Ch.223Cooking (3)

On the day of the incident, I was enjoying my newly acquired hobby of cooking.

Particularly, the dish I was preparing for lunch today was pancakes.

It turned out to be a food with a much longer history than I had imagined.

In the Western Continent, pancakes encompass a broad category that includes not only what people commonly think of as hotcakes, but also refers to any food made by spreading thin batter and cooking it, or anything similar.

Broadly speaking, even foods like Korean pancakes or jeon would fall under the pancake category, meaning it’s not simply a name for dessert hotcakes.

In reality, within the Western Continent, pancakes are closer to a meal substitute that poor farmers—too poor to afford bread but better off than those who eat porridge—make by mixing various grain flours with a little wheat flour and a lot of water.

The taste is far from the fluffy, sweet dessert hotcakes that contain a lot of sugar. Naturally, expensive ingredients like eggs aren’t included, and only a small amount of cheap, low-grade wheat flour is typically used.

Since it was originally food for poor farmers, there’s a perception in social circles that eating it lowers one’s dignity, like most vegetables. Naturally, I hadn’t encountered it for a very long time.

However, after coincidentally seeing some farmers cooking pancakes during my time in this village, I decided to try recreating the pancakes from my memories.

Of course… this was definitely more challenging than the chicken soup I made last time.

With the chicken soup, there were reference recipes in this world, and my memories of it were very clear. The cooking method was also simple—just prepare the ingredients properly, throw them in, and let them simmer.

In contrast, the pancake recipes in this world were limited to poor people’s thin batter cakes. What could someone like me, with absolutely minimal baking experience, possibly accomplish?

Still, the fortunate thing was that I had plenty of time and resources to devote to developing this recipe.

Even if the batter turned out poorly, it would still be edible when cooked, just not as good as what I’d eaten in my previous life. So with some effort, I would eventually be able to perfect the recipe…

And the result of that arduous journey was right before my eyes.

Sift the flour, add sugar and the yeast used for bread-making, mix in eggs and milk, let the batter rest for about 30 minutes, and the preparation is complete.

Using all my skills as an Aura user to cook the thin, runny batter, I happily devoured these pancakes, reveling in their overwhelming fluffiness.

One with butter, one drizzled with honey, one with fruit jam, some with fresh fruit on the side—I indulged to my heart’s content, satisfying my long-held craving.

My body, with its recently accelerated energy consumption rate, could easily handle this feast. So I inhaled several pancakes, enjoying their sweetness when…

‘…Huh?’

That’s when the incident—the real beginning of the incident—occurred.

After wolfing down the last pancake, I suddenly sensed something foreign within my consciousness.

It was a sensation distinctly different from my hyper-intuition’s warning. Not a signal that my life was in immediate danger, but also not something I could dismiss as nothing… a truly complex situation.

Intuition only works effectively when given specific conditions. When the scope or assigned role is too broad, it cannot function properly.

However, that didn’t mean I needed to just sit and observe the situation.

“…Phew.”

I consumed additional magical power to accelerate my digestion, instantly emptying my stomach. Then, transforming a nearby metal case into armor, I grabbed my weapons and headed outside.

And what entered my vision was a scene beyond unexpected.

‘…What?’

Dozens of villagers lay helplessly collapsed on the ground as if they had suddenly lost consciousness, while neighbors and family members were frantically moving them somewhere.

It was a scene that seemed to cross the line of reality, leaving me momentarily stunned.

Though this sight momentarily dazed me, I couldn’t afford to remain in that state indefinitely.

“…What the hell.”

Gathering my shaken mental faculties, I decided to resolve this situation somehow. Following my intuition’s guidance, I sought out the best person who could respond to this crisis.

Charlotte Mainster. The one who effectively handled the territory’s administration and governance.

She was surely taking a day off and resting at home, but given the circumstances, it wouldn’t be good to leave her undisturbed.

And when I arrived at her house—I witnessed something completely unexpected.

“…Charlotte?”

Through the broken door, I saw Charlotte being rescued by Hannah, limp and collapsed like the others.

In this situation where she could have easily resolved the village crisis, seeing her collapsed as well, I forced myself to maintain my composure and opened my eyes wide.

Yes, in this situation, I couldn’t afford to lose my focus.

As practically the only person in the village who could—and must—act as a “leader,” if I faltered, the village would be finished.

※ ※ ※

Thus, quickly returning to the administrative office, I found officials in disarray without their leader.

It was a chaotic environment with people who had come to complain. The already severe confusion had become even more disorderly.

“Everyone, attention! We’re currently assessing the situation, so please remain calm!”

And in this situation, I decided to fulfill my role.

I frantically controlled the crowd and issued orders. I directed priests to urgently treat the collapsed individuals and ordered them to be gathered in one place for isolation in case of disease.

Honestly, even now I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, as the situation is extremely confusing, but I need to project confidence as if I know something that others don’t.

This approach proved quite effective, as the village managed to succeed in its initial response without too much time passing…

“…That concludes my report.”

“Thank you. Return to your post and continue your work.”

After hearing the apprentice administrator’s report, I sent him back to work while processing the various situation reports I had received, falling into a rather peculiar mood.

The situation was far from good.

The current crisis in the village was a “mass fainting.” About 40% of the villagers had collapsed as if unconscious, regardless of specific groups or classifications, and they had been urgently moved to places like temples for treatment.

However, the fact that these collapsed individuals weren’t waking up despite being transferred to temples was certainly grave enough to take seriously.

In this world, temples are not just religious buildings but also facilities equipped with medical capabilities.

Temples store various medical data provided free of charge from the pantheon to all temples, and they also house numerous practitioners of “divine magic,” which has miraculous healing effects.

This “divine magic” is particularly effective against diseases, so naturally, this fainting spell, which would typically be presumed to be an illness, should have been cured…

‘It’s not… working.’

According to the reports, this fainting epidemic wasn’t responding to any treatment, so I naturally used my hyper-intuition cheat to recall a few clues about this incident.

‘…Charlotte’s cold also couldn’t be cured by divine magic.’

First, there was the clear fact that this incident was somehow connected to Charlotte’s cold symptoms.

The characteristic of being resistant to divine magic is particularly rare, so even if other aspects were mere speculation, this alone made the connection almost certain.

And second, I could roughly predict the cause of this incident…

‘…So it is a magical disease after all.’

The best guess I could make was that the cause of this incident was a magically-induced illness.