Chapter 33

If You Fry It, Everything Tastes Good (1)

After the cleaning of the official residence was more or less finished.

The work of turning this place into a temporary base had also entered its final stages.

“Fire magic over here too, please!”

“Yes, sir!”

They set up torches made from trees cut down nearby all around the open ground. The area around the official residence was a vast, empty plain with nothing in sight.

By lighting the surroundings with torches even at night,

“It’s gotten roughly similar to the base.”

“It’s a bit lacking compared to the base, but even this is something to be grateful for.”

A defensive environment similar to the base. Enough distance had been secured for our allied mages and shooters to intercept the enemy.

“Then, we’ll begin guard duty right away.”

“Yeah. Thanks, I’m counting on you.”

A few long-range-type Awakeners climbed up to the roof of the official residence. From up there, they would observe the surroundings and intercept approaching monsters or zombies.

After a few soldiers went up to the roof for duty.

“The rest of you, gather in the center of the official residence for a moment.”

In the middle of the official residence buildings, there was a small pavilion that looked like it had been set up for resting. The remaining soldiers and survivors huddled together and sat down near it.

After all members of the unit took their seats.

The meeting began.

“First of all, the operation to come down to ground level succeeded somehow. Everyone worked hard. Applause.”

“Waa.”

A rather perfunctory “waa” and light applause followed.

“If it were up to me, I’d want to throw a party like we did before leaving the base, but.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t tell me. Are we partying?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of leeway yet!”

“Ugh.”

The soldiers expressed their disappointment.

I also wanted to take it easy and just eat and rest for a bit. But we really didn’t have any breathing room…We’ll put that off for another time.

“The important part starts now.”

The reason we had gathered the soldiers in one place for a meeting.

“We need to decide our guild’s next destination. I want to hear the opinions of everyone in the unit.”

“From here on, I’ll explain.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Minjae stepped forward.

In his hands was a small whiteboard notice board. It looked like he had taken it down from the central corridor of the official residence.

“As you all know, the reason we came down to ground level is to grow our faction. But right now, we’re short on resources just to survive, let alone grow our faction.”

As he spoke, Minjae showed the whiteboard he was holding to the soldiers.

“What’s written here is the list of what we need right now.”

What was written on the whiteboard was simple.

『1. Food』

『2. Fuel』

『3. Bullets』

『4. Miscellaneous』

“I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

One of the soldiers who had looked at the whiteboard raised his hand.

“What do you mean we’re short on food? We secured a ton of meat, didn’t we?”

Just as he said, thanks to collecting and freezing a massive number of monster carcasses we hunted on the way down from the mountain, meat itself wasn’t a problem. Honestly, it would be convenient for me if I only had to cook meat.

“But I’m not the problem. You guys are.”

“Pardon?”

“No matter how much you like meat, if you eat only meat, you’ll get sick of it.”

“Ah.”

It was half a joke, but the other half was serious.

Having a variety of flavors on the menu is a pretty important factor.

“Honestly, taste aside. What’s more important is the nutrition issue.”

Humans have things called ‘essential nutrients’ that they need. All sorts of nutrients that can be obtained through cooking.

“If all we have is meat, then we’re basically only replenishing protein and fat in our bodies.”

I don’t know how powerful the mana that appeared in the bodies of Awakeners really is. But whether it’s the kind of power that can keep them healthy even after their basic nutritional balance completely collapses is unknown.

“Eating only meat for about a month won’t cause problems. But if it goes on longer than that, we don’t know what might happen. To be precise, it’s not just food, it’s the securing of diverse nutrients that’s the problem.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“It’s something we’ll have to think about eventually, even if not right away.”

That was item number one, food. Number two was fuel to move vehicles and fuel to run generators to produce electricity. Number three was the issue of ammunition supply for our unit’s greatest firepower, the shooters.

Honestly, not a single one of these could be neglected.

“I have an opinion!”

“Oh.”

At that moment…A soldier raised his hand.

“I like the spirit. What’s your opinion?”

“I strongly recommend number four!”

“Number four?”

I turned my head to look at the whiteboard Minjae was holding.

What was written for number four was this.

『4. Miscellaneous』

“Uh… do you mean you’re recommending miscellaneous?”

“No. To be precise, it’s not miscellaneous.”

The soldier spoke in an enthusiastic voice.

“We need to secure materials! I strongly recommend this!”

His name was Corporal Lee Gong-woo. He was our unit’s engineer Awakener.

“Securing materials, huh.”

“Yes. I’m confident it will be of help no matter what.”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo spoke with confidence. Hearing his words, I thought to myself.

‘That’s true. I did think about securing materials when we were coming down from the mountain.’

When we left the base and came down to ground level.

We tried to make active use of vehicles. Not only to carry supplies, but also expecting them to serve as barricades.

‘That was wishful thinking.’

Barricades, my ass.

Under the monsters’ attacks, ordinary vehicles were torn apart like sheets of paper. Back then, Corporal Lee Gong-woo had said something.

‘If we only had materials, we could’ve done something.’

“Your class was engineer, right.”

“Yes.”

“Then when you say we should secure materials, you’re linking that to your class. Explain in detail.”

When I gave him permission, Corporal Lee Gong-woo, now thoroughly fired up, continued speaking.

“The things you mentioned. Of course, all of them are important.”

“But?”

“The problem isn’t whether they’re needed right now. It’s.”

He said it firmly.

“Whether they’re even possible to obtain.”

“Hm.”

“Securing food or fuel. Of course it’s good. But we know too little about the ground level.”

That wasn’t wrong.

Even though survivors had joined our group. They were people who hadn’t fully adapted to the surface either and had fled to find our unit.

“So first, we need to establish a way to safely move around on the surface. That’s essential.”

“And that’s where securing materials comes in?”

“Yes. My class is called engineer, but it’s a bit different from the modern concept of combat engineers.”

What I knew about modern combat engineers was mainly removing or installing obstacles.

Aside from that, maintenance of unit facilities.

“Of course, we can perform those roles as well. But you can think of it as having the medieval concept of engineers added on top of that.”

“Medieval engineers?”

“The production of war machines, and modifications, things like that.”

Some pretty grand-sounding words came out.

War machines.

“In medieval wars, there were things like ballistae and catapults, right? Making and modifying those on site was also part of an engineer’s role.”

“…You’re saying you can make siege weapons.”

“It’s impossible right now. But if we have materials, it should be entirely possible.”

It sounded somewhat far-fetched, but Corporal Lee Gong-woo seemed confident.

“Think about the operation to capture this official residence.”

At his words, I tilted my head.

‘Didn’t that go well?’

Thanks to my cooking, the capture of the official residence had gone smoothly. There wasn’t really anything to consider a problem there…

“In this operation, only three squads were deployed.”

‘Ah, that was true.’

To avoid the monsters’ and zombies’ attention and move carefully, we had no choice, we had limited the number of active personnel.

“If you think about it properly, having the entire force enter the official residence would have been the most ideal choice. This time, nothing happened, so it turned out fine. But if you think about it, we never know what might happen inside the official residence.”

“Moving the entire force at once isn’t easy.”

“If we mobilized vehicles, wouldn’t it be possible?”

Putting the troops in vehicles to move?

At that, Minjae frowned and spoke.

“That’s impossible. If we get attacked by monsters or zombies, the vehicles will be torn apart like paper. That’s why it’s better for the soldiers to clear the way in advance—”

“That’s exactly the point!”

Minjae had spoken to argue back. But Corporal Lee Gong-woo instead agreed with him.

“Since we can’t use vehicles, humans have to clear the way with their own bodies. Hmmm…! The height of inefficiency!!!”

“Y-Yeah.”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo’s voice rose, as if he were quite excited.

“And this isn’t just about the monsters!”

Bang!

He pointed with his finger at the vehicles parked in a corner of the official residence.

“The problem is those frail vehicles that can’t do anything but get beaten helplessly by monsters!”

“…”

‘This guy, he’s got quite the Spartan mindset.’

“If vehicles could withstand monster attacks, we wouldn’t need to move so cautiously. Our activities would become overwhelmingly easier.”

“You’re saying you can make vehicles like that?”

“Yes! If we’re given enough materials and time, absolutely!”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo was passionately laying it all out.

“Just give us materials! We’ll show you something!”

…It all sounds great, but.

His energy is so high it’s a bit hard to keep up.

“Uh, Corporal Lee Gong-woo. You seem a bit too fired up.”

“Oh. Ahem. Did I get too excited?”

“I’d like to say no, but, yeah, kind of. Please calm down.”

“S-sorry.”

Apparently it wasn’t just me who felt pressured.

When another soldier pointed it out, Corporal Lee Gong-woo quickly calmed down, looking a little embarrassed.

Watching him, I thought to myself. Having too much passion was a problem, sure.

‘But he’s not wrong.’

I had internally pushed back securing materials, thinking it wasn’t essential.

But, one of the characteristics of this ‘game’ that I had roughly grasped kept bothering me.

‘Production classes are stronger than you’d expect.’

Me, a cook, of course.

The equipment made by Lee Sang-ah, the tailor, also provides tremendous defense and stats.

If it’s not that ‘cook’ and ‘tailor’ are broken. But that ‘production classes’ as a whole are broken?

Then engineers, these guys would also have considerable potential.

After organizing my thoughts, I looked at Corporal Lee Gong-woo and said.

“Gong-woo.”

“Yes!”

“Are you really confident?”

This was about deciding a major matter for the unit.

We couldn’t take it lightly.

“I’m only asking just in case.”

“Yes.”

“If you’re saying this just because you want to try using your abilities, or out of some lighthearted impulse, I’ll have to reject it.”

When I asked seriously, tension settled over Corporal Lee Gong-woo’s face, which had been excited until a moment ago.

“You’re certain that this is more important than the other activities?”

“Yes.”

Even so, there was confidence in his answer.

“If we secure materials. We can create items that will make our future activities on the surface much easier. The other engineers and I already have quite a few blueprint ideas prepared. If you need, we can even show them to you right away—”

“There’s no need to show them. If you’re thinking about this seriously, that’s enough.”

Bullets, fuel, food, and the rest are all important too. But if we can make the process of obtaining them easier. Prioritizing that wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Let me ask. Anyone object?”

It was quiet…It seemed no one had objections.

“Then it’s decided.”

Our unit’s next objective had been decided.

* * *

Even though the objective had been set. It wasn’t something we could execute right away.

We had just succeeded in reclaiming the official residence. Since it was a temporary base, there were still many things that needed tidying up.

“Then we’ll go into details tomorrow. Everyone head in. Good work today.”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work!”

And so we spent the night at the official residence.

Even if the reason was a bit awkward, the official residence had plenty of empty rooms. Thanks to that, we could enjoy one person per room, something we couldn’t even get at the base.

Though, it was still a building with no electricity.

And then…

The next day, at dawn.

Creeeak…!

“Yawn…”

I opened the door of the official residence and stepped outside.

When I looked up at the sky, it was still dark, with the sun not yet risen. The reason I came out this early wasn’t because I was diligent…Not at all, it was just an occupational habit of a cook.

“Tsk. My eyes just open on their own as soon as it hits 4 a.m.”

But since I’d woken up early anyway.

I came out to take care of one of the ‘many things that needed tidying up’ I mentioned earlier.

“Hup.”

I carried a few heavy chunks of metal to the center of the open ground.

Items that would have taken two or three people to move before.

After Awakening, I could easily move them on my own.

“Let’s see.”

I looked at the items gathered on the ground, a large cauldron, a large griddle, and a stand to place the griddle and cauldron on.

“This should be enough for cooking equipment. I’ll ask the guys to handle the tables later.”

What I was making was simple.

‘A makeshift cafeteria.’

Since we now had a temporary base.

‘We should have a cafeteria too, right?’

‘I wish we could use the official residence kitchen, but there’s no point clinging to what we can’t use.’

With electricity, water, and gas all cut off. The official residence kitchen only looked the part and couldn’t function as a kitchen.

Then there was only one option…Make it ourselves. Just in case, we had loaded all the field cooking equipment we used at the base onto the vehicles. Despite the grand name, it was basically just a big cauldron and a griddle.

The conditions were pretty rough.

“But it’s not a problem for doing basic cooking, at least.”

At the base, we mostly used this for cooking during training anyway.

For now, this should be enough as a kitchen facility.

“Then, I’ll start with preparing breakfast.”

Step one of preparing a meal.

Preparing the ingredients.

I opened one of the trailers parked in the open ground.

Inside, monster carcasses covered in frost were piled high. It was a visual that would have made me recoil in horror before. But now that I was used to it, all I saw were ingredients.

『Chef’s Eye』

“This one seems useful, so I’ll keep it. Hmm. This one’s decent.”

Using the skill, I identified the processing methods and characteristics of the monsters piled in the trailer.

I set aside monsters with potentially useful traits to save them for later. And took out those whose traits weren’t particularly distinctive.

『Insight into the Processing Method of the Red Kangar』

Slice, slice!

Following the processing method that appeared in my head, I processed the meat.

In an instant, bones and flesh were separated from the monsters. Among them, the bones and hides were set aside separately, as they seemed like they could be useful for the tailor.

From the meat, any awkward-to-use parts or fatty portions were also separated.

That left only lean meat.

I sprinkled plenty of salt and pepper over the meat cut into appropriate sizes.

The meat hadn’t fully thawed yet.

As it slowly thawed, the seasoning would seep in.

‘That’s enough for ingredients.’

I placed the griddle on top of the brazier-like stand.

Below it, I neatly stacked firewood I’d roughly gathered from nearby.

I tore off a few pieces of paper from the official residence, lit them with a lighter, and tossed them into the pile of firewood. The firewood was slightly damp from the dawn moisture.

I worried it might not catch fire easily.

“Oh.”

Contrary to my worries, it quickly began to smoke and burn.

“Lucky me.”

By the time the preparations were more or less finished, the morning sun was starting to rise.

“Uh, Sergeant Shin. What are you doing?”

“Preparing breakfast.”

The time when ordinary soldiers, not cooks, start to move around.

A few soldiers woke up and began poking their heads out of the official residence.

“What? Weren’t we going to get by on jerky for a while?”

“I thought about that, but I figured it’d put my mind at ease more if I cooked properly for you guys.”

“Wow, Sergeant Shin…”

“So touching.”

“Don’t be gross. This works out well. There were tables and tents in the official residence warehouse, right? Bring those out with the others.”

“Yes, sir!”

While the soldiers brought out the tents and tables.

I began grilling the meat on the heated griddle.

Sizzle…!

The sound and smell of grilling meat spread through the area. The people resting in the official residence also began to come outside one by one, drawn by the smell.

“Wow. Meat for breakfast?”

“Yeah. Meat is surprisingly fine for breakfast too.”

“Ooh. As expected of a cook.”

Most of the soldiers came out to the open ground.

“The tables and chairs are all set up!”

“Good work.”

By the time all the places for eating were prepared.

『The dish has been completed.』

『Low-Grade Cook’s Stability-Filled…』

The first batch of meat was done.

“Line up, everyone. First come, first served for the portions.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Oh, set aside a few for the ones on guard duty. Those of you who finish eating first, take these over to them.”

As I watched the guys taking the finished meat, I continued grilling the next batch.

In the middle of that, I felt a strange gaze.

When I looked in the direction of the gaze, a few soldiers weren’t eating the meat and were instead watching me.

“Why aren’t you eating? Ah. Do you skip breakfast? Is meat too heavy in the morning?”

“No, it’s not that.”

I wondered if they had complaints about the menu, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“We just thought it might be rude for us to eat first while you’re working, Sergeant Shin. You’re the senior, after all…”

“Oh. I thought it was something else.”

This damn military culture.

“I’m picking at pieces while I grill to check the seasoning, so don’t worry about it. Just eat.”

“But still.”

“Honestly, this is when it tastes best anyway.”

“I-is that so?”

Only then did they start eating.

Still, seeing the soldiers eating happily made me feel satisfied.

For a while, due to a lack of ingredients, I hadn’t been able to distribute dishes like ‘Stability.’

I was worried that might cause problems with the guys’ mental state.

Even if the ingredients were only meat. Now that we could resume proper meals like this, I could relax a little.

‘Alright. Breakfast is settled.’

Actually, the reason I came out at dawn and worked this hard wasn’t just for the unit’s breakfast.

‘What I’m about to do now is closer to the real objective.’

I lifted the griddle I had been using to grill meat and moved it aside.

Then I placed the cauldron on top of the burning firewood.

I poured in a little water that the soldiers had brought from the stream yesterday.

“Oh, are you already preparing lunch?”

“Hmm? Not exactly.”

A few soldiers, looking intrigued by the sight, spoke to me…I ignored them.

With the cauldron partially filled with water. I tossed in the chunks of monster fat I had set aside earlier.

Chunks of fat…In other words, lard.

‘Ingredients don’t just mean meat.’

Eating nothing but fat would be a bit much. But it’s a waste to throw it away, right?

Coincidentally, there was one ingredient we had just completely run out of in the unit.

The so-called cheat code ingredient in cooking.

I kept stirring the monster fat submerged in the water.

As time passed, the chunks of fat gradually turned brown. Along with that, the color of the water also slowly changed or rather, it was no longer water that made up the main component.

After stirring for dozens of minutes.

When I judged it to be enough, I set the cauldron down on the ground.

I took out all the chunks of fat inside and stored them separately.

Then I brought out some glass bottles I had found in the official residence. And tilting the pot, I poured the contents little by little into the glass bottles.

‘Damn, that smell is killer.’

Several bottles filled with a yellow liquid.

When I looked at them, 『Ingredient Appraisal』 activated.

『Animal Fat Mixed with Mana』

『Animal fat in which various types of mana are mixed.』

『When used in cooking, it transforms into mana suited to the dish.』

The overpowered ingredient of the culinary world that makes anything taste good when fried.

‘Oil, completed.’