Chapter 54

Chapter 54. The First Hero (48)

Slurp. Slurp! SLUUURP!

The Original Wild Pig Soup restaurant was filled with knights wearing their full uniforms.

They were eating so quickly that it almost looked like a competition to see who could finish first.

Tables and chairs had also been arranged outside, where soldiers were eating.

There were ordinary citizens too, but all of them were standing.

Every available seat inside and outside the restaurant had been taken by knights and soldiers eating Wild Pig Soup.

It was a rather unusual sight.

"I want to eat."

"Go to the bathroom before you eat."

"Dean! Don't talk about the bathroom when we're supposed to be eating!"

"Are you really not going?"

Dean looked at Malko.

Malko thought about the question seriously.

Actually, food tastes better when I empty my stomach before eating. Wait, no!

Malko hated himself for even considering Dean's suggestion.

He wanted to eat.

But he couldn't because they were still waiting.

"Children, please be patient a little longer."

"Director Hae-reun, why do the knights get to eat first?"

Hae-reun struggled to decide how to answer Malko.

Explaining the situation in a way a young child could understand was giving her a headache.

I can't exactly tell them that there might be a war and everyone needs to prepare.

After taking a bite of the Wild Pig Soup of Courage and seeing its effects, Hae-reun had started thinking about what was happening.

She'd felt a strange tension wrap around her entire body.

Seongchan is supposed to have the ability to predict the future.

Today, just after he'd finished making the Wild Pig Soup of Courage, King Haiman and Queen Serina had arrived at the restaurant with a large group of knights and soldiers.

Hae-reun had initially been shocked to see people she'd previously only glimpsed from a distance.

But then she'd remembered Seongchan's request to handle the serving.

So she'd served them just as she normally would.

"The knights need to be strong enough to fight monsters. That's why they're eating first."

"Oh, I see."

Malko accepted the explanation.

Most of the other children nodded too, and their dissatisfied expressions disappeared.

Only Dean continued looking troubled.

"Director Hae-reun, everything will be okay."

"Of course. If we serve the food properly, the knights will be able to defeat the monsters."

"Okay."

Dean had spoken because he'd noticed the anxiety on Hae-reun's face.

But when he saw the relief on her face after she'd successfully changed the subject, he decided not to say anything more.

I'm still a child, after all.

Dean decided to remain a child who didn't understand the complicated concerns of adults.

SLUUUURP!

SLUUUURP!

The knights continued eating the Wild Pig Soup of Courage at an incredible pace.

[Courage increases by 200%!]

[All stats increase by 20% for one day!]

For knights preparing for battle, the soup's two-hundred-percent increase in courage was invaluable.

"I was planning to sweep away every monster in the surrounding area before a real battle started. How did that fellow know to prepare something this useful?"

Nir, Serina's personal guard, looked toward Kosdal with sparkling eyes.

"Master, Hero Kim Seongchan has future-prediction abilities. Is that why he's willing to go so far as to make such a special dish for you?"

He continued.

"Even creating a dish that increases someone's stats is difficult. But making food that directly enhances emotions requires at least an intermediate cook to pour enormous care and sincerity into the process."

Nir's expression became serious.

"And although I said an intermediate cook could do it, an intermediate cook would have to be prepared to risk their life to create something with results like these."

Master must have earned the trust of Hero Kim Seongchan, who can predict the future.

Otherwise, Seongchan would never have made a dish requiring such a potentially dangerous amount of sincerity.

A dish infused with sincere emotions required the cook to be so familiar with the cooking process that they could practically perform every step with their eyes closed.

They also needed a clear, powerful desire to help the person who would eat it.

Cooking with that level of sincerity meant focusing every part of one's mind and body on the dish.

Even if the cook reached their physical limit, the process wouldn't end until the dish was complete.

There was only one other way for the process to end before the dish was finished.

The cook's death.

That was why dishes infused with such intense sincerity should never be attempted carelessly.

"You're telling me someone has to be prepared to die just to cook a single dish?"

Kosdal found it hard to believe.

He could understand risking one's life to hunt a monster.

But risking one's life to prepare food?

That made no sense to him.

"Oppa, all you ever do is train with your sword. Of course you wouldn't understand."

"Exactly, Master."

Kosdal frowned at Serina and Nir's words.

He wasn't frowning because he felt insulted.

He simply couldn't understand.

That Kim Seongchan made a dish that could've killed him if something went wrong?

Kosdal thought about Seongchan.

Several recent incidents came to mind.

He deliberately brought up those rumors to make me curious. Then he used the resulting commotion and Dean's comments to make sure I finally learned the truth.

After that, he even stopped me from taking charge of the Rice Ball Guild's training.

And now that same Kim Seongchan was supposedly making life-threatening sacrifices to help him?

Kim Seongchan?

"That's impossible."

"Things don't always turn out the way we expect."

"Exactly."

Serina looked at Haiman.

"Darling, aren't you glad we came?"

"If you hadn't suggested it, I would've missed something extraordinary."

Haiman looked thoroughly satisfied.

"It's been a long time since I ate a dish prepared with this much sincerity. And to think he made the Wild Pig Soup of Courage using meat that everyone believed was impossible to cook!"

He smiled.

"I almost want to go around boasting about it."

Haiman remembered how they'd ended up here.

A knight came running to tell us that the Wild Pig Soup of Courage was being sold. He suggested it might help us when we went out to hunt monsters.

The moment Serina heard that, she insisted we bring everyone here.

That was why Haiman had personally visited the Original Wild Pig Soup restaurant.

And the journey had also given him an opportunity to see just how poorly he'd been governing his kingdom.

"If everyone's finished, let's go."

Haiman looked toward Kosdal, whose expression had become rather strange.

Just then, someone came running.

"Your Majesty Haiman! This is terrible! The demons are attacking!"

"Knights who've received the effects of the Wild Pig Soup of Courage, come outside! Everyone else, finish eating and join us!"

Haiman issued his orders while leaving the restaurant.

Flap! Flap!

The sound of wings came from every direction.

Haiman looked up.

His eyes met those of Lord Vantart, who was flying over the castle walls.

"Thornjer, did you lie to me?"

Haiman's expression darkened.

"Or did Lord Vantart deliberately give you false information?"

According to Thornjer, Vantart's horns shouldn't have fully recovered yet.

But the horn that had been severed was now completely restored.

There wasn't even a trace of the old injury.

"Didn't I tell you that a demon's recovery rate is unpredictable?"

Kosdal's eyes gleamed with killing intent.

The Black Flame Egg stored beneath Terk Castle required extraordinary protective measures.

If anything went wrong, the Black Flames it released could melt through the walls.

It sounded impressive to say that the kingdom used mana circuits to convert its heat into a source of hot water.

But that system also served another purpose.

If the flames weren't regularly released and converted, they would eventually destroy the mana barriers.

They would then begin melting the underground chamber's walls.

And if left unchecked, they could melt Terk Castle itself.

That was why only a handful of people knew how to remove the mana barriers.

Count Thornjer was one of those people.

I learned the method through Sir Tern.

Tern, the Knight Commander of the Terk Kingdom, hadn't deliberately told him.

At one point, while Thornjer was imprisoned, he'd asked an angry Tern what they could do to protect the Terk Kingdom.

He'd suggested considering the safest possible way to protect it from danger.

That conversation had given him the information he needed.

When thinking about the safest solution, people naturally consider the greatest danger first.

Thornjer stood in front of the center of the door.

He covered his body in mana, closed his eyes, and began walking.

Even when he felt himself touching something, he ignored it and continued forward.

He walked farther.

Eventually, something touched his nose.

His path was blocked.

Raise the right hand and walk as though following flowing water.

Thornjer had read those instructions from Tern's thoughts.

But he hadn't understood what they meant.

That was why he had come here to test them personally.

Now he understood.

There wasn't any deeper meaning hidden in the instructions.

He simply needed to follow them.

He really could feel something resembling flowing water against his right hand.

He followed that sensation.

Eventually, his palm touched something hard.

Now I press it with all my strength.

Thornjer pushed firmly.

[He was definitely touching the mana barrier, and then it disappeared! Amazing! And now the mana barriers have disappeared too!]

"Kyarrr!"

If cried out in agreement with Ella.

There are two ways to deal with mana barriers. You can break them, or you can deactivate them like that.

There were many different ways to deactivate mana barriers.

Some required only a few specific actions.

Others were designed like traps or mazes.

"Remember your promise. If what's inside isn't gold or treasure, you won't lay a hand on it."

"Can't you tell from my face?"

Seongchan smiled.

"I look completely trustworthy."

Thornjer's expression didn't change.

"You certainly have a trustworthy face."

Seongchan couldn't read Thornjer's thoughts.

But he had a feeling Thornjer was actually thinking that his face was excellent for threatening people.

Thornjer grabbed the door with both hands and pulled it open.

It was extraordinarily thick.

The stone was even thicker than the stone used to construct the castle walls.

The door looked so heavy that someone who couldn't manipulate mana probably wouldn't even be able to open it.

FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWWOOOOOSH!

The Black Flame Egg rested on a display stand.

A specially manufactured glass case surrounded it.

Whenever powerful Black Flames erupted from the egg, the mana circuits engraved on the glass case began glowing.

The energy flowed down into the display stand before spreading through the mana circuits covering the floor.

"Well, it isn't gold or treasure."

"That's right."

As Thornjer answered, he checked Seongchan's condition.

It had changed from curiosity to disappointment.

So he really was just curious.

Concluding that Seongchan wasn't planning anything suspicious, Thornjer reached into his highest-grade Rethion Subspace Pouch.

He took out a pair of gloves covered in white scales.

Snowflake-like crystals floated around them.

"These gloves are made from Ice Dragon scales."

Thornjer held them up.

"They've been specially designed so the wearer won't feel the cold. But they continuously release intense cold into the surrounding area."

He continued.

"And when mana is supplied to them, they can release enough cold to freeze everything nearby."

"So you're telling me to go upstairs if I don't want to get frozen."

"Exactly."

Seongchan headed up the stairs.

Once Thornjer confirmed that he'd disappeared, he swallowed nervously.

I had these gloves specially prepared so I could carry you away.

The Black Flame Egg couldn't be stored in a subspace pouch.

If someone tried, the Black Flames would burn through the pouch, and the egg would be expelled.

It couldn't be placed inside a hero's inventory either.

They said it was a Chaos Dragon's egg.

People had called it the Black Flame Egg because it looked like an egg-shaped stone that released Black Flames.

But Thornjer had never imagined it was an actual egg.

If Lord Vantart hadn't told him, he wouldn't have believed it.

After all, the Black Flame Egg hadn't hatched in a hundred years.

With his heart trembling in anticipation, Thornjer opened the glass case.

Then he grabbed the Black Flame Egg.

SHHHHHHH!

The freezing energy released by Thornjer's Ice Dragon gloves swallowed the Black Flames.

The frozen Black Flame Egg continued releasing flames without interruption.

But the flames couldn't completely melt the ice surrounding it.

Success!

Thornjer's heart pounded.

He carried the Black Flame Egg out of the underground chamber.

Seongchan was looking down at him from the staircase.

"Are you sure that's okay?"

"Can't you see? It's frozen."

Thornjer looked at the egg.

It was surrounded by ice.

It was still releasing Black Flames, but the flames weren't melting the ice.

All he had to do was carry it away.

Yet Seongchan looked serious.

His expression suggested something had gone wrong.

I don't want to keep looking at that face. I should hurry upstairs and get away from him.

Thornjer wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

He was about to move when Seongchan's words made him freeze.

"Your hand."

"My hand?"

Thornjer looked down at his Ice Dragon gloves.

The white scales covering them were gradually turning black.

"What?! What is this?! What's happening?!"

For the first time, Thornjer's composed expression twisted in panic.

He immediately adjusted his grip.

Instead of holding the egg from below, he gripped the ice around its sides.

It didn't help.

Smoke slowly began rising from the white scales of the Ice Dragon gloves.

The Black Flames choose their targets.

The flames hadn't been trying to melt the ice.

The fire released by the egg had only slightly melted its frozen surface.

Instead, the Black Flames were concentrating on burning the Ice Dragon gloves covering Thornjer's hands.