Ch.276276. Famine (1)

Finally, after finishing this task and clearing away everything that was hindering our tourism.

“Let’s gooooo!!”

“Yes, let’s go!”

Having at last freed ourselves from all constraints and restrictions, Sophia and I spent the days that followed roaming throughout Hanyang, enjoying all sorts of tourist attractions.

In particular, since we had come all this way to a distant land, we wanted to enjoy the local cuisine, so we went around to famous and well-known restaurants, devouring all kinds of food.

Although the dishes of this era differ subtly from what I remember in my previous life, they still retained their distinctive flavors that reminded me of my old homeland.

….In truth, setting everything else aside, just being able to eat cuisine that was barely accessible in my old homeland would be enough.

Anyway, by visiting various restaurants like this, I was able to enjoy a peaceful tour for once.

The dishes made using byproducts of fantasy creatures that couldn’t even exist in my previous world are exceptional in a different way from dishes created through modern food engineering and technological advancement.

Especially in this world where mana—a catalyst and energy that materializes human will—actually exists, the skills of those who have honed their culinary techniques eventually become imbued with mystery on their own.

In other words, even without any magical aptitude, the technique itself reaches a level where it reproduces phenomena of mystery, not just enhancing the taste of food but reaching a state where consuming it grants magical power.

There might not be any special combat power, but perhaps this too could be considered a form of intermediate level—a state where one transcends humanity and reproduces mysteries through the physical body.

And these dishes truly contained value worthy of high praise and appreciation.

For instance, there’s the dumpling dish they consider a representative high-class cuisine.

The climate and terrain of the Kingdom of Corea aren’t particularly suitable for wheat farming, making flour relatively expensive, which has led people to treat flour-based dishes as relatively luxurious cuisine.

This trend has been passed down to the civilian society of the Kingdom of Corea today, making dumplings not prohibitively expensive but certainly not cheap enough to eat every day.

Of course, if we’re talking about deliberately expensive premium dumplings, that’s a different story.

For example, fish dumplings. Instead of using ordinary flour for the wrapper, these use fish fillets sliced so thinly they’re translucent, with fillings typically including the same fish along with meat, tofu, mushrooms, and grain powder.

Among the variations of these dumplings, there are many that use different materials for the wrapper, with prime examples being cabbage dumplings, meat dumplings, and egg dumplings.

Cabbage dumplings use lightly blanched cabbage leaves as the wrapper, meat dumplings use beef sliced as thinly as shabu-shabu meat, and egg dumplings are made by shaping the filling into a dumpling form and coating it with egg without using a wrapper.

It’s also not uncommon to find dumpling dishes that use ordinary wrappers but special fillings, with a prime example being the so-called “toha-jeot dumplings.”

Made with an expensive fermented sauce of freshwater shrimp roe called toha—so expensive that even wealthy landowners barely touch it with the tips of their chopsticks—these dumplings were impressive not just for their taste but for the rich river mysteries they contained.

Judging by how the river’s mystery and mana burst forth the moment you bite into them, they were undoubtedly created by a chef who had reached mastery.

Besides these high-class dumplings, excellent specialty restaurants were also more than enough to make me happy.

For instance, among the upscale restaurants recommended by the rickshaw puller was one that sold “japtang,” which despite its name suggesting something like a hodgepodge stew, was actually a restaurant established by a former royal court chef.

As I learned later, while the character “jap” can mean miscellaneous or crude, it also implies a variety of ingredients coming together to create good flavor.

Therefore, this japtang, despite its seemingly casual name, had established itself as a proud royal court dish.

The base of the broth is none other than pork and marbled beef shank. The meat produced from boiling the stock is then boiled again with the stock and other ingredients.

Beef tenderloin and the first stomach called “yang,” along with other premium beef offal. Old hen. Pork leg meat. Abalone, sea cucumber, beef brain. Shiitake mushrooms, pine nuts, ginkgo nuts, and garlic. Seasoned with soy sauce and pepper, the taste of this dish makes me understand why the rickshaw puller would recommend it.

‘….I’m actually getting to eat this here.’

Additionally, I was able to try what they call “yeolgujatang,” or sinseonro. In my previous life, it was known as an upscale royal court dish, but I had never actually tasted it.

The dish is served in a vessel with a hole in the center for burning charcoal to keep the food warm—according to them, this vessel is called sinseonro, which suggests that in my previous life, the name of the vessel became the name of the dish.

Anyway, this dish can be simply summarized as a type of hot pot.

Pan-fried fish, tripe (cow’s stomach), or beef liver, beef and radish, water parsley, green onions, sea cucumber, abalone, shiitake mushrooms, red chili peppers, meat balls, shelled walnuts, and roasted ginkgo nuts.

These ingredients are thinly sliced or prepared and beautifully arranged, then hot beef broth is poured over them to create something close to a hot pot dish.

The taste…. While it certainly has flavor due to the quality of the ingredients, it doesn’t feel particularly special or creative.

Still, in terms of taste alone, it’s not bad, and… honestly, the mini gujeolpan served on the side was even more delicious.

This dish, often promoted and featured in media but which I had never actually eaten, was similar to a wrap dish where eight ingredients are wrapped in wheat pancakes placed in the center.

It’s a dish where ingredients like seasoned beef are wrapped with a slightly sour sauce-like condiment, and honestly, it would be strange if it didn’t taste good.

….As a bonus, if we’re judging purely on taste and aroma, the carp noodles sold at a common street restaurant were actually the most delicious.

※ ※ ※

After spending some time on a culinary tour of Hanyang, we brought out the Tarasque… or rather, the dragon-substitute carriage to travel to the provinces for sightseeing.

This carriage, with an interior furnished like a camping car, was naturally inferior to the Tarasque in terms of interior luxury, but there was a separate reason why I had to use this carriage.

To be frank, traveling with a massive war weapon like the Tarasque in someone else’s territory is not much different from driving a tank and calling it a private vehicle.

In the Western Continent, where administrative projection isn’t properly implemented across the entire territory, it might be fine to ride a Tarasque as long as you’re not near a city, but here, where local officials can be easily found throughout the territory, the story is quite different.

Traveling with a Tarasque in a foreign territory—no one in their right mind would do such a thing.

Anyway, as I prepared to set off on this journey in a carriage with a hotel-like space connected inside, I lightly serviced the mechanical horses that would pull it.

This carriage was actually a gift from the Human Transformation Research Society of the Transformation School, who had been actively working with us in guerrilla activities recently. It’s a culmination of modern alchemy and magical engineering that would require a sum of money even I would find burdensome to purchase.

This mechanical carriage, pulled by two mechanical horses designed with a kind of perpetual motion structure that only requires mana as fuel once to keep moving without additional measures…

[We’re departing!]

“Yes, I’m counting on you!”

I handed Lancelot, who had volunteered to be the coachman, a high-sugar carrot, and was about to set off to visit famous attractions in the Kingdom of Corea along the well-maintained road when…

After traveling for about three hours, I encountered an unexpected sight.

[My lord! Something feels wrong about the atmosphere!]

“The atmosphere…?”

Curious about Lancelot’s strange comment, I stepped outside the carriage and…

“….Ah.”

A village landscape where the expression “withering away” felt more apt than anywhere else. Seeing the barren village scenery, seemingly consumed by death and fear, and the image of a dying world… I realized.

Right now, this village was dying from famine.