Putting Aside Nationalistic Bias, It’s Really Delicious

32 – Bibimbap was served, and the elf annoyedly said, ‘Are you a racist?’

As always, they were busy working in the kitchen to greet the guests today.

After Camilla’s visit, soybean paste stew was added to the menu, and thanks to her active promotion(?), soybean paste stew became a hot issue among the inhabitants of the territory.

Active promotion.

—-

★★★★★

I, Camilla Wagon, am telling you.

Soybean paste stew, no, soybean paste stew mixed with freshly cooked tofu and bull’s beef is divine food.

It is so delicious that I feel pity for those who haven’t tasted it.

I have eaten many dishes in the world, but I have never seen such tasty food until now.

Of course, adding bull’s beef would be quite expensive, so beef soybean paste stew with meat cows is also good. If that’s still difficult, pork is not bad either.

But does the taste of soybean paste vary according to personal preferences?

What a joke.

I don’t even want to associate with someone who doesn’t know such taste!

Do you want to succeed like me? Then eat soybean paste stew.

Recommended menu: Tofu Kimchi / Soft Tofu / Soybean Paste Stew / Bull! Beef! Soybean! Paste! Stew!

-Golden Wagon Ruler, Camilla Wagon-

—-

She wrote a lengthy review on the largest piece of paper on the bulletin board in front of the store.

Even if you don’t want to see it, you can’t help but see it because it is posted right in the center of the board.

The vigorous recommendation of the second richest person in the empire.

For several days, soybean paste stew sold very well due to the saying that if you want to succeed, eat soybean paste stew.

Camilla’s entourage, as well as knights and soldiers in the castle, and even the farmers who used to come only in the evening to drink, all came.

“One soybean paste stew, please!”

“Give me that one too!”

“No, but why do you eat something that smells strange like this?”

“Hey, that’s why Tog’s farm looks like that. They say you have to eat it if you want to succeed, right?”

“What does a farm have to do with it?”

It became a popular menu item sought after by 8 out of 10 people.

How should I put it?

It was like the feeling a restaurant owner gets when an influencer says, “This is a gourmet place~” and the number of customers suddenly increases.

How much more would this have happened in Korea, where SNS was well developed, even in a fantasy world like this?

Even Liana and Heimer fought over the fermented soybean soup.

“Lord Heimer, you really don’t know the taste. They say fermented soybean soup is the food for successful people, you know?”

“No, this is not the food for knights. To use such delicious fighting bull meat like this, isn’t the smell strange? Fertilizer, uh, anyway, isn’t the smell too strong?”

“How deep is this smell! It’s a taste-filled flavor that comes from it!”

It’s like a fermented soybean paste fan vs a half-fermented soybean paste fan kind of feeling.

Certainly, for the people of this world who were unfamiliar with fermented soybean paste, it was an unfamiliar smell.

Camilla, who was crazy about the smell, was the strange one.

Even Liana, who praised the fermented soybean paste, seemed not yet adapted to the smell, as she scrunched her nose.

Anyway, thanks to that, business became much busier.

The customers had increased to the point of always being full.

There were people who heard rumors from remote villages like Conwell and visited.

“According to the locals here, this place is so delicious.”

And, although rare, merchants from nearby cities also stopped by our tavern.

Yesterday, I thought it would be quiet when Camilla left the territory, but it’s gotten busier than when she was here.

“I’ll come and visit often.”

“Feel free to come and visit anytime. Our tavern is always open to customers.”

“Well, closing a gourmet place like this would be a loss for the Empire. Isn’t that right?”

“Is that so?”

“Never close the door. Never.”

Would it be just my imagination if I felt a sense of crisis in her words as she left?

Now, she was busy in the capital city.

She wouldn’t have to worry about this countryside.

While making kovi and tofu, she mentioned that a huge mining district had recently emerged in the northeastern part of the empire, and she would be busy with the auctions for that place soon.

A mine that produced even magic stones, was it?

Anyhow, after the hectic time passed and finding a moment of respite, the door opened.

Creak, creak.

A woman wearing a hood deep over her eyes, unlike other guests, entered through the door.

“Ahem, cough! Cough!”

Seemingly startled by the smell of soybean paste, she coughed and looked around.

Her face was hardly visible due to the deep hood, but her lips were definitely bitten.

‘She’s a stranger.’

A sword hanging on her waist, leather armor revealed under her robe, and an attitude full of tense atmosphere.

She was an adventurer.

It was my first time seeing an adventurer here.

At the reaction of the newbie to the soybean paste, the people who were eating soybean paste soup laughed quietly.

They, too, were like that a few days ago.

It was like the fifth-week trainees watching the fresh trainees who just entered the training camp.

For me, it was just a cute comedy show of the newbies.

“Welcome!”

Anyhow, I couldn’t just leave a guest alone, so I greeted her warmly.

The female adventurer looked at me and approached without hesitation.

Standing in front of me, she sniffed and bit her lip, then opened her mouth.

“Is it you? The knight who killed my bull.”

“……”

This didn’t seem like a typical guest.

Suddenly, I saw long ears sticking out slightly from the hood.

‘An elf?’

I knew them as a race that loved nature and did not harm others.

Elves were a race that loved nature so much that they were vegetarians.

If not for their extremely arrogant personalities, they might have ruled the continent with their beauty and near-immortal lives.

No wonder a bull appeared in what should have been an off-limits area.

It seemed to be due to this elf.

It couldn’t be a serving spirit or something, could it?

What a mess.

“Yes, are you the owner of the bull?”

“Something like that.”

“I did kill it, but it was an unavoidable situation.”

“It was unavoidable?”

“Yes, it was about to attack the village.”

“I saw the aftermath. I came here after checking why there was no other choice but to kill the bull.”

It seemed as though the conversation was going well.

“Then, are you the one who distributed the bull’s meat to the knights here?”

“That’s correct.”

“I suppose the soldiers guarding this entrance ate it as well.”

With that, she removed her hood.

As she did, her flowing golden hair rippled like waves and her blue eyes glared at me.

She was incredibly beautiful.

The cloak hid her face, but it wasn’t enough to disguise her beauty.

It was said that all elves were stunning, and it was true indeed.

And there, her long ears were revealed.

“Then I must receive an apology!”

People’s gazes focused on her pointy, long ears.

“An elf?”

“Isn’t she an elf?”

“Why is an elf here?”

So, it was indeed an elf.

I wasn’t mistaken.

“What do you mean by an apology?”

“You killed my dragon, so shouldn’t I receive compensation as well?”

“But I had explained that there was a situation.”

“Well, that’s one thing, but it doesn’t bring my dragon back, does it?”

She wasn’t wrong.

A dead dragon, now digested in our stomachs, couldn’t possibly be resurrected.

However, we couldn’t simply apologize without offering a solution.

As mentioned before, we had our reasons as well.

“I will give you some compensation, but it was a life-threatening situation.”

“I know. It won’t be a burden.”

She finished speaking and sat on a chair facing the kitchen.

“I heard this place is a dining hall.”

The elf, who had removed her cloak and hung it beside her, exposed her beautiful features while looking at me.

“Elves do not take the revenge of the blade with another blade. That’s the behavior of barbaric races. And we don’t take money. This doesn’t suit us either.”

With a confident voice, she exclaimed.

“But I will not follow the elf tradition for humans. So, I want to enjoy the most confident dish here.”

“Are you talking about food?”

“Yes. Seeing the expressions of the people here, I think they have some skills. How delicious must it be that you can eat in a restaurant that smells like manure?”

“Pffft!”

Heimer couldn’t help laughing at the mention of the manure smell.

Hmm.

A meal treat.

It was a cheap reward for killing the enslaved Tuo.

“Understood.”

For elves, it was vegetarianism; for vegetarianism, it was Korean cuisine.

In fact, wouldn’t it be the most suitable diet for elves compared to any other race?

If they wanted, they could create a meatless menu at any time.

How many vegetarian dishes can be made right now?

Not long ago, they had made a new soybean paste stew, tofu kimchi, braised tofu, kimchi fried rice, and even a collection of side dishes served with bibimbap that can be mixed with red pepper paste. They could also provide mushroom stir-fry as a side dish, and even various vegetables.

And meatless wraps were also possible.

With fresh vegetables and ssamjang, isn’t it a complete wrap?

There is also temple food, which consists of perilla shiregi soup, gondre rice, and a feast entirely of vegetarian dishes.

Gimbap could also be made vegetarian by leaving out egg, ham, and crab meat.

Although personal preferences may differ, at least it meant that one could get sufficient nutrients from a vegetarian diet.

Of course, there were many dishes that came to mind but couldn’t be made right away due to a lack of ingredients.

I took a quick look at the remaining ingredients.

‘As expected, tofu is delicious….’

Tofu would be the centerpiece.

I immediately started to stir-fry kimchi in an oil-greased pan.

I decided on a menu to serve to the sudden guest, the elf.

Kimchi stir-fry, the most delicious tofu kimchi when eaten together, and the despised doenjang-jjigae that smelled like manure; along with it, bibimbap mixed with side dishes and gochujang.

This was the vegetarian three-course set for her.

As I stir-fried kimchi in oil, I quickly boiled the doenjang-jjigae.

At the same time, I brought out every side dish typically used as accompaniments.

Bean sprout salad grown using soybeans brought by Camilla, mushroom stir-fry, pumpkin stir-fry, and refreshing yeolmu kimchi down to its core, as well as a vegetable stir-fry with potato and carrot; I neatly placed everything on plates.

“It’s beautiful.”

The colorful and beautiful vegetables made their presence known.

Then I took out the well-cooked stir-fried kimchi and the still-warm tofu, slicing it for easy eating and transferring it to a plate.

I placed freshly cooked rice on top of various vegetables and, as a final touch, added red gochujang.

“I almost forgot.”

I mustn’t forget sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Even without the fried egg already omitted, the taste would become too bland without it.

I finished making bibimbap that felt reminiscent of the spoonful bibimbap I used to eat with rice, side dishes, and gochujang mixed together when I was hungry at home.

‘It would be complete with just anchovy stir-fry and a fried egg.’

But it’s a shame.

Anyway, I presented the perfect diet for vegetarians that can be highly recommended to everyone with various reasons not wanting to eat meat, in front of the elf.

“This is a perfect vegetarian meal for elves.”

The elf, who had been patiently waiting for the food, looked at me.

Her gaze upon me was fierce.

Flames sparked from the eyes glaring at me with furrowed brows.

It seemed as if she would unsheathe her sword at any moment.

“Innkeeper, are you a racist?”

Are you asking if I’m a racist?

What an absurd remark.

“What the…”

“So even the owner here has that ignorant stereotype that elves only eat vegetables?”

“…”

“Why isn’t there a single meat dish? That’s what I was looking forward to.”

Wait, do elves eat meat too?