Fantasy Writers 1860

On the outskirts of Lentinion, a manor is brightly lit under the night sky.

In the manor's large kitchen, a dozen chefs were busy cooking, while many more kitchen helpers and general laborers were wandering around.

"Everyone, cheer up!" Chef Harlan Downs exclaimed. "Tonight's banquet here is no small affair; it's attended by very important figures, ministerial-level officials! Everyone, give it your all and let's bring out the best in our team!"

In a corner of the large kitchen, a boy who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old was engrossed in washing a stack of greasy dishes.

He has been busy from morning till night preparing for tonight's banquet for those important figures, without even having eaten a single meal, working non-stop until now.

He was completely listless and only wanted to finish his work quickly so he could go home and sleep.

He apprenticed with a chef who was part of the team of renowned chef Harlan Downs.

Although I learned to cook from my master, it has been three years now, and my master has never properly taught me how to cook any dish. He has always made me do chores such as washing dishes, chopping vegetables, and cleaning.

My master always tells me not to rush, that he went through the same thing back then.

By working as a kitchen helper, you can become familiar with all the ins and outs of the kitchen. Once you've accumulated this knowledge, cooking will come naturally and become much easier to learn.

Although he remained skeptical, he was more inclined to believe it.

Because apart from always making me do a lot of miscellaneous chores, my master was quite good in other aspects. He never cut back on my meals or my wages.

I can send a lot of money home every month, and the other chefs' apprentices are envious of me.

I really hope my mentor can teach me cooking techniques soon, so I can open a restaurant back home, earn more money, fix up our house, and give my younger sister her own room to study. Maybe she can even get into King's University someday...

"Sharp! Cut this meat up, and then take it to your master to cook!" A kitchen helper carrying a large basin of meat interrupted his reverie.

"Okay!" the boy named Sharp replied humbly.

As the lowest-ranking apprentices, even kitchen helpers could boss them around.

He carried the basin to the cutting board, picked up the knife, and began to cut the meat.

When his gaze fell on the pieces of meat on the cutting board, he froze.

What kind of meat is this? I don't recognize it.

Having spent so much time in the kitchen, he had seen chickens, ducks, fish, geese, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and even some less common fox, wolf, and horse meat, but he couldn't recognize what kind of animal meat this was.

"It's probably some rare animal from a colony, like an elephant or a giraffe. I've heard my master mention it before..." He scratched his head, not thinking much of it, and started chopping away.

The blade sliced ​​through the meat with a dull thud, and the texture felt strange, unlike any kind of meat he was familiar with.

He then handed the cut meat to his chef.

He saw the chef pick up a piece of meat, smell it again and again, and frown slightly, but still followed the chef's instructions to use the meat as the raw material and start cooking the pre-ordered dishes.

However, as the cooking progressed, an even stranger smell began to waft out.

It's not exactly unpleasant to smell, but it's not exactly fragrant either. It's hard to describe exactly what it smells like, but in short, it makes people feel vaguely uncomfortable.

It doesn't even seem like an olfactory discomfort, but rather more like a... psychological discomfort.

The dish was ready very quickly.

Sharp couldn't help but sniff it again, and the unpleasant smell became even more pronounced.

Unable to contain himself any longer, he leaned closer to his master and whispered, "Master, what... what kind of meat is this? I've never seen it before!"

Even the experienced chef showed a rare look of doubt and shook his head: "I'm not quite sure either. Mr. Harlan said that all the ingredients were provided by the employer, and all we have to do is process and cook them."

After saying that, he used a spoon to scoop out a small piece of meat from the remaining part at the bottom of the pot and tasted it, finding the texture quite strange.

Having been a chef for so many years, he had cooked and eaten everything from common animals like chicken, duck, fish, and goose to rare and exotic animals like tigers, leopards, lions, elephants, and giraffes. But the meat in front of him was nothing like any animal he had ever eaten before.

Sharp mustered his courage and dipped a little into his mouth, only to find that the meat was very loose and not chewy at all, with a bland taste, yet it had a faint, almost imperceptible, fishy sweetness. No matter how he tasted it, he couldn't associate it with any known type of meat.

The two looked at each other, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

Preparations for the banquet were still underway when Sharp was asked to carry a box of freshly prepared vegetables to the warehouse in the backyard for temporary storage.

Frustrated, he pushed open the small door leading from the kitchen to the backyard warehouse, and a cold wind carrying a strong smell of blood rushed towards him.

The backyard was dimly lit, with only a single, yellowish magic crystal lamp hanging on the wall. By the light of this faint glow, he suddenly noticed some unusual marks on the ground:

Several drag marks of blood extended from the corner, leading towards the kitchen, with some small bone fragments and other debris scattered nearby.

It seems that the meat must have been brought in from here.

He followed the bloodstains on the ground, hoping to find a relatively intact animal carcass so he could identify what kind of animal he had just eaten.

If he had a second half of his life, he would definitely regret his curiosity at that moment for the rest of his life.

He followed the trail of blood and eventually came to a secluded corner, where he indeed saw many animal bodies.

The bad news is, none of them are in perfect condition.

Even worse, he immediately recognized what kind of creature the shredded pieces of flesh came from.

Sharp's heart skipped a beat. He thought of those strangely textured chunks of meat, that indescribable sweet and pungent smell, and the taste that neither he nor his master could detect earlier...

The color, texture, and feel of the meat, along with the bloodstains in the backyard and these clearly broken limbs...

"vomit--"

His stomach churned violently; the little bit of meat he had just tasted now seemed to come alive, wriggling in his stomach and about to burst out of his throat.

He finally realized that what he had just processed, cut, and tasted was not meat from any animal at all!

Overwhelmed by fear and nausea, he could no longer hold back and began to vomit violently, leaning against the wall.

He trembled violently, his face ashen, and suddenly sat up, screaming as he rushed out of the backyard, out of the manor, and outside, shouting at the top of his lungs at the vast plains:

"They're eating people! They're eating people!! They're eating people!!!"

His voice sounded particularly mournful in the quiet night.