Chapter 1

# 1

Chapter 1: The Beginning of Meat

On the outskirts of Gracis.

On a small hill, there is my restaurant, with a view of the city below. It’s a restaurant with a beautiful surrounding view, but in fact, it has more disadvantages. Being quite far from commercial and residential areas, not many customers come up to this hill.

This is both a disadvantage and an advantage.

It’s not a world with cars.

Of course, there are no bicycles, motorcycles, or airplanes.

A world of magic, swords, and monsters, all mixed up with dungeons and hunters. A world of fantasy where empires and kingdoms exist. It’s been 15 years since I was summoned to this continent. I’m now in my early 30s.

I am a magician. A retired magician. I am called a Great Mage, having broken through the barrier of the 9th class, the strongest class. But now, I am the owner of a restaurant.

My life until now was far from peaceful. Always on the battlefield. Battlefield. Battlefield.

As a Great Mage, I had to be summoned to countless battlefields. Wars against monsters, battles with dragons. The price I paid with my life was not great.

I was just hailed as a hero.

Worn out from fighting, I decided to retire. After 15 years of fighting, I thought it was enough. I had been fighting since I was summoned as a high school student.

What would have been a two-year military service in Korea turned into a real 15-year battlefield here.

So, I gave up everything and settled in Gracis, a provincial city of the Ruben Empire. I had accumulated 9th-class mana but still hadn’t found a way back to the modern world.

So, I have to live in this world.

Remaining a magician would be far from a peaceful life. Something would surely go wrong from all sides.

When I was still in the modern world, I had always wanted to be the owner of a small restaurant since I was young. After retiring, that is. After becoming a famous chef and making a name for myself, I wanted to open a small restaurant. My dream, which I pursued by attending cooking school throughout middle and high school, became a reality in this different world after retiring.

The only difference from my original life plan was that I lived as a famous magician instead of a chef before retiring.

But what does it matter?

It’s been a little over a month since I opened the restaurant here. It’s still completely unknown. There are only a few regular customers.

The menu changes according to my mood.

Or, I make what the customer wants. I like the freedom of the restaurant.

It’s all for my own satisfaction. I don’t need money.

The treasure I found in the dragon’s lair, where I ate the dragon’s heart, makes it easy to make a living. So, it’s all for my own satisfaction.

I built a two-story house with the treasure. The first floor is the restaurant, and the second floor is my home. The first-floor restaurant consists of a kitchen and four tables. In the kitchen, there’s a small, table-sized iron plate for grilling meat and various pots. These are dwarf-made cooking tools, custom-made by my request, with a modern feel.

When I wake up in the morning, I start the day by wiping the tables and kitchen tools. After cleaning, I head to the market.

After finishing everything, it’s lunchtime.

The start of business, but today, as usual, only flies are flying around.

“Hey!”

A customer came in, waving his hand above his head. A familiar man, the owner of the butcher shop that supplies my restaurant with meat.

Since the day we first met, he occasionally drops by like this. Of course, we often meet at the market, so it’s not particularly surprising.

“What wind blew you here? You didn’t say anything at the market this morning.”

“It’s because some high-quality meat came in. Look, it’s the same belly meat as that day!”

Mr. Krenol threw the meat into the kitchen. The fresh pink meat clearly looked very fresh.

“Even I, a businessman, sometimes get the urge to eat such high-quality meat.”

“Hmm, really? This morning, you said there was no Uba belly meat, didn’t you?”

His words were different from this morning. Mr. Krenol scratched his cheek.

“It really wasn’t there! At that time! I swear!”

“Really? So the meat that wasn’t there in the morning fell from the sky at lunchtime?”

“Exactly, that’s it!”

“Are you crazy?”

I asked in disbelief, and Mr. Krenol scratched his head and sat down at the bar table, which has a view of the kitchen, and began to speak.

“Alright, alright, I surrender! I brought it in a hurry. I just had a craving.”

“Hmm.”

Anyway, if the customer wants it, there’s no need to refuse. It looked like about a pound. The amount suggested it was brought in a hurry. I was curious about why he was so eager to eat meat, especially since he’s a butcher.

“Ever since I ate the dish you made, I’ve been craving it. Huh. So, hurry up and bring it out. Even if it’s just flies flying around here.”

“I’m sorry for the flies.”

I shrugged and started preparing the meat.

***

I first met Mr. Krenol before I opened the restaurant.

At that time, I was struggling to find a butcher shop to supply me with meat. It was a small city, so it was quite difficult to get various monster meats. The last shop I visited, Mr. Krenol’s, was a ray of light for me.

“Can I get it?”

At the last butcher shop, a muscular man said matter-of-factly.

“Haha, I have connections from my days as a mercenary, so I can get various monster meats.”

“Really?”

It was a welcome piece of news.

“But I don’t sell my meat to just anyone. That’s my rule. I can’t stand it when the meat I worked hard to procure is cooked carelessly. Can you satisfy me?”

“Ah, you damn merchant! Not again? Please get a grip! You’ll starve to death if you keep this up. Starve to death!”

“This is a matter of pride!”

The couple was arguing loudly. The wife, who looked like she had made the man cry a lot when she was young, was still beautiful in her 40s.

“Madam, it’s fine. I’m confident.”

I said confidently.

“I plan to open a restaurant on that hill. I’ll show you my cooking.”

I was confident. During my travels as a magician, my companions always praised my cooking.

“Hmm, is that so? Alright. If you can satisfy me, I’ll get any meat you want, no matter what. But if you don’t, I won’t sell it to you!”

“Yes, then can I have some Uba belly meat? Uba belly.”

“What?”

“What?”

The wife, who was pulling her husband’s hair, and Mr. Krenol both looked at me in surprise.

“Belly? You’re going to cook with the belly?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you want to eat such a fatty part?”

“It’s fine. I’d like you to evaluate it later. To show you my skills, I need you to try it once.”

The couple looked at each other. Mr. Krenol made a bewildered face and went into the shop. He soon came out with two pieces of Uba belly meat.

“Uba, not Belluren or Uka, what kind of dish are you going to make? Just take it. It’s for smoking, but consider it a loss.”

Mr. Krenol said this and went back into the shop. I tried to pay the wife, who was sighing, but she refused.

“It’s fine. He may seem tough, but he’s a craftsman. I married him partly because of that. Haha.”

As she said, she scolded him but respected his will, refusing to take the money.

“By the way, does your husband like alcohol?”

“What do you think?”

“He looks like a heavy drinker.”

“He is.”

The wife nodded with a smile.

I took the Uba meat and went home. Uba meat is pork. Here, pigs are called Uba, cows are called Uka, and Belluren is wolf-type monster meat. It’s the most popular monster meat, with no gamey smell and a chewy texture.

Such unique-tasting monster meat is more popular in this world than pork or beef. There are many professional hunters, but it’s hard to get in such a rural area. Therefore, doing business with this butcher shop is quite important.

As soon as I returned to the shop, I prepared the dish. The couple would be here soon.

Uba belly meat is pork belly. It’s a dish that carries my soul, filled with memories of my hometown.

The Uba meat here is twice as fatty as modern pork. That might be why it’s less popular. But removing all the fat would make it less tasty. The pork belly Mr. Krenol gave me was a vivid pink, indicating its freshness. It was probably from a pig slaughtered today.

I removed the fat chunks from the outside and sliced it as thinly as possible.

Inside the kitchen, there was a storage room made by carving a stone block. I freeze it every morning with an ice magic spell. It’s more like a magic-powered refrigerator than a storage room.

Here, water, fire, and ice are all created using magic. That’s my policy.

I sprinkled pepper and salt on the prepared meat. Of course, salt exists in this world, but pepper does not. There are no modern seasonings or spices here.

This is the result of a summoning magic application.

I completed a grand magic to summon modern items.

Why? Because I was diligently researching dimensional travel magic to return to Earth, and as a result, I discovered a strange summoning magic.

There are still many improvements to be made. I wonder if I can eventually use it to move myself.

The biggest current issue is the size limitation of the summoned items. They can only be as heavy as I can carry.

Moreover, I can only summon once a day. Summoning across dimensions consumes a tremendous amount of mana, and recovery is slow.

Another problem is that unprocessed items tend to spoil quickly when summoned. Processed items also have an expiration date, so this isn’t an expiration issue.

But it’s still convenient. Of course, it’s not free. I leave behind items of greater value as a form of equivalent exchange.

So, pepper. The meat sprinkled with pepper and salt. I then use my secret weapon on the marinated meat.

Thermal Blade. A special magic that can split a monster’s body into over 100 million pieces with a single attack. By adjusting the mana and applying the magic with a fine touch, thousands of cuts appear on the meat, only on the front. The key is to cut off the magic precisely. If the magic penetrates to the back, the meat will end up as thousands of shredded pieces.

“Is this it?”

“It seems so.”

While preparing the dish, the couple appeared side by side.

“Welcome. Please sit here.”

I gestured to the couple, who were looking around the empty restaurant. They walked to the bar table attached to the kitchen and sat down.

“The shop is really beautiful.”

“What’s beautiful about it? Opening a restaurant in such a place, what kind of business are you planning to do?”

“Dear, sorry about that. He’s just a bit rough with his words.”

The wife apologized on his behalf. I just let it slide. People with such personalities do exist.

“Anyway, I’ll bring out the dish soon.”

No one has ever said my pork belly was tasteless, even in this world. That’s why I confidently suggested the Uba belly.

I installed a Fireball under the dwarf-made iron plate in front of the bar table. The plate began to heat up. I grilled the pork belly sprinkled with pepper and salt.

Sizzle!

The sizzling pork belly, making a delicious sound, is a treasure that stimulates the appetite. The thousands of cuts on the front allow the fat to drain, making the outside crispy while keeping the inside tender.

“Hmm, you grill it like that?”

Mr. Krenol and his wife watched me with curious eyes. Seeing me grill on the iron plate, they stopped complaining. This is showtime. To give the pork belly a stronger grilled flavor, I used a Fireball to cover the iron plate once.

Boom!

As soon as I cut off the mana and dispelled the Fireball, the grilled pork belly was complete.

The side dish is a salad. I didn’t want to take a risk with a dish that might be divisive, like a wrap. I also served a basic oil sauce made with sesame oil, salt, and pepper, which is essential for pork belly. A sauce made by aging onions with soy sauce is also delicious, but today, I went with the most basic combination.

“Are you a magician?”

The wife, surprised by the Fireball, asked with wide eyes. I nodded.

“Hmph, Fireball is just a basic magic. The taste is what matters. This is a restaurant, not a battlefield.”

“Got it. Dip it in the oil sauce.”

Mr. Krenol, who was about to eat the meat directly, dipped it in the oil sauce. Despite his words, the smell of the well-grilled meat seemed to stimulate his appetite, and his movements were very quick. The wife, true to her character, cautiously brought the meat to her mouth.

Chew, chew. The two of them chewed the meat. This is the only moment I get nervous.

“Huh?”

Mr. Krenol’s furrowed brows relaxed. He looked very surprised.

“Is this Uba belly?”

“Yes.”

I smiled, and Mr. Krenol began to examine the meat closely.

“Eh, how can it be crispy and tender at the same time, with a satisfying fatty texture but a fresh taste? Even the grilled flavor is due to the magic!”

He muttered to himself and started eating the meat voraciously.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

He just kept eating. The pork belly disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“This is unbelievable!”

“It’s delicious.”

Only after finishing the plate did Mr. Krenol start to rave.

“Damn! Bring more! More! More, more, more! I definitely gave you more meat than this!”

“Shouldn’t you say something first?”

“Tch. Right. You pass! You pass. Whatever meat you want, I’ll get it for you! Except for what I can’t get! Hahaha! Bring more meat!”

Mr. Krenol loudly demanded more pork belly, drooling. His eyes, glaring at me, were like those of a predator. A predator eyeing its prey.

“Sure, sure, coming up.”

I smiled and put all the remaining meat on the iron plate.

Oh.