Episode 462: The Increasing Number of Slaves (2)
“Those are the knights of the dark quarter, or saints?”
“that’s right.”
“Where are you going to use them?”
“I’m thinking of returning it to the black room.”
King Deogard was slightly impressed by his natural words.
“Are you returning the captives you took? Without a ransom demand?”
After all, whoever caught them is a saint.
Without him, they would have lost only 3,000 of the poor Celian soldiers, let alone taken prisoners.
However, since it was already in hand, I became greedy.
No matter how much it was the saint’s request, he was a little reluctant to let go of the black room’s power, which could dig up information or demand a ransom.
“Umm…”
The king seemed to be thinking.
However, Ray couldn’t explain it properly.
‘Because Celia is still exposed to the Black Room.’
It is unknown how many nobles may have been seduced by the black room.
In addition, the black room’s penetrating power is superior enough to allow them to bring a certain person they selected into a noble family as a slave.
How many aristocratic families are playing in the hands of the black room?
I get chills just imagining it.
So, if you say something wrong, there is a risk that Heukbang will notice in many ways.
It would have been far better to keep it a secret even from the king.
King Theogard stroked his beard and drool, then shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that request.”
“There will be nothing to worry about. Trust me.”
It’s not my taste to blindly ask for trust, but I can’t help it in the current situation.
However, it is the king who cannot prosper the kingdom only with that trust.
King Deogard, who had spoken once, apologized again.
“I’m sorry.”
With that, the short audience came to an end.
* * *
“Sheesh. We have no choice until we bring the evidence.”
He grunted and left the audience room.
King Deogard is a fairly competent king even though he looks incompetent on the outside.
It was because the swordsmanship that had risen to the level of a sword master and the fact that Celia was able to take advantage of it as a trading country made me feel how excellent King Deogard’s work ability was.
That’s why they won’t hand over the forces of the Black Army until they get the right evidence.
“Where do you find the evidence?”
At least it should be enough to let them know that the nobles are joining the Black Room and that Celia’s situation is not as comfortable as the king thought.
There was no way such palatable evidence could have been produced in a flash.
The work of the Marquis of Veron is also not adequate evidence because it was just caught selling slaves.
I thought about just infiltrating the dungeon and engraving the slave engraving, but even so, it was meaningless as the prisoners of the black room were being held by Celia.
In the end, did he have no choice but to find evidence that would tempt the king?
when he’s been hanging around for a while.
Quite a commotion came from the royal kitchen.
As I approached out of curiosity, the person who appeared to be the chef was scolding several cooks.
“The cook loses the ingredients! Those ingredients were meant to go to the royal family today! If you have a mouth, at least make an excuse!”
The chef glared at him with a grimace.
The cooks, who had shrunk as much as they could, struggled to open their mouths.
“That’s… we don’t know. I turned my gaze for a moment, and the ingredients I was holding in my hand disappeared like nothing….”
The cooks poured oil on the chef’s planting.
“You say that!”
“I have nothing to say…”
“I’m sorry.”
Fifteen chefs bow their heads and apologize.
The chef took a deep breath and soon calmed down the bubbling inside.
They are not subordinates who are capable of spouting lies.
They had a passion for cooking more than anyone else.
It wasn’t even spoiled to the point of daring to mess with a dish served to His Majesty.
That’s why the chef was even more puzzled.
‘ha. I wonder what the hell this is all about.’
Due to the massive disappearance of ingredients, it became impossible to serve proper dishes during mealtime.
I have no choice but to set the table with a dish that can be made lightly.
Ray, who found this strange, waited in front of the kitchen and waited for the cooks to come out after they had finished cooking.
As the time passed and the sun went down, cooks with unpleasant expressions began to appear one by one.
“hey.”
When I spoke to him, the cooks who were looking at Ray were frightened and lowered their bodies.
“I see you, Holy Son.”
“Meet the saint.”
“What are you doing here…?”
The cooks who suddenly encountered the saint were taken aback.
Could it be that I came here because I didn’t like the meal today?
A feeling of nervousness was evident on his complexion.
“I overheard the conversation earlier. I heard someone stole the ingredients?”
“There is no way to know if it was stolen or not, but while we looked away for a moment, all the ingredients were gone. I am worried that something big will happen.”
“Thanks to you, I was punished to prepare all the ingredients for tomorrow.”
While talking, show the ingredients you are holding.
Not only the royal family, but also the meal that the nobles had to eat, so the amount was truly staggering.
“I have nothing to do, so I will help you.”
“Oh no! The chef will be furious if the fact that he entrusted the punishment to the saint is revealed.”
“It’s fine if you don’t notice. If you trim them by the stream, you’ll think they’re doing laundry together.”
Ray quickly took the baskets the cooks were holding and took the lead.
“Come on. If we have to do it within today, we have to do it quickly.”
The cooks looked at him as if they were a little surprised.
Originally, high nobles tend not to touch cooking because they think it is inferior.
However, seeing a saint with the highest rank after the king approached them without hesitation and willingly tried to help them, which made them feel a bit new.
* * *
By the time we arrived at the stream, the sun had completely set and it was getting dark in the son-in-law.
I couldn’t see anything, so I had a lot of trouble trimming the ingredients.
Let’s stand around the chefs who put down the ingredients as if they were embarrassed.
“Light.”
The small lights created by Ray lit up the surroundings.
It was as beautiful as a number of fireflies floating along the stream.
The cooks, who had rarely seen magic because they had devoted their entire lives to cooking, were briefly mesmerized by the spectacle.
Ray took the fruit out of the basket.
Perhaps because it was a fruit dedicated to the royal family, its appearance and size were significantly different from those in the market.
A chef with a shaggy beard stopped him.
“Leave the juicy fruit to us.”
In some respects, the work of cutting fruit with a knife is more difficult than trimming the leaves or stems of vegetables.
This is because if you cut the knife wrong, you will also throw away all the edible parts.
Even skilled cooks need to cut fruit for another year before it can be served at the Royal Cuisine.
It was absurd to entrust it to a saint who was a novice.
Despite the chef’s disapproval, Ray held the fruit close to the fruit. Like a
snake
running through a bush.
The fruit began to shed its skin little by little and at a rapid pace.
Lightly pass over the edible parts and cleanly cut out the inedible parts.
The process was incredibly smooth.
It’s almost as if the fruit itself is throwing off its clothes.
The cooks who were watching opened their mouths.
The hand holding the fruit stays still, but only the hand holding the fruit spins round and round.
‘The shell does not break.’
It was proof that the power distribution was constant from beginning to end.
Although it is just a fruit, the exquisiteness was evident in each hand.
It was the past when he cut people instead of fruit, so now the knife was his hand and body.
“Can I cut it like this?”
He held up a well-cut fruit that looked appetizing.
Unknowingly, the fruit that was made with Eonryung seemed fresher than before as it was full of vitality.
In addition, his heart, wishing ‘I hope he eats well’, was mixed with mana, and the scent of the fruit was not the same as before.
From a while ago, people are dizzy because of the fragrant scent that stimulates their appetite.
The cooks gulped.
“Well, you cut it well.”
“Have you ever peeled fruit before?”
I did try cutting it.
It was because I had shaved it a few times when I was traveling with Iriel.
“I think I’ve shaved it two or three times.”
“Huh!”
Only two or three times!
“Then, please fix this this time.”
While talking, hand over vegetables that look difficult to trim.
Ray stared blankly at the plant the cook handed him.
It is the first plant I see after coming to this world.
The stem has thorns and the leaves look like holes are pierced.
Besides, it’s purple.
I came to believe that it was a plant grown in the Demon Realm.
“What is this?”
“It’s the ‘Flower of Twallan’. It is said that it was named because it was popular in the kingdom of Twalan in the past.”
“Mmm.”
I wonder if I will be able to eat this.
Ray raised his sword again.
When the stem is cut, the tiny thorns fall off mysteriously neatly.
Among the stems, only the stems connected to the leaves were found, cut off, and split in half.
‘huh?’
While trying to trim the leaves, I stopped my hands for a moment at the presence of mana flowing lightly.
Mana was leaking little by little from the plant stem.
oh my god! Could it be that it was an elixir!
It’s a weak amount, but it’s a plant that contains mana.
Since they were eating these things instead of meals, it was understandable that the royal family’s mana was different from that of ordinary aristocratic children.
His mana hurriedly stopped the mana from flowing from the plant stem.
One of the cooks who saw it was shocked.
“Twalan split in half and no mana flows out!”
“Is that for real?”
“yes! Rather, it feels like I have more mana than before I cut it…!”
It will.
Because his enormous mana is suppressing the plants.
The cooks were very excited, unlike Ray, who blamed himself for cutting the stems for no reason knowing that it was an elixir.
“Towalan, which has a strong taste, was particularly difficult to eat after removing only the thorns from the stem… Maybe a new recipe will be born!”
Ray knows all too well how crazy it can be to cut down a spirit herb.
If you cut down a plant where mana flows, mana will escape through the gap.
However, since all the mana will be lost if it is roasted on fire, lightly salting was the way to take towalan.
The cooks each turned their heads to exchange glances.
The saint was a born cook.
If you don’t let someone like this cook, who the hell is going to cook!
“Tell me the secret!”
“Please teach us!”
Celia’s kitchen passed into his hands in an instant.
