Lord of Rot

Miss Oak Pail, her cheeks slightly flushed, listened once more.

Even though she had already memorized it completely, she didn’t refuse her Lord’s thoughtful offer to explain again. Watching the Lord drink beer to soothe his dry throat, she silently apologized but also felt a sense of joy. ’After all, it’s the Lord who is patiently teaching me.’

Actually, Oak Pail had considered a similar method before. Gazing at the ice blocks in the cool ice cellar, the idea of creating a dish with ice had already crossed her mind.

”Do you understand now?” Leech asked again.

Oak Pail immediately replied, ”Yes, my Lord.”

”I’m looking forward to your success,” Leech said.

Miss Oak Pail returned to the kitchen. She strictly followed Leech’s instructions. The process wasn’t complicated, and after a short while, Oak Pail emerged from the ice cellar, carrying a small, chilly wooden bucket wrapped in cloth.

’It was freezing in there!’

But looking at the ice cream in the wooden bucket, she knew she had succeeded.

”Well done!” Leech praised.

The ice cream was made very quickly. From the moment Leech came up with the idea and told Miss Oak Pail how to make it, to the finished product, it only took half an afternoon.

The sun hadn’t yet set behind Pig Spine Valley; it was still high in the sky.

’The first ice cream in this Otherworld!’

Leech took a spoon, scooped out a ball of ice cream, and placed it in a cup.

He scooped a small piece with the spoon and popped it into his mouth.

”It’s very milky, kind of like a pudding pop.”

He said to Oak Pail, who was standing to the side, ”Take this and let everyone in the castle have a taste.”

”Yes!” Oak Pail nodded hastily.

She left carrying the chilly little wooden bucket. It was relatively cool inside the castle, but the ice cream was still showing signs of melting.

Hearing there was something good to eat, the menservants and maidservants gathered around.

”What’s this?” asked Duck Web.

He felt a chill as soon as he got close.

”Ice cream,” said Oak Pail. ”It’s a dessert the Lord invented. It’s nice and cold.”

”It must be delicious!” Miss Wineglass couldn’t wait.

The young kitchen apprentices also watched with eager eyes.

There wasn’t much ice cream in the bucket. Everyone would probably only get one spoonful, about a third of a scoop, but no one was complaining.

Wineglass exclaimed, ”By the Four Gods, I’m actually eating ice in the middle of summer!”

The servants nodded in agreement.

This was especially true for the maid, Little Eyes. The only other maid selected for the castle at the same time as her was Arkke, but Arkke could control insects with Magic and had earned the Lord’s favor. Little Eyes, on the other hand, rarely got a chance to eat the castle’s leftovers. Fortunately, there was an endless supply of milk here. She drank as much as she could and felt her chest was starting to get heavy, her clothes growing a little tight.

The delicious ice cream drove away the heat. It was just a shame that everyone only got a tiny bit. They ate it carefully, savoring every bit of sweetness.

They were also well aware that being able to eat even this little bit of ice cream was a testament to their Lord’s benevolence. Besides nobles with large ice cellars, most aristocrats had never even seen ice in the summer.

”What’s wrong?” Wineglass noticed that Oak Pail’s expression seemed a bit off.

Oak Pail hung her head. ”The flavor is wrong.”

”Wrong? Not at all! I’ve never had such a delicious dessert!”

”No,” Oak Pail shook her head. ”The Lord doesn’t like things that are too sweet. His requirement for desserts is ’not sweet.’”

She had learned this after making desserts, waiting for the leftovers to be cleared, and then asking the Lord’s personal valet.

She had conducted a very thorough investigation into Leech’s tastes.

The Lord would only eat more of a dessert if it was ”not sweet.”

”Not sweet” was the Lord’s evaluation, which Oak Pail interpreted as ”subtly sweet,” needing to be just right. This was much more difficult than simply making something sweet.

Conversely, the Lord would barely touch desserts that were cloyingly sweet. Only people like Wineglass, who had an insatiable sweet tooth, would be ecstatic about them.

”Not sweet? A dessert that’s not sweet?” Wineglass was completely baffled. She thought desserts were supposed to be very sweet to be satisfying.

’Perhaps this is the refined palate of a nobleman.’

”No wonder the Lord only ate one spoonful.” Oak Pail was crushed. And to think she had felt that making ice cream was so simple before.

”Besides, my execution wasn’t very good. There were too many ice crystals,” she reflected critically. ”The Lord said that ice cream should be soft and smooth, something that melts in your mouth.”

What she had made was a bit hard, which really affected the texture.

Wineglass asked, ”What are you going to do?”

”Keep making ice cream! I’ll definitely find a way to fix it!” Oak Pail declared, clenching her small fists.

The kitchen was her battlefield...

For dinner, Gelan, the eldest among them, preferred to eat some salad. The hot weather had ruined his appetite.

Kuai Ren, on the other hand, trained nonstop. He had been training every day since learning that the Lord had declared war on Wado Eighteen, determined to cut off his enemy’s head. Consequently, he needed to eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of beer.

This brought to mind the excellent treatment Leech gave his people. The ”Grass of Life” guaranteed extremely high birth and survival rates for livestock, leading to a healthy animal population in Porcupine Territory. Even if a disease appeared, it wouldn’t spread widely. As a result, the Soldiers in training could eat fatty food at every meal, leaving them all full of energy.

Qiao’s eating habits were similar to Leech’s; he would eat a bit of everything, including meat, vegetable salad, and beer.

When the meal was over, a manservant brought out four cups, each containing colorful little spheres.

”What’s this?” Kuai Ren asked, confused.

”Miss Oak Pail’s latest creation,” Leech introduced. ”Ice cream.”

”Ice?” Gelan felt the chill coming from the cup.

”That’s right,” Leech nodded. ”She used various fruit juices to make different flavors of ice cream. Have a taste. You’ll fall in love with it.”

Kuai Ren was always the first to act, which was in line with his impatient nature.

He used his spoon to scoop up a whole ball of ice cream and shove it into his mouth.

”Ugh!” Kuai Ren abruptly dropped his spoon, clutched his head with both hands, and cried out in pain.

”What’s wrong?!”

”Lord Kuai Ren, are you all right?!”

Qiao and Gelan looked at Kuai Ren worriedly, then fearfully put down their spoons, not daring to try it anymore.

’This isn’t a delicacy, it’s clearly a potent poison! Didn’t you see that even the physically strong Lord Kuai Ren couldn’t withstand the pain?’

Leech said with a hint of helplessness, ”Uncle Kuai Ren, you can’t gobble down ice cream. You have to eat it in small bites, or you’ll get a splitting headache.”

’How could I have forgotten to warn them about that? I remember getting brain freeze from eating ice cream too fast when I was a kid back on Earth.’

After a moment, Kuai Ren released his head. ”My head was about to freeze solid!”

He smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste. ”But... the flavor is actually pretty good.”

Seeing the hesitant Qiao and Gelan, Leech helplessly picked up his spoon and took a bite himself to prove that it was really edible.

The flavor was much better than before, with a faint sweet and sour taste. Oak Pail had once again successfully captured his palate.

Seeing their Lord eat it, Qiao and Gelan dubiously scooped a small spoonful into their mouths. Then, their eyes lit up.

It wasn’t that the ice cream was extraordinarily delicious, but the value of being able to eat such a sweet, cool, refreshing treat in the hot summer was simply irreplaceable.

”My Lord, I swear, I’m in love with ice cream!”

”Haha, me too,” Kuai Ren said, picking up his cup. But this time, he only put a small spoonful in his mouth. ”It’s just... not being able to take big bites is so unsatisfying!”