Guild Master, That Kind of Talk Will Give Everyone the Wrong Idea
Guild Master, That Kind of Talk Will Give Everyone the Wrong Idea
"That hits the spot."
I'd sent a batch to the viscount as a gift, followed up with extra portions for the knights who'd worked so hard—and still had sagol-guk to spare.
Two days in and the pot still wasn't empty. Reheating another bowl, I felt that familiar warmth spreading through my chest.
"This. Right here."
I bit off a chunk of seokbakji about two knuckles long.
The crisp crunch of properly fermented radish hit just right.
A perfect set of tooth marks stood out on the pickled radish where I'd torn into it.
I'd sliced the seokbakji neatly for the viscount, but honestly? I preferred it like this—biting straight into a whole piece.
Tastes better this way, doesn't it?
"Should I add more gukbap?"
With my stomach full of hot broth, the world felt full of possibilities.
I felt like I could take on anything right now.
The optimism circuits were spinning at full speed.
For example—expanding the menu.
Why not?
Sure, more variety meant more prep work, but when I thought back to my years as a cook-knight feeding a whole knight order...
Smack!
"Snap out of it, Lucas!"
I slapped both cheeks and jolted my brain out of the sagol-guk-powered infinite-positivity spiral.
The stinging heat brought reality crashing back.
Dangerous.
The power of positivity radiating from a hot bowl of gukbap.
One full belly of rich broth and rice, and suddenly I was convinced I could do anything.
A meteor could've hit and I'd have been fine with it.
Okay, too far?
Back in Korea, this would've been the moment to hit the vending machine at the gukbap joint for a cup of instant coffee mix.
A full, satisfied stomach plus that sweet, creamy instant coffee?
Game over. Nothing tops that.
I never imagined I'd miss instant coffee mix this much.
Actually, if I'd had a cup, I definitely wouldn't have had the self-restraint to slap myself just now.
Gukbap plus instant coffee? One hundred percent adding that to the board.
I'd have put it on the menu without a second thought.
"If the menu grows any more, I won't be able to keep up. I'm not waking up at dawn every day to simmer bones forever."
Without extra hands, there was no way I could make sagol-guk daily.
I could maybe squeeze it in during the break between lunch and dinner, but that meant leaving the pot going overnight—and that was asking for trouble.
Back in the knight order, I'd managed five hundred-plus servings without a hitch because the other knights handled dishes, cleaning, and supplies.
I could focus entirely on cooking. Comparatively less labor.
Not that standing over a cauldron bigger than me all day, stirring with a ladle the size of a shovel, was exactly easy.
Doenjang-jjigae or kimchi stew, though—those I could add.
"Hm. Not a bad idea, actually..."
I still had a good stock of doenjang I'd brought from the capital, plus a new batch fermenting.
Small quantities would be manageable.
Plenty of well-aged kimchi too, so kimchi stew was definitely doable.
"Come to think of it, the princess was crazy about this kimchi stew..."
The thought crossed my mind.
Could I have helped her turn over a new leaf? If she'd never become a tyrant, then none of the events from that romance fantasy novel would've...
That kind of thinking.
Smack!
"Get a grip. As if that was ever possible. What power does one cook-knight have?"
A full stomach was making my brain spew nonsense.
"Tch. Well, it's all gone now anyway."
I clicked my tongue at the completely empty pot.
I had plenty of frozen Tuu leg bones in storage, but the thought of starting another batch made my head spin.
They'd probably be camping out in the freezer for a while.
Or I could sell them to the Golden Wagon Merchant Group.
Tuu leg bones had always been a popular stamina-boosting ingredient. They'd jump at the chance.
And since they already knew what properly butchered Tuu tasted like, they'd offer a fair price.
"Speaking of which—how much soju do I have left?"
I opened the outdoor refrigerator where I stored the soju for evening service.
The shelves that had been packed with bottles were nearly empty.
"Seriously, almost out."
Kobi had said he'd be back within a month, so he was due any day now...
No way to reach him, either. Inconvenient as hell.
Back in Korea, you'd just tap a smartphone and be done with it.
Magic isn't perfect, I guess.
Nothing to be done about it.
I was in the middle of tallying the dwindling soju supply when—
Jingle.
The door opened.
"Break time. We're closed."
"Sir!"
The person who walked in was Liana, from the viscountcy's Internal Affairs office.
"Ah, Miss Liana."
"This is payment for the Tuu meat and sagol-guk from three days ago."
She was holding a substantial pouch.
"Is that all gold?"
"Yes. One hundred gold total. You're welcome to count it yourself! Five platinum coins worth ten gold each, and fifty one-gold coins."
A hundred gold.
For a single company dinner, that was staggering.
In this world, one gold was roughly equivalent to a hundred thousand won back in Korea.
A hundred gold meant something close to ten million won.
Ten million won for eighty people's dinner.
That was well over a hundred thousand won per head.
The sagol-guk and braised tail meat must have been included in that figure.
The viscount was generous.
Even Kobi from the Golden Wagon wouldn't have valued it this highly.
I knew what this territory brought in. If he was willing to hand over a hundred gold without blinking, the meal I'd served must've left a serious impression.
Can't exactly send this back.
I verified the pouch held exactly one hundred gold, then nodded at her.
"Wait here a moment. I'll wrap up some meat to send back to his lordship."
"Oh? You really don't have to."
I sliced up some of the leftover meat from the refrigerator and handed it over.
"The meat can be grilled just like last time. The leg bones—tell the castle chef you'd like them prepared, and they'll know what to do."
He'd helped hunt the Tuu, after all. Sending back some leftover meat and bones seemed reasonable.
"Oh, did you hear? They say the head of the Golden Wagon has come to the empire's south. My older sister works in a nearby city and she's been run ragged over it—showed up with no warning, apparently."
Wait.
What?
"Camilla Wagon is in the southern empire right now?"
"Yes! I mean, the south's been lagging behind for decades in development and everything else, right? There's talk that she might be scouting locations for a southern development project."
No.
No way.
The south had nothing worth the Golden Wagon's investment.
Nothing but endless grain stretching across the plains.
Sure, there was fresh fish from the sea and a thriving livestock industry, but the western empire—much closer to the capital—could supply all of that.
No one was building a portal to transport grain, a low-efficiency cargo that didn't care how long the journey took.
And she certainly wouldn't be developing cities.
Land with potential, but too low a return on investment to justify spending money.
That was Camilla Wagon's assessment of the entire southern empire.
I knew it firsthand. She'd told me herself.
'Where do you think the least investment-worthy land in the empire is?'
—The least investment-worthy? Why ask something so obvious? The entire region south of the Luret River, obviously. Plenty of grain, but nothing special beyond that.
She'd said it with absolute certainty.
—Doesn't even border another country, so you only need the most basic defenses. Unless something extraordinary turns up, there's no reason to spend money there.
—Why are you asking? Wouldn't asking where the most investment-worthy land is make more sense?
I could still picture her, smirking as she'd sneaked into the knight order to eat.
That was the moment.
The reason I'd chosen Britten Viscounty as my new home.
I'd figured: if it was land Camilla would never look at, even a tyrant wouldn't bother with it.
She wouldn't just be traveling, either.
The woman despised pointless travel more than anyone.
Don't tell me—this is about me?
I thought back to when Kobi had visited.
—So I have to ask: do you have any genuine intention of returning to the capital?
—The head of our house misses your cooking, Lucas.
And I'd told him: if she wanted my food, she could come to the restaurant herself.
Honestly, it was a polite refusal. The kind everyone recognizes.
—Are you serious?
—Understood. I'll relay that to the head of the house. If she wants to eat it, she can come find you herself.
Something about Kobi's expression when he'd repeated it back had been pointedly meaningful.
He'd actually meant it?
"No way... That's just my ego running wild."
"Sir, are you all right? You look terrible. Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing."
"Anyway, this is incredible news! Camilla Wagon herself, of all people! The revolutionary portal-based transport, the massive wagon caravans living up to her name, the continent-spanning Wagon network that sells goods at relatively affordable prices—she built an enormous merchant empire!"
"If someone like that turns her attention to the south, Britten Viscounty might find better revenue streams. As an administrator for the viscountcy, I can't afford to miss this chance!"
Liana had shifted seamlessly into full Camilla-fangirl mode.
That was when the commotion started outside.
The time was four in the afternoon.
Too early for the workers who'd left the castle for their various duties to be returning.
And nowhere near the hour when the castle guards and servants came off duty.
Gut feeling told me exactly what it was.
She's here.
"Huh? What's going on? Why is it so noisy out there..."
Liana didn't finish her sentence.
"This is it? The restaurant Lucas opened?"
Because of the voice outside.
"Sir, it looks like a customer. I'll go let them know we're on break. One moment."
Liana hurried out.
The shriek that followed when she found the source of the commotion was unmistakable.
"Kyaaaah!!!"
Not a scream of terror.
The opposite, really.
It was the noise a fan makes when the object of their admiration appears right in front of them.
"C-C-Camilla—ma'am?!"
"And you are?"
That dismissive tone was pure Camilla.
I couldn't just keep sitting in the restaurant.
If she'd come all this way, I had to face her.
I still had a little of that sagol-guk infinite-positivity power left in me.
I pushed open the door—and found sunset-red hair and amber eyes fixed directly on me.
"Lucas! There you are! You have no idea how desperate I've been to see you."
"You've come a long way, Lady Camilla Wagon."
She planted a hand on her hip and fixed me with a look.
"You're going to have to take responsibility for what you've done to me."
Liana's eyes, which had been shining with pure admiration for Camilla, went perfectly round.
I don't know what kind of story started writing itself in her head, but she clamped both hands over her mouth and started murmuring "oh my, oh my" on repeat.
Ma'am, you say things like that and people will get the wrong idea.