One month later…
After a long process of wrangling interests, long negotiations, and rolling a few heads with local merchants and nobles together with Siduri, Marika finally obtained the right to use the ports in the entire Erdtree Kingdom. Because the original ports were not seriously damaged during the war, it was not difficult to repair them. Soon all kinds of merchant ships were moving in and out of the ports as they once did.
It's just that there is a new type of ship among these ships. The design of the Viking warship that Marika presented and its ability to travel freely between rivers and oceans were very popular among merchants and sailors, so many merchants were willing to pay a lot of money to buy a Viking warship. Viking warships themselves are ships that can be used for both war and business, so Malika is happy to sell these ships for some extra bucks to go into the national treasury.
It's just that the ships are now sold by her Royal Chamber of Commerce. Marika designed the Royal Chamber of Commerce as the only chamber of commerce in her country that has the legal right to manufacture Viking warships. The Chamber of Commerce will also give her 20% of the harvest as royal tax. Of course, the top leader of the Chamber of Commerce is herself. In this way, the technology of Viking warships was firmly in her hands. Before ensuring that there were no enemies of Erdtree Kingdom left, she could not let the technology of these swift warships be leaked to enemy countries so easily. However, she did not expect that monopolizing the Viking warship business did not affect the desire of merchants to buy them, so Marika's men found a new way to fill the treasury.
All in all, the tasks issued by the system have been successfully completed. And Marika was also gratified to get a reward from the Elden Ring gacha pull.
"Forging Stone Mine x3 (C), Green Turtle Amulet (D), Sword of Night and Flame (B)"
She manifested the mine at a relatively safe location away from her capitol, and after hiring some miners, the deed was done. The Green Turtle Talisman and the Sword of Night and Flame is stored into the Gate of Babylon along with her other items.
And now, Marika was sitting on a stool in the kitchen of the castle. There were only two people here, Bedivere and her. Marika was looking at the Sword of Night and Fire in her hand.
The sword is ornately decorated, with a hollow body and one side inlaid with azure colored Glintstone. Thanks to the magic circuit in her body, Marika felt like she could easily call upon the magic power within the sword.
"Master, this sword looks very extraordinary! I can sense that there is a considerable amount of mana within its design."
Bedivere commented while standing behind Marika. For heroic spirits composed of mana, it is difficult to avoid their detection unless there is something akin to Presence concealment.
"Yes, this sword is one of the masterpieces of the Carian royal family."
Malika turned around and replied with a smile.
"Is it another gift from Mr. System?"
"Well, although he is quite foul-mouthed sometimes, he is still pretty reliable when it's important."
Marika said as she put the sword into the Gate of Babylon.
"Foul-mouthed? How so?"
Bedivere tilted his head and asked.
"N-nevermind..."
Marika turned her head away a little. If she continues with this topic, her more "private" conversations with the system will slip away, and Marika is not ready to let Bedivere know her true thoughts.
"By the way Master, what are we going to do in the kitchen?"
Bedivere saw that Marika didn't want to continue, so he wisely chose to move to the next topic.
"Oh, that's it. I have accumulated enough strength recently, and I can summon people from the Lands Between again."
Hearing Marika's words, Bedivere smiled happily.
"Congratulations, Master. This time it must be someone important to you!"
"Well..."
Seeing Bedivere's expectant expression, Marika's expression became more and more awkward.
"What I want to summon this time...is a cook."
"A cook?"
Bedivere blinked in confusion at Marika's answer. He must have heard wrong, right?
"Uh...yes. And a tarnished."
"A tarnished? Do you mean the same as Professor Selian and Sir Diallos?"
The mention of a tarnished aroused Bedivere's curiosity. As the queen's personal bodyguard, Bedivere often interacts with the Tarnished. In his understanding, the Tarnishes were mostly groups of subjects who were wronged by the Greater Will but remained loyal to Marika. Therefore, in his opinion, the Tarnished are all loyal and good subjects who can be trusted.
"That's right..."
"Then this tarnished is also the master's former servants? And if he is a cook, so is he Master's former royal chef?"
Bedivere made this analysis.
"Uh... Actually, that's not the case. Most of the Tarnishes are a mixed bag of good and bad. There are actually very few Tarnishes with a noble background like Sir Diallos. This tarnished... can be considered a member of the rogues."
"I see...Master, wouldn't it be dangerous to hire such a person?"
Bedivere frowned slightly, feeling legitimately worried.
"As far as I know, it shouldn't be the case. According to my observations at my time back in the Lands Between, this man doesn't have much fighting ability and nor is he of bad character. The main thing I like about him is... actually because he cooks delicious seafood."
Marika blushed and admitted embarrassedly, like a child who was caught doing something wrong.
Bedivere smiled fondly at Marika who showed such a cute expression. She was so cute, and he couldn't help but remind him of the foodie and silly king who always shouted "Hunger is the enemy!" At the same time, he was slightly warmed by Marika's willingness to take his opinions seriously.
"In this case, there should be nothing to worry about. It just so happens that the royal kitchen is short of chefs who are good at handling seafood. Master, feel no worries to summon him!"
"Really! Yay!"
Hearing Bedivere's agreement, Marika smiled as innocently as a child.
After saying that, she stood up impatiently. Shrimp bro's cooking skills are among the best in the world, she always wanted to try it! Clicking on the system menu, a figure appears under the golden light of the summoning.
This man wore a rough iron helmet that covered his face, a rough shirt and trousers, and a pair of iron fist gloves hanging around his waist. At first glance, he looked like a street gangster. However, this rogue-looking person did not immediately panic and yell when he appeared in a strange place, but calmly observed his surroundings. This slightly improved Bedivere's evaluation of him.
"What the hell..."
Under Marika's control, the Erd tree poured all the information he needed to know about this other world and its blessings into his mind, which made Boggart complain in a low voice. Boggart then knelt down on one knee and saluted Marika.
"I am Boggart. Please to meet ya, uh, your majesty."
"Please to meet you, Mr. Boggart. Please raise yourself."
Marika kept her polite attitude and asked Boggart to stand up, which surprised Boggart. In his impression, he thought the goddess would be more arrogant.
"Mr. Boggart, Master has heard of your excellent culinary skills and hopes that you can join the Royal Kitchen and become one of Master's royal chefs."
Bedivere said on behalf of Marika.
Boggart glanced at the one-armed knight in front of him and muttered something. Standing up, he asked carefully.
"Me lord, I am just some no-name shithead from the slum. I am not really the bloke to go for when it comes to serving royalty. No offense but you should hire someone else."
After hearing Boggart's polite refusal(in his own sort of way), Marika was not discouraged and continued:
"Really? But my daughter Melina's opinion of you is quite high."
Marika's words shocked Boggart slightly. In Boggart's memories, it is impossible for himself to have any interaction with the royal family except today, unless...
"Could it be her?..."
Boggart's mind gradually recalled a night when he was still in his little shack in Lirunia. At that time, a Tarnished, who was tired after a hard day's battle, came to the small shabby house where he settled and asked to stay for a night. After accepting some runes as a fee, the Boggart agreed to the Tarnished's request. Later, Boggart had prepared a plate of grilled shrimps. Just when he was about to ask the Tarnsihed if he wanted to have some, he saw a mysterious girl with curly brown hair sitting next to the sleeping faded person, watching him quietly.
The Boggart did not choose to disturb them at that time, but waited until the next day, after the girl disappeared, before mentioning what happened last night to the Tarnished. But the Tarnished's answer was that the girl was his finger maiden. Although Boggart didn't say anything to the Tarnished at the time, he just felt that something was special with the girl.
Thinking about it carefully now, if that girl was a demigod born to Marika, then the hunch he felt intuitively at that time would make sense. As for why a dignified demigod would become a finger maiden for a lowly Tarnished, given that said Tarnished successfully defeated all the demigods, Boggart wisely chose not to pursue the matter.
"I see, if it is good words by the Princess, then I suppose it would be a bit of rude of little old me to refuse, in'it?"
Boggart struggled internally for a while, but finally agreed to Marika's invitation. In his opinion, Marika might have arranged some huge plan for all of this, and he was just a small part of it. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Marika's daughter to bring that powerful Tarnished to his humble little shack and then hire him as a cook in this other world. This couldn't help but make him feel a chill down his spine towards Marika's terrifying wisdom. Little did he know that Marika would just called him here because of simple peckishness.
"Good, we would be happy you on board, Mr. Boggart. However, although you have been admitted to the job, as Master's chief deacon, I still hope to see you demonstrate your culinary skills. I hope you won't be offended. This is just a basic job admission process."
Bedivere said. As the attendants who serve Marika, he has always been carefully selected her attendents, even the chefs.
As soon as he mentioned cooking, Boggart immediately became energetic. He rolled up his sleeves and said with a confident tone:
"Not a problem! I've never let anyone down when it comes to cooking!"
Boggart strode towards the food storage room and checked what ingredients were available for him to use in the kitchen.
Seeing Boggart starting to cook, Marika sent an inivation to all her acquaintances on the Grace channel, inviting everyone to taste the cooking skills of the famous Shrimp Bro.
Except for those who were unable to attend the appointment due to work commitments, Melina, Sellen, Jin Sakai, Ladybug, Siduri, and Achilles all arrived at the royal kitchen as scheduled.
"Hey! Master, Bedivere! Long time no see!"
Achilles, who was the first to arrive, waved enthusiastically and greeted them enthusiastically.
"Sir Achilles, it's been a long time indeed."
Marika responded with a friendly wave, while Bedivere nodded and smiled.
"Yeah - you haven't come to me for so long, I thought Master had forgotten all about me."
Achilles sat carelessly on a stool in the kitchen and complained jokingly.
"Ahem, the goddess is already so busy at work, and with the recent establishment of the Royal Chamber of Commerce, there is naturally no extra time. As her subject, Lord Achilles, you should be more considerate of the goddess."
Siduri, who was present at the same time, scolded with some dissatisfaction.
"Yeah, yeah yeah. Relax! Just messing around."
Achilles waved his hand casually and said. Regarding his casual attitude, Siduri only sighed in annoyance.
By this time, Boggart had already used his skillful knife skills to peel off the shells of the prawns he had selected. Jin, who spent most of his life in the Tsushima island and is familiar with seafood, smelled the delicious flavor of shrimps for the first time in a long time and said with anticipation:
"This new chef, Mr. Boggart, is he cooking shrimp? I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't had fresh seafood in such a long time."
"Me lord, I am no high lord to have you call me Mister. Just Boggart is fine"
Boggart said modestly while coating the shrimps in flour. The people who can be around Marika must be some high-ranking officials in the court, Boggart thought it was better to be careful when talking to them.
"It's okay, brother, we are all colleagues here, there is no need to be formal!"
The friendly Ladybug said with a smile, and walked up to the Boggart and patted the his shoulder affectionately, causing him to murmur irritably again.
"Speaking of which, Professor Sellenn, didn't expect you to be free to come over!"
Marika said with some surprise when she saw that Sellen was also present.
"Well...after all, I am from Liurnia, and shrimp is considered a national delicacy. It just so happened that the classes this morning were over, so I took the liberity to come over to enjoy some old recollections."
Sellen said calmly.
Noticing a change in the air behind her, Marika turned around and saw Melina stepping out of a puff of white smoke.
"Oh! Melina, you're here too. Come and sit down!"
Marika said as she greeted her daughter cordially. Melina just nodded and sat next to Marika quietly as usual.
"Still as quiet as ever."
Achilles whispered to Ladybug.
"Eh, it must be a matter of personality. I think she is nice."
Ladybug replied noncommittally with a shrug.
At this time, a fragrant smell of oil entered everyone's noses, and everyone turned to look at Boggart. It turned out that the shrimps wrapped in flour had been put into the hot oil pan. The sizzling sound of hot oil made everyone salivate.
After a while, the hot fried shrimps came out of the pot. Bogut simply sprinkled some salt and pepper for seasoning, and then served his signature salt and pepper fried crawfish to the crowd who could not wait.
Everyone sat at the dining table, picked up the tableware that Bedivere had carefully prepared while Boggart was busy, and were ready to feast at any time. But no matter how hungry they were, no one started to eat.
Marika noticed everyone's waiting expressions and knew that everyone wanted to wait for her, the king, to start first, so she quickly cut off a piece of fried shrimp and put it in her mouth so that everyone could start.
When the fried shrimp was put into her mouth, the delicious texture of crispy outside and crispy inside made Marika couldn't help but open her eyes.
'Delicious, so delicious!'
After swallowing the food in her mouth and wiping her mouth ladily, Marika tried her best to put on a polite expression and praised:
"Sure enough, my judgment is correct. It's an excellent dish, Mr. Boggart."
After speaking, Marika also took out 3,000 runes and put them on the table, which flattered Boggart standing beside her.
"My lord, this is—!"
"Just think of it as a deposit from me."
"Thank you, my lord, for the reward."
Boggart bowed slightly nervously. Being rewarded runes by the goddess herself is probably enough for a lowly tarnished like him to brag about for a lifetime.
"Everyone, in celebration of the completion of the Royal Chamber of Commerce. Let us enjoy ourselves today.!"
As Marika spoke, everyone began to enjoy the meal as they were relieved.
"This is awesome, man! Totally three Michelin stars!"
Ladybug said mouth full of food, his words bringing a sense of pride to Boggart.
"The whole shrimp is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. How on earth is it done?!"
Siduri covered her mouth in wonder.
"Em…"
Sellen didn't say anything in particular, but from her satisfied expression, he knew that she had tasted the taste of her hometown.
"Boggart, another!"
Without anyone noticing, Achilles had finished the fried shrimp in his plate, waving the empty plate and shouting loudly for a refill.
"Marika's t– I mean by the goddess, you must be starving."
Boggart was about to utter his signature swear word he was accustomed to, but suddenly remembered that Marika was next to him, and quickly changed his words. If he dared to say it, he felt that he would definitely lose his head.
With that said, he quickly walked back to the oil pan to prepare a new fried shrimp.
The reincarnated naturally knows what Boggart wanted to say, but she doesn't mind it. On the contrary, she felt like a missed opportunity to not hear his classic line!
'Ah, by the way, I'll secretly ask Brother Shrimp later to ask me how to make these fried shrimps. '
Malika thought jokingly, a small smile appeared on her face unconsciously.
This subtle expression did not escape Bedivere's gaze.
'As expected, Master really is the most beautiful when smiling. '
Bedivere thought happily.