Chapter 325

The food made by Lizardmen is always the worst.

It was an absolute common sense, as unchanging as the sun rising in the east.

At least until today.

The adventurers and soldiers who attended today’s celebration felt that common sense crumbling.

But the feeling of that common sense crumbling wasn’t so bad.

If the price of common sense crumbling was being able to eat such delicious food, it was a pretty good deal.

It could be called a delightful rebellion against common sense.

The people at the celebration, as if all other dishes had vanished, tasted the Kraken Sausage given to them.

“Ugh…! How could you make such a dish again…!”

In a corner of the Inn ‘Red Shell’.

Liche, sitting there, glared at the Kraken Sausage made by Kurt with an expression of utter frustration.

“What is this! Are you claiming you’ve beaten me just because you made this dish? I can’t accept it!”

But even as she said that, Liche’s hands and mouth didn’t stop moving.

As always, even if her mouth said no, her body was honest.

The aversion or prejudice towards Kurt’s cooking always crumbled before the aroma and taste of his dishes.

And that included Liche’s one-sided pride as a rival.

“Ugh…! This is humiliating! To feed me such a dish after I came all the way to Leila to help. How can you do this to someone who came to help you!? How shameless…!”

Even as she said that, Liche busily savored the taste of the Kraken Sausage.

It was partly to analyze Kurt’s cooking to surpass him, but also because the taste had captivated her tongue.

A flavor that seemed to perfectly match her taste.

The inside of the Kraken Sausage was filled with large chunks of Kraken meat, shrimp, cheese, and breadcrumbs, all stir-fried together in a luxurious manner.

Though it looked like a simple steamed dish, its contents were worthy of a noble family’s banquet or a high-end restaurant’s main course.

Moreover, the dish not only tasted great but also seemed to perfectly match her preferences.

As an excellent chef, Liche could eat and cook almost anything, but like anyone, she had her favorites.

In Kurt’s terms from his past life, she preferred Western cuisine, especially French or Italian haute cuisine, and Kurt’s Kraken Sausage seemed to perfectly capture that with its rich cheese and herb flavors.

“Ugh…! I don’t think I’ve lost because of this…!”

With a complex expression of defeat and humiliation, Liche busily continued her meal in the corner of the inn.

“Wow! This has a nice chew to it!”

Kurt’s friend Kirsh, saying this, put the Kraken Sausage Kurt handed him into his mouth, chewing roughly.

For Lizardmen, who, with few exceptions like Kurt, have almost no sense of taste, the flavor of food is merely a mix of fashion and consumption.

But even for Lizardmen, there’s one thing they value in a meal: texture.

Food, in its simplest form, consists of aroma, taste, and texture, and for Lizardmen who can’t perceive aroma and taste, texture is the only pleasure in eating.

Of course, the pleasure of texture for them is akin to enjoying tearing into almost raw meat with their unique jaw strength.

In that sense, Kirsh accepted Kurt’s dish out of friendship, but honestly, he didn’t feel much culinary value in it.

Still, seeing Kurt being recognized by others while doing what he wanted outside the Lizardman village made him happy as a long-time friend, but fundamentally, as a Lizardman, he couldn’t understand the culture of cooking.

But the moment he put a large piece of Kurt’s Kraken Sausage into his mouth, Kirsh felt he could understand a bit of the joy of eating.

The bouncy, chewy, and in some parts fluffy texture, filled with Kraken meat, was enjoyable even for a Lizardman who couldn’t fully appreciate taste and aroma.

“Ah~! This is perfect with beer!”

The bouncy and chewy parts were the Kraken’s tentacles, the relatively soft parts were the body, and the fluffy, interesting texture came from the meat connecting the body and legs.

Though Kirsh didn’t know that, the strange texture of the cephalopod he was eating for the first time amused him as he chewed and drank beer.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the inn, Daria and Aila glared at the Kraken Sausage as if it were their parents’ enemy.

“A massive body with multiple tentacles… It resembles the sacred form of the Black Tentacle.”

Nod nod.

“Of course, the Kraken is just a monster. It has no connection to the Black Tentacle, but still, cooking such a sacred-looking creature is utterly blasphemous.”

Daria spoke with a grave tone, and Aila nodded solemnly in agreement.

“And look inside. Unlike the pure white exterior, the inside is pitch black. It’s as if it represents the Black Tentacle.”

Nod nod.

“Exactly.”

Where Daria pointed, there was a Kraken ink risotto, made with Kraken ink, giving it a deep gray color.

The risotto, made with rice, Kraken ink, and seasonings, steamed inside the Kraken’s leg, was the filling of their Kraken Sausage.

Pointing at it, Daria spoke in a solemn voice.

“This is nothing short of sacrilege.”

Nod nod.

“I agree. This is absolutely unforgivable.”

Thus, the two agreed that this blasphemous dish could not be tolerated.

“Then we have no choice but to eliminate this evil food.”

Nod nod.

“A wise decision.”

So, to rid the world of this evil, blasphemous food, they each took a spoonful of the Kraken ink risotto and put it in their mouths.

Chew chew.

“Like this… we will eat and eliminate this evil food.”

Chew chew.

“I join you in your cause, Daria.”

Even as their lips turned black from the squid ink, they didn’t put down their spoons.

And in another part of the inn.

“Arisa! Try this!”

“Nooo! This is better!”

“B-both of you… I can eat on my own.”

Mari and Marin each offered their Kraken Sausage to Arisa, who waved her hands in distress, but they ignored her refusal.

Instead, they competed as if choosing whose dish Arisa would eat determined a game’s outcome, pushing her to eat more.

“B-both are the same Kraken Sausage, right?”

“Not at all! Look! This one uses tomato sauce for a sweet and tangy stir-fry!”

“If you say that, this one uses glutinous rice? It’s chewy, salty-sweet, and totally delicious!”

As they competed over whose Kraken Sausage was better, Arisa eventually gave in and ate both.

“O-okay. I’ll eat both. Sigh… I haven’t even finished what I brought…”

That day, Arisa ate three plates of Kraken Sausage.

And by then, everyone at the inn couldn’t help but notice.

“Huh…? Why is the Kraken Sausage you’re eating red?”

“…And why does yours have beef inside…?”

“…Huh?”

“Huh…?”

They realized that each Kraken Sausage they were eating had different fillings.

Some had soy sauce and boiled pork, others had squid ink risotto, and yet others had tomato sauce-based stir-fried meat.

Indeed.

The celebration attendees, who thought they were all eating the same dish, were actually eating different flavors.

In fact, squid sausage isn’t unique to Korea.

Korean squid sausage is filled with pork, tofu, and sweet-salty soy sauce-based seasoning.

Japanese Ikameshi is squid stuffed with seasoned glutinous rice and boiled.

Italian Calamari ripieni is squid stuffed with cheese and breadcrumbs and cooked.

The idea of hollowing out a squid’s body and filling it with other ingredients before cooking exists worldwide.

Kurt, inspired by this, divided the inside of a large Kraken leg into sections, each with a different style of cooking.

The result was seven layers of Kraken Sausage, each with a different flavor, catering to everyone’s taste.

The most important thing in party food.

While extravagance and luxury are notable, what matters most is that all participants can enjoy it without preference.

Kurt’s Kraken Sausage didn’t choose a universally liked menu but instead packed numerous styles into one dish, ensuring everyone found something they liked.

After that, it was simple.

Remembering what each person enjoyed before the main dish and serving them their preferred part of the sausage.

Whether remembering and analyzing everyone’s preferences to serve them the right part was easy is unknown, but for Kurt, it wasn’t hard.

“I thought the sausages were just randomly sliced and served…”

“Actually, each was a different flavor…!?”

Realizing this, the partygoers were shocked.

“I already ate two plates thinking they were the same…! Damn! I missed half the celebration!”

“Hey! Lizardman bro! Give me a plate of that ‘glutinous rice’ one!”

“Wait! I called it first! I want the Kraken ink flavor!”

“I claimed the Kraken ink flavor first! You eat something else!”

Thus, a second wave of panic, bigger than the first, ensued.

The inside of the Inn ‘Red Shell’ was soon engulfed in uncontrollable chaos.

And the next day, the inn saw a surge of indigestion patients, causing a minor uproar in Leila.