Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: A Chef's Magic
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The members of the Union were intoxicated by the food.
Some moved their hands and mouths as if possessed, while others trembled with the profound emotion they felt in every bite.
Even Sienna, who rarely showed her emotions, smiled brightly after swallowing a bite.
But on the other hand, El Toro was starkly quiet.
No one spoke. They were too focused on the act of eating.
After finally swallowing all the food.
The Union members realized their mouths had another purpose.
"It was like a dream."
"I've never felt anything like it. For a moment, I even forgot my duty to the Union."
"I felt like I've been living my life in vain. How could my heart be so moved unless there was magic in the food?"
"Isn't this a wizard's restaurant? Since we can't comprehend it, this cuisine is no different from magic."
And to Loan, it truly did seem like magic.
‘Every dish was a twist. What seemed crispy was soft, what seemed hot was cold. Textures and structures of ingredients that shouldn't have gone together were combined.’
These were dishes only possible for someone who understands taste down to the microscopic level.
Loan surmised.
The person who made this food was a wizard. Perhaps someone who, like him, directly manipulated mana.
"Loan, are you not going to eat that?"
Lucas suddenly asked.
He had already finished all the food served to him and had his eyes fixed on Loan's.
It was the last plate, holding dessert.
"I'm going to."
Loan popped the foam-like, puffed-up egg cookie into his mouth, closed his eyes for a moment, then shot up from his seat.
As Lucas looked on in disappointment, the manager approached silently.
"Is there anything you need?"
"Um... would it be possible to meet the chef?"
At Loan's sudden action, everyone's attention focused on him.
The manager did not lose his composure.
"Was there a problem with the food?"
"Not at all. Every dish was magnificent."
"I'm glad to hear that. However, our head chef does not accept individual words of thanks."
"It's not to thank him... I have something I'd like to ask."
At Loan's words, the manager's expression grew slightly troubled.
"If you could tell me what it is about, I can try to pass on the message."
"It's about how the harmony and manipulation of properties were incorporated into the cuisine, whether the reaction control was achieved through will, and if a special formation was constructed in the plating to preserve the physical properties."
"..."
The manager, along with most of the others, did not understand Loan's words.
But the wizards of the Honor Division were different.
The perspective Loan had opened.
The wizards' instincts for inquiry boiled over simultaneously.
The members of the Honor Division rose from their seats at once. Among them was Commander Magda.
She spoke.
"Hmm... Intoxicated by the taste, I failed to observe with a clear head. It might not just be *like* magic, but magic itself. We wish to know the answer as well. May we meet the chef?"
The manager had never seen such a reaction before.
He pressed a bead of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and bowed his head slightly.
"If you are asking for the recipes, that is impossible, but it seems that is not your intention. I will convey your request."
And a short while later.
The manager invited only the one who had asked the initial question to the kitchen.
"Just me?"
After all eyes turned to him, Loan looked back at Magda, as if to ask if it was alright.
"Go on. If you find the answer, it is no different from us finding it."
Loan exchanged a light nod with Magda and the other senior members before following the manager.
"I was only able to mention the part about the harmony and manipulation of properties. I couldn't remember the rest of your words."
The manager whispered.
It didn't matter. They would exchange words one way or another once he met the chef.
‘If he called for me after hearing just that, it must mean we're on the same wavelength.’
Loan guessed the chef might be an elf.
His own lineage, the crest of the ancient elven family he kept encountering as if by chance, and an ability akin to an authority that only ancient elves were said to possess.
With the hope of finding an answer to at least one of these, Loan stepped through the door the manager held open for him.
"This is the kitchen of El Toro."
One wall was lined with bluish cabinets, and in front of them stood a large table and various cooking utensils. The first impression was less of a kitchen and more of a laboratory.
Another peculiar feature was the greenhouse, which was even larger than the kitchen space.
Even at a glance, various vegetables and herbs grew abundantly in the densely partitioned space.
Loan took a deep breath of the fresh, clean mana and walked where the manager guided him.
"This is Lord Loan, the Oz of the Union. And this is Head Chef Perang Adri."
The manager stepped aside, introducing Loan and Perang to each other.
Someone was sitting in a chair, with a field of fresh tomatoes as a backdrop.
Contrary to his expectations, Perang was an old man whose mustache had turned completely white. The faint mana flickering within his gaunt body was enough to make Loan curious.
"You have questions about my cuisine?"
A very natural question, as if he were accustomed to speaking down to others.
Seeing the young chefs lined up respectfully by his side, it was perfectly understandable.
Loan first expressed his thanks, saying the food was delicious, then repeated the same questions he had asked the manager.
As the questions continued, Perang's brow furrowed deeply.
"You saw a great deal in my cooking..."
"I couldn't contain my curiosity and was rude. May I have an answer?"
"They are dignified questions, but I do not understand your motive for seeking such answers from a chef. Are you perhaps interested in cooking?"
"I'm not a good cook."
"Then why are you asking me such things..."
Instead of answering, Loan raised his hands neatly.
Naturally, the gazes of several people gathered on his very white and well-kept fingers.
He was a boy who had been admittedly rude, yet everything about him was beautiful and refined.
No one uttered a complaint.
Soon, flames blossomed from the tips of his five fingers. As he moved his fingers, the flames shifted, merged, and then settled back on his fingertips.
The dance of the flames was as beautiful as the movement of his fingers.
It was magic he had once demonstrated before Arthur and Lazaros during his final magic studies exam.
At that time, Arthur had said this:
‘A remarkable talent. At this rate, he might even be able to fuse magic from different schools.’
Then, from the five fingers of his other hand, a chilly mist shimmered, and clear, transparent ice formed like jewels.
The ice vaporized, became a water droplet, and then turned back into ice, repeating the cycle as it hovered around his fingertips.
He had demonstrated this much before within a domain of his own creation, but that scene remained only in Loan's memory.
To those seeing it for the first time, it was proof of frighteningly precise magical control.
It was only natural that hollow gasps escaped the lips of those lined up.
However, because their master remained silent, no one dared to make a sound.
"I learned from your food, Chef, that things of different properties can harmonize so exquisitely."
Finishing his words, Loan brought his palms to face each other.
Soon, the five small flames merged into one, hovering in the space between his palms, and the five ice crystals became liquid, forming a circular band around the flame.
Steam rose from the heat. That's how it looked, and it felt natural.
But the scene that followed made everyone doubt their eyes.
Crackle— Crackle—.
The liquid, which should have evaporated, instead began to turn solid, accelerating until it formed a sphere.
A flame flickering inside transparent ice.
Despite fully enduring the heat radiating in all directions, the ice remained solid.
Loan said.
"I divided the layers of the atmosphere and made the internal convection move on its own, allowing the heat to exchange with itself."
No one understood.
It was that strange and beautiful a sight.
The young chefs, and even Perang himself, were mesmerized by the divine skill for a long while.
And the moment he suddenly came to his senses.
Screech-.
Perang pushed his chair back with the backs of his knees and stood up.
At the same time, Loan made the flame and ice vanish in an instant.
That, too, was a sight they couldn't comprehend even after seeing it, so the young chefs could only stare at the young wizard's fingertips for a while.
Perang asked.
"Is that not magic?"
"Pardon?"
He asked something incredibly obvious.
But thinking it over, it seemed like a question with some depth.
As if he were asking about its essence, like 'what is magic?'
It was also a question that bordered on a reprimand, as if to say, 'How can you ask such an excessive question when you've only achieved this much?'
"It is lacking, but it is indeed magic."
"Lacking? What are you saying..."
Loan, unable to speak as he saw Perang trail off and his wavering eyes.
The silence, born from their failure to align on the topic, lasted for quite a while.
"Hmm..."
Eventually, Perang shook his head and gestured for Loan to follow.
Loan followed him without a word, and the young chefs fell in line behind him.
Through the greenhouse and back to the kitchen.
Standing before a large table, Perang abruptly began to cook.
He had an old, seemingly handwritten notebook open beside him, and it looked more like an experiment than cooking.
"My cuisine is focused on changing the structure and texture of ingredients to provide new flavors and experiences. It's about manipulating different physical properties to harmonize or transform them into entirely new forms."
"Yes. The dishes I ate were exactly like that. It felt like high-level magic."
"It is not magic. It is the result of long research into the properties of ingredients. For example, this is a solution filtered after adding various compounds to seaweed. If you mix it with a liquid made from fermented black corn, this special reaction occurs."
The two liquids met and hardened into the shape of a sphere.
It looked as if he were creating fish roe.
"Then how do you control the reaction..."
"Will, you said? I know nothing of the sort. It is merely the result of calculating the precise ratios and times after countless trials and errors."
"Ah..."
"And a special magic formation to preserve physical properties? There's no way we could do such a thing. The forms derived from melting, freezing, and burning are simply preserved with the help of cold-bearing Yadus ore and heat-bearing Hamek ore."
A cluster of small, black, artificial roe sat distinctly on the bluish plate.
A creation born not from the byproducts of magic, but from long research and experimentation.
Until a moment ago, not knowing the process and with the taste and appearance being so unfamiliar, it was understandable to mistake it for magic.
Wasn't that what authority was like, too?
"It seems you did not get the answer you were looking for."
But even if it wasn't magic, it was a fact that he had created new flavors using mana, the source of all things.
And it was also true that he himself had gained special insight and inspiration from the cuisine.
Loan shook his head vigorously.
"Not exactly. Our pursuits may differ, but you, Chef, are no different from a wizard."
They had derived their results through long research, without even being able to see mana.
Their relentless drive for progress, refusing to settle for tradition, might even be superior to that of the senior wizards.
"If you think so..."
Perang still had a reluctant expression.
Loan asked.
"By the way, what is that notebook from earlier?"
"It is both a recipe book and a research journal."
"Do you always look at it while you cook?"
"Otherwise, how would I memorize the vast ingredients and precise measurements?"
He said, showing a glimpse of the notebook.
The weight, volume, and capacity of ingredients, cooking methods and times, and even methods for extracting necessary components were written down in dense detail.
It was no different from a magic grimoire.
His thought became clearer.
‘So he has to look at his records to cook. What if I could systematize my magic to be this easy to understand...’
Looking at the records of intense research, Loan saw the path that foolish wizards must walk in the future.
The grimoires must be rewritten.