Chapter 88

Ludger looks at what Favian and Aqila bring with them.

"Let's go to the kitchen and show me what you made Mr. Favian." Ludger said and took Favian and Aqila to the kitchen.

Darius, Hudson and Hugo who are interested in the item follow them to the kitchen. All of them have a different reason to follow them but they are all interested in the box that Favian and Aqila took with them. Two different container boxes that no one knows except for the three of them.

When they reach the kitchen, the owner, Caron is surprised by the people who came into the kitchen. Katarina seems to know that Ludger wants to do something and the others are interested in what he wants to do.

As Ludger took the two boxes and opened them. There are two different items in it. The first one was something like a compact white cake and the other was like a white pudding soaked in water.

"Hmm, It's not too bad for our first trial products. I will try to cook it and taste it. Owner, can I cook it?" Ludger looked at the container with a satisfied expression and asked Caron permission.

"What is that cake-like and pudding-like thing? Are those some kind of ingredients?" Darius looks at Ludger preparing the two items with interest.

It was the first time for Darius to see Ludger's ability. He never thought that Ludger would be also good at cooking. For Darius, Ludger was a unique and interesting person. That's why he tries to observe him and protect him in his own way. In the beginning, he did it because he fell in love with Katarina and wanted to impress her but he got really interested in him as he watched him.

From Darius's observation, that Ludger is someone who always does unusual things and creates new things and knowledge. In a few months, he has directly seen what Ludger did and the reports about him. Most people saw Ludger as a cheerful and good child because he always put a smile on his face and helped the people who needed his help.

In a few months after his arrival in the Labyrinth City, he gained a lot of fame and around eighty percent of females in this city became his fans. Ludger's artful skill of speeches and his beautiful and cute appearance make most of them feel admiration. Another thing that made them like Ludger was because of his kindness and giving to everyone equally. No matter what the other person was like (ugly or beautiful, poor or rich, stupid or smart) he would treat them kindly.

But even when he acts like that, not many people are able to know about his true ability. As if it was like what Ludger often said to him that he acting low profile, only at most around twenty people that might know about his ability from his observation. It was what made Darius get more interested in Ludger's true ability.

Darius was surprised when he heard about him from Hudson who made a report about what happened in the cemetery before. But the more he observes and reads about the little boy who has not started his apprenticeships. Or how Ludger seems to be able to get the interest of influential people in this city.

Like what currently happens in front of him as the Guild Master of the adventurer guild, Vice Guild Master of the merchant guild and the genius from the alchemy guild who often come and visit him. All of them are not someone that easy to meet with but he has a close relationship with them.

And Darius did not know why Ludger always underestimated himself like how he said about his fan club before. Most people in this city liked him because he was easy to talk to and unexpectedly too intelligent or maybe a genius. The unexpected part is that he often does some stupid things that make most people feel that he is always joking.

Ludger often praised every female that he just met even when she was an ugly, poor and stupid woman. It makes most people speechless about him because he will say that she was a beautiful woman. Or how he said some weird things to other people but when you seriously think about it, it seems reasonable but does not fit with the law. Or how people always tease him but he quickly forgets about it and smiles brightly again.

Darius could not see through Ludger's true identity but he believed that he was not someone who would cause danger to this city. Ludger is a genius who has a lot of talents. Rather than cause danger to this city, he might make this city to become more prosperous.

"This is tempeh and the other one is tofu. Both were made of soybeans and I think it will be much safer if I cook it. Oh right, Mr. Favian, what about another one?" Ludger remembers something and turns his head to Favian.

"I don't think it was a success because it smells bad and becomes sticky. I think it was rotten but as you told me before, I put it in the cooling item." Favian said in an unsure tone.

"It's alright. From your description, I think it was successful. If you bring it with you, I might be able to make something for you to try it." Ludger said as he started to cut the ingredients.

"So, what are you going to do with it now?" Hudson asked as he pointed at the two ingredients.

"I will cook it and try it to see if it is safe for consumption. I will prepare it right now." Ludger said as he took the tempeh out from the container.

Ludger cut the tempeh and the people who watching him were able to see the soybeans that were knit together by white things between the soybeans. They curiously look at how Ludger slice it. He marinated some in a sauce then fry it.

Then he prepared the tofu. Ludger cut into three and separated it as he cut the first one into cubes and cooked it inside a soup. He cut the second one into a cuboid shape and fry it. And the last one was cut similarly to the second one but he steamed it. Three different ways but only his mother and Caron who used to Ludger's cooking method able to help him.

Darius feels strange as he watches Ludger cooking. Because it was as if he had done it more than once. But he didn't dare to talk about it because he was afraid that Katarina would hate him.

"Done," Ludger said as he put the dishes on the plate.

They looked at the dishes and they didn't know what to say about it.

'It looks plain.' Most of them thought.

"Then I will try it first," Ludger said as he took the spoon and took a bite of each piece of each dish.

Most of them watch him eat and wonder about the taste of it.

After Ludger finished tasting them, he nodded his head and opened his mouth. "You can taste it too if you want."

Looking at Ludger's happy smile, all of them started to take their spoon and taste the dishes. They were surprised by tempeh's nutty, meaty and mushroom-like taste because they have know that it was made of soybeans. But some of them feel more surprised about how plain the tofu tastes like because Ludger told them to eat the steamed tofu first.

The steamed tofu has very little flavour if being compared to tempeh. But when they tasted the other two dishes, they found out that it has different tastes as if they absorbed the taste from the soup or oil. The texture is also soft and silky and easy to eat.

"I never thought it would taste like this. But I could taste a bit sour taste from the fried tofu. Is it normally taste like this when you fry it?" Aqila asked.

"No, it was because I use lemon juice to make it. If I made it with different ingredients, the taste and texture may have some differences but it won't make a big difference I think." Ludger answers as he tries to remember about the different types of tofu.

"So from where did you get all of this knowledge?" Darius curiously asked.

"Have you heard about the saying about 'More secret you have, the more attractive you are.', Mr. Darius? Don't you also have some secret?" Ludger said while smiling innocently.

"Hahaha, you are right. It's more interesting like that." Darius laughed because he knew that Ludger might also want to know about his identity and work.

Hudson shook his head because he was only the one who knew about them. But Hudson was really surprised because both of them surprisingly had similar sly thoughts in their head but they did not try to pry at each other private matters or rather help each other.

"Both of you seem to be happy, can you let me know what you are talking about?" Katarina comes to where Ludger and Darius talking and asks them with a curious face.

Both of them started to talk about another funny thing to hide their conversation to not make Katarina feel worried or angry. Hudson who looked at how the two of them acted in front of Katarina laughed as he felt that they were acting funny.

'As expected, the strongest person is a mother.' Hudson thought.