Chapter 1: Vige Chief Appointment


    Ding-ding-.


    A single horse was pulling a small cart, moving forward. Each step was apanied by the sound of the bell around its neck, jingling leisurely.


    "Let''s speed up a little. Everyone''s going to be starving."


    Whether Dominic was encouraging the horse or talking to himself for having crossed the uphill road, he rambled on even without an audience.


    "Anyway, they all know how tasty it is, how did they all live when I was not around?"


    His chirping words were dripping with pride in his culinary skills and love for the people of the vige.


    Dominic was a stranger.


    To be exact, he was a war refugee. A vige that would wee a stranger with neither home nor temple was something that only existed in fairy tales. Naturally, Dominic''s life was far from smooth.


    [Get lost! We fed you and gave you a ce to sleep, and now you talk about money? You ungrateful wretch!]


    He worked tirelessly for twelve hours a day, but all he received in return was coldness, disdain, and being trampled upon. There was no ce that paid him the money they initially promised.


    ''Should I just give it all up?''


    Just as his enthusiasm for life began to wane, Dominic found himself in a small fishing vige, too small to be named on a map.


    [Do you know how to cook?]


    [...Yes, well. I''m not exactly a professional chef, but I can do quite a bit.]


    [That''s good. From tomorrow, help us with our lunch at the fishing vige.]


    The people of the fishing vige, Evergreen, were not affluent but were the first good people Dominic had encountered in ''this life.'' As the vige was primarily formed by retired mercenaries, the vigers weren''t particrly refined, but at least they weren''t hypocritical.


    "Why are you sote? We almost died waiting for lunch!"


    "What if the food cools down because I came too quickly? Then you''ll get irritated again."


    "True that."


    "What''s on the menu today, Dominic?"


    In response to the fishermen''s hurry, Dominic lifted the cloth that had been covering the cart as if inviting them to check for themselves.


    The cart contained two deep iron pots and four baskets.


    As if familiar with the process, the fishermen took out one basket, shared the wooden utensils inside, and stood in a straight line next to the cart.


    "It smells good."


    "Of course, who do you think made it?"


    "Haha. I can''tin since the food tastes so good."


    The middle-aged fisherman whoughed heartily was a muscr man, strapping enough to carry barrels as big as a child''s head on each arm. Though he was now introduced as the vige chief of Evergreen, he had been a reputable mercenary captain until a decade ago.


    The sight of this bear-like man holding a wooden te was quiteical, yet no one standing in line had the leisure to make jokes about it.


    They were fishermen who had been fishing since dawn.


    Sounds of rumbling stomachs could be heard from various corners.


    "Come on, Dominic, start serving the food!"


    "I''m starving!"


    "The wait is... over now,e one by one."


    "Wow-."


    After securely fixing the cart on the ground, Dominic, who had climbed on top, opened the iron pots. The scent of the food began to waft out.


    "Two pieces of bread each, okay? I''ve brought enough to match the headcount, so don''t be greedy!"


    The fishermen started serving themselves familiarly.


    They picked up two round pieces of bread and ced them on their tes, and added stir-fried vegetables and plump sausages on the side. The finishing touch was the soup. In small wooden bowls ced on the tes, steaming soup was generously filled.


    "Dominic''s cream soup is always exceptional, no matter when you eat it."


    Carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, and onions are sauted before adding roux made of flour and milk, and simmered until thick. When the ingredients are cooked through, it''s seasoned with salt and vored with herbs.


    ''Pepper is too expensive to use, but herbs are sufficient.''


    The soup, enhanced with a few dried herbs, hit the vigers'' taste buds just right.


    The frozen bodies of the fishermen, stiffened by the moist sea breeze, started to thaw with a spoonful of the creamy soup.


    "Ah!"


    Cheers erupted from various spots.


    Some fishermen chuckled at the plump sausages.


    "Is this what you made yesterday?"


    "Yes. I intentionally added a lot of fat, so it should be delicious."


    "Well... yuck!"


    A fisherman who dramatically tasted the sausage yelled in surprise.


    That''s because the moment he took a bite, the juicy fat burst inside his mouth.


    Dominic chuckled as he watched.


    ''Indeed, there are things that need to be fatty.''


    ''Things that are fatty are fatty for a reason,'' was Dominics philosophy.


    Now he could be called a master of sausage-making without exaggeration.


    Initially, he made a lot of mistakes.


    He made sausages so dry that they almost choked you because he didn''t add fat, and failed to remove the unpleasant odor, making each bite smell fishy.


    He also pondered what he was eating because he added too many herbs, and even buried sausages in the ground with tears because he didnt store them properly.


    ''But now, I can even sell this recipe,'' he felt confident.


    Pork is finely minced and well mixed until the fat content reaches 30%. A bit of chopped vegetables are added for texture and herbs to remove any foul smell. Then the mix is tightly packed into cleaned pork intestines, parboiled in salted water and dried before smoking. Vo!


    "Eh? Vige chief, you''re not eating vegetables again? You shouldn''t do that."


    "Ugh. If I look closely, you nag more than my wife. Lions naturally don''t eat grass."


    "What do you mean lions? Considering your age, you''re picky! How will you scold your grandchild if they are picky eaters?"


    "Mmm."


    After lecturing the vige chief, who''s a sucker for his grandchildren, Dominic checked the tes as he moved among the fishermen.


    ''Old habits die hard, huh.''


    Dominic swallowed a smile.


    Yes, Dominic was someone who remembered his previous life.


    He didnt remember his past life from the beginning.


    The memories suddenly came to him one day, without any warning.


    ''Ah, I should have bought milk!'' Just like that thought hit him, he woke up with thirty-five years of memories.


    Han Jeong-min.


    A 30-something average office worker in South Korea who had worked as a nutritionist in schools and variouspanies.


    Nothing changed just because he remembered his past life.


    As a war refugee with neither house nor temple, a meal that could fill his stomach was more needed than nutritional knowledge.


    "Ah, Dominic."


    Caught in a moment of reverie, he heard the vige chief''s voice.


    "What have you been up totely?"


    "...Me? It''s the same every day. Preparing meals for the fishingmunity and delivering them."


    "Then you must be free on weekends? You don''t even go to the temple."


    "That''s true."


    Dominic cocked his head at the question with unclear intentions.


    Conversations with the vige chief were always like this.


    When he first drifted into this vige and asked to be epted as a resident, the chief bluntly asked, ''Can you cook?''


    "Why do you ask?"


    "Its nothing, just that you''ll be the vige chief starting next week."


    Thud.


    The wooden bowl slipped out of Dominic''s hands and rolled away.


    The fishermen who saw that sight started to hold their stomachs andugh.


    "Ah, Captain, no, Vige Chief! How can you say it like that?"


    "He''s shocked, totally shocked. You think Dominic thinks he''s being teased right now? We should exin properly, what is this? Hehehe."


    "What are you all talking about? Suddenly I should be the vige chief? Are you talking to me?"


    Dominic''s eyes bulged out in disbelief.


    Vige Chief, of all things.


    Even if it was a small vige, the Vige Chief was a position that held the authority to have direct contact with the local lord, essentially equivalent to a king of the region. It meant that if you wanted to, you could hold all the vested interests that arose in the vige in the palm of your hand.


    Naturally, there were responsibilities as well.


    One would have to lead the vige in ce of the lord and, should anything happen, must promptly report it to the lord. Of course, there were many chiefs who also exploited this duty as a means to maintain their own power.


    Anyway, it was not a position that Dominic, who had only settled in the vige for a mere year and was around twenty years old, could take on.


    "It''s no big deal. Just attend the vige chief meeting held at the Lord''s castle once a month."


    "......"


    "Just don''t fall asleep there, okay? Small viges like ours, Evergreen, don''t even get a say. Honestly, I can''t even understand what the nobles are talking about."


    "So you want me to do it because going to the meeting once a month is bothersome for you?"


    "Well... No, not exactly like that, but... Hehehe."


    The muscr vige chief let out an awkwardugh.


    Then, the former deputymander of a mercenary group, who was now a fisherman, started to shake his head and speak up.


    "Look, just be honest. It''s bothersome, yes, butst time they said some of the chiefs are illiterate so it''s making the meeting difficult, and told us to learn to read within three months. Dominic, you know this. Our vige chief is not the kind to study when told to."


    "Hey! Why would you say that!"


    "Eventually, everyone will find out anyway. Better to spill the beans now than feel embarrassedter, right?"


    "Is that so?"


    "Think about it. If Dominicter finds out we dumped this bothersome task on him and rebels or runs away, then what? Are we going to find someone who can read from somewhere?"


    "Excuse me, I''ve been listening this whole time..."


    "Ahem, ahem. Anyway, now that it''se to this, Dominic, please."


    "So you really want me to be the vige chief just for that?"


    "Just for that? I''ve never studied in my life!"


    He was a nobleman with the knack for boasting about things that didn''t seem worth boasting about.


    When Dominic looked around, it seemed like the decision had already been made.


    "So, all I really have to do is go and be a seat filler?"


    "That''s right, that''s right!"


    "There''s really nothing like having to propose items for discussion or anything like that, right?"


    "Who do you think we are? No one even asks about that sort of thing in our vige. Think about it, Dominic. If even small vige chiefs like ours get speaking rights in meetings, when would the meetings ever end?"


    "Fair point."


    "Don''t worry about the travel expenses for going to the Lord''s castle for meetings; it will be covered from the vige''s budget."


    At this point, it seemed like there was no reason not to do it.


    A bit bothersome, yes, but if it''s only once a month, then what''s the big deal.


    With that thought, Dominic nodded his head.


    "Alright. If it''s only once a month, it doesn''t seem too hard."


    "Hehe, good decision."


    "So I can start from next month''s meeting?"


    "No?"


    "...What?"


    "The meeting for this month is the day after tomorrow. Hehe."


    Ah, darn it.


    He felt like giving up the position of vige chief as soon as he epted it.