Late Afternoon
A cool wintry breeze blew through the air.
Balin pulled the coat wrapping him tighter. In his hands was a bag full of ingredients and spices.
He was heading to the orphanage planning on personally cooking a meal for the kids. Blue Star cuisine style. Earlier today, he had eaten breakfast at the orphanage before starting the investigation of the surroundings with the guards only to realize how bland the food of this world was.
But the residents of the orphanage didn't seem very bothered as long as their stomachs could be filled. It seemed as if they were used to it. The only difference between the food of the upper class was that their ingredients were more sophisticated, containing much richer flavors than the less fortunate. This made it so that fancy cooking techniques were unnecessary. After all, if the food was naturally flavorful, all it needed was a roast over fire and viola, done. Good ingredients only require the simplest of cooking techniques but poor ingredients need excellent cooking techniques to mask the pungency. But where would the less fortunate have the time to discover these techniques?
Well, Balin was ready to give them the shock of modern cooking techniques. Through being a single bachelor his entire life and successfully becoming a wizard, naturally he had some depth into cooking living by himself in his past life.
Walking along the weathered cobblestone pathways, he finally reached the gate of “Hope Orphanage”.
Just as he was about to head in, he heard a few exclamations.
Ha. Hoo. Ha. Heh. Hahahaha.
Balin perked his ears, carefully listening. The tips of his nose were a bit cold from the breeze.
The sound came from the backyard of the orphanage.
It sounded like the orphanage director Gareth was practicing.
‘Well, he is a knight. Only he would make those strange noises...’
With a thought he headed to the backyard. Might as well invite that silly knight to lunch.
….
In the distance, Gareth swung his sword with absolute precision.
He swung and lunged forward.
Fwoosh.
Strike and stab!
The flurry of sword shadows within his hands demonstrated his skills with the sword.
Not far away Qiubia Balin watched with admiration. This was better than any live action movie or special effects. Directly from the source!
Swoosh Swish...
Sweep and stab!
Clap clap clap.
Watching the impressive display of skill Qiubia Balin clapped with admiration,
“Great skills”
The sword of the director Gareth froze in the air. He turned to the Balin,
“Aahaha, you were here Sir Balin? Why didn’t you say anything? Welcome Welcome.”
“I just didn't want to interrupt your practice. You appeared so focused,” Balin responded. “By the way, what sword skills are you practicing?”
“Well…how should i put this sir balin?…Uh” Gareth awkwardly chuckled and touched the back of his head.
“It’s just ordinary sword swings…”
Qiubai Balin froze in embarrassment.
How could a layman like him judge the skills of a well versed knight?
“Ahem” Balin cleared his throat. As an old man over 50 years of combined age, his skin was as thick as a city wall. As long as he was not embarrassed, it was the other party that was.
“I’m here to invite you to lunch with the kids. You coming?”
The knight gareth glanced at the bag full of ingredients near Balin’s feet.
“Wait young master…uh how about you let me and the maids cook instead?”
Qiubai Balin waved his hands to interrupt the orphanage director.
“I'm not a pampered young master or those high casters unversed in life skills. I'll do the honors this time.”
Gareth wiped the sweat from his head, “Uh, alright, it'll be my honor to taste Sir Balin’s cooking. Here, allow me to carry the bag for you.”
Balin accepted Gareth's offer to carry the bag and they both proceeded towards the orphanage kitchen.
Along the way Balin suddenly turned to Gareth and asked,
“You’re a knight right? How strong are you? Why don't you train me?”
Although Balin was physically fit enough to take down the three troublemakers in school instantly, he still wasn’t out of the league of humans. There was a time when the predecessor was obsessed with knights so he acquired body reinforcing potions from some truthseekers.
Additionally, when he transmigrated, Balin made sure to keep fit for a sense of security .
But he was, after all, still human…if not considering his other abilities. Balin was not yet a knight. A real knight’s strength was comparable to that of a wild beast.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Gareth looked at the Balin’s hopeful eyes.
“Err…did the young master want to take the road of a knight after failing at magic casting?”
“Sir Balin.. while im flattered by your approval, you might as well seek your father to recruit a better knight. I'm not as amazing as your making me out to be.. I’m only at the official knight realm…I might damage your fundamentals”
Official knight realm.
Balin looked thoughtful. If that was the case, Gareth might be right. It was like being taught by a half baked tutor versus an expert mentor. The latter would provide a better foundation when learning from scratch.
According to his current knowledge, all knights were first order creatures by default except a few with exceptional bloodlines who can barely touch the second order.
Knights were further divided into three realms within that first order, namely…
Trainee, Official, and Titled.
Gareth quickly added “Though I can still teach you foundation swords skills common to every knight to prepare you for further education if you want to…”
“But my bodybuilding skills aren't really the best. I'm sure your father as a caster would be able to get better ones.” Gareth said emotionally. In this age, the development of the knight's path had long halted. Knights were a profession that didn’t require much talent but a bitter grit. Spending hours enduring grueling physical activity. But after all, the human physical body had its limits. Nowadays, although for ordinary people, knights inheritances were precious, to a magic caster it was really streetside cabbage.
“Alright i'll take you up on your offer then.” Balin responded.
…..
In the kitchen, Balin adjusted the hearth and lit the fire.
Bringing out a clean pot, Balin preheated the pot.
This was an important step to avoid food from sticking.
He was going to make some barbeque and stir fry vegetables.
Usually to make these dishes, specialized kitchen utensils were needed but the orphanage only had pots so Balin was a bit helpless.
In the sidelines a maid worked the fire while Gareth watched on nervously as Balin worked the ingredients.
He had never seen a noble messing around so enthusiastically in the kitchen.
Balin chopped the expensive herbs and seasoned the meat.
Then add some lard and let it slowly melt in the pot.
Add in the meat and give it a nice sear under the intense fire. Next throw in additional lard, herbs, and garlic. Bask the meat in its own juices and the buttery fat from the lard. Soon, a smoky sweet aroma wafted through the air.
Balin then extracted the meat from the pan in order to let it rest. He was not going to let the meat juiced in the pot go to waste.
He added several spoons of sugar which gave Gareth and the maid watching aside heartaches. Sugar was still quite expensive for the common folk.
“Lower the fire.”
The maid immediately lowered the fire as Balin added water to the concoction and slowly stirred.
The fire had to be low for smooth even cooking.
He was making glaze for the barbie q and the sugars couldnt be burnt.
Soon the glaze was done and Balin gently massaged the sweet goodness onto the meat. Now all he needed now was…a grill?
Well, there weren't any grills so Balin helplessly had to stuff the meat back in the pot. Might as well make sweet and sticky sugary glazed candied meat belly. He covered the slab of meat with lemongrass and chucked the whole pot in the oven giving the maid and Gareth a heartache once again.
There goes another pot…ruined.
Balin grabbed another pot to the dismay of the maid and Gareth.
Now all he needed to do was make some stir fry while the meat was slowly roasting over the oven.
“Turn the fire up.”
The maid proceeded to turn the fire up while Balin scooped out another of lard.
How much did this single meal cost? The orphanage director was crying on the inside.
Wait a moment…On second thought, wasn’t this all Balin’s money?
Hey…that’s right! Immediately the next moment Gareth smiled waiting for the final results of the cooking with anticipation. After all the sweet smoky aroma was already wafting his appetite.
As the pot was hot and the lard melted, Balin threw in vegetables. Usually in the winter it was hard for vegetables to be procured making it a luxury item but these vegetables were specially grown by casters from an experiment.
Truly cooking by throwing money.
Throw in the assortment of veggies and stir fry. Balin reached deep down into the pot feeling the heat while using a long wooden stick to move the vegetables around.
Stir, stir, stir.
Next, throw in pinches of salt, seasonings, aromatics, and imported spices to taste.
Not long after, the stir fry was done.
Next all that remained was some side dishes, soup, and the meat.
Soon, Balin was busy again in the kitchen opening the maid and Gareth’s eyes to a whole new world of wonder.
Now all that's needed was to wait and call everyone to eat..
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Info recap(you don't have to memorize these lmao)(˵¯͒〰¯͒˵):
4 stages of a magic caster(sorcerer) corresponding to the four orders of life form evolution: Apprentice caster, Senior caster, Grand caster, Arch-caster
Magic casters terminology: in kongwu, casters uses stages but universal levels for the four tiers of strength is orders and knights are further subdivided in the first order
-picture a branch, starting from first order(aka first stage) – second order(second stage etc) – third – fourth
But first oder/stage further subdivided into 3 for knights-
3 stages of a knight: trainee, official, titled (knights are automatically first order meaning levelwise they compare to apprentice caster) (just these three stages further subdivide the first order so that clearer classification of stronger and weaker knights)
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Anyways, this chapters is more daily life for a soothing nice change of pace.
Motivational Words of The Day: Best of Luck to my book friends and the writers out here trying their best. I would like everyone to know that YOUR NOT FUCKING ALONE. im dying over here too 🤝💀 <3
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/ づ♡
Song Reccomendations: King by Lauren Aquilina (shits good i promise buddies. on youtube there's even an amv) (nice slowly beautiful melody that warms and soothes the soul
MEME Of DA DAY:
[https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQg52bcx_aPHo2eWgIpRyqB7HgV7Dx4kVnt19N3L1ilZN1tDo3-]