Chapter 302

Alright. I’ve made it into the kitchen, but…

What dish should I make?

First, the main ingredient has already been decided.

*Kwoong*

Currently, it looks ordinary, but when it was alive, it had the ability to turn its body transparent at will. It’s the corpse of a slightly bluish Man-eating Crab, different from the usual ones.

This monster, commonly known as the “Ghost Crab,” is today’s main ingredient.

I never thought I’d find such a rare ingredient in a place like this.

As Mari said, doing good deeds brings good fortune, huh?

I’m already looking forward to how this Ghost Crab will taste compared to a regular Man-eating Crab.

So, the theme is a dish using crab that even a child would enjoy.

A dish for a child’s palate…

It’s a common misconception that children dislike strong or complex flavors and prefer sweet, greasy foods.

Some adults criticize children for these preferences, saying they don’t know how to eat properly, but this is a big mistake.

The reason children prefer simple, sweet, and salty foods isn’t because they have a low level of culinary appreciation but because their bodies are designed that way.

In fact, a child’s body requires a lot of energy for growth relative to its size, and high-calorie foods are often sweet and greasy, which is why children crave them.

On the other hand, a child’s immune system isn’t fully developed, making them more vulnerable to food poisoning, so they naturally avoid foods that might pose a risk.

As children grow older, their tastes evolve, and they start to enjoy stronger flavors like fermented soybean paste stew or bitter vegetable dishes, which is just a result of their bodies maturing.

In nature, foods that cause food poisoning often have strong, pungent, or bitter flavors, so it’s no coincidence that children avoid such foods.

In short, children’s preference for sweet flavors is a natural physiological phenomenon, and adults’ enjoyment of strong flavors is simply a result of their bodies changing with age.

Anyway, after all that overthinking, the point is that children generally like greasy, sweet, and salty foods.

And I already had something in mind that kids would love.

Personally, if I had to list the top 5 foods that would always work for a young boy, one dish would definitely make the list.

Tonkatsu.

Or, to use its proper name, pork cutlet.

This is a dish that most boys would eat without hesitation.

In this case, since it’s crab instead of pork, maybe I should call it a crab cutlet.

Normally, using regular crab for cooking yields so little meat that it’s closer to a croquette than a cutlet, but the Man-eating Crab is so large that I can make a proper cutlet using just its meat.

Alright, now that the dish is decided, let’s check the condition of the Ghost Crab before cooking.

It would be a disaster if the Ghost Crab ended up tasting completely different from a regular crab and ruined the dish.

So, I cut open the shell of the Ghost Crab that I had placed on the kitchen counter.

The shell of a Man-eating Crab is incomparably harder than that of ordinary crustaceans, but to me, it’s no big deal.

I’ve easily pierced through the much thicker shells of Sea Golems before.

After infusing my kitchen knife with aura, I tore off a piece of the Ghost Crab’s body and tasted it.

*Hap*

*Chew chew*

“….”

Wait.

This taste…

Let me try another piece.

*Hap*

*Chew chew*

“….”

After tasting the Ghost Crab’s meat twice, I silently tore off its body.

This time, I scooped up a spoonful of its innards and tasted it.

…

…

…

“Hmm… It’s a bit tough.”

“I see.”

“Hopefully, it won’t take as long as that time you made onion soup for Kurt.”

“Ah, I remember! Karina said she wanted onion soup for dinner, and Kurt ended up spending hours making it, so we didn’t eat until past midnight!”

“That was really tough…”

“Yeah. We were hungry, sleepy, and it was cold outside. The smell of soup was wafting around, but Kurt kept saying it wasn’t ready yet…”

As Mari and Serena reminisced with distant expressions, Karina, the cause of that incident, turned bright red and shouted.

“T-that time, I didn’t know onion soup would take so long to make!”

As the three chatted while waiting for Kurt’s dish, it wasn’t long before Kurt emerged from the kitchen carrying the Ghost Crab’s body.

“What are you all talking about?”

*Clatter*

“Kurt! Is it done?”

“Yeah, it’s done.”

“Wow! I’m really looking forward to… it…”

Mari’s face lit up as she saw Kurt coming out of the kitchen.

But soon, she stopped talking when she saw what Kurt was carrying.

“Uh… Kurt?”

“What?”

“Where’s the food?”

Mari looked at Kurt with wide, curious eyes.

As she said, all Kurt had brought from the kitchen was the body of the Ghost Crab with its legs removed. There was no pot or plate containing any dish.

Even if he didn’t bring the food, why would he place the Ghost Crab’s body back on the table after taking it to the kitchen to cook?

Mari couldn’t understand.

“The food? I already brought it out.”

But Kurt pointed at the Ghost Crab’s body, and everyone’s gaze turned to it.

“Uh… Don’t tell me…”

“Is the Man-eating Crab’s innards today’s dish?”

“I-Innards…”

“Hmph. Close, but not quite.”

As everyone’s expressions turned to confusion, Kurt smiled faintly and opened the Ghost Crab’s shell.

*Whoosh*

As the shell opened, a cloud of hot steam spread across the table.

The moment the steam touched the faces of those seated around the table, a rich, intense, greasy, and savory aroma filled the air.

When the steam cleared, the contents hidden beneath the shell were revealed.

It was…

“Crab meat, vegetables, Bamboo Snake’s bamboo shoots, and fried rice made with the crab’s innards.”

Inside the shell was a treasure trove of golden rice, finely chopped vegetables, shredded crab meat, bamboo shoots, and rice grains coated in oil, gleaming appetizingly.

It was like a golden treasure hidden within the Ghost Crab’s body.

“….”

“….”

*Gulp*

Who swallowed?

Stunned by the unexpected twist of fried rice and the irresistibly stimulating aroma that teased their hunger, Kurt’s companions finally snapped out of their daze at the sound of someone swallowing.

“T-this is… rice?”

“Rice is supposed to be a more modest dish…”

“What is this!? This delicious smell… It’s completely different from the porridge we had at the ancient ruins!”

“Rice… I’ve heard of it, and I’ve seen people from the eastern continent eating it at the port. But it definitely didn’t feel like this…”

This was a different kind of shock.

Lately, they had grown accustomed to the various dishes Kurt made, so they rarely reacted this strongly. But this fried rice dish, being closer to the culinary culture of the eastern continent across the sea, seemed to have given them a fresh shock.

While rice-based dishes weren’t entirely absent from this continent, they weren’t mainstream in the Kingdom of Eustia.

As the four stared at the crab fried rice with longing eyes, Kurt took out plates and served each of them a portion.

“Alright. Let’s eat.”

“Ah, yes!”

And so, Kurt, his companions, and Lito picked up their spoons and began their slightly late lunch.