By Zephyria 
He immediately retracted his thought. Softened my ass.
Sebastian shuddered involuntarily as he recalled Ketron’s cold gaze at him back then. Eddie, who had already finished preparing the ingredients, poured cooking oil into the frying pan and began to cook in earnest.
Sebastian was already full of antipathy toward Kimchi. Besides, the taste wasn’t to his liking. It was somehow fishy and sour. So he wasn’t very interested in the ‘new menu’ that Eddie was making. He just glanced at Eddie’s back as he bustled around cooking. It was around that time that a strange but savory smell began to waft into his nose.
Huh, why does it smell kind of good?
Sebastian sniffed, and before he knew it, he was naturally drawn to Eddie like Pavlov’s dog.
Following Eddie’s hands, which were concentrating on shaking the frying pan, an orange, flat food was browning nicely.
The moment Sebastian saw the glossy food with sizzling oil, he forgot that it was a dish made with that Kimchi he hated to even look at, and swallowed hard.
It was definitely an unfamiliar food to Sebastian.
It was flat and carrot-like orange, and it wasn’t much to look at. But the Kimchi pieces, shrimp, and squid scattered here and there looked a little appetizing. Anyway, it was such an unfamiliar food that there was nothing appealing about it.
No, there shouldn’t have been.
“Gulp.”
But why is my mouth watering like this?
Sebastian couldn’t help but stare intently at the food with strangely heated eyes, and Eddie chuckled softly.
“How does it look? It was hard to get the squid.”
To be exact, Gerold had a hard time… The muttering didn’t quite reach Sebastian’s ears.
“Ah, well…”
He should have pretended not to be interested because of his antipathy toward Kimchi, but he couldn’t.
Despite the unfamiliar smell and appearance, his past experiences with Eddie’s food, and all five senses, were going wild.
This is definitely delicious.
“Here you go.”
In the end, Sebastian was defeated. As soon as he took the chopsticks that Eddie offered, he took a big bite of the food that Eddie had called ‘Kimchi Pancake’.
It’s hot. And savory. The particularly crispy edges crumbled lightly in his teeth, along with the chewy shrimp and squid.
The kimchi, which has a subtly sour and savory taste, plays the role of a kick at the end.
Gulp.
The Kimchi Pancake, which was quite large, as big as the frying pan, disappeared into Sebastian’s mouth in an instant. Once he ate it, he couldn’t stop.
“So freaking delicious.”
Sebastian, using an expression that Eddie had taught him sometime ago, made a deeply moved expression, and Eddie smiled as if he knew it would happen.
Even if it’s just a retort food, it feels good when someone says it’s delicious when you cook it, so of course, it couldn’t feel bad to be praised for a dish that he made with care after a long time.
If Sebastian, who says something is bad when it tastes bad, has such a moved face, then the Kimchi Pancake he made after a long time must have been quite successful.
He should start making Kimchi-related dishes one by one, starting with this.
“Where did you learn all this, Eddie?”
From then on, Sebastian began to watch Eddie make Kimchi Pancake from the side and diligently eat the pancakes.
Eddie frowned with a troubled face at Sebastian’s question.
Whenever Sebastian questioned the various items he brought from the convenience store or the dishes that didn’t match this world, Eddie was always at a loss for words.
Basically, Gerold and Ketron don’t ask these questions.
“Um, a long time ago?”
“When was a long time ago? Were you studying abroad for a long time or something?”
“Something like that.”
It was a vague answer with nothing clear, but Sebastian understood it in his own way.
If Eddie was from a Noble family, it wouldn’t be so special to have studied abroad in a distant foreign country.
“Will you teach me how to make it properly? …This would be great with alcohol.”
Sebastian, as a drinker rather than an employee, missed having a glass in his hand right now, and said that, and Eddie seemed to have thought of something.
“Ah, alcohol.”
Eddie seemed to be lost in thought at the mention of alcohol, and then seemed to have realized something. He smiled brightly before long.
“I should launch several new menus this time.”
Jjajanggetti is also available… After muttering, he heard another muttering, but Sebastian couldn’t hear it well because it was a small voice.
Ma… what? Maggeolli? I can’t hear you well.
“I’ll make one more, and then Sebastian can make it. If you make the batter well, you just have to flip it when it looks brown, so it’s simpler than you think.”
“Leave it to me.”
Sebastian, who had eaten five Kimchi Pancakes, said, patting his full stomach.
Eddie poured a lot more batter on the last one he made. It looked much bigger and thicker than the ones he had made before.
The crispy edges looked very delicious. Even though he had already eaten five, it was a visual that made him swallow hard, but Sebastian knew it too. He knew who Eddie made that for.
Eddie, who moved the particularly large and thick Kimchi Pancake to a plate, handed the frying pan to Sebastian and added.
“Will you make a few and bring them to Gerold too?”
“Leave it to me!”
Sebastian took his place in front of the frying pan, and Eddie quickly left the kitchen so that the well-cooked Kimchi Pancake wouldn’t get cold.
It was obvious who he was bringing it to.
Well, yeah. No matter what, he want to bring something this delicious to his lover.
Sebastian, who believed that Ketron and Eddie were definitely lovers, thought so only in his mind and poured the Kimchi Pancake batter into the frying pan. Soon the pancake was browning nicely.
This is amazing. All the reactions have been good so far, but Sebastian predicted that this new menu would be a huge hit and skillfully flipped the frying pan.
The new menu that would make Eddie’s inn fly soared into the air and landed smoothly on the frying pan. A savory smell filled the kitchen.
***
Augustine loosened his stiff shoulders with his hands.
He had a lot of things to deal with these days, so he couldn’t properly loosen his body, so he felt a little muscle tension.
When he thought about whether he had ever used his body this little, it seemed that he had never done that since he had come to his senses.
He couldn’t ignore it because His Majesty the Emperor was the one who mainly gave him work.
Ah, the sorrow of being stuck in the middle.
Augustine deliberately shook his upper body in a flamboyant manner as he passed by, and the Holy Knights in the temple greeted Augustine, who was walking with strange antics, with a smile.
“Augustine, you seem busy these days.”
Augustine, who was a popular figure in the temple in his own way, waved his hand with a calm face and accepted the greeting.
“Of course, I’m busy. Aren’t I His Majesty the Emperor’s hands and feet?”
The Emperor and the Pope are openly on bad terms. Augustine was the one who played the role of the Ojakgyo between them.
The reason why the two were on bad terms was simple. The Reneva Empire was a society where church and state were thoroughly separated, and the Pope was closer to the Noble faction, if you had to say.
To be exact, rather than being a Noble faction, he argued that God was angry with the Emperor and the Demon King was rampant, blaming the temple rather than the Emperor for the reason why the Demon King was rampaging… but that was exactly the same as what the Noble faction had done.
Augustine belonged to the temple, but as one of the heroes who defeated the Demon King, he was one of the few clergymen who stood on the side of the Emperor, who was trying to normalize public sentiment without being greatly influenced by the Pope.
From the Pope’s point of view, he was a clergyman who sided with the Emperor, who was on bad terms, but he couldn’t openly hate him.
A clergyman who does not forget his duty as a clergyman, has a high position, and is perfect for maintaining neutrality.
As a result, he naturally went back and forth between the temple and the Imperial Palace, taking on various tasks, so he had been very busy recently and had no time to relax his body.
The knights, who knew Augustine’s situation well, laughed it off.
“It seemed so. His Majesty the Emperor cherishes Augustine quite a bit, doesn’t he?”
“Is cherishing me like this using people up? Do you want to do it instead?”
“Hey, no.”
“How dare we.”
Light conversations were exchanged as if they were joking around. It was somewhat enjoyable to kill time lightly by having trivial conversations, so when Augustine relaxed his body comfortably,
“But it would be nice if there was something we could do instead, even a little.”
“Why? Do I look that busy?”
“Yes, you seem to be so busy lately that you don’t even have time to hang out with Arthur or Boram.”
Augustine responded with a smile to the knights’ words, which were like teasing.
But inside, he was a little pricked.
It was true that he was busy, but that wasn’t the only reason why he didn’t hang out with Arthur and Boram.
In fact, Augustine had been feeling a strange sense of incongruity from the two since defeating the Demon King.
Why am I like this?
We clearly fought together risking our lives, and we won together.
The close relationship that should have been filled with joy alone had cooled down as if cold water had been poured on it.
It’s strange. Our journey clearly had a big burden called a mission, but it was a fun journey where romance and memories coexisted.
But why do I feel so guilty about hanging out with them?