Chapter 88
Following Arian, Yuna, Yusti-ah, and Hera arrived at the mansion’s kitchen.
“Wow, so this is the kitchen. It’s bigger than my house…?”
Yuna said, looking around as if fascinated.
Just as she said, the kitchen was quite massive, to the point where it was wider than an average commoner’s house.
And there were just as many diverse ingredients and cooking utensils.
In other words, it could be said to be perfect for holding a cooking showdown.
At that moment, Yusti-ah, who was also looking around the kitchen, spoke.
“Do we really have to do this…?”
Yusti-ah was not pleased with this situation.
Hearing that she had made a marriage promise with Franz had annoyed her for no reason, causing her to be provoked, but looking back, she wondered if they really had to go this far.
If asked whether she liked Franz, honestly, she still didn’t quite know how she felt.
‘It’s not like I can’t cook, though…’
Who in the Hero’s Party was in charge of meals alongside Franz?
It was none other than Yusti-ah.
As such, she knew his tastes well and had a knack for cooking.
She just didn’t like the situation of seemingly competing over him.
However, Arian was not one to quietly let such a remark from Yusti-ah slide.
“Ah, so you’re going to tuck your tail and run away now? Yes, please do so. Come to think of it, didn’t the Magic Tower lord say his ideal type was a family-oriented woman who is good at cooking-? Well, the saintess is already disqualified.”
“…I’ll do it.”
“Pardon? I can’t quite hear you.”
“I said I’ll do it! What’s the big deal about some cooking! I just have to do it, right?!”
If Yusti-ah had a knack for cooking, Arian had a knack for getting under people’s skin.
It was a truly blatant provocation, but Yusti-ah’s competitive spirit couldn’t endure it.
In fact, if she had quietly let it go, Yusti-ah’s chance to appeal to Franz would have disappeared, so Arian had essentially made an unnecessary enemy due to her own personality.
“Oh, the ingredients are quite excellent. With this much, I can definitely make something delicious.”
“Ah-! We haven’t even started yet. How can you just start touching things?!”
Hera admired the vegetables placed on one side of the kitchen, and Arian yelled at Hera.
“Let’s set the rules first. Just one dish. The theme is up to you. The time limit is one hour. How about it? If there’s anything you don’t like, speak up quickly. Don’t grumble about it later.”
At Arian’s proposal, the other three nodded.
It was a fairly reasonable rule, so there was no particular reason to refuse.
“If there’s anything you don’t know or are looking for, ask our family’s head chef over there.”
Arian pointed with her finger, and there stood a man frozen stiff like a stone statue.
As the gazes of the three turned toward him, the man bowed his head, nodding.
As if the eldest daughter of the family suddenly barging into the kitchen wasn’t enough, she declared she would have a cooking showdown with three members of the Hero’s Party. How surprised must he have been!
It was truly a bolt from the blue. In fact, it was no different from actually being struck by that lightning.
“Then let’s start right away.”
With Arian’s words as the starting point, everyone began to move.
They were careful not to handle cooking utensils and ingredients carelessly.
Arian grabbed the best-looking potato and thought.
“I will win…”
The opponents were a hero, a saintess, and an elf.
The saintess had obviously grown up being treated preciously, so she probably couldn’t cook properly.
The elf might have lived making all sorts of food in the forest, but she probably didn’t know much about the barren North’s ingredients.
The biggest obstacle was, as expected, the hero.
Because her food had been personally guaranteed by Franz as delicious.
Moreover, from what she heard, she seemed to have grown up in an ordinary family, so she definitely knew how to cook to some extent.
But I will win.
Because she wasn’t the only one who had been told her food was delicious.
“He said my sandwich was delicious too.”
Furthermore, this was the North, and she was born and raised there.
Given such an advantage, she had a sufficient chance of winning.
Unfortunately, Arian was under a great misconception.
First, Yusti-ah did not grow up preciously. And while it was true she hadn’t cooked recently, she had plenty of basic knowledge. When she was young, she even helped the director cook at the orphanage.
Second, Hera had a grasp of most ingredients. After all, she had read a great deal of literature recorded by elves.
And lastly, Yuna didn’t have any particular thoughts.
She was just happy about the fact that she could serve food to Franz together with everyone.
Chop, chop, chop-.
Someone was slicing ingredients on the cutting board.
Sizzle-.
Cooking them on a heated pan.
A pleasant sound and an appetizing smell began to waft through the kitchen.
Arian stir-fried the vegetables with familiar movements, glancing sideways to check on the others' progress.
“What the, why is everyone so good…?”
Arian was slowly starting to notice as well.
That things were flowing differently from what she had thought.
She had definitely thought she would win easily, but it seemed like it was going to be a difficult battle.
Feeling a sense of tension, Arian spurred on her cooking.
After roasting the appropriately cut meat until it turned a golden color, she poured water in with the pre-stir-fried vegetables and boiled them.
She didn’t forget to add seasoning midway through to adjust the taste.
After a long time of bubbling and boiling in the pot, the ingredients had become mushy.
, to the point where they would easily mash if pressed by hand.
It was the completion of Arian’s confident work, a stew.
As Arian looked at the clock, the promised one hour was already approaching, so she immediately plated the stew.
Thinking it might be greasy, she finally grated a little fresh herb on top.
Having finished her cooking, Arian turned her head and looked at the other three.
She hadn’t been able to check because she was focusing on her cooking, but it seemed they had also entered the final stages.
Eventually, as everyone finished their plating, the promised one hour was exactly up.
Seeing the results of the other three, Arian’s confidence began to rapidly diminish.
Honestly, she didn’t want to admit it, but they looked appetizing.
As the saying goes, what looks good tastes good, so they were definitely going to be delicious.
But having come this far, she couldn’t give up.
Whether it worked or not, she had no choice but to charge head-on.
Who knows? It might perfectly suit Franz’s taste.
Having organized her thoughts, Arian looked at everyone and spoke.
“I’m thinking of having the evaluation done fairly, with scores, without letting him know who made which dish. Does anyone have a different opinion?”
At Arian’s words, everyone shook their head.
Soon, four plates containing appetizing food were placed on a serving cart.
Arian pulled the cart and left the kitchen together with everyone.
Now, only Franz’s evaluation remained.
Arian’s heart beat loudly, thump, thump-.
Because she was quite nervous.
Unlike her, Yuna was beaming, simply enjoying this situation.
Yusti-ah was regretting her past self for falling for the provocation, and Hera was worrying whether it might not suit her master’s taste.
In the end, all of this was nothing more than Arian’s shadowboxing.
Though she herself probably didn’t know it.
* * *
Right after they left for the cooking showdown, Franz, left alone in the room, was blankly staring out the window.
It was so boring that he wondered if there had ever been a moment like this before.
He had entered the Magic Tower at the age of 16, so this was probably the first time he had been this relaxed since then.
It was boredom, he realized, after a whopping 10 years, and he was even alone without his secretary or his Hero’s Party companions.
“This is too good…”
Should he say he understood the feelings of married men running away from home?
This moment of doing nothing was so incredibly happy.
At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Franz’s mind.
“Should I tell Yusti-ah…?”
When he touched the Sealed Spearhead, hadn’t he personally met the God Yusti-ah served?
He didn’t know if he could give her answers to what Yusti-ah was curious about. But wouldn’t it still be better to tell her?
But then again, thinking about it carefully, didn’t Yusti-ah hate the Goddess?
Then it seemed like there was no need to go out of my way to tell her.
Continuing his contemplation, Franz took the spearhead out of his bag.
As expected of a holy relic, the spearhead emitted a brilliant light.
The Goddess did ask him to gather things similar to this, but just how many were there?
He doubted it, but could it be 99 of them…?
If that was really the case, he might just lose his mind.
It was when Franz was sighing while looking at the spearhead.
He felt a presence outside.
Franz immediately put the spearhead into his bag, and at the same time, the door opened and everyone who had gone out for the cooking showdown returned.
“Magic Tower lord, you were very hungry, right?”
Arian said so as she placed the plates on the table one by one.
The plates brought up totaled four.
All of them were full of appetizing food.
“Please try all of them and give us your evaluation.”
Everyone worked hard to make them, so he wondered if he really had to rank them, but…
It didn’t seem like a situation he could lukewarmly gloss over.
So what could he do?
He had no choice but to do as they wished.
Franz picked up a spoon and a fork in his hands.