Lord of Rot

After arranging matters related to the water-powered trip-hammer, Leech rode his horse back to Porcupine Castle.

The sweltering heat made him unwilling to spend even a moment longer under the sun.

He chugged a glass of chilled honey beer. GLUG GLUG. The icy liquid was a welcome shock to his throat, and his body quickly cooled down. Being able to drink cold beer in the sweltering summer—life wasn’t bad at all.

But speaking of hot summers, how could you not have ice cream?

Mr. Barrel had all but retired to the sidelines. Especially in the summer; with his portly figure, he would probably pass out on the spot if he stayed in the kitchen for too long.

Fortunately, he had trained a batch of rather promising apprentices. Some had gone to work at the tavern, but the vast majority remained within Porcupine Castle.

They specialized in different areas; some were primarily responsible for baking pastries like cakes, bread, tarts, and pies.

Others were tasked with making pickled vegetables and cured meats.

Still others were in charge of stir-frying.

Everyone had their own specialty, allowing them to focus and advance further down a single path.

When an apprentice’s skills were still too green, resulting in dishes with poor presentation or subpar flavor, these items would be sent to the slaves’ work-point exchange area. There, these limited-time, limited-quantity goods could be purchased. For a large sum of work points, slaves could get a taste of the delicacies normally reserved for the Lord of the castle and improve their quality of life.

There was plenty of work in Porcupine Territory, so the slaves had accumulated a fair number of work points. Some of the younger ones, chasing after tasty treats, were keen to spend them. After all, besides being exchanged for food, the points couldn’t be used for anything else.

A portion of these goods was also permitted to be taken out of the castle and sold to the commoners.

The constant expansion and work projects had put some spare money into the commoners’ hands, so people began to seek out fine food as well—especially the same dishes eaten by the Lord they so admired.

They were eager to imitate Leech’s lifestyle. To this day, some people still debated what exactly those tea leaves the Lord put in his cup each day were.

It was a bit like the celebrity effect.

Mr. Barrel hadn’t actually left Porcupine Castle, though. Leech had specially arranged the position of Head Chef for him. All he had to do was swing by the kitchens every now and then, taste the food, and supervise whether the dishes were up to standard. The promotion from a cook to a Head Chef with such authority, combined with his naturally uncompromising standards for cuisine, meant Mr. Barrel was always extremely strict in his work.

Leech, however, was more interested in giving the other apprentice chefs a chance to showcase their talents and develop new dishes.

Mr. Barrel’s cooking techniques were too old-fashioned. Though he tried his best to adapt to the territory’s developments, the culinary styles of the Lu Leiyi Continent were ingrained in his very bones. It was difficult for him to achieve any major breakthroughs in flavor.

In a world with such a pitifully barren entertainment industry, life would be even harder for Leech if he couldn’t at least enjoy some new and exciting food.

The young apprentices, by contrast, were different. They were full of creative ideas. The most adventurous among them was Little Limper—though, he was currently still researching limestone. Leech didn’t dare let him cook anymore. He’d gotten lucky last time that it was just limestone; who knew what the boy would try to use next.

The other one with an adventurous spirit was Miss Oak-Vat.

She would study Leech’s palate to determine the perfect ratio of sugar and salt. Leech greatly appreciated her thoughtfulness, and whenever he had a new idea, she was the first person he would think of to try it out.

As someone from Earth, his intake of sugar and salt was actually far higher than that of the Lu Leiyans. There was no profound reason for this; it was simply that people from Earth love delicious food. By contrast, Porcupine Territory was relatively poor, and with the exorbitant prices of sugar and salt, people there used them much more sparingly.

On Earth, the prices of salt and sugar had been driven down to be extremely cheap.

People on Earth had even started pursuing sugar-free diets, while on the Lu Leiyi Continent, not everyone could even afford sugar and salt.

Eating sugar was considered a status symbol. In some places, people were even proud of a mouthful of blackened, rotten teeth, as common folk didn’t even have the privilege of getting cavities from sugar.

After hearing Leech’s idea for how to make ice cream, Miss Oak-Vat first expressed her confusion about some of the steps. Or perhaps she was simply looking for an excuse to chat a little longer with the Lord.

She secretly glanced up at the Lord’s handsome face, her cheeks growing warm.

’It’s probably just the heat,’ she thought.

"Just the yolks. Mix the egg yolks with sugar and whip them. You know, whip them until they’re fluffy—hmm, I have mentioned this before. Then, in a separate pot, slowly heat milk over a low flame. Once the milk has cooled, mix it in with the yolks and stir. It should turn into a thick, sticky state. Add more sugar; ice cream needs to be sweet. Put the whole mixture into the icehouse and bury it in ice. Remember to cover it to keep ice shards out, because ice cream should have a smooth, creamy texture. After a while, it’ll become the ice cream I’m looking for."

"You could also try developing other flavors. Some fruit flavors would probably be nice."

Miss Oak-Vat realized he had stopped talking. Snapping back to reality, she dared to look up into Leech’s eyes, only to find him watching her with a smile.

FWOOSH!

Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red.

’The Lord must have seen me spacing out.’

But Leech asked patiently, "Did you not catch that? I know, it’s a little hard to remember. Let me go over it one more time."

’You must always be unfailingly kind to your cooks, because you never know what they might do to your food in the kitchen.’