Chapter 132: The Banquet is Underway

“At last, I’m done with these flatbreads,” George sighed with relief after finishing all the pizza dough needed for the feast.

For today’s banquet, George planned to serve pizza instead of bread as the main meal. You see, Knights are true heavy eaters; their daily training and other routine duties consume massive amounts of energy. Back in the day, some clueless people even equated a Knight’s food intake directly with their strength.

From a certain angle, that view was somewhat correct. While a Knight’s power mostly comes from resonance between their own path and the Multiverse’s primal force, a physical body still needs huge amounts of food to stay strong. Of course, Knights like Val, who can draw extra energy from the Upper Plane, don’t need to eat as much to feel full.

Then there are types like Viscount Bolerum. To keep up appearances and maintain his noble dignity, his actual food intake looks normal, but as a supplement, he drinks enough sugary milk to fill three gallons every day. Because he was so sick of drinking milk every single day, he used to drink herbal soup to cut the grease. Of course, now he has fallen in love with tea. Although sweet milk tea is a dark culinary invention, many people still love its taste.

As for Knight Squires, even if they come from noble families and are mostly young boys between 10 and 21 years old, they face tough training tasks and must help with daily horse care. Most importantly, this is the time when they are growing fast. They say a growing boy eats his father out of house and home; these young men eat almost as much as the adults.

To handle this, George prepared four 9-inch pizzas, each with a different flavor, for every guest. This is roughly the standard 8 to 12-person portion from before his transmigration. He hoped it would satisfy everyone’s appetite. Given the situation, the kneading work had to be done by himself, which took quite a long time. Although it took a lot of time, George’s physical strength made it no problem at all.

“My Lord, the mushrooms are very fresh today. There are also enough perch,” said the cook who had just returned from shopping.

George did not even turn his head and said, “Then prepare the mushroom herb sauce to go with the pan-fried perch.”

“Understood, my Lord,” another cook replied, taking the ingredients to start cooking.

The so-called mushroom herb sauce is a seasoning sauce made by mixing different herbs with mushrooms. Since they were serving perch today, they specifically chose thyme as the main herb. The taste of pan-fried perch actually pairs very well with mushrooms. In George’s opinion, it should be a perfectly standard dish. After all, this place is not like Bolerum Territory by the sea, where seafood is scarce, so George felt a bit like a cook trying to make a meal without rice.

Finally, the part that only he could do was finished. George could now let his subordinates handle the rest. He muttered to himself, “I hope today’s banquet will surprise those guys!”

After saying that, he sniffed his own body. “I smell like a mix of spices and smoke. Since the guests haven’t arrived yet, I’ll take a bath first! Otherwise, it would be too rude later.”

After leaving the kitchen, George spoke to the maid waiting for him at the door: “Rebecca, please prepare the bathwater and some clean clothes. I need to clean myself up before the guests arrive.”

“At your command, my Lord,” the temporary maid followed George and replied with her head bowed.

After washing up and changing into a formal suit, George headed to Viscount Bolerum’s study. Because both father and son needed to appear at the banquet together soon. The previous reception work was handled by Steward Craig, who directed the well-trained servants. As for the Knights staying in the Manor, they were also guests tonight.

“How is everything prepared?” Viscount Bolerum, also dressed in formal attire, stood behind his desk, looking at the crowd on the road outside through the glass window. George, standing slightly further away, could not see the street scene below due to the angle. However, the beauty of the sunset at dusk was not diminished in the slightest by the glass.

George said confidently, “Father, everything is going according to plan. After all, what is there for you to worry about when I am in charge!”

Just then, a carriage stopped at the gate of Bolerum Manor. Seeing the crest of the Eagle Iris family on the window, Viscount Bolerum said: “The carriage of Baron Capri’s family has arrived. I didn’t expect that for just a banquet, someone would come so early.”

Since it was a night banquet, it would naturally start after sunset. Although families closely related to the host would arrive a bit early, Chrispian came too early. After all, there was at least one hour left before the banquet began.

“It can’t be helped! Good food knows no age, gender, or status. Judging by Chrispian Burnham Capri’s personality, it is actually quite good that he waited until now instead of coming at noon.” For a friend like this, even George felt a bit embarrassed. Although this wasn’t exactly shameful, it was certainly not something to be proud of either.

Viscount Bolerum turned around and asked: “Aren’t you going down to chat with him? Young people always have many new topics to discuss. This is much more interesting than me sitting here watching the sunset.”

“No! I think he has no time to talk to me right now!” George shrugged slightly, a playful expression appearing on his face.

Viscount Bolerum’s face also showed curiosity: “Oh! Did you prepare a special program just for him?”

“No, I just prepared some snacks in advance! And they were not prepared for just one person. However, with Little Craig there to compete with him, Chrispian certainly won’t feel lonely for quite a while.” George said with a mischievous grin.

The appetizer George prepared for everyone this time was mousse cake with a unique taste. Mousse cake first appeared in Paris, the capital of gastronomy. Originally, Masters added various additives to the cream to stabilize it and improve its structure, texture, and flavor. This made its appearance, color, structure, and taste rich and varied, making it more natural and pure. After freezing, its taste was endless, making it the finest of all cakes.

Before George arrived, the entire Duchy of Nohan had not even seen a real cake, let alone the finest mousse cake. However, cream was already widely used in this world. As for ice cream, the texture George ate in this world far exceeded all the kinds he had eaten before his transmigration. If not for the limitations on ingredients, he could have absolutely dominated in this aspect.

Let alone the fake high-end Argendas; that stuff could be bought for 5 dollars from the White Eagle, which was roughly the price of two big boxes sold for 200 RMB in Tianchao. You can see how ridiculous the price was. Even specialized ice cream shops found it hard to make something this delicious. Of course, this was mainly because before his transmigration, Li Desheng was just an ordinary person—neither rich nor powerful. He never had the chance to taste real handmade ice cream.

However, in this world, he finally saw real handmade ice cream made with silver cylinders, ice, and coarse salt. The dense texture and the perfect temperature were truly fascinating. Specifically, it was like snowflakes on the tip of the tongue; the feeling of it slowly melting was intoxicating.

However, to make the mousse cake, George also used a Divine Arts item. Because mousse cake cannot be heated, he had to use the 0-level Divine Art “Purified Food” to ensure the cake’s quality. Although the Knights and Squires present today would certainly not have any problems due to their strong bodies, if he did not set a standard now, problems might arise later when serving other elderly people or children. In that case, George would be to blame. For the necessary coagulating additive, George chose fish gelatin, a common adhesive in this world. Made from fish skin and fish bladders, it is absolutely harmless and edible.

Long before Chrispian arrived, George had already made preparations. But as he said, these preparations were not specifically for anyone. Because Little Craig did not get along with any of the outside guests today, especially when competing for food. As soon as any of those guests arrived at Bolerum Manor, someone would go to inform Little Craig that his favorite dessert was in the living room. Next, George could comfortably sit back and watch the show.

The situation on the scene was exactly as he expected. As soon as Chrispian and Little Craig met in the living room, they started a battle for the mousse. Fortunately, both sides were restrained and did not actually fight. However, in terms of bickering, they were spitting with saliva, and it was unknown if any of it splashed onto the pastries.

One could say George’s description of them as “lovers who are always fighting” was very fitting. Besides, if they fought in the living room before the banquet started, the one who would really lose face would be the two of them. As long as they still had some sense in their heads, they would not do something so irrational.

Night fell quickly. Carriages were guided by servants to a special open area behind the Manor. The horses on the carriages had their mouths covered with sacks filled with high-quality feed. The servants were also arranged to rest at specific locations, waiting for a decent dinner.

At the same time, Viscount Bolerum and George left the study and headed to the long dining hall where the banquet was held. Although it was not a very formal banquet, the members present were either close friends or people with similar spirits. However, making the guests wait after they had all arrived was not good hospitality.

“Welcome to Bolerum Manor! Today is a celebratory dinner for our young hero, George Ouster Bolerum, to mark his passing of the Path of Questioning the Heart. I hope everyone can share this joy.” The speaker was Viscount Bolerum, who was now standing at the main seat at one end of the long table. Under the light of the crystal chandelier in the room, he proudly gave his banquet speech.

But after the banquet began, Ben Andrews Markin spoke up first: “George! You passed the Path of Questioning the Heart so quickly; you have really left us all far behind.”

“That’s right! That’s right! Getting such a huge benefit, don’t think one meal can dismiss us. At the very least, next summer, all of us will go on vacation to your place to train together and improve together.” Chrispian Burnham Capri started attacking before George could even reply.

This proposal was immediately strongly supported by the few outside guests present. Several noble teenagers stared at George with burning eyes. Little Craig, however, puffed up his round cheeks angrily, opened his almond eyes wide, and attacked the few shameless free-loaders in his sight with his glare.

Seeing this scene, George held back his laughter and turned his gaze to Viscount Bolerum. This trick of diverting the trouble worked perfectly. The few young men who did not think deeply naturally turned their eyes to Viscount Bolerum. Because in this matter, as the Lord and George’s father, his decision could not be refuted by anyone.

Viscount Bolerum felt both angry and amused by George’s move. But he was no pushover either: “You should ask George about this! After all, he is the one involved. Besides, I am very confident in this boy’s actions!”

Viscount Bolerum easily kicked the ball back to George and then felt like watching the show again.

“Alright! If you have time, you can come. But the gift for celebrating my passing of the Path of Questioning the Heart seems to be unprepared by anyone! Remember to make it up next summer! I won’t charge you interest.” Although George spoke with a smile, he showed that he would not take any loss.

“Understood! We will definitely not come empty-handed.” At this moment, Aldred Elfrieda Coleman, who had not seen them for a long time, immediately patted his chest and made a promise on behalf of everyone. Of course, the others quickly agreed as well.

George glared at them angrily and then threatened in a strange voice: “I hope your gifts will make me satisfied. Otherwise, you will only be able to eat black bread with pickled herring for the whole summer.”

Such harmless words did not seem like a threat to others; it was just a few children arguing. But for those young foodies, it was like the sky was falling.

“Oh my, George, can’t you be less cruel…” This was Ben’s wail. “Yes! Don’t push things to the extreme…” This was Chrispian’s protest.

“Look, we have been friends for so many years, can’t you make an exception…” Green tried to play the emotional card.

Among the wails of these few, only Aldred sat calmly like a fisherman on a boat. The other three, noticing something seemed off, pointed their fingers at the only calm person in their Righteous Camp: “Did you do this on purpose, or did you prepare something in advance?”

“Do you all think everyone comes to banquets hosted by others without any gifts, just like yourselves?” Aldred wore an expression of mocking them; in a way, the hatred was fully justified.

“Traitor! You traitor will get the punishment you deserve!” Ben, Chrispian, and Green shouted, demanding to give Aldred a taste of his own medicine.

Watching the scene before him, George shook his wine glass. He wanted the champagne foam, which was about to overflow, to settle down a bit. Today was one of the few times George drank alcohol. Looking at the familiar scene before him, he just smiled blankly. What truly made him tipsy was not the drink that was as pale as water, but the memories, and the affection that spread from the memories to the table. Laughing eyes, red faces, flying words, and funny expressions. Borrowing the fine wine, let us recall the fleeting youth.

This was just like George’s “youthful years” before his transmigration, when he was carefree and could do as he pleased. This might be the reason why George became friends with these few. At first, it was just nostalgia for his friends from his previous life, but later, he was moved by their true feelings during their interactions. Now that they have become best friends, it is not just a bond of friendship. More importantly, the relationships between their families have been drawn closer in this gentle way, like spring rain moistening things silently.

“Alright, stop making a scene! Let’s see how we performed at the Northern Fortress this year! If our Military Merit is enough to get a reward, then it’s up to you!” George actually offered a seemingly compromise solution.

Aldred put on a crying face: “Then I lost out big time!”

Just then, a wave of special food aroma came to their noses. Combined with everyone’s hungry stomachs, this shifted everyone’s attention away from this playful banter to some extent.

Under the Steward’s command, servants brought out the delicacies hidden under silver platters from hand carts. After the servants opened them one by one, the first thing that caught everyone’s eye was a plate of secret pickled radish, topped with crystal-clear, plump, orange-red grains—caviar. This was a refreshing appetizer.

Next was a beef and vegetable stew that had been simmered for a full two days. The creamy white soup was perfectly paired with a few chopped coriander leaves. The rich and fragrant broth warmed people from their stomachs to their hearts.

The side dish was pan-fried perch with mushroom herb sauce. The deboned and skinned perch flesh was lightly marinated, then pan-fried until the outside was crispy and the inside was tender. Paired with the fragrant mushroom herb sauce, it was a perfect match.

The main course was secret juice-roasted rabbit with golden skin, which could fully satisfy people’s hunger. The pizza, which replaced bread, received high praise from everyone. Finally, the meal ended with handmade vanilla ice cream.