Chapter 1047 – #249_Overwork(3)
#1041
1.
They were a pair of cunning twins who always sharpened their wits through fierce confrontations and arguments.
When the two of them joined forces, coaxing the gullible Llewellyn was as easy as drinking lukewarm soup.
Llewellyn, dragged along by the twins, was already wearing an apron.
“Okay.”
“Shall we begin?”
A long time ago, during a cooking practice, the twins had created a hellish steamed horned chicken that spawned evil.
But this time, they were confident.
They had received a special recipe passed down from the great-grandmother of their exclusive maid, Pecha.
Back then, they had also received a recipe from their exclusive maid, Lena…
“That recipe was missing key details.”
“Right, Lena has a cunning side too, you know?”
So, this time, to prevent the same mishap, they had obtained the original recipe book from Pecha.
The dish the twins were planning to make was chicken noodle soup.
It was ordinary, but it was the first dish that came to mind when thinking of a restorative meal in Gehenna.
The light, savory chicken broth warmed the body and boosted energy.
“Llewellyn, don’t just stand there, help out.”
“I am a queen. You should consider it an honor that I have come to the kitchen at the request of you little ones.”
Llewellyn had followed the twins, but she was still indifferent.
She was probably still upset that Siwoo had gone on a summer trip to the sea.
The twins didn’t mind and examined the ingredients that Lena had prepared in advance.
A sleek, fresh chicken, thoroughly drained of blood and neatly trimmed.
The vegetables were also prepared, ready to be roughly chopped.
Llewellyn, after glancing at them, expressed her doubts.
The ingredients were all prepared, and there was even a bouquet garni, a bundle of herbs for flavoring.
It was a simple task to put the pot on the stove and add the ingredients in order, following the recipe.
Could this even be called homemade cooking?
“This isn’t homemade cooking, it’s more like, like, a meal kit from the mortal realm, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Our personal touch is going into it, isn’t it?”
“Okay, let’s stick to the recipe this time, Odette.”
“Yes! Sister!”
The twins decided not to add any variations this time to make up for their past mistakes.
Though she grumbled, Llewellyn showed curiosity in the twins’ actions and pulled up a chair to watch them cook.
“First, put the chicken in boiling water…”
“Add parsley, thyme, celery stalks, rosemary, and bay leaves to get rid of the gamey smell.”
“Reduce to medium heat and keep skimming off the foam.”
Chicken noodle soup was a very easy dish that even beginners could make.
Even Llewellyn knew the recipe roughly.
In Korean terms, it was like kimchi fried rice?
Odile and Odette, wearing aprons, diligently skimmed off the foam and seasoned with salt and pepper.
They occasionally tasted with a ladle or waved their hands to smell, showing a somewhat professional demeanor.
“This is too easy?”
“Hehe, it was Lena’s recipe that was the problem back then.”
Now, they had to cover the pot and simmer for two to three hours until the meat became tender and easily separated from the bone.
Llewellyn, thinking it would be a boring time, was about to continue explaining why she was angry when she tilted her head.
“Huh?”
It was because the twins had brought a bunch of wooden boxes from somewhere.
“What are you doing?”
“This? We’re going to add a little variation from now on.”
“It’s going to be a restorative meal with a lot of affection, but it’s too bland as it is, isn’t it?”
The twins had changed their minds because the recipe was too easy.
Before, their overly bold attempts were the problem, so they thought it would be okay if they adjusted the degree this time.
Llewellyn felt a strange sense of unease.
Anastasia, the cook and crew member of Akula, didn’t do this, did she…
“Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
“Cooking is like alchemy, isn’t it?”
“Do you think the assistant will be impressed with a bland soup?”
However, Llewellyn’s unease soon subsided.
The wooden boxes the twins opened were filled with ice layered in sawdust, and inside were ingredients that caught Llewellyn’s attention.
“You’re not too fond of seafood, are you?”
“If you help us now, I’ll put in a good word for you with the assistant.”
It was seafood.
Although they had excluded oysters from their previous experience, various types of seafood were shining with fresh vibrancy.
“We’re planning to add these in appropriately, you see?”
“What do you think?”
“That sounds like a good idea. Those born from the sea possess vitality and life force.”
The twins, who were slightly lacking in confidence, gained courage with Llewellyn’s assistance.
The qualities of an apprentice witch are curiosity and a spirit of challenge.
Those who are content to follow the given path cannot become witches.
Those who pioneer a path that no one has taken are the ones who make history in the wilderness of magic.
“Let’s add sea cucumbers first.”
“Abalone is also said to be a very good restorative food.”
“If we add the broth from the seafood to the chicken broth, it will definitely taste much deeper!”
“That’s right!”
-Plop, plop
The twins opened the pot and added the sea cucumbers and abalone, which had been thoroughly cleaned with a brush.
Llewellyn tilted her head.
Was it normal to just throw them in like that?
But it didn’t seem like a big deal.
As the twins said, abalone and sea cucumbers had been restorative foods since ancient times, and their flavors weren’t particularly strong.
“……”
“……”
After quietly watching the pot simmer for a while, the twins got up again as if they were compelled to.
“I feel like that’s not quite enough.”
“Right, I think there’s room for improvement.”
“How about this, sister?”
“What is it? Oh, that’s good? It looks like it would be plausible. It’s true that high-end dishes often include lobster.”
“I think it would be good to debone the chicken and add the meat to the soup later.”
-Plop, plop
The twins diligently washed the still-wriggling lobsters and threw them into the pot.
“……?”
This time, Llewellyn was slightly puzzled, but she nodded.
Generally, crustaceans become tough when boiled in water, so it’s better to add them after steaming, but if they were going to debone them anyway, it might not matter.
However, the twins began to engage in bizarre behavior that even Llewellyn, a novice cook, found clearly strange.
They kept opening and closing the pot, making a fuss.
“Didn’t the recipe say to leave it alone?”
“What are you talking about! We have to open it frequently to check if it’s cooking well.”
“That’s right. What we’re serving isn’t just chicken noodle soup, it’s the Five Sisters’ special chicken noodle soup.”
Odile, who had been carefully examining the pot, looked serious.
“Odette, this is a major issue. There’s a serious problem with our dish.”
“What is it?”
“We added herbs to get rid of the chicken’s gamey smell, right? But what about the gamey smell of the seafood? The chicken is already half seafood. The balance is broken.”
“Oh, sister, you worry too much. It’s not a big deal, you startled me.”
Odette triumphantly pulled out a bottle of white wine.
“We can just add a little of this. White wine is supposed to get rid of the fishy smell of seafood, isn’t it? It’s also eaten with oysters.”
“Odette, you’re a genius?”
“Ahem!”
“Shall we add it then?”
“…Hmm?”
Llewellyn, who was starting to sense the confusion, realized something was wrong when she saw Odile pouring wine into the pot without measuring.
The amount of alcohol used to remove odors is at most one or two spoons, or half a cup at most, isn’t it?
“Is it okay to just pour it in like that?”
“It should be fine if we add it moderately. The alcohol will evaporate when it’s heated anyway.”
“But doesn’t a unique aroma remain? As far as I know, chicken noodle soup is a light dish. If you add that much wine, wouldn’t that break the balance?”
Odile and Odette, who had been seriously contemplating Llewellyn’s point, soon came up with a clear solution.
“If we added too much white wine, we can just add more seafood.”
“Recipe change. It’s not chicken noodle soup anymore, it’s seafood chicken noodle soup.”
Odile and Odette added a lot of seafood until they felt it was enough.
“Cooking complete!”
“Mission complete!”
After that, they deboned the chicken as planned, prepared the seafood appropriately, and lightly boiled it with the vegetables.
Finally, the appearance of the completed seafood chicken noodle soup, if named, would be…
Something like a chicken noodle soup consumed by Cthulhu.
Because they didn’t keep the boiling time accurate and didn’t prepare it properly, the swollen seafood was grotesquely intertwined.
The soup, which was supposed to be clear and transparent, was closer to the color of crab vomit due to the unique viscosity and color of the seafood.
Should it be considered a great improvement that there wasn’t a grand explosion like last time?
Even Llewellyn, who was somewhat familiar with deep-sea creatures, was horrified by the appearance.
“……”
“……”
“……”
After a moment of silence, Odile and Odette scooped up a spoonful and handed it to Llewellyn.
“Try it.”
“Are you trying to poison me?”
“It’s a dish we made based on your advice, isn’t it? If you have any conscience, you should at least taste it.”
“When did I give such wicked advice!”
“It might be okay even if it looks like this!”
“Then you eat it!”
“Is this all our friendship was worth…?”
“It’s just one bite, why are you making such a fuss…”
“You’re a queen, but you’re too timid.”
“You have no loyalty.”
“Alright! I understand!”
In the end, Llewellyn, unable to resist the twins’ emotional blackmail, took a spoonful.
There were some foods that looked bad but tasted good, weren’t there?
Like soy sauce marinated crab, one of Siwoo’s hometown dishes.
“Hup.”
The twins watched Llewellyn, who had closed her eyes tightly and put the soup in her mouth, without blinking.
‘This, this taste is…?’ Llewellyn’s eyes widened and she froze.
“How is it?”
“Does it taste good?”
-Wooong!
“L, Llewellyn?!”
“Kyaa!”
“Gueeeeeeek!!!”
A deep blue magic power erupted from Llewellyn’s body and flooded the Count Geminai’s kitchen.
