Ding-ding-.
A single horse was pulling a small cart, moving forward. Each step was accompanied by the sound of the bell around its neck, jingling leisurely.
"Let's speed up a little. Everyone's going to be starving."
Whether Dominic was encouraging the horse or talking to himself for having crossed the uphill road, he rambled on even without an audience.
"Anyway, they all know how tasty it is, how did they all live when I was not around?"
His chirping words were dripping with pride in his culinary skills and love for the people of the village.
Dominic was a stranger.
To be exact, he was a war refugee. A village that would welco a stranger with neither ho nor temple was sothing that only existed in fairy tales. Naturally, Dominic's life was far from smooth.
[Get lost! We fed you and gave you a place to sleep, and now you talk about money? You ungrateful wretch!]
He worked tirelessly for twelve hours a day, but all he received in return was coldness, disdain, and being trampled upon. There was no place that paid him the money they initially promised.
'Should I just give it all up?'
Just as his enthusiasm for life began to wane, Dominic found himself in a small fishing village, too small to be nad on a map.
[Do you know how to cook?]
[...Yes, well. I'm not exactly a professional chef, but I can do quite a bit.]
[That's good. From tomorrow, help us with our lunch at the fishing village.]
The people of the fishing village, Evergreen, were not affluent but were the first good people Dominic had encountered in 'this life.' As the village was primarily ford by retired rcenaries, the villagers weren't particularly refined, but at least they weren't hypocritical.
"Why are you so late? We almost died waiting for lunch!"
"What if the food cools down because I ca too quickly? Then you'll get irritated again."
"True that."
"What's on the nu today, Dominic?"
In response to the fishern's hurry, Dominic lifted the cloth that had been covering the cart as if inviting them to check for themselves.
The cart contained two deep iron pots and four baskets.
As if familiar with the process, the fishern took out one basket, shared the wooden utensils inside, and stood in a straight line next to the cart.
"It slls good."
"Of course, who do you think made it?"
"Haha. I can't complain since the food tastes so good."
The middle-aged fisherman who laughed heartily was a muscular man, strapping enough to carry barrels as big as a child's head on each arm. Though he was now introduced as the village chief of Evergreen, he had been a reputable rcenary captain until a decade ago.
The sight of this bear-like man holding a wooden plate was quite comical, yet no one standing in line had the leisure to make jokes about it.
They were fishern who had been fishing since dawn.
Sounds of rumbling stomachs could be heard from various corners.
"Co on, Dominic, start serving the food!"
"I'm starving!"
"The wait is... over now, co one by one."
"Wow-."
After securely fixing the cart on the ground, Dominic, who had climbed on top, opened the iron pots. The scent of the food began to waft out.
"Two pieces of bread each, okay? I've brought enough to match the headcount, so don't be greedy!"
The fishern started serving themselves familiarly.
They picked up two round pieces of bread and placed them on their plates, and added stir-fried vegetables and plump sausages on the side. The finishing touch was the soup. In small wooden bowls placed on the plates, steaming soup was generously filled.
"Dominic's cream soup is always exceptional, no matter when you eat it."
Carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, and onions are sauted before adding roux made of flour and milk, and simred until thick. When the ingredients are cooked through, it's seasoned with salt and flavored with herbs.
'Pepper is too expensive to use, but herbs are sufficient.'
The soup, enhanced with a few dried herbs, hit the villagers' taste buds just right.
The frozen bodies of the fishern, stiffened by the moist sea breeze, started to thaw with a spoonful of the creamy soup.
"Ah!"
Cheers erupted from various spots.
So fishern chuckled at the plump sausages.
"Is this what you made yesterday?"
"Yes. I intentionally added a lot of fat, so it should be delicious."
"Well... yuck!"
A fisherman who dramatically tasted the sausage yelled in surprise.
That's because the mont he took a bite, the juicy fat burst inside his mouth.
Dominic chuckled as he watched.
'Indeed, there are things that need to be fatty.'
'Things that are fatty are fatty for a reason,' was Dominics philosophy.
Now he could be called a master of sausage-making without exaggeration.
Initially, he made a lot of mistakes.
He made sausages so dry that they almost choked you because he didn't add fat, and failed to remove the unpleasant odor, making each bite sll fishy.
He also pondered what he was eating because he added too many herbs, and even buried sausages in the ground with tears because he didnt store them properly.
'But now, I can even sell this recipe,' he felt confident.
Pork is finely minced and well mixed until the fat content reaches 30%. A bit of chopped vegetables are added for texture and herbs to remove any foul sll. Then the mix is tightly packed into cleaned pork intestines, parboiled in salted water and dried before smoking. Voila!
"Eh? Village chief, you're not eating vegetables again? You shouldn't do that."
"Ugh. If I look closely, you nag more than my wife. Lions naturally don't eat grass."
"What do you an lions? Considering your age, you're picky! How will you scold your grandchild if they are picky eaters?"
"Mmm."
After lecturing the village chief, who's a sucker for his grandchildren, Dominic checked the plates as he moved among the fishern.
'Old habits die hard, huh.'
Dominic swallowed a smile.
Yes, Dominic was soone who rembered his previous life.
He didnt rember his past life from the beginning.
The mories suddenly ca to him one day, without any warning.
'Ah, I should have bought milk!' Just like that thought hit him, he woke up with thirty-five years of mories.
Han Jeong-min.
A 30-sothing average office worker in South Korea who had worked as a nutritionist in schools and various companies.
Nothing changed just because he rembered his past life.
As a war refugee with neither house nor temple, a al that could fill his stomach was more needed than nutritional knowledge.
"Ah, Dominic."
Caught in a mont of reverie, he heard the village chief's voice.
"What have you been up to lately?"
"...? It's the sa every day. Preparing als for the fishing community and delivering them."
"Then you must be free on weekends? You don't even go to the temple."
"That's true."
Dominic cocked his head at the question with unclear intentions.
Conversations with the village chief were always like this.
When he first drifted into this village and asked to be accepted as a resident, the chief bluntly asked, 'Can you cook?'
"Why do you ask?"
"Its nothing, just that you'll be the village chief starting next week."
Thud.
The wooden bowl slipped out of Dominic's hands and rolled away.
The fishern who saw that sight started to hold their stomachs and laugh.
"Ah, Captain, no, Village Chief! How can you say it like that?"
"He's shocked, totally shocked. You think Dominic thinks he's being teased right now? We should explain properly, what is this? Hehehe."
"What are you all talking about? Suddenly I should beco the village chief? Are you talking to ?"
Dominic's eyes bulged out in disbelief.
Village Chief, of all things.
Even if it was a small village, the Village Chief was a position that held the authority to have direct contact with the local lord, essentially equivalent to a king of the region. It ant that if you wanted to, you could hold all the vested interests that arose in the village in the palm of your hand.
Naturally, there were responsibilities as well.
One would have to lead the village in place of the lord and, should anything happen, must promptly report it to the lord. Of course, there were many chiefs who also exploited this duty as a ans to maintain their own power.
Anyway, it was not a position that Dominic, who had only settled in the village for a re year and was around twenty years old, could take on.
"It's no big deal. Just attend the village chief eting held at the Lord's castle once a month."
"......"
"Just don't fall asleep there, okay? Small villages like ours, Evergreen, don't even get a say. Honestly, I can't even understand what the nobles are talking about."
"So you want to do it because going to the eting once a month is botherso for you?"
"Well... No, not exactly like that, but... Hehehe."
The muscular village chief let out an awkward laugh.
Then, the forr deputy commander of a rcenary group, who was now a fisherman, started to shake his head and speak up.
"Look, just be honest. It's botherso, yes, but last ti they said so of the chiefs are illiterate so it's making the eting difficult, and told us to learn to read within three months. Dominic, you know this. Our village chief is not the kind to study when told to."
"Hey! Why would you say that!"
"Eventually, everyone will find out anyway. Better to spill the beans now than feel embarrassed later, right?"
"Is that so?"
"Think about it. If Dominic later finds out we dumped this botherso task on him and rebels or runs away, then what? Are we going to find soone who can read from sowhere?"
"Excuse , I've been listening this whole ti..."
"Ahem, ahem. Anyway, now that it's co to this, Dominic, please."
"So you really want to beco the village chief just for that?"
"Just for that? I've never studied in my life!"
He was a nobleman with the knack for boasting about things that didn't seem worth boasting about.
When Dominic looked around, it seed like the decision had already been made.
"So, all I really have to do is go and be a seat filler?"
"That's right, that's right!"
"There's really nothing like having to propose items for discussion or anything like that, right?"
"Who do you think we are? No one even asks about that sort of thing in our village. Think about it, Dominic. If even small village chiefs like ours get speaking rights in etings, when would the etings ever end?"
"Fair point."
"Don't worry about the travel expenses for going to the Lord's castle for etings; it will be covered from the village's budget."
At this point, it seed like there was no reason not to do it.
A bit botherso, yes, but if it's only once a month, then what's the big deal.
With that thought, Dominic nodded his head.
"Alright. If it's only once a month, it doesn't seem too hard."
"Hehe, good decision."
"So I can start from next month's eting?"
"No?"
"...What?"
"The eting for this month is the day after tomorrow. Hehe."
Ah, darn it.
He felt like giving up the position of village chief as soon as he accepted it.
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