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The return journey was blissfully comfortable compared to the departure.

Of course, the sky still looked gloomy and overcast. The wagon rocked as spring rain added to the slush created by melting snow.

Yet, it was still more pleasant than the way to Kingsland.

The frequency of rain was lower compared to Iceland, the depth of the slush was manageable, and there were no unexpected sleet or snowfalls.

That said, Karem still didn’t venture outside.

The moment the door opened, a wave of humidity rushed in.

The mustiness was palpable, just from breathing.

There was no reason to leave the comfortable wagon of Catherine, where the optimal temperature and humidity were maintained, but there were times when it was unavoidable.

Whether it was to prepare meals for Catherine or the guests or being dragged out by the Felwinter siblings.

Fortunately, over the past few days, Karem hadn’t been dragged out, but the spring rain still drizzled persistently.

Before getting soaked and feeling more uncomfortable, Karem quickly grabbed ingredients and tableware with Mary as the wagon came to a stop and returned in a hurry.

With the rain pouring and ingredients plentiful, first on the menu was pajeon (Korean scallion pancake).

One pajeon wasn’t enough, so there had to be plenty of yukjeon (pan-fried beef).

Karem wanted to make more, but it took more time than expected, so he couldn’t. As soon as he finished cleaning up and returned to the wagon, the caravan set off.

“Ooh, pajeon, huh? There are other jeon too.”

“Yes. With the rain and it being lunchtime, let’s keep it light.”

“Sounds good. Mary.”

“Yes, Contractor. Should I prepare some beer?”

As Mary placed a mound of plates piled high with jeon on the makeshift table in the wagon, she asked as if anticipating Karem’s response.

“No. Bring me glasses.”

“Glasses, you say?”

“Yeah. Transparent glass ones.”

Catherine rolled up the scroll she was reading and moved it aside, twisting her neck from side to side.

“Karem. You take out that pot.”

“Of course. Why bother with beer? For fried dishes, cola is the way to go.”

At first, Catherine was unfamiliar with it, but as she sipped and was shocked by the intense carbonation, she nearly spewed it.

She was about to get furious at the prank, but now she had become accustomed enough to ask for it instead of beer or to have it served when she thought of it.

As Karem infused divine power into the Eranas pot he pulled from his spatial expansion pocket, Mary filled the kettle with cola and poured it into the glass.

“Sizzle sizzle sizzle—”

“Karem.”

“Yes, yes. Ice, right?”

Karem put the pot back into his pocket and infused divine power into Catherine’s glass. Suddenly, some of the cola in the glass began to freeze.

While the cola was forming ice, Catherine turned her gaze sideways.

“Here you go, Contractor.”

“Thanks.”

The last time she had eaten pajeon was last autumn, but this time it tasted completely different from that.

“Hm? There are no bits of meat?”

“Nope. I took some clams and shrimp from the Royal Kitchen.”

Indeed, the clams and shrimp meant for the Royal Kitchen were plump and firm. It was a pity there were no squid.

“I should have saved some mimic meat from before.”

“Mimic meat out of the blue now?”

“It’s supposed to include squid originally.”

Even in the capital city of the kingdom, there was no way to find anything resembling squid. And of course, there was the mimic flesh.

Squid, and something that looks like octopus.

Catherine was a bit surprised, recalling how the taste of the mimic was similar to them.

However, she found it hard to understand why one would lament about it so much. It had a taste, but was it that special?

The chives were fried to sweetness and their aroma burst forth.

The eggs, due to being fried, were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Coupled with the chewy clam meat and bouncy shrimp meat, these were the lost key ingredients of pajeon.

They transformed the potentially dull flavor and texture into something magnificent.

Catherine briefly imagined the expected taste if squid were included. She felt that it would be much less delicious compared to this.

Squid? It just feels right to eat it fried.

The dishes she made with mimic meat were best when fried too.

“Stop talking nonsense. What about yukjeon?”

“Oh, yes. It’s just thinly sliced, lean beef coated with egg wash.”

“Lean beef? Wouldn’t it be tough?”

“You’ll find out when you try it.”

And just like Karem said, after tasting the yukjeon that Mary presented, Catherine understood his words.

The meat beneath the crispy fried egg coating shredded lightly the moment she bit into it.

Though it was thinly sliced, the meat itself had no fat whatsoever, so the texture remained vibrant.

Softness and chewiness.

Two completely opposite types of texture coexisted in one dish.

Next, Mary offered the yukjeon with a soy sauce infused with herbs.

The unique savory flavor of the beef combined with the soy sauce’s sharp and addictive umami, exploding in her mouth.

“Did you hide these kinds of things in your head? You should have taken them out earlier.”

“Not that, when you try to make it, you just can’t think of it.”

There were indeed countless variations of jeon.

Given the nature of recipes, there are bound to be many.

As varied as the types of vegetables, meats, and seafood, so too were the various kinds of jeon. But precisely because of that, it was difficult to recall them when it came down to cooking. Moreover, time was often scarce.

Karem, averted his gaze, slyly ate the yukjeon.

“Mary. Just one cola for me.”

“Here you go.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Karem shyly looked away as he extended his glass. Sizzle sizzle sizzle—the glass filled with cola, icy like a frozen chunk infused with divine power.

Crack—

The sound of something breaking interrupted the dining scene.

“Hmm? Did a monster mark its territory nearby?”

“No way. With the size of this caravan, most monsters wouldn’t even dare approach.”

“Speaking of which—”

Clunk—As the wagon abruptly stopped, the table rattled. Karem quickly grabbed a plate, while Mary clung to the sauce bowl, cola glasses, and kettle with both hands and magic.

“Something’s happening, it seems.”

“It feels like the rain has stopped. Shall we go check?”

Nodding to Catherine, Karem quickly shoved a few bites into his mouth, gulped the cola down, and stepped out of the wagon as soon as he set his glass down.

And indeed, the sound that had suddenly echoed—the snap of a breaking tree—was just that, the sound of wood splintering.

“What the hell, that wagon!?”

“W-Wasn’t that the one the princess was riding!?”

“Caravan halt! Stop, you jerk!”

It was the sound of the wooden axle of the wagon breaking.

And if there was one problem, it was that Alicia had been on board that wagon with Poppins.

The guards who witnessed that scene from the sidelines were dumbfounded. Her father, Alfred, seethed silently with rage.

“…”

“My lord?”

“First, let’s check for injuries.”

“Ahem. Understood.”

When a gentle person loses their temper, it’s said to be all the more terrifying, and the giant guards nearby trembled slightly.

Sure enough, the aura of the angered father was intense enough to frighten even the Swordmaster.

Fortunately, no one was injured. The horses pulling the wagon were agitated, and startled Alicia was just hiccupping.

But the real issue was the broken axle of the wagon.

The axle itself was completely shattered with no way to fix it.

To repair it, they would need to replace the broken axle entirely.

Since it wasn’t urgent enough to abandon the wagon, the caravan decided to take a brief detour and stay in the nearest village.

The sudden appearance of a heavily armed group startled the village, but when the caravan’s people started spending money like water, they quickly flipped over their palms.

“Alicia was startled and hiccupping.”

Alicia, having joined her brothers and nanny to visit the butcher, was now hiccupping while riding on Godwin’s neck. Their pet, the fluffy Giant Dungeon Hamster, followed behind, tugging at the reins Alicia held.

“But, Mrs. Poppins. The girl’s hiccups just won’t stop.”

“I’ve tried every traditional folk remedy without missing a single one…”

In response to Godwin’s question, Poppins replied in a fluster.

A warm glass of milk with honey, pinching the nose while drinking cold water, holding breath, sticking out the tongue and making noises, and so on.

Yet Alicia’s hiccups would not cease.

“So, I was thinking of asking Sir Atanitas for a potion that stops hiccups.”

“Why not just ask him right now—ah.”

William seemed to suddenly understand the reason, glancing from the chatterbox little brother to the younger one.

“Karem. Karem. This time, what are you planning to cook after getting the meat? Can we take our time like this?”

“There’s no rush.”

The direction towards the village butcher was bustling with people eager for fresh meat after a long time.

But as I said before.

There was no urgency.

“Ugh. Alicia doesn’t want to eat tasteless meat.”

“I’ll make that tasteless meat delicious.”

“Isn’t that boring meat going to be all gone?”

“The meat I’ll find will still be there. Trust me.”

Receiving Karem’s answer, Alicia felt other people’s questioning glances as well, but they waited until the crowd at the butcher dissipated.

And only when people grumbled and came out empty-handed did Karem enter the butcher shop.

“Oh, we’re out of meat for today—huuuuuuuuuuh!!!”

The flustered butcher stood up straight, bowing deeply as he and his employees gasped in astonishment upon seeing them.

And when he heard Karem’s order, the butcher’s face contorted strangely. The staff could not hide their shock either.

“…So, which part…?”

“Brisket.”

“Brisket.”

The butcher’s gaze drifted to a corner of the butcher shop. Among the waste from the slaughtering process, there were barrels filled with brisket and other leftover bits freshly cut.

“Just give me everything in that barrel.”

In other words…are you going to feed those noble-looking people over there with that stuff?

Hiccup—

“If you could just give me a bit of time, I can slaughter it right away—”

“No need for that. Just give me that.”

“You want brisket, then?”

Karem felt a sense of déjà vu. Now that he thought about it, it was a similar reaction he had faced at Afterglow Fortress.

“Did you hear me correctly?”

Ahem. My lady. I apologize. I’ll slaughter it right away—

“No, no. I just want the brisket.”

The butcher and his staff looked at Karem as if they were witnessing someone trying to eat a chick alive.

“Uh…Karem. The butcher is oddly staring at you.”

“I’m used to it. It happens often.”

Frequent enough, huh? The butcher glowered and tightly shut his eyes in disbelief.

Heavens, to think they are going to take away brisket. Considering their presence, it was evident that they were clearly going to serve it to the guests who had followed.

But brisket? No matter how one looked at it, how could he sell such meat to noble lords, which was barely enough for broth, bait for hunters, or even dog food?

Clink-clink-clink—tap—hiccup—

“Let’s see, ten silver coins.”

“…!”

“Should be enough for the brisket, right?”

With that much money displayed, it felt as if a silent hint to shut up was also included. However, none of that mattered now.

Were ten silver coins enough?

That was enough and then some.

But turning down a generous offer from a customer wouldn’t be polite.

After all, who would pay silver coins to buy brisket that no one wanted in the first place? The customer in front of him seemed to have lost their mind, but their conduct as a customer was more than satisfactory.

“Ah, while we’re at it, let’s get all that leftover meat too.”

“I guess I’ll just give you the barrel all at once!”

“Since we’re at it, let’s also buy some of our house-made spicy sausages?”

“Spicy sausages?”

“We developed them because I heard a new spice is trending. They are so rich and juicy that they explode when cooked, and have quite a kick!”

The butcher took the opportunity of the current situation to push off some new products that had never sold.

Before the butcher’s eyes, silver coins sparkled enticingly.

 

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