Chapter 312: Lemme Cook

The nobles immediately dropped their wine cups.

They were all like, "No, no, no, no!"

Most of the smaller, cowardly nobles immediately panicked. They felt like they were being falsely accused of treason by a madman, and they immediately got up from their seats and started protesting.

"No, Lord Adrian! We never did that!" one of them yelled in pure panic. "We literally wrote letters to your financial advisor stating that we cannot trade cattle right now due to the unknown plague! And he formally sent us a stamped letter back agreeing to halt all cattle imports!"

Adrian stopped glaring at him instantly, his expression softening.

"Oh."

He just stood there in the middle of the quiet tent, feeling like an absolute idiot.

"Oh," he repeated softly. "Then it's my bad. I just misunderstood a little bit because I honestly didn't know what was going on with the trades since I'm so busy."

The other nobles collectively let out a massive sigh of relief. Because no one in this tent really wanted to be on Adrian's bad books, not even Frankenstein. Vaneria was someone he used to protect himself from other big nobles and did her dirty work. But now? She was just a marchioness in name and didn't even have her own land or army.

All she had left, was her general and that man didn't look too keen to serve under her any more.

With a complicated look in his eyes, he stared at Adrian who gave them a slightly awkward bow, feeling incredibly embarrassed by his unprompted outburst, and he just awkwardly walked backwards out of the tent and went straight back to the kitchen.

He went over to Claire, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well. Cassius already dealt with it. There's nothing to worry about, but I legitimately wonder how the rest of the Empire is getting their meat nowadays because I honestly don't think there's anyone who can provide safe, cheap meat during a massive plague."

He let out a soft sigh and waved a hand.

"Well. I guess Cassius will easily handle it. If he actually had major problems with the logistics, he definitely would have told me when I talked to him."

And then he looked at everyone in his group.

The soldiers had already bought all of the heavy sacks and the lard barrels too, stacking them neatly near the trench griddle.

Adrian stared intently at the limited ingredients, crossed his arms tightly in front of his chest, and just started to think.

'Okay. We have wheat flour, white rice, potatoes, onions, and some beef tallow.'

He tapped his arm.

'And I have my own salt that I can just bring out from the dungeon along with black pepper. The basic flavors aren't a massive issue right now, so what can we actually do with these?'

He thought about some of the easy recipes that he could make in bulk, but none of them were exactly top tier dishes that would boost the soldiers' morale. They were all just plain survival foods.

The only thing that he could do was somehow give it some flavor. Or at least, compared to the sticky, slimy soup thing that the soldiers had made before, the stuff that he would make was obviously going to be vastly better because he actually liked to keep the distinct textures intact.

But as he stared at the ingredients, he muttered to himself, which everyone standing nearby could obviously hear.

"I want to make something so incredibly good with these limited ingredients... I just want that dish to make all the hungry soldiers realize something. Actually, not just the soldiers… even the nobles."

He clenched his fist.

"I want everyone in this camp to realize that incredibly tasty food can be easily made even with the cheapest ingredients. They consider these lower-level peasant rations, but I want to prove them all wrong. You can definitely make incredible stuff with ingredients like these too."

The nearby soldiers didn't really look entirely convinced or overly optimistic about Adrian's grand goals, but Aria absolutely was.

Claire and Serena just looked highly doubtful. Because without large chunks of meat, even if regular meat was pretty cheap usually, especially cow and pork which were much cheaper than some of the vegetables and fruits. Without actual meat in the dish, they just couldn't imagine calling it a proper meal for a soldier.

But there was exactly just one person who believed in Adrian's cooking, and that was none other than Aria.

And she made sure to show that she believed in him.

She enthusiastically pumped her small fist up, punching the air.

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. "Can I also make it with you? What exactly do you plan on making, Papa? Is it going to be spicy?"

Adrian just chuckled warmly and shook his head.

"Well. I honestly still haven't fully decided yet. In fact, it's actually pretty hard to properly think of a great dish with such limited ingredients."

He rubbed his chin.

"I mean, I definitely have multiple basic dishes that I can easily prepare in bulk, exactly like I said, I want to make something that is really, really good. Something that no one expects to be done properly with cheap ingredients exactly like these."

And then he frowned slightly as he thought about it all..

While he thought, he also absentmindedly talked to Aria. "Well. Yeah, obviously you are going to be my personal chef assistant. You will basically be doing everything that I say. Can you do that?"

Aria immediately nodded her head eagerly, bobbing it up and down.

"Tell me what to do, Papa! I'll happily do it all for you!"

Adrian chuckled warmly.

He just wanted to coddle her at that moment, but he knew that he was in public in front of his soldiers. And he also knew that she could get pretty embarrassed and pouty if he randomly hugged her or gave her kisses on her cheeks when there were people watching them.

So he didn't pick her up. He just walked over to her and gently ruffled her hair.

"Yeah, let me just think for a second."