Chapter 27: Friend?

"But I still wanna know how did you get all of this magic fruits? Even if I personally go inside the enchanted forest it would still take me a long time to find one. And even if I find a magic fruit I still need to defeat its guardian before I get it." Father said to Gaspar while giving him an intense look.

"So, how did you do it?" question by father.

"Lord Hubert I didn't really do anything special I just wanted to go there since I know that I could find a lot of special ingredients that are not available in our city." Gaspar said desperately.

He said this because all of the spice and a lot of variety of edible plants that we now used and added to our farm came from the enchanted forest.

It took us weeks before we were able to sort them out and a lot of plants that were collected aren't eligible for consumption so most of them have been thrown out.

And since the magic beast have become more and more aggressive all the previous mission to collect any materials from that forest have been suspended. In fact, the escorting knights have to face off several magic beasts attack while they were there and every passing day and the deeper they went the more dangerous it have become.

Gaspar himself is actually one of the people that were assigned to collect these said materials since he was the main cook of the house but he didn't come there alone or unarmed as dozens of soldiers and 4 knights were assigned to guard them at all times.

It was thanks to them that the entire collector team was able to get out on that place safely and although the enchanted forest is a treasure trove of materials. It is also not easy to find the right plants that we are looking for a huge portion of what they have collected are poisonous despite having a normal appearance.

But thanks to that venture we managed to enrich the lives of people living here in Florentine city it also allowed us to increase our influence on others by providing them with some of the new materials that we got from the forest.

Although it turns out that some of those materials are already publicly known to be edible plants it's just that due to their different tastes people haven't cultivated them in large portions.

"Gaspar I know that you are dedicated to your profession as a cook but what have you done this time is too much." Father said seriously to him.

"Bu-But Lord Hubert I didn't really do anything. I wasn't even in the edge of the enchanted forest I was a little far from it collecting some of the mushrooms I have seen last time to use them for my new recipe but a magic beast suddenly appears in front of me and take my bag away."Gaspar said in a hurry defending himself.

"The magic beast have taken your bag? why would it do that?" father asks intrigued.

"It might be because it smells the food that I brought for my lunch. It's just a new recipe I come up with.... using.... some... of ....the .....plants..... tha...t ...were....deem.... as...not...safe."Gaspar said while his voice becomes smaller at the end of his sentence.

"You've what? Did I just hear it right?"Father said in distress.

"Gaspar Stoll" Father said in a solemn voice "You have been serving this family for almost 2 decades and your Stoll family has been considered. As the official cook for this mansion for generations. Yet you are the only person I know who actually behaves differently from your ancestors. So now, tell me and explain to me the reason for why are you using such dangerous material on your food."Father said in gritted tone but his face only shows calmness.

"I-I d-don't h-have any bad intention really and I'm not using deadly plants on my work I only use the plants that might cause discomfort to some people because I just want to find out what's the reason for it." Gaspar said in a low voice.

"While other people can consume this food safely but some people have encountered problems when they ate it I thought that maybe there we're just something wrong with the preparation that's why I want to recreate it." He added.

It seems like what Gaspar has been talking about is allergies. Since this is a medieval era with unbalanced development because of the existence of magic some are developed some are not. So it is normal for people not to know what allergies are, most of them thought that they just got unlucky once they got sick or they blamed it all on the food.

It would really be a good idea if I invest more in the development of science in this era. Not in the sense that we would make a computer or phone out of nowhere but to use the fundamentals of it to identify the problem and find a solution to solve it.

I'm talking about the scientific method by asking the most important question of all. The Why, "The why it happens, Why did it became like that and so on." and if I could teach this principle to a lot of people then it would become easier for the Florentine city to develop

faster.

I alone would not be enough to change everything here but if I did the first step on creating more people like me who have the same thinking as me and will solve problems in a rational way then it is not impossible for us to even change the course of the entire world but of cours-.

I was interrupted and pulled back into the real world when my father have suddenly speak.

"But what you have done is still dangerous and you even decided to risk your own life just to collect those ingredients, for what?"Father said angrily.

"Lord Hubert, I did it because the people decided to abandon this ingredient since it was deemed as unsafe just because some people got sick because of eating it and it is unfair. This ingredient actually tastes great once you mix them into your food and as a cook finding a good ingredients is my mission in life." Gaspar said determinedly.

"But this still doesn't answer our question on why the magic beast grabbed your bag it's sounds ridiculous for me that a magic beast will take a liking into the food inside of it did you perhaps have anything aside from that food." I said to Gaspar to distract my father's attention.

"No no I don't have anything at all it only have my food and some mushroom that I picked up as well as a small pot." he said quickly.

"Then what's the reason for it? and you even manage to take a lot of magic fruit from that place without suffering any harm, Don't tell me that you managed to befriend that magic beast." I said in a joking voice.

"Actually master Lucas I think I did make it my new friend."He said slowly.

"WHAT?" "HOW? ask by both my father and me in alarm.

"I-I don't know. It just happen and after that, it takes off towards the enchanted forest while I was left there in shock."Gaspar said while lost in thought.

"But it also went back after some time with my tattered bag in its mouth. It slowly walks closer towards me and it gently puts the bag down that's where I saw that all my foods are gone it's also the time that it brought me a piece of this magic fruits."

"And what happens afterward?" father asked.

"Lord Hubert, I-I actually felt attracted to the fruit that it brought me like my entire being is craving to eat it. So I just went ahead picked it up then put it in my mouth and the magic beast have given me a weird look when I did it. I don't know how to describe its expression but it gazes at me with an intense look on its eyes." he said calmly while narrating the entire story.

"What does this magic beast look like?" I asked since I'm curious to know.

"It's like a huge black cat with sharp fangs and it has a crystal crown on its head with big wings on its back and if I stand beside it I'm only as tall as one of its legs." Gaspar describes with enthusiasm.

Father and I looked at each other with a serious expression on both of our faces because there is one magic beast that fits this appearance and if we are thinking the same thing that means we are in danger.

Isn't this sounds like one of the greatest stories known to everyone? The black beasts of the kingdom of Aqua one of the main magic beasts that leads it into destruction.

"The Black beasts?" said by both of us at the same time.

"Oh no, no, no, Lord Hubert, it may have the same appearance as the black beasts that was described in the books but this one is really really friendly." defensively said by Gaspar.

"Gaspar Stoll, Do you know what you are talking about? Friendly, since when and did you not see the trouble it has caused us?" Father said patiently to him.

"B-But I'm telling the truth my lord it even gave me a lot of gifts. And when it saw me eat this fruit it even brought me to this place that's full of the same fruit. Though it dragged me by my clothes and I felt terrified the entire time I eventually found out that it just wants me to eat more of this and it's very docile it even let me pet its soft fur." Gaspar said desperately.

I don't know what to think about this situation if I just didn't know the truth I might have taught that Gaspar is a transmigator himself. Why the heck does he have all of this adventure and I'm here, stuck in the city. He even managed to find a friendly magic beast and at the same time discovered this kind of treasure inside the enchanted forest.

It is even a miracle that he have managed to come back without suffering any wounds or damage to his body. Although I must say that it must have something to do with the magic beast he befriended inside the forest and it has protected him the entire time, such a thing is not impossible but very very rare.

A Magic beast wouldn’t just let anyone to approach them nor take anything from their territory without any exchange in return and the only thing that Gaspar have on his hands is his experimental food that can’t be eaten by a normal human at all.

And I don’t think that such a powerful beast would take a liking to his dark cuisine and I don't believe that the reason he managed to befriend it is because of the terrible taste of his food. That’s unbelievable.

"Does it do anything to you while you were there?" I ask just to confirm everything.

"No it just stares at me the entire time master Lucas, and it allowed me to wander around the place and let me pick up some new materials and when I said that I need to go back it immediately guided me towards the exit so I just followed that beast while it slowly walks in front of me." He explains in detail.

"If what you have said is true then why is it behaving like that and did you notice something unusual on that beast? there's no reason for such a high-ranking magic beast to live in the edge of the enchanted forest." Father said in a grave voice.

"I don't know lord Hubert, but I think the only unusual thing about that magic beast is the black mist that occasionally appears on its body." Gaspar said carefully while in deep thought.