The time of warring states. The eras of various powerful warlords.
On the battlefields were the exchanges between magic and arrows, the clashing of spears and swords. Amidst life and death, ambitions, hope, and desire melt, forming chaos.
And I, Ganglabe also held such ambitions, together with my four childhood friends we started up a mercenary corps. Our goal was to become a feudal lord, having the country in our hands. So that we can build a place where orphans like us can live without fear and in peace.
But, it’s already been five years since the start of the mercenary corps. Even now it’s still just a small scale corps.
People, horses, weapon, all eat up money. Going by just my resourcefulness there doesn’t seem to be a way to further increase the fifty people we currently have.
Thinking back to it, that was probably a meeting of fate.
That day was the war of Lynbell hills, and we were hired by the lord of the northern lands.
But the soldiers were tired from the long war.
Not knowing when to stop, it was my mistake.
Something had to be done, I needed something to raise the morale of the troops.
“Captain!”
“What’s with the commotion”
Postponing my meal, as I was looking at the map on the tabletop thinking about the method of attack, one of my childhood friends came into the tent.
The one leading the archery unit, Teg. He might just be lucky but, he has never missed a shot, and his unit was made of elites.
“We caught a suspicious guy, came here to tell you”
“Uh…no, doesn’t seem to be a spy…”
“Huh?”
A suspicious guy whose not a spy?
I didn’t really get it so I went out and met the guy.
…Indeed, suspicious.
Tunic and pants. That was all he was wearing.
And he was a peculiar fellow.
He was a thin man who also wasn’t very tall.
I’ve met a lot of people, nurturing my judgement skills and knowledge but, I can’t see through this guy.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
I question cautiously. It would be annoying if I get attacked out of no where.
“HAHAHAHAHA”
For reason he starts laughing.
“What are you laughing at!”
I felt despondent getting angry. What’s with this guy.
“Umm, you can call me Shuri. Where is this place?”
“The one asking questions is me. Stop speaking nonsense.”
It’s useless to try to take advantage of anything. I won’t let you.
This was right in the middle of a battlefield, why did this guy who doesn’t seem to be fighting get lost here.
“You’re called Shuri right? Where do you belong? What village are you from”
“Jyapan… never heard of the place”
Of all the times and places, even from the veterans who have crossed the various battlefields, I’ve never heard of this place.
Even during the five years since I’ve started my mercenary corps, I’ve never heard of this territory.
“Um, I got lost getting here, and I have no idea where this place is”
“Shut up for me”
He keeps breaking my train of thought.
There was no way to grab onto them as they drifted away. Such a bothersome person shouldn’t exist.
“So uh, I’m pretty hungry”
“Be quiet, so are we”
There’s no way that this guy is some big shot right, I thought for a second. To ask for food in this situation, is that normal?
We can cook for ourselves but, we don’t have a cook who can feed others. That’s why we’ve become used to just eating Salt and Potato soup.
Once we arrive at a city, eating to our heart’s content is a common goal.
“Captain, what do?”
“But doing nothing like this won’t do any good”
“However, there’s no way we can just free him. Hurry up and kill him and start preparing for the war.”
My childhood friends also gave me their opinions.
I also don’t know if the information will leak from somewhere. The only option is to get rid of the source of anxiety.
“Uh, excuse me”
“I’m kinda hungry, can I cook something please?”
“If its cooking then I can do the basics. If you’re going to kill me, at least do it after I eat something please.”
Doing a trade in this sort of situation huh.
Indeed, our food situation isn’t something to be happy about. It’ll probably change if we had a cook.
“Interesting”
Grinning, I laugh and say.
“In that case, make something delicious. If you do that, I will let you live”
“It’s before the war. Doing something like this to raise the morale of the troops wouldn’t be bad. If it tastes bad then we can just kill him”
If he can cook up something delicious, then above all else the soldiers energy would get restored.
No matter which it comes to, it’ll be a method to raise the morale.
Releasing the ropes, I lent him the kitchen utensils.
“The ingredients are over there”
The boy named Shuri carefully looked at the ingredients he was handed.
The ingredient he could use was just these. I’m not looking forward to something decent with these ingredients.
“Is there anything else?”
“No. This is already quite extravagant. It’s usually Salt and Potato soup.”
This was a lie. Because we don’t have an expert who can make emergency rations, we only maintain the amount of food that we can eat.
If it was a better place, we could maintain things like deer meat.
“Then… let’s go with Seafood Cream Stew. It would be so much better if there was shrimp. Since there’s none then let’s replace it with the perch.”
Shrimp? Perch? Seafood?
While I was thinking that, that guy started cooking.
We always grill the fish to eat. Usually until it’s burnt. Tastes so bad that no one goes for it.
The head? What’s he going to do?
“Can you eat… that?”
One of the commanders behind me murmured.
In the meantime, the water boils, and gets dyed slightly white.
…What is that.
“…I think I’m good”
He murmurs again. I’m the one who wants to run away.
However, as the milk, butter, wheat flour which was baking in another pot was poured into it, I felt like fainting.
“Ueeee”
Teg also looked like he wanted to vomit. The pot which was sort of white, turned completely white.
…This guy, it might be better to just kill him right here.
“Finish with some spring onions as toppings”
I don’t know if he felt my killing intent or not but, Shuri served it onto a dish, placing the chopped spring onions on top.
“Here you go”
Should I… eat this.
But… this is.
“This… soup is white”
“It’s cream stew”
I don’t understand the meaning of that reply.
“If it’s bad I’ll kill you”
Giving him a warning, I scooped out some soup with a spoon.
It looks like that but, I’ll say honestly.
It smells great.
The delicious smell scattered around, soon it released a charm as if it was telling me to eat it now.
Amazingly delicious.
The matching between the fish, milk, and butter. The refreshing taste of the fish, the thick milk and cheese spread with a mild flavourful taste.
Sweet initially then the saltiness suddenly appears, enhancing the taste.
“Um?”
“…Delicious”
That was seriously all I could say. It was in no way bad. This meal was something you could never eat in the battlefields.
“Oi, bring more here”
“Aye aye, I made a lot so don’t worry and keep eating”
What? A lot?
“A lot? Even though there was only that many ingredient?”
It’s before work right everyone? Eat moderately because eating delicious foods will bring out your full power”
So it was like that.
In the battlefield, no matter how much food you have it wouldn’t be a bother. Naturally, there’s no way to reach out to the supply lines but, if you have delicious food, the soldiers can fight longer. In the cold or the heat, they’ll be able to endure it more to some extent.
That, the knowledge and technique of using only that many of ingredients to create a large amount of food which taste like this.
Maybe the reason he was looking around restlessly and talking like that before was because he was checking out the food situation here, and looking for a chance to promote himself…!
“…I see, it was planned to that extent”
A cook as good as this, there’s no way I’ll let him go. No matter what he makes good food. In order to eat this food, it’ll be good to hire this guy.
“You, do you have any place to go?”
“I don’t. I don’t even have any clue as to how to get home”
Towards the troubled Shuri, I made a suggestion.
“If you have no place to go, then come join our corp.”
“As a cook. Your job will be to create delicious tasting meals. Until you make it back to your hometown, make meals here”
“I’m saying its ok”
“So, in that case, thanks”
Just like that, the mysterious boy Shuri joined our ranks.
From here on, me, the commanding officers, my soldiers, all ate our fill of Shuri’s cooking, working bravely on the battlefield.
The hardships up to that moment, unbelievably sent us into the war front advantageously, reaching to a conclusion within the week.
This is, what the later generations call “The Mercenary corp of heroes” and it’s history embedded soldier’s story.
“This Me until then, thought that as long as we were strong we would flourish. But that was wrong.
Most soldiers aim for embracing beautiful women, or obtaining money. But, soldiers will not sway from just that.
The joy of having lived through that day, being thankful to be able to go into tomorrow. They begin their day with a delicious meal in the morning, ending it with a delicious meal at night. Isn’t that what happiness should be.
Emperor Ganglabe , was attended to by the one cook who was always by his side.
This was, the cook who supported these heroes. Appearing from nowhere, changing the world’s cooking, the man who paved the way to a new era of cooking.
The story of Azuma Shuri.