I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 3. Baguette on a Rainy Day (2)
There was only one thing to eat.
The baguette I had just made.
According to the status window, this woman must be what Noir called the “bread’s destiny” or something like that.
As I offered the freshly buttered baguette, the woman hesitated before accepting it, examining it carefully for a long time.
How long had she been staring with wide eyes and sniffing at it?
Finally, unable to resist her hunger any longer, she closed her eyes tightly, took a bite, and spoke.
“It’s… delicious…”
“Please, take your time…”
Ding!
[Customer ‘Joo Gyu-ri’ experiences true happiness.]
In that moment, the status window appeared.
“Gasp! A… a skill?”
Crash!
She collapsed backward.
* * *
‘Is this even possible?’
Joo Gyu-ri, a porter belonging to a small party and an E-rank hunter, couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
‘Getting lost inside the Gate was the problem to begin with…”
Though she possessed a powerful skill, she had been assigned the E-rank rating of a combat-disabled hunter because of a critical flaw that made it unusable.
Every time she walked through the tropical rainforest where rain fell steadily, poison-attribute monsters rushed at her, depleting her stamina.
In the moment she fell into despair.
She saw a light in the distance.
Forgetting the obvious common sense that there couldn’t be people inside a Gate, she ran like a madwoman, and there stood a building she could never have anticipated.
‘A candy house…”
Like the witch’s cottage from Hansel and Gretel, a house made entirely of candy.
Standing in the middle of the tropical rainforest, it gave off a distinctly eerie atmosphere, yet she couldn’t turn away.
Because of the savory aroma of bread wafting from inside.
‘Right, reconnaissance. I’m just doing reconnaissance.’
When she opened the door and entered, what greeted her was something shrouded in black mist.
Bizarrely, the human-shaped black mist was wearing a white chef’s uniform.
The kind that bakers wear.
‘A monster! A human-shaped monster!’
Yet this mysterious monster told her to wait and brought her a buttered baguette.
‘That was the smell coming from here…”
A baguette with a delightfully crispy exterior and moist interior, topped with a glossy layer of butter.
Normally, her eyes would have widened and she would have put it in her mouth without hesitation—it was such an appetizing sight.
‘But I can’t eat this!’
Even if she was E-rank and just a porter, she was still a hunter.
It was common knowledge, even a child knew, that monsters were treacherous and cruel.
There’s likely a possibility that poison could be mixed in here as well.
So I can’t do this.
I really can’t…
“I’m glad it suits your palate.”
“Huh? Suits my palate… Mmph!”
Oh no!
Before I knew it, my mouth was completely filled with baguette.
The texture stimulated my teeth with a crispy, rough sensation.
And beneath it all, a nutty flavor that embraced everything with an extraordinary softness.
Even the butter made an appearance, adding variation to a taste that could have been plain.
“Delicious…”
Gyu-ri’s body trembled at the overwhelming flavor that made her mind hazy.
Even she, who had lived proudly as a bread enthusiast, had never experienced a taste like this before.
It was at that moment when all the anxiety and fear that had accumulated until now was washed away in an instant.
Ding!
[You have consumed ‘Baguette’.]
[Skill: ‘Shroud of Ashes’ has been acquired.]
“What?”
Gyu-ri’s mind snapped back to reality.
What is this status window saying right now?
A skill?
I acquired a skill?
‘How is this even possible?’
After hurriedly checking the skill that appeared in her status window, she couldn’t help but be even more shocked.
[Shroud of Ashes]
▷ Generates a burial shroud made from ashes left after burning. A sturdy advanced shroud that also blocks flames!
▷ Effect: While active, flame and physical resistance increased by 500%
‘Flame and physical resistance increased by 500%?’
Even just this was an absurd number.
With just a 200% increase, one wouldn’t suffer a single burn even walking into an ordinary fire.
But this is 500%.
Not just flame resistance, but physical resistance as well.
‘And there’s no duration listed either…’
On top of that, there wasn’t even a duration listed.
That meant this was a skill I could maintain for as long as I wanted!
‘How on earth did this happen…’
A skill appeared just from eating a single piece of bread.
Who could possibly believe something like this?
‘It’s bread… it’s definitely bread. This is.’
The nutty taste of bread still lingered in my mouth.
*Smack smack* No matter how much I worked my palate, this was unmistakably bread.
Yet eating it creates skills I didn’t have before?
“Does it suit your taste?”
“Oh! That… Yes! It… it was delicious….”
The black smoke monster shaped like a baker nodded.
Wait, was it even a monster?
But would a monster care for a hunter and give them food?
And that food grants skills?
My mind was reaching its limits trying to comprehend a situation that defied all logic.
“So that means you’re happy? Human?”
“Pardon? That… I suppose so?”
“Then pay the price for your happiness.”
“What?”
Another black smoke emerged into view.
It wasn’t the one shaped like a baker I’d been talking to.
It undulated like a four-legged beast, and its voice was different too.
And its form resembled….
‘A cat?’
The way the part that looked like a tail swayed was unmistakably cat-like.
But I regained my senses, albeit belatedly.
‘It’s definitely a monster!’
I’d heard of them before.
Monsters that could act and speak like humans, but whose true purpose was to kill hunters who entered Inside the Gate.
Could this be one of those kinds?
“Can you hear it?”
“Pardon? What… what do you mean hear….”
【UUUUUUUUUUUUUU!】
The violent roar shook the air itself, and I covered my ears.
Terror surged back to life.
This was a sound I knew.
The cry of the master of this regenerating Gate where the Jungle now existed.
“Uhhhhh….”
“If you cannot hear it well enough, I shall show you directly.”
With those words, the cat-shaped black smoke passed by me and flung open the Pastry Shop’s door.
Then came the sight of despair.
With thunderous tremors, the towering trees of the Jungle collapsed.
And what finally revealed itself was….
“Uhhhhh….”
[Mutant Ogre of the Rainforest (Boss)]
▷ Danger Level: B-
▷ This is a mutated monster born from an Ogre that lived in the Jungle. Double the size, double the strength, and double the ferocity!
A colossal Ogre capable of demolishing a Pastry Shop in a single blow—the boss monster of this Gate—charged toward me with bloodshot eyes blazing crimson.
‘Oh no… please, I just want to live….’
I prayed desperately that I might escape this place alive.
* * *
【SCREEEEEECH!】
My body froze solid at the ear-splitting roar.
Damn it, I should have known something like this would happen eventually.
Inside the Gate, unpredictable and perilous situations occurred constantly.
“An… an Ogre….”
“Calm yourself, Master.”
“Calm down? If that thing lands even one hit, I’m dead!”
“You won’t die.”
Yet Noir, perched upon the chair with freshly baked bread, merely yawned as if it were nothing at all.
“Watch.”
【SCREEEEEECH!】
The Mutant Ogre of the Rainforest, irritated by the Candy House before its eyes, raised its massive, heavy fist.
A fist the size of a wrecking ball used in building demolition came crashing down upon the Candy House.
CRASH!
“Kyaaaaa… huh?”
Gyu-ri, who had been shrieking in terror at the approaching death, expressed her confusion.
Then she slowly raised her head.
I too opened my eyes, which I had squeezed shut, and peered outside the door.
“Did you see?”
【SCREEEEEECH!】
The Ogre continued to swing its furious fists relentlessly.
Yet the Candy House remained completely intact.
Its interior undisturbed, comfortable and serene.
Enraged, the Mutant Ogre of the Rainforest now struck the Candy House with frenzied desperation.
CRASH!
BANG! CRASH! CRASH!
“The Witch’s Cottage exists within the Dimensional Rift.”
“So it manifests by using the energy flowing out from the surrounding Gate?”
“Indeed. Your Master is more clever than you appear. In any case, it hasn’t fully revealed itself.”
The Witch’s Cottage originally dwells in a space within the Dimensional Rift, Noir explained.
Though it can manifest Inside the Gate by using energy, not everything transfers over completely.
If I had to compare it, this space was something like a hologram.
“Only those who possess the key—the Master—and those destined to enter may cross the threshold.”
“That’s remarkably convenient.”
“Had it been otherwise, you would be dead. Grow stronger quickly. My previous Master disposed of such vermin with a single finger.”
【Screeeeeeeech!】
The Ogre continued to strike the Pastry Shop, still unable to vent its fury.
Noir found the sound so grating that she leaped from her chair mid-baking and slammed the door shut.
Only then did silence settle over the cottage.
When Gyu-ri stood there with a bewildered expression, unable to comprehend the situation at all, I spoke to her.
“Is it possible?”
“Waaaagh! Possible or not, it must be done! A witch who doesn’t demand payment does not exist!”
Noir threw a tantrum, but my resolve remained unchanged.
No matter how I looked at this hunter named Joo Gyu-ri, she was clearly not a high-ranked one.
In contrast, the Ogre rampaging outside was a B-rank boss monster.
If the two clashed, the outcome was as clear as day.
Yet how could I possibly send her to her death?
“Why do you worry! With a skill now, she can surely manage!”
“But the rank difference is….”
“Don’t underestimate a witch’s power! Rooooaaaagh!”
Noir was practically roaring with fury now.
Though her outburst wouldn’t change my mind.
Yet Gyu-ri turned to speak to me.
“I… I’ll try….”
“Will you be alright?”
“Well… if I’m going to get out anyway…. There’s no other way….”
“This human woman is far smarter than her master.”
With that remark, Gyu-ri hid her trembling hands and took a deep breath.
Once she’d steeled herself, she flung the door open, and before her stood the Mutant Ogre of the Rainforest, still seething with rage.
【Uuuuuuuuuugh!】
“S-self-ignition! Ugh!”
Flames began to ripple across Gyu-ri’s entire body.
The heat was so intense it incinerated every piece of clothing she wore to ash.
But in that very moment, unable to distinguish friend from foe, she too was suffering severe burns.
“Ugh… ash… ash shroud… activating….”
The burning ash descended gently upon her body.
It transformed into the shape of a thin dress, wrapping around her in a veil of cinders.
Her burns healed instantly, yet the flames did not cease.
“Ha… haha…. I’m… actually fine….”
【Screeeech?】
The Mutant Ogre began to hesitate, perhaps intimidated by the small human that had appeared before it.
Gyu-ri looked up at the creature and stepped forward, putting all her strength into a punch.
“Yaaaaaaaaaah!”
And then….
Booooooooooom!
A colossal pillar of flame swept through the air, scattering the torrential rain and the Ogre in its wake.
“Wh… what?”
Gyu-ri stood there in bewilderment.
The status window notification explained what had just transpired.
[The boss monster of the ‘Rainforest of Rain’, the ‘Mutant Ogre of the Rainforest’, has been defeated.]
[Quest Complete!]
[Reward: You have obtained a ‘Special Baguette Recipe’.]
An unbelievable feat—an E-rank hunter had eliminated a B-rank Ogre in a single strike.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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