While Zack and Melody were preparing the food, the rest were in charge of setting up camp and watching the surroundings.
Despite being the first time Zack has seen someone cook in this world, he has to admit that with this technique it wouldn't be difficult for her to work as a chef in a good restaurant. Of course, that only refers to her cooking skills, and not to the recipe she is making.
In his world, cooking has a long history and has undergone many changes over time. That process seems not to have occurred in this world.
This world's skill system allows its users to master any art they practice, assuming they have the necessary talent and effort. However, for the first time, Zack has seen a major flaw in this seemingly perfect system. Such accelerated growth makes one of the most essential characteristics of the human race underestimated: Accumulation.
Subsequent generations learn about the mistakes of the previous ones and do not repeat them, creating progress throughout history, and coming to produce better masters and better results with each generation. That does not happen in this world. Due to people's reluctance to share the techniques they have developed throughout their lives, the only thing the next generation can do is try to develop their craft themselves.
From what Zack has seen, people place more importance on leveling up their skills than on improving them.
In the palace library, among the many book sections, there was a shelf reserved for cooking recipes, in case the royal cooks needed to review a recipe or learn new ones. In Zack's opinion, most of the recipes were incredibly simple, or just plain awful.
It is as if a master builder ignored materials such as cement and gravel, and began to make houses with mud. The house will be the best possible, using 100% of the material used, but it will still be a mud house. It will never be anything more than a mud house. The same is happening right now.
Melody´s cooking technique is exceptional, fast, and efficient. However, the recipe she is making is another story. It can hardly even be called a recipe. After cutting the ingredients, she just threw them into a boiling pot of water. That's all. Even a child could do it.
If a chef saw what Melody was doing, he would take the ingredients from her and throw them at her head, forbidding her to cook again.
Still, Zack didn't say anything. It wasn't his place to talk about it. Besides, he was very busy concentrating on trying to learn the useful things in her cooking.
…
By the time they had finished cooking, the camp was already set up, and the others were waiting to eat.
“It seems that we have taken too long. Please, I told you to finish it myself, you go with the others and relax” Melody said with a smile as she finished placing the food on plates. After giving the kitchen utensils to Melody, Zack stopped what he was doing, and he…
...left towards the carriage.
“H-Hey. Wait-"
BAM
Seeing the direction in which Zack was going, completely opposite to where the rest were all gathered, Melody tried to stop him, only for someone to get in her way. In front of her, one of the guards had gotten up from his seat in silence and was blocking her way.
"Sir is tired. Please, I ask you not to follow him" he replied with an indifferent voice. The woman seemed to want to say something, but seeing the huge figure in front of her, she seemed to reconsider it.
When Zack closed the carriage door he sat on the seat and rested his head back. He knew who right now he had to save energy since they would soon be attacked by bandits. He does not doubt it.
Not only was the behavior of his new travel companions extremely suspicious, but multiple times the things they said didn't make sense.
Furthermore, he had never seen an ordinary girl with bigger muscles than him. She had evidently not only lied about her profession but also about her daily life.
(Everything will be fine) Zack thought mentally while he calmed himself down. It would be a lie to say that he was not nervous.
More than six months.
He has been planning this for over 6 months, day after day for this opportunity. Although he doesn't want to think about what would happen if he were to fail, he knows full well that it won't be good.
Zack put his body to rest while he mentally reviewed what he should do next. If everything went well before tonight arrived he would finally be free.
Everything has to go well.
knock knock
Unfortunately, it seems that he could not even rest in peace.
Zack subconsciously frowned upon hearing the sound of the door, but he quickly adjusted his expression and said in a calm voice:
"Enter" After hearing Zac's words, the door opened from the outside and a person approached from outside.
"Sir. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Before when you went to the carriage, you didn't bring anything to eat. So I brought you a plate so you could regain her strength” Melody said with a smile.
"Oh. It's true. I had totally forgotten. Thanks for bringing me something to eat. Now that I think about it, I'm a little hungry” Zack said with some embarrassment on his face.
(I'd be stupid if I didn't know you've poisoned the food) Zack thought as he received a bowl.
"Then I won't bother you anymore. Don't forget to eat it all. It's important to accumulate strength for the afternoon” (You're going to need it) she thought sinisterly.
After that, Melody closed the door, and left, leaving the carriage to resume its previous serenity.
…
Shortly after lunch, the guards broke down the camp. They continued on their planned route. It was still very early, and there was still a long way to go. It was not the time to rest. They continued without incident for a while, but Zack knew it wouldn't continue like this for long.
Half an hour after they got back on the road something happened that forced them to slow down.
"Ugh" One of the guards began to put a hand to his head, and his horse began to move disorderly down the road. Just when the other was going to ask his colleague what was wrong, he began to feel severe dizziness and had to hold the horse to avoid accidents.
"Are you alright?" The two companions who joined halfway started to approach the guards with worried looks on their faces.
“D-Don't you come near me!” one of the guards yelled as he drew his sword, which would have been more intimidating if he didn't seem to have a hard time staying on his feet.
BAM
Suddenly, the other member of Zack's escort fell to the ground from the top of his horse and didn't seem to show any signs of getting back up.
It was at that moment when Melody and the other man stopped pretending and began to laugh very loudly.
Hahahahaha
Their laughter was joined by unknown voices coming from the surroundings, and little by little, armed men began to appear one by one from all sides.
“Hahaha. Good job guys” One of the bandits approached the group and congratulated Melody and her partner, after which he ignored them and focused on her prey.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? A young nobleman with his escort wanting to live adventures. Don't worry, we will make you have fun, right guys?" The laughter in the background and mocking sounds seemed to please the boss.
“You two, go get him. The rest make sure there are no monsters. And someone, kill those two” The leader started issuing orders while he organized his group.
Upon hearing her words, Melody hurried to the carriage along with another of the bandits with their weapons drawn, it is clear that her intention is they were not innocent.
BAM
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh”
The moment they opened the carriage door, a fireball shot out at high speed, and the bandit accompanying Melody began to burn like a torch. The impact caused her to fall to the ground as she watched his partner scream in pain. Right at the moment when the spell hit the bandit, something else was happening very close.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”
The people who had approached to take the life of the soldiers in charge of protecting Zack, put their hands around their necks, only to end up on the ground with lethal wounds. The guards, who until now seemed incapacitated, got up without any problem while looking at the bandits with indifferent eyes.
Seeing this, Melody got a chill down her spine. There wasn't much time to think about what that meant. At that moment, the soldiers approached the bandits with the same intentions with which they had attacked the carriage.
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ------------------------------- ---------------------------
If you want more chapters visit my patreon:
patreon.com/DaoistwgQxZL
If you want to know about updates and chat about the novel, here is my discord server: https://discord.gg/2JCXV4Uy
While Zack and Melody were preparing the food, the rest were in charge of setting up camp and watching the surroundings.
Despite being the first time Zack has seen someone cook in this world, he has to admit that with this technique it wouldn't be difficult for her to work as a chef in a good restaurant. Of course, that only refers to her cooking skills, and not to the recipe she is making.
In his world, cooking has a long history and has undergone many changes over time. That process seems not to have occurred in this world.
This world's skill system allows its users to master any art they practice, assuming they have the necessary talent and effort. However, for the first time, Zack has seen a major flaw in this seemingly perfect system. Such accelerated growth makes one of the most essential characteristics of the human race underestimated: Accumulation.
Subsequent generations learn about the mistakes of the previous ones and do not repeat them, creating progress throughout history, and coming to produce better masters and better results with each generation. That does not happen in this world. Due to people's reluctance to share the techniques they have developed throughout their lives, the only thing the next generation can do is try to develop their craft themselves.
From what Zack has seen, people place more importance on leveling up their skills than on improving them.
In the palace library, among the many book sections, there was a shelf reserved for cooking recipes, in case the royal cooks needed to review a recipe or learn new ones. In Zack's opinion, most of the recipes were incredibly simple, or just plain awful.
It is as if a master builder ignored materials such as cement and gravel, and began to make houses with mud. The house will be the best possible, using 100% of the material used, but it will still be a mud house. It will never be anything more than a mud house. The same is happening right now.
Melody´s cooking technique is exceptional, fast, and efficient. However, the recipe she is making is another story. It can hardly even be called a recipe. After cutting the ingredients, she just threw them into a boiling pot of water. That's all. Even a child could do it.
If a chef saw what Melody was doing, he would take the ingredients from her and throw them at her head, forbidding her to cook again.
Still, Zack didn't say anything. It wasn't his place to talk about it. Besides, he was very busy concentrating on trying to learn the useful things in her cooking.
…
By the time they had finished cooking, the camp was already set up, and the others were waiting to eat.
“It seems that we have taken too long. Please, I told you to finish it myself, you go with the others and relax” Melody said with a smile as she finished placing the food on plates. After giving the kitchen utensils to Melody, Zack stopped what he was doing, and he…
...left towards the carriage.
“H-Hey. Wait-"
BAM
Seeing the direction in which Zack was going, completely opposite to where the rest were all gathered, Melody tried to stop him, only for someone to get in her way. In front of her, one of the guards had gotten up from his seat in silence and was blocking her way.
"Sir is tired. Please, I ask you not to follow him" he replied with an indifferent voice. The woman seemed to want to say something, but seeing the huge figure in front of her, she seemed to reconsider it.
When Zack closed the carriage door he sat on the seat and rested his head back. He knew who right now he had to save energy since they would soon be attacked by bandits. He does not doubt it.
Not only was the behavior of his new travel companions extremely suspicious, but multiple times the things they said didn't make sense.
Furthermore, he had never seen an ordinary girl with bigger muscles than him. She had evidently not only lied about her profession but also about her daily life.
(Everything will be fine) Zack thought mentally while he calmed himself down. It would be a lie to say that he was not nervous.
More than six months.
He has been planning this for over 6 months, day after day for this opportunity. Although he doesn't want to think about what would happen if he were to fail, he knows full well that it won't be good.
Zack put his body to rest while he mentally reviewed what he should do next. If everything went well before tonight arrived he would finally be free.
Everything has to go well.
knock knock
Unfortunately, it seems that he could not even rest in peace.
Zack subconsciously frowned upon hearing the sound of the door, but he quickly adjusted his expression and said in a calm voice:
"Enter" After hearing Zac's words, the door opened from the outside and a person approached from outside.
"Sir. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Before when you went to the carriage, you didn't bring anything to eat. So I brought you a plate so you could regain her strength” Melody said with a smile.
"Oh. It's true. I had totally forgotten. Thanks for bringing me something to eat. Now that I think about it, I'm a little hungry” Zack said with some embarrassment on his face.
(I'd be stupid if I didn't know you've poisoned the food) Zack thought as he received a bowl.
"Then I won't bother you anymore. Don't forget to eat it all. It's important to accumulate strength for the afternoon” (You're going to need it) she thought sinisterly.
After that, Melody closed the door, and left, leaving the carriage to resume its previous serenity.
…
Shortly after lunch, the guards broke down the camp. They continued on their planned route. It was still very early, and there was still a long way to go. It was not the time to rest. They continued without incident for a while, but Zack knew it wouldn't continue like this for long.
Half an hour after they got back on the road something happened that forced them to slow down.
"Ugh" One of the guards began to put a hand to his head, and his horse began to move disorderly down the road. Just when the other was going to ask his colleague what was wrong, he began to feel severe dizziness and had to hold the horse to avoid accidents.
"Are you alright?" The two companions who joined halfway started to approach the guards with worried looks on their faces.
“D-Don't you come near me!” one of the guards yelled as he drew his sword, which would have been more intimidating if he didn't seem to have a hard time staying on his feet.
BAM
Suddenly, the other member of Zack's escort fell to the ground from the top of his horse and didn't seem to show any signs of getting back up.
It was at that moment when Melody and the other man stopped pretending and began to laugh very loudly.
Hahahahaha
Their laughter was joined by unknown voices coming from the surroundings, and little by little, armed men began to appear one by one from all sides.
“Hahaha. Good job guys” One of the bandits approached the group and congratulated Melody and her partner, after which he ignored them and focused on her prey.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? A young nobleman with his escort wanting to live adventures. Don't worry, we will make you have fun, right guys?" The laughter in the background and mocking sounds seemed to please the boss.
“You two, go get him. The rest make sure there are no monsters. And someone, kill those two” The leader started issuing orders while he organized his group.
Upon hearing her words, Melody hurried to the carriage along with another of the bandits with their weapons drawn, it is clear that her intention is they were not innocent.
BAM
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh”
The moment they opened the carriage door, a fireball shot out at high speed, and the bandit accompanying Melody began to burn like a torch. The impact caused her to fall to the ground as she watched his partner scream in pain. Right at the moment when the spell hit the bandit, something else was happening very close.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”
The people who had approached to take the life of the soldiers in charge of protecting Zack, put their hands around their necks, only to end up on the ground with lethal wounds. The guards, who until now seemed incapacitated, got up without any problem while looking at the bandits with indifferent eyes.
Seeing this, Melody got a chill down her spine. There wasn't much time to think about what that meant. At that moment, the soldiers approached the bandits with the same intentions with which they had attacked the carriage.
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ------------------------------- ---------------------------
If you want more chapters visit my patreon:
patreon.com/DaoistwgQxZL
If you want to know about updates and chat about the novel, here is my discord server: https://discord.gg/2JCXV4Uy