The Military Chef of a Ruined World - Chapter 84.2

And that will be for the sake of those who have already fallen.

And so.

As part of the struggle for survival,

I started cooking in the mess hall.

After the regular meals for the troops were mostly done,

I began making a ‘special meal.’

“Ouch, that’s hot.”

This special meal involves some slightly unique ingredients.

It took several days just to prepare the ingredients.

This is the first time I’ve used them properly, so I’m a bit nervous.

“Oh, this isn’t bad at all.”

The result turned out surprisingly good.

Carrying the completed dish, I headed towards a building in the corner of the ammunition battalion.

A soldier guarding the entrance saw me and greeted me.

“Welcome, Sergeant Shin.”

“Yeah. Is everything alright inside?”

“Yes, but Sergeant Shin? What happened to your hand?”

“Oh, this?”

The soldier pointed at my left arm, where a bandage was wrapped around my wrist.

“Just a little incident.”

“Well, if it’s something Sergeant Shin is handling, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s nothing special. Anyway, open the door for me.”

“Yes, sir.”

This place is used as a sort of ‘prison camp.’

It’s where the vampire we previously captured was held to prevent their escape.

That vampire had long since been dealt with.

“Hello.”

Now, there was another prisoner in that spot.

“Baroness…. Or your majesty?”

“…Eek!”

“Or should I say Count? What should I call you?”

Until recently, she was the leader of a group of 300 vampires.

She called herself the ‘Queen.’

“I was originally planning to kill her.”

I intended to drain every last drop of her blood.

But after draining a certain amount, her magical energy dropped to the point where she couldn’t maintain her [Shadow Veil].

She regained consciousness as she was thrown out of that state, allowing her to survive just before death.

However.

Unlike before, there was no longer a sense of fear emanating from her.

Her once-glossy blonde hair was now brittle, and her skin was oddly cracked.

‘The night nobility grows stronger as they consume more blood and increase their followers, right?’

I drained all her blood, and her followers were all eliminated by me and the soldiers.

It’s only natural that she would be weakened.

“Wh-What do you want with me?”

“I’m just wondering what to call you.”

“Are you trying to mock me?”

She was quick to catch on.

She looked down and spoke with a sobbing tone.

“You’ve taken so much from me, isn’t that enough?”

“….”

“Please, don’t torment me any further…”

Taken so much from her, she says.

It’s not entirely wrong.

[Stats]

[Strength: 32 → 37]

[Agility: 49 → 53]

[Magic: 39 → 49]

[Luck: 30 → 35]

My stats have increased enormously.

All of this was achieved by draining this monster’s blood.

“I thought stat increases from bloodsucking were temporary.”

The [Inferior Grade Bloodsucking] used by her followers requires killing a life to achieve a permanent increase in stats.

But the Queen’s ability, [Bloodsucking], seems to be a bit different.

Thanks to draining the blood of a high-quality noble vampire almost to death my stats have increased drastically.

But.

“Damn it. What’s with this act of pity now?”

“I-I didn’t mean to—”

This was the same one who wanted to create a human livestock farm.

I felt no sympathy.

She claimed she hunted humans to survive, but that’s the same for me.

In order to survive, I drained her existence.

“Well, it’s true that my stats have increased a lot thanks to this.”

“…What are you trying to say now?”

“So, I thought I’d give you something in return.”

“…?”

In front of her, puzzled expression,

I set down the ‘special meal’ I had brought.

“What is this?”

“Oh, you don’t know?”

[Supreme Happiness Blood Soup prepared by an Intermediate Grade Chef]

“It’s a blood soup.”

“I can tell it’s some kind of dish. But I’m a vampire. My food differs from ordinary humans.”

“Oh, I should explain what blood soup is first.”

When blood is collected and left to sit, it separates into a solid mass at the bottom and a clear liquid at the top.

The top part is serum, the bottom is blood pudding…

In other words, it’s coagulated blood.

When used in cooking, it becomes what is known as blood pudding.

It’s quite a peculiar ingredient when you think about it.

But in Korea, it’s a fairly common cooking ingredient.

“I don’t know much about it, but are you telling me to eat this?”

“Yep.”

“I understand. I’ll follow your instructions, so please… no more pain…”

Pain, huh? How pitiful.

What I’m giving you isn’t pain.

“…What is this taste!”

Supreme happiness.

“It’s delicious, so delicious…!”

“Is it really that good?”

Since vampires subsist on blood,

I wondered if they’d appreciate blood pudding I cooked for them, and it seems I was right.

“It’s a divine taste. Old blood usually has a rancid taste. But this flavor is…!”

Well, who made it?

Of course, it should taste amazing.

“Oh, that’s not all.”

Indeed.

Since the ingredients were provided by you,

It should taste incredibly good.

“Haah…”

Her expression, intoxicated by the [Supreme Happiness], was oddly relaxed.

This expression.

I’d seen it a few times before.

‘Lieutenant Kim.’

And the criminals who came to our unit.

The dishes I served the Queen weren’t limited to just beef blood soup.

[Black Pudding]

[Haggis]

[Blood Sausage]

[Schwarz Sauer]

And so on.

Over several days,

I searched through cookbooks to find every dish that included blood and served it to her.

“…Haaaaaaah.”

Each time, the ‘Queen’ would writhe in supreme happiness.

How many days did I provide these meals?

One day,

the moment I opened the door to bring the next dish,

“Haha… Hahaha!!!”

The Queen inside the building greeted me with a manic laughter.

“Hahaha…! How foolish!”

“What’s with the sudden outburst?”

“You served blood dishes to a weakened night noble and that too…”

She pointed her finger towards me and said,

“….A dish made from your own blood!”