Cooking Class

Emma, you're an elf! You could hear that clearly, couldn't you?!"

"Fufu, who knows? Right, Kyle? Emma said, looking at them for his response.

Kyle had been unable to hear their conversation midway, so he tilted his head

in confusion.

"Oh, that's right. Kyle, are you aware of the Grand Spirit Festival in two months

time?" Emma suddenly said after laughing for a while.

"Yes, I've heard of it."

"About that... Just recently, your cooking was highly praised amongst the

council members of the village."

"Really?" Kyle's eyes widened. It was the first time he was hearing of this.

"Yes. I previously made lunch for the council of elders with a recipe I learned

from you. It was a huge hit."

"I see. But what does that have to do with the Grand Spirit Festival?"

"There's a banquet held after the Grand Spirit Festival, so I was thinking of

having some of your recipes on the menu. So, Kyle.. I know this is a lot to ask of

you, but would you consider teaching them to the ladies of the village?"

"Sure, I don't mind. It would be my pleasure to help," Kyle agreed pleasantly.

"Thank you very much! Then I'll set up a cooking class sometime in the near

future. I'll inform you of the details at a later date."

Emma's expression brightened in delight, her smile like a blooming flower. After seeing joyful smile Kyle hearbeat skipped for a moment. But he quickly recovered himself and his expressions quickly returned to normal without anyone noticing.

Food from all corners of the continent of was cultivated in the village

of the spirit folk. The spirit folk themselves were once scattered around the

Norvenia region , before being persecuted by humans and forced into migrating to the

village over time. As part of the migration, they brought foods from all different kind of places from Norvenia region here. As time passed after they settled down in this place they also made contact with many of the kingdoms of Dulcan region. They learned about their agricultural crops and started growing them too in spirit folk. It's because of this almost every kind of crop found in Norvenia and Dulcan region can be found in spirit folk village.

The spirit folk had advanced farming technologies, and Beartiz, the spirit of the

giant tree, oversaw the great forest; its fertile soil was heaven for plant life. This

allowed the crops to grow under the best conditions.

The village truly was a food paradise.

Kyle took advantage of that blessing ever since he started living in the village,

using his knowledge from his previous life to painstakingly recreate different

foods of every origin — be it Japanese, Western, or Chinese. Furthermore,

Emma — who was particularly enthusiastic about cooking in comparison to the

other girls — was learning how to make gourmet spirit folk food. She was very

interested in the varieties of food Kyle could make, and they spent their time

together teaching each other their recipes.

And so, here in the house where Kyle and the others lived, dishes from both

Earth and the spirit folk would line the table every day. Occasionally, they'd

invite Frederick , Dragonic and the other head elders over, and they'd all smack their lips at

Kyle's and Emma's cooking. Eventually, rumors began to spread, and Emma ended up

treating the elder council to the recipe that she had learned from Kyle oftenly.

The

feedback was extremely favorable, and as a result, everyone wanted Kyle to hold

a cooking class. Kyle accepted their request, and it was decided that he would

teach his recipes to the ladies of the village.

Most of the participants were younger ladies; though their species had longer

lifespans (they developed at the same rate as humans until their mid-teens,

from which their aging dramatically slowed), their appearances didn't quite

match their real ages. There were over fifty of them present.

At the moment, an appetizing smell was wafting from the food preparation

room in the town hall, which was filled with the cheerful voices of apron-clad

women. Despite readily agreeing to the whole thing, there were far more

participants than he expected, which made Kyle feel uncomfortably awkward as

the only male in the room.

That being said, he wasn't about to back down after already accepting, so he

put on his mask of responsibility and devoted himself to playing the role of the

teacher. After distributing the recipe sheet to each group, he went through each

preparation step while giving tips about handling the ingredients and how

strong the fire should be. Next, each group went about preparing their own

food, following the recipe and Kyle's steps, which they had just observed. Kyle and Emmily — his assistant — split up and walked around each group's table,

watching over their students as they worked. Once the cooking started, groups

started to come up with questions and obstacles, so he would assist with those,

too.

He spotted one such group just now.

"Emmily isn't the sauce too sour. ?" Uzura asked, licking at

the teaspoon of sauce she had scooped up.

"Mm, that's true..."

"The sour taste is a little strong."

Emily and Uzura's expressions clouded over as they tasted the sauce.

"Bleh, the one Kyle made was so much smoother, too." Emma also licked at the

sauce, before shaking her ears and tail. That was when Kyle appeared.

"Let it simmer at a lower flame for a while, and hold off on the water. Once

it's boiled through, add water to adjust the thickness. Make sure to taste it

frequently. If it doesn't get any better, add broth and simmer for longer," he

advised after tasting the sauce with a teaspoon.

"I see... so it hasn't boiled enough yet."

"Tomatoes lose their sourness when they're heated, after all. It settles the

flavor and brings out the sweetness. Also, if you add too much broth, you'll lose

the taste of the tomato sauce, so make sure to only add a little," Kyle added in

explanation, making Uzura nod in understanding.