Chapter 118: The Food Truck's Speed Is the Fastest on the Continent! (1) "Haaahm..."
Three guards holding long spears yawned as they stared out at the endlessly peaceful plains.
Most centaurs lived a nomadic life, wandering in tribes, but there were also rare cases where they settled in one place and formed a city.
The three guards stationed at the eastern gate of Rakandra—one of the few cities on the Crudian Continent—endured their boredom as they waited endlessly for their shift change.
"Come to think of it, didn't they say guests from another continent are coming today?"
"So that's why the kids went out scouting since morning?"
"I heard they left early because they didn't want to miss the chance to be the first to see other races."
"It's been hundreds of years since any race other than us centaurs came here. I'm curious too. What kind of race will it be?"
"They said two races are coming together—humans and dwarves. I don't know much else, but I heard they only have two legs."
"Huh? Just two? Can they even run around?"
Hearing that, the other two guards looked down at their own sturdy legs with expressions they couldn't understand.
For them, who ran freely across wide plains on four legs, it was hard to even imagine running on only two legs.
"Either way, they'll arrive pretty late."
"The humans and dwarves will be the ones suffering. The kids bringing those other races over must be pretty frustrated."
They started laughing as they imagined the delegation arriving at a slow pace.
Then, the two who were chatting noticed a sand wind beginning to rise near the horizon.
"Did the kids come back already?"
"I don't think so. If it's kicking up that much dust, it looks like a whole group from another tribe."
"Whoever it is, they're coming really fast."
As their curiosity about the unknown something racing toward the eastern gate grew, the guards' expressions slowly stiffened.
"What? Are my eyes wrong?"
"N-no… it's too fast."
"Who is that?"
Besides the sheer speed, there was another strange point.
The sound reaching their ears wasn't the centaurs' distinctive hoofbeats, but an unfamiliar, bizarre roar.
"S-stop!"
Screeeech.
"Aaaah!"
"Save us, centaurs!"
With the guards' screams, the area around Rakandra's eastern gate was swallowed in sand and dust.
Driving the Mobile Cooking Facility straight in the direction Elios had indicated, Jinseo turned a curve near the city gate and slammed to a stop.
Sand dust burst up and hazed over his vision, and Jinseo waited inside the Mobile Cooking Facility without lowering the window until the dust settled.
"I think we can get out now."
"Hoo. That was thrilling."
Craid stepped out of the passenger seat with a satisfied expression.
Jinseo also got out of the driver's seat with a face just as pleased.
In Korea, even on a highway, you had to watch the vehicles around you, so driving this aggressively was impossible.
But where he was now was the Crudian Continent, where there were no vehicles at all besides the food truck.
With nothing else to worry about as he focused only on increasing speed across the vast plains, Jinseo's face was faintly flushed.
The ride had been bumpy the whole time since it wasn't a paved road, but Jinseo liked it even more because he could savor the off-road feel.
"Um… hello?"
Jinseo carefully approached the centaur guards, who were pressed against the wall and trembling.
"So… this is Rakandra, right?"
When Jinseo said the city name he had heard from the envoys, the three guards nodded repeatedly.
"Elios-nim told us to come this way."
"E-Elios? You mean that kid who went out this morning to greet the delegation?"
"Then you are… h-humans?"
"Yes, that's right."
"And the man standing next to you is… human too?"
The guards couldn't help but marvel when they saw Craid.
They had imagined weak lower bodies with only two legs, but what they saw was nothing like their expectations.
Even the contour of the pants hugging his muscles made it easy to guess how strong his body was.
"Sorry for startling you. It's been a while since I enjoyed speed. I was worried it might have been rude."
"N-no. Not at all!"
"Absolutely not—you don't need to apologize!"
Looking up at Craid—well over two meters tall—the guards denied it strongly, unable to take their eyes off his forearms where veins stood out.
"More importantly, what did you do to come here that fast?"
What shocked them most was the insane speed the Mobile Cooking Facility had shown.
The food truck that had rushed toward Rakandra at an overwhelming speed had, by its very existence, knocked the guards' spirits right out of them.
"It's just that this food truck is fast."
Jinseo lightly knocked the front windshield of the food truck with his fist.
"How is it? At this speed, can we earn your approval?"
To centaurs, speed was the greatest virtue.
Filled with anticipation about how well the food truck's speed would land with another race, Jinseo watched the guards' reactions.
"To run that fast on four wheels instead of four legs..."
"So there really was something that could run faster than us..."
"To cross the land that fast without running yourself… other races really are different!"
The guards stared at the Mobile Cooking Facility with admiring eyes and exclaimed in awe.
Watching them, Jinseo stood behind and scratched the back of his head.
All I did was use the Nitro Booster twice. I didn't think they'd like it this much…
After the small commotion caused by the food truck's arrival ended, countless centaurs flooded toward the eastern gate.
In front of them, the three guards enthusiastically described just how fast the food truck had been when it came with the Nitro Booster on, using both hand gestures and stamping feet.
When the centaurs reacted with disbelief—true to a people proud of their speed—Jinseo climbed back into the Mobile Cooking Facility, activated the Nitro Booster again, and took off.
He dashed without slowing to near the horizon, then activated the Nitro Booster once more and returned to the eastern gate. Thunderous applause and cheers rained down on him.
It was speed enough to amaze even Rakandra's representative, who had come with the citizens.
As a result, the moment Jinseo arrived in Rakandra driving the food truck, he instantly became a centaur celebrity.
The centaurs bombarded him with questions about the food truck, and Jinseo had to keep repeating the same answers in a cold sweat until the centaur envoys and the delegation arrived belatedly.
In that warm, lively atmosphere, a banquet to welcome the delegation was held in Rakandra's central plaza.
"Wow… meat can taste like this."
"This isn't even comparable to what we ate before."
"It's the same meat, but the cooking method makes such a difference… other races are amazing at cooking too."
Crackle, crackle.
Gathered around the huge bonfire blazing in the middle of the central plaza, the centaurs devoured perfectly grilled meat, enjoying the banquet to the fullest.
Together with the other races—humans and dwarves—they enjoyed bunsik and various dishes Jinseo cooked in the Mobile Cooking Facility.
"Jinseo-nim! It's really delicious!"
"The other bunsik are really good too… as expected of Uncle Jinseo."
Amid the centaurs' endless praise, Jinseo smiled warmly and kept grilling meat.
At first, to welcome the other races from far away, the centaur side prepared barbecue.
The delegation ate the centaurs' wild, hearty meat dishes with enjoyment, but they couldn't hide their disappointment.
Their palates had been raised by Jinseo's bunsik and various dishes.
But if they picked at the food the centaur side had earnestly prepared, that would be rude.
The delegation stared at Jinseo, and Jinseo asked the centaur side for permission, then remade the barbecue with various seasonings and sauces and served it again.
"So it can become even more delicious… we were lacking."
"Our side almost feels sorry—this is that good…"
After tasting Jinseo's barbecue, the centaurs kept giving him thumbs-up—not only for his speed, but for his outstanding cooking skill.
Jinseo praised them back, saying, "It worked even better because your meat is good."
In truth, the meat the centaur side provided was better than what he had on the Francia Continent, to the point Jinseo said he wished he could buy it in bulk.
Good thing I prepared seasonings and sauces that would pair well.
Jinseo had guessed that the centaurs of the Crudian Continent lived like nomads, and expected their cooking to be similar.
But he worried they might be lacking in seasonings and sauces, so he prepared in advance—and that prediction was exactly right.
Jinseo didn't stop there. He brought out the trump card he had been keeping hidden.
A representative dish of Korean cuisine loved by many across both East and West—
Bulgogi.
The delegation members, who had been eating Jinseo's bunsik through the Mobile Cooking Facility all along, couldn't help but fall into Jinseo's "magic of flavor" once again.
To the point they complained about why he had only brought out bulgogi now.
"Jinseo, you… you're a nasty man! You kept something this delicious hidden away!"
"Hahaha, I'm sorry. I've been researching whether I could get the flavor I wanted with meat from the Francia Continent. I only recently succeeded in reproducing something close to the original taste, so I finally served it."
"Well, it's delicious, so I'll forgive you!"
Duke Layton, attending as the human-side representative, picked up a large piece of bulgogi soaked with rich juices and popped it into his mouth.
"It pairs well with our dwarf-made beer too. I'm happy to learn another dish to go with alcohol!"
"And it pairs well with centaur liquor too."
"At first it felt unfamiliar, but the more I drink it, the better it gets. It has a flavor completely different from beer, and that charm is quite something."
If centaurs were serious about speed, dwarves were a race serious about alcohol.
When the dwarves boldly drank the alcohol made from livestock milk—common in nomadic culture—the centaurs were delighted and kept offering more.
"Come on! Don't just make food for us—have a drink too!"
Naturally, they offered alcohol to Jinseo as well.
As he always did, Jinseo politely refused, adding that he couldn't drink because he had to drive the Mobile Cooking Facility.
"If I drive a fast food truck while I'm drunk… I don't know what I might crash into."
"T-that would be a problem! It must not happen!"
"You have to drive something that fast with a clear head. Y-yes, you're right!"
Having witnessed the food truck's speed with their own eyes, the centaurs didn't feel any regret at Jinseo's refusal.
Glug, glug.
"One more barrel!"
"Me too! This isn't enough!"
When the dwarves started drinking straight from whole barrels, even Hayward—who boasted a tolerance not inferior to dwarves—joined in, and the atmosphere grew even more heated.
Watching the three races mingle together and enjoy the banquet, Jinseo kept grilling meat and making bunsik.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
Only then did Jinseo realize that someone among the delegation hadn't been in sight for a while.
"Where is the Headmaster?"
"He went over there a long time ago."
In response to Jinseo's question, Geshtain pointed—beer in hand—toward a distant building.
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