Chapter 28: Black Mist.

 

"A black mist? Can you further describe it." Father said in alarm.

"Why, is there something wrong, father?" I ask in concern.

"Yes, the black mist is a phenomenon that you can only see on demonic creatures. They are often shrouded in this haze, and to see a magic beast with black mist on its body is an alarming sight." Father said in a grave voice.

"Father, do you think that the demonic creatures have something to do with the bizarre behavior of the magic beast within the enchanted forest?" I said in shock as I was stun by what I just heard.

"Demonic Creatures!" Gaspar shouted in alarm.

If a Demonic Creatures have got inside the human territory, then it would be a great disaster for all of us. Because they can immediately multiply their numbers in a short amount of time and our kingdom is not ready to face them at all.

"My lord, How could it be possible? the Great Fortress is still standing till to this day. It should be impossible for a Demonic Creature to cross this far." Gaspar said hurriedly as he was also frightened by this idea.

"I'm also not sure, the black mist might have been because of a different reason, but I still want to confirm everything." Father said in full seriousness while staring at his table.

"Gaspar, did the black mist destroys anything in its surroundings, like sucking out all the life from plants or other living creatures?" Father asked worriedly.

Demonic creatures are the enemies of all living creatures within the continent of Vreachland. They only bring destruction and death onto their path wherever they go, and nothing is safe from them. They are the only creatures that would make magic beasts and humans unite in order to defeat them, or else it would be the end of everything.

"Lord Hubert, I think it doesn't do that kind of thing, since everything looks normal in the surroundings but the magic beast looks like irritated every time it shows up on its body." Gaspar said while he was deep in thought.

"Then what's the reason for that black mist, there has been no information of that thing from any books I know, and magic beast doesn't have this capability, sure they are powerful and have some authority in controlling some elemental magic, but this is the first time, I heard about the black mist." Father seriously said while staring out the window.

"Does it do anything unusual aside from that.?" I suddenly ask to break the silence as their convo have suddenly stop.

"Well, It likes to watch me eat a lot of this fruit."Gaspar said as he pointed at the magic fruit in my father's table.

"That's so weird. Why would it do that?" I'm still confused on the bizarre behavior of this particular beast.

"It must have been interested on how Gaspar could eat this fruit without suffering from any harm, because you should remember that powerful magic beasts also have the same amount of thinking like a grown human," Father said while giving Gaspar a strange look.

"Because it also knows that a normal human won't be able to eat this magic fruit without processing it, and it was curious about Gaspar's peculiarity." I said excitedly.

"Exactly! That's why it wants to study him." Father stated.

"But despite all that, it still allows Gaspar to bring this huge amount of magic fruit back to the city. It just doesn't make any sense at all." I added.

"But that's the truth, Master Lucas. It likes the food I made. I even cook another food for it using the ingredients that I gather from the surroundings. And in return, it gave me all of this magic fruit in exchange for my service."

"A powerful magic beast like the creature you describe doesn't have any use for this magic fruit, because the more powerful a being becomes the less effect this fruit would bring to them. Even for me, if I drink a potion made from this magic fruit it would only slightly improve my power."Father said slowly.

"It just doesn't care that Gaspar picks a lot of this fruit inside of its territory, although it knows that this is an important resource. It still allows you to take it all back, because whatever you have fed it has made it satisfied and contented." I said towards Gaspar as I looked at him in the eyes.

"There must be something that you haven't told us yet. So what is it? That magic beast won't just give it all to you. After all, this is not just an ordinary fruit." I said to Gaspar as I gave him a scrutinizing look.

"Ye-Yeah I-It's Ju-Just that when I gave it the food that I'd make, all the mist that's constantly appearing on It's body have subsided. I think that's the reason why it allows me to bring all of this back." Gaspar fearfully said to us.

"What? How did you even manage to do it? You're not even a potion master. You're a cook. Your dish shouldn't have any special effect at all." I said in surprise once again by this mans peculiarity.

This man hides too many secrets on his body, that even he doesn't know about it. And to think that he has been working for our family for several years it's just unbelievable.

This man is constantly giving me surprise after surprises. Who the heck is the transmigrator here? is it me or him?

The last time I check it should be me who was having this kind of lucky encounter getting rich rewards.

But him, just because of his obsession with cooking, he had all that adventure.

In less than a year, this man has made more achievements than me, from being a middle-aged man cook to becoming the king of dark cuisine that rises after the spice boom in the city.

Then after that he became younger because of eating this magic fruit, and eventually become friends with one of the most dangerous creatures here on the continent of Vreachland, a rank 5 magic beasts.

And now he is telling me that he still has a unique talent, to add special effects to his food, this is too much plot armor.

Just the amount of magic fruit that Gaspar has brought back to the city is already enough to keep our economy afloat for several years to come, as long as the population would remain stagnant.

He alone brought us an imaginable wealth but also surprises as with his unbelievable adventure outside.

The story that he had right now is even enough to make him famous in the entire human world, but we can't let this news spread at all, or it might just caused us our own doom.

And although all the people in the mansion are surprised by Gaspar's transformation, none of them have really talked about it outside.

They all know that an extraordinary thing such as this event is a piece of confidential news, and its not allowed to spread outside the mansion's doors.

But we still need to do a proper announcement to all the staff working here, to keep all the information tightly wrapped.

We don't want anyone to know that our cook have become younger due to consuming a magic fruit because it would only bring us countless trouble.

At the same time, We don't even know what should we do with this large amount of magic fruit. We can't just suddenly release it in the market in mass, or people with bad intentions would definitely look for it source and it would all lead to us.

"For now Gaspar, although you have broken the rules I have set, but because of your achievement of bringing this many precious materials back to our city, I would not punish you, but I can't also reward you with anything. The best thing that I could do now is to grant you 3 requests you can wish to me and I will do it as long as it's within my limits." Father said suddenly.

 Thanks to Gaspar we ended up having an entire bag of magic fruit because of hismischievous adventure, 

Something that we can't do on our own, but I still can't expect that my father would grant him such a rich reward. Because since Gaspar was held as as the king of dark cuisine, father have already forbidden him at cooking anything strange at all.

But now, I'm sure that he would ask for his freedom to cook whatever he wanted, and this is bad.

His dishes have traumatized many people including me, that I can't even recall the memories during those times, when I suffered from that terrible stomach ache as I just want that memory to be erased from my mind.

"Really Master Hubert! that would be great. Then, can I have my own kitchen and access to different materials for cooking? All I wanted to do now is to make all the recipes that I have come up with for several weeks." Gaspar said happily.

Although I have already expected this coming, I'm still not ready to hear it at all. Even my father's face has shown a worrying expression, although it just happens for a brief moment.

"Are you sure about that Gaspar, don't you want any title or land or wealth to come with your wishes?" Father asks questioning Gaspar's decision.

"I don't need it lord Hubert. My mission in life is to find and create the most delicious food in the world using the rarest ingredients." Gaspar said with joy.

"You sure do like cooking, ha?" I said.

"Of course, young master, since I was a child my parents have already involved me in the kitchen, and it has been our family motto to surpass our ancestors to become the greatest cook." explained by Gaspar.

"But one question still remained unanswered at all. What is that black mist that appears on that magic beast? It wouldn't give Gaspar all this magic fruits just because of eating his food. I'm sure that whatever it is. That magic beast would like that black mist to be removed from its body, and the only one who can do that is you, because you managed to stop it from spreading by just eating the food you made." I said seriously to Gaspar.

"You are right, Lucas. That black mist probably affected the magic beast, and it might also be the cause of the disturbance within the enchanted forest. And only you, Gaspar, were able to help it. That's why it was willing to give you all of this fruit as a reward." Father said calmly.

"But master Hubert all I did is to cook some food for it, and there's really nothing special with the food I made, except that it was more interested in my experimental dish rather than the usual food that I make," said by Gaspar.

"Whatever the reason is, what's more important is that we now have the resources to cultivate more people to become an official knight. I know that we have a lot of soldiers who wanted to break through the limit, but because of their low talent and not enough resources, they weren't able to upgrade their ranks and power." Father said calmly.

"The only problem we have right now is to find a great potion master to brew all these magic fruits into a special potion." I added.

"I already have someone in mind that could really help us solve this problem. Even though he doesn't have the official certificate of the potion master guild, his skills are enough for this job." Father said with a wicked smile,

One reason why it was hard for us to cultivate soldiers to become an official knight is aside from the lack of resources. The potion master guild also impose a ban on us from having access to buy any potion that could help someone to breakthrough.

I don't really know what's the reason but my father has accused them of lying about their potion and because of these circumstance, we could only depend on ourselves and cultivate a few people to become an official knight.

It is also because of this, that all of our knights are capable men as they all broke through to their limits naturally without taking any potion.

Unlike the other knights walking around the kingdom that only knows how to display their skills to everyone. Since most of them have transcendent using the potion from that guild.

Compared to them, our men are sharpened by countless battles against the creatures in the enchanted forest. While most of the nobles and knights cultivate their power by the use of potion, and most of them doesn't have a lot of experience with fighting, that's why they can't be called as warriors at all.

Some of them might have a higher rank of cultivation than mine, but I am confident, that I can defeat all in a one on one battle.

My several hours of training and sparring with Michael is not just for display.

My father is also a strict man, since he directly forbids anyone from buying potions directly to the guild. He said that we can't trust them.

But this is also the reason why my father has met that amazing man.

He was a student of the former potion guild master, but he only studied under that man for a year before he died.

I also don't know what's the reason but somehow he was banned from joining the guild.

He was even on their wanted list. I ask my father about this issue before but he told me that It's not the time yet for me to know about this secret since one wrong move and it could get me killed.