Chapter 139: Beef Stew with Potatoes?

In the camp of the Red Flame Ogre Tribe, a group led by Barit stood staring blankly at the stove before them. For thousands of years, the only tool ogres had for cooking food was a bonfire—and often, they did not even need that, preferring to tear into their prey and eat it raw.

"Sun Licheng, what is this thing for?" Barit asked, looking at the stove with confusion as he turned toward the busy Sun Licheng.

Sun Licheng applied the final layer of mud to the chimney before standing up to reply, "This is a stove for cooking meals. It’s called a Yukon-style stove."

Well, Sun Licheng had returned to his old trade. Ever since he had built his wooden house, he had not used such a simple stove in a long time. Looking at the reasonably well-constructed furnace, he felt satisfied; his skills had not yet grown rusty.

"Alright, this stove needs to dry completely before it can be used. Now, I need to go find some cookware." With that, Sun Licheng left the bewildered ogres behind.

Sun Licheng had realized that one perk of being a bandit was the absolute abundance of supplies. The Red Flame Tribe’s thousands of years of plundering had accumulated countless treasures. Even though most had already been taken, what remained still formed a small mountain.

He easily found several clay basins, bowls, and jars of decent shape. Tapping them with his fingers, the pottery emitted a crisp, metallic sound—the quality was excellent. After some more rummaging, he found a bronze machete. It was clearly crafted for a creature the size of a goblin, and the quality was mediocre. Perhaps the ogres had deemed it too small and poorly made to bother with, leaving it behind. Sun Licheng swung it a few times and found it quite handy.

"Why are you taking that piece of junk?" Caroline asked from the side, looking puzzled. She wasn't worried about Sun Licheng causing trouble with it; it was just that the blade had been stored for so long that it was covered in rust and seemed unusable.

Sun Licheng gave her a look of disdain, then channeled his flame energy. Instantly, a ball of intense fire engulfed the entire blade.

"Are you a mage?" Caroline gasped, immediately preparing for combat.

Sun Licheng ignored her, focusing intently on his flame. The fire he produced was now orange-red, with a temperature exceeding a thousand degrees. After burning for a while, the impurities on the machete began to flake off, and the metal even showed signs of softening. He exhaled, placed the blade on a stone, and began striking it with a hammer he had found.

After hammering for a while, he inspected the blade, channeled his flame to reheat it, and hammered it again. He repeated this process for nearly half an hour before stopping, satisfied.

"Is this that same piece of junk?" Caroline asked in astonishment. There was no trace of damage left; it had a short handle, a wide blade, and fluid lines, its surface gleaming like gold. She was certain that once sharpened, it would be a formidable weapon.

Sun Licheng smiled, held the blade up to show Caroline, and said, "Of course it’s the same blade. Well? Not bad, is it?"

"Are you an alchemist?" Caroline asked cautiously, her tone much softer.

Sun Licheng thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I am the goblin hero Sun Licheng—not a mage, nor an alchemist. If you want, find some bronze weapons in that pile, and I can forge one for you. Oh, and Henry gets one too."

Upon hearing this, Caroline remained composed, but Henry let out a wild yelp and charged into the mountain of loot to begin hunting for bronze tools.

About half an hour later, Caroline, who had begun to look at Sun Licheng with a hint of admiration, was left speechless. The man was using that "precious blade"—or rather, what was now a kitchen knife—to chop vegetables.

Sun Licheng’s purpose in modifying the blade was simply to make a kitchen knife; he intended to show these uncivilized ogres what the culinary arts of the Middle Kingdom were all about. With a flash of the blade, a snow rat cub was quickly butchered. Seeing the neat rows of meat laid out on the flat stone slab, Caroline raised her guard against Sun Licheng another notch—he was also a master of the blade.

Since the stove needed two days to dry, Sun Licheng decided to start with grilled snow rat skewers; after all, he had no intention of eating ogre-style raw meat.

"Does it really take that much effort just to eat a meal?" Caroline asked dismissively, looking at the large pile of skewered meat. She reached out to grab one, but Sun Licheng quickly stopped her.

After dinner, many ogres gathered around Sun Licheng, watching him grill the meat over the bonfire. They all felt he was making things far too complicated—the snow rat cubs were so small, why not just eat them raw?

Sun Licheng ignored them. Once the heat was just right, he used a small brush to coat the meat in snow rat fat and sprinkled on his own special blend of seasonings. Immediately, a mouth-watering aroma filled the air.

Silence—absolute silence. All the ogres widened their eyes, staring intently at the skewers over the fire, their mouths watering uncontrollably.

"It smells so good!" Someone shouted, and suddenly the ogres let out a roar and rushed forward.

Caught off guard, Sun Licheng was pushed aside. By the time he regained his footing, the skewers were already gone.

"Delicious! So fragrant!" Barit, devouring a skewer, patted Sun Licheng on the shoulder with his massive hand. "A cook is truly a mage who can conjure delicacies!" he exclaimed.

The consequence of showing off was that Sun Licheng went hungry that night; all ten rat cubs had vanished into the ogres' bellies. If Sun Licheng hadn't stopped them, they probably would have eaten the remaining adult snow rats as well.

Having learned his lesson, Sun Licheng stuck to a vegetarian diet. Under the resentful gazes of the ogres, the Yukon-style stove finally dried completely.

"Sun Licheng, what delicious thing are you making this time?" Caroline, now conquered by the grilled skewers, asked with rare gentleness as she watched him bustle about.

Sun Licheng was currently using his kitchen knife to peel the skin off some cassava and cut the pulp into small cubes. He didn't bother answering the woman, continuing his work. Caroline felt a flicker of annoyance, but at the thought of the delicious food, she could only pout in silence.

Seeing the water in the clay jar begin to boil, Sun Licheng threw in the cassava cubes, followed by the prepared chunks of snow rat meat. The cassava in this world was strange—unless heated, it was as hard as wood. If not for his extraordinary constitution, he would never have discovered it was edible. The key was that it had a high yield, grew rapidly, and tasted decent—it was definitely the top choice for a staple food on the plateau.

As the cassava boiled in the water, it slowly softened. Sun Licheng tossed in a bag of his special seasonings. The ogres nearby, now experienced, watched with wide eyes. Sure enough, a moment later, an enticing aroma began to drift from the jar.

"Let me introduce this," Sun Licheng said, turning to shout at the ogres as the food finished cooking. "The name of this dish is Beef Stewed with Potatoes—no, wait—Cassava Stewed with Snow Rat Meat!"