Chapter 171: Ah, You're Saying You Couldn't Eat It Because It Wasn't There (7) Two outsiders who visited the elves' continent for the first time in hundreds of years, Painfolt Artran and Geshtain, introduced a cuisine called bunsik to the elves.
The elves, who had been restricted to a vegetarian diet, rushed toward the outsiders' food with curiosity. However, it was impossible for all the elves to enjoy the ten servings of bunsik they had brought.
In the end, only the elven scouts and a few elders managed to taste it.
The elves eagerly awaited the return of the two who had gone back to the Francia Continent, and at long last, the allied delegation set foot on the Keinua Continent carrying an even wider variety of bunsik.
"Was there really food that tasted like this? It's such a fascinating flavor."
"Look at this! It's spicy, tangy, and sweet at the same time! A noodle dish where you can enjoy three flavors all at once!"
"So this is donkatsu, a dish made by frying pork. The crispness is exceptional."
The elven scouts who had arrived earlier postponed the Tteok-twig-sun they had tasted before and began working their way through the unfamiliar bunsik first.
Meanwhile, the other elves, encountering bunsik for the first time, hesitated over what to try first or picked randomly and repeated exclamations of amazement.
"Wow… stir-fried sundae has a completely different flavor."
Meanwhile, someone sat at the counter eating food noticeably different from the other elves.
That was Beryllus, who had been forced to refrain from blood-sucking due to various circumstances. He was relieving that long-held frustration by eating the various dishes Lee Jinseo served.
Sundae was an excellent bunsik menu item on its own, but when put through additional cooking processes, it transformed into an ingredient capable of producing even more diverse and deeper flavors.
A representative example was baeksundae, which Lee Jinseo had just introduced for the first time in this world. Compared to the typical bunsik shop's sundae, it was lighter and nuttier.
"Delicious."
"Wrapping sundae in perilla leaves, like wrapping pork belly in lettuce, makes it even better."
Craid and Fedora Artran savored this new transformation of the sundae they had previously eaten, smiles forming on their faces.
The moment they saw Lee Jinseo stir-frying sundae on the iron plate, they sensed it was a new menu item. They quietly took seats to Beryllus's right and left and were now thoroughly enjoying the baeksundae.
"Regular sundae is good, and this stir-fried baeksundae is wonderful too. But I still prefer soup dishes the most."
Slurp.
Beryllus lifted the earthenware pot with both hands and gulped down the broth.
"Especially this one with large chunks of blood in it!"
"All three are new menu items introduced today, so I'm truly relieved that you like them."
"Of course I would."
For Beryllus, who could not help but love blood, Lee Jinseo had presented two kinds of soup.
One was sundae-guk, which contained sundae, and the other was none other than—
"Ha… blood eaten like this is truly delicious."
"You really do like blood."
"I'm a vampire, after all. I said I would refrain from blood-sucking. I never said I would completely give up consuming blood itself."
It was seonji-haejang-guk, prepared by Lee Jinseo as a meal kit.
Seonji-haejang-guk, which contained large chunks of congealed ox blood, was a dish in Korea that sharply divided opinions.
However, for Beryllus, who was born with a destiny that compelled him to crave blood, seonji was the finest ingredient, and seonji-haejang-guk made with it was a delicacy he had discovered for the first time in two thousand years.
"Ugh…"
In the blink of an eye, Beryllus finished an entire serving of seonji-haejang-guk and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, letting out a low exclamation.
Whether in Korea or in another world, no one could hold back a groan after eating scalding hot soup.
{Analysis of this race's preferred food has been completed.}
{Those who have lived in darkness for ages are born with a destiny to crave blood. However, as times have changed, blood-sucking—the means by which they survive and pursue pleasure—has become an outdated practice that provokes strong aversion from many. For those troubled by the changing tide of the era, seonji-haejang-guk is the optimal food that allows them to consume blood without the process of blood-sucking.}
{Base preference of vampires for seonji-haejang-guk: 100When preference exceeds 50, special effects activate for the consumer. The higher the preference, the stronger the effect.Activated effects: Significant enhancement of innate vampire offensive abilities for a set duration, suppression of blood-sucking urges, prevention of anemia, etc.}
{Analysis of preferred food for the individual Beryllus, belonging to this race, has been completed. This individual's preference for seonji-haejang-guk is 250.}
And naturally, seonji-haejang-guk was designated as a preferred food of the vampire race.
"Would you like another bowl?"
"No. I still have baeksundae to finish. I'll stop here with the sundae-guk and seonji-haejang-guk. I'll enjoy them once a day. No matter how delicious something is, if you eat it constantly, you'll grow tired of it. I want to savor the charm of seonji-haejang-guk for as long as possible."
Beryllus personally placed the well-stir-fried baeksundae onto his small plate.
Just as he was about to take a large bite, his eyes fell on the dark-red tteokbokki Fedora Artran had ordered beside him.
"You said you're Rainfolt's granddaughter, right? The tteokbokki you're eating looks different from the one I had."
"Do you mean the special tteokbokki? The special tteokbokki is a sacred bunsik recognized as holy food by the Heirem Order to which I belong—"
"I'll have a bite first."
Without listening to her full explanation, Beryllus speared a piece of special tteokbokki with a toothpick and popped it into his mouth.
"Why is this so spicy?"
It was only one bite, yet Beryllus's face immediately flushed red.
He stuffed baeksundae into his mouth in an attempt to suppress the heat, but the spiciness refused to subside.
"CoolXse! Give me CoolXse! Hurry!"
"Y-yes!"
Only after gulping down three consecutive glasses of CoolXse that Lee Jinseo hastily poured for him did he regain his composure.
Fedora Artran looked at him with a pitying expression and continued eating the special tteokbokki.
"If you could endure the pain bestowed by spiciness, you might draw closer to Him. It is unfortunate. As you are not a brother of the Order, it cannot be helped, but if you were to train a little more—"
"This is holy food? My tongue is screaming that this is devil's cuisine. The Heirem Order has designated something like this as holy food? It seems they've become quite strange without my noticing. I may not be a follower, but I am deeply concerned."
"What? Devil? That is blasphemy!"
Insulted over her holy food, Fedora Artran immediately narrowed her eyes and began a battle of nerves with Beryllus.
The man and woman seated at the counter gradually raised their voices, and it nearly escalated into a confrontation between vampires and the Heirem Order.
"What's going on between Lord Beryllus and that human woman next to him?"
"Won't this become a serious problem? Should we ask for more fried food?"
"I don't know what's happening, but I hope it's resolved well. Ah, bring more squid instead of sweet potato. We should enjoy ingredients we can't eat here while we have the chance."
The elves, unaware of the details, remained curious but did not stop eating their bunsik.
"It's delicious even wrapped in lettuce."
"Would you like me to stir-fry more?"
"Add about ten servings."
Craid, unconcerned with the fierce argument unfolding right beside him, made a fist-sized baeksundae wrap and put it into his mouth.
"Cardinal Fedora Artran and Lord Beryllus. Others are dining, so please restrain yourselves."
Even as they argued, Lee Jinseo quietly collected the small plates in front of the two who were still diligently eating special tteokbokki and baeksundae.
At that, the two who had been engaged in heated debate simultaneously turned to look at him with widened eyes.
"If you continue arguing… you know what will happen."
"Yes…"
"Sorry. I'll eat my bunsik quietly."
The fight that had seemed as though it might continue indefinitely ended easily with Lee Jinseo's intervention.
Chuckling softly, he placed baeksundae back onto the small plates he had just taken and returned them.
"Still, I never expected to meet a vampire like this."
"Like this?"
"In the world I lived in, vampires often lived alone in massive castles. It's quite rare to see one, like Lord Beryllus, living harmoniously among other races."
"Well, the vampires in your world must have peculiar tastes. If you want to stay sane while living a long life, you should continuously meet various types. If you shut yourself away in your own space, your mind will become strange."
"That may be so, but I also never expected you to be with elves."
"That's because I was originally an elf, and elves live long lives. For a vampire like me, they're the most suitable race to associate with. If you live among short-lived races, you have to watch acquaintances die over and over again. It's not pleasant. Well, now I can take it in stride…"
Beryllus trailed off and gazed into the distance.
Watching him, Lee Jinseo was reminded of the look Charlotte sometimes showed—bright and lively in conversation, yet occasionally revealing something deeper in her eyes.
Lee Jinseo fell silent and focused solely on preparing bunsik.
The mood quickly sank, and caught in between them, Fedora Artran fidgeted awkwardly as she watched their reactions.
"By the way… I was curious how you came to know my great-uncle. Would you be willing to tell me?"
"Rainfolt? Give me a moment. How did I meet that fellow again…"
At Fedora Artran's question, Beryllus began to recall his encounter with Rainfolt, who had arrived on the Keinua Continent through spatial teleportation magic about ten years ago.
"Hm, I don't remember clearly how we first met. I didn't spend that long with Rainfolt, actually. But even in that short time, we shared quite a few conversations. His magical ability far surpassed the elves living here, so we had plenty to talk about. Before I became a vampire, I was a mage too."
"I never imagined that even my great-uncle, who was called a genius of magic, would surpass the elves in magical skill."
"Really? If anything, the elves' level of magic might be lower than that of humans."
"Truly?"
"As you know, mana overflows here. Because of that, when they construct spell formulas, they don't pay much attention to the amount of mana consumed. The power of their magic may be greater, but in terms of efficiency, it's terrible. There are too many spell formulas that are awkward to use anywhere outside this place."
"Ah… I see."
"And since elves live far longer than other races, they don't feel the same urgency to master magic quickly. The degree of desperation is simply different. It may be a natural result, but I wish they would handle things as promptly as other races."
"I certainly feel that their sense of time differs greatly from ours."
"In many ways, I worry about the future. You just arrived, so you might not know, but the life of the World Tree is gradually fading. In about ten thousand years, the mana flowing from the World Tree will disappear, and this place will become no different from other continents. I don't know whether that's good or bad, but the elves will suffer quite a bit."
"The World Tree… I see."
"And Rainfolt grieved deeply over his nephew and niece-in-law who passed away before him. I've lived so long that I've witnessed countless acquaintances die, so I've grown numb to it. But for humans who barely live a hundred years, it's natural that they cannot control their emotions."
When Beryllus mentioned Fedora Artran's parents, she fell silent.
"So he begged me to teach him magic to revive the dead."
"Is there truly such magic?"
Fedora Artran shot to her feet and seized both of Beryllus's shoulders tightly.
"Ah… I'm sorry."
"You react just like him. You truly are his granddaughter."
Smiling generously, Beryllus placed his hand over hers as though comforting a granddaughter far younger than himself.
"There might be. But I never learned it, and I have no intention of doing so. That magic is far too imperfect."
Beryllus set his fork down on the plate, stroked his chin, and frowned.
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