Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The Last Move

Why is the Earl of Derby angry? Surely did he notice my trick? With the Earl's usual intelligence it's impossible?

Before even looking into the thoughts with the status window, the impatient Earl's shout stuck in my ear first.

"Jean-Paul Durand! Putting out such delicious food only a rat's tail amount, and holding a party here leaving only me out, what kind of hideous act is this!"

Yikes! It seems there was one more person with a lot of gluttony!

Still there was room for excuse.

"Earl! You ate two servings of Chicken and Chips alone and not even 3 hours have passed yet, was that not enough?!"

"Who are you attaching that to the nose! There are three people but the amount you gave isn't even two servings!"

"No... I gave the appetizers quite sufficiently too! Moreover there's dessert left too!"

An ordinary person would have already died from a full stomach!

In fact, I did reduce the amount a bit. The simple taste of peanuts is excellent as a base for other foods, but if there are six dishes producing similar tastes it seemed it would get tiresome quickly.

The peanut butter sandwich is also like that. The basic is a simple combination of just spreading peanut butter and strawberry jam on bread, but to make it less greasy I coated the bread with egg batter and made French toast, and even went through the trouble of grilling once more on the grill?

Even so samgyeopsal and peanut sauce for spring rolls mixed with mayonnaise, peanut butter cream pasta... No ssamjang or soup or kimchi and isn't it the peak of greasiness?

But they already ate all that and even chased Emily? Of course, seeing the actions the Earl has shown until now I thought it would be like this so I told her to run away in advance... But it seems it was useless.

"Anyway it's insufficient! Put out more samgyeopsal! No, this time I'll clearly see with both eyes how that samgyeopsal is cooked! Quickly make it!"

"Earl, what about the tasting session?!"

"I don't need it! Anyway all the dishes you made are to sell that peanut butter or whatever invention better, right! Dessert is done, I want to eat more delicious main dish! What more is needed? Huh? Shall I just set up one more such restaurant in Derbyshire!"

No, then there's no meaning in the course I carefully combined and composed!

Even if the Earl demanding so brazenly is daily, today is a bit too much?

Moreover because all the restaurant employees know that the Earl is a high-ranking noble even in Britain, when the Earl caused a disturbance like this everyone put down their forks and tried to sneak out. It means the fun company dinner atmosphere was broken by the appearance of the king chairman.

At that time fortunately Lady Edith raised the corners of her eyes and stepped forward right away.

"Wait a minute, Grandfather! You shouldn't trouble Mr. Jean! Today he did free service not even scheduled, demanding so shamelessly like this, where did the dignity of a noble you usually talk about go? If you keep doing this next time even if we make more delicious food, we'll eat only among ourselves excluding Grandfather!"

"Ugh..."

Well done, Edith! As expected the secret weapon against the great Earl! There's worth in hiring!

If it was modern Korea I would have chased out the nuisance customer long ago, but in front of a great noble that even Mr. Henry struggles what can I do.

The problem is the blame of the political structure of this weird British Empire where the aristocratic system is still maintained! Even after royal authority greatly declined after the Magna Carta (*Great Charter), thanks to the House of Lords system the nobles' power only became stronger a strange phenomenon!

A commoner chef like me has to struggle what!

"Understood. I was wrong. I'll return to my seat. Edith! Be sure to remember that samgyeopsal recipe! That guy Jean-Paul Durand lately using the excuse of being annoying doesn't give me delicious cooking at all! Help this pitiful grandfather!"

"Yes, Grandfather!"

No, Earl, what you just ate was also all made by me?!

Wait, but is it okay to leak the samgyeopsal recipe this easily? Samgyeopsal isn't a recipe hard to reverse-engineer like Chicken and Chips, or one where the core ingredient is secret like galbijjim.

Just a simple dish of slicing the bacon part and grilling! Of course the hand skill of the person grilling is needed, but honestly that level is something you naturally master after grilling a few times!

If it's tactless newspaper sellers even if shown openly in front of their eyes they won't properly follow, but Edith is different. She's a woman with such good eyes so I can't let my guard down!

If the Earl boasts to other nobles saying it's delicious... The aftermath...

My spine chilled and I quickly grabbed Edith's wrist and dragged her to a corner of the kitchen.

"Jean, Mr. Jean?!"

"Lady Edith, you have to make just one promise with me!"

"A promise...?"

"The copyright of this samgyeopsal recipe is mine! I'm planning to make big money with this soon, so if the recipe leaks before that it's troublesome! Grilling samgyeopsal for the Earl at the mansion is fine, but please be sure to be careful so this recipe doesn't leak outside the earldom! The servants also shouldn't know! Otherwise... You know?"

"Ah, I understand!"

Nod nod.

If it leaks from now on other Korean food recipes will all be secret!

I swallowed the latter words, but if it's quick-witted Edith she would have sufficiently guessed what I was trying to say. In fact for things like this making the other party imagine themselves is more effective than saying the conclusion in advance.

[Emily Edith Stanley: No! I might be abandoned by Mr. Jean! Grandfather, I'm sorry but... / Emotion: Anxiety / Satisfaction: ★★★★★ ]

Right? She's spreading the wings of imagination on her own? Well it's not to the point of abandoning... Anyway!

With this mouth-shutting is certain... Now it seemed good to gradually wrap up the annoying deduction game too.

Originally I was going to just show the samgyeopsal taste and end, but trying to boast my new product peanut butter the matter became too complicated.

Seeing the Earl's reaction, rather it felt like the guest and host were reversed. The samgyeopsal taste was so intense that peanut butter seemed to lose in the spirit fight.

But I have to achieve a good ending. Before the taste of peanuts is completely forgotten in the guests' memories, I hurriedly put the two desserts Edith had prepared in advance on the serving cart.

And time flowed and finally the moment of judgment approached.

###

I threw the final question to the three guests.

"So, what is the food that doesn't contain peanuts? Please match it now."

"...Ahem."

"I-I give up. I absolutely can't match it. And I don't want to roughly guess either!"

I gave all of 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes, up to 2 desserts. Peanuts might not suit the mouth, or they might have gotten tired, but seeing they emptied cleanly without leaving a single grain the power of the new taste seemed amazing.

"I don't know either. The sweet taste of the dessert keeps circling in my mouth so the memory has completely flown away. I touched it for nothing."

Earl, while saying that why are you licking the spoon so hard?

Like this two people retired from the deduction game. However the last remaining one was still sparkling his eyes.

"I have one question."

"Yes, Mr. Doyle."

"Are all these six dishes your creation?"

What... Strictly speaking it's not creation? If they're recipes I know they're already foods that gained popularity worldwide. For parts I don't remember I summoned factory-produced mass products from the point shop and roughly reverse-engineered looking at the label.

So I proudly made a conscience declaration.

"Yes, I made all of them. Did you like them?"

Since they don't exist in the current timeline they're my creation, right?

"All of them. To the point I want to take the recipe if there is one, but since you say it's creation it will be difficult."

Mr. Doyle suddenly sighed as if disappointed.

"Good. In the end the person who will deduce is only me. Still as a writer who has written mystery novels giving up here would be a shameful thing. I'll challenge."

"Will you match the correct answer right away?"

"Then it wouldn't be fun, right? Like a detective in a mystery novel digging into a case, I'll also analyze these dishes one by one. Please confirm if it's correct."

He knocked on the table as if he had become a detective.

"For fun let's go in reverse order. First from the dessert, but preparing such high quality desserts in such a short time, I was really surprised. What's more surprising is the point that both these desserts are not things commonly seen in London."

"Not commonly seen?! I ate them often!"

Why is the Earl's surprise point different alone every time?

"Ahem, the bread-like one is a dessert called 'brownie,' which I encountered on a recent American trip. And the foamy drink-like one is called 'mousse' and is a dessert that can only be eaten in France. Both these desserts are almost not seen in London's coffee houses or social clubs. Coincidentally both used chocolate, but the taste was different from what I ate. Some 'savory' yet 'soft' taste was added. I'll call this unidentified mysterious component 'unknown X.'"

"Hmm, it seems it was like that! Unknown X is interesting!"

"Next is the main dish. I received tremendous inspiration here. Seeing the texture and form, and the taste, it was definitely pork for 'bacon.' But the flavor was completely different. Not salty like bacon, and savory was deeply soaked. The sauce provided together doubled that savoriness. Moreover the color of the meat itself was on a different level from the cooking I've seen until now. It was a really mysterious cooking method I'm encountering for the first time. To the point the recipe is very curious."

It's just ordinary samgyeopsal? I only roughly grilled it golden on the grill?!

Great detective Mr. Doyle lifted the main dish bowl and smelled it again and nodded. His abundant mustache twitching somehow reminded me of someone from the Soviet Union.

"The pasta was also very savory and delicious. Of course in the point of being cream pasta it was a familiar taste, but unknown X was mixed here too. Even if the form and smell, and flavor are different, I noticed that this X was commonly used in the previous 4 dishes."

"Ho, indeed! As expected deduction befitting a great writer! I didn't even think of such an approach!"

"Lastly the appetizer. In fact this part was the most difficult. Because it was a completely different form and texture from the taste of the peanuts I first ate. However as I continued eating the food, I barely noticed the point that in fact 'savoriness' and 'softness' coexist in all tastes. Here the red herring the teacher planted became clear."

The original Holmes turned his gaze to me. His blue eyes drew a soft arc.

"Mr. Jean-Paul Durand, you said to choose the dish among the six that doesn't contain peanuts, but in fact peanuts were in all the dishes. It was a trap question from the start, right?"

"Wh-what!! Impossible! I thought one of the two desserts didn't contain peanuts!"

Seeing the surprised expressions of the Earl and the Inspector, my prank seems to have properly worked. I smiled.

"That's correct. But how did you find out? It wouldn't have been easy."

"In fact, I didn't get it right."

"...Yes?"

"Sorry, but as I ate the taste of the first appetizer also became hazy. But seeing with the intuition of a mystery novel writer, thinking the one with the lowest possibility has a high probability of being the correct answer, I threw it once. Haha."

What on earth is this person?! I thought he had some status window like me!

"But seeing your reaction I was convinced. The moment I mentioned 'unknown X' your eyebrows slightly moved. If I hadn't looked carefully I would have missed it. By any chance do you practice a poker face usually? I must absolutely not play poker with the teacher. Hahahat."

...A strong opponent. A strong opponent. At this moment, I raised my wariness toward this mystery Holmes a level higher. As expected befitting the author of that 'Holmes series.' A person I can't let my guard down on.

Among the people I met in early 20th-century Britain this was the first person with such sharp intuition.

Swish.

Arthur Conan Doyle suddenly extended his hand and requested a handshake.

"Mr. Jean-Paul Durand, it was really interesting. I had a very fresh experience after a long time. I don't think I've had this kind of experience in the past ten years."

"Ah well... I'm glad you had fun."

Squeeze. Shake shake.

"I'll look forward to the day your 'peanut butter' is released. Of course, I have a feeling it will come out soon in a short time. The peanut butter dishes were really delicious."

Wait, what? I never brought up a word about peanut butter? Surely did the Earl leak it?

Oh, when I first woke the Earl there was exactly once I shouted as a joke that I'd cancel the peanut butter party! Surely he remembered that until now?

What, what, then is the unknown X also all�

I turned to look at Holmes with an astonished expression. But he just looked at me with a refreshed expression, revealing no emotion at all.

"Inspector Reid, you should get up now. To match the train time we have to hurry. 'Bertie' is waiting."

"Oh, time has already become like this! Excuse me! Mr. Durand, it was really the best cooking! I won't be able to forget today!"

"If there's an opportunity later I'll visit again. At that time I'll definitely taste the genuine 'Chicken and Chips' together with the Inspector. Hahaha."

The two people exchanged greetings like that and left. And at that moment, in one corner of my vision an alarm notifying quest completion started sparkling.

But I didn't have the leisure to confirm that alarm. Because I belatedly noticed the thought this mystery Holmes spilled at the last moment.

[ Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle: If I fill the lost 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' manuscript with this new experience today... I can roughly match the time. It will be fun. / Emotion: Moved / Satisfaction: ★★★★★ ]

What is this sound? The lost manuscript was that famous 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?! And he'll fill that content with me and my cooking?!

'The Hound of the Baskervilles.' Even I who haven't read the Holmes series knew the title well. Because after Doyle killed Holmes in the final problem, he resurrected him again through this novel.

A bolt from the blue sound! It seems the thing I guaranteed to Edith at first of rekindling Mr. Doyle's passion for mystery novels has really become reality!

The main quest message that appeared belatedly made this butterfly effect even more certain.

【 Main Quest: Change history with special food (5.27%) 】

The change degree rose by 5 percent in an instant. Why?!

And unfortunately, it didn't take that long until I realized the meaning of the hint the Doyle who left the last move left.