Chapter 76 – Magical Poison Soup

Mo Lan was planning to treat the young witches to hometown cuisine from Earth. For a gathering like this, hot pot was the perfect choice.

A slab of beef, a slab of lamb, throw in some venison too. This fish looked nice as well—sliced thin, it would be great for swishing in the broth. It was a shame there was no duck blood, duck intestine, or beef tripe… She’d grab a large beef bone to simmer into a clear broth base. The spicy red oil base absolutely needed dried red chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and plenty of garlic. Then a mildly spicy tomato broth base—if the base was simmered well, you didn’t even need dipping sauce… She’d need some vegetables too: winter melon, mushrooms, napa cabbage…

Good thing she’d brought two baskets, or she wouldn’t have been able to carry it all.

Driven by an intense longing for the Levitation Spell, she stopped and started her way back, finally managing to haul everything to the dormitory.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and rolled up her sleeves to get to work.

Listless and drained while carrying grocery baskets, but bursting with energy when cooking to entertain friends—that was her in a nutshell.

The last dinner invitation had left too deep an impression. This time, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph had all independently decided to arrive early.

Mo Lan was still washing vegetables when they showed up.

The first thing they did upon entering was inspect the kitchen.

“Relax! I’m not using magic today!” Mo Lan said helplessly. “I promise you’ll get a normal meal!”

“Ha ha! That’s good, that’s good!” Lilith laughed awkwardly. “Is there anything we can help with?”

Mo Lan didn’t stand on ceremony. “Washing vegetables, chopping, peeling garlic… take your pick.”

“I can chop! My knife skills are superb!” Lilith, who prided herself on being slightly better in the kitchen than her two juniors, chose the most difficult task.

“I’ll wash the vegetables!” Sylph said.

Vasida wrinkled her nose. “Then I’ll peel garlic, I guess.”

“Great!” Mo Lan handed over a small sack of garlic and a large bowl. “Vasida, these are all yours. Peel every last one.”

“Every… every last one?” Vasida nearly thought she’d misheard. “What kind of dish needs this much garlic?!”

This much garlic—the smell was going to be overwhelming!

“You call this a lot of garlic?” Mo Lan said. “If I were making a garlic-based dish, I’d need even more!”

Three faces stared in shock. “Was eating garlic popular in your previous world? There are actually dishes made specifically with garlic?!”

“Trust me! It’s absolutely delicious—it wouldn’t taste right without it!” Mo Lan said.

The young witches remained skeptical.

“Senior, make sure to slice the meat really thin!” Mo Lan went to instruct Lilith.

“Like this?”

“A bit thinner.”

“Is this okay?”

“Even thinner. The thinner the better!”

“How about now?”

“That’s it, that’s it! Perfect!”

Her senior’s knife skills really were impressive.

Lilith didn’t understand the reasoning, but she respected it.

With their help, Mo Lan began preparing the broth bases.

She finished the clear beef bone broth and the mild tomato broth first. By then Vasida had finished peeling all the garlic, so it was time to start on the spicy red oil base.

With nothing left to help with, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph huddled around the two finished pots, whispering among themselves. “Is this a rich bone broth and a thick tomato soup?”

“Seems like it!”

“Is tonight a soup feast?”

“Don’t we really need to add some mushrooms or potatoes in there?” “Moira said we don’t need to… *cough cough*!”

An overwhelmingly pungent smell erupted from the kitchen, assaulting their eyes and noses—spicy and numbing all at once.

Lilith covered her mouth and nose, coughing as she spoke. “Moira… *cough cough*, what kind of magic are you using now?”

Through the haze of oil smoke, a silhouette calmly stirred a wok with a spatula. “Just bear with it. It’s always like this when red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns first hit the oil. It’ll pass in a moment.”

“Phew~ So it’s not a magical attack!” Vasida crawled out from under the table where she’d been hiding.

“Moira, did you dump that entire basket of red chilies into the oil?” Sylph spotted a familiar, now-empty basket on the counter.

It had been full of red chilies before. The spiciest of the spicy kind.

“What?” Vasida and Lilith braved the oil smoke to rush over to the stove in shock. One look into the wok revealed a sea of blazing red, and their vision went dark. “By the Sorceress! What is that?!”

“The broth base!” Mo Lan said, tossing in the garlic as she spoke.

Vasida took a step back. A lethal quantity of chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and garlic combined together. “Is this really food and not some kind of deadly potion?”

“Of course it is!” Mo Lan was completely confident. “If you really can’t handle the spice, there are two other broth bases to choose from. But this spicy one is the true essence of the experience.”

A while later, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph sat at the dining table, staring in utter disbelief at the spread before them.

There was certainly plenty of food—sliced beef, sliced lamb, sliced venison, sliced fish, mushrooms, winter melon, crown daisy greens… Unfortunately, it was all raw.

The only three things emitting steam were three pots: one roiling with red oil, one with a pale white broth, and one somewhere in between.

The blazing red, oil-slicked one looked more terrifying than a potion in a dark witch’s cauldron.

Its fumes alone during cooking had been enough to bring tears and steal breath. Calling it Mo Lan’s Magical Poison Soup was not an exaggeration.

And yet the hostess of this dinner, Miss Mo Lan, announced that the meal was ready and they could dig in.

“Wait, we can really eat now?” Lilith still couldn’t believe it. “How are we supposed to eat when everything’s raw?”

Vasida’s entire understanding of Mo Lan was shifting.

This was the signature cuisine of Mo Lan’s previous life? What kind of culinary wasteland was that world?

But the egg fried rice Mo Lan had made before was delicious!

Could this be some kind of prank?

Sylph kept her head down, urgently searching for an excuse to slip away.

And then Mo Lan made her move. She picked up two sticks, pinched a slice of beef between them, swished it through the terrifying red chili oil pot, and placed it on the small plate in front of Lilith. “See? Now it’s cooked! Give it a try!”

Lilith: !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ

She hadn’t offended Moira recently, had she?

She hadn’t even managed to haggle down the price on her Cards!

Seeing her senior looking like she was facing a mortal enemy, Mo Lan sighed and swished a slice of beef for herself, popping it into her mouth. Her eyes immediately narrowed with pleasure. “Amazing! It’s been so long since I’ve had proper hot pot!”

This was a classic, time-honored hot pot base recipe she’d dug out from her Earth memories. Some seasonings weren’t available at the Academy, so she’d had to make do, and the flavor was somewhat diminished—but it was still wonderful.

After the world had changed in her previous life, she’d never had it again.

“It’s really incredibly delicious—spicy, numbing, savory, and it smells delicious. You absolutely have to try it!” Mo Lan urged once more.

She played no favorites, swishing slices of meat for Vasida and Sylph as well, pressing them to try.

Lilith, seeing that Mo Lan had eaten it herself, steeled her resolve. She speared the meat with her fork and put it in her mouth.

Vasida and Sylph sucked in a sharp breath, staring at her intently.

As expected of a senior—such courage!