The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

When we returned to the village dragging the corpse of the zombie bear, there was a huge commotion.

The villagers, who never expected us to actually catch a zombie bear, were each shocked, trembling, and shedding tears as they looked at the zombie bear corpse we had hunted.

They were immersed in the joy that the long, endless nightmare that had been driving the village to ruin had finally come to an end, and for the first time in a long while, vitality returned to the declining village.

But that wasn’t the important part.

What was truly important.

It was the fact that we were finally just one step away from completing the cola.

Now, the only thing left to complete the cola was carbonated water.

Unlike other ingredients, carbonated water was deliberately left until the end because even the slightest mistake in sealing it could easily cause the carbonation to escape.

In terms of actual difficulty to obtain, it was laughably easy compared to the ingredients we had gathered so far.

“…However, I plan to temporarily postpone the completion of the cola for now.”

Upon returning to the inn, I immediately declared this to my companions.

At my words, they paused and looked at me as if to ask what I meant.

“Why?”

“Didn’t you just say we were one step away from completing the cola?”

“Is there some kind of problem?”

“No. The process of making the cola itself is going smoothly. It’s just that I feel like I’ve been pushing you all too hard without considering your well-being, so I think it’s best to take a break for now.”

Over the past month, I had been so blinded by the idea of making cola that I hadn’t properly faced my companions.

A self-proclaimed chef forgetting about the people who eat the food is a disqualification as a chef.

“Ah, no. Even so, there’s no need to go that far…”

“That’s right. It’s a waste not to complete it after coming this far.”

“Yeah. We’re fine, so don’t worry about it and just finish it.”

“No. My decision won’t change.”

Despite my companions’ attempts to persuade me, my resolve was firm.

For now, it would be good to take some time to reflect and look back on myself.

At that moment, Pepper, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, asked.

“Um… by any chance, are you talking about the medicinal spring when you say carbonated water?”

“Medicinal spring?”

“Ah… so, the carbonated water you’re talking about, is it the bubbling water that stings your throat when you drink it?”

“Medicinal water? Now that you mention it, I’ve heard that carbonated water was originally used as a medicine for indigestion.”

“No. Actually, as far as we know, carbonated water is indeed originally a medicine.”

“From someone’s perspective, I suppose.”

“I think it’s a normal perspective…”

“But why is that?”

“Actually, my family manages the spring where that medicinal water comes from…”

This girl’s family?

Ah, now that I think about it, Pepper’s mother was the village doctor.

As a doctor, it was natural for her to know the location of the carbonated spring used as medicine and to manage it.

In modern times, carbonated water is typically made by adding carbon dioxide to purified water, but before modern manufacturing techniques were developed, carbonated water was usually obtained from natural carbonated mineral springs where carbon dioxide was naturally dissolved.

And the medicinal spring Pepper mentioned must be that natural carbonated mineral spring.

“It’s just a short walk outside the village…”

At Pepper’s words, all my companions turned to look at me.

Their expressions seemed to say, “Are you still not going to make the cola?”

In the end, I was the one who gave in.

“If the situation is this coincidental, I guess I have no choice but to give up on giving up.”

Originally, I had planned to postpone making the cola because I felt bad about continuously taking on requests, but if I could easily obtain carbonated water without taking on a request, there was no reason for me to refuse.

No matter how unpredictable the world is, I never expected that helping Mari would come back to me in this way. It was a pleasant miscalculation.

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Entering the kitchen, I looked at the well-prepared corpse of the zombie bear.

There are many ingredients needed to make cola, but the essential ones are generally the fruit of the cola tree and the leaves of the coca tree.

These two byproducts are so famous that they are even included in the names of well-known cola makers, so they couldn’t be excluded.

Only by extracting the peel of the cola fruit and the aroma of the coca leaves and mixing them could I recreate the cola flavor I knew.

However, neither coca leaves nor cola fruit are crops that are easy to obtain under normal circumstances.

Both don’t grow in the climate of the Kingdom of Eustia, so without a special distribution channel, it was impossible to get them.

But there was an even bigger problem than obtaining these two ingredients to make cola.

It was the component of the coca leaves.

As the name suggests, coca leaves are a drug.

Cocaine, to be exact.

Of course, the cola I drank in my past life wasn’t a drug.

I know that modern cola removes the drug component from coca leaves during the refining process and only extracts the flavor.

But the problem is that in this world, there’s no technology to separate the flavor and drug components from coca leaves, and I also have no knowledge in that field.

Of course, that’s normal. It would be strange if I did.

But fantasy has its own methods.

Although the scientific field is lacking compared to Earth, things that don’t exist on Earth do exist here, and that’s magic and monsters.

What’s needed here is the zombie bear.

The zombie bear, with its near-infinite vitality that allows it to recover quickly from any injury short of a fatal one.

Among its organs, the liver and gallbladder of the zombie bear possess powerful detoxification abilities.

If processed into a detoxifier, the bear bile of the zombie bear, said to detoxify ten thousand poisons, could neutralize the toxins in ordinary monster meat as well as any other harmful substances, regardless of whether they affected the body or mind.

And of course, that included the drug component of coca leaves.

After finishing the preparations, I immediately threw the coca leaves into the jar containing the prepared zombie bear bile to detoxify the cocaine component.

Then, after detoxifying the coca leaves, I boiled them together with the peel and flesh of the cola fruit to extract the essence.

Adding caramel syrup made by boiling sugar and the zest of a lime (the outer peel of citrus fruits, used to add a refreshing aroma to dishes) for flavor, it was finally complete.

Looking at the completed thick, black liquid, I couldn’t help but smile.

“This is… the original cola syrup… hehe.”

Even though I told Mari and the others I’d postpone it, I couldn’t help but laugh now that it was made.

First, to store the completed syrup for long-term use, I boiled it down to a syrup state.

Then, mixing an appropriate amount of cola syrup into the carbonated water chilled by Serena’s magic…

The clear, transparent carbonated water mixed with the thick, dark liquid.

Soon, the once clear and refreshing carbonated bubbles took on a dark brown hue, reborn as something new.

Looking at the drink that had finally turned completely brown, I was filled with joy.

“Finally, it’s complete…”

The world’s first cola.

I have now become the destroyer of carbonation and frying.

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Of course, just because the cola was complete didn’t mean it was over.

You can’t fill your stomach with just cola.

I quickly made dishes that would go well with the cola and brought them to my companions.

Clatter.

“Here. It’s done. Eat to your heart’s content.”

First, the main dishes: fried chicken, French fries, and hamburgers.

Of course, the dishes that go best with cola are greasy meat and fried foods.

The freshly fried dishes made everyone’s eyes sparkle like the surface of the fried food.

I suddenly asked Mari with a mischievous smile.

“Ah, by the way, Mari, weren’t you on a diet?”

“It’s fine. I just failed.”

“Ah… I see.”

At Mari’s quick and decisive declaration of giving up on her diet, I let out a dry laugh.

“By the way, Kurt. Where’s the cola? Is it not done yet?”

“Of course not. This is the cola.”

At Mari’s question, I smiled as if I had been waiting for this moment and placed the long-awaited cola on the table.

The transparent glass I had specially brought from the mountains for this day.

Inside, the chilled cola was poured to the brim.

Swoosh.

Then, I poured the completed cola into each of their glasses.

The sound of the cool, crisp carbonation that sent shivers just from hearing it.

Even just pouring the cola, I could feel an indescribable pleasure that made my ears tingle.

Cola after decades.

Even while making the cola, I felt it, but the moment I poured it into the glass, my whole body tingled.

As I finished pouring the completed cola for everyone, their gazes turned to the dark liquid, the cola, like the night sky.

“This… this is cola…”

“Somehow, this, um, has a strange color.”

“Um, well. I’m sure it tastes good, but the appearance is a bit…”

The reactions from my companions were lukewarm.

No, to be precise, they were more negative.

While they’re now used to my cooking and don’t react with seizures and rejection like they did when they ate the Sea Golem…

There’s no reason to cheer at the sight of cola’s appearance.

But I wasn’t disappointed.

I already knew what reactions they would have after tasting the cola.

“Alright. Now that all the dishes are on the table, let’s eat.”

With a confident smile, I announced the start of the meal.

And so, the cola’s fantasy debut began.

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