As a result of the cooks, I, and Iseria coming in an hour earlier than usual and working without rest,
the hardtack-making that had begun yesterday morning was completely finished by this morning.
After tending the hardtack in front of the hot oven for hours, the cooks were utterly exhausted.
“Ugh, it’s so hot...”
“Did we finish them all off?”
“What the hell did you just say, you bastard?”
They sprawled in a cool corner of the kitchen, spouting nonsense among themselves,
“Tofu, hardtack? Both square-square.”
and Iseria, perhaps worn out from working since dawn, was confusing tofu and hardtack.
They were both square, and both were savory and delicious, to be fair.
It wasn’t as if I’d been lazing around while they suffered.
I prepared today’s breakfast and summoned a wind spirit to completely dry the hardtack we’d made yesterday.
Using the heat from the oven to blow hot air over them made them just as crispy as factory-made hardtack.
The completed hardtack was lightly mixed with oil and sugar and sent off as part of today’s lunch delivery, so wouldn’t we know the reaction by the time they returned?
They would probably like it.
Crunch!
I also picked up one or two while working, and the nutty flavor of the barley and the clean sweetness were superb.
The reason the cooks and Iseria hadn’t given up despite the grueling work was also thanks to the hardtack they’d snacked on along the way.
Still, seeing them so exhausted, should I make that thing I’d thought of last time?
I brought over a wok of suitable size and poured in enough oil to coat the bottom generously.
It would have been nice if I could deep-fry them, but using [Beginner Spirit Arts] continuously yesterday and today had taken a bit out of me.
So I used only a little of the lard and butter in the kitchen.
Still, the key was for the oil to be absorbed into the hardtack and coat it, so it didn’t matter much.
The wok on the fire slowly heated up, and the temperature of the oil rose in no time.
I tossed the crispy hardtack into that oil.
It didn’t make the shwaaaak! sound of frying that people commonly expected.
The sound of frying comes from the moisture in the ingredients evaporating, and hardtack is a food with its moisture removed to the extreme.
Therefore, there was no appetizing ASMR. But the real part started now.
The hardtack, being shallow-fried as it was tossed about, absorbed all the oil in the wok in an instant.
The hardtack, which had been a dry ivory color, took in the oil and changed to a deep color like oak.
Because it was so dry, it sucked up anything it could, whether water or oil.
Hardtack glossy with a coating of oil.
And the oil wasn’t just oil, but lard plus butter, so the appetite-stimulating aroma of animal fat spread through the kitchen.
“Huh, what is that smell?”
“It’s not... tofu, but it smells good!”
“The mess officer is making something!”
‘You’re finally coming back to your senses?’
The people who had been out of it caught the scent, and the light returned to their eyes.
Now I had to be careful with controlling the heat.
Hardtack was already much easier to burn because it had no moisture, and since it was soaked with high-temperature oil, it would turn black if I was even a little late.
While the hardtack was still within the golden-brown range, I turned off the fire.
And then a little salt...
Shwaaak!
An amount of sugar that exceeded all expectations!
Snow-white, star-like sugar poured down like a stream of water.
“Waaah!!”
“That precious sugar...”
When the cooks saw me adding sugar, they screamed in horror.
Sugar was as precious as pepper, and I was dumping it onto hardtack.
By their common sense, it might have been incomprehensible.
I had also mixed oil and sugar into the hardtack for the meal delivery, but that was only a small amount stirred in.
There was too much of it to fry in oil, and it was difficult to mix in enough sugar to match that quantity.
I could use [Mana Market], sure, but even so, the amount was large.
If I were questioned about where I’d gotten that much sugar, even using the merchant company as an excuse wouldn’t work.
In any case, the sugar granules melted into the still-hot fried hardtack and stuck fast.
I lightly tossed the fried hardtack and plated it.
Of course, I also prepared milk.
Eating fried hardtack without milk? That was a sin worthy of being called out for a nighttime assembly.
“Everyone worked hard. Try some.”
The fried hardtack, coated in oil and sugar, glittered in a deep brown color.
With an appearance that captured both smell and sight, everyone reached for the fried pieces and ate them.
Crunch, crunch!
It could have looked soggy because it had absorbed oil, but the crispness of the hardtack was intact.
No. Rather, with the assistance of the oil adding moist richness, the blandness of the hardtack itself was covered up.
“The hardtack... is wrapping around my tongue...”
“When you fry hardtack, it feels like the flavor changes again.”
‘Oh, sharp.’
As the cook with the delicate palate said, hardtack’s flavor changes slightly when fried.
To be precise, should I say its flavor evolves in a different form?
You know, like how Eevee evolves differently depending on what stone you give it... hardtack dough was the same.
The ingredients that went into the dough were all full of flavor: wheat flour, barley flour, butter, powdered milk, and so on.
And if you braided that dough long instead of baking it, then fried it?
You’d get something similar to a common Korean street snack, twisted doughnuts.
Of course, the flour used and the mixing ratio were different, so it wouldn’t be exactly the same, but the butter and powdered milk reacted to the oil, maximizing aroma and softness.
Sweet and crispy, with the richness of animal fat moistly loosening the tender crumb of the bread.
It was not easy to escape that sensual texture.
The cooks and Iseria kept picking up fried hardtack without pause.
Especially Iseria, who had the sorrowful memory of losing the hardtack she had brought from the elven country when she was chased by a demonic wild boar.
This was a high-calorie snack far richer than elven hardtack, with sugar thrown in so recklessly that its sweetness made one’s eyes snap open.
Though no one was trying to take it from her, Iseria recklessly stuffed both cheeks full of hardtack.
“Mmmph! Mmph!”
Munch, munch.
With cheeks puffed up like a squirrel’s, Iseria somehow moved her teeth and chewed the hardtack.
But everyone must have heard it somewhere.
The fact that it’s hard to eat even seven pieces of hardtack within a minute.
No matter how fried it was, the dry, moisture-stealing heaviness of hardtack remained.
Iseria was caught in a dilemma where she couldn’t spit it back out, but it was too difficult to eat any more.
And for this very moment, milk existed.
“Drink some milk and chew it together.”
“Mmm?”
With her mouth stuffed full of hardtack, Iseria accepted the milk.
Elves, who didn’t eat meat in the first place, had no particular need to raise goats or cows.
For such elves, milk was a rather unfamiliar drink used mostly when making cheese.
Still, trusting me, Iseria gulped down the cool milk.
Twitch—twitch!
From drinking the milk to chewing and swallowing it together took exactly ten seconds.
In just ten seconds, suspicion vanished from Iseria’s eyes, and her pointed elven ears began to flutter wildly.
With eyes full of emotion and joy, Iseria chewed and drank the milk and fried hardtack together.
“It’s so delicious! It’s white and nutty like the cho-tofu I ate last time, but I like this because it’s even sweet!”
Having consumed sugar and rapidly raised her energy, Iseria explained the taste.
Unlike when she was usually prickly and tsun-tsun, she expressed the flavor she felt like a pure child.
Over the past few days, Iseria had continued working with the cooks, and it had been a while since she had already taken off her robe.
After the cooks learned she was an elf, they instinctively felt a sense of distance.
She was a mage, of a different race, and on top of that, an elf rarely seen.
But now, seeing Iseria eat hardtack and rejoice in such an easy-to-understand way, the cooks also smiled warmly.
“Yes, it is delicious. You’re completely different from usual.”
“Now you match your appearance a bit better, Lady Iseria.”
“W-what are you saying! Do you guys really want to die?!”
“Kraaak!”
Crash!
At the cooks’ teasing, Iseria returned to her true self and knocked them over with wind magic.
Right. This was Iseria’s template.
Perhaps thanks to the high-calorie fried hardtack, everyone had recovered their energy compared to before.
Everyone returned to normal and bickered, and the sounds of cold weapons from the northern wall, which had been heard whenever things got quiet these past few days, had also stopped.
The awkward sense of dissonance that came from a daily life that had been thrown off falling back into place.
The monster wave was over, and clearing the battlefield would take three days at most.
Originally, I’d come out on an outing just to sell some pork, but the coincidences had piled up far too neatly.
I’d left the restaurant empty for about ten days, so I’d have to throw out all the ingredients.
The fermented paste... should be done by now without even looking. When I get home, I’ll make doenjang stew.
“Rest a bit, then let’s prepare dinner!”
“Yes, sir!”
Well, first I had to finish the work I’d been doing.
We enjoyed a peaceful routine for the first time in a while.
***
“You truly worked hard. But... are you really not interested?”
“I’ll gratefully accept only your words.”
‘Re-enlisting is a hard no.’
Once the city’s alert order was lifted, I could no longer leave the restaurant unattended, so before leaving, I met Duke Kailan.
Rather than met him, it was more that I was summoned...
Through reports, Duke Kailan had learned that during the few days I served as temporary mess officer, the soldiers’ morale and efficiency had risen noticeably.
Like Arthur, Duke Kailan was already at such a high level that even after eating my food, he did not feel any meaningful increase in mana.
Still, there was the fact that the combat power of the entire Silvaerin Knights had risen, and that the loyal 1st Platoon Leader Arthur had grown into a Sword Expert, so he tried to hold onto me and place me permanently in the mess officer position.
As if I’d be crazy enough to accept that offer.
No matter how much money they gave me, or even if they granted me land, I would not re-enlist.
When I firmly showed my intention to refuse, Duke Kailan clicked his tongue in disappointment and accepted it.
“I understand. If you change your mind, come find me anytime!”
“Ah, yes...”
“This is a different matter, but could you perhaps tell me the recipes for the meal menus and the hardtack? I’d like to maintain the quality of the meals as much as possible even after you leave.”
“That much is simple.”
Recipes, huh. Since I had no desire to make a fortune off them, I readily agreed.
It wasn’t even a restaurant doing business, and it was for the strength of the knights protecting the city I lived in, so I had even less reason to hesitate.
Ah, but if the recipe stayed exactly as it was, the cooks wouldn’t be able to make it even if they wanted to.
It included many ingredients only I could obtain.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll modify the recipes before giving them to you. It won’t take long, so I’ll visit again soon.”
“Mm, understood. You must be busy running a restaurant and a merchant company as well, so I’m sorry to trouble you.”
Flinch.
Perhaps because a thief’s own feet go numb, the sudden mention of the merchant company startled me slightly.
The matter had been resolved well, but in any case, it was a merchant company I’d made up as a lie.
Since I’d achieved results, even if that fact were discovered, I probably wouldn’t receive some very severe punishment, but it still wouldn’t be good.
Iseria and I took the small compensation we received from the duke and quickly left the mansion.
I’d come back in about three days, quickly hand over the recipes, and leave.
If I got caught up over the merchant company for no reason, things would become a headache.
Just as I began walking and was about to head home,
“Hey! Is that you, Jinwoo? Wait a moment!”
At the familiar voice calling me, I turned around.
“Good thing you haven’t gone far... It’s me. Callius.”
“Ah, hello.”
The owner of the voice was the merchant uncle who had chatted with me in the shelter and had been a great help in exposing the former mess officer. Callius.
Now that I thought about it, back then, Callius had vouched for my merchant company, allowing me to enter the garrison.
After going in, I’d been so busy that I had forgotten.
“Thank you for last time. I should have come to see you myself. I’m ashamed.”
“Haha! Not at all. I’m glad just to hear you say that.”
As expected of the uncle who had cheerfully chatted with me, Callius naturally joked around.
By the way, why had he called me? Was it about the merchant company?
‘The merchant company was just a lie, though.’
Looking back now, it had been quite a reckless method.
If the former mess officer had been even a little more meticulous, I might have been the one suspected and caught instead.
Given my circumstances, what merchant company? I was busy finding cooking ingredients and running the restaurant.
“But is something the matter?”
“Ah, right. I tried the new hardtack you supposedly made. I’m a merchant too, so I often travel for long periods, and eating tasteless provisions has always been the worst hardship. But when I tried the hardtack you made, I liked not only the taste, but also the nutrition and how filling it was!”
“I see. Thank you for the praise.”
“Mm, so what I’m saying is...”
Callius, who had been enthusiastically showering praise on the hardtack I made, briefly paused before continuing.
Given the context... this was the timing for something big to come.
“You should do a business with me using that hardtack.”
“Pardon? Business is a bit...”
“Have you forgotten that I vouched for you back then? It seems things turned out well in the end, but if the duke were to learn that you infiltrated the garrison with a fake merchant company...”
“Ah.”
So this snowball was rolling back to me like this?
It seemed it would take a little longer before I could get my daily life back.