Thus, everyone’s gazes fixed on Damon all at once. Judging by the luxurious attire they all wore, they were undoubtedly high-ranking nobles who led Icarot. Damon lightly ignored their stares and trudged toward an empty seat. Just then, someone blocked his path.
“Hm? You are?”
A strange light flashed through Damon’s eyes. He had realized that the man blocking his way was an expert who had amassed considerable internal energy cultivation.
The other man was a strikingly handsome man who looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties. With blond hair and a stylish mustache, he could be called the very model of an Icarot noble. However, from the way his temples bulged and a sharp gleam gathered in his brown eyes, it was obvious at a glance that he had undergone tremendous training. In other words, what they called a Sword Master in this place.
Damon was able to recognize the handsome man’s identity in an instant. When they had first met, he had been wearing a helmet, so Damon had not recognized his face right away.
“Mm! So it was you. Was your name Helbertron? So, how’s the body?”
The corner of Helbertron’s mouth twisted oddly. In truth, being knocked down by a mere magician in front of numerous nobles was not, no matter how one thought about it, an especially pleasant experience. However, he was at least a knight faithful to chivalry. In other words, he was not some petty man who would harbor resentment over a defeat suffered in a fair and square duel.
“Well, thanks to you, I lay in bed for an entire day. That Magic Missile of yours had quite the bite.”
“I suppose it would. It was a blow I threw out in desperation…”
“Your movements and reflexes were truly remarkable. I heard you were once a Sword Master?”
“I was.”
Damon shrugged.
“If the opportunity arises, I would like to fight you once more.”
Damon flinched. In truth, if they fought again, he had no chance of victory. If his body had been normal, Helbertron would never have been a match for him. The Twin-Handed Demon Venerable, whom he had defeated last, was an expert at least several stages above Helbertron. Since he had defeated even such a man, it was extremely unlikely that Helbertron could have handled him.
However, Damon had now completely lost his internal energy. Strictly speaking, he could by no means be considered stronger than Helbertron. His victory had been obtained by properly exploiting his opponent’s carelessness, and if they fought again, he could not guarantee his chances at all. Recalling that fact, Damon wore a bitter expression and vaguely brushed it off.
“If the opportunity arises…”
As if he had guessed Damon’s inner thoughts, Helbertron smiled faintly and turned around.
“I’ll introduce you to my comrades.”
Where Helbertron pointed, three men were watching them with eyes that shone. Each of them had a sharp gleam in his gaze, and even at a glance one could tell they were experts approaching Helbertron’s level. They were likely the four Sword Masters said to lead Icarot.
“Let me introduce them properly. First, the sharp-looking fellow with the scar on his face is Reindelph.”
At that, the man with a long sword scar across his face gave a cold smile and raised a hand. He had an expression as sharp as a honed blade, and the scar crossing his face was quite striking. Damon nodded back.
“That somewhat dull-looking friend over there is a fellow named Primberg.”
A man of imposing build smiled warmly. He had a round, genial impression, and a smile that made him seem endlessly good-natured hovered around his lips. Among the four, he had the best physique, but that did not mean he looked particularly fat.
“That fellow learned swordsmanship in the heavy-sword school because of all the flesh on his body. As far as I know, the broad sword he uses is something ordinary soldiers can’t even lift.”
Continuing to introduce his comrades, Helbertron gestured toward the last man. He was a handsome man with delicate, slender facial lines like a woman’s. In particular, his eyes, which seemed filled with melancholy, were truly exceptional.
“That friend, whom it’s hard to tell whether he’s a man or a woman, is called Saramis. You can think of him as the greatest master among us when it comes to seducing women.”
“You bastard…”
Saramis sprang up in anger, but the comrades beside him hurriedly restrained him. Seeing how he huffed, unable to suppress his anger, he seemed to have quite a sensitive personality. Helbertron, looking sheepish, introduced Damon to them as if to change the mood.
“Now, now. This friend here is the one who knocked me down yesterday. Never in my life did I imagine I would be beaten by a magician. But what can I do? It’s the truth… His Magic Missile was truly frightening.”
At those words, perhaps their curiosity was stirred, for the three men’s gazes fixed on Damon’s face all at once. They were not particularly friendly looks. A remark resembling a sneer burst from Reindelph’s mouth.
“Don’t think you can look down on us just because you defeated Helbertron. Even stupid orcs know perfectly well that Helbertron is the most dim-witted among us.”
At those words, the three knights burst into boisterous laughter. Helbertron shook his head.
“Hopeless fellow. Hey. Just lightly ignore whatever that guy says.”
“I was already planning to. At a glance, he looks even more dim-witted than you.”
Helbertron burst into loud laughter. He looked utterly delighted that Damon had landed such a splendid blow on Reindelph.
“Your tongue is as formidable as your skill.”
The other two laughed along as well, and only Reindelph, who had taken the hit, quietly clenched his molars. Damon, who had been watching them for a moment, turned away. Being here felt suffocating, as if he had forced himself into clothes that did not fit. At that, Helbertron hurriedly grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“To eat…”
“If you order, it’ll come right out. Why not dine with us?”
“The skills of the cooks here are utterly pathetic. So I’m thinking of cooking for myself…”
Helbertron’s eyes widened.
“Ha! You were versed in cooking, too? I’m very curious what it tastes like.”
Unlike Helbertron, however, somewhat sour expressions appeared on the faces of the other three knights. For high-ranking nobles of their caliber, food was something one only needed to know how to enjoy in accordance with etiquette, and that was the end of it. In other words, making food was solely the cooks’ duty, and nobles only needed to eat it.
Because of that, they regarded cooking for oneself as a lowly act of the lower classes. Helbertron alone was the exception. Seeming to possess a rather optimistic and proactive personality, he showed sudden interest in Damon’s cooking.
“You can at least let me taste it, can’t you?”
Damon gave a faint nod. Helbertron looked back at his comrades.
“Would you all like to enjoy the cooking as well?”
“No, we’ll politely decline.”
Upon hearing their refusal, Damon headed to the kitchen without delay. He, too, had no particular desire to go out of his way to cook for those fellows. After he entered the kitchen, Helbertron returned to his comrades’ side. Reindelph addressed him with a thoroughly displeased look.
“I don’t much like that fellow. His appearance, for one, and the way he speaks has no manners whatsoever…”
“Oh? And you have manners?”
Ignoring Helbertron’s joke, Reindelph continued to state his opinion.
“In truth, do you really think it makes any sense for a black mage to dine here? In the old days, I would have cut off his head the moment I saw him.”
“But now is a time when we must join forces for humanity’s survival. I’ve already experienced that man’s skill. According to His Grace Duke Sergei, his way of hunting ogres is truly superb. In that case, he can be considered absolutely necessary for our plan.”
“But his origins aren’t clear… And we don’t know what scheme he might be harboring, do we?”
“Well, I don’t think we need to concern ourselves much about that.”
A wicked smile played across Helbertron’s face.
“If the plan ends successfully, His Grace Duke Sergei will have no reason to leave that man alive. In any case, he is someone who crossed over from another dimension, and he has already been rude to His Grace several times.”
“That’s true. No matter how much he rampages, if one of us takes him on, we can kill him easily enough. Except you, of course…”
“You damn bastard… If I hadn’t let my guard down, he definitely would have been the one knocked down.”
Even the usually easygoing Helbertron’s voice suddenly grew rough when reminded of his defeat. Reindelph, who seemed to have a cautious personality, warned him.
“Shh, keep it down… He’ll hear you.”
Unaware that the four Sword Masters were talking about him, Damon was causing one commotion after another in the kitchen.
“Next, four pints of salmon flesh.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Because of one fellow who had barged in out of nowhere and was running wild, claiming he was going to cook, the chefs of the nobles’ dining hall were half out of their minds. Of course, something like this had never happened before. That was because most nobles considered cooking a lowly task.
Yet now, a small, ugly fellow had suddenly appeared and was causing a ruckus. Judging by his attire, he undoubtedly seemed to be a high-ranking noble, so the chefs had no choice but to obey his words without complaint.
“Bring me pepper, salt, and a little pea oil.”
“B-but, sir, we do not have such low-grade oil as pea oil here…”
“You fool! Why is pea oil low-grade oil? Then what do you have?”
The middle-aged head chef kept bowing his waist. In the twenty years since he had taken charge of the imperial palace kitchen, something like this had never once occurred.
“W-we have olive oil…”
“Olive oil? Hm! That should be fine, too. Bring it for now…”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Because the ingredients were brought promptly whenever he named them, Damon was able to display his cooking skills relatively comfortably. Since there was an abundance of ingredients, it seemed he might even be able to make quite a high-class dish this time.
“Excellent. Should I take over the position of imperial chef while I’m at it?”
Damon hummed as he immersed himself in cooking. The existing head chef, hearing those words, could only be dumbfounded.
‘Damn it. Where did this half-sized runt roll in from, making a fuss about cooking?’
Looking at the ingredients being mixed together this way and that and stir-fried in the pan, it did not seem as though they would taste especially good. First of all, the combination of ingredients was something he had never once seen before, and the seasoning had also gone in entirely strangely. Spices that produced pungency, saltiness, and sourness had been jumbled together haphazardly.
The dish Damon was making now was one of the finest dishes that, even in the Central Plains, could only be tasted in the imperial palace. Because it was a dish only the imperial clan could enjoy, not even its name was known to the outside world. Accordingly, one could say that its cooking method and composition of ingredients were thoroughly shrouded in secrecy. However, Damon had been able to receive the secret recipe by chance. Among the chefs Sajunhwan had kidnapped for him, one had belonged to the imperial palace.
“H-heavens…”
At the time, Damon, who tasted the dish, could not help but be astonished. Though he prided himself on being a gourmet and had tasted countless dishes, it was his first time encountering a dish with such a profound and mysterious flavor. It was a dish that could fairly be called the essence of Chinese cuisine. Unable to forget the taste from back then, Damon had decided to make the dish after a long while and taste it.
“If I want to prepare this thing, now, when I can get all the ingredients I want, is the perfect chance.”
Once the salmon flesh had been stir-fried to a certain extent, Damon added mushrooms into the pan. They were larger than the Central Plains mushrooms originally used, and their aroma was different, but since he had slightly adjusted the blend of seasonings, there did not seem to be any particular problem. Moreover, olive oil was even smoother than pea oil, so it seemed the dish’s fragrance would come alive properly.
The dish being stir-fried in the pan slowly began to give off its scent. At that smell, Damon cried out in admiration.
“Ah! As expected!”
Beside him, the head chef watched the cooking process with a dubious expression.