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The kitchen and refrigerator of the Wizard’s Tower are close.

However, Karem’s mind is spinning vigorously as he experiences the theory of relativity while crossing that short distance.

If he reacts so intensely and questions over mere rice, Karem would proudly declare that rice is worth such fervor.

Of course, he hasn’t gone without eating rice during this time.

While preparing Godwin’s meals, he enjoyed oat rice and occasionally mixed it up with barley rice for bibimbap.

However, barley and oats can never replace rice.

Texture, flavor, satisfaction—none of them were complete.

If alternatives were feasible, countless countries in Asia would have already cultivated alternative grains like millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and barley instead of rice.

So, what makes rice so great?

It can be sufficiently explained in five words.

Rice is delicious.

There’s no need to delve into complex discussions about unit area yields and soil suitability.

Rice is delicious.

Unlike coarse grains that cannot hide their unique aroma and rough texture, rice brings out the finest flavor just by cooking it.

“Rice, rice!”

The refrigerator showed no significant changes. It seemed stocked; various ingredients filled bags, boxes, and barrels on the shelves and floor.

In the center stood three wooden barrels.

Karem immediately opened the lid of one barrel stamped with the Royal Seophone seal.

The royal letter complaining about how difficult and expensive it was to obtain this had vanished beneath the cupboard without achieving its goal.

“Oh, right.”

All three barrels were filled with long, nail-like rice that looked like clipped fingernails.

His giddy heart naturally calmed down.

Like the chill of dry ice.

‘Not short-grain, but long-grain.’

A hint of disappointment mixed into his thrilled feelings. Karem grabbed a handful of rice and blew lightly.

The lightweight, elongated rice flew lightly like flower seeds scattering in the wind and landed with a soft thud in the barrel.

Grabbing another handful, he cautiously poured it back into the barrel. The sound of the light, elongated rice falling gave no sense of weight.

“You look a bit disappointed.”

Mary entered the refrigerator, looking puzzled.

“Could it be that the rewards sent directly from the royal palace have gone bad? The barrels are enchanted for preservation, so that shouldn’t be the case.”

“No, it’s not spoiled. It’s just that I temporarily forgot in my excitement.”

At that, Mary’s expression became even more confused.

“Do you mean you expected flour but received rye flour instead?”

“Isn’t that extremely serious?”

“I knew this kind of rice would come.”

“But why?”

“I just got a bit carried away and forgot for a moment.”

After all, rice is rice.

“What about the soybean milk?”

“I’m straining it and setting it in the mold as instructed.”

“Okay, oh. Did you happen to throw away the soybean residue?”

“Yes. I disposed of everything while cleaning up before coming to the refrigerator.”

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Never mind. Just don’t throw it away next time.”

Mary’s eyes morphed into a cryptic gaze.

She couldn’t fathom where the leftover scraps went as they were merely scraps, but there was surely somewhere to use them.

‘Such a waste of soybean residue…’

Throwing away the coarsely textured residue, which is completely opposite to soft tofu but has an even stronger nuttiness!

However, Karem chose to understand.

Anyway, what he had asked Mary to do was only to make soybean milk and tofu. He hadn’t made any other requests, so it was natural for the house fairy who invested her life in her work to throw away the scraps.

The thought of spicy soybean paste stew with plenty of pork lingered in his mind, but he decided to let it go.

No matter how tasty the soybean paste stew is, it’s not more important than rice.

Even if it’s long-grain, rice is still rice.

Grrr—

Thinking about rice, he felt the vibrations of his stomach protesting like waves.

“Mary, have you had lunch?”

“I was just about to prepare and have a meal for the wizards in the tower.”

“Perfect timing. This is our lunch today.”

“The rice, you mean?”

Mary said with a grimace.

“I wanted to have Amadeus Brownie, named after our house fairy, for today’s snack, just like we had in the territory last time.”

Mary pouted and continued to protest.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy that with vanilla ice cream and have a brownie delight, both for you and the contractor?”

“Who eats snacks for a meal?”

Mary raised her hand filled with blatant desire.

“That’s absurd.”

“Meh.”

*

*

*

While Mary grumbled while preparing the wizards’ lunch, Karem gazed solemnly at the enormous pot in front of him.

The fire on the cooking range had long been extinguished, but warm, nutty smells still wafted gently from between the pot’s seams.

“Karem, junior. Are you just going to stare like that?”

“Quiet. I’m concentrating right now.”

“To my eyes, it seems you’re daydreaming.”

Still holding onto the hope of brownies and vanilla ice cream, Mary casually asked.

“Are you waiting for it to simmer like you did when cooking rice before?”

“Yes. Once it’s done, I’m going to make a dish with this.”

“Are you not making it as a side dish?”

“It won’t taste good if eaten like this.”

Of course, this was an extremely biased view held by Karem, who considered only the rice he had consumed since his previous life as the truth, but no one would correct that notion.

“I’m going to stir-fry it once.”

“Stir-fry? Are you referring to the risotto the contractor mentioned?”

“That’s more like a stew.”

Karem, who had been brushing off Mary’s words, suddenly removed the pot from the cooking range and opened the lid immediately.

A plume of white smoke erupted like a bomb going off.

Warm and nutty, yet there was an unfamiliar and peculiar scent rising.

Still, since it’s rice, it certainly smelled much better than when he cooked with barley or oats.

The unfamiliar and peculiar scent wafted in the air.

“Well, I’m going to stir-fry it anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

In his past life, Karem, who despised long-grain rice, couldn’t help but acknowledge fried rice.

Long-grain rice had too much starch to make it for fried rice.

First, he mixed the rice in the pot with a spatula, evenly dispersing cold divine power to cool it rapidly.

Every time the cold divine power permeated the hot rice, more and more billowing steam erupted violently.

All the moisture that had been clinging to the rice was being expelled.

Making fried rice with such steaming rice would take a long time and yield tasteless, porridge-like rice.

Making a post-meal fried rice would be acceptable.

Hot rice was inappropriate for Chinese-style fried rice.

Of course, pouring divine power aimlessly would just make it frozen rice and thus had to be carefully controlled.

With the meticulously cooled rice set aside, Karem retrieved the wok he had prepared just for today and placed it on the cooking range.

After lightly greasing it with pork fat, he cranked the fire up to the maximum.

Once the wok was heated, he immediately cracked all the eggs and stirred them to mix the whites and yolks evenly before adding the cold rice.

“Karem, junior. Are you still making that?”

“Perfect timing.”

“Yes?”

“Could you make some sweet and sour pork?”

“First, understood.”

Though it was a sudden request, Mary accepted it readily.

In the meantime, Karem pressed down on the cold rice to separate the grains while mixing it with the eggs and frying them with a flick of his arm.

Originally, Karem only knew about wok cooking in theory in his past life, and he hadn’t even dared to attempt it in practice.

It wasn’t because he was afraid of fire or anything like that.

Simply put, he didn’t have the strength to handle wok cooking.

However, after reincarnation, it was different now.

He could now enhance his physical abilities with divine power, and thanks to Dragon Lord tail meat, his basic strength had increased, along with the blessing.

The size and heat of the cooking range were compensated by raising another cooking range.

As he drizzled soy sauce over the outside of the wok, he stirred rhythmically.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of the wok colliding with the cooking range echoed cheerfully.

The impact caused the rice grains and eggs, scattered to the same size, to leap into the pot.

The airborne ingredients formed arcs as they rode the hot heat.

The color of the ingredients fried in the heated oil became gradually darker.

The rice and eggs, which appeared to be a light brown hue reflecting the light of the magic stone, absorbed the oil and gleamed.

As he shook the wok rhythmically again, each wave of the fried rice spread a delicious aroma along with the sound throughout the kitchen.

Whether it was the luck of a beginner or extreme concentration, each and every grain of fried rice elegantly landed in the wok without leaving any behind.

In that state, he added vegetables more and ladled in the lard.

He seasoned it with salt and pepper, stir-frying once again.

After several repetitions of frying, a nostalgic aroma wafted through the wok, reminiscent of that old Chinese restaurant he used to visit after growing up in his previous life.

Even Mary, who was engrossed in frying sweet and sour pork, seemed to be taken by the scent of the wafting fried rice.

“Doesn’t it smell wonderful?”

Mary, who was catching the sweet and sour pork, took a deep breath, then snapped back to reality, shaking her head.

“Ahem, but why are you doing that?”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

“The pot. Isn’t it loud as you’re shaking it around?”

“Oh, this?”

Karem briefly checked on the state of the fried rice.

Just a bit more cooking and it would be ready.

“Adding a delicious burnt aroma and going through the process of preparing the ingredients.”

“You mean you’re making that much noise while cooking, don’t you?”

“Just like when making pasta and emulsifying.”

“Ah, I see.”

“This is part of it too. It’s just that the pot is larger, making a bigger sound.”

“Just a pot… isn’t suitable in structure for creating a burnt aroma…”

You could make it without wok cooking.

But the aromatic nature of the fried rice would be lost.

Meanwhile, Mary seemed to have almost finished; she quickly placed the fried sweet and sour pork on a large plate with a swish.

‘That smell is truly extraordinary.’

The rich, nutty scent and the tangy aroma that stirred one’s appetite suppressed the excessive vinegar notes with added sugar and fruit.

With the wave of fried rice filled with burnt flavor right in front of him, Karem felt his stomach protesting violently.

“Are you done?”

“Just have to plate it. Can you pass that bowl over there?”

He scooped semi-circular fried rice densely packed into a bowl, plating it according to the number of servings, and covered the remaining fried rice in a large bowl for later.

It was bound to be sought after, and he accounted for serving it buffet-style to make it easier for everyone.

After setting the wok in the sink, Mary, it seemed, was done as well, placing the fried sweet and sour pork onto a large platter.

“Karem, junior. What about the tofu?”

“Um… It should be set by now, right?”

“Looks like it.”

“Then I’ll take it to the refrigerator.”

While Mary was moving the dish to the dining room, Karem hurriedly began placing tofu into the pot filled with water.

Honestly, he had completely forgotten due to the rice.

 

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