When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 160



Only Noblemtl

160. Pork Belly Party
2024.04.08.

After confirming the identity of the person who came out of the forest shadows, I called her name in amazement.

“Luciana!”

The person who approached us, rustling through the bushes without answering, was Luciana.

Luciana appeared carrying the corpse of a freshly hunted wild boar monster on her back.

Bewildered, I asked Luciana.

“… … I thought you were a monster, so I was surprised. Why didn’t you answer when I called you?”

“I wanted to see your surprised face, so I tried to prank you.”

“… … .”

Luciana said that with a face devoid of any playfulness. She

then placed the corpse of the monster she had hunted in front of us.

Just like the lobster we had hunted before, the corpses of monsters from the missionary world didn’t seem to turn to ashes even after time passed.

This wild boar was probably a monster from the missionary world, and even though it was dead, its form still remained the same.

I lightly touched it and asked Luciana.

“Are you injured?”

“No. Cheonggwang and Rubin helped me out, and the monsters weren’t that strong.”

“… … Thank goodness.”

As Elodie said, it seemed like I had underestimated Luciana’s skills. Who

would have thought she would catch a monster so easily?

As I was sighing in relief, Elodie tapped my shoulder and said,

“I won the bet? You’ll grant me my wish, right?”

I nodded feebly.

I couldn’t back out of the promise I made a few minutes ago that I would grant Luciana’s wish if she successfully completed the hunt.

So I nodded feebly and asked carefully,

“What’s your wish?”

Elodie smiled meaningfully upon hearing my question.

It was a smile that made me think she would say some strange wish, so my palms sweated.

Elodie, who had been deliberately trying to make me nervous, finally slowly told me my wish.

“Drink the elixir.”

“Huh?”

“You’re sick, so drink the elixir. That’s my wish.”

“… … .” I

never thought it would be such a wish.

I shook my head with a slightly uncomfortable expression.

“It’s such a waste to drink an elixir just for a bug bite.”

“Your health is at stake. Don’t be stingy.”

“… … .”

“Anyway, that’s my wish, so drink it. You promised me.”

I couldn’t argue any further.

Right, since I had decided to grant her wish, I couldn’t say no anymore.

I finally took out an elixir from my inventory.

Then I opened the lid, but—

“… … Why are you guys staring at me so intently? It’s burdensome to drink.”

The group was literally staring at me.

Dionik said to him,

“I’m afraid you’ll pretend to eat it but not actually drink it.”

“… … Am I a kid?”

I wasn’t a six-year-old who would spit out cold medicine because I didn’t want to take it, but I was worrying about useless things.

I emptied the entire bottle of elixir in front of them.

The effect was immediate.

The bug marks disappeared, and the red, swollen skin quickly subsided.

I looked at the empty elixir bottle with regret.

“Ah… … . What a waste. I wanted to save it until I went to the missionary world.”

“Are you fully recovered?”

I nodded at Elodie’s question.

“I’m perfectly fine. I’m so fine that I’m a little hungry now.”

Then, I turned my gaze to the monster corpse that Luciana had caught.

“Should we fill our stomachs with this? The lobster monster was pretty tasty before. This would probably be fine to eat.”

The faces of the group brightened as they recalled the giant lobster meat that the mermaids had cooked and served.

I smiled at them and said,

“I’ll cook it deliciously, so you guys get ready to sleep. Let’s camp here today.”

* * *

After that, we prepared for camping.

First, Cheonggwang made water for cooking, and Rubin and Dionik left to find materials to make a makeshift tent.

Elodie gathered firewood and lit a fire, and Luciana patrolled the area to check for any danger.

And I… … . I was cleaning the Nerebloka shield, thinking,

‘I’m going to make a dish that I’ll never forget.’ Cheonggwang, who was nearby, asked as he watched me clean the shield.

“Your Majesty, you are preparing food, right? But why the shield…?” “

I am going to use it for cooking.”

“You mean the shield for cooking?”

“Yes, because I don’t have a frying pan right now.”

Why, when cooking outside, don’t you use things like pot lids as a substitute for a frying pan?

Since I don’t have a pot lid right now, I was thinking of using the shield as a frying pan.

So, I cleaned it thoroughly for hygiene.

Despite all the cleaning, the shield of Nerebloka was perfectly intact, as expected of an ancient relic.

The shield, shining cleanly, was soon placed on the fire.

‘The grill is ready now, so I will cut the meat.’

Then, I started to prepare the meat of the wild boar monster I had caught earlier.

I removed the hair by burning it with fire and sliced ​​the meat thinly.

Luciana, who had returned from patrolling nearby, saw me and asked,

“You are cutting the meat very thinly.”

In this world, it was common to cut meat thickly and make steaks or grill it whole.

In comparison, I cut the meat thinly, about 8mm thick, so Luciana seemed puzzled.

I simply answered her,

“Yeah, that’s the kind of dish it is.”

After that, I walked around the area with Rubin and collected edible leaves.

Since Rubin had the ability to detect poison in food ingredients, I was able to obtain quite a few leaves that were suitable for eating.

When everything was ready, I placed the cut meat on the moderately heated shield.

Sizzle—

the sound of the meat cooking stimulated my hearing.

The sizzling oil, the mouth-watering smell.

Before I knew it, all of my companions had gathered around me and were watching what I was doing.

Rubin, who was wagging his tail next to me, asked me as the representative.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you slice it so thinly and grill it. What kind of dish is this?”

“This is a dish called ‘samgyeopsal.’”

“Samgyeopsal… …? What is that?”

There was no such dish as samgyeopsal in this world.

In other words, none of them had ever eaten samgyeopsal before.

I introduced samgyeopsal casually.

“It’s a dish from a faraway country. It’s thinly sliced ​​pork that you cook on the spot in a pan.”

After explaining, I picked up a piece of cooked meat with a fork.

Then I put the meat on the leaves I had collected earlier.

I also wrapped a foraged plant that tasted similar to chili peppers in it, and tried it first.

“It’s okay… …?”

It was disappointing that the white rice didn’t have a chewy texture, but it was still delicious.

The plant I had collected with Rubin tasted quite similar to lettuce.

The savory meat juice that flowed out as I chewed it could have felt greasy, but the freshness of the lettuce balanced out the greasy feeling.

I sprinkled a little salt on the meat to season it, and then said to the group,

“Try wrapping the meat in these vegetables like I just did.”

The group seemed a little hesitant, perhaps because it was the first time they had seen this dish.

Dionik asked me while wrapping meat in lettuce.

“If you wrap meat in lettuce like this, won’t it taste like only the lettuce instead of the meat?”

“Not at all, so let’s just try it.”

“Hmm… … .”

Dionik finally tasted a piece of pork belly with a half-hearted expression.

He chewed the meat and lettuce in silence.

After tasting it like that―

“Oh… … ?”

… he picked up another piece of meat.

Then he started eating the meat wrapped in lettuce with more familiar hands than before.

Elodie and Luciana also tried wrapping meat like Dionik.

Luciana and Elodie, who tasted the pork belly like that, said in turn,

“It’s delicious. It’s not greasy and has a clean aftertaste. I think I could eat a lot of this without getting tired of it.”

“It’s much more delicious than just eating the meat. Plus, it’s fun to wrap it in a circle and eat it.”

Cheonggwang also tried the pork belly and was impressed.

“There’s really nothing you can’t do, my lord. You can even cook such amazing dishes… … . Can I eat two pieces of meat each?”

“Two pieces are fine. Three pieces are a bit much.”

“Thank you. I’ll eat two pieces each.”

Cheong-gwang put two pieces of meat in the wrap and began to slurp deliciously.

At that moment, Rubin called out to me from the side.

“Nike! I can’t wrap meat that elaborately with my front paws!”

“Yeah, I knew it. I’ll wrap it for you.”

I immediately wrapped a wrap and stuffed it into Rubin’s mouth.

Seeing Rubin puffing out his cheeks and savoring the samgyeopsal, I felt full too.

We continued our small samgyeopsal party while listening to the sizzling sound of the meat being cooked.

* * *

I took a deep breath while enjoying the samgyeopsal party and woke up to find that it was daylight.

We looked at the map again and headed toward the exit.

Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any monsters.

There were a few dangerous situations, such as almost falling into a swamp and crossing a cliff while leaning on a log—

“We’ve arrived, Skull Rock.”

In any case, we arrived safely.

At the Skull Rock, where the exit was.

There was a dark space inside the mouth(?) of the skull-shaped rock, and I thought we could probably escape this labyrinth if we went in there.

So the moment I was about to walk, Dionik called out to me.

“Hyung, did you forget something?”

“… … ?”

As I looked at him curiously, as if asking what he meant, he took the map from me. He

then pointed to the ‘treasure’ written next to the exit.

“There’s a treasure buried here. Shouldn’t we check this out before leaving the labyrinth?”

“Hmm… … .”

I thought for a moment and answered him.

“It just feels weird.”

“Does it feel weird?”

“This is a labyrinth created by that guy Julian. A labyrinth created by distorting the space of Chelos Island. But there’s a treasure buried there… Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?”

Dionik shook his head.

“No, there should be treasure there.”

“… … ?” ”

Think about it. Chelos Island was originally an island rarely visited. It was so far from the Empire that no one knew there was a passage leading to the missionary system.”

I listened to Dionik and answered for a moment.

“Right… … ? But what is that?”

“An island rarely visited… … . In other words, it was the perfect place for pirates to hide their treasure.”

“Pirates…?”

Dionik nodded enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling.

“Yes, pirates. Could it be that pirates hid their treasure on Chelos Island?”

“… … .”

“In that state, Julian distorted space to create a labyrinth… and the pirates’ treasure ended up buried in the labyrinth. Right here, next to this skull rock.”

After hearing Dionik’s words, I thought for a moment.

‘It makes sense.’

This labyrinth was basically a labyrinth made of Chelos Island.

It was a labyrinth made by cutting and pasting the space of the island here and there.

So it wouldn’t be strange if the treasure buried on Chelos Island were found in the labyrinth.

‘Treasure buried by pirates… … .’

To be honest, it was an intriguing story.

After thinking about it for a while, I said to my companions.

“Then, should we go on a treasure hunt?”