Chapter 36. The First Hero (30)
"Is all of this really true?"
Haiman didn't want to believe it.
He didn't want to believe anything that had happened while he worked on the Leg Machine.
Why didn't you tell me?
He wanted to ask Serina.
But he couldn't.
Haiman himself had demanded to be left almost completely alone while building the Leg Machine.
The words wouldn't come out.
Even so...
How could she stay silent until things became this bad?
Does that make any sense?!
Haiman didn't say it aloud.
He never allowed anger to spill carelessly simply because he felt it.
He was a cold, rational man.
That was who Haiman was.
And he also knew the situation had reached this point partly because of his own foolish obsession with research.
I should've finished the research faster.
I never thought it would take this long.
Regret couldn't turn back time.
All he could do now was handle things properly.
Serina's gentle voice softened some of the anger inside him.
"I waited."
Serina looked at him.
"I waited for the Leg Machine to be completed. I believed that once it was finished, Your Majesty would solve everything."
"Thank you... for waiting."
His emotions had softened.
His body hadn't.
Haiman could feel his head heating up.
Rumors were spreading that the Rice Ball Guild had taken over the Terk Kingdom.
The status of the knights and soldiers had collapsed.
And Serina was saying she had simply waited for the Leg Machine to be completed.
That was not something a queen should say.
If she knew the king was doing something important, wasn't it the queen's responsibility to prevent rumors like these from spreading?
The reports had been correct.
The quotas had been correct.
But discipline had disappeared.
The people were trembling in fear.
Serina hadn't finished speaking.
"There is more."
She continued.
"Our food stores have been steadily decreasing. So we've been reducing what we eat and simply maintaining things according to what Count Thornjer and Guild Master Park Seokdu provide."
In other words, Count Thornjer and Park Seokdu had been controlling them.
The punishment for trusting reports and only checking things superficially was enormous.
This isn't the Queen's fault.
Haiman caught himself trying to place blame on the person nearest to him.
He immediately cut off that thought.
"You endured a lot."
"I told you before."
Serina looked at him.
"I asked whether we should entrust things to another count instead of those two."
She was right.
She had occasionally advised him.
Each time, Haiman had shown her the reports and told her it wasn't necessary.
Then Serina had stopped pressing the issue.
She'd stepped back and continued supporting the completion of the Leg Machine.
She had bought him time.
And now all Haiman could do was thank her for enduring.
He hated the situation.
Sometimes I wish I were stupid.
Part of him wanted to simply decide he'd been tricked.
Then he could cover his own mistakes, become angry, and blame others.
But his mind wasn't weak enough to break that easily.
His heart wasn't narrow enough to lose reason completely under anger.
This is my fault.
Haiman believed that.
But there were still things that weren't his fault.
Heat filled his body.
"Haa..."
He tried to control the anger rising inside him.
Even so.
They deceived me.
They trampled on my trust.
During the two years the Terk Kingdom had been collapsing, what had Serina been doing?
What if she had been plotting with Count Thornjer?
Was this truly something he should simply endure?
Dark thoughts began cutting through his mind.
He'd thought he'd stopped himself from blaming Serina.
Yet he was doing it again.
"Darling."
"Huh... ugh!"
Serina suddenly pulled him into a strong embrace.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe.
When she loosened her arms slightly, his breathing returned.
"I believe in you."
Those words swept away the resentment, anger, and frustration Haiman had been forcing down through pure reason.
For two years, Serina had believed in him even though he still hadn't completed the Leg Machine.
She had endured his complaints about his missing leg.
She had encouraged him.
She had supported him.
"You suffered for two years."
"No."
Serina shook her head.
"I survived on hard bread and stew that kept getting worse and worse, but you had it harder."
"It's good to see the two of you reconcile."
Seongchan spoke.
"Everything we've discussed until now was only about the rumors circulating during the last two years."
He paused.
"Now we get to the real problem."
"There's more?"
Haiman gently brushed Serina's hair aside while asking.
Seongchan opened his subspace pouch and took out a Wild Pig carcass.
Inside its body was a mana stone.
Haiman's expression stiffened immediately.
"A Fear Mana Stone."
He looked up.
"Are demons involved?"
"Yes."
Seongchan's answer was immediate.
"And Count Thornjer is connected to it."
Haiman let out a low sound.
Then he looked at Peuten.
"Is that true? Count Thornjer is involved?"
"It is."
Peuten lowered his head.
"While investigating, I personally saw Count Thornjer speaking with demons."
"This is worse than I expected."
Peuten bowed like a criminal.
Haiman's expression became heavy.
Seongchan had no intention of letting the atmosphere remain gloomy.
"The situation is still better than it would've been because Queen Serina was here."
"Serina did something?"
"Yes."
Seongchan nodded.
"She kept her distance from Count Thornjer and Park Seokdu and tried persuading other nobles so the Terk Kingdom wouldn't collapse completely."
Nothing Seongchan said was technically false.
Serina looked at him as though asking how he knew.
Seongchan ignored the look.
"I see."
Haiman turned toward her.
"You worked hard, Serina."
Then he looked toward Peuten.
"And Peuten."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I understand from the reports."
Haiman's voice became firm.
"This wasn't your wrongdoing. I won't hold you responsible."
He looked toward the papers.
"There is a great deal to do now."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Peuten bowed deeply at Haiman's generous judgment.
With that, the two-year gap had been roughly organized much faster than expected.
Now Seongchan intended to help Haiman finally gain a result from those two years of effort.
"Before that, don't you have another problem?"
"I have so many problems now that I don't know which one you mean."
Haiman waved a stack of papers.
It was a report created by Peuten.
The pages were densely packed with major incidents from the last two years.
It looked as though Peuten had been preparing for this exact day.
"I'm talking about a problem that isn't in the report."
"A problem that isn't in the report?"
"Could I borrow the kitchen to solve it?"
"The kitchen?"
Haiman raised an eyebrow.
"You're free to use it. Do I need to come with you?"
"It would be better if you watched."
Seongchan smiled.
"If you don't, you'll regret it."
"Then everyone will go."
They headed to the kitchen.
The moment Seongchan arrived, he took out seasoned Wild Pig meat and vegetables.
Ella peeled the vegetables, washed them, and even formed blades of water to slice them.
She performed the work of a kitchen assistant perfectly.
Seongchan placed intermediate-grade flour, intermediate-grade salt, and intermediate-grade sugar into a bowl.
He had Ella add water.
Then he mixed everything quickly with a spatula.
Once the ingredients were combined, he placed a hand on the griddle.
"Good heat."
If was much more confident about fire control now.
The heat coming from the griddle matched what Seongchan wanted almost perfectly.
After confirming the temperature, he poured the flour mixture onto the griddle.
He spread it into circles.
Then he flipped each one and cooked both sides.
One tortilla after another began taking shape.
"What are you making?"
"Just watch."
Seongchan didn't explain.
"This is only the beginning."
Sssssizzle.
Wild Pig meat and vegetables began frying together.
A delicious smell filled the kitchen.
Seongchan's hands became busy.
He placed the Wild Pig meat and grilled vegetables on top of tortillas.
Then he looked around the kitchen.
Rethion steak sauce and Rethion mayonnaise.
Ingredients had grades.
And when something was considered the absolute highest quality, it sometimes carried the name of a kingdom instead.
Some processed foods had no formal grade at all.
Products made from multiple ingredients and designed for easy use often carried the name of a merchant company or kingdom.
Rethion was special.
Rethion was not a kingdom.
It was an empire.
Rethion Empire sauces were considered the best in the world.
Even without a highest-grade label, they were treated as something beyond that level.
Squeeze.
The sauces spread across the Wild Pig meat and vegetables.
The flavor immediately deepened.
The dish was complete.
Some tortillas were wrapped around the meat and vegetables.
Others remained open, spread flat like plates.
"Your Majesty Haiman, you need to eat the open tortilla first."
"Only me?"
"Yes."
"This is related to solving my problem, I assume."
That was the entire reason they'd come to the kitchen.
"Exactly."
"I don't know what you're trying to do, but I'll follow your instructions."
"Put the unwrapped meat and vegetables into your mouth, but don't chew them."
"Don't chew?"
"Right. Then tear off some tortilla with your hand, put it into your mouth too, and chew everything together."
Chew. Chew.
Haiman followed the instructions exactly.
His confused expression didn't disappear.
"This is meat I've never tasted before. What is it?"
"Wild Pig."
"What did you just say?"
If Haiman had still had food in his mouth, he probably would've sprayed it out.
A gust of air brushed through Seongchan's hair.
"You heard me correctly. It's Wild Pig."
"You cooked Wild Pig like this?"
Haiman stared at the food.
"Impressive."
"The more impressive part comes next."
Seongchan looked toward the wrapped tortilla.
"Now I eat this one?"
"Exactly."
Haiman took a bite.
The nutty tortilla.
The sweet-and-sour richness of the sauces.
The juicy Wild Pig meat.
The well-cooked vegetables.
Different textures burst together inside Haiman's mouth.
For a moment, the contents nearly overwhelmed him enough to make him look ridiculous.
He quickly used mana to avoid disaster and began chewing.
The more he chewed, the richer the flavor became.
He took another bite.
Watching him, Seongchan ate one too.
It harmonizes much better together than separately.
Seongchan already knew Haiman was struggling with the Leg Machine.
He also knew how to solve the problem.
And now he'd given Haiman every clue.
"When the ingredients were separate, they didn't feel harmonious."
Seongchan held up the wrap.
"But when the tortilla surrounds everything, they work together, right?"
"They do."
"Mana circuits are the same."
Seongchan looked directly at Haiman.
"Instead of trying to keep drawing them separately, wrap one mana circuit around the others like the tortilla wraps the ingredients."
His words struck Haiman deeply.
There was no room left to draw more circuits!
Haiman froze in place with the wrap still in his hand.
Several seconds passed.
Then he swallowed what was in his mouth.
"Wrap them..."
His eyes sharpened.
"I never thought of that."
A smile began spreading across his face.
"I'll try it."
He looked excited.
"There is a real possibility."
Haiman had found an answer.
Not yet a completed result.
But even seeing the path forward made him happy.
Seeing that, Seongchan smiled too.
Wrapping them won't be easy either.
But if it's Haiman, he'll solve it within two or three days.
Seongchan could already imagine Haiman completing the Leg Machine.
He took another bite of the tortilla wrap.
Delicious.
Now that Seongchan believed he'd successfully won Haiman's favor, he spoke.
"I'll take responsibility for correcting the problems inside the Rice Ball Guild and educating them properly."
He continued.
"Would you allow me to make it so no one can train them without my permission?"
"Kim Seongchan!"
Kosdal shouted while still happily eating his tortilla wrap.
He had originally rushed out of the orphanage intending to beat the Rice Ball Guild into shape himself.
I definitely can't leave their education to Kosdal.
According to Seongchan's regression knowledge, if Kosdal beat the Rice Ball Guild members badly enough, many of them would scatter.
And some of the scattered guild members would later cause serious trouble.
Park Seokdu was the problem.
That didn't mean every guild member was bad.
Taylor should be doing well right now.
By now, Taylor might already be meeting Count Thornjer.
