Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Obviously, these young chefs were all more than a bit skeptical about the boy’s abilities in the sacred battlefield they called the kitchen when he explained his ideas to them, and for good reason.

Smoking food was already a well-known technique in the Rockwell Kingdom, but it was basically only used as a method of drying meats or preserving them, not for enhancing a dish’s flavour.

As such, when Lucas had a custom smoker built by the Manor’s smiths, and declared the first meat they would be cooking was duck, everyone thought he was crazy.

Short-winged duck was already tough and gamey, so why would you want to dry it out and make it tougher?

Still, Lucas was the Marquess’ Disciple, and she had given him full authority in this matter, so while some complained behind the boy’s back, none dared to refuse him.

Most figured they would just waste a bit of time entertaining their Lord’s young Disciple before politely asking him to not bother them again.

Instead of that happening, though, Lucas force-fed them their egos a few days later when his first creation came out of the smoker.

Using a special blend of oil and spices, including a generous helping of salt and sugar, Lucas marinated several pieces of short-winged duck for 3 days before placing them on the metal racks and slow-cooking them for 6 hours, using dried Red Lych logs for smoke as he had found they added a rich, aromatic flavour to dishes.

The result was duck meat that was perfectly rendered, smoky, flavourful, and fall-off-the-bone tender.

It would have been perfectly delicious if Lucas had just stopped there, but knowing short-winged duck soup was a kind of national dish, he decided to go a step further and boil the roasted duck bones together with a bit of the spiced drippings for a full 8 hours to make a rich soup base.

Together with classic root and hearty winter vegetables, Lucas, together with a group of now very enthusiastic apprentice chefs, created a whole new kind of duck soup, one that was so exquisite that after tasting it once, the Head Chef of the Manor insisted that it be served at the new years banquet.

.....

The third course, one that featured a type of baked river fish served with finely diced vegetables, wasn’t something Lucas had much to contribute to as he already found it quite delectable.

This might have been because the chefs in Misty City were so used to using fish in dishes as the Lorren provided an abundance of it all-year-round, or it might simply be that the fish used was a type of Peak Third Order Beast, making it naturally delicious to begin with.

Whatever the case, while Lucas did have a few ideas for improvements, he kept those to himself for now, uncertain whether they would really make much of a difference.

After 2 courses of fabulously different foods, the guests who dug into the more classic fish actually felt a bit relieved. If everything they ate tonight was so shocking and revolutionary, it would have been too overwhelming.

Tasting something ’standard’ but still quite exquisite allowed everyone’s taste-buds to recover a bit.

People ate, relaxed, and mingled, taking sips of fine wines or, in the case of those who preferred, refreshing fruit juices.

At the head table, however, one conversation dominated the discourse, the one centred around Queen Natasha and Eris Newton.

"Aunty Natasha knows of a Spirit Doctor who can help me recover my right arm right now!?" Eris gasped, her eyes filled with hope and expectation.

Since arriving in her new home, Eris had done her best to keep herself busy, but seeing Lucas and Christina immersed in projects she couldn’t help much with had left her somewhat sad.

It wasn’t that her Senior Brother and Junior Sister didn’t spend time with her, or that they didn’t try to include her whenever possible, but Eris’ instincts had always been sharp, so she could easily tell she was mostly just causing trouble for her fellow Disciples when they brought her along.

Sadness was definitely a part of what Eris felt, but after several months dealing with on-and-off bouts of depression, the young girl was now more frustrated than anything else.

She wanted to grow stronger, to train properly, to be of use to those she cared about, but her damn missing arm kept getting in the way.

Eris also knew from her mother, Senior Brother, and Master that there was a way to heal her, but that it would probably be at least a decade before she could seek that treatment, a truth that left her feeling both hopeful and impatient.

Now that she was hearing from her sworn sister Tina’s half-mother that there might be a way to restore her right forearm sooner, how could Eris not become excited?

"Calm down, Eris," Celestina, who was sitting nearby, interjected before turning to the Second Queen and asking, "There must be a catch, right, Your Majesty?"

Maintaining her calm, composed business smile, Natasha Summer nodded, "Perceptive as always, Marquess Balfour. There are two problems with this particular method, one of them small, the other quite large. The small problem is that this treatment method has a serious flaw in that the restored limb has very limited initial strength, equivalent to that of a First Step Body Tempering child’s."

"For a Spirit Realm Cultivator, or a stronger Mortal Realm Practitioner, this is basically no different than not having that limb at all. If such a master wants to restore full functionality to such a new arm or leg, it generally requires many years of specialized training."

"But for someone like Sister Eris, that drawback isn’t nearly as big an issue!" Christina’s eyes lit up, "If that’s the case, we need to find an opportunity to visit the Kore Sovereignty!"

"Hold on, Little Tina," Natasha patted Christina’s hand, slightly surprised just how close her normally somewhat aloof, half-daughter had gotten to this young girl.

"Like I said, there is a bigger issue," the Second Queen reiterated.

"Even with that kind of flaw in the healing technique, there must be no shortage of people lining up for it," Lucas theorised out loud before wrinkling his brow, "But it has to be more than that; after all, wait times and queues can be solved by offering up enough compensation. There has to be some kind of problem accessing that Spirit Doctor in the first place, one that can’t be solved with money alone."

"Hahaha, you never cease to amaze me, Lucas," the blue-haired woman praised liberally.

During his short visit to the Royal Palace, the Queen that Lucas spent the most time talking to was actually Natasha Summers.

The two of them had basically sat together for an entire evening and night discussing all manner of financial and economic topics, both of them learning a great deal from the other in the process.

Lucas was incredibly impressed by Queen Summer’s business acumen, while Natasha was just plain impressed with Lucas. She had originally approached the boy thinking she could be of some help to him with the relief efforts he was leading, but wound up being the one who benefited the most.

The theories and philosophies Lucas had introduced to her were nothing short of revolutionary, opening a whole new dimension of thinking to Natasha when it came to how money flowed through the kingdom and beyond its borders.

As if that wasn’t enough, Lucas had also ordered an enormous amount of materials through her from the Vast Ocean Trading Company. It wasn’t ridiculous to the point where the leaders of the wealthy Chamber of Commerce would personally take notice, but it was certainly sufficient to raise a few eyebrows and improve Natasha’s standing back home with her family.

In summary, Natasha Summers had an incredibly positive view of Lucas, to the extent that she even contemplated introducing him to one of her daughters despite the rather large age gap between them.

Seeing Lucas and Christina interacting with one another now, though, caused the Second Queen to put aside such notions, figuring the young boy would be part of her family soon enough, something she had subtly teased her Third Sister’s daughter about on a number of occasions already.