To the mercenaries who were about to surge toward the pan in an instant, Damon gave a sharp warning.
“Line up in a single file... Anyone who cuts in line gets no chance.”
The moment he finished speaking, the mercenaries swiftly formed a line. Of course, as if to prove he was their leader,
Kasim stood at the very front with the most outstanding footwork of them all. Yuliana, who had finished eating,
only then came running over to protest.
“What kind of rule is that? Taking away food someone was eating...”
“I gave it to you to taste. I didn’t mean for you to eat it. If you want more, you line up too.”
As soon as Damon finished speaking, the mercenaries shot sharp looks at Yuliana’s face. If they had simply
left her alone, she would certainly have devoured the food down to the last bite, so their gazes
were anything but kind. As if there were no need for further words, they spoke as one.
“Exactly. She has to wait her turn.”
“You ate that much and it still wasn’t enough?”
Unable to withstand the gazes pouring down on her, Yuliana had no choice but to give up.
With her head lowered, she trudged to the very back of the line. Once Yuliana had been dealt with,
Kasim was the first to cling to the pan. His eyes shining with anticipation, he stretched out his fork.
Needless to say, he speared the largest piece among them. After putting the fork
into his mouth, Kasim began chewing the dish with a grave expression.
Chomp, chomp.
“How does it taste?”
Damon’s question followed, but Kasim did not answer right away. No, to be honest, he felt he did not
dare to answer. The mysterious flavor of the dish wrapped around his tongue and spread through his mouth.
The dish he had tasted earlier had been delicious too, but this one was even more superb. Simply put,
it would not be an exaggeration to say it was an ecstatic taste that left him breathless.
“Seeing as you have no answer, I suppose it tastes bad.”
When Damon’s dry voice reached his ears, Kasim shook his head frantically.
“No. It’s truly delicious. In my opinion, even the imperial chef of the Crosen Empire could not make
a dish this tasty.”
“Doesn’t it seem like something produced by magic?”
“Absolutely not. If it were, it would have tasted the same as before. Your cooking skills are truly
amazing. To think you can make such a wonderful dish...”
Kasim poured out praise in a frenzy. He was putting his whole heart into it out of a desire to make up
for the mistake he had made earlier and to taste Damon’s cooking from time to time. Damon nodded
as if satisfied.
“At least you acknowledge my cooking. Next.”
As Kasim stepped back with a regretful expression, Mitchell stood before the pan with eyes full of expectation.
Since there were differences in individual skill, even the line had been arranged strictly according to ability.
Though, because he was extremely exhausted, he had only lost his place to Kasim. Looking at him,
Damon’s eyes gleamed.
“Judging by your princess’s reaction, it seems the people of Karsel have somewhat unusual tastes. I wonder
how you will be. So, would you like to try it?”
Without even replying, Mitchell held out his fork. Because of the appetizing aroma lingering at the tip of his nose,
his appetite had already been fully aroused. As if showing off his swordsmanship, Mitchell subtly moved his fork
and speared two pieces of food without making it obvious. Damon clearly saw it, but simply pretended
not to. He had his own scheme, after all. After putting the food in his mouth, Mitchell
began to chew slowly.
“How does it taste? Is it edible?”
Mitchell chewed frantically, his face saying it was beyond description. Without the slightest need to think,
he thrust his thumb up.
“It’s the best. Even if you searched all of Arcadia, you probably wouldn’t find a dish tastier than this.
This kind of cooking couldn’t be made with magic. No, absolutely not.”
As praise that was not the least bit inferior to Kasim’s flowed from his mouth, Damon smiled faintly.
“Is that so? I thought the tastes of the people of Karsel might be different from ordinary people’s, but seeing you,
it seems that isn’t the case.”
“Of course not. It’s incredibly delicious.”
“Then I suppose your princess’s sense of taste must be a little strange. She alone says she cannot tell the taste.”
After glancing briefly at Yuliana, Mitchell nodded without hesitation.
“That’s probably the case. As you know, there’s something a little unusual about her.”
The moment he finished speaking, the back of his head grew hot, but Mitchell forced himself to compose his mind.
Even if he had to suffer at her hands later, his honest feeling was that he had to appease the black mage first.
All so that he could taste the cooking Damon made from time to time. Of course, that was
also the common resolve of the mercenaries. Once he finished tasting, the mercenaries began
to taste the food one after another. Needless to say, praise was once again focused on Damon’s cooking skills.
“It’s truly delicious.”
“It is definitely not something produced by magic.”
“Anyone who eats this kind of food and still talks about magic must surely be out of his mind.”
“Unless he were a god, no one would dare be able to make such a dish. I can guarantee it on my name.”
Only then did Damon shrug. His eyes looked as though his wounded pride had been healed.
As it happened, the food ran out just before Yuliana’s turn. Heinrich, who had been standing in front of her,
had eaten the last piece of the dish. In the end, she could only fume in front of the empty pan.
“To eat every last bit so unfairly...”
Seeing her like that, Damon opened his eyes wide.
“You already ate plenty. By my estimate, you ate about half of it...”
“I still haven’t properly tasted it yet. Therefore, this time doesn’t count. I’ll have no choice but to postpone
my evaluation of the dish until next time.”
“Is that so? Nothing to be done, then.”
With an expression that suggested he had not a shred of regret, Damon turned away. Looking at the mercenaries
as if on purpose, he began to speak glibly.
“The princess says she still cannot tell the taste, so there is nothing to be done. Therefore, from now on,
I will cook only for you. Since ancient times, a man dies for those who acknowledge him. Therefore,
apart from you, who recognize the taste, no one is qualified to eat the food I make. Isn’t that so?”
It was a welcome thing to hear, so the mercenaries all burst into cheers at once.
“Of course. Your words are absolutely right.”
“The only races that wouldn’t be able to feel such a mysterious flavor would be orcs or ogres.”
“You think so?”
As if to say, See? Damon proudly puffed out his chest and glanced back at Yuliana.
“As you can see, there seems to be no further need for you to evaluate my cooking. I’m already satisfied enough
with the fact that everyone else acknowledged it completely.”
Suddenly reduced to the dog that chased a chicken only to stare up at the roof, Yuliana could do nothing
but bite her lip. She had merely come to realize that a method used once would no longer work on Damon.
After finishing their meal, the group hurriedly packed their traveling gear. Since there was not much of the journey
left to the Crosen Empire, there was some need to hurry. Damon and Yuliana stood blankly,
watching the mercenaries dismantle the camp with practiced skill. They must have folded and unfolded
the tents so many times that their hand movements were almost invisible. One somewhat unusual thing
was that Mitchell was helping them organize the baggage. Perhaps he had grown attached to them through
their swordsmanship spars, for he was, unusually, lending the mercenaries a hand. Kasim looked at Mitchell
with a surprised expression.
“Thanks.”
“Well. Don’t mention it...”
As if it were nothing, Mitchell folded a tent and put it into a backpack. It was an attitude utterly unimaginable
compared to his extremely arrogant demeanor at first. Thanks to his help, organizing the luggage
ended sooner than expected. Kasim approached Damon and explained their plans from here on.
“In about ten more days, the journey will be over. If we walk for about half a day, we’ll reach Leytona,
the gateway city of the Crosen Empire. From there, you should be able to travel together with the princesses
gathered from all across Arcadia. That is where the teleportation magic circles arriving from other countries
are located.”
“Is that so?”
“Leytona is quite a large city. If we procure horses there and travel for ten days, we can easily arrive
at Pelzentin, the capital of the Crosen Empire. Of course, since all the princesses will be traveling together,
it can be said there will be no danger at all during the journey.”
After hearing Kasim’s words, Damon looked at Yuliana with an ambiguous gaze.
“It seems we’ll have to part before long. Rather than tender affection, what we built was mostly affection born of irritation,
but still, now that we’re parting, I feel a little sad.”
“.........”
Yuliana said nothing. She merely looked down at the ground with a sullen expression.
Judging by that, it seemed she did not much like the idea of parting from the mercenaries.
The contract between the Kingdom of Karsel and the Kasim Mercenary Corps had strictly been one-way.
Since there was no need to go around with mercenaries in Pelzentin, where public order was well maintained,
Yuliana’s original intention had been to stay there for a while and then hire another mercenary corps
when returning. But being told they would part in ten days did not sit comfortably with her.
Of course, this could only be extremely happy news for Kasim. At last, an opportunity had arisen
to rid himself of this headache for the ages. However, when he thought of parting from Mitchell,
he did not feel particularly inclined to celebrate. Since they had spent several days sweating and crossing swords,
he had grown at least somewhat attached, and Kasim’s honest feeling was that he did not want to part from him.
Of course, the biggest factor there was that his swordsmanship lessons were not yet over.
Since he still did not feel confident about facing Winslut, he honestly needed Mitchell’s instruction desperately.
‘What a pity. If I could receive instruction for roughly two more months, I might be able to have a bout with Winslut.’
Kasim could tell that his skills had improved considerably thanks to Mitchell’s lessons. Of course,
he had his own insight into basic attack and defense, but the fundamentals he learned from Mitchell
were even more refined than that. Since it was the swordsmanship used by the royal guards of Penslut,
its degree of perfection was extremely high. For that reason, Kasim acknowledged in his heart
that the method Mitchell taught was more effective for both attack and defense,
and also required less strength. Since those were the circumstances, he could not help feeling regret.
But there was nothing he could do. Ten days later, once they arrived at the capital of the Crosen Empire,
the bond between them would come completely to an end. From then on, each would simply go his own way.
Thinking of that, Kasim let out a long sigh.
‘I’ll have to put a generous amount of money in her hands. So she can hire a decent mercenary corps
when she returns to Karsel. She certainly won’t have any money.’
Seen that way, their first commission had been a mission that yielded no profit at all—rather, one could call it
a loss. But Kasim did not think it a waste in the slightest. Thanks to this commission,
they had met someone who could change their fate completely. Because of that, Kasim
had made up his mind to give her even more money than the commission fee he had received.
‘Honestly, with about ten gold, it’s hard to hire any decent mercenary corps. You need at least fifteen to twenty gold
to hire an escort of around ten mercenaries. On top of that, to pay for expenses during the journey,
she’ll need some more money too...’
To be honest, the commission fee of ten gold that Kasim had received was an absurd amount
by mercenary corps custom. And hadn’t it come with the unfavorable condition that the mercenary corps
would be responsible for all food and lodging for the party? He had accepted it because it was their first commission,
but the accurate assessment was that no mercenary corps could be hired for that sum.
‘But it doesn’t matter. From now on, we won’t be taking any commissions at all. Our goal is only
the dragon hunt.’
After casting his gaze toward the two trudging along, Kasim silently moved his feet. It seemed
they too had lost heart at the fact that they would part before long. Unlike before,
the mercenaries walked quietly down the road. Of course, inwardly they were boundlessly happy,
but it was not something they could show outwardly.
“Wait.”
At Damon’s warning voice, the mercenaries all stopped walking at once. Since this was already the third time
they had experienced this, not one of them was surprised. With an annoyed expression, Damon stared fixedly
in one direction. Seeing that he was forming a hand seal with one hand, it seemed he had already deployed
detection magic. Damon had already grasped the fact that a fairly large force was approaching this way.
“It’s a punitive force. There are over two hundred Paladin-class fighters alone. Those Terbian bastards
seem to have made up their minds to catch us.”
“What will you do?”
Kasim spoke carefully. He and the mercenaries showed not the slightest sign of surprise.
Of course, two hundred Paladin-class fighters was by no means a force to be taken lightly,
but they did not worry in the slightest.