CH 76

Episode 76 – The Way to Conquer Dumbbell Weed

TL Note: Sponsored chapter (1/3). Only one sponsored chapter for today, the other 2 will come out tomorrow. Thank you so much!

After we finished shopping, I dropped off Lyra and Nina back at Bee House. The three of us chatted happily about cooking the entire way back, and I felt like I had grown closer to them.

“Are you sure you’ll only accept my thanks in the form of these spices?” (Lewin)

“Of course! I really don’t need more spices, but… I’ll gladly use them!” (Lyra)

“Even though it was considered a failed escort request, you all protected me from the Angry Wolf, and you two introduced me to such a great shop today too. I really want to hand over an additional reward to you…” (Lewin)

“No! It’s really fine! More importantly, we’d be content if you just commissioned us again in the future!” (Lyra)

“That’s for certain! I don’t know exactly when right now, but next time I go to gather plants and herbs, I’ll definitely call on [Iron Gear] to go with me.” (Lewin)

After once again promising them to take [Iron Gear] on my next quest commission, I said my goodbyes to the two in front of Bee House. It was already getting late, so I decided to return to the rundown inn.

…Still, today was really a bountiful harvest. I received the compensation and the consolation fee from the Adventurer’s Guild, the usual large sum from Elf’s Tears, purchased some Magic Potions, and learned about the recent news regarding the Healer’s Guild. At the end of the day, I was introduced by Lyra and Nina to a great shop that dealt with spices and learned how to make curry from Clive. In addition to the usefulness of the spices, I also found out that Glutamate Herb would sell for a high price. I thought to myself that, in addition to Elf’s Tears, that spice shop would probably be another shop that I would become a regular customer at.

Running through the events that happened today in my head while walking through the streets of Grezesta, I returned to the rundown inn. Well, even though I was already summarizing what happened today, there were still things I had to do today. I still had to make the Dumbbell Weed curry and see if the Magic Potion would increase my magic power. I just ate earlier so I wasn’t that hungry, but if it was curry I would be down to eat more.

I decided to start making the curry that I had learned. I cooked the ingredients as I saw them do earlier and mixed the spices without making any changes to the recipe. I was worried about if it would turn out well, but… yep, that crazy good spicy smell filled the room. It was looking like a paste right now, so I scooped up a bit to try it.

Mmm! It’s so good!

Compared to Clive’s curry, it still had a ways to go, but it was already pretty delicious for my first try.

Now then, how was I going to add the Dumbbell Weed into the curry…?

For now, I decided to mix in the Dumbbell Weed powder that I made out of the dried Dumbbell Weed I made earlier. I carefully mixed the remaining Dumbbell Weed powder that I had failed to take with the Glutamate Herb stock into my curry. My brain first vividly recalled the acrid bitterness of the Dumbbell Weed and then the spicy, delicious taste of the curry after… but I couldn’t imagine what would happen when the two of those things mixed together. Half of me was hopeful, expecting the curry to beat the Dumbbell Weed, but the other half of me was already anxious about what to do if this method didn’t work. As my fear intermingled with my hopeful expectations, I poured the finished Dumbbell Weed curry into a dish.

The smell of the curry was more or less unchanged, still emitting that wonderful spicy aroma. Maybe it was okay to get my hopes up…?

Picking up a small amount of the curry with my spoon, I took a bite. I chewed slowly, trying to evaluate the taste, but… was this delicious?

I could strongly taste the bitterness, but it wasn’t to the point that it made me feel sick like it normally did. In fact, the spiciness contrasted and accentuated the bitterness in a unique way. If you were to ask me if it was delicious, I wouldn’t be able to give an immediate affirmation. But the curry transformed it into a dish that I could eat without much difficulty.

With this, I could eat Dumbbell Weed every day!

The dish had its peculiarities, but I was really happy about the fact that I could get stronger just by eating this curry. Since it was my second time eating it today, it took me a little longer to finish it, but I was able to do so without feeling sick. If anything, rather than feeling sick, the bitterness and spiciness were well-balanced, to the extent that I could get used to it.

“I finally found the method of eating Dumbbell Weed!!” I celebrated to myself, reveling in the joy of discovery.

Now that I had found a way to eat it… all that was left was to find out if I could synthesize Dumbbell Weed, but the current problem was if I had enough magic power capacity. First, I should drink the Magic Potion tonight and see if my total magic capacity would increase, and then tomorrow I would try to synthesize Dumbbell Weed with whatever magic power capacity I’d have.