Damon was lying on the grass in front of the tent. His eyes were gently closed as he hummed to himself.
Yuliana approached his side and nudged Damon’s leg with her foot.
“Get up.”
“Hmph. How insolent, kicking the leg of an elder while he sleeps……”
Damon scolded her without opening his eyes. But Yuliana was not the sort to bat an eye at that.
“I know you’re not asleep. So hurry up and get up.”
Since she kept prodding his leg, Damon had no choice but to sit up.
He had a rough idea why she had come, but Damon pretended not to know and played dumb, mixing in just the right amount of irritation as he spoke.
“Why are you suddenly waking an elder from his sweet sleep?”
“If you want to be treated like an elder, act like one. What was that? Sulking over something so petty. If you’ve lived that long, try showing a little generosity befitting your age.”
“……”
Damon let out a hollow laugh, utterly dumbfounded. He was so flabbergasted that no words came out. All he could do was shake his head and stare blankly at the face that resembled Daphne’s.
‘Good grief. Should I just…? If only her face didn’t look exactly like Daphne’s……’
Yuliana thrust her face close to Damon’s.
“I have something to ask you.”
“Wh-what is it?”
Damon could not help but be flustered when she suddenly shoved her face toward him. With the fresh, maidenly fragrance drifting right under his nose, his mind went blank. But Yuliana continued speaking without the slightest concern.
“It’s about that dish earlier.”
“What about the dish?”
A flash of certainty shone on Yuliana’s face.
“You used magic to make it taste good, didn’t you? Right?”
“What did you say?”
In the end, Damon’s anger exploded. He could tolerate many things, but he could not endure having his cooking skills doubted. How many long years had he spent honing that ability?
For her to dismiss it as a mere effect produced by magic was enough to make him furious.
“I’m so stunned I can’t even speak. So you’re saying I made the food with magic?”
“That’s right. I’ve never eaten anything that delicious before. Therefore, it must have been produced through magic. Otherwise, how could such an ecstatic flavor be possible?”
“You’re driving me insane.”
Damon looked troubled. Since she had acknowledged that the food was delicious, he could feel satisfied on that point, but the fact that she attributed it to magic rather than skill left him dumbstruck. Before he realized it, Damon sprang to his feet.
“To think you would dare disregard my cooking skills……”
Yuliana seized the moment and delivered a timely blow.
“If you feel wronged, then prove it. With a different dish this time. If you didn’t use magic, then the flavor should definitely be different.”
Damon clenched his fist as if there was nothing to think about.
“Fine. I’ll prove my cooking skills to you beyond all doubt.”
He strode toward the place where the cooking tools were. As long as the ingredients and seasonings allowed, he vowed again and again that he would make the finest dish possible and have his abilities verified.
Damon poured ingredients into the pan and then added oil. Watching him, Yuliana quietly turned her head.
When she met the gazes of the mercenaries staring blankly in their direction, Yuliana gave them a slight wink. It was a look that seemed to ask, “How was my skill?”
The mercenaries could only stick out their tongues in astonishment.
‘Truly amazing.’
‘To think she can toy with a person like that…… She’s a frightening woman.’
There was no fox quite like her. Her skill in scratching Damon’s pride just right and making him cook without another word was, in a single phrase, superb. Even Mitchell, who had only just escaped from his suffering, was clicking his tongue in admiration.
‘There’s no choice but to think Yuliana’s methods were bestowed by the heavens. To think she can even manipulate the dark mage Damon……’
Yuliana stuck her tongue out at Mitchell and turned her head again. Anticipation lingered on her face at the thought of tasting the food again.
‘Hohoho. So what if he’s a dark mage? If someone excels at something, their pride in it is bound to be just as great.’
Yuliana’s earlier actions had been thoroughly calculated. Since acting cute was something she hated more than death, she had used the exact opposite strategy. And that strategy worked without fail. After all, Damon was huffing and puffing as he devoted himself to the cooking.
Unaware that the entire party’s attention was focused on him, Damon was engrossed in his cooking.
‘Just you wait. I’ll serve up a dish so good it’ll make your soul leave your body……’
In truth, the dish he had made earlier had been nothing more than something thrown together. It had simply been meant to fill a stomach for one meal. But now it was different. To restore his wounded pride, Damon intended to make the best dish he could, as far as the ingredients allowed.
‘It’s a shame there are so few ingredients. If only I had a few more seasonings, I could have made that imperial dish that made Helbertron fall in love……’
The ingredient Damon was using now was half-dried lamb. Because lamb had its own distinctive gamy smell, he could not make a delicate imperial dish with it. He had to eliminate the odor with a strongly flavored sauce. Thinking that, Damon lightly poured oil into the pan.
Fwoosh.
The oil blazed fiercely, and flames caught on the lamb. After confirming that the ingredients had been seared to the proper degree, Damon added the seasonings. His right hand moved so quickly it could not be seen as he adjusted the flavor of the dish. The ratio of seasonings, cooking time, and strength of the flame were all without the slightest error. As he watched the dish slowly come together, a sudden strange thought occurred to Damon.
“Wait?”
The thought that he might have fallen for Yuliana’s scheme circled through his mind. His original goal had been to make the mercenaries suffer in anticipation. Therefore, he had had no intention whatsoever of cooking for them for a while. But now he was absorbed in cooking. The more he thought about how things had ended up this way, the stranger it seemed. Since the circumstances were extremely suspicious, Damon narrowed his brow.
“Now that I think about it, that wench……?”
Damon slowly turned his head and observed Yuliana’s behavior. Yuliana, who had been staring fixedly at the dish, quickly pretended to look elsewhere. Only then did Damon instinctively realize that he had been had, and he could not help but give a bitter smile. Yuliana had used his very own specialty, the goading tactic, right back against him. Since he had fallen for his own trick, Damon’s face crumpled.
“I’ve been had. Insolent girl.”
But there was nothing he could do. In order to have his cooking skills verified, he had to prove them somehow.
“It’s done.”
Damon set the pan down with a clang and glared irritably at Yuliana. Thinking that he had been tricked left him feeling somewhat bitter, but there was nothing to be done. The fragrant aroma rising from the dish was thoroughly captivating the surrounding mercenaries. It was a scent that made their mouths water just by smelling it. Looking at the food, Yuliana’s eyes shone.
“Then I’ll try tasting it. If it isn’t magic, then it should definitely taste different from the dish I ate earlier.”
“Of course. To be honest, what I made earlier was nothing more than something hastily prepared to fill a stomach. But this was made using every skill I have, so naturally the taste will be different.”
“Good. Shall I try it, then?”
Yuliana picked up a dish and quickly sat down in front of the pan. Filling her plate generously, she skewered a delicious-looking piece of food and brought it to her mouth. The mercenaries tensely watched Yuliana’s reaction.
Munch, munch.
A strange light appeared on Yuliana’s face as she chewed the food. It was an expression as if she could not understand something. That was pure admiration for the dish. She had never before eaten food this delicious. The dish she had eaten earlier had been good, but it could not even compare to this.
However he had cooked it, there was not the slightest trace of lamb’s distinctive gaminess, and the tender texture as she chewed made her wonder if this was truly meat. Every sense on her tongue was being perfectly satisfied. She could not even tell whether she was chewing or swallowing…… Admiration was plainly visible on her face.
‘H-how can it taste like this……’
In truth, Yuliana had made up her mind not to show it outwardly no matter how delicious the food was. Only then would Damon display his skills for her again. But before the taste of the dish, Yuliana’s resolve vanished like bubbles.
The flavor was so excellent that even she could not help but acknowledge it. Yuliana frantically scooped food from the plate and brought it to her mouth. Damon watched her intently with a triumphant smile.
‘Five hundred years ago, I once cooked for Daphne like this as well.’
A distant light appeared in Damon’s eyes, as if he were recalling something. At the time, Daphne had not eaten the food he made. The sorrowful expression on Daphne’s face as she smiled, saying she had to eat only fruit. In the end, Damon had no choice but to leave the food he had made and eat fruit together with her. As that memory came to mind, Damon once again sank into hazy recollections, staring fixedly at Yuliana’s face, which looked exactly like hers……
The mercenaries, who were looking back and forth between Damon and Yuliana, were practically going mad.
They desperately wanted to rush at the food, but regrettably, they could not put that desire into action.
The amount of food made this time was not very large. Since there seemed to be no share left for them, they could not help but feel anxious. Whether she knew their feelings or not, Yuliana was once again transferring the food in the pan onto her plate. It was already her third serving, and now only half of the dish remained. As Yuliana focused on eating in a daze, Damon’s low voice reached her ears.
“How is it? Is it edible?”
Just as Yuliana was about to nod, a faint warning suddenly surfaced in her mind. It was the thought that she could not surrender so easily. In order to continue enjoying Damon’s cooking in the future, she needed to leave some room. Because of that, Yuliana’s mind began busily working.
“I’m not sure yet. I think I’ll have to eat it a few more times before I know……”
She thought she was being clever, but regrettably, Damon was not someone who would fall for it twice. He, too, was unmatched when it came to petty tricks, and judging by experience, there was no way he would be inferior to Yuliana.
“Is that so? It can’t be helped, then.”
Damon strode over and, without hesitation, picked up the pan. Yuliana, who had been eating, was startled.
“I-I’m not finished eating yet……”
“Three plates should be enough, shouldn’t it? I’ll have to ask the others.”
Turning firmly away, Damon began walking toward the mercenaries with the pan in hand. Only then did Yuliana grow anxious and hurriedly swallowed the food in her mouth. She intended to snatch the pan back. But Damon had already arrived in front of the mercenaries. He spoke quietly to the mercenaries, whose eyes were shining as they looked at the pan.
“This time, I’ll give you all a chance. Each of you taste one piece of the dish and judge whether this was truly produced by magic, or whether it was pure cooking skill. And tell me how it tastes as well.”
The mercenaries sprang to their feet as if there was nothing to think about. For them, there was no way they could let such a golden opportunity slip by.