The Heir Who Wouldn’t Drown
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 20: The Cookbook’s Hidden Hunger
Rain whispered in the darkness.
The fierce sea wind had died away, but at some point a light rain had quietly begun to fall.
With well over half the people aboard gone, the sleeping quarters were far less crowded. As the cook, Julian had the whole galley to himself. He did not have to endure the pirates’ reeking bodies while jostling for hammock space on the lower deck.
At about two in the morning, when everyone aboard was sleeping most soundly, Julian opened his eyes. He sprang from the little bed in one corner of the galley and landed silently on the floor.
Since his spiritual radiance had become anchored to the [Silver Law], his body clock had a smaller margin of error than even this world’s most precise marine chronometer.
He checked that the door and windows were tightly shut, lit the whale-oil lamp on the table, then sat back down on the bed and took out Agnes the Crimson’s Gourmet Cookbook.
“The [Logbook] was right. I’d barely set foot aboard this pirate ship, the [Maneater Shark], before [Secret: Captain Oswald’s Unspeakable Affliction] began to erupt.
“Historical Influence: 4%. Everyone aboard could live or die by it!
“It looks as though the man-eating sharks and the pirates who drank that blood liquor are all part of the crisis. And it all starts with this cookbook and the [forbidden knowledge] inside it.”
Julian gently stroked the cover. It felt rather like human skin, yet somehow stirred a powerful appetite. He recalled what he knew about wondrous items.
“There are all kinds of wondrous items in this world. The vast majority are painstakingly made by [Artificers] of the Tower Sequence. A small number form naturally, through some unknown principle.
“Sinister [cursed objects], for instance, tend toward harmful effects and emerge amid mass casualties. [Relics] tend toward beneficial effects, embodying some great historical event or heroic deed.
“And naturally formed wondrous items are often stronger than manufactured ones. The Hastings Channel Fleet has a famous relic, [the World’s First Matchlock]. It embodies the power of a revolution in weaponry within the tide of history. It’s more powerful than a Rank 3 middle-Sequence supernatural practitioner.”
“Unfortunately, they’re not only rare. Most conceal their power, and you can draw on it only after meeting certain conditions.
“Naturally formed [relics] are hard to come by, so I can set those aside for now. Ordinary wondrous items, though, receive a [Judgment Inscription] from their [Artificer] or their first owner once they’re made.
“The simplest way to activate one is to recite that inscription.”
With the [Logbook] to help him, Julian, whose greatest talent was uncovering secrets, felt confident he could turn this mad captain’s scheme against him.
He opened the thick book. Every page held a recipe written in the Common Tongue.
The first was stuffed dormouse:
Fill a dormouse with a stuffing of pork and minced dormouse meat. Crush pepper, nuts, and herbs, mix with broth, and marinate.
Pack the marinated dormouse into an earthenware roasting jar and bake in an oven. Transfer to a soup pot and stew until ready.
He turned the pages. There was the porpoise pudding he had already encountered, followed by fermented auk, canned herring, pig-blood chocolate, Gran fermented dried shark...
The dishes came from far and wide, with no consistent cuisine, as though someone had collected the work of dozens of different cooks.
In short, this cookbook practically came with its own smell.
Reading the descriptions alone made him feel unclean.
But Julian knew these recipes were only a facade. The Common Tongue could not carry [forbidden knowledge].
He drew a deep breath and deliberately activated [Echoes of History] on the wondrous item.
A spiritual glow bloomed in his blue eyes, deep as the sea, and spread over the entire cookbook like a ripple.
A faint hum sounded.
Julian felt his [spirituality] drain rapidly, leaving an emptiness inside him. After a moment of discomfort, he shook his slightly dizzy head.
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