Chapter 21. The First Hero (15)
Kim Seongchan stopped while cutting the meat.
I already got Naye’s permission to sell it, and the guild members agreed too.
Kim Seongchan recalled what had happened before Lee Naye gave her permission.
When people saw the Intermediate Monster Cauldron and smelled the delicious aroma, a huge crowd gathered around them.
[This is food for the members of our Fist Rice Ball Guild.]
[Let us eat some too!]
[It’s Wild Pig meat, you know?]
There was a brief silence.
However, the residents did not believe them.
[If you don’t want to give us any, just say so!]
[We’ve endured enough already! Didn’t you take all our food too?!]
[You can’t come any closer!]
The guild members blocked the crowd, but the hungry residents had no intention of backing down.
Lee Naye did not know what to do, so Kim Seongchan made a suggestion.
[I expected something like this, so I made plenty. Let’s sell it cheaply.]
[Is that really okay?]
[I’m giving you permission.]
[Yes. Thank you, Seongchan.]
While the huge crowd silently waited for the Wild Pig Stew to finish cooking, a child’s voice rang out.
“I’m really confident when it comes to eating!”
Kim Seongchan straightened up from cutting the meat and turned toward the voice.
So the bold kids finally came.
Among the crowd, Kim Seongchan spotted two dirty-looking children.
They were easy to distinguish from the neatly dressed residents of the Terk Kingdom.
They were probably children from the orphanage who had been unable to resist the smell of the Wild Pig Stew.
Din and Malko both came.
They were not especially important figures in his regression knowledge.
However, the connection that began through these children was important.
Both children had smiles on their faces.
Their expressions clearly showed their determination to make a good impression somehow and get something to eat.
“Ella.”
Ella understood Kim Seongchan’s thoughts and flew toward the two children.
She created a stream of water.
The two children were immediately swept up by it.
“Uwaaah!”
“Ugh!”
Both were badly startled, but they quickly adjusted.
The stream of water lifted their bodies into the air before gently dropping them in front of Kim Seongchan.
Thanks to Ella, both children were now completely clean.
“You said you’d work, right? Then work.”
The two children had said they were good at eating.
They had never said anything about working.
Naturally, both of them looked confused.
“Huh?”
“If you serve the food, I’ll let you eat.”
Kim Seongchan wanted to teach the children the value of work.
“I’m Din, and this is Malko. But what does ‘serve’ mean, Mister Cook?”
Din asked innocently.
“I’ll fill bowls with stew. Serving means taking those bowls and handing them out to the guild members.”
“If we really serve it, can we eat too?”
“Do you want to just eat this and be done?”
Kim Seongchan showed them a piece of meat he had cut.
It was the meat he had intended to taste to see whether it was properly cooked.
“Really?!”
“Hey, why are you reacting like that?! He said he’ll give us stew if we serve it!”
“Ah, right. We’ll serve it. Slurp.”
One child had strong self-control.
The other was desperately trying not to eat immediately.
Kim Seongchan asked the impatient one,
“You said your name was Malko, right?”
“Yes.”
“Have a bite.”
“Thank you!”
As if the meat in Kim Seongchan’s hand did not even exist, Malko quickly grabbed a piece from the cutting board with his hand and stuffed it into his mouth.
When Malko kept his mouth closed, it looked normal.
But when he opened it, an unexpectedly huge space appeared, easily swallowing the meat.
Munch. Munch.
Malko looked incredibly happy with so much meat filling his mouth that it almost seemed ready to burst.
He ate with obvious delight.
The sight of Malko happily eating moved the hearts of the surrounding residents.
“Who cares if it’s Wild Pig? Look how deliciously he’s eating it!”
“Wait, you actually thought that was Wild Pig? That’s obviously just boiled meat.”
“What an innocent fellow. Of course it’s Wild Pig. After watching that kid eat it, I think I could eat it too.”
“What?! Does that look like Wild Pig meat to you? Use some common sense!”
“How much is one bowl? I’ll buy one!”
The residents began arguing over whether the meat was really from a Wild Pig.
They doubted it that much, and now they’re desperate to eat it.
Kim Seongchan remembered their faces when they first heard that it was Wild Pig meat.
They had hesitated in disgust, then stubbornly insisted it could not be true.
That was why Kim Seongchan had silently picked up a piece of meat earlier.
Partly to show that there was no problem eating it.
Partly to check whether it was cooked.
And while doing that, he had waited.
I was waiting for Din and Malko to arrive.
Just as his regression knowledge told him, Malko appeared and began eating the Wild Pig meat deliciously.
The way Malko eagerly chewed, his lips and cheeks moving wildly, was more than enough to awaken the residents’ appetites.
“You eat well. Did you know what kind of meat that was?”
“What kind of meat is it?”
“Wild Pig.”
“Wow! From now on, I’m only going to eat Wild Pig meat! If I serve the food, I really get to eat more, right?”
The piece of meat had been about the size of an adult’s fist.
Malko had swallowed it in one bite, yet he still seemed hungry and licked his lips as he asked.
Kim Seongchan looked at Lee Naye.
Naturally, the children’s heads followed his gaze.
“Go ask that noona who you should serve the food to. She’ll tell you.”
“Okay! Who should we serve it to?!”
“It’s super delicious! Let’s hurry and finish!”
The two children quickly ran over to Lee Naye.
Only after watching them carry bowls around did Kim Seongchan turn toward the residents.
Their eyes were practically shining with the desire to eat.
“Ten silver.”
Their excitement instantly disappeared.
A stew with barely any ingredients usually cost one silver.
A decent loaf of bread cost around fifty copper.
The price Kim Seongchan had named was roughly what an ordinary adult earned from a full day of work.
“Isn’t that way too expensive?!”
“Even the best stew only costs around five silver!”
“You’re selling Wild Pig meat that people usually throw away, and you’re charging that much?!”
Kim Seongchan did not look like someone trying very hard to attract customers.
Someone standing nearby had a completely different reaction from the residents.
It was Kosdal.
“It’s worth that much. No, I would understand even if it were more expensive.”
Kosdal, dressed as a knight, accepted the price of the Wild Pig Stew.
Occasionally, an exceptionally well-made stew could increase all stats by around 10 percent for an entire day.
Considering such high-quality stew sold for around five silver, a stew that increased all stats by 20 percent was easily worth ten silver.
Especially when only a tiny number of people could make it.
Increasing all stats by 20 percent for an entire day is incredible, but if you think of it as simply paying for one meal, it’s still expensive.
The residents could not say anything.
Some started to leave.
Others looked disappointed.
They had gathered only because they were hungry and wanted something delicious to eat.
“Just as Sir Kosdal said, this Wild Pig Stew would still be worth the price even if I charged more. But I’ll sell it for only one silver!”
The residents who had been about to leave immediately stopped.
One person quickly stepped forward and stood in front of Kim Seongchan.
A long line instantly formed behind him.
“Don’t change your mind.”
“I won’t. But you can’t take it away with you. You have to finish it here.”
“Fine.”
Even while answering, the man seemed to be wondering where he would sit and eat.
Kim Seongchan took tables and chairs out of his Upper-Grade Subspace Pouch.
“It’s all thanks to His Majesty’s grace. He gave us the cauldron, the tables, the chairs. His Majesty truly is thoughtful.”
“I asked for tables, chairs, a cauldron, cooking utensils, and spices, so they gave them to me.”
Kim Seongchan had discussed roughly what he intended to do in the future with Daltan.
After hearing the plan, Daltan provided even more support.
Still, just as Kosdal said, it is a favor from His Majesty.
If they had not talked in more detail, the Upper-Grade Subspace Pouch would have contained much less.
Kim Seongchan did not continue the conversation.
He began collecting the money.
The Fist Rice Ball Guild House had three floors.
The first floor was a place for eating and casual conversation.
The second floor contained the guild members’ rooms.
The third floor held the Guild Master’s office.
The Guild Master’s office had a clear view of the training grounds.
Park Seokdu enjoyed watching the guild members complain about their training and their food.
That’s what happens when you don’t listen.
He could not give meat to people who ignored his instructions and trained however they wanted.
“Tell them to run, and they start yelling about how they need to warm up first.”
Perhaps remembering how irritated he had been, Park Seokdu breathed heavily through his nose.
They had the bodies of Heroes.
Why would they even need warm-ups?
Shouldn’t they be able to fight an enemy at any moment without warming up?
Once Kang Taesik stepped forward, everything became clear.
Park Seokdu finally learned exactly who refused to follow his orders.
There was no reason to treat people well if they would not listen to him.
They were people who could betray him at any moment.
Looking forward to Kang Taesik’s miserable face when he realized there was barely any meat again today, Park Seokdu looked out the window.
“That’s an Intermediate Monster Cauldron. Is he an Intermediate Cook?”
A cook’s rank was divided based on what grade of cauldron they could handle.
Not every royal cook was a Master Cook.
However, someone needed to become at least an Intermediate Cook before they were even qualified to become a royal cook.
“He controls spirits too? What is he, a Spirit Master?”
Even at a glance, Kim Seongchan’s skill in controlling spirits was unusual.
The spirits responded immediately.
They did not turn their heads away or move their lips while complaining.
They were very well trained.
“How badly did he torment them to make them listen that well?”
If someone refused to listen, they had to be crushed.
Once they were crushed, the quick ones realized their mistake and started obeying.
Then, if you praised them afterward, they became happy and loyal.
That worked with people.
But Park Seokdu had heard spirits were different.
Didn’t they say spirits have terrible personalities?
He had heard that if a Spirit Master decided to force a spirit into submission, their emotional connection would make the master suffer as well.
Spirit Masters had complained that they usually avoided using their spirits and instead tried to keep them happy.
Park Seokdu remembered the faces of Spirit Masters drinking heavily while complaining that they should have simply used magic scrolls instead of becoming Spirit Masters and giving themselves so much trouble.
“Cooking must be his hobby, so he became an Intermediate Cook, and he’s also a Spirit Master. Naye brought back a fairly capable Hero.”
After finishing his evaluation of Kim Seongchan, Park Seokdu returned to the reports.
His hands began moving faster as he read.
“Something’s strange.”
Something was seriously wrong.
This should not have been possible.
“Does this make any sense?”
The documents concerned the areas outside the Terk Kingdom.
They reported that the villagers were now killing Wild Pigs themselves.
And it was not just one village.
Reports saying the same thing had arrived from several different places.
“I was planning to slowly starve them to death. What happened?”
Park Seokdu put the reports down and turned toward the window again.
He could see pieces of meat floating inside the cauldron.
Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
A guild member carefully opened the door and entered.
“Have you seen what’s happening outside?”
“Can’t you tell that I’m looking?”
“Ah, you were already watching. Apparently, the Hero Vice Guild Master Lee Naye brought with her is making stew out of Wild Pig.”
“Are you sure that’s what they said?”
Park Seokdu did not believe it.
Wild Pig could not be eaten.
If it could, he would have hunted Wild Pigs with Lee Naye and enjoyed easy meals long ago.
Seeing Park Seokdu openly dismiss the idea, the guild member answered with an equally doubtful expression.
“Yes. The other guild members nearby all said the same thing.”
“Fine. You can go.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, bring me some of that stew too.”
“Understood!”
Stew made from Wild Pig.
What ridiculous nonsense.
There was a limit to how much someone could lie.
There were reports saying people ate soup containing black-colored meat and suddenly became stronger. I assumed it was simply because Sir Kosdal had been wiping out entire groups of Wild Pigs with a single attack wherever he went.
Park Seokdu had thought Kosdal’s involvement had given the villagers hope and allowed them to fight back against the Wild Pigs.
But perhaps the answer was actually inside the Wild Pig Stew boiling in that cauldron.
A well-made stew can sometimes increase all stats by 10 percent for a day. Even 2 percent would make this impressive.
No.
It was ridiculous to even think like that about Wild Pig, something that could not be eaten in the first place.
“Something’s wrong. There are even reports saying the villages killed Wild Pigs successfully today.”
Kosdal was here right now.
And any effect from the soup should already have disappeared.
There were too many different villages involved.
Trying to find the cause, Park Seokdu frowned.
“I need another method.”
The cause no longer mattered.
If the reports were true, his plan would not proceed as intended.
He needed another way.
I need Silnyang to become disappointed in its master, then tempt it with sweet words and make it mine.
He had never expected the villages to become capable of dealing with Wild Pigs properly.
A plan he thought was almost complete might end up returning to the starting point.
“I’m thinking too far ahead. I’m overreacting to something insignificant.”
Because events were unfolding differently from usual, Park Seokdu was exaggerating their importance.
It was probably nothing.
If he simply continued tormenting Kang Taesik and Lee Naye as usual, eventually Silnyang would become his.
