Here? (2)
"A noble?" Sezanne asked. Since she was nobility herself, the honorific meant the man outranked her.
"Hmm. You might not know him, Master, but that person is quite famous in certain circles."
"What sort of circles?"
Sezanne glanced around, clearly wondering if she should speak freely.
"Hahaha. And who might you be, my lady?"
"I belong to the Responsi family, which holds lands in the southeastern mountains."
"Responsi... I see. Then let's all sit comfortably."
The man called Berk settled in front of the hearth, warming his hands and feet. The man who'd entered with him neatly arranged the boots Berk had kicked off. Then, apparently deciding Tilt was a servant, he ordered the boy to stable the horse outside and remove its saddle.
The effortless way he gave commands made his noble blood obvious.
"Sezanne. Is he high-ranking nobility?" I whispered.
"Yes. He's royalty. A sixth cousin to His Current Majesty."
A sixth cousin meant a relative whose line had branched off during their grandfather's generation.
"He holds no claim to the throne, but he's well-known in high society."
"In a bad way?"
"Yes. He's notorious for his loose conduct. Noble families teach their daughters to avoid him at parties. That's how I recognized him."
"A womanizer, then. That's unfortunate."
"He may be a womanizer, but his eloquence makes him an indispensable guest at noble gatherings."
"Ah, I see."
He wasn't just a playboy. More like a celebrity everyone felt they needed at their events.
"Kyaa, what kind of grain is in this? Nothing beats a warm grain tea in the dead of winter."
The royal named Berk poured himself hot water from the kettle over the fire and drank it in a surprisingly casual manner for someone of his station.
"And you? Oh, no need for formalities. A knight?"
"I am a mage named Jinu. I am not from this continent."
"Oh! Then from the Arean Continent or the Doniria Continent?"
"People here call it Arean."
"You've come a long way. How fascinating. In the middle of a snowy winter, my horse breaks its leg and dies, and the farmhouse I stumble into for shelter contains both a noble and a mage from another continent. Life truly is impossible to predict. Ruke, bring a chair and warm yourself as well."
The large man named Ruke fetched a chair and sat by the hearth. He carried the heavy presence of a royal bodyguard.
"By the way, I gave you a pouch of gold. Isn't there anything to eat?"
He'd tossed me a pouch containing roughly twenty gold coins—about eight million won by my calculations. That was easily enough to justify preparing something special. Besides, questionable character or not, he was royalty. I needed to leave a good impression.
"What is this on the table? Fruit? The shape is rather unusual."
When Berk reached for a tomato, I quickly snatched the bowl away.
"I'll prepare something you can enjoy right away."
The tomatoes had been harvested only moments earlier, so they needed no washing. I sliced them neatly, placed them in a bowl, sprinkled sugar over them, and mixed it in. Simple as it was, sugared tomatoes were something everyone who tried them declared delicious.
People said sprinkling sugar on tomatoes destroyed their vitamins, but when something tasted this good, such concerns felt irrelevant.
"Hmm? Did you just cut up the fruit that was sitting on the table?"
Berk seemed to find the chunky, piled presentation a bit crude. Still, it was an unfamiliar fruit prepared by a mage from Arean, so he apparently decided this must be the Arean style and grew curious.
"Think of it as a light appetizer."
Berk speared a piece with his fork and brought it to his nose first. Even a collateral royal, it seemed, had the ingrained habit of smelling before tasting.
It carries the scent of unripe greens, yet instead of being off-putting, it feels like proof of freshness.
Chomp. Chew, chew...
"Hmm?"
Berk's eyes widened in genuine surprise. He'd expected the astringent, bitter taste typical of unripe fruit, but it was refreshingly tart. The brightness blended perfectly with the sugar, creating a sweetness that never felt heavy.
This is a fresh sweetness!
Sugar was expensive but common, produced in the warm south and shipped north. It was usually added to cookies or tea, where the sweetness carried a heavy, dull weight from the grains. But the sugar on this fruit delivered a clean, vibrant sweetness without any cloying aftertaste.
Does the fruit's fresh green note somehow brighten the sugar?
"What is this fruit called? Does it only grow on the Arean Continent?"
"It's called tomato. Even there, it's extremely rare."
In truth, tomatoes probably grew wild somewhere. But since locating them would be difficult, I laid the groundwork early by calling them extremely rare.
"Tomato? What a peculiar name. Ever heard of it, Ruke?"
"First time for me."
"It's certainly not a name we've encountered on the Entrick Continent. Ruke, try it. It's wonderfully refreshing."
Berk offered him a piece on the end of his fork.
"Hmm. A clean, refreshing sweetness. Perfect as an appetizer before the main course."
"Indeed. It would pair beautifully with wine. Do we have any?"
I had some stored in my inventory, but instead of pulling it out through thin air, I fetched a bottle as if retrieving it from the kitchen.
"Yes, it complements the wine perfectly. So how does one obtain these tomatoes? I'm quite taken with them. Would the trade port at Felteni Harbor carry them?"
"I'm not certain. When you leave tomorrow, I'll give you several seeds."
If I encouraged the potted plants to bear more fruit, I could spare a few seeds. If tomatoes began spreading across the continent under royal patronage, it would benefit me as well.
"By the way. Now that I've eaten this, I'm even hungrier. Is there anything else? Since this seems like an appetizer, there must be a main course coming, right? There is, isn't there?"
"Well..."
Truthfully, if they hadn't shown up, I'd been planning to make something using the ketchup I was about to create.
"If I prepare it now, it will take some time. Is that acceptable?"
"Perfectly fine. I have all the time in the world. Please go ahead."
Since we had nothing planned until sunrise anyway, Berk was more than willing to wait.
"Michel, bring the dough I set aside for tomorrow morning."
I'd prepared and aged the dough in advance for maximum chewiness, and decided to use it now.
I divided it into palm-sized portions, rolled them flat with a pin until they matched the frying pan, then cooked them over low heat. Slowly, the bread began to puff up like balloons. The aged dough had allowed the yeast to ferment and create beautiful air pockets.
Berk and Ruke found the process so fascinating they both came over to watch.
Once baked on both sides and plated, the bread deflated again as it cooled.
"Michel, just keep baking them like this."
"What sort of bread is this? Baked in a frying pan instead of an oven—is this also an Arean style?"
"This is called pita bread."
"Pita bread? Another new name for me."
The word 'pita' literally meant 'bread.' So calling it pita bread was somewhat redundant. It was a staple among Mediterranean peoples, including Greeks, and since Arab peoples of the Middle East relied on it as a daily food, it was also known as Arab bread. Similar to Indian naan, the custom of tearing it to scoop up spiced dishes was the same.
While Michel baked the bread, I scored the tomatoes with shallow crosses and blanched them briefly in hot water. Their freshness made the skins slip off easily. After peeling, I crushed them with a wooden spatula and simmered them with finely chopped onions, scallions, pepper, and salt until everything melted into a rich mush.
Adding vinegar now would create ketchup, but I ladled off the thinner liquid and continued reducing the mixture. Once it had thickened sufficiently, I stirred in the vinegar. The taste that met my tongue drew an involuntary exclamation of delight in my mind. It was slightly different from commercial ketchup, yet unmistakably ketchup that anyone would recognize.
In the same pan used for the bread, I fried bacon and laid it over the pita. I also finely chopped and sautéed onions and tomatoes, layering them on top before spreading the homemade ketchup evenly with a spoon. Then I rolled the whole thing up like kimbap.
Though it was perfectly rolled and could have been eaten by hand like a wrap, I couldn't serve royalty something to be eaten with bare fingers. I fashioned thin wooden skewers and pierced eight neat slices in a row, then cut between them like rolled sushi.
Before reducing the ketchup, I'd set aside some of the tomato broth. I poured it into a cup and added clean snow from the roof, creating iced tomato juice.
When I served the tomato rolls and juice, they stared at the dishes with open fascination, as if they'd never seen anything like them.
As soon as I presented the tomato roll, Berk picked up one of the wooden skewers and brought it to his nose first.
The fresh green scent of the earlier tomato is completely gone. Instead there's the nutty aroma of the pita and a pleasant tang.
He popped the entire piece into his mouth and couldn't hide his astonishment. Having eaten plain tomato as an appetizer, he'd expected this dish to carry the same fresh, green notes. But there was none of that.
Instead, the rich, concentrated flavor that came from proper cooking completely dominated the palate.
"I've never tasted anything like it, but it's delicious! Wheat bread and bacon are common enough, yet this tomato sauce creates an entirely new flavor. Why have I only discovered this taste now?"
"Please try it with the tomato juice as well."
Berk smelled the juice before drinking. The chill from the snow left his mouth feeling wonderfully clean.
"How refreshing. It feels positively healthy!"
Ruke frowned at Berk's enthusiastic reaction. The royal usually behaved rather lightly for his station, but this food critique had gone far beyond casual. There was no royal dignity in sight, and Ruke could only shake his head.
"Ruke is giving me that look again. Try it yourself and you'll understand. Bring me another glass of that tomato juice."
Berk made Ruke try both the roll and the juice.
"Oh! My lord! This is truly a flavor I've never encountered before."
"See?"
"Yes. I thought I'd traveled widely, but this is completely new. This juice would be perfect after training—cold and refreshing."
At their praise, both Sezanne and Yanne wanted to try it themselves and began preparing their own portions.
"Tomatoes are delicious eaten plain, but using them in a sauce like this is wonderful too."
"Master, can I just dip bread in this?"
"Of course. You could call tomato sauce an all-purpose sauce."
As we all made and ate our own, even the knight Ruke subtly joined in, picking at the food.
"Even Ruke, who has such a discerning palate, is eating with gusto. I've never seen him like this. Mage Jinu, was it? I'd like to host a palace banquet featuring these tomato dishes. What do you think?"