Chapter 155 – That Young Grey Temple Chap

Translated by Kitchennovel dot com

 

The restaurant suddenly went quiet, all faces slowly turned towards Mike, light slowly dawning in their eyes

‘Chef’. What a wonderfully simple and straightforward word this was. The core of a restaurant, the most important existence in fact.

Most restaurant owners preferred to be address as ‘Boss’ and not ‘Chef’ or heaven forbid, ‘Cook’. In fact, there were a lot of restaurant owner who had forgotten their identity as chefs and took more pleasure and enjoyment over the more respected title of ‘Boss’.

For someone who could create such magically delicious food, open such an understated yet sophisticated looking restaurant, not to mention his incredibly prosperous business and had just received the praises from his peers, to declare himself as a mere chef…

This kind of modest bearing caused majority of the peanut gallery to blush with shame, it also earned hearty approval of the customers.

“Perhaps by staying true to one’s identity, knowing exactly who you are, is the secret to these such wondrously new and refreshing cooking, ba.” Miles praised Mike most sincerely, his heart completely touched by this simple phrase.

Andrew and the rest all had very thoughtful looks on their faces, they pondered over Miles’ words as they left the restaurant.

“I’m just paraphrasing Stephen Chow’s[1] lines, why do I get the feeling that these people have taken it as something more enlightening?” Mike could feel all the admiring eyes on him as he continued to keep smiling and made his way to the kitchen. It was actually kind of nice.

The group of chefs and restaurant owners did not ask for recipes, nor did they ask after cooking methods or even the spices used, even when they could taste unfamiliar spices and seasoning within the dishes. Their sense of propriety and professionalism was first rate, and Mike had to admit that his first encounter with the men and women in the restaurant business was really quite good.

However, the ones who came in were all professional chefs and cooks, having eaten these two vastly different, and wonderfully delicious dishes, they should have gained some food for thought and perhaps, if they were lucky, some inspiration in their own cooking.

Naturally, Mike was not at all worried what they might, or might not have, learnt from him. It’s not like he had any interest in becoming a cooking instructor, his job was to properly make food for his customers to enjoy. That was it.

… please read this at kitchennovel.com …

“Just from Boss Mike’s attitude, I’m kind of looking forward to tonight’s [Beancurds].”

“Me too, but be honest, which [Beancurd] do you intend to try? Sweet or savoury?”

Right at the entrance of the shop Andreas and Mo Xiuji were whispering together.

“Do you even have to ask, of course the sweet one, ah!” Andreas said matter of factly, after a paused, he asked belatedly, “and you?”

“Savoury.” Mo Xiuji said a little awkwardly, both fell silent for a moment.

“It’s fine, brother, we won’t fight over such a silly thing. Tonight, have your [Savoury Beancurd], I shall eat my [Sweet Beancurd] after that we shall go and have a drink together.” Andreas declared in a louder voice, trying to cover up his own awkwardness.

After all, they had just seen Klaus and Julian battle over whether sweet or savoury [Beancurds] tasted better. There was no saying what would happen tonight once the [Beancurds] made its début.

However, they were childhood friends who had gone through minor conflicts and their friendship had survived the lumps and bumps of life. Surely it won’t just break apart over the question of Sweet vs Savoury [Beancurds], ba.

… please read this at kitchennovel.com …

Klaus held his trusty magic staff as he crossed Aden Square. Behind him, Bradley followed in slightly hurried steps. He had been trailing after Klaus, doing his best to master his nervous excitement to actually speak to this venerable grandmaster. Finally, he rushed the last three steps and called out respectfully, “Master Klaus.”

“En?” Klaus halted his steps. He turned to look suspiciously at the white haired Bradley, taking in the sword on his side and the shield on his chest, he nodded in acknowledgement of his own name, “Well, well, a little chap from the Grey Temple, what do you want from me?”

Bradley stood dazedly for a moment. For all his fanboy excitement, he was already an old man in his seventies, the young man from the Grey Temple would at least address him as ‘old sir’, it had been a long time since anyone addressed him as a ‘little chap’, he really didn’t know how to react.

However, if he thought really about it, Klaus was already 120 years old. When Bradley was still playing in the mud, the man before him was already half of the Fire and Ice Rivalry. By the time he started learning magic, this man was already a legend.

Even his own master was a great fan of Klaus, unfortunately his own ability with close combat was too poor. So terrible was his skill that he was beaten by a lone knight in his youth, which was when he resorted to the standard long range magic favoured by all mages before the rise of Klaus. However, deep within his heart, Bradley had never really let go of his dream of becoming a close combat wizard.

Despite that, Bradley had more or less resigned himself to mastering long range magic. Actual close combat mages were very few and tended to gather around the Magic Tower. As for Grandmaster Klaus, the man had never taken an apprentice in all his years there.

In other words, Mickey Restaurant owner’s daughter was that lucky person who had caught Klaus’ eyes. This was news that could shake the magic world.

Klaus’ health had been on the decline for many years, and a lot of mages and wizards had been worried that the close combat magic developed by Klaus would fade into history like a bright comet, leaving nothing concrete for them to grasp.

Moreover, the equally famous and legendary magician Julian had also accepted this same little girl, this half elf, to be his apprentice. If this news got out, the whole of Nolan Continent magical world would be shaken to its foundation.

For these two exceptional, legendary geniuses to actually chose the same little half elf girl as their apprentice after jealously keeping their knowledge to themselves close to a hundred years, just what kind of little demon queen would emerge from their combined effort?

Armed with ice magic, fire magic, close combat magic, long range magic… in a decade or two, there would not be a single corner of Nolan Continent that she could not travel through.

These various thoughts flashed through Bradley in a blink of an eye. Klaus’ face had remained neutral, but he could feel a rather strong pressure coming from the man. Keeping his face respectful, he said to Klaus, “Greetings to Grandmaster Klaus, I am Bradley of the Grey Temple mages. Forgive my boldness for calling you so disrespectfully, I come on behalf of the Chaos City Grey Temple to welcome you to this city. It is our negligence for not realising that Grandmaster is in the city, we hope that you will forgive our oversight.”

“Nonsense, it is I who wronged the Grey Temple first. After all, I did not even inform the Temple of my presence, and there was that little altercation this morning with Julian. I’m sure that made things difficult for you, ba?” Klaus looked at Bradley with a smile, “by the way, little chap, you were here this morning, weren’t you? I supposed you’ve reported by presence to your elders and was instructed to approach me?”

Bradley felt a little shaken, he hadn’t expected Klaus to notice him at all. After all, the God of Fire’s attention seemed to be focussed on his new apprentice and his rival all morning. Feeling awkward, he quickly said, “The battle between Grandmaster Klaus and Grandmaster Julian was indeed spectacular, however the Grey Temple had decreed that so long as nobody is hurt we consider it an honour to have you demonstrate your abilities within our boundaries.”

“As the representation of the Grey Temple, I now humbly welcome you to the Chaos City, should you require anything within this city, I am to assist you to the best of my abilities.”

 

[1] Stephen Chow – The original line is ‘I’m actually an actor’ from King of Comedy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Chow

 

  ^_^

Translated and edited by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.

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