Chapter 14: Rainy day

Waking up this morning, the sky was dark, and it seemed like it was going to rain heavily. Is this the rainy season in Ionia? This was the first time the weather had been this bad recently.

I thought I should prepare in advance before starting training today. I started moving, thinking of first bringing in the laundry that I had hung outside.

After that, I finished things like checking the drainage facilities, organizing and storing food, and finished training that I had increased in intensity a little recently, and small drops of water started to fall on my face.

In order to prevent my clothes from getting wet, I walked home at a fast pace. But just before entering the house, I turned my face towards the presence I felt around me.

In the place I was looking at, there was a blue-clothed ninja wearing a mask on his face, and a young woman wearing a green mask walking next to him.

It seemed that they couldn’t find a place to stay here. Even so, I couldn’t leave people outside in the rain, so I offered them to come into my house. They reluctantly accepted my offer, as they didn’t want to get soaked in the rain either.

I have no choice but to take a break from work today. In the first place, the delivery business is not a structure where money comes out if you do it steadily, but a structure where you receive the commission fee for the completed request, so there will be no loss even if I don’t go out today.

But why do I feel like my house has become a lodging facility these days. But I’m not getting paid. I know very well how precious conversation partners are in this rural area. It might be an opportunity to get information I didn’t know about.

The weather isn’t good today and there are many guests, so I decided to prepare a special dish. I decided to use the pork that I had deliberately gone out to the market to buy when I thought there was too much wild vegetables when I set the table for Yi.

The dish I’m preparing now is Ohyangjangyuk, a dish made by braising grilled pork with various spices. It takes a long time to prepare this dish, so I decided to start preparing it now.

Put oil in a pan and grill the pork until both sides are golden brown. In the meantime, put water in a pot, add five spice powder, soy sauce, green onion, ginger, and garlic, and boil it. When the water in this pot starts to boil, tie the fully grilled pork with thread and put it in, then braise it over low heat until about 4 tablespoons of water remain.

When it’s all braised, grab the thread and take out the meat. Harden the remaining water into a gel form and prepare it separately. Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces, put it on a plate, and put the fat from the pork that I had cut in advance on top of it. If you wait a little while now, the fat on the Ohyangjangyuk will melt and the taste will reach its peak.

I called the two who were in the room I had guided them to and decided to have dinner together. I was already excited at the thought of putting Ohyangjangyuk on top of warm rice. I made a lot, so I should bring some to the old woman’s house tomorrow.

Ohyangjangyuk and various sauces were placed on a small table, and three people sat around it. The ninja-like man in blue clothes took off the mask he was wearing on his face, and the woman who followed the quarantine rules well took off her mask. Looking at the Ohyangjangyuk I made, she said.

“Did you just put the chashu on a plate? It would have been better if it was in ramen.”

Saying that, she moved her chopsticks towards the Ohyangjangyuk, where the fat hadn’t melted yet. I tried to stop her, but the man next to her was faster than me. He stopped the chopsticks that the woman was holding with his chopsticks and said.

“Wait. The dish is not finished yet. And this is not chashu, but a dish called Ohyangjangyuk.”

Hmm, that man knows something. There’s a little time left until the dish is finished, so I thought I should share some stories in the meantime, so I opened my mouth.

“What brings you to this remote area? Looking at you, it seems that you are a member of the Kinkou Order.”

The Kinkou Order is the most famous organization in this Navori. They exist to protect the balance within Ionia. However, they only adjusted the flow of balance in Ionia during the war with Noxus because they pursued balance and neutrality too much, and did not participate themselves. Then, it is said that the head, Master Kusho, died during the war, and the situation is chaotic.

Looking at their clothes, they seem to be members of the Kinkou, so there must be a reason why they came to this remote area. They don’t move for ordinary things. Especially at times like this.

And as I expected, the man opened his mouth and began to introduce himself.

“Yes, that’s right. I am Shen, who has recently become the new head of the Kinkou Order. This is Akali, who is currently training under me. We are chasing someone after receiving an important tip this time. Do you know the Golden Demon?”

Hmm. I had heard that name before. In the past, there was a brutal series of murders in the Ionian inland. The appearance of the corpses was so terrible that it gave people a great sense of disgust. Master Kusho captured him alive and he should be in prison, but you’re chasing that person?

If the Golden Demon is in this area, what should I do? If he catches my eye, I definitely won’t be able to die peacefully. The current head of the Kinkou Order has personally stepped out to catch that one person, so he must be a very skilled person.

It seemed that things had gotten bigger. Why are so many accidents happening these days…