Chapter 3

Chapter 3

#3. Northern Region’s MSG (2)

“Let’s stabilize my position first before saving the Northern Region.”

There was a reason and purpose behind my rash application for the chef position.

“If I work at the inn, it’ll be easy to gather information. Plus, I can earn money safely. And as a chef, I can start working right away without any special conditions.”

While working at this inn, I planned to adapt to this fantasy world.

Earning money safely while establishing enough means to support myself.

This was my primary goal.

“Hmm… This otherworld life is kinda fun?”

Perhaps because I started too safely?

Even though I fell into what they call an inconvenient medieval fantasy world, I didn’t feel lost at all.

It felt like I was on vacation or playing a hyper-realistic virtual reality game.

If only there wasn’t that mission to “save the Northern Region,” this would have been a delightful otherworld vacation.

* * *

About an hour later.

Using the ingredients and tools in the kitchen, I prepared my first dish.

It was the most common and best-selling Northern-style stew.

“Woah… It really tastes good!”

“You were right to confidently offer your services.”

“This is way better than Dad’s cooking!”

“Shut up, you brat.”

Since the stew pot could make more than one serving, I ended up making portions for the innkeeper and his son as well.

Fortunately, these two enjoyed the stew I made immensely.

“…”

The problem was me.

Unlike them, I couldn’t bring myself to eat even a few spoonfuls of this stew.

“Is this supposed to taste good?”

The stew had a strong fishy smell and was extremely bland overall.

“Even if I use salt to cut the blandness, the lingering smell is too overpowering.”

As I blankly stared at the finished stew, various culinary expertise and knowledge from my max-level cooking skills swirled in my mind. Along with Earth-based values.

“The body I possessed, Arad, has perfect information about this world’s top-tier ingredients matching my max-level cooking skills.”

This body I possessed was incredible.

To put it in Earth terms, Arad’s body is a high-performance computer. And my soul is the software, or OS.

“Even in this fantasy world, the Northern Region has decent spices and seasonings. Plus, there’s a rock salt mine so salt isn’t ridiculously expensive.”

Whenever I focused on an issue, relevant information popped up like using Chat GPT.

“Combine this with Korea’s namul culture and it would be even more effective.”

Even more impressive, I’m from South Korea, a country that takes spices and namul very seriously.

We chew iron-like young sprouts of poisonous herbs.

And we mix potentially toxic plants into our rice, claiming it’s fine as long as you don’t eat it too often.

With my soul’s knowledge combined with Arad’s max-level cooking body…

This smelly and bland stew came out from my hands.

“This stew is an insult.”

While Jack, the innkeeper, and his son Tom gobbled down the stew happily, it was a great shame to me.

* * *

Early next morning.

I woke up earlier than anyone and stepped outside the inn.

I wasn’t tired. Although this body isn’t combat-oriented and has zero strength or combat skills, the basic stamina and strength stats built through manual labor remained.

These naturally improved “toughness stats” prevented me from feeling fatigue in most situations.

“Ugh… It’s cold…”

However, the cold was a different matter.

At least I wasn’t dressed in linen clothes and a leather jacket like yesterday.

I was wearing a Northern-style fur coat given by Jack and had fur gloves on both hands.

Thanks to this, I could move around despite the early morning chill.

Puuk Puuk Puuk

The road to the outskirts of the city was treacherous due to the snowfall overnight.

As if proving it was the Northern Region, even a brief snowfall resulted in knee-deep accumulation.

“Damn it! It’s like devil’s dandruff!”

“Why are you already getting worked up? This happens all the time!”

I heard complaints from people clearing the snow while walking down the road.

“Looking for people to clear snow! 2 coppers until noon! First come, first served, 20 spots!”

Haven, regardless of its medium-small size, had more outsiders than citizens.

Thus, there were limits to how much snow-clearing the residents alone could handle.

Calls for hiring workers were heard everywhere.

“Move! I was here first!”

“No way! I’ve been starving for two days!”

Lower-grade adventurers rushed toward those recruitment calls.

Hooook Hooook Hooook

I passed by those adventurers heading toward the city entrance.

Despite Haven being a medium-small city, it was the frontline against the Magic Realm. The thickness, height, and length of the walls were no joke.

By the time I trudged through the snow, my breathing became rough and sweat formed on my forehead.

After walking for some time, I finally arrived at one of the city gates – the East Gate.

Since the East Gate was opposite the Magic Realm and not connected to the Northern Road, there weren’t many people passing through or guarding it.

“Hm? Aren’t you the healer who treated Lenon and Jack at Jack’s inn yesterday? Trying to leave the city before sunrise?”

As I approached, a guard with the insignia of Haven and Lenslet engraved on his breastplate recognized me.

He seemed to be one of the guards who responded yesterday.

‘The discipline is solid.’

The state of the uniform and weapons worn reveals the level of military discipline.

The halberd made from Cold Iron of the North gleamed brightly even in the cold weather.

Cold Iron requires a lot of maintenance, so regular soldiers usually only receive one as their main weapon.

Aside from the halberd, their secondary weapons were ordinary steel, and they wore leather fur armor.

Looking at the guard next to him, his outfit was identical, as if copied and pasted.

‘The guards’ equipment is standardized. This must mean the Duchy provides weapons and armor.’

It wasn’t perfect, but it was excellent.

In this world, soldiers generally purchase their own weapons and armor with their own money.

I can confidently say that this place might be the only one in this otherworld that provides standardized weapons and armor even to low-ranking soldiers.

Just from this, you can see the military power and discipline of the Northern Region.

“I’m going to pick some herbs nearby.”

I hesitated whether to speak formally to the guard but decided against it.

Thinking about it, the guard spoke casually first, right?

“There’s an apothecary in the city, you know?”

“I’d rather pick them myself than pay that much money.”

“Hahaha! I get it. Go ahead then.”

“Thank you.”

“Still, don’t go beyond the Cloud Ridge. There have been sightings of monsters and wild beasts there.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Fortunately, the guard didn’t seem annoyed by my casual tone.

Apparently, since my known profession is healer, I seem to have gained some recognition.

Yesterday’s incident brought me benefits beyond just money.

That way, I passed through the city gate without any issues.

Just in case, I even got a certificate of identity from the innkeeper Jack, but it turned out unnecessary.

* * *

After leaving the city, I walked for about thirty minutes.

By that time, the sun began to rise slowly.

Being so close to the Magic Realm, coming out this far could be considered quite an adventure.

Still, this was the opposite direction of the Magic Realm, and the city’s scent was still strong, so no monsters appeared.

Wild animals limited to herbivores like birds, rabbits, mice, and deer could be seen.

“This is another world indeed. Even in snowy winter, white grass grows like this? It must be thanks to mana?”

Most importantly, the field I reached was easier to navigate than the city.

Although the city had heavy snow accumulation, where I stood now didn’t have as much.

“There must be a magic stone mine nearby.”

Having roughly guessed the reason, I looked around.

I wanted to visit the magic stone mine as well, but decided to do it later.

Right now, even if I brought back magic stones, I wouldn’t have the equipment, facilities, or sales channels to utilize them.

“Spices… Spices…”

I wandered around the field filled with mana energy.

“There’s no rule saying spices are limited to pepper.”

While wandering, I searched for plants and roots unique to this otherworld yet similar to Earth’s.

Even in the cold winter, thanks to mana and magic stones’ blessings, unique life forms of the Northern Region thrived.

A sea of white weeds stretched out.

“Found it. Northern spices.”

Before long, I found things that could become Northern spices and Northern MSG.

Upon finding them, I immediately started collecting various plants and roots into the bag I carried.

Sserug Sserug Sserug

For several hours, I used my dagger to cut grass, picked fallen leaves, lightly dug up the ground to harvest roots, and stuffed them tightly into the leather bag.

Wearing fur gloves while using a dagger for collection was slightly annoying, but thanks to my dexterity stat, it wasn’t overly tiring.

Soon after.

I nodded looking at the full bag.

“This should be enough?”

The contents of my bag were diverse but broadly categorized into two types.

Snowflower roots and Tundra leaves.

Both are commonly found in the Northern Region of this fantasy world.

“Next time, I should give collection requests to city kids or adventurers.”

Satisfied with the amount collected, I decided this shouldn’t be a recurring task and headed back to the city.

Arriving at the city entrance with confident steps, a different soldier was standing there compared to earlier.

“Heard from Zen during shift change, Mr. Healer. Still, did you already collect everything?”

But the soldier seemed informed through handover and acknowledged me.

“Got lucky and collected quickly.”

“Tundra leaves and snowflower roots? There are also smaller weeds. What are you planning to do with these? Are they for medicine?”

“For cooking. I want to try them out.”

“Cooking? You’re putting things deer eat into food?!”

Judging by the soldier’s reaction, Northern spices haven’t established their place yet.

They’re either treated as useless weeds or grass meant only for herbivorous animals like deer.

“Just experimenting. If it doesn’t work, I’ll stop.”

Not wanting to argue with the soldier, I vaguely brushed it off.

“Don’t know what you’re doing with good food. Anyway, go ahead.”

The guard let me in without demanding any bribes.

Maybe it was a preemptive favor in case I heal him later… speculation aside,

The Northern Region generally had strong military power and strict discipline, allowing such situations.

‘These tasteless Northerners. Complaining about food scarcity while ignoring these potential good spices and seasonings. Why haven’t they thought of using them?’

Walking back to the inn through the city entrance, I clicked my tongue disapprovingly inside.

‘Of course, the serious consumption of these started due to the empire’s exploitation and the Great Famine.’

Recalling the future tragedy of the Northern Region, I stopped clicking my tongue.

My steps toward the inn were lighter and more comfortable than in the early morning. Apparently, the citizens and adventurers had done a thorough job clearing the snow.

* * *

When I arrived at the inn, the innkeeper Jack and his son Tom, who also worked as a waiter, were cleaning up.

“Back already? Where did you go so early?”

Jack, with his bald head, scruffy beard, and protruding belly, was carefully sweeping with a broom, trying not to strain his heavily bandaged right arm.

His son Tom was mopping beside him.

“I went out to pick something from outside the city.”

Pointing at the bag slung over my shoulder, I briefly answered under their gazes.

“Did you skip breakfast service?”

Then I looked around the unusually quiet and empty first floor and asked.

“To begin with, almost none of our guests eat breakfast here. Those who do just look at my hand and head straight to another shop.”

Jack chuckled and shrugged.

“In that case, does that mean there will be customers for lunch?”

“That’s right. Expectations are high. The stew you ate yesterday was truly the best. I guarantee it – all the adventurers and mercenaries in this city will eat here.”

Seeing me enter the kitchen, Jack looked at me with anticipation.

Gulp.

Tom, standing beside him, unconsciously swallowed saliva, probably remembering yesterday’s stew.

“I’ll show you a stew that’s incomparably better than that.”

Leaving their hopeful gazes behind, I hurriedly started preparing lunch.

“Can I ask Tom for small favors each time I cook?”

“Of course. It’d be nice if you could compensate him a bit for his efforts.”

“We’ll do that. Tom, bring some clean water first.”

“I’ll fetch it from the well right away!”

Was it because I mentioned compensation? At my words, Tom rushed out of the inn.

“By the way… Why did you pick so much of these inedible weeds and roots? Did some new medicinal material appear while I wasn’t looking?”

Jack’s puzzled question came a few seconds later.

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