Isekai Shokugeki
BGM recommendation: Apron Boy, by DJ Misoshiru & MC Gohan
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Ding! You have taken the quest : "Cooking Contest against Flugel"
Reward when successful: An alliance of your kingdom with the Flugels against non-Exceed creatures.
Failure penalty: Revoking the false statement against Flugels and refraining from slandering them in the future.
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The Flugels unanimously voted to ban Azrael from cooking.
"Why nyan! I can cook nyan! This is most unfair nyan!" Azrael wailed, but all of her sisters ignored her and continued their discussion about representatives selection.
After that however, was a lot of shouting and cat fighting between them. Because they couldn't agree about who would become the representatives and what dishes they would make. Everyone boasted about being the one who memorize greatest number of recipe book. They had to decide by lottery.
In the end, they chose three of representatives, from the one who got the most cooking knowledge, and ten supporters to handle non-cooking task.
Azrael was told to do nothing. She could watch as long as she didn't disturb the cooking contest.
After that done, they flew down to tell their decision to Queen Illya.
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Hatsuse Izuna stepped down from the horse carriage.
Izuna had been picked up from the Eastern Union Embassy by carriage, and she went alone despite her grandfather Ino's vehement protest. She wasn't afraid of going alone. After all, the Ten Oaths protected her from any violence.
And if Ino came, her share of food might decrease.
She was greeted by that black haired Imanity girl who came to the Embassy before. "Welcome to our palace, Hatsuse Izuna. Please follow me."
Izuna followed the girl to what appeared to be a large courtyard. The courtyard was divided into several areas. The two largest areas mirrored each other, and they seemed to be filled with cooking implements.
"Please sit on one of the chair there." The black-haired girl pointed to an area with a long table and chairs. A sign hanged in front of the table, 'Judges' written on it.
Izuna wordlessly walked to the judge's table and sat down. And not too long after, a man clothed in red and black with white hair approached her, carrying a tray. He served a plate of familiar food she never seen outside her country and a glass of colored liquid. "It will be a while before the cooking contest really begin, so you can eat this first."
Izuna wasn't really hungry, she had eaten breakfast before coming here, but the delicious visual of the food in front of her made her stomach felt empty. Suddenly, she had an appetite, and she had to swallow saliva because her mouth was full of it.
In front of her, on the table, was a plate with five pieces of sushi. It was a traditional food of Eastern Union, and as far as Izuna knew, no other country had the same food. Not everyone could understand about eating raw fish with white rice after all. Why would a traditional food of her country be here?
Izuna shoved that question to the deepest back of her mind as she stared at the sushi, as nothing else more important than savoring this delicacy. She could tell just from appearance that the sushi in front of her was way better than the ones she had eaten before. She barely took notice when that white haired man gave her a pair of chopsticks and placed shoyu and other condiments beside the plate.
She used the chopstick to take one of the sushi, dipped it in soy sauce, and ate it in one bite. She chewed and closed her eyes, tasting the rice and fish.
Heaven.
The explosion of flavor made Izuna lost her mind for some time. She blinked and regained her consciousness, only to find that she had swallowed the sushi.
That was better than even five star restaurant at the capital! Izuna searched the previous white-haired man, wishing to ask about the identity of the master chef who prepared this food, but he had disappeared.
It seemed that there was a commotion in another area, and some people talking to the Flugels. She remembered her grandfather telling her to gather information and listen to the conversations. Any information she could bring back was valuable.
But which was more valuable? The reason why hundreds of Flugels hovering around above her, or the enticing four sushi in front of her?
The sushi, no question!
Izuna reached out to the remaining sushi, tuning out her surroundings.
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'Master, I detect a powerful being intruding into our palace.'
Illya received Caster telepathy and forwarded it to the rest of her Servants. Lancer went to check out the intruder, who bravely came through the front entrance.
Lancer swiftly sprinted to the palace front entrance. At the front entrance, a small kid with colorful clothes and red beret was talking with the guards. One of the guard saw Lancer and said, "ah, good that you are here Mister Lancer! This kid is saying that he wants to meet the queen. He said that he knows the queen." The guard asked, not sure whether the kid told the truth or not.
The kid had heart shaped tattoo on her right cheek, a blue choker, a pair of heterochromatic eyes, light blonde hair, red hoodie, yellowish green shirt, and blue shorts. He was wearing brown sandals, and his beret had club symbol motif. If one looked closely at his eyes, both his pupils had diamond and spade pattern. Other than that, he looked like normal Imanity.
"What? It's you kid. I haven't seen you since that game at the castle." Lancer greeted Tet, the One True God of Disboard. He gestured to the guards, "Let the kid in, he is someone I know. Oh, the queen knows him too, I guess."
Lancer signaled Tet to follow him inside. After Tet caught up to him and walked alongside him, he asked, "So? What do you want coming here? Want to check up on us after you dropped us here?"
"That too." Tet said, smiling. "But I have bigger reason. You are doing something interesting right now, right?"
Lancer grinned. "I see. So you come here to eat that guy's cooking."
Tet didn't deny Lancer's statement. "I envy you guys, eating delicious food every day. After watching for so long, I just can't help but want to try it myself."
"Yeah, but it's not like anyone can eat the food he cooks today." Lancer explained the problem. "We are doing a match, so the food will be limited and only the judges can eat. Maybe if there are some leftovers..."
"Oh, I got an idea about that." Tet smiled again. "You still haven't got the last judge right? Let me join as the judge. Your problem solved, and I got to eat!"
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Saber looked at her newest guest with conflicted emotion.
Lancer arrived with none other than The One True God of Disboard, Tet, and all of the Servants recognized him. A lot of things happened, but when the Flugels came back down from their meeting we had to pretend that everything was alright.
Sure, Tet's arrival solved their problem, but she still remembered that this entity was the one who dropped them here in the first place. It was hard not to hold a grudge against him, considering everything. But she was also a realist who knew that this was not the time and place to exact vengeance.
Besides, Tet was a god, and she doubted that she could harm him anyway. Adding the Ten Oaths, and that became impossible.
Tet wanted to keep his true identity secret, so Saber would not announce that The One True God had come, no matter how much prestige it might bring. Shame, as his status would guarantee that the Flugels would not question his neutrality as a judge.
"Ahem, so this passerby here, by the name of… Tetris, is our last judge. He just happened to walk outside so we grabbed him here." Saber weaved a cover story in an instant. Tet glared at her, possibly unhappy with the false name, but who cares? Saber would have small pleasure when she could get it, in this case giving a god with funny false name.
"I am not sure what he is, but he looked like Imanity." Azrael said.
"Not a problem!" Illya said. "Tet… I mean Tetris, sit in the judge chair please." She pointed to a table and chairs where Izuna sat.
Tet walked to the table and sat down beside the werebeast girl. He eyed the food in front of Izuna, making her guard the plate with her hands. Izuna was worried that he would take a bite.
Illya also told Jibril to sit with Izuna and Tet. After that, she told them that they would play a game of rock paper scissor, and that the judges should deliberately lose. And the wager if they lose, was that the judges would be fair in deciding the winner. But if Illya lose, nothing would happen.
"Hee? You told me to lose on purpose?" Tet asked. "Let me tell you, I have only tasted defeat once in my life."
"In my castle right? Drop that attitude, we don't have time to waste. I want them to quickly get to cook." Illya said.
"Izuna agreed des. Izuna want to eat faster des." Hatsuse Izuna said between her chewing.
And so the judges lost the rock-paper-scissor game, and swore to judge fairly.
The Flugels presented three members of their race to compete. In response, the Imanity side also presented their competitors.
Let's call the Flugel's representative as Flugel A, Flugel B, and Flugel C. Their names were unimportant anyway.
Meanwhile, here were Imanity's representative:
A man with red clothes who was wearing an apron, named Archer. His apron was pink for some reason.
A woman wih long blue hair and purple robe, also wearing light blue apron. She was called Caster.
And lastly, former princess of Imanity, Stephanie Dora. She also wore apron, but she seemed nervous.
With all judges and participants ready, the match was about to begin.
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On the judges table.
"It will be some time before the food by the contestants are ready. In the meantime, please enjoy this." Rider delivered a pot full of fried rice. She was also accompanied by maids, who set the table with plates and eating utensils.
"Please do not eat too much. You can not judge if your stomach is full." Rider pointedly looked at Izuna who was ready to pounce at the pot.
Izuna reluctantly withdraw herself. She would eat the fried rice later. For now, she was still eating the sushi, savoring every bite.
Meanwhile, Jibril had sit on the judges table. She didn't need to eat, but the nice aroma of the food inside the pot tempted her. It was not wrong to try, right?
Jibril took some of this food to her plate. She used the spoon to deliver the food from the plate into her mouth.
And for the first time in history, a Flugel knows about the wonder of food.
A Flugel was created with tongue. Ironically, they never used it. They had no need to eat, and so they didn't cook. The other race also didn't develop a culture that can produce delicious food. At most, there were Imanity, but the food they created was only passable. It was reasonable, given the scarcity of spices and the limitation of cooking technology.
It was literally the first time that a Flugel encounter a truly delicious food, a product from humanity's culture on the other world. In the hand of a competent chef, with knowledge of how to prepare ingredients and process them, a top cuisine could be created. Even a simple fried rice, with simpe topping of fried egg and chicken, became a haute cuisine.
At the same time, she realized something.
'Ah, we will be defeated.'
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For a game between two countries, the audiences were relatively small.
There were several hundred Flugels floating in the air, surrounding the venue. And then there were the palace staffs and some government officials from Elchea. Beside the two, there were no other spectators. The game was not open for public.
All the preparation in the venue was finished. The two countries had declared their readiness. After Saber once again read the rules of the games, Illya and Azrael started the game.
"Aschente!" Both Illya and Azrael said, raising their right palms.
"Well then. Game start!" Saber announced.
Immediately after that, Illya shouted, "Berseker!"
The black giant arrived from the air, and landed in the courtyard, scattering dust around him. He walked to the Imanity's side cooking table, which was suspiciously empty of people.
In contrast, Flugels cooking area was already filled with their contestants. The Flugels were surprised and confused, but the reason became obvious a moment later. Berserker picked up the cooking table and threw it to the air. It crashed on the corner of the courtyard, another suspiciously empty area. Berserker hadn't finished yet, as he proceeded to threw everything in Imanity cooking area to the corner, completely clearing it.
All the tables, stoves, cooking hardware, were piled up as broken heap in the corner. The Imanity cooking area became empty clearing. After that, Berserker left, jumping somewhere.
"What are you doing, des?" Izuna said from the judge table. She had surprised expression on her face. They promised her food, but now they destroyed their own kitchen?
Almost everyone had the same expression. The Flugels even forgot to do anything related to the cooking contest, and staring at the opposite side instead. The only one not surprised were the members of the Imanity inner circle.
However, the Flugels could fly, and they had sharp senses. The ones in the air quickly reported what they saw to their sisters on the ground. "The black person before is coming back. He is carrying new table!"
And not only Berserker, even Archer and Lancer had slipped away sometime before, and they also carried things. Berserker arrived at the palace courtyard, and carefully, slowly, putting his load to the ground. Archer and Lancer did the same, and then they left to pick up more things.
Jibril inspected the new half-built kitchen with her eyes. Compared to the Flugels' on the opposite side, even an amateur could tell that the new cooking table looked better. And the other…
"Is that magic stoves, nyan?" Azrael asked.
"It is as you said, that is magic stoves created by the Elves." Saber replied. Azrael, Saber, and Illya sat in the special observer seat. Illya was doing a role as commentator and MC. "Surprise! Miss Saber has said that the Imanity team has changed their cooking equipment, from firewood stoves to magic stoves! Is this a secret weapon against the Flugels?"
But Azrael objected to that. "Hey! Isn't that cheating nyan! Why can you guys change the kitchen nyan?"
Illya just calmly took out a paper and read from it. "Rule number 2 and 3.
Standard cooking utensils and appliances will be provided to both sides by Elchea royal palace. Both sides will get identical things according to royal palace standard.
Participants are free to acquire additional utensils and appliances that they brought themselves.
We provide standard cooking tools as Elchea Royal Palace standard. What you, The Flugels are using is the same as the Royal Palace kitchen. But we just threw out ours and change it for something better."
And then, reacting to another action by Imanity team, Azrael protested again. "Hey, what are you guys bringing there nyan? Is that ingredients nyan? Are they already processed nyan?"
Illya smugly replied, "There is no prohibition saying that the ingredients acquired should be totally raw. That one is a broth, made yesterday. It needs a lot of time to make."
Not that Illya knew anything about cooking though. She was just parroting what Archer said.
"Nyan!" Azrael continued her protest. "Something like prepared broth is allowed nyan?"
"Of course." Saber said. "It was common for cooks to use pre-made broth or stocks, or sometimes sake and fruit essence. It was unreasonable to expect them to ferment alcohol from scratch to be used as ingredients."
"But… but… nyan!" Azrael realized Imanity's shrewd tactic.
In other words, The Imanity Team openly cheating, without really breaking the rules.
By knowing the type of competition beforehand, that it would be cooking competition, their side could do preparation. Collecting the best ingredients, finding the rare spice, deciding the menu, and did preparation for some of the ingredients.
For example, creating ketchup, shoyu, mirin, and soy sauce, because those things didn't exist in this world.
Even if the Flugels was granted the same right, they couldn't use it because their lack of preparation.
And then, using projection magic, Archer created modern cooking utensils. Any deficiency was fixed by Caster. Now they had a stove powered by magic, similar as gas stove in operation, only different in energy source. This created a big advantage, because a stable heat in cooking would result in more consistent taste. The inconsistency of the heat created by firewood stove would result in uncertainty, the food would be overdone for example. Or it was cooked unevenly.
For this plan, they put halt on the plan to refurbish the Elchea Royal Palace Kitchen. Illya and her Servants deliberately kept the kitchen as it was, a medieval era kitchen with primitive appliances and backward technology. After all, the rules stated that both sides would be equally provided with kitchen set with the standard of the Royal Palace Kitchen.
Caster took out a bag full of mana crystals. They would serve as the stove's fuel. She had made the mana crystals as preparation for this event.
The Imanity Team, which consisted of Archer, Caster, Stephanie, Rider, and Lancer, were transporting various things to their new kitchen. Ingredients, spices, cooking appliances, and cooking utensils. After a while, it was finished and they were ready to start cooking.
Archer would be the one cooking, and Caster and Stephanie would be the assistants. The choice was made by simple elimination. None of the other Servants could cook, not to mention Illya, which was totally clueless about cooking. Medea had taken up cooking as a hobby when she lived at Ryuudou Temple, so she knew the basic. She also used knife for her magic, so she was proficient in preparing ingredients. Such as dicing, slicing, peeling, chopping, cubing, etc.
While Stephanie was an amateur, she was at least familiar with the kitchen, used to bake cookies as a hobby. She could handle simple tasks.
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Stephanie Dora's body moved unconsciously, her hands reacted to the voice of Archer automatically, executing his order with precision. There was no wasted movement. After she finished doing a task, she would jump into another task, sometimes anticipating Archer's order and moved before he spoke.
She was also keeping track of Caster, and try not to get in her way.
Stephanie wondered about her life sometimes. She was born and raised as a princess, receiving high education for future rulers. She learned about politics and the method to socialize with nobles. This path was abruptly cut when her grandfather made the new succession rule.
She tried to enter the gambling competition for the throne, but ended up defeated. The next day, she was suddenly hired as translator for the new queen. Before long, she got promoted into prime minister's aide.
While the work was not easy and she was very busy, Stephanie was truly happy. She was actively contributing to her country's progress. Her education and political insight proved useful in her new job, and even the prime minister herself sometimes delegated important matters to her. Especially about nobles, Saber hated nobles.
So it was with great confusion and dread that she received the news that her job as prime minister aide was over. Suspended, they said. She must hand over all projects that she supervised to someone else. While she was protesting and pleading to the queen and prime minister, that she could do better, to give her one more chance to prove herself, Queen Illya explained that Stephanie had misunderstood.
She was given another job. She would become Archer's assistant in the kitchen.
Her first thought was humiliation. Being demoted from prime minister's aide to a kitchen hand. But then Saber explained that they would play a game of cooking contest, so they should be getting ready. Saber also promised higher salary and a bonus if they won.
Stephanie was placated after that, and anyway, how difficult can it be?
As it turned out, the level of difficulty was hellish.
Archer trained both Stephanie and Caster in cooking. He was very strict, always demanding his assistants to do better. He started from basic things, but the training gradually escalated to a very advance coordination, just like a kitchen in busy restaurant.
Compared to the devilish training, cooking only three dishes was far more easy.
Stephanie still had nightmare about the training. She learned various technique with odd-sounding name, or a type of food preparation that she never heard before. Quenelle? Julienne?
Before, she only knew that a vegetable was chopped. What difference did it make if the direction of the cut change? Now she knew ten or more things that you did with a knife and vegetables.
She followed Archer's order. Mince that, julienne this, ground that, mix this and that. All the orders were familiar to her, having practiced the dishes before.
And when she was done, she said it loud to inform her partners. "Chef, I have finished making the tonkatsu sauce." Stephanie said. "Now I will prepare the batter."
"Yosh." Archer responded, as if expecting her to do just that.
Stephanie once again marveled at her kitchen knife. The knife given to her was very high in quality, its sharpness was perfect. And she had never sharpened it since the day Archer gave it to her, but the blade didn't dull in the slightest.
However, Stephanie was only given the task related to vegetables, condiment, and other trivial task. For cutting the meat, Archer stubbornly refused to let Stephanie or Caster handled it. He also retained his place in front of the stove, cooking the main ingredient.
And he deserved that, Stephanie can't help but admitted it. His skill far surpassed her and Caster. He reigned in the kitchen like the Cooking God. She was sure that Archer can cook alone if needed, he just use assistants to accelerate the cooking process.
And he didn't accept subpar assistant. Archer trained Stephanie until he judged that Stephanie can follow his rhythm and would not slow him down. The same thing also happened to Caster.
Stephanie took out rice from magic rice cooker and put it into three big bowls. Their first dish would be ready soon.
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As a God, Tet didn't need to eat. He was never hungry, and thus he never ate. He also had no interest in mortal's food.
Today was the first time he ate something. The food called fried rice was very delicious, he was disappointed that his two fellow judges ended up hogging the majority of it.
Anyway, it was also the first time Tet saw a cooking competition. He had spied on Archer when he cooked before, and the training where he drilled various things to his two assistants, but that was through remote viewing.
As he watched, he couldn't help but compare the two sides.
On Imanity side, it was clear to everyone that they were prepared. There were no hesitation in their movement, they knew what they were doing and had every bit of confidence in handling the ingredients. Tet knew that they had actually created the same dish over and over again in their training, hundred of times.
Archer took the spotlight. While his two assistants deserved praise as they harmoniously worked to assist him, there was no question about who was the real chef.
Archer seemed to know how to effortlessly cut a piece of meat, selecting the appropriate parts, and did it with such speed the audience couldn't follow. He also knew when to take it out from the pan, resulting in a perfectly cooked meat.
His timing was also perfect. Cooking three dishes at the same time, he monitored the other two progresses while focusing at one.
Meanwhile, at Flugels side of the kitchen, disaster was in the making.
The Flugels didn't know to cook. That much was clear to the audience.
One didn't need to taste their meals to find out. It was clear from how the Flugels representative behave. Let's list them one by one. Mind you, this was from Tet, the God who never cook nor eat before, so it was certain that it didn't give full account on how the Flugels screwed up.
First, as they had no ingredients, the Flugels hunted wild game and fishes. Animals were not protected by Ten Oaths and they hunted in the ownerless land. Their ability to teleport and their high physical ability meant that the ingredients were gathered quickly. At this tage, everything was still alright.
Next, they disagree about the menu, so each of them would cook one dish.
Flugel A decided to make roasted pig. It was simple. You just need to hang pig carcass above fire and roasted it for hours. Beside that, just need to stuff some vegetables and spices inside, and sprinkle spices outside.
The problem was, no recipe books mention anything about how to dismantle an animal before cooking.
The art of dismantling mainly taught through oral tradition or from butcher to apprentice. Hunters or workers of slaughterhouse knew it, from being taught or from experience. The Flugels had no culture of hunting or eating, so of course they didn't know.
Roasting a pig without removing its fur was a mistake. The smell of burnt fur seeped to the meat, ruining the taste.
Not bleeding the pig was bad. The blood quickly rot and accumulate poison, and the taint would spread to the meat.
Not removing the internal organs was bad. The intestines contain poisonous substance, and the taint spread to the rest of the meat. The urine bladder further contributed to the contamination.
Worse, Flugel A was afraid that she would overburn the meat, so she set the fire small. The meat would be undercooked. With the moisture from the blood hindering the heat, it would be a miracle if the roasted pig came out alright.
Tet had decided not to eat Flugel A dish.
Flugel B had similar idea with Flugel A. She roasted fishes on charcoal burner. A simple but genuine cooking, with less chance of mistake.
It was unfortunate that she fell to the same mistake as Flugel A. No books told her that you need to remove fish guts before cooking it. Aside from the poisonous substance inside, fish guts would create fishy stench, ruining the fish meat.
Of course, Tet only knew this because Archer had taught about it to Stephanie and Caster. Come to think of it, did Flugel B clean the scales from the fish? Apparently not.
Tet decided that he would pass this one too.
Flugel C decided to make fried chicken.
And you might think Flugel C would fall to the same trap as the other two. She did, but in different way.
As she clumsily cut the chicken carcass to find the necessary meat, she got confused. What to do with these feathers that inconvenienced her? What to do with these entrails and organs? Too much fat! Too many bones! Which part should be extracted and fried?
And the blood of the chicken made everything messy.
As she hesitated more and more, the audience confidence in her also fell.
She unskillfully cut the the chicken, and the knife pierced the intestines. The meat was ruined, but Flugel C didn't know that. Still, Tet grimaced and decided that he would also skip this one.
Flugel C finally got out some bloody chicken meat. Throwing the rest of the carcass, she put the meat into a tray.
"Umm... now coating the chicken meat with flour. Which one is flour?" Flugel C curiously inspected the many small pot.
Back to Flugel A, she had decided that it was time to sprinkle seasoning to the pig. Deciding that the more the better, she sprinkled all kind of things. Sugar, salt, pepper, chili powder, all was poured from their container.
Flugel B on the other hand, knowing her limitation well, decided on the other extreme. She didn't know the name of the spices and how to use them. She knew only the basic like sugar and salt, but what if she added the wrong amount? So she opted not to use any at all.
Flugel C had encyclopedic knowledge of ingredient and spices. She easily mixed the flour with seasoning. And then she coated the chicken meat with the flour batter. Unfortunately, the meat was wet with blood, so the flour batter couldn't be attached evenly. The flour also too thick.
The audience, Flugels included, now smelled two different aromas. From Imanity side they smelled appetizing aroma of food and spices. In the contrary, there was a foul stench coming from the Flugels side of the kitchen.
The Flugels hovering in the audience had frustrated expression on their faces.
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"Oooh what is this, Imanity team finished their first dish!" Illya shouted to the magic microphone. Miss Stephanie is now delivering three portion of the first dish to the judges table! It is a dish served inside a big bowl. I wonder what is inside?"
The bowls were closed with lids. The judges curiously looked at the bowls put in front of them.
The first one who moved was Izuna. She took off the lid and saw what was inside.
Steam came out from the bowl, obscuring her view. When the steam cleared, she saw sparkling golden egg, meat, and rice.
"Katsudon!" Izuna inadvertently exclaimed.
Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl (Katsudon), a dish made by deep frying pork meat coated with flour. The pork cutlet (katsu) then cooked in a stock containing various seasoning, and then beaten egg poured on it. The cooked katsu was taken out and put on a rice inside a bowl.
"Sniff sniff." Izuna smelled the enticing aroma. She was curious about another food from her homeland, but she didn't waste time taking her chopstick and wolfed down the meal.
"Nom nom nom."
Seeing that, the other two judges also took off the lids and began eating.
"Nom nom nom."
It's oily. It's greasy. The crispy katsu melded with fried egg texture, creating sensation of cheap food. But even when you felt guilty eating cheap junk food, you can't stop eating. The herbs sprinkled on top adding rich aroma, creating fresh taste in the mouth.
"Oh look at that, the judges are eating the Imanity first dish with such appetite." Illya announced again. "The dish name is Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl. Areeee? It seems even a Flugel like to eat our food!"
Jibril was eating the katsudon with gusto. The more she ate, the more irresistible the food became. She ignored the hateful stare of her sisters. All that mattered was the food she was eating.
Tet was also no different. He tasted his second food ever, and the more he ate, the more hungry he was. The strong flavor of the meat was balanced by the rice. He detected some kind of fruit cooked together with the rice, adding a slight acid flavor, and it created refreshing aftertaste.
The sauce was a balance between sweet and salty. Each time he swallowed, his hands automatically deliver another spoon to his mouth, creating endless cycle.
The three judges were shoveling the katsudon into their mouths, and with such a rapid pace eventually their bowls became empty.
"Seconds!" Izuna said.
"Oya? The werebeast judge ask for another serving." Illya spoke to the microphone. "But each judge supposed to get only one serving. What should we do?" Illya said teasingly.
"It's not a problem. I have three more servings here. Actually this is supposed to be given to the announcer," Archer said with a smirk. "But maybe if a judge give me perfect ten for this dish, I will give her another serving."
Izuna jumped out and stood on her chair. "Me! I announce my score! This dish got perfect ten!"
"Wait!" Tet also stood up, although he didn't stand on the chair. "My score is perfect ten."
"Mmmmph!" Jibril tried to say something but her mouth was still full. After she swallowed, she said "Perfect ten! Give me that!"
"Wait!" Illya said hastily. "That's my share!"
The scene descended into chaos for a time, but Archer managed to calm Illya and Saber by promising to cook another portion for them later.
After the judges ate all the second serving of katsudon, Archer delivered the second dish. It was Grilled Salmon plus lemon sauce with Mashed Potato and vegetables.
Izuna had never heard of lemon as a sauce base. She sniffed the food. After confirming that it didn't smell bad, she tried eating it. After all, the chef had already made several delicious dish before.
Jibril and Tet also tried eating.
"Mmmmm. What is this?" Jibril said.
"The fish is delicious!" Tet said
"Nom nom nom." Izuna didn't said anything, but increase her pace of taking a bite.
"Oooh! The second dish is also received well by the judge!" Illya said to the audience.
Tet savored the salmon, chewing it slowly. The tender meat made his tongue danced, and the crispy texture of the skin made his teeth pranced. The acidic taste of lemon sauce surprisingly went well with the taste of salmon.
The potato and vegetables complement the salmon perfectly. Something was mixed with the mashed potatoes to enhance the flavor. The vegetables were also processed well, softening the impact of the other component. The whole dish was made by making the components balance each other.
"Perfect Ten." Tet said, before he even finished eating.
Izuna glared at him for speaking first, and then she scrutinized the Imanity kitchen, searching for a hint of second serving. She found one!
"Sorry, but no second serving this time." Archer said. "The extra serving is only one portion so it's unfair to give it to the judges. I think the Flugels leader want to try it?"
"Me, nyan?" Azrael said, confused. "You want to give that to me?"
Stephanie delivered it to Azrael's table, and because of that Azrael got a hateful glare from many people.
"Tch. Ten points." Izuna said, and then she resumed eating.
Jibril stopped eating and sighed. "Ten points." She was gloomy for a moment, and then shrugged and resumed eating.
"And that was another perfect score for Imanity!" Illya said. "It was just over one and half hour since the game begin, but Imanity team had delivered two dishes! What happened to the Flugels team?"
The Flugels team, now under more pressure, tried harder. But the result was the opposite. They became more nervous and made more mistakes.
The Flugels in the audience started to throw insults to their own team. The Flugels representatives didn't handle that well and insulted back to the audience. "Shut up, as if you can do better!"
While the Flugels fought between themselves, the Imanity team finished their third dish.
"Oooh, that looks delicious. What is the name of this dish?" Illya asked.
Archer answered. "Venison with chocolanze sauce."
After hearing this Izuna was shocked. She knew about venison, it was just deer meat, so nothing special. But chocolanze? Wasn't that sweets? That was sweets made from Kakaon fruit. The original taste was bitter, so it was usually mixed with milk and sugar. Why did you use it as a sauce for venison?
Eeh, but the chef had proven himself four times already! Izuna didn't hesitate and started eating.
The moment she tasted it, she experienced something that can only be named a foodgasm.
Venison cooked with red wine and then chocolanze sauce was added. The red wine added depth of flavor, and the chocolanze surprisingly went well with the red wine. The fragrant aroma, the savory meat juice, the tender meat, all creating a harmony.
Tet also start eating. When the meat entered his mouth, it was as if a magic of Old Deus sneaked into his mouth.
The True God of Disboard felt like a music started playing in his head. A music of nature, of vast grassland and boundless sky, weaving a symphony carried of by the wind. Yeah, he was an actual god, maybe he should sing and let everyone hear this melody! Every soul on Disboard will hear!
He managed to come to his senses before it happened though. So scary, he almost lost control of himself and made an impromptu musical performance as divine oracle.
Jibril also ate the venison. She started to shiver and squealed. Her eyes closed, savoring every nectar in her mouth, showing pure bliss in her face.
"Something weird has happened!" Illya shouted. "The judges are all closing eyes and shaking! What kind of phenomena is this?"
Soon, their eyes opened again, and then they took another bite, and then the same thing happened. They would close their eyes and chewed silently. This continued until everything in the plates disappear.
"It's gone…" Jibril said, forlornly looking at her plate.
Tet was the first one who came back from the illusionary paradise. Maybe because he was a God. "I announce my score. Perfect ten."
Izuna and Jibril was awakened by Tet's voice, and they each also gave their judgment. "Ten points." , "Ten."
"Do you hear that folks! Imanity team has got perfect score for all their dishes! Ninety points total! What will team Flugels do?"
As if on cue, Flugel B delivered her dish to the judges table. It was grilled fish.
"Ugh…" Izuna groaned. She was full from eating all the delicious food, so she had no appetite.
But that was not entirely her fault. The appearance of the cuisine didn't appeal to her. It was also not smelled good. Something smelled too fishy.
Also, it was actually Archer's dirty tactic, making the judges full before they taste the opponent's cooking.
She played at the fish with her chopstick, stabbing it, taking a piece of it, and then sniffing it. She dropped the piece without eating it and declared. "Zero points."
"Nyaaaaan!" Azrael screamed. "You haven't eaten it so why you give score nyaaan!"
"Hmmph." Izuna pushed the plate away. "If you believe it is delicious why don't you eat it yourself."
"Nyaan, I will just do that nyan!" Azrael sauntered to the judges table and took a bite from Izuna's plate.
"Woohooookk." The sounds of Azrael vomiting could be heard by everyone. Flugel B now had a pale face, wondering what went wrong.
Tet didn't touch the food at all.
Jibril, out of loyalty to her sisters, eat a whole spoon. She swallowed. And then her face turned blue.
"nolvae nestad mia baid" Jibril activated a spell, targeted at herself.
After that she was silent, refusing to meet anyone's eyes, head hanging low.
But the Flugels in the audience knew about the spell. "It was healing spell."
"But why do little sister Jibril need to heal herself?"
"Is it because she choked on the fish bone?" "Impossible!"
"It must be… the meat! It harm her?" "How can that be?"
A voice then stopped the commotion, cutting through like thunder. "Zero points. The fish is tainted by poison." Tet declared.
And before the crowd went mad again, he took the opportunity to said another thing. "And the other two dishes also got zero points. They are contaminated."
The audience exploded into explosion of chatter and conversation.
In the middle of chaos, one small voice was uttered. "One…. One point for Flugels team." It was Jibril, grinding her teeth and wearing painful expression.
Despite the declaration by Tet, the other two Flugels defiantly presented their dish.
The fried chicken by Flugel C was a little burnt and black on the outside. But the inside was still undercooked.
"Thriisss iiisrr raaawrrr!" said Izuna when she sampled the fried chicken, spitting the offending food to the ground. She pushed her plate away and said, "zero."
Jibril ate the fried chicken, swallowing it, and then perform another healing spell.
"One point."
"And with the second dish, the total score for team Flugels now is two points! Let's see how the third dish came up!" Illya yelled to the mic.
The third dish by Flugel A was a whole roasted pig. She brought it to the judges table.
Even from the distance, the smell was unbearable. Burnt fur had that unpleasant smell, and it seeped to the meat.
Izuna closed her nose with her left hand and tried cutting it with knife. A disgusting stench of rotten blood and metal escaped outside.
"Uwaaaah." Izuna ran away. The sense of smell of the Werebeast was far more powerful than human, so she didn't take it well.
Jibril only looked at the roasted pig with sad expression. "One point, for effort."
Illya didn't waste time and announce the final score. "I think we don't need to ask Hatsuse Izuna's opinion, her action was enough. So the total score is 90-3, and the winner is Imanity!"
There was no cheer. Not even an applause. The Flugels were having a bad mood collectively as a race, even Azrael was now openly crying. As for Imanity side..., well you would be intimidated by hundreds of flying angel of death above you, and celebrating victory under that circumstances was not a bright idea.
=======break=======
Ding! You have completed the quest : "Cooking Contest against Flugel"
You got 599.000 EXP
You Leveled Up x 17
Reward gained: An alliance of your kingdom with the Flugels against non-Exceed creatures.
Ding! Relationship with Flugels -500
=======break=======
The aftermath of the cooking competition was predictable, for an extent. The Flugels admitted their debt as per their wager. They would help Imanity in a fight against race other than the 16 Exceed.
Jibril came back to her sisters on Avant Heim.
God Tet vanished without anyone noticing.
And Hatsuse Izuna returned back to the Eastern Federation embassy, reluctantly.
Everything was normal and things return to the peaceful condition…. That did not happen.
For some reason, Avant Heim didn't wander off somewhere else, but still floating above Elchea.
And then, The Flugels started to follow Archer everywhere. They demanded him to 'give away' the secret of cooking. Or maybe it was cuisine magic. Or maybe it was a magic artifact, able to make its wielder a great cook.
Finally, Archer conceded. He would instruct the Flugels in cooking. The interested Flugels need to register, and classes should be divided depending on the participants number. He needed to arrange a schedule.
And then the entire Flugels race registered. Apparently they wanted to take revenge by defeating him in cooking. Archer was a little annoyed, but he already gave his word.
Another preconditions was put forth by Saber. Because the lack of food ingredients in Elchea, it would be disaster if the Flugels buy a lot of ingredients and exhausted the food reserve. The Flugels were required to bring the ingredients from outside Elceha, either by hunting or trading.
But the food that they produce during practice must be eaten by themselves, or sold to Elchea citizen. They can also give it for free.
At first, The Flugels cannot cook at all, not even a stir fry vegetables. But using their sharp intelligence and superor physical strength, they learned the art of cooking rapidly. After two weeks, the citizen of Elchea happily eat the meals that the Flugels produced.
A very beneficial thing for Elceha, because they got free food! Flugels didn't really care about money, all they want was a feedback for their cooking skill. As a result, the food reserve of Elchea decrease in slower rate than normal. And the imported food that they acquired still remained.
Meanwhile, Saber executed the secret operation in Eastern Federation. Slowly, without being noticed by the Werebeast government, the noose around Eastern Federation slowly tightened.
And then three months after the cooking contest, Elchea Kingdom challenged the Eastern Federation.
=======chapterend=======
Chocolanze is the name of isekai chocolate.
Bacteria is poisonous
