Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 722

Chapter 722

'Then I have no choice but to do my best too.'

Yi-Han quickly accepted reality.

Of course, a club within Einroguard couldn't just be warm and kind.

Thud-

Fortunately, he had packed some groceries in his backpack before coming to the kitchen club, just in case.

Imperial eastern butter, salt, pepper, cheese, salted chicken, oil, mushrooms, flour, and so on.

Yi-Han planned to prepare two dishes: a potato dish and a chicken dish.

If he had more time, ingredients, and people to help, he would have prepared various dishes, but that wasn't the case now.

Yi-Han boiled water in a pot, boiled potatoes and mashed them. Then he seasoned them with salt and sprinkled pepper.

He buttered a pan, layered cheese, then potatoes and some mushrooms, then more cheese...

Most of the seniors didn't notice as they were focused on preparing their own dishes, but one senior next to Yi-Han seemed to sense something unusual.

For one thing, it was very surprising that a 2nd year student had brought out that many ingredients.

"...Wait. Junior. What dish are you making?"

"Potato gratin?"

"Potato... gratin...?!"

"Do you perhaps not know it?"

"I do know it, but. Isn't potato gratin usually a dish like this?"

The kitchen club senior explained about Einroguard-style potato gratin with a confused face.

A dish where you boil and mash potatoes, then layer mashed potatoes on top, then layer more potatoes, and finally cover with potatoes and bake in an oven.

"Isn't that... just baked potatoes?"

"W-well, it is... it is. But isn't this gratin too?"

"I don't think so..."

The shocked senior muttered to himself.

-Was that it? Was that gratin? But then what about everything I've made until now? Who am I? What is Einroguard?-

The interruption didn't end there.

After Yi-Han finished the potato dish and took out the chicken, a senior who was painfully plucking hard bronze feathers from a bronze goose next to him interjected.

"It's rock chicken. You chose quite a good ingredient. It's hard enough to shatter teeth, but if you cook it well, you can somehow chew and swallow it!"

The senior, wanting to show off his knowledge to his junior, explained various methods to soften rock chicken.

From soaking it in a jar mixed with five deadly poisons for about a month to borrowing an alchemist's acid.

'It's just ordinary chicken I bought outside.'

Yi-Han felt slightly guilty as the senior explained enthusiastically.

In fact, it wasn't rock chicken.

"Well then, junior. How are you going to cook this?"

"First, I'm going to sprinkle pepper and cook it in oil on a pan."

"?!"

The senior was shocked by the excessively luxurious cooking.

Words like 'pepper' and 'oil' were hard to believe in Einroguard.

However, the junior didn't notice the senior's shock and continued explaining.

"In another pot, I'm going to make a sauce to go with the chicken dish, boiling broth with butter and flour. I have parsley from the vegetable garden, so I'll add that too. It would be nice to have more spices, but since it's the beginning of the semester... How would you cook it, senior?"

Yi-Han, who had been explaining, asked out of curiosity for the senior's advice.

The senior answered with a somehow cowed expression.

"I'm just going to boil it in water."

"..."

  *

The kitchen club was one of the clubs that employed the most mercenaries on campus among Einroguard's clubs.

Not only did they store many precious ingredients, but sometimes riots or raids occurred even during meals.

-Today's menu is a bit simple due to the spirit flood. First, seaweed lasagna without noodles, cheese, or sauce, seaweed soup, seaweed cookies...-

-...You crazy thieving bastards, you're going to take gold coins for this?!-

-You full-bellied bastards. Just eat what you're given, where do you get off complaining!-

-Ha! Overturn it! Open the warehouse! Their warehouse is piled with meat like mountains!-

Einroguard students tended to become sensitive and violent when they got too hungry.

And most Einroguard students were usually hungry.

As such, if the quality of the kitchen club's menu fell below a certain level, the dining hall would occasionally turn into a battlefield.

And even if it didn't go that far, there were always complaints.

"Is this one gold coin?"

"Wahaha. If you don't want to eat, get..."

"It would be worth ten gold coins!"

"?"

Falcrius paused at the student's reaction.

The student's friend next to him hurriedly stopped him.

"Shut up! What if they really raise it to ten coins!"

"???"

Falcrius was wary, wondering if this conversation was some kind of trap or new strategy, but surprisingly, more students started showing such reactions.

"Finally, the kitchen club has come to its senses! Yes, this is how the Saint Eaktus club should be!"

"It's the first time I've eaten food without breaking my teeth! Keep doing it like this from now on!"

"??????"

Suspecting that the juniors might have put psychotropic substances in the food, Falcrius headed to the back.

However, surprisingly, a rich and delicious smell greeted Falcrius. All the gathered kitchen club members were looking at the junior with eyes full of awe.

"...Wh-what happened?"

"Senior. Look at this!"

Following the members' words, Falcrius received a bowl each of the food Yi-Han had made.

Then he held out a gold coin. Yi-Han declined, as he was a senior from the same club.

"I'm fine."

"Phew. I'm not fine. Well. Everyone who ate first, pay up."

"..."

"..."

The seniors held out gold coins with gloomy faces.

They had no income today, and now additional expenses.

Clatter clatter!

Falcrius, who had cleaned his bowl, looked at Yi-Han with tears of emotion in his eyes.

To make food of this quality inside Einroguard.

"Saint Eaktus's reincarnation has come here!"

"It's not like that."

"Phew, it's a metaphor, a metaphor! Come here, junior!"

Falcrius hugged Yi-Han tightly. A cracking sound was heard.

Yi-Han thought it was a thousand times fortunate that he had learned swordsmanship and practiced extending mana through his body.

Otherwise, he might have died here.

"I'm so happy! Should we just fight with the other club bastards again?"

"That's a bit..."

"Wahaha. It's a joke! A joke! Anyway, junior. I hope you come out often and cook often. With you alone, dining hall raid incidents would be halved!"

After patting Yi-Han's back hard, Falcrius left laughing.

The remaining seniors looked at Yi-Han with clouded faces. Yi-Han sensed the hardship that would soon come.

'As expected.'

Yi-Han had raised the kitchen club's reputation, but at the same time, he had monopolized all the other seniors' income.

Unlike Falcrius, who wasn't very greedy, other seniors couldn't help but be dissatisfied.

Preparing for magical combat, Yi-Han waited for the seniors' mouths to open.

"...Junior Wardanaz."

"Yes."

"...Employ me!"

"Pardon?"

Yi-Han was flustered by the unexpected words.

Not a duel, ambush, or threat, but employment?

"No, employ me! You saw me secure the bronze goose today, right? That guy fainted while picking mushrooms!"

"Has this bastard gone crazy! What you did was just picking up something!"

The magical combat Yi-Han had prepared for began.

...Among the seniors!

The kitchen club seniors started swinging their staffs at each other and brawling.

Yi-Han, who had been calmly watching this, immediately slipped out of the kitchen and ran toward Falcrius.

"Senior!!!!"

"Hm?"

Falcrius, who had been walking far away, turned around puzzled as Yi-Han came running.

"Is there something else you want to ask?"

"The seniors are fighting. Please stop them!"

"Why?"

"..."

Seeing Yi-Han's expression, Falcrius burst into laughter.

"It's a joke, a joke! Wahaha!"

"Haha. That was really funny. Are you going to stop them?"

"No?"

As Yi-Han glared, Falcrius quickly explained.

"It's better to wait a bit before going in for fights like that."

"Ah. So their emotions can settle and they can reconcile...?"

"So they get tired and it's easier to subdue them."

"..."

Falcrius really waited, and when the sound inside diminished a little, he quickly rushed in.

With a crashing sound, a few mournful screams burst out, then Falcrius shouted.

-Wahaha. Come in!-

All the seniors were on their knees with their staffs confiscated. Some members muttered as if frustrated.

"Ugh. If we had known Senior Falcrius would come, we would have prepared."

"Phew. Yeah, that's right. But losers have no words!"

Falcrius asked, laughing, why the members had fought.

Yi-Han tensed slightly at that question.

'I hope I don't get caught up in this too.'

From Falcrius's perspective, who led a club with tradition, it might be hard to accept that seniors had brawled to work under a junior.

And Yi-Han hadn't fully grasped why the seniors had fought to work under a junior in the first place.

"You fought to work under a junior?"

"Yes."

"So who won?"

"You came before the winner was decided, senior."

"Oh my. Then we couldn't decide who gets in!"

Falcrius was disappointed.

It would have been clean if only the winner could get in.

"...Senior. Senior."

"Phew. Ask. Ask. What?"

"No... that is. Is it okay for other seniors to work under me?"

"Wahaha, when mages research, they don't assign assistants by age!"

At Falcrius's words, the seniors nodded as if agreeing and smiled artificially.

They weren't trying to get under the junior because they were afraid of competing after gathering ingredients with difficulty.

They just knew well, like true mages, that skill was more important than age.

"Isn't it... different from research...?"

"It's similar! There are many members working together even now!"

Kitchen club members didn't always cook alone.

Just as they formed parties to gather ingredients, they often cooked together too.

It was even customary for someone preparing a grand dish to hire several members to work on it.

Members often found it better to receive stable compensation than to bleed gathering ingredients for no reason...

"Phew. But it's become difficult. To think there's no winner."

"Hmm. Then how about we just pretend this never happened?"

Yi-Han, who didn't want to give orders to senior members, cautiously suggested.

However, Falcrius shook his head vigorously and said,

"No! I've decided."

"How?"

"All the members here will join!"

"..."

While Yi-Han was shocked, the seniors sighed in relief and applauded.

The newly joined junior was no less than a god of ingredients.

Who else but a god of ingredients could pull out so many ingredients so easily?

They had been anxious about not getting in if they took a few more hits, but this was truly a leader-like judgment from the one leading the club.

"As expected of Senior Falcrius!"

"Impartial like the Immortal Phoenix Tower!"

Yi-Han whispered urgently to Falcrius.

"Isn't it a bit much for me to give orders to seniors?"

"Hmm... No! You can do it! Wahaha!"

It was fortunate that he had seen the scene Falcrius had smashed earlier.

Otherwise, Yi-Han would surely have lost his mind and attacked the senior.