The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 39

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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 39
“Pardon?”
Luciella tilted her head, bewildered.
“My judgment is never wrong. Black Sesame Dessert doesn’t exist anywhere in the empire right now. Regardless of whether people’s tastes divide over it, there are absolutely those who crave this flavor. And when it comes to gauging the demands of the empire’s people, no one reads them more accurately than I do.”
……
“You just stay quiet and cook. Develop recipes. You said you liked ready coin, didn’t you?”
Melina spoke without pause, words tumbling over one another.
Multiple layers of strategy were crystallizing in her mind in an instant.
Like a businesswoman’s instinct flaring to life, her eyes gleamed with sudden brilliance.
“If you do this, I will place in your hands more gold coins than you could possibly manage.”
* * *
Luciella returned to her room in a daze.
Poor at refusing anyone, she had let herself be persuaded by Melina and signed a contract.
“Develop three more dishes for me.”
Melina spoke with evident satisfaction.
“Something like the Black Sesame Ganache Tart—subtle yet delicious, rare in the empire, distinctive and fragrant enough that anyone who tastes it once will remember it forever……”
She’d said to develop freely, but the moment the contract was signed, she’d multiplied her requirements tenfold and vanished, saying she needed to visit the Tea Shop she ran to sketch out a promotion strategy.
The Duke watched with fascination, and even Bael and Cain made no move to stop her.
“Any venture Melina proposes won’t fail.”
“Luciella loves money, and I’ve heard your aunt is the one among your siblings who built her private wealth fastest and largest.”
The more encouragement she received, the more anxious Luciella became.
So what else was she supposed to prepare besides the Black Sesame Dessert?
Raised half-exposed to Korean ingredients and cuisine through her mother’s influence, Luciella was nonetheless a citizen of the Aeshelred Empire.
Though she had researched diverse foods, most of the flavors familiar to her already existed in the empire, and the uniquely Korean dishes she’d made only a few times from her mother’s descriptions required ingredients that were difficult to source.
Without the small quantities of ingredients her mother had grown herself, it would have been impossible.
Black sesame was one of the rare exceptions.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of knuckles on the door, Luciella lifted her head.
“Luciella.”
It was Aila at the threshold, supported on one side by Bael.
Luciella sprang up lightly to greet her.
She’d nearly forgotten the most important thing in the sudden rush of the contract.
“You said you wanted to go somewhere with me? And that there might be Serin Root there……?”
Aila, dressed in comfortable clothes as arranged beforehand, asked, and Luciella nodded with a bright smile.
“I’m fairly sure it’s probably confusion with some other plant, but…… either way, I think we should go and see.”
Aila wore an expression of skepticism but still smiled warmly at her.
“But does it really have to be in the middle of the night? And Bael is coming too?”
“No.”
She picked up the journal she’d left on the desk as she answered.
“We leave from here. And Bael’s role is just to see us off.”
“Huh?”
Aila and Bael both tilted their heads in unison, confused.
“Have you tried Dimensional Movement before?”
“No……?”
“Like I mentioned last time, I was only taught it as theoretically possible magic.”
Aila shook her head, and Bael’s expression was far from reassured.
“Then let’s try it today.”
Luciella spoke cheerfully.
“Since I don’t have enough Magical Power, you’ll have to do it instead.”
“If that much power has to be channeled, isn’t that dangerous?”
Bael’s brow furrowed.
“……You can grant me one favor, can’t you?”
“Who said I wouldn’t?”
At Luciella’s downcast voice, Bael raised his tone and snapped back.
“Really?”
Brightened instantly, Luciella spun around, pulled a small piece of chocolate from a drawer, and popped it straight into Bael’s mouth.
Bael chewed the chocolate by reflex, and his eyes widened.
“You…… this…… this is from last time, that power……”
“Right, a ‘Buff’. I needed it for today.”
“If you collapse……!”
“I made it days ago and slept the whole time after. All that happened was Lenar scolded me a bit and I did punishment cleaning. If I’d known it was going to be used today, I wouldn’t have hidden it so awkwardly……”
She grumbled as she opened her mother’s journal.
On the second page, a clumsily drawn Magic Circle appeared—sketched by an ordinary hand.
“Is this it? I can tell what was being drawn, but……”
Bael tilted his head at the crude quality of the drawing.
“Yes. Draw it here on the floor.”
“……I’ll give it a try.”
As if feeling he couldn’t break his promise, Bael nodded, released Luciella’s hand, and mobilized all his Magical Power.
With a deep hum, silver markings appeared on the back of his hand.
As he exerted force and moved his fingertips, the Magic Circle from the journal was drawn on the floor in a slightly more intricate form.
“Easy……enough.”
“Wow, impressive. It was good I saved that Buff.”
Luciella smiled with satisfaction and spoke to Bael.
She’d considered using it before the hunt, but it felt like cheating so she’d dropped the idea.
The precision of the Magic Circle was essential for moving to the Vegetable Garden.
……
Bael still wore an expression of lingering doubt, but he didn’t press the matter.
“We’re moving from here, right?”
“You still don’t believe it?”
“I do. I decided I’d believe whatever you say.”
It was barely a second or two, but Bael held her gaze steadily.
“I’ll send you off. But—”
“But?”
“If you don’t come back within an hour, I’m coming to find you.”
At his words, Luciella smiled once more.
“An hour? Hardly.”
She fastened the Anchoring Crystal strung on a cord around her neck, stepped into the Magic Circle, and pulled the still-dazed Aila in with one hand.
“Time barely passes in the Vegetable Garden. We’ll be back in a minute.”
With those words, she and Aila became translucent before Bael’s eyes, then vanished into empty air.
* * *
The first thing Luciella felt was the fragrance of countless plants and flowers.
“Oh!”
Aila, with her keen senses, opened her eyes and clapped a hand over her mouth.
As Luciella’s eyes fluttered open in turn, a familiar landscape spread before them.
A sprawling Vegetable Garden with hundreds of plants growing in haphazard profusion.
A steady, always warm breeze and sunlight streaming in from somewhere unseen.
A distant cottage.
“So this was what you meant by another dimension?”
Eyes bright with excitement, Aila dashed like a child toward the garden.
“Silver Dayflower! The Silver Dayflower that treats mental confusion from Magical Power exhaustion is here! I’ve heard that fewer than twenty stems are found across the entire empire in a whole year!”
Without catching her breath, she rushed to the next patch of vegetation.
“This is…… Golden Vein Herb! It neutralizes toxins that have spread to the bone marrow—Golden Vein Herb! Why is this here? I was told it only grows deep in the Southern Continent!”
Her typically serene eyes seemed to shine with an ethereal glow.
Like someone who had found all the treasures they’d yearned for a lifetime to possess in a single moment.
“My goodness, this is Serin Root. The Serin Root that regenerates organ damage in just days. I only heard it spoken of and thought I’d never see it in my whole life……”
She snipped herbals as they caught her eye, tucking bits of unknown plants into the bag she’d brought.
“Luciella, what exactly is this place?”
Aila, suddenly catching her breath, turned and asked.
“Well.”
Luciella paused to consider her answer.
‘How do I explain an item you get for winning in a game?’
“My father was a mage scholar.”
Since it wasn’t untrue, Aila seemed satisfied and returned to wandering through the vegetation.
Leaving Aila to her searching, Luciella turned her head toward the direction of the cottage.
That’s when that tree came into view.

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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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