---

Suddenly, Karem thought of a novel ridiculing gluttons.

The early parts of Gulliver’s Travels.

The human Gulliver, washed ashore in Lilliput, had devoured all the food of the tiny people, drawing their furious chase.

In this life—if not in the last—it’s not entirely impossible to exaggerate a bit.

Just now, a dragon, Wales, was freed from its seal and devoured a roast beef whole right before my eyes.

I thought I wouldn’t be surprised anymore.

That was a misunderstanding.

Slurp—slurp—slurp—gulp—

“Our guest is praising the meal,” came the report.

Slurp—slurp—slurp—slurp—

“…This time, they’re asking if they can have another bowl.”

With Jerika translating after Mary, the tree spirit’s vines offered me a bowl to fill with broth.

Given the audible pops from the dry climate, I’d already had similar experiences with Porongporong, so a reaction to something so specific was unexpected.

Karem never even dreamed he would be entertaining a living, moving tree.

“…Like before, just fill it with broth, right?”

“The body of the tree spirit is indeed wood. Yes. It cannot consume solids.”

The tree spirit, after getting a generous refill of goulash broth, dipped its finger-like roots right into the bowl.

Slurp—slurp—slurp—

“I never imagined a tree spirit could eat anything.”

“What a narrow-minded and discriminatory statement, especially from a ground-dwelling dwarf who only knows how to burn trees instead of caring for them.”

“No, I thought tree spirits just drank water and soil and basked in the sunlight like trees!”

The adventurers, filled with curiosity and wariness, seemed to return to their original jovial mood as they engaged in the back-and-forth argument.

The campsite was buzzing with noise again.

Karem listened to the raucous sounds while peering into the tree spirit’s bowl.

Without the bowl, the broth, and the roots, there was something oddly familiar.

‘…A straw?’

That’s right.

It looked just like a straw.

As evidence, although slowly, the level of broth in the bowl gradually decreased as the tree spirit’s root-like fingers continued to dip into it.

It was reminiscent of a beetle sipping sugar water.

“Though it’s much larger than a beetle.”

“Oh, it seems the spirit is paying a price.”

Catherine, with a look of interest, took a bite of the goulash Mary offered her and glanced at Karem with appreciation.

“Pardon? A price?”

Drip—

Suddenly, before Karem’s thoughts finished, something bumpy fell in front of him, which he instinctively caught.

“What is this…?”

It was a bumpy, coarse piece with a slightly reddish-brown hue. Shaped like a hideously painted apple with colors seemingly mixed incorrectly.

“Oh, it’s the Earth Apple.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“It’s a fruit that grows on the branches of tree spirits.”

Unlike Karem, Catherine seemed to know its specific identity. She slightly shook her head at the empty bowl Mary offered and hesitated to reach for the Earth Apple in Karem’s hand.

Jerika, who had approached, perked up her long ears as she looked at the Earth Apple.

“Human cook, you’re quite lucky! Outside of the Bersengzeto, there are scarcely any people other than elves who receive gifts directly from tree spirits.”

“Uh… Is it okay to ask?”

At that, Jerika slapped her open palm lightly with the other hand, as if to emphasize her point.

“Well, humans, dwarves, and others like them just chop wood then burn it to make houses and tools. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Well, in Iceland, it’s cold—oh wait!”

Karem’s startled exclamation drew the attention of everyone, who looked around in surprise like he did.

“The tree spirit is taking the entire pot away!”

With a hand shaped like a limb, the tree spirit clasped the pot, vines firmly locking it in place, and reacted with a rustling of its boughs.

Creeeek—thud—thud—thud—thud—

The pace of its once leisurely walking suddenly thundered back at an alarming speed as it disappeared down the path.

Though its size made it slow, tracking it down was impossible.

The stride coming from its bulk.

Soon after, the forest returned to its previous state.

Most importantly, the people were frozen in shock by the absurd situation.

Still seated, everyone blankly stared at the spot the tree spirit had vanished into.

After a moment, Karem snapped back to reality when a spark from the campfire caught his attention.

“…Jerika? You said it’s rare for non-elves to receive such a gift, right?”

“That’s correct.”

Karem stood and walked towards the edge of the forest and the path where the tree spirit had been. Mary followed closely behind.

“Then what about this?”

“…”

Jerika subtly avoided Karem’s gaze as she nervously fiddled with the tips of her ears. She, too, was caught off guard.

‘How could this tree spirit have such an unyielding spine?’

At the spot where the tree spirit had stood, there was a pile of Earth Apples, as rare as claimed, stacked high—about the height of a child.

Judging by volume, it was around one bag.

Jerika had never seen such a quantity of Earth Apples outside of the Bersengzeto. They were typically processed before distribution in foreign lands.

“What does this taste like?”

“Hmm? Are you going to eat it? Perhaps it’s best not to.”

“Eh? Why?”

Earth Apples were abundant in life force and spirit power, so many sought them.

Naturally, quite a few were eager to try one directly.

“Well, they taste awful.”

As of now, there were none.

Unlike regular fruits, they had so little moisture that they were extremely dry, also being dense and crumbly.

To put it bluntly, they failed in the fruit category.

In short, they just tasted bad.

Therefore, if one were baking a pie, there were far better and tastier fruits in abundance at the Bersengzeto.

Above all, the Earth Apple was, as previously stated, rich in life force and spirit power, so it was used across various fields like spirit magic, healing, alchemy, and more—in processed states.

Even chefs in the Bersengzeto only used these as emergency funds or gifts; anyone hoping to utilize them in cooking had long run dry on options.

After all, they could buy rare and delicious vegetables, among other ingredients, with the money from selling Earth Apples. There was no reason to eat them.

“Karem, junior. Are you—”

Crunch

“Did you already eat it? Well, I figured as much. I’ll just bag the Earth Apples for now.”

Faced with the astonished looks of Catherine and Mary, and Jerika’s wary gaze questioning his choice, Karem chewed on without a care and stopped shortly afterward.

Wait a minute, this feels familiar.

Karem decided to chew on another piece.

The texture was crispy yet crumbling.

It was dense and solid, and yet so dry that it had that peculiar grittiness.

As a result, no matter how hard he chewed, it danced around in his mouth with no taste. However.

After a while of chewing, I can taste the sweetness of the carbohydrates!

Aside from the fact it was a fruit growing on a tree spirit’s branch, every characteristic was similar to a potato.

Karem decided to take another bite.

It was as if the recipes in his head sprang to their feet, cheering and clapping.

“Why on earth are you eating that three times—”

“It’s getting late!”

Pushing through the dark of the forest and dense brush was Sigurd IV, slinging a deer over his shoulder as he returned.

“Sigurd! You’ve come back? A bit late, aren’t you?”

“Had to bleed it and take out the innards, which took a while. It smelled amazing from afar. I felt some strange vibrations around here.”

After lightly tossing the butchered deer to the adventurers, he sniffed the air.

“Has the meal already ended—”

In his line of sight were heavy, root-like footprints stamped into the ground at intervals along with a pile of Earth Apples stacked high.

“Earth Apples? That footprint… it’s from a tree spirit.”

“Yes, the tree spirit has come and gone.”

“What? No way there are tree spirits in Iceland.”

Sigurd IV pulled out an empty mug to drink some beer but then quickly turned his head at the strange atmosphere of the campsite.

“Are you serious that a tree spirit really came and went?”

“…Let’s hear it from the experts first.”

Karem gestured towards Mary.

That was enough.

“Let’s see, given the number of people here, and considering we’ve each had a bit to eat already…”

“Don’t tell me you’re really planning to cook with that?”

“Just watch.”

Purely by age, Jerika, older than anyone present, was entirely lost on Catherine’s understanding of the situation.

However, it didn’t take long for her to catch on.

*

Although the tree spirit had stolen the pot, as Karem guessed, Mary had brought a new one from somewhere.

While Mary prepared the oil, Karem sliced the Earth Apples a bit thicker.

There are two essential things in making fries.

One is the oil temperature.

The other is the size of the ingredients.

Contrary to common belief, potatoes must be fried at a lower temperature than one might expect.

Since they are dense, if the temperature is raised carelessly, you risk ending up with undercooked, soggy fries.

Since the Earth Apple was similar in density to potatoes, Karem deduced it would likely fry at a similar temperature.

Of course, Mary thought the same.

Plop!

“Hm, this should be enough…”

“Do you know the fry temperature?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Since when?

The moment she caught the Earth Apple Karem tossed her.

Thanks to that, Karem was free to prepare the Earth Apples.

The shape was, of course, classic French fries.

As it was being introduced for the first time on Seophone Island, he decided to name them Seophone Fries.

He cut the Earth Apples into lengths slightly longer than his thumb and boiled them lightly in water before drying them off. Mary poured oil into the empty pot, raising its temperature with fairy magic.

“Karem, junior. The oil temperature is sufficient now.”

At Mary’s prompt, he immediately dropped the prepared Earth Apples.

Fizzle!

The oil in the pot rapidly bubbled up, engulfing the potatoes in bubbles. With it came the subtle aroma of mushrooms wafting from the cooking oil, whetting appetites.

After frying for a bit, Karem quickly pulled them out.

“You’re pulling them out already? Considering the density—”

“I’ll be frying them twice, like chicken.”

And the ensuing scene made Lumiere, the only official priest among the party, frown.

Swish—

“Excuse me, Your Grace. May I ask what you are doing?”

“I’m cooling them with divine power?”

“What… What is this…”

How can one treat divine power, proof of devotion to the gods, so lightly…?

Klink apathetically asked, “If you were going to interrupt, you should’ve done it when beer was brought out?”

“…That’s a fair point… huh?”

“For you also make the divine offerings to the deities, don’t you? Isn’t this just an extension of that?”

“…Is that so?”

Lumiere sat back down, doubting if this was right or not, but few shared her sentiments. They all thought Karem had crossed the line into blasphemy.

Of course, even if they heard that, Karem had no intention of stopping his process.

This was entirely for the sake of making delicious fries.

Karem originally left out this troublesome process.

However, after tasting fries that had been fried once, cooled in a fridge, and then fried again, he was left in awe. Sure, it was a hassle, leading him to revert quickly to frozen fries.

Fizzle!!!

After dropping the thoroughly cooled Earth Apples back into the oil, it bubbled up not just similarly, but even more powerfully.

Although they were fried once lightly, cooling them required frying them just as long again.

Along with that came a more potent mushroom aroma.

And a savory fragrance began wafting up behind them.

Soon, only the sounds of sizzling oil and the swallowing of saliva filled the campsite.

How long had passed?

Karem received a skimmer handed to him by Mary and lifted the Seophone Fries, letting the excess oil drip off before placing them in a bowl.

The sight that followed left the mouths of the two dwarves in the party agape.

Sprinkle—sprinkle—

After sprinkling salt, Karem shook the bowl from below to above.

As a result, under the pale light cast by the campfire in the dark campsite, the salt danced upon the golden Seophone Fries, glimmering like golden rods.

As the salt and Seophone Fries touched the cool summer sky of Iceland, the subtle mushroom aroma and savory scent wafted into the air.

 

---