I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 9

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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 9. Fortune’s Flower (2)
Elixir is an extraordinarily rare potion.
Not a single Crafter-class Hunter has ever successfully created one.
Because of this, it can only be obtained as a Gate Clear reward, but realistically, that’s an impossible feat.
‘I have no idea which Gate would even offer an Elixir as a reward.’
Gates appear randomly, and their rewards are distributed just as randomly.
While rewards do match the difficulty level, there’s no guarantee that an Elixir will be among them.
“But I managed to obtain it. The formula for creating an Elixir!”
It was the fruit of his efforts to save Miracle’s Wife, who was suffering from mana backflow syndrome.
Ever since she suddenly collapsed one day, she hasn’t regained consciousness—and she still hasn’t.
With the cause unknown and therefore the cure unknown, he, a Crafter-class Hunter, had exhausted every effort to save the woman he loved.
It was during those desperate times.
[Alchemy Skill level has increased.]
[Alchemy Skill maximum level achieved!]
[You have obtained ‘Elixir Formula: Legendary Potion’.]
Miracle was overjoyed.
With this, he could save his wife.
But to create it, he needed materials.
“So that’s where Taegohua comes in.”
“Y-yes, that’s correct…”
Normally, Taegohua is a material that’s realistically impossible to obtain.
But Miracle didn’t give up.
After searching through various channels, the person he found was…”
“Me?”
“Yes, exactly!”
“So I’m an Immortal?”
“A-am I wrong?”
Watching his shoulders visibly droop with anxiety, I felt my conscience prick at me for being honest.
In the end, I postponed my answer and pretended to gaze out the window while checking my status window.
[Heartfelt Sincerity]
▷ There is someone whose destiny must be changed by your bread. Bake sincere bread and deliver it to them!
▷ Deliver Pumpernickel to Miracle 0/1
▷ Reward: 50 BP
Damn it, I knew this would happen.
Well, it’s good that fate has presented itself, but what exactly can I do about it?
One might say I just need to deliver sincere bread, but that would be nothing short of deception.
If I didn’t know his circumstances, perhaps I could do that, but knowing everything, I simply couldn’t.
“Sigh… Let’s wait for now.”
“A-are you going to help me?”
“No. First, let’s have a meal. You look hungry.”
I left those words behind and hurried into the Kitchen.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“What do you mean, what are you supposed to do?”
“I don’t even know what kind of sincerity I should put into it.”
What kind of sincerity should I pour into this?
For someone who exhausted every effort to find Taegohua in order to save the person they love.
As countless thoughts swirled through my mind, Noir suddenly spoke up.
“Then put everything into it. Owner.”
“What?”
“Sincerity isn’t complicated. What truly matters is only the heart that genuinely cares for the other person. If that power is contained in the bread, that’s enough.”
Advice to stop defining it and simply do my best with what I had.
I nodded and picked up the pumpernickel dough that had failed earlier.
I opened the Oven, placed the dough inside, and wished while thinking about what Miracle desired.
‘May Miracle be able to achieve what he desires.’
‘May his Wife awaken and return to those happy days.’
‘May he be able to find Taegohua for this purpose.’
[The ‘Oven’ has detected bread entering inside.]
[Reading the subject’s sincerity.]
[Beginning operation.]
Unlike before, the Oven began operating, glowing a bright red.
“Thank goodness.”
“You have the qualifications to become a Witch, Owner.”
“As if you didn’t have them before.”
“I didn’t. Until just now.”
Noir hopped onto the table and stared directly at me.
“You were just a foolish brat showing interest in the power you’d newly acquired.”
“That’s harsh… though I suppose it’s true.”
“See?”
Thinking back, my original reason for making pumpernickel was merely an experiment.
An experiment to see how much power I had obtained.
There was nothing sincere in it.
“So it’s about genuine sincerity for another person.”
“Well… it’s not exactly that… but you can understand it that way if it makes things easier, Owner. Look even now. Because you had the heart to quickly bring bread to that person, wasn’t it completed this fast?”
[‘Oven’ operation has been completed.]
[Pumpernickel]
▷ A pumpernickel baked using the Witch’s Oven. Though the baker’s muddled sincerity is contained within it, the savory flavor is exquisite.
▷ Effect: Grants ‘Certain Fortune’ 1 time
Perhaps because my thoughts were scattered, the effect was limited to a single use.
But my heart’s desire for this to truly help was genuine.
“Normally, you’d want to let this sit for about two days before eating it to really enjoy the taste.”
“Then couldn’t you just eat it later?”
“Wouldn’t it be inconvenient for you to do this here right now? You think I’m fresh, after all.”
I answered Noir while using a bread knife to slice through the dark, dark pumpernickel.
The expression “slicing” didn’t quite fit, given how chewy it felt.
The density was incredibly high, making it heavy, and I’d added sweetness using molasses.
“Besides, you’d want to obtain the Taegohua as quickly as possible, even by a single day. I can’t ask you to wait two days just to eat one piece of bread.”
“Hmm… if the Owner says so, I shall comply.”
I placed the sliced pumpernickel and the strawberry jam I’d made by simmering it myself onto a plate and carried it outside.
I held it out to Miracle, who had risen from his seat and was pacing about, apparently nervous.
“Please, have some.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
He accepted the plate with a bewildered expression, but Miracle simply stared at the bread in silence for a while.
Perhaps he was wrestling with something serious.
Maybe he was feeling guilty, thinking of his wife lying in bed.
“I know you’re worried, but you need to eat first to obtain the Taegohua…”
“Does the Mountain Spirit also enjoy bread?”
“Pardon? Ah… yes, I suppose?”
“I was startled because you mentioned a meal, so I expected something like a Grain Avoidance Pill to appear. Haha!”
Never mind.
Maybe this guy really is an idiot.
With that said, Miracle spread strawberry jam on the pumpernickel and popped it into his mouth.
[Customer ‘Selfish’ experiences true happiness.]
The status window confirmed my success.
“Huh. I thought it would be dry, but it doesn’t feel that way at all?”
“It’s sweet and savory.”
“Yes! That’s exactly the right description. It seems like I’m dipping the jam unnecessarily at first.”
Satisfied with the bread’s flavor alone, Miracle now devoured the pumpernickel eagerly.
He probably hadn’t eaten properly or rested much on the journey here.
As he focused on his meal, I picked up my own portion of pumpernickel and bit into it.
“Mmm!”
The savory flavor spread throughout my mouth.
But it didn’t end there.
The rye’s characteristic tangy taste lingered on both sides of my tongue, then a subtle sweetness followed, dancing in harmony.
Ah, now I understand why I said I wouldn’t eat it with jam.
This pumpernickel was already complete in itself.
“I want some too. Owner.”
“Here. One piece.”
“Whyyyyyy! It’s salty! Your heart is terribly salty, Owner!”
Even as he complained, Noir twitched his whiskers and ate the pumpernickel deliciously.
The meal ended not long after.
I returned to the kitchen under the pretense of clearing the remaining dishes, and began to ponder what I should do next.
“I wish I had been honest from the start. ‘I am a Witch!'”
“As if anyone would believe that. I’m a man, after all.”
“Besides, thanks to the Witch’s power, no one would see it anyway, so I don’t understand what the problem is.”
Giving him the bread had been successful.
But the next step—obtaining Taegohua—was the problem.
“Noir, do you happen to have anything in our warehouse…?”
“I’ve never heard of a flower called Taegohua in my life. If I, who have served the Ancestral Witches all these years, don’t know of it, then it won’t be in the warehouse, Owner.”
A flower that didn’t exist even in a warehouse that seemed to contain everything else.
“I don’t even understand why the Owner is worrying about this in the first place.”
“What do you mean?”
“You baked bread filled with sincerity and gave it to him. That’s the same as granting him a destiny where he can obtain fortune with certainty. I’ve already done my part with just that.”
Noir was rather indignant, saying she hadn’t received compensation yet.
Thinking about it coldly, she was right.
I had done enough, and there was no reason to offer more kindness than that, so turning back would be the logical choice.
But right now, I wasn’t just offering pure kindness.
“You heard him mention this was the Siheung Gate, right? You did?”
“I did, but…?”
“If that’s the case, then regardless of who he is, he’s a skilled Hunter.”
Since the Siheung Gate is strictly managed by the state, the Hunter’s Association would be keeping a close watch over it.
Yet he managed to slip in secretly?
“Regardless of his intentions, it would be impossible without skill.”
“So what?”
“If I create a debt with someone like that, things will be easier for me going forward.”
To save my Bakery, I need to develop the Witch’s Pastry Shop.
To do that, I’ll have to encounter Hunters inside the Gate in the future.
But if they become wary every time they see me, things will become quite difficult.
So if I treat Miracle well here, wouldn’t I be able to plant the impression that ‘the baker at that Pastry Shop inside the Gate is a good person’?
“What do you think?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but if you say so, then I’ll accept it.”
Leaving Noir, who answered while wagging her tail, I entered the warehouse.
She said Taegohua wasn’t here, but you never know.
“Sigh. Is it really not here…?”
Of course, there were many flowers in the warehouse.
The ‘Sea Flower’ that blooms only in the deep ocean, the ‘Pinwheel Flower’ whose petals dance high in the sky, and even the ‘Crimson Blood Flower’ that grows by feeding on blood.
But no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find even the ‘T’ of Taegohua.
“Still, let me search a bit more.”
It was while I was venturing deeper and deeper.
A subtle scent seeping through my nose.
The sweet and slightly bitter aroma of grain mingled with the earthy scent that wafted over.
“This is….”
The scent of malt.
The aroma that rises when barley sprouts.
Mingled with it was the earthy smell of treading on soil after rain—a scent that put my mind at ease.
“This is a flower too?”
The thick, resilient petals were rough and dark, like the husks of dried grain.
A matte, dark color that reflected almost no light.
Yet at its center, a subtle golden luster shimmered.
“It looks incredibly fascinating.”
Inside were fine grain-like particles clinging to a deep earth-brown surface.
“That’s a Darkness-Eater Flower.”
“You startled me!”
“Why! I was the one who got startled!”
Noir jumped up in surprise, then settled down with a clearing of her throat before continuing.
“Ahem! It’s a flower that blooms only once after hundreds of years of growth, absorbing darkness and earth’s vitality from beneath the soil. Once consumed, it produces endless energy within the body.”
“That’s incredible….”
Flowers that required hundreds of years to bloom were stacked in countless numbers throughout this warehouse.
Could someone have actually cultivated them here?
“They did. A very long time ago… the Ancestral Witches… or was it the Ancestral Ancestral….”
“No, I think that’s fine.”
“There should still be farmland remaining. Once the Owner grows stronger, she’ll be able to enter it.”
“That’s something to look forward to.”
But since this wasn’t the Taegohua I’d been searching for, I carefully placed the flower back on the shelf.
Ding
[You have learned the true name of Taegohua: the Darkness-Eater Flower.]
I’d discovered something remarkable.

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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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