Chapter 30
The atmosphere in the surrounding area instantly became calm.
It was shocking enough that there was someone else in the restaurant, but even more so that they died after eating food in the restaurant.
When fugu dishes first appeared in the world, if we went back to the time when people collapsed after eating it, wouldn't it have felt like this?
The Chef, named by the Recorder, was leaving that scene unattended as if it was a regular occurrence.
Perhaps out of courtesy, the Chef approached that person and tried to shake their body, but there was still no movement.
Could this be why Ria had told me not to eat the food on the street?
If I hadn't seen that woman collapse, and had just eaten the food that came out while sitting quietly...
This won't do.
I should leave after all.
I decided it was better to run away now rather than stay put and watch.
So I immediately stood up from my seat, but.
"...Early bird wake up!"
The person I thought was definitely dead suddenly raised their head.
W-what's this?
Didn't you say their heartbeat had stopped?
I looked at Ria in confusion, but Ria shook its head as if it didn't know either.
Right, how would you know about this abnormal phenomenon?
What's even more shocking is that although they must have collapsed after eating, that woman started putting the food in her mouth again.
And she was chewing with gusto as if it was delicious.
"...Hyah! This is really deadly deli... Ack."
And then she collapsed again, banging her head on the table.
Ria carefully approached and checked her pulse again, and this time it seemed she was definitely dead as it shook its head.
But not long after.
"Kihit!"
As if nothing had happened, she raised her head again and started stuffing food into her mouth.
Eat.
Thud.
Eat.
Thud.
Eat.
Thud.
The series of events felt so bizarre that my will to leave just now seemed to crumble.
It felt like if I moved carelessly, I might become a target and get in big trouble.
W-what on earth is this person?
The Chef watched quietly, and finally, after the person finished eating, smiled brightly.
"Did the food suit your taste, customer?"
"O-one more bowl!"
No.
What kind of situation is this, really?
A lot of explanation was needed, but there was no one to ask anywhere.
As I stood there dumbfounded watching the scene, the Chef approached and smiled awkwardly.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting! I'll make it right away!"
"Ah, ah. Okay."
What's this?
I was just having a meal, was I overreacting?
But even Ria seemed confused by this...
R-right.
She's probably just a peculiar person.
"...Huh, but why did I come here again?"
...I was trying to think that, but that person was drooling.
It's not normal after all!
Just now, that person even said something as if they had forgotten why they were here!
But the cooking had already started, and the door of the shop closed with a bang.
"Ahem, ahem~"
As if about to start cooking, the Chef headed towards where the kitchen utensils were.
The next scene made me doubt my own eyes.
As she reached out into the air, suddenly her arm disappeared.
No, her arm that had moved to another space appeared to have vanished to my eyes!
She shook her arm back and forth as if searching for something, making a cheerful sound like "Where is it?", and then smiled brightly as if she had found what she was looking for and pulled.
What came out was...
A wild boar large enough to fill the entire kitchen.
It wasn't just any wild boar, its eyes were red and its fur was excessively red.
Moreover, it seemed to have been caught alive, as it was thrashing about violently!
It's ferocious!
"That used to appear often in the garden. So this is why we hadn't seen it lately."
...If it appears in an Outer God's garden, isn't it an absurdly dangerous creature?!
The Chef seemed to be a Greater Outer God as I had expected.
Maintaining a full smile, she lightly gestured here and there, and the living creature became neatly cut pieces of meat on the cutting board, as if the process had been skipped like in a game.
Thud thud thud.
"Oh."
The Chef's hand movements looked like a show to my eyes.
This must be thanks to the Super Chicken Mod too, otherwise it would have been a scene of blood splattering everywhere.
What would have happened if I had been possessed here without this mode?
No, if I hadn't installed this mode, I probably wouldn't have come here in the first place.
The Chef put the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator, and like before, retrieved various vegetables from another space and placed them on the cutting board.
She seemed to be looking for something, then snapped her fingers, lit a match, and threw it into the air.
The flame seemed to grow, then turned into impressive knives, spatulas, and such.
As I watched blankly at a level close to alchemy, she went to get a frying pan, and let the knife cut the ingredients on its own.
Watching her hum as if cooking itself was enjoyable felt comforting, but remembering the woman who kept banging her head made it feel like poison and I was just afraid.
She put all the finely chopped ingredients into the frying pan at once and stir-fried them, and soon the stir-fried pork was ready.
The Chef put a generous amount of rice in a bowl, plated the dishes beautifully, and placed them in front of me.
As I moved my neck stiffly to look, the Chef smiled brightly and rested her chin on her hand.
"I hope you enjoy your meal!"
Sigh.
Right.
If I feel like I'm about to collapse, I can call the Gardener for help, can't I?
The party flute is on cooldown now, but she boasted so she should help at least once.
...Even thinking so boldly, I couldn't pick up the spoon, afraid I might lose my mind like that woman.
But the burdensome smile coming from in front of me was making it difficult to hold out like this.
Meanwhile, Ria started eating first, as if to say it was okay and I should try a bite.
Then it made a happy expression, holding both cheeks as if it was very delicious.
I could only have complicated thoughts about its behavior, so different from when it stopped me outside.
"So food outside is not okay, but food inside is okay?"
...At least seeing that Ria is fine even after some time has passed, it seems there's no big problem between Outer Gods.
Or is there another hidden gimmick I don't know about?
Thinking about it, Ria tends to subtly drop hints at times like this.
Since it can't speak and can't express too obviously, it seems to be telling me in this way.
So I carefully observed how Ria was eating.
Looking closely, I noticed it was using only chopsticks to eat, leaving the spoon aside.
I thought maybe the spoon was too heavy, but it didn't seem to have any trouble moving the chopsticks.
On the other hand, the woman who was still banging her head on the table even now.
That woman had both chopsticks and a spoon, but she was eating using only the spoon.
It seems she's only using the spoon to eat because she's probably not familiar with using chopsticks.
But it seems a bit much to say it's just because of the difference in utensils.
As I watched how that woman ate, I finally realized.
Ria ordered pork cutlet and was eating it by cutting it as close to the original shape as possible with the provided knife and using chopsticks to eat without breaking it.
But that woman was eating by almost mashing the rice grains with her spoon.
Is it something like this?
Maintaining the original shape preserves its value as food, otherwise it becomes poison.
Like how sodium and chlorine are very dangerous substances individually, but when combined they become delicious salt.
So that's why Ria told me not to eat the food lying outside.
Beyond not maintaining their original shape, they were grotesquely twisted among themselves.
It seems eating such things would lead to death.
Judging by how Ria was eating, it seemed there was no problem if you cut it with some angles or scooped it up moderately.
...Alright, let's give it a try.
It's do or die!
I carefully dug into the rice with the spoon so as not to mash the grains, then carefully picked up a piece of meat with the chopsticks and placed it on top of the rice.
"...Okay."
I closed my eyes tightly and put it in my mouth, starting to chew, and of course, having just seen that, I could only have complicated thoughts.
Please, let nothing happen... Huh?
As I thought that, my expression began to soften more and more as I chewed the food.
Because...
It wasn't just the appearance, it really tasted like stir-fried pork!
And it was the taste you'd get at a hidden master's restaurant in the countryside!
Even as I swallowed the food, thinking it would be okay based on the taste, no particular problems occurred in my body.
"Haa... Haa..."
I was breathing heavily due to being so tense, and realized it wasn't as big a deal as I thought.
Ria was also looking at me with expectant eyes.
Its expression seemed to say 'See? Nothing's wrong, right?', so I gave it a thumbs up, and it smiled brightly.
One spoonful became two, and before I knew it, I realized I had scraped the rice bowl clean without leaving a single grain.
As if I had completed an important mission, I exhaled heavily like when I took the first bite, and raised my head towards the Chef and said:
"Thank you for the meal... ?"
Contrary to my expectation that she would still be looking at me fondly, the Chef's expression was different.
She was making exactly the expression of wide eyes when seeing an unbelievable sight.
N-no way!
Was there really poison in here after all!
I was trembling with fear that I might end up like that woman now.
"...Sniff."
Until I suddenly heard a sobbing sound.
Huh?
Who's crying at this timing...
Soon I realized the sound was coming from right in front of me, and when I looked up, wasn't the Chef crying with her hand covering her mouth?
"W-why are you crying?!"
"S-sniff, hic, haa, sniff. W-was the food okay?"
As if wanting to confirm once more, the Chef asked even though her voice was choked up.
I'm not sure why she's crying like this, but anyway, there's no problem with my body, and it was delicious, so...
"Yes! It was the best food I've ever eaten."
Waaah!
At my words, it was as if the Chef's tear ducts burst, and tears started streaming down.
"Sniff!"
"Y-yes?! Are you okay?"
Even though I tried to calm her down, the Chef's tears showed no sign of stopping.
***
Only after hearing what the now-calmed cook began to say could I understand why she had shown such a reaction.
"...The Knight's Restaurant... was truly a restaurant set up for the knights in the human world.
In this world full of bitter cold. The energy of knights who eat each other and even themselves, starving, called me forth.
Hunger and fear. I am a being that fills those.
It was a restaurant made to try to reduce such people even a little... but reality was different."
The Chef wiped her eyes once with a handkerchief and continued her story.
"All the humans who ate my food ended up in a terrible state. Too cruel to describe in words.
Since they couldn't communicate with me in the first place, many people ran away when they saw me.
I tried to catch them first so they wouldn't starve to death and feed them something, but they ended up in the same state.
I just wanted to provide a space where they could feel a little less fear in this blizzard."
So that's how it happened.
Given Rondan's precept to avoid anything related to Outer Gods as much as possible, the bodies of people who ate food given by an Outer God wouldn't be fine.
Even if it was out of goodwill.
Even until this moment as I listen to the Chef's words, nothing has happened, so it seems I'm immune thanks to the Super Chicken Mod...
Rather, I even feel like my body has become healthier after eating the food.
I stood up from my seat without thinking, but due to my muscles stretching more strongly than usual, I lost my balance and fell over.
"Ugh, aah!"
"Are you okay?!"
W-what's this?
Why is my body suddenly like this?
Was it not just my imagination that my body felt healthier than usual?
Feeling strange, I tried jumping in place, and my body bounced high, quite seriously.
"...So that's what it was."
"Gardener?"
Then I heard the Gardener's voice.
"You withstood eating the nutrients that Outer Gods consume, so it seems the effect manifested in a different direction. You really have an interesting body."
That means eating the Chef's food results in enhanced physical abilities.
You can get stronger just by eating?
If I use this well, couldn't it be a great help when dealing with Outer Gods in the future?
Just like that candy I ate back then!
I can save Outer Gods without falling behind in physical abilities.
"Are you hurt anywhere?!"
Worried about me, the Chef came out of the kitchen and looked me over, bouncing around. I held her hands with both of mine.
"Eh."
"...Would you like to be friends with me?"
Despite the sudden request, the Chef had a blank expression for a moment, then smiled brightly and answered.
"It's sudden, but yes. If you're okay with me..."
Okay, great!
I've gained one more Outer God secret friend.
It feels a bit like conquering game characters, which is quite fun.
...Though I shouldn't say that in front of her.
So does this mean I can now call the Chef with the horn flute too?
My mood improved a bit due to having a good harvest for the risk I took.
Thud.
"...So how long will that person keep doing that?"
"I wonder. I'm glad they're enjoying the food, but..."
Regardless, the woman who kept dying and coming back to life just held out her bowl again.
"One more bowl!"
...Is this really okay?