Mage And Wolf
Chapter 138

Chapter 138: Chapter 138

Once he recovers from acute embarrassment, Jun begs us to come to the Sect as Chefs.

"Just for a weekend" he pleads "There’s a major festival coming up in a few days and we’re trying to impress the other light sects into giving us lead of the alliance"

"I do like festivals" I tell Karl with an interested smile.

"It’s not like we had grand plans" Karl agrees. "We’ve got enough packed for a weekend, give me ten minutes to go recover it from where we stored it"

"Let me change quickly" I instruct, moving into the woods and shadow melding to change into a black blouse with red dragons embroidered on the long bell sleeves. Paired with flare leg black leather pants, a red silk scarf tied around my waist and lace up biker boots on my feet I feel I am looking good enough to meet new people.

Jun nods excitedly when I return "Thank you both so much for coming. The sect master will be thrilled to have a master chef of your caliber."

I snicker at the master chef comment, as I haven’t even finished half of the recipes in the ’potential apprentices introduction to cooking’ as Song described his work in the foreword. If only he knew what he was missing.

Come to think of it, that evil Song knew how to cook all along and just let everyone suffer bland food. I wonder if that’s why he kept locking the maids out? Was he cooking for himself and letting the others suffer? An immortal only actually needs to eat a few times a month and I mostly had tea with him.

He’s getting a piece of my mind next time I see him.

Karl soon returns with my backpack, the special tent included and a duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Good to go. Kindly don’t tell anyone we’ve set up our hunting camp in this area, don’t want them spooking off the game." Karl instructs, tying something into my hair. I’ll find out what later, Karl usually has decent taste.

Jun nods and we take off through the woods. The Sacred Thunder Sect is two mountains over in this range, relatively close for cultivators and we’re there by evening.

"Elder, I have found a master chef for the formal dinners to impress the other Sect Masters." He greets the Elder at the gate. Security is kept tight here, I wonder if it’s the upcoming festival or because of what we did to the Golden Fields?

"Bring him to meet the head chef then" the Elder says, looking over Karl.

"The Young Miss is the chef, Elder." Jun corrects.

"Young Miss, as in the owner of the True Transmission Token we tracked arriving in this world not long ago?" The Elder asks.

"One and the same" I nod

"Cooking of another world is something that I must see. Jun, fetch a replacement guard. Scratch that, you’re on guard duty until I send a replacement" The Elder instructs, leading us into the sect.

He leads us straight through into the inner Sect grounds, which surprises me quite a bit, that’s usually off limits territory to outsiders. Stopping at a pagoda’s door he knocks, waiting on whoever is inside.

"Come in, who have you brought to the inner Sect Elder Choi?"

"Sect Master Qin, this is the True Transmission Token holder we tracked entering the world not long ago. The one called Young Miss. She is a Master Chef from another Realm, and disciple Jun got her to agree to cook for the Sect Master’s Banquet"

Sect Master’s Banquet? They’re going all out to impress with my cooking.

"Master Chef, might I try your cooking in advance and see if it matches my pallette?" Sect Master Qin asks politely.

"Certainly, do you have a favorite dish?"

"Once, a traveler from Drakor made me crispy duck. Do you know the recipe?" he sounds hopeful.

Do I know it? The Pack loves it, we made it twice a week. It’s ingrained in my brain. Plus, I know of a mystic cooking recipe for it, as well as sage stuffing.

"In fact I do, Sect Master, it is a favorite of my family" Karl smiles at that, knowing what I mean.

"I have everything but the duck itself, do you have one handy? A grade 2 or 3 duck like monster would also do as well."

"We have grade 1 duck beasts if that will suffice?" Elder Choi asks.

"Perfect, bring me the duck while I get started on the side dishes."

"You must work hard not to gain weight when she’s cooking. It will leave you fat and happy, looking only for a place to nap" Karl jokes.

"Speaking of which" I start

"I grabbed the good velour cushion, don’t you worry" Karl finishes my thought and the Sect Master laughs.

"You two must spend a lot of time together" Elder Choi says, coming back with a cleaned duck.

"Only recently, we just naturally fit together" Karl says in a light hearted tone.

"Now, duck" I insist "Any longer and it will mess up the timing"

The three faces watching me cook remind me of puppies waiting on a treat. All they need is the ears to compete the effect. Not a one looks away while I cook, they’re all enraptured by the process.

"I’m certain she was supposed to be from a Demon Cultivators Sect" The Guild Master says at one point "But she’s just so gentle and domestic that I can’t picture it"

If only he knew.

"You can’t trust everything you hear, Sect Master" Karl smiles "The Shadowed Blade is far more than it appears."

I plate up dinner for everyone, generous portions, no need to go hungry. Even though it’s only a few hours to actual dinner time. Good thing I did too, the men positively demolish the food, Elder Choi going as far as licking the plate.

"Satisfactory meal Sect Master?" I ask and he shakes my hand in both of his.

"Spectacular. Those grumpy old codgers won’t know what hit them, and when they’re full and distracted I’ll push for alliance leader" Sect Master Qin laughs in anticipation.

"I’ll find you both rooms to get settled." Elder Choi informs us after dinner "The Inner Sect eats a late meal as a group, so someone will be by in three hours to get you for dinner"

"Might I suggest you let disciple Jun off guard duty and he can find us for dinner?" I smile, reminding him of his promise to send a replacement.

"And one room is fine" Karl adds "Our cultivation technique works best when we’re nearby"

Elder Choi nods, this not being entirely unexpected. "I’ll command him to ensure you’re at dinner. See you soon"

There’s no good chair in here, so Karl brings out the velour beanbag chair and we settle in to cultivate until dinner. It’s only been a few days and already we’re getting close to another breakthrough. Today is a bit slower than usual though, as it’s not safe to bring out the urn.

It’s not long before Jun comes and escorts us to the Inner Sect dining hall, where they have reserved places of honor for us at the head table. The disciples have heard about the master chef arriving for the Sect Master’s meeting and they’re all eager to see who it is.

"Greetings Young Miss, Lord Karl. Thank you for agreeing to grace us with your cooking. Tonight we have prepared a selection of the Sect’s specialties and favorites, all the most popular items our kitchens produce. I do hope you enjoy."

It looks like the usual fare here is similar to German cuisine. Sausages, cream sauces, perogies, potatoes, cabbage dishes, some bacon wrapped pickles wrapped in slices of roast beef that are simply amazing, and finishing with a collection of cakes, both chocolate and crumble types with fruit in them.

I can work with this, some of the dishes I already know mystic cooking recipes for, others I can emulate. At least it’s not the horribly bland meals of the Shadowed Blade Sect’s homeworld.

Tomorrow the guests start arriving, but it’s not until the day after that meetings will officially start. I’ll be cooking samples for Sect Master Qin starting with breakfast tomorrow, so I hope to dress to impress. The problem is, I don’t do it much. I dress to impress only myself.

I’ve gone through a half dozen outfits for Karl so far, and have a couple possibilities, but just can’t find the right one. Then I find a white dress with a translucent peach silk outer layer and sleeves with gold embroidery. The fanciest of dresses for the Forbidden Treasure Sect.

Unlike the silver and black one and its square neckline I’ve fallen in love with, its neckline is very wide, almost off the shoulders, the white base layer sleeveless, low cut and held in place with an enchantment, so it will show almost the entirety of the Death God’s blessing. I add black ribbons at the upper arms, hanging down the sleeves and a black tie at the waist, so the mark that covers most of my upper arm and now extends across my left chest and down onto my ribs looks like an accessory and doesn’t clash with the outfit.

Stepping back into the main room I give a spin. "What about this one for the first formal dinner?" I ask and cheers.

"That might not be healthy for these old men’s hearts, but you look amazing" Karl commends my outfit. "You should wear that style more often"

"I think this is the only one I have that style. Everything else is more conservatively cut, in an ancient Chinese Style or western in design. Those are the ones Lelou liked on me, and we went shopping together."

"Bring me next time, we will spice up your wardrobe. Something more than western pirate and Han Dynasty silks" Karl winks. "But in the meantime, I can make that in different colors if you’d like"

"That would be great. Red and black with gold embroidery would look good. And then you can make something for the final day?" There’s supposed to be two days of meetings, so I should only need three or four outfits to get through the public appearances.

I’m not certain I like the way Karl’s eyes light up though. Maybe giving him free reign to pick my final outfit was a bad idea?