The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 1

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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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Episode 1
“One hundred eighty-seven… one hundred eighty-eight… one hundred… eighty… nine!”
Luciel straightened up from where she’d been crouching on the kitchen floor.
Just ten seconds of rest.
Breathing hard, she gazed at the enormous heap of potatoes she’d stacked.
The peeled potatoes gleamed smoothly, each one plump and appetizing, yet all Luciel could manage was a sigh.
She’d peeled one hundred eighty-nine potatoes since morning.
Which meant fifty more still remained.
“Ugh… it hurts.”
She tried to straighten her stiffened fingers, but they wouldn’t obey.
Before she’d started peeling potatoes, the head chef had driven her to remove the scales from Poison Spine Fish first, which was why her left hand was half-numb.
Because of it, her left hand was in a state of partial paralysis.
She wished someone in the kitchen had lent her protective gloves, but no such miracle occurred.
Most of the kitchen staff were relatives of the head chef, after all.
And they were all rotten people.
The head chef had decided to dump all the most dangerous and difficult tasks on Luciel from the first day he saw her, a year ago.
More precisely, from the moment he witnessed how fast and precise her hands were at preparing ingredients.
“Oh, you managed to butcher Red Bison meat? At only thirteen years old?”
Back then, she’d thought he was a kind man. Her hunger-addled brain must have malfunctioned.
“Let’s start with an apprenticeship. Normally I don’t take in children your age, but I’m making a very special exception. Do you know how fierce the competition is for a position like this?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
She’d fallen for his friendly smile and accepted his words without question.
Though truthfully, she’d had no other choice.
It took the head chef less than three days to heap every dangerous and exhausting task in Nor Lord’s Manor’s kitchen onto Luciel’s shoulders.
“Peel the skin off ten bushels of Crimson Blood Onion. They’re ten times as pungent as regular onions, so keep your distance from everyone else.”
“Hey, you’ve finished organizing the Underground Ice Storage, right? If there are any losses, you’ll be the one to repay them.”
“You wretch! Haven’t you finished removing the mucus from the Seven-Colored Octopus yet? What, burns from the heat? That’s enough complaining—if you don’t get it done faster, I won’t go easy on you!”
His kind tone from the first day grew increasingly harsh, and occasionally he even laid hands on her.
But Luciel endured.
As an unpaid apprentice, she had no funds to go elsewhere, and more than anything, she hadn’t found any trace of her mother.
One year ago, before her mother disappeared, this place—Nor Lord’s Manor—was the last place she’d been employed.
Her mother disappearing and reappearing somewhere entirely different was familiar enough, but the problem was that some of her mother’s belongings had vanished from the manor.
“My dear daughter, your mother recorded all the settings that appear in the original story in her diary. If I don’t come back, make sure you hold onto that, at least.”
So thirteen-year-old Luciel had taken a job at a place where a diary might be found.
She’d only realized later that she should have read the employment contract carefully before signing on.
“Ten seconds. Done…!”
Luciel gave up on her uncooperative hand and picked up the knife again.
Once she finished peeling all the potatoes, she’d need to polish the Steel Turtle Shell, but at least she could eat a snack before that.
She glanced at the plate holding a skewered roasted potato, butter-brushed and steaming.
And not just any potato—a Whirlwind Potato. It was one of her favorite snacks, made exactly as her mother had described from the original world, the shape she remembered her mother eating.
She’d even gone so far as to cast a Buff on it, so once she ate it, today’s work would wrap up early.
Since casting the Buff had drained her Mana, she’d collapse this afternoon anyway, so it didn’t matter now.
“Today is really important, so I’m going to work extra hard.”
Her bright green eyes shone brilliantly, a stark contrast to her golden hair.
Once her work was done, Luciel would finally leave her unpaid apprenticeship behind and become a regular employee.
In other words, she’d start receiving a monthly salary of 2 Gold.
Moreover, once she became an official member of the manor’s household, she could explore places beyond the kitchen to search for traces of her mother, and then she’d be able to save her wages and leave this place.
“I can do this!”
With steely resolve, Luciel clenched her fist with a hand that bore nothing but scars and calluses, far from childlike.
Just as she was halfway through peeling her one hundred eightieth potato—
Bang! The kitchen’s back door burst open and a man entered.
“Well, well, little one.”
It was Nigel, the head chef of the manor. Upon spotting Luciel, he shook his enormous belly in greeting.
“What’s this, haven’t you finished polishing the Steel Turtle Shell yet?”
Nigel frowned when he saw the Steel Turtle Shell placed to one side of the kitchen.
“I distinctly said it was urgent. You’re terribly slow.”
“…I’ll do it right away.”
Luciel barely suppressed the surge of emotion and muttered under her breath.
Regular employment, regular employment—keep thinking about regular employment.
“That’s right, get to it.”
Nigel nudged her bent back with his foot, urging her on.
“We need to close the kitchen early today because we’re throwing a celebration party.”
“A celebration… party?”
“That’s right. I, your head chef, have received a bonus of 20 Gold from the Lord.”
A heavy-looking pouch hung at his waist.
Luciel stared at him with a confused expression.
“Why would you receive a bonus…?”
She forcefully suppressed the truth that was about to escape her lips.
Your cooking is mediocre.
“Why, you ask? My recent dishes have been earning high praise from the Lord, and today the Soufflé Omelette I made earned the compliment of being a ‘masterpiece of the century.'”
Nigel boasted, shrugging his shoulders.
A greasy smile spread across his bloated face.
“…Soufflé Omelette?”
Luciel dropped the peeler she was holding.
“…That’s what I made.”
Luciel’s voice dropped to a murmur.
The fallen peeler clattered across the floor with a sharp, metallic sound, but Nigel didn’t even blink.
“I spent all night making that! You saw it all!”
“Are you stupid? Any dish that leaves this kitchen doorway becomes my dish.”
Luciel clenched her fists. The anger that had accumulated deep in her chest surged up.
“How many times… how many times has this happened?”
Her nails dug into her palms, but the anger kept her from feeling the pain.
“The Castella last time, the Meringue Cookies before that, the Fried Potatoes and Apple Pie—all of it! You lied and said you made all of it! You promised this time you’d say my name! That’s how I was supposed to receive my salary…!”
“Oh, right. Your regular employment.”
Nigel completely ignored everything she’d said and snapped his fingers as if remembering something.
“We’re postponing that for another year.”
“…What? What are you talking about?”
Luciel blinked with wide, shocked eyes.
“You’ve been lazy lately, that’s why.”
He continued with a chuckling laugh.
“Another three years of just room and board while you build yourself up would be good for your future.”
Rage boiled up from her core.
Three years. Asking her to endure another three years of this hellish unpaid labor was the same as telling her to be a slave for life.
He’d planned this from the start.
Never intending to let her go or treat her fairly—only using her as a machine to cook and prepare ingredients.
Knowing she had nowhere else to go.
In that moment, Luciel felt the thread of reason snap.
“…I’m quitting.”
“What?”
She was done holding back.
“I’m quitting right now.”
When Luciel raised her head, her eyes blazed with an intensity that didn’t match her cute face.
She pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from her clothes and dropped it at Nigel’s feet.
“Right after I submit this to the steward.”
“What is this…?”
Nigel bent down and picked up the paper.
His expression immediately hardened.
“This is… what is this…?”
“It’s a list of all the embezzlement and misconduct you’ve committed over the past year. Can’t you read?”
Nigel’s small eyes, beady as rice grains, went round with shock and started twitching.
“Embe… embezzlement? You wrote it down?”
“Yes.”
To Nigel, trembling with betrayal, Luciel smiled and spoke.
“My mother told me to. She said to write down important information whenever it comes to mind. That’s why we keep a diary.”
—April 12th, embezzlement of ten catties of sirloin and manipulation of market ledgers.
—May 19th, overcharging for sugar and spices, pocketing a 5 Gold difference.
—June 3rd, intercepting salary funds designated for junior chefs…
“You little bitch…!”
As Nigel read through the densely written entries, his eyes moved frantically.
“A total of 127 Gold and 40 Silver. By the way, I wrote it out on multiple sheets, and I’ve hidden one copy somewhere in the manor where it’s likely to be found later, so tearing it up won’t matter.”
Luciel spoke without hesitation.
A year ago, she’d been naive and trusting of people, but once betrayed, she was the sort who always sought revenge.
“You little wretch…!”
Nigel’s face burned crimson as he breathed heavily, then, as if collecting his thoughts, let out a vicious laugh.
“Ha! Good luck with that! Who’s going to believe your word?”
He struck the counter with a bang as he shouted.
“The Lord cannot do without my cooking—that’s what matters!”
“What? Does he have broken taste buds?”
“Apart from the recipes I got from you, I have ‘Magic Powder’ in my hands! The divine ingredient that transforms even garbage dishes into masterpieces!”
As if mocking Luciel’s expression of pure confusion, Nigel pulled a small glass vial from inside his clothes and shook it.
“With this, I’m invincible. You’ll never lay your hands on something like this, no matter how long you live.”
“…!”
“The Lord is already hooked on it, practically addicted. What are you going to do with a mere hundred-odd Gold…?”
Luciel’s eyes widened as she stared at the vial he was shaking.
Inside the small glass vial with its pink tint, fine powder glinted. She knew exactly what it was.
Her mother’s powder.
More precisely, the powder that Luciel herself had made following her mother’s instructions.
The powder her possessed mother had called “MSG”—the essence of umami more powerful than any delicacy in the world, an addictive ingredient, and one of the things Luciel had been desperately searching for.

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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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