The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 965: A Taste of the Sea

Then again, by the end of their time in the dungeon space, most of them would probably want to cling to Luca’s thighs in gratitude.

And surprisingly, it wasn’t just because of the pearls that still had everyone reeling and had certain families quietly reconsidering the kind of security they might need moving forward.

No.

It was because of something else entirely.

One more life-changing thing they were finally introduced to.

Dried seaweed.

Faced with stacks of thin sheets that looked and felt like ancient parchment paper, most of them couldn’t imagine that these were supposed to turn into the snacks Luca had been talking about earlier.

Honestly, they looked suspicious.

Flat, dry, and just a little brittle.

But then their great demonstrator stepped forward.

"First, a little oil," Luca explained.

He picked up one of the seaweed sheets carefully and laid it flat before brushing oil across the surface with practiced ease.

Not too much. Just enough.

The oil spread into a thin, glistening sheen.

"If you add too much, it’ll turn greasy," Luca warned while working earnestly. "So just a little like this."

Then came the salt.

Just a light sprinkle, nothing excessive.

"Okay, the important part is the heat," he continued.

Several people leaned closer.

"Because of the oil, if the heat is too high, it’ll burn immediately," Luca said. "So remember to use low heat."

He placed the sheet carefully over the flame.

"Then you turn it slowly so it roasts evenly."

The surface tightened slightly as the oil warmed, and the dark sheet began to shimmer faintly.

"See?" Luca said as he lifted one edge slightly.

"When it becomes a little transparent like this when you pull it up, that means it’s ready."

The whole process had taken only a few seconds.

And yet, everyone watching him had already smelled it.

That nutty, toasty aroma that had been haunting their lives since they got to know Luca now carried a new meaning.

A faint scent of saltwater that was rather intoxicating.

But before anyone could recover from the smell alone, Luca did something unexpected.

He lifted the roasted sheet and quickly sliced it into thin strips.

"Try tasting one first," he said brightly. "Before roasting your own stacks."

The strips were passed around.

Most people approached the strange snack cautiously.

There was a lot of sniffing.

A lot of careful inspection.

But one blonde who had been waiting hours for this moment had no such hesitation.

Ollie simply grabbed one and stuffed it straight into his mouth.

Frankly, he was probably the easiest person in the universe to poison if the food came from his good brother.

Because Ollie Mylor had absolute faith.

And honestly?

That faith was well placed.

The moment he bit down—

Crack.

Not a big crack, but more like a crinkle that was so light it needed to be written in subscript.

The thin, delicate sheet shattered with a light crunch before dissolving almost instantly on his tongue.

And the flavor exploded.

Savory.

Deep.

Salty.

It was as if the taste of the sea itself had been condensed into a fragile, crispy sheet.

Ollie froze.

Then his eyes widened.

In his mind, he was no longer Ollie Mylor. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He was a blonde fish swimming freely through endless waters.

Hallucination upon hallucination filled his mind.

To think he hadn’t even tasted it with rice yet.

Yes.

Rice.

Meanwhile, his good brother, the culprit of his mindboggling state, continued explaining enthusiastically.

"There are actually a lot of ways to eat this," he said.

"We can snack on it by itself, shred it and use it as garnish for other dishes, eat it together with rice, or like I mentioned earlier..."

He held up a sheet.

"...we can use it as a really great wrap for so many different things."

Luca kept talking.

But most of the others weren’t really listening anymore.

They were still absorbed in the strips they had just eaten, and in the mental calculations they were suddenly performing while staring at the stacks of seaweed sitting in front of them.

Because if they thought they had produced a good amount earlier when they removed them from the molds, then right about now they were realizing the devastating truth.

They didn’t have nearly enough. With each bite disappearing like air, how could that be enough?

And then—

The seaweed rice roll appeared.

Which only made their already grave situation far worse.

__

"Alright," Luca said once everyone had finished marveling at the roasted seaweed. "Now I’ll show you a really simple way to use it."

Everyone leaned closer.

Because if the snack version had already been that good, then whatever came next clearly had the potential to change lives.

"There are actually a lot of ways to prepare this," Luca continued while arranging the ingredients in front of him. "People usually experiment once they figure out their favorites, but for now we’ll keep things simple."

He gestured toward the tray.

"We’ll use cucumber, carrots, pickled radish, eggs, and ham. In reality, you can even opt to use less ingredients if you’d prefer that, but for now this is what I’ll be demonstrating."

The ingredients had already been prepared earlier, and now Luca began cooking them one by one.

"Some people even use crab sticks," he added while placing the ham strips onto the pan. The meat sizzled softly as it heated. "But that’s a bit more complicated. If we ever figure out how to make them, maybe we can try it next time."

Several people nodded with frightening seriousness.

Because if Luca mentioned it, then clearly it was something worth pursuing.

Meanwhile the ham continued to grill, releasing a rich savory aroma as the thin strips curled slightly at the edges. Once they were ready, Luca moved on to the carrots, tossing the thin slices into the pan and stir-frying them lightly until they softened.

Then came the eggs.

He poured the beaten mixture onto the heated surface, letting it spread into a thin golden layer before carefully flipping it and slicing the finished sheet into long strips.

"All of these are cut into longer pieces so they’ll be perfect for rolling," Luca explained.

Soon enough his tray was finished.

The ingredients were arranged neatly in colorful rows.

Bright orange carrots.

Golden egg.

Perfectly grilled ham.

Green cucumber.

And vibrant pickled radish.

Satisfied, Luca lifted the tray and looked around.

"Let me see everyone else’s!"

Several trays were raised.

Some eggs clearly could have seen better days. And a few ham strips had been grilled with questionable enthusiasm. But overall, most of them had actually managed to follow along.

Nothing seemed too unusual.

Well...

Except for the aprons.

Because Luca couldn’t help noticing that most of them were now wearing larger versions of the aprons originally popularized for children.

Still, everyone looked happy and more than a little proud so he could only be glad about that!

"Alright," Luca said. "Next we prepare the rice."

Everyone gathered again.

Even Prince Elior.

Truthfully, the Elven Prince had only started learning how to cook rather late in life, like just days ago, but right now he was trying his absolute best not to fail.

Because his little sister was watching.

Princess Marin had been allowed to use a miniature kitchen like Princess Nina, but since she didn’t yet have enough experience, she had been encouraged to focus on tasks that didn’t involve heat or knives.

Which meant that Elior had to handle the actual cooking parts.

Twice.

All while being observed by extremely trusting, glimmering, and definitely judgmental eyes.

So when Luca said the next step only required mixing oil, salt, and sesame seeds into the rice, the Elven Prince nearly sighed in relief.

Rahil, that giant shit didn’t even want to help because this was allegedly a chance to make his sister proud.

As if. He just didn’t want the immense responsibility, dammit!

But it was all good now, because finally there was something manageable.

Well, he certainly thought so.

That was before they discovered that even this step had its own complications.

Apparently spreading the rice required delicate hands and a surprising amount of self-control. The rice needed to be spread evenly across the seaweed sheet without pressing it down too hard, otherwise it would turn into paste.

Which unfortunately happened to several participants who possessed overwhelming strength.

Some sheets looked slightly uneven.

Others looked suspiciously compact.

Still, Luca’s tightly knit cooking class pushed forward despite the setbacks.

A few ingredients mysteriously vanished halfway through the tutorial.

Other stations produced rice that looked closer to glue than grains.

But in the end, everyone managed to assemble something that at least resembled a roll.

It was carefully made.

Rolled together.

And proudly displayed.

From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a glorified cylinder.

"..."

"..."

Then Luca said,

"We can eat it like this."

He held the roll briefly, making a show of biting on it directly.

"But one way to make it easier is to cut it like this."

With a quick motion, he sliced the roll into several bite-sized pieces.

"!!!"

Everyone leaned forward.

Because the moment the roll was cut, the vibrant colors hidden inside suddenly appeared.

Yellow.

Orange.

Green.

Deep pink.

White.

All framed perfectly by the dark seaweed.

But the appearance was only half of the experience.

Because the moment they tasted it—

Perfection.

The flavors layered together in a way that felt almost unreasonable.

Savory seaweed.

Soft rice.

Fresh vegetables.

Sweet pickled radish.

Rich egg.

And smoky ham.

Immediately, several people began silently recalculating the number of remaining seaweed sheets.

No.

Actually—

One particular Duke voiced the most important concern.

"My son, what are the odds of making more sheets? Don’t we have more seaweed left? And how fast does seaweed actually grow?"

Such perfectly valid questions.

Because if they only had that many sheets per person...

What exactly were they supposed to eat tomorrow?

Nearby, Ollie slowly turned toward one particular adjutant.

His eyes widened.

He batted them innocently.

Kyle Nox stared back in silence.

He had already seen that look coming from another planet away.

Because clearly—

Those seaweed sheets were conjugal property.

And they weren’t even married yet.

Oh well.