Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy-Chapter 61: The First and Second Emergency Meetings

“Now, let’s split up and search.”

“Sure!”

“Yes.”

“Understood, My Lord.”

“Good, let’s meet back here at 5 P.M.”

As the servants departed for the Raphelion estate, only Rendler, Rachel and Ariel remained in the Grand Duchy.

Originally, Rendler suggested we keep some servants with us, but not wanting to increase our numbers in a potentially dangerous journey, I sent them all away.

Ariel’s retinue was more than enough.

“Here~ Have a taste of this Kraken tentacle from the Northwestern Sea~”

“We have a juicy Winter Bear King steak! One bite and your vigor will surge~!”

As soon as the parade ended, the Monster Cuisine Festival began.

So, we all dispersed with a single goal.

While enjoying the festival was fine, to proceed with our Culinary Journey, we had to find a chef with the ‘competent’ perk within a week.

If not, then we’d have to settle with a ‘non-competent’ one.

But we definitely needed to find at least one chef.

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Given the long travel times in this world and the lack of rest stops, someone capable of preparing edible dishes from foraged ingredients was essential.

Rachel, who had experience in traveling, could cook some basic meals, but I didn’t wish to add another burden onto my Teacher’s shoulders.

I knew that finding someone wasn’t going to be easy, but with Ariel’s help, I hoped we could find one within the following days.

The problem was,

“Oh my...Isn’t that Elden Raphelion?”

“Ah...! Quiet you! He must be furious since he got excluded from the Betrothal, so if you mess with him now, your head might fly off!”

“Ugh, let’s leave. If we bump into him, who knows what he’ll do.”

“Yes, let’s just avoid him.”

......Thanks to the infamous(?) reputation of the original Elden, our already troubling recruitment was only getting harder.

I couldn’t even start a conversation with someone.

My mere presence became a people-repellent.

Like the parting of the Red Sea, the bustling market street split open the moment I appeared.

Why?

I’m not a bad person.

There’s no need to look at me like that.

You don’t need to run.

“Excuse me, can we talk for a bit?”

“Hiii-! M-My Lord if I have offended you, I...I’m Sorry-!!”

“......”

In the Original Novel, Elden Raphelion was indeed a villainous person.

His reputation and notoriety reached even the distant lands of Winterfell and had he been transported to my old world, there’s no doubt that Elden would have become a bad boy celebrity of the Charlie Sheen caliber.

While I thought of some nonsense like that, I pulled my hood a little deeper to obscure my face.

Then, I approached a chef and asked.

“This tastes amazing. Have you ever considered embarking on a Culinary Journey?”

“Excuse me?...Look pal, I’m born here, and have no intention of leaving this place.”

-

“Miss? You’re a good chef, what do you think about a Culinary journey...?”

“As a woman...That would be bothersome.”

-

“Well, taste isn’t everything. Any thoughts on a Culinary Journey...?”

“I need to take care of my parents...”

-

“......Well at least this is safe to eat. You look like a youthful man, any thoughts of seeking adventure?”

“Does it pay well?”

“......A romantic adventure and money usually don’t go hand in hand.”

“Then I’m not interested.”

-

I anticipated difficulties, but not to this extent.

Even after drastically lowering my expectations regarding taste, every proposal was met with rejection.

Usually in most fantasy worlds, the ‘North’ represents a place of wildness and adventure.

But if that’s true in this world as well, then why...

‘Why is this so hard?’

I searched for so long that my leather shoes became worn out.

Despite my efforts, I had no choice but to return empty-handed.

The faces of my allies arriving at the meeting place also looked no different from those of defeated soldiers, yet I held onto a slim hope and asked.

“Rendler?”

“I’m sorry, My Lord.”

“Rachel?”

“Nothing.”

“...Ariel?”

As the last one to arrive, I asked Ariel as my hope dwindled.

“I found someone...”

Her unexpected response allowed me to cling to a shed of hope, but her next words ruthlessly crushed that hope.

“Y-You found someone?”

“Hm...But when they heard you were the employer...They refused...I tried to convince them that you’re not like the rumors...But they wouldn’t listen, I’m sorry.”

“...You don’t need to apologize. If anything, I’m sorry. You’ve worked hard.”

It seems that my reputation is casting a wide debuff upon an already difficult quest.

Perhaps this is the karma for one who finds themselves in the body of a villain.

However, despite understanding this, as someone in need of a chef, I couldn’t help but be frustrated since I couldn’t exactly go around the Duchy yelling [The Scoundrel has changed!].

So, inefficient as my name may be, I couldn’t just wallow in despair. That’s why we gathered in Ariel’s residence, discussing a new strategy while we ate our dinner.

“Tsk, finding a chef isn’t going to be easy.”

Rendler replied to my grumble with a bitter tone.

“Considering the situation, it doesn’t seem like even increasing the promised salary would solve this, My Lord.”

“Rendler...Have you ever considered a career change? You could try your hand at being a chef.”

“...Haha, sadly, cooking is the only thing I have no talent in, My Lord.”

Rendler scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed by my suggestion.

Though he claimed cooking was his only weakness, it seemed his sense of direction was equally poor, but I decided to leave such pointless remarks aside.

After all, Rendler had a lot of responsibilities as my Head Butler, and I didn’t want to burden him more by expecting him to cook as well.

“If it comes to it, I’ll give it a try.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, Teacher, I can’t add more troublesome tasks to your shoulders, given the other important roles you’re already fulfilling.”

Rachel may have some experience in cooking monsters, but with her responsibilities as an escort, personal trainer, and an unofficial hunter, it was simply not possible to accept her offer.

Besides, the Festival had just started, so her offer could still be used a last resort.

Thus, we finished our dinner without any sort of new solution to the problem.

A moment of silence befell the room until Ariel, who had been quiet until now, spoke with a serious expression.

“I could try cooking!”

All eyes turned towards our resident bookworm at her bold statement.

Naturally, those gazes were filled with surprise and skepticism.

A young lady of a Count’s family, known for her love of books, didn’t seem to have any sort of connection to the realm of ‘cooking’.

She didn’t even appear to have the skills to cook for herself.

Moreover, Ariel, who was traveling to Lundgren, already had her chef.

Sadly, the chef who had served that monster cuisine at her party had been specially invited, so her chef was someone different from that person.

At least with Ariel’s chef, there should be no risk of going hungry on our journey to Lundgren.

Our immediate hunger is one thing, but this hardly solved the absence of a monster chef in the future.

What I truly needed was someone who could journey with me for potentially years, preparing exquisite monster cuisine.

“Ariel? You? Why?”

“Ah, well... Everyone has a role but me.”

A role...

Ariel had already given me more than I could have asked, so I had no desire to incur more debts with her.

Moreover, Ariel would only be joining us up to the Lundgren Duchy.

“There’s no need to feel pressured about roles. You’ve already been a great help.”

“I just want to do something too. It sounds fun.”

“Really?”

“Ah, of course, I’ll stop once we find a professional chef. But I want to try my hand at it.”

Well... there’s no need to discourage her then.

It’s important to support a friend in their new hobby.

How soon we will find a monster chef is uncertain, but until then, it’s worth looking forward to Ariel’s culinary skills.

“Okay. Let’s do that then.”

With my agreement, Ariel clenched her fists, determination shining in her eyes.

“Great! I’ll start practicing tomorrow-!”

“I’ll look forward to it, Ariel.”

“Hm! I’m already feeling excited!”

And so the emergency meeting came to a brisk end.

While we hadn’t found a solution to our lacking chef, the prospect of Ariel cooking was quite intriguing.

Of course, it would be a problem if those skills turned out too exceptional.

Even if Ariel possessed an incredible talent for cooking monsters, she was far too fragile for hardy and rugged Culinary Journey based on hunting and survival.

Even with her incredible amount of freedom, I doubt her father would approve of her embarking on a dangerous monster-hunting Journey.

So, in the hopes of finding a chef, I wandered the Festival grounds for three days and faced my fourth day of search empty-handed.

......Time seemed to slow down to a crawl during the Grand Ducal Betrothal, but now that it’s ended, four days had passed in a flash.

“My Lord, this might be serious. We have no one else left to ask.”

“Sigh-. I didn’t expect it would be this difficult to find one.”

The Festival was slowly reaching its end, and the chefs who had come to the Northern Province for the festivities were beginning to leave one by one.

Although my swordsmanship and magical skills were still rudimentary, there wasn’t an urgent need to rush out just yet.

But the quest to find a chef capable of cooking monster meat, who wasn’t afraid of me, had gone from ‘Difficult’ to ‘We will need an actual miracle for this one’.

Amidst such soul-crushing realizations.....

“Ta-Da! Here’s Ariel’s special! A Basilisk Belly Roast-!”

Ariel’s first monster dish was proudly presented on the table.

“Oh!”

Basilisk.

It was a giant monster akin to a serpent, while their meat, when sliced, resembled a smoked salmon.

The belly, mushy yet chewy, was grilled to a tempting golden brown.

“It was a bit tricky, but I made this dish from scratch, all by myself. Teehee~.”

Ariel seemed quite confident.

“And, you know what? It was actually quite fun to cook.”

With that, we each took a big bite.

“...”

“...?”

“!”

And thus, the second emergency meeting began.

At least it was good that she had fun cooking.