm~. Nice...."
"Ho ho ho, a meal like this is crying out for a drink."
"The broth... I can't help but think this, too, is a branch of gukbap."
"Mmm, so warm...."
In front of the well-simmered Coco gomtang, everyone gave their own impressions.
"Huh?"
"Wh-what is this?"
"Why is it so delicious?"
The eyes of those who tore off a bite of Coco meat suddenly widened.
"It seems even more delicious than usual?"
"Whoa!"
"Mmm~, such depth of flavor in the meat...."
After watching them enjoy it for a moment with satisfaction, I picked up a Coco leg and bit right into it.
As soon as it touched my lips, the meat came apart along the grain and slid right into my mouth with a slurp.
It happened in an instant.
It was so tender it melted on my tongue.
"Whoa...."
I couldn't help but exclaim.
My eyes naturally went to Bldi.
I had no idea what kind of magic she'd worked, but it was undeniable that her bloodsucking had drawn out such a tender flavor.
'So a vampire's bite is a natural tenderizer.'
"Hehehe."
Bldi, catching my eye, grinned and scratched her head bashfully.
It went down so smoothly.
The savory depth was far richer than any Coco I'd eaten before, and the meat was wonderfully tender.
It had a resilient snap, yet the moment it entered my mouth it melted silkily away.
It possessed qualities that shouldn't coexist, all at once.
A truly wondrous texture.
The broth had steeped even deeper, and the potatoes I'd added were so infused with the rich soup flavor that I marveled with every bite.
Dipping the Coco into the sauce made with broth, the spicy-sour seasoning melded with the meaty aroma, and my hand moved on its own.
When the Coco had been reduced by about half, I added the kalguksu noodles and let them boil once more.
Slurp!
Ivan, having slurped up the whole-Coco kalguksu, stared at his bowl in admiration.
"A new form of gukbap! Since it's not rice... gukmyeon! I shall call it gukmyeon!"
"It's not gukmyeon, it's kalguksu."
"Kalguksu... a name containing 'kal,' meaning sword. Truly a knight's dish! Undoubtedly it signifies a feast of knife-sharp flavors! Is that not so?"
Heimer chimed in.
"That's right! Kalguksu served at a knight restaurant! No dish could be more fitting! Aside from donkatsu, of course."
"You're still on about that?"
Ignoring the chivalry parrots, Andrea, who'd been quietly eating her own food, leaned toward me.
"Don't tell me this is the taste from Bldi drinking the blood?"
Instead of answering, I nodded.
Andrea let out an exclamation.
"Ahh... So this is the result of Bldi's incredible labor."
Labor?
"What do you mean?"
"Huh? You didn't know? For a vampire, stopping in the middle of drinking blood takes an incredible amount of patience."
"How hard is it?"
"Imagine being forced to eat steamed Pog brisket with no seasoning whatsoever."
Completely unseasoned, that bad?
Is it really that hard to cut off a blood meal halfway?
I looked at Bldi, who was still smiling radiantly as she ate her Coco.
"Master, the gallek is delicious! Hehe."