Chapter 8: Night Visitor, the Wizard, and Buttermilk Chicken (2)

“How to deal with a magician?”

When I was active in Isel’s party, I once asked Daisy, the party’s magician, how to deal with a magician.

I nodded toward Daisy, who was munching on jerky despite having just finished her meal.

“Yeah. I just thought it might be useful to know for future journeys.”

“Hmm… I don’t think that’ll be necessary. A magician would prefer to face another magician, so I’ll probably handle it.”

“What if an enemy magician defeats you?”

“Then I’ll run away. Don’t look back, just go as fast as you can.”

“Right. If the pillar of our party falls, we have to run. I’ll carry you then.”

“Carry me? Didn’t I just tell you not to look back?”

I hesitated before asking, sensing the seriousness in Daisy’s response.

“…You really would run?”

“Yeah. If a magician’s strong enough to take me down, I need to get out of there as fast as possible. What’s the point of wasting time?”

“What if you’re not there and I have to fight a magician?”

“I’d still run. A proper magician casts spells as fast as accidents happen. You can’t move faster than that, can you? Well, you might be able to kill a magician, but if we both die, what’s the point?”

Really? Magicians are overpowered.

Actually, wouldn’t a hero party full of magicians just defeat the Demon King?

When I lost my words, Gatos, the warrior who was walking beside me, joined the conversation.

“We have a method passed down in our tribe.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“First, you charge at them. Then, you kill them.”

“What if you get hit by magic?”

“Then you become a weak warrior. A true warrior kills the sorcerer before they can even cast their spell.”

At this, Alvin, the priest, also chimed in.

“What if you get hit by magic and then kill the sorcerer? What’s the judgment then?”

“If you kill the enemy, you’re a true warrior.”

“What if you die too?”

“Doesn’t matter. If you killed the enemy, you won.”

“What if you both die at the same time?”

“Then you hit the idiot who asked the question on the head.”

“Oh dear. I was just purely curious.”

The conversation drifted far from the original question, but I couldn’t let go of my curiosity and asked Daisy again.

“Is there really no way?”

“Why are you so obsessed with how to deal with a magician? Is there a magician you want to take down? Tell me, I’ll scold them for you.”

“It’s not that, but you never know.”

“Hmm-”

Daisy swallowed the jerky she had been chewing, sucking on her finger as she continued.

“If ‘dealing with’ means overpowering them through violence, then there is a way. You target their weakness.”

“The magician’s weakness? What’s that?”

“Well, this assumes you can communicate with them, but a magician’s weakness is…”

Bang!

I was jolted awake by a loud crash.

It was the sound of the hand mirror I had extended from behind the table, trying to peek at the situation, being shattered.

At the same time, a cold voice echoed.

“Give up, thief. There’s no human who can defeat a magician head-on. If you surrender now, I’ll break your limbs and hand you over to the guards.”

“It feels weird to be called ‘thief’ by a thief.”

“Who’s the thief? I’m someone who was granted free entry by the owner of this place!”

“The owner of this place is me, and I never gave permission.”

“Hah, you’re the owner of this place? The owner of this place is Eloy Graham!”

Wait, was she a guest of the elder?

No wonder she used magic without breaking anything in the shop.

It seems I wasn’t the only one holding back my power for the sake of the shop.

Feeling slightly relieved by this fact, I tried to start a conversation.

“Guest of Eloy Elder? Well, there’s no need to be like this then. I’m his successor.”

“Successor to Graham?”

“Yeah. I just got recognized by the elder today and took over the shop. I came here to finish tidying up the place.”

“Oll….”

At my words, the magician let out a flustered voice.

Then, a moment later, the magician stepped forward and bowed deeply.

“I’m sorry… I haven’t been to the shop in a long time, so I didn’t know the owner had changed…”

“No….”

I couldn’t believe it—such a humble attitude from a magician!

Of course, I thought I should accept her apology for the sudden attack, but I never expected a magician to bow.

And she started explaining everything without me even asking.

“I… I ate some of the carrots, onions, pumpkins, apples… ingredients from the fridge… but I wasn’t trying to steal them, I got permission from Graham to eat them! Ugh, why didn’t Graham mention such an important detail!”

“Did you get permission from the elder?”

“Yes. I would sometimes get food in exchange for checking the magical tools in the kitchen. But recently, since the restaurant isn’t open, he told me to just take whatever ingredients I needed…”

I see. After hearing her side, I understood the situation.

When people think of magicians, they often imagine noble, well-respected ones, but not all magicians are like that.

I’ve heard that magicians who haven’t earned such respect survive by using their magic to do odd jobs.

She was probably one of those magicians, and the elder felt sorry for her, offering her regular work.

“But recently, since the restaurant isn’t open, I guess I forgot about her.”

It was quite a deflating conclusion after preparing myself for a serious magical battle.

Then, I suddenly recalled a question.

“Why were you eating the ingredients raw though? If you were going to eat them, why not cook them first?”

“I’ve been starving for a while… I didn’t have the energy to cook…”

Grrr-

Her stomach growled in agreement with her words.

But she seemed to have no shame about it, casually sitting down in place.

It seemed that after starving, she had used all her energy on magic.

Seeing her like this, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“I can’t exactly kick out someone who’s starving after being turned away from the restaurant.”

Of course, this isn’t a free food service, and I can’t feed everyone who’s hungry, but she’s a guest of the elder, after all.

Since the elder handed over everything in the shop to me, I felt it was only right to take care of one guest.

‘And it’s the perfect time to test if the chicken will work.’

I made up my mind and asked the magician, who was still sitting there.

“Don’t sit there, come sit here. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

“Are you giving me food…? For free…?”

“Not exactly for free, but it’s a new menu item, and I need to test if it will be well-received. Would you help me out?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

The magician nodded vigorously at my words.

I smiled at her reaction and went into the kitchen.

“Alright, it’s time to test this.”

I took out a container from the fridge filled with a pale liquid.

This was the chicken I had prepared earlier for lunch before running errands elsewhere.

And this pale liquid was buttermilk.

Buttermilk is the whey left after making butter, and it tastes somewhat like milk mixed with vinegar.

While it tastes like that, it’s not eaten raw, and it’s used as an ingredient in Western cooking.

The chicken I’m making, “Buttermilk Chicken,” starts by soaking the chicken in buttermilk with salt and pepper.

‘Normally, it should marinate for a day, but…’

There’s no time, so it can’t be helped.

Still, it’s been marinated for half a day, so it should be fine.

“The chicken is ready, so let’s start with the chicken powder.”

I turned on the stove under the oil pan and prepared the chicken powder for the coating.

The ingredients were flour, paprika powder, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.

When mixed in the right proportions, a slightly pink powder is made.

“Mmm, this scent.”

The smell of spices mixed just right is always pleasant to me.

While I waited for the oil to reach the right temperature, I took the chicken out of the buttermilk, shook it off, and coated it evenly with the chicken powder. Then I dipped it back into the buttermilk.

After that, I coated it again with the chicken powder.

This double coating is what makes the crispy batter.

I dropped the fully coated chicken into the hot oil.

Sssss-!

The bubbling oil and the fragrant smell of frying.

This is it. I’ve been waiting for this moment.

I lost myself in the process of making the chicken, repeating the steps of frying it.

When the fried chicken started to turn golden, I took it out.

“Originally, the recipe called for frying only once.”

But frying twice makes it extra crispy.

That’s common knowledge, right?

For the ultimate crunch, I went for double frying, and the chicken came out perfectly brown.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh at the sight.

“Wow….”

How mesmerizing it looked!

Just looking at it made my mouth water, and the smell made my stomach growl.

I carefully placed the chicken on a plate with trembling hands and took out pickles from the fridge.

These were the cucumber and celery pickles I had made when I was marinating the chicken.

This is even simpler than the chicken.

Mix water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio, then add pepper, mustard seeds, cloves, and white wine vinegar, bring it to a boil, and pour it over the sliced pickling ingredients. That’s it.

This will be ready in half a day, so the flavors should have seeped in by now.

“… Should I taste this?”

Since not all of the pickles will be used, just one…

I fished out a piece of pickle from the jar and put it in my mouth.

Crunch!

It’s delicious.

Sweet, tangy, with a complex aroma.

The sweetness makes up for the massive amount of sugar poured in.

I brought the plate with the chicken and pickles and headed to the hall, placing it in front of the magician sitting at the table closest to the kitchen.

The magician had been staring at the plate with a dazed expression ever since I came out with the chicken, and when I set it down, she snapped out of her trance and asked.

“What kind of dish is this? I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

“It’s called buttermilk chicken… but enough about the explanation, just try it. Then you’ll know.”

“Excuse me, then…”

The magician picked up a fork with trembling hands and poked at the chicken.

She blew on the steaming chicken to cool it down, struggling a bit.

Once the chicken had cooled down enough, she opened her mouth wide and took a large bite.

Crisp!

“Huh?!”

And that was the end of the game.

The chicken disappeared into the magician’s stomach at magical speed.