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What food do you think someone who only ever ate packaged meat from the grocery store would end up devouring the most upon discovering the existence of a bulk grocery store?

The answer is clear.

Steak.

As time passed, beef cuts became available at cheap prices, even in bulk and frozen, naturally increasing their frequency of consumption rather than decreasing it.

In conclusion, I ended up eating steak more than I ever imagined throughout my entire previous life.

Of course, part of it was due to the long period when I struggled to even eat grain porridge, but anyway, Karem, holding a fork and knife in both hands, was mesmerized.

I had never seen a scene like this before.

Before me lay a steak.

I could tell it was a ribeye and tenderloin.

However, I had never seen a plate piled high solely with tenderloin.

The intense aroma of meat and butter wafted up from its brown and golden crust, along with a subtle hint of cheese.

That mouthwatering tenderloin steak was stacked thick like a pancake, with almost no view of the plate beneath other than the edges.

Karem swallowed hard.

I never dreamed I would get to eat dry-aged meat here, something I hadn’t even had in my previous life. Such a sight had never appeared at Winterhome’s dinner banquet either.

The sight of tenderloin, which I had never imagined would be so abundant, and its rich, aromatic fragrance kept enticing me with invisible gestures.

Before it got cold, no, before it cooked more from residual heat, Karem quickly speared the steak with his fork.

He managed to get two pieces on the fork without a care.

That was even better.

The butter-like tender meat effortlessly pierced by the fork released juices and fats with each pass of the knife.

The anticipation I had built up only grew larger.

Frustration from not having eaten properly for so long.

The pangs of hunger felt due to having grown unnaturally.

A natural instinct born from hunger.

Karem filled his mouth with hefty chunks of the two pieces of steak, loaded with all those emotions.

He didn’t chew the meat.

The reason was simple.

There was no need to chew.

The pressure of his tongue and the roof of his mouth alone tore the steak apart.

Is that how meat is supposed to be? Or maybe it’s because Mary’s cooking skills are exceptional?

Perhaps it was dry-aged meat from the undead that made it so.

But what mattered right now was not that.

The intense aroma of meat tickling my nose and the richness of the fat tantalizing my tongue made it clear why mammoth meat is considered a delicacy.

The combined benefits of both beef and pork were heightened by the rich yet subtle aroma of mozzarella cheese, which offset any greasiness.

Even as the oil and juices exploded between the fibers that tore away like butter with each press of my tongue against the roof of my mouth, it didn’t feel heavy at all, even though it was said to be fried with real butter.

Crispy — slurp — crispy — slurp.

And yet as the crust met my teeth, it made a destructive sound with each bite, enticing me further.

Yet, the feast must come to an end.

The meat in my mouth gradually disappeared.

Karem felt both joy and sorrow.

Though there was still plenty of meat left to eat, the thought that consuming this would mean less for later pained his heart.

“If it’s not even the best cut and it’s this good, then what will that nose be like—”

“Keep eating, but please explain,” Mary interrupted, her expression indicating disbelief as she tapped the table.

“First, I heard it from the contractor, but just how—”

Mary’s words trailed off as she rolled her eyes.

Olivier, continuously going “Ooh” and “Oh,” relished his steak, while Catherine, her eyes just blinking, waited for her turn to have her steak cut. And right across from them sat Karem, a strikingly exotic gentleman they all spoke of.

“Were you saying you grew up like this?”

“My hand has stopped.”

“Excuse me, but I need an explanation.”

Mary quickly took a bite of her piece of steak, then cut a piece for Catherine.

“Yum. Good. First, you know that guy is cursed in my stead, right?”

“Yes. So you’re saying if he had just held onto a holy relic, he wouldn’t have been cursed? Then why did he toss it into the well…”

Karem, who had been about to protest while eating, shut his mouth when Catherine raised her finger impatiently and refocused on the tenderloin steak.

“Right, it’s the Curse of Aging.”

“The Curse of Aging.”

“Under normal circumstances, you would’ve died from old age on the spot, but the curse only activated now. Luckily, its effects weren’t complete, so it acted slowly.”

“Slowly, you say?”

Mary tilted her head.

She was aware of the notorious reputation of the Curse of Aging.

But if it progressed slowly, then why—? Could it be because they retrieved the holy relic late?

“The reasons must have been complex.”

While savoring the mammoth tenderloin steak, Olivier wiped the juices from his beard, seemingly agreeing with her thoughts.

“A divine object just below a holy relic. Wasn’t it suddenly obtained at some point? A fortuitous event. That means it must have been imbued with divine power. Plus, that Flora girl, some mysterious fairy, gathered life energy. But there’s likely something else that can’t be explained by just that…”

“If there’s something else, what would it be?”

“If you mean something spiritual—”

“Well, I guess. But I’m not that good at seeing such things.”

Then he pointed at Catherine with the fork he had speared the steak with.

“If you’re an undisciplined disciple, then you might have seen something. The balance of magical power is off.”

“Does that have anything to do with what you see?”

“It does. When you’re extremely tired, your vision blurs and objects appear to overlap. Haven’t you experienced that too, Karem?”

“Ah.”

He understood the sentiment. Having resolved his doubts, Karem resumed working at his fork.

Chew! Crunch! Munch!

The pancake-like stack of mammoth tenderloin steaks had reduced to half but still felt neither greasy nor tiresome.

The cheese aroma wafting from it? The unique flavor and scent derived from combining the advantages of two distinct meats? Mary’s cooking skills? The smoky flavor?

Regardless, even with such enormous portions of meat, Karem felt he could finish every last bite of those steak piles, even if his stomach were to burst.

Drrr—

“Alright, you can eat now.”

Just when about a third was left,

Mary set down another amount of steak equal to what she had initially served.

“…What’s this?”

“What’s it look like? Mammoth tenderloin steak.”

“This is tenderloin—no, it’s not that. Are you telling me to eat more?”

“Looks that way. But you’ll have to eat it.”

“Excuse me?”

Following Mary’s silent nod, Karem turned his gaze. His eyes met Catherine’s, who was resting her chin in deep thought.

“What are you staring at? Finish it.”

“Sir Atanitas? Even though my body is like this, I’m not Gordon; how am I supposed to eat this—”

“Well, if you want to live, you’ll have to eat.”

Catherine was serious.

Olivier nodded along.

Though the Curse of Aging had faded due to complex factors, its resultant effects had already manifested in his body. Karem’s body was proof that he had suddenly aged by about 7-8 years.

The Curse of Aging accelerated physical aging. All necessary elements to forcibly age the subject were drawn directly from the cursed person’s body.

It was a funny situation where he had finally been freed from the curse only to starve to death.

“So, eat up. I’m guessing you’re not even full right now?”

“That’s impossible… no, wait. I think I am.”

At Olivier’s words, Karem hung his head.

The newly stacked portions of tenderloin.

The tenderloin steak he was still eating.

‘You know, thinking about it, I’m not that full.’

Having eaten at least a kilogram’s worth of meat, even if his body had grown young now, after consuming that much meat, he should at least feel a weight in his stomach.

Yet when he looked down, it appeared as if he hadn’t eaten anything at all.

When he touched his abdomen, he even felt abs he never had in his past life.

Karem, while cutting up the remaining tenderloin steak, pondered for a moment and concluded—

‘…I suppose it’s okay?’

Karem actually felt good about it.

What had he regretted the most while eating meals up till now?

Simply the fact that he felt full.

But right now, it didn’t matter how much he ate; instead, he felt an instinctive scream urging him to stuff those steaks into his mouth right away.

Karem’s body obediently followed that instinct. He handed the plate with the tenderloin steak over to Mary. Then he pulled in the plate stacked high like the foundation of a tower with tenderloin.

Seeing this, Olivier licked his lips.

But he couldn’t eat anymore. He shouldn’t eat more.

Eating any further might truly cause trouble.

“I want to eat more, but I think I’ll take my leave now.”

Drrr, clink, clink. As Olivier rose from his seat with his cane, Karem watched him leave the kitchen with his hair rustling. Returning his attention to the tenderloin steak he had speared, he took another bite.

“Oh, wow.”

Unlike the mammoth tenderloin he had just been eating, the filet mignon had no visible oily richness, or next to none at all.

It wasn’t as tender as the tenderloin he had just eaten.

But each time his teeth sank into it, the meat was torn apart effortlessly, asserting that it was indeed a filet mignon. Each time the fibers were revealed, the intense aroma of cheddar cheese slowly mingled with the meaty fragrance.

“Would you like to add a sauce or side dish?”

“No, that’s alright. Just this is enough for me.”

Mary and Catherine shot him incredulous looks, but Karem was sincere.

What Olivier and Catherine said was precisely right.

From the very beginning until now, without any breaks or other palate cleansers, he had been stuffing meat into his mouth, yet his tongue and stomach were not satisfied; they kept protesting for more! More! Eat more!

Above all, the flavor of the mammoth filet mignon was completely different from the tenderloin he had first tasted.

The rich yet strong aroma of cheddar cheese intertwined beautifully with the intense meaty fragrance, slowly erasing the remnants of the tenderloin.

However, there was one thing that bothered him.

“Do I need to eat something else after this?”

“No, for now, this meal ends here. No matter how lacking in nutrients it is, eating more from here may actually be detrimental, so for a while, eat like this.”

“Understood.”

Karem mused absentmindedly at Catherine’s statement and started chewing on the filet mignon.

Naturally, he had been startled at first, but he had no intent or reason to refuse.

The clattering of tableware echoed loudly in the kitchen.

Then suddenly, as if remembering something, Karem raised his head.

“Oh, by the way, how am I supposed to explain this to others?”

“What do you mean?”

“My current condition.”

With those words, Mary, who had been cleaning up, and Catherine, who had been watching Karem eat, briefly paused. Oh no.

“I am a house fairy. That seems to fall under the contractor’s responsibilities.”

“Hey, are you passing the buck here?”

“I have work that I’ve put off. Please put the used tableware in the sink.”

With that, Mary gracefully bowed towards Catherine and vanished from her spot.

It was Mary’s signature house fairy teleportation.

“Did that damn fairy really run away…?”

That could be said.

Only then did Catherine realize she made a mistake.

Thinking about it, Olivier leaving was likely for the same reason. The longer this time went on, the more that sly old man’s personality would mess things up, meaning he would certainly pass all the troublesome tasks onto her.

The workload had suddenly doubled, yet now a new issue had cropped up that she needed to report on.

Furthermore, the Afterglow Fortress’s counter-offensive was a monstrous undertaking, entirely differing in scale from the previous Cold Resistance Potion incident. Reporting it alone would take a lifetime.

Catherine gritted her teeth, so enraged that she felt like her head might explode.

“Ugh, I will definitely repay this.”

“Oh, you’re having a rough time.”

“Uh… ahem. Never mind.”

Though her heated mind threatened to explode, the sudden appearance of the culprits made Catherine avert her gaze and shake her head in dismay.

‘Goodness. What on earth is this mess.’

Just because someone is focused on looks, they get flustered? Get a grip. Get a grip. Think about your age. But every time she tried to look, the renewed awkwardness and embarrassment would swirl together to disturb her.

“Anyway! How about cooling the meat a bit before eating? It feels hot even from here.”

“Uh, I told Mary, but I’m not sure,” Karem replied as he picked up a glass of water to wet his throat.

“…Huh?”

“Is there a bug in it or something?”

“No, I just drank all the—gack!”

The waterglass had a sip of frozen liquid still left.

As if it had been frozen all along.

“Huh? Wait, divine power? Hmm?”

“No, this is—wait? Divine power…”

“Hey boy, look at your hands.”

“Uh? Huh? What’s this—”

Starting from where his hand gripped the glass, a faint light began to emanate as the cold aura flowed down like mist.

 

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