Chapter 125: Ah, Right. There Was That? (3) A dish that began in India, passed through Britain, went through Japan, and then reached Korea—curry.
In Korea, curry was one of those easy, no-fuss dishes, and it was also a menu item you could often find at snack shops.
The problem was that on the Francia Continent, curry was an even more divisive food than carrots were.
And the division leaned heavily toward dislike.
When the same reaction came from the Ashred Continent, where dwarves lived, Lee Jinseo had never even considered serving curry to the Centaurs in the first place.
But even if the dislike might be just as strong as before, Lee Jinseo decided to try anyway and took out curry powder.
Then he diligently diced up meat and vegetables—the ingredients you could not leave out of curry.
While handling the steady stream of orders with his two helpers, Lee Jinseo simmered the curry in the gaps.
"Mr. Lee Jinseo, the snack you're making right now is… curry!"
Fedora Artran—almost the only human who actually liked curry—caught the distinctive smell and brightened.
"Just smelling it makes my appetite surge. How fascinating."
Maybe it was because it used meat from animals that ran across the plains of the Crudian Continent, along with all kinds of vegetables grown there.
Angelica Crudian, too, welcomed the scent like Fedora Artran did, anticipating what kind of snack Lee Jinseo would serve next.
"Curry… I tried it once a long time ago, but I remember it not being to my taste."
"Most of what you make suits me, but that one didn't, either."
In contrast, Craid and Hayward reacted negatively.
Even so, they watched the pot as the curry cooked, holding onto the expectation that it would definitely be different from the curry they had before.
This might actually work. Like, really work.
After tasting the finished curry, Lee Jinseo's face filled with a smile.
He had only changed the ingredients to those from the Crudian Continent, yet the result was a curry with a far more intense flavor than usual.
It was a taste any Korean would have to like. Now the only question was whether it would work here, too.
"Try it."
Lee Jinseo served the completed curry over rice to the three humans and one Centaur at the counter, then folded his arms, waiting to see their reactions.
Clink, clink.
The sound of spoons scooping curry from plates rang out one after another, and unlike the bustling surroundings, a hush settled over the counter as they sampled the new curry.
"Hm."
Craid slowly finished his curry without saying anything.
But for him not to ask for more—unlike his usual self—was already the verdict.
On the dislike side.
"Ugh, yeah, curry's still too much for me."
Hayward ate about half, then pushed the plate forward, saying he could not eat any more.
"It suits my palate. But…"
Fedora Artran tilted her head, giving a string of conflicted reactions.
"I don't think there was any need to add carrots. If you hadn't, it would have been even better. What a shame."
She separated the carrots and pushed them to the corner of her plate.
So it failed again.
At Fedora Artran's blunt review, Lee Jinseo's shoulders drooped.
If even she did not praise a curry made with Crudian Continent carrots, then everyone else's reactions were obvious without even looking.
Without a word, Lee Jinseo lowered his head and reached toward Angelica Crudian's plate mid-meal.
"Your Highness, if it's hard to eat, you don't have to force yourself—"
"What are you saying! Telling me not to eat something this delicious!"
"…What?"
When Lee Jinseo looked up, Angelica Crudian's eyes were brimming with ecstasy.
She had not been quiet because it tasted bad—she had been so absorbed in the curry's taste that she had not even reacted.
"It's really good? Curry with the carrots from here?"
"Curry? That's the name of this excellent dish? Bring more! More! More!"
Even though her mouth was smeared with sauce like when she ate Jjajang Ramyeon ppogeuri, Angelica Crudian did not care at all as she thrust her empty plate at Lee Jinseo.
"Understood."
Lee Jinseo served more curry, and Angelica Crudian quickly devoured it, repeating the cycle of empty plate, refill, empty plate.
The three at the counter stared, dumbfounded, as she displayed an appetite that rivaled Craid's.
"This smell… just smelling it makes me hungry all of a sudden."
"Huh? What's that? A new snack?"
Right then, Centaurs and dwarves who had finished soccer and running came to the Food Truck and took an interest in the curry.
Lee Jinseo served it, and just like the first time, they started eating in silence.
"Whoa, that's carrot in here, right? Were carrots always this good?"
"Huh? This tastes good to you?"
"I've never had a flavor this intense! The meat and carrots in it are good, too!"
"To be able to find this delicious—how interesting."
And the responses split to extremes depending on the race.
{To them, who ran across the vast land, carrots were precious food. However, due to their unique texture, scent, and taste, carrots gradually began to be shunned over time. Curry rice is the optimal food that can cover carrots' shortcomings with its intense flavor and aroma.}
{Base preference of the Centaur race for curry rice: 200.}
{If preference exceeds 50, a special effect activates for the eater. The higher the preference, the greater the effect.}
{Activated effect: For a certain time, movement speed and jumping ability greatly increase; the chance of physical grade increasing slightly increases; status ailment resistance increases; etc.}
{Caution: The activated effect applies only if carrots grown on the Crudian Continent are used.}
Thank God!
Seeing the message in the Status Window, Lee Jinseo clenched both fists.
It was only half a success, but just the fact that it definitely worked on Centaurs meant he no longer had to worry about what food to serve at Angelica Crudian's coming-of-age ceremony.
When a message followed saying the quest was completed, his joy doubled.
"One more plate!"
"Yes! Here you go!"
After finishing five plates of curry rice already, Angelica Crudian rinsed her mouth with a carbonated drink and challenged a sixth.
The coming-of-age ceremony for the Crudian Kingdom's Princess, Angelica Crudian, was held in the capital's central plaza before a crowd.
Soldiers departing from the royal palace ran toward the plaza while maintaining a two-column formation, and cheers poured out from the citizens for Angelica Crudian as she ran under their escort.
And immediately behind her, Lee Jinseo followed while driving the Food Truck.
He blasted the OST from the movie Ben-Hur through large speakers—the kind of music that fit a running scene better than anything.
After racing down the straight road, Angelica Crudian arrived at the central plaza, where her father, Lloyd V, was waiting.
To Centaurs, a coming-of-age ceremony meant attaching horseshoes to their hooves for the first time.
As her father, Lloyd V personally attached horseshoes to all four of his daughter's hooves, putting the finishing touch on the ceremony.
"Look at the princess's horseshoes! They look so luxurious!"
"They're beautiful just to look at…"
The horseshoes that drew so much envy from the Centaurs were none other than the horseshoes Angelica Crudian had received from Charlotte.
As it turned out, they were the exact same horseshoes used by the Crudian Kingdom's founding King. On top of that, when word spread that they were a gift from Charlotte—a Dragon—the royal family was thrown into an uproar.
Even after long years, the silver horseshoes still held their luster without a single scratch, and they were not merely beautiful.
"Father! Look at this!"
Wearing horseshoes for the first time in her life, Angelica Crudian jumped straight up on the spot.
She leapt so high she easily cleared even Craid—who stood well over two meters tall—and the moment she landed, she dashed toward the royal palace, then abruptly stopped and turned back.
At a speed far faster than when she had been running with the soldiers.
"Hoho, you've gotten faster than me now!"
"Compared to the Sacred Relic and divine object, the Food Truck, it's nothing at all."
Lloyd V placed a hand not on his daughter's head, but on her shoulder, formally acknowledging that she had become an adult.
"Now! The coming-of-age ceremony is over, so all that's left is the banquet, yes? Today's dinner was prepared by one of the benefactors who saved the day's star—my daughter—and by the foreign chef, Lee Jinseo! For today, devote yourselves only to eating, drinking, and enjoying!"
At Lloyd V's shout, the Food Truck's side door swung wide open, and all kinds of snacks being cooked inside appeared.
Participating as both honored guest and cook, Lee Jinseo had prepared multiple dishes to commemorate the ceremony, but the one that drew the most attention was, without question, curry rice.
Rumors about curry rice had already spread widely among the Centaurs for days. Expecting to find out what kind of dish it was, the Centaurs boldly shoved the thick yellow curry and white rice—both things they had never seen before—into their mouths.
And, without exception, they happily emptied their plates at speed.
"Alright, here you go! There's plenty, so no need to rush!"
"I made more than enough, so don't hold back—eat more!"
Since curry rice was simply made by cooking curry in a big pot all at once and ladling it onto white rice, it was perfect banquet food to serve to large numbers.
Its only drawback was that it was overwhelmingly preferred only by Centaurs, but that was easily solved by serving other dishes alongside it—dishes that had already gotten good reactions.
Vegetable gimbap with carrots, omurice, and japchae earned praise not only from Centaurs but also from humans and dwarves.
"Oho, this noodle dish is incredible! It's even better than curry rice!"
After tasting japchae packed with Crudian Continent carrots, Lloyd V was extremely satisfied.
{Quest: 'Serve a dish that can satisfy the leader of a different race' has been completed.}
Yes!
When the King's praise led to quest completion, Lee Jinseo tightly gripped the ladle he had been stirring the pot with, cheering inside.
With all Crudian Continent-related quests now complete, Lee Jinseo fell into a happy dilemma about where to spend the large pile of mileage he had accumulated.
What a pleasant dilemma.
"The child you were has grown so much… time truly passes quickly."
"Then, do you remember saying that once I finished my coming-of-age ceremony, I wanted to ask for one thing?"
"Yes. Speak."
After finishing seven servings of curry rice in one sitting, Angelica Crudian stared at Lloyd V—who was inhaling his tenth serving of japchae—with serious eyes.
"As of today, I am an adult, but I am still lacking in many ways. After meeting the people from other continents, I realized it clearly. So, to broaden my horizons, I want to study abroad."
"Study abroad?"
At the completely unexpected request, Lloyd V pondered for a moment, then slurped up glass noodles and shredded carrots and nodded.
"Very well. Later, you must help lead the Crudian Kingdom alongside your brothers, so you should expand your perspective by experiencing a wider world. So—where do you want to go?"
"I want to go to Korea… but I heard that's impossible. Instead, I want to go to the Doren Kingdom on the Francia Continent."
Angelica Crudian answered while looking toward Lee Jinseo, who was hard at work making more curry.
She must have really regretted it. But, Princess—there's nothing I can do.
Lee Jinseo had to refuse Angelica Crudian's request to see Korea.
He had once unintentionally brought Craid and his group to Korea, but he had managed to avoid attention and send them back safely.
Even if people noticed, he could gloss it over by saying they were in cosplay, so the burden was surprisingly small.
But Angelica Crudian's appearance was so different that anyone could tell at a glance she was not human, so that kind of excuse would not work.
Like in the movies, you could end up as an experiment subject. Please understand.
With a bitter smile at Angelica Crudian, who looked at him with resentful eyes, Lee Jinseo poured curry powder into a new pot.
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