NOVEL NEXT Chapter 98
<98 - Gourmet Event>
At dinner time, an unexpected cooking competition was taking place in the academy’s main building kitchen.
“Izabel, you’re amazing!”
“You’re using six steamers at once!”
“You look just like a real chef. So cool!”
Using her high culinary skill experience, Izabel skillfully prepared giant king crab.
The central nobles watched her in envy, biting their handkerchiefs, while central-born students could only swallow hard, unable to express their wishes for a taste.
“Uh, um…!”
Just as a central-born student was about to awkwardly ask for a bite, Arcadia and the border nobles blocked their way in a group.
“Empire kids usually hold their noses high and ignore the borders—there’s no way they’d ask for a taste just because they’re a bit hungry, right?”
“No way. If they have that little shame, they shouldn’t even call themselves from the Empire in the future. Isn’t that right, Princess Arcadia?”
“Ho ho. That’s absolutely right.”
The students, feeling embarrassed, couldn’t raise their heads and had to watch helplessly as others feasted on the delicious king crab meat, tormented by the sweet aroma.
“Hmph. When I get home, I can eat a three-tiered Framboisier cake anytime, you know? I don’t really want any of that giant king crab meat!”
“You’re drooling…”
“Ah!”
“Why can’t we eat that too?”
“Yeah, right! We can just make it ourselves!”
With one student’s realization, the Empire students suddenly perked up.
Whoosh.
With great vigor, they quickly gathered cooking tools and rushed out to catch the crab.
“There’s no way!”
“It’ll be a miracle if they don’t get hurt.”
The upper-class students from the border shook their heads.
Even they wouldn’t have thought of cooking like this if it weren’t for Oknodie.
Sure, steaming food might be fine, and borrowing cooking tools is manageable.
But who would catch the most important giant king crab, and when would they chop that hard leg to fit the steamer?
“We’re just here to watch the show tonight.”
The border students smiled at the thought of redeeming their pride from the mocking and scorn of the Empire students.
Yet the Empire was not to be underestimated, and the Empire students didn’t bear surnames for no reason.
“A steamer? Why make such a fuss gathering tools from the cafeteria? I brought fried chicken stuff.”
“You have to cut it to fit the steamer, right? Just grill it then. Hand it over. If we take the meat out, we can make crab meat pizza.”
“What do you mean just steam it? A proper dish requires frying skill too. Pass me the body here!”
Honor Fried Chicken from the Fried Chicken Ducal House.
Cheddar Potato Pizza from the Potato Pizza Ducal House.
Leff Iron Charcoal Barbecue from the Iron Charcoal Barbecue Ducal House.
The Three Great Meritorious Families of the Empire lined up to create a three-course giant crab meal.
“Where are those guys getting steamers, magic stoves, and iron plates?”
“They traded it all for points.”
“What?! They spent that expensive points to get those cooking tools?!”
“Wow, really. I guess if you’re from a ducal house, you can afford such luxuries.”
The students were thinking.
It felt wasteful to spend money.
But thanks to that, they could eat delicious food.
Sweet flavors from the ducal house, they loved it so much!
“Ugh. We’re falling behind.”
“What should we do? Izabel, can’t you make anything else?”
“Don’t just complain. Help me out!”
Izabel scolded the nagging border students, upset that they were bugging her when she was putting her skills to work out of concern for Oknodie’s crab.
“I have an idea! I know a great recipe!”
“Princess Arcadia!”
“Indeed, the princess of the maritime power, Florence! Seafood is her forte!”
The absurdity of the kingdom of Florence, a treasure goblin on the seas constantly plundered by pirates, was undeniable, but today was different.
It was a noble country that stood up for the honor of the borders against the Empire.
“First, let’s dig out all the crab meat.”
“What kind of dish are you planning to make?”
“Crab meat salad and imitation crab rice, of course!”
The students’ eyes sparkled.
“A cooking method that emphasizes the freshness of the ingredients!”
“We can cook without needing permits for the expensive tools!”
“A dish that even students from impoverished border regions can make after just cracking the shell! You thought of us commoners, Princess Arcadia!”
“Wow!”
“Hooray for Arcadia! Hooray for the Kingdom of Florence!”
As the festival erupted among both border and Empire students, new arrivals kept coming.
“I heard a crab meat festival was happening in the kitchen!”
“Give us a plate too!”
“Is this a free meal station…?”
The border students gathered around their cookers while the Empire students smoothly clustered around theirs.
It turned out to be quite a day for the crab meat that was originally thought to get eaten in a day.
“Oh no? We just ran out of crabs!”
“Let’s go hunt more!”
“It’s so unfair for only us to miss out!”
Although first-years generally wouldn’t dare to hunt giant king crabs, a team of students with various abilities successfully took one down.
“Wow! Freezing its fluid to kill it? Now I see why the Northern Grand Duchess Irene is praised!”
“The Warrior Ishtar is impressively simple too! He disarmed all the claws and shoved his sword into its mouth!”
The crabs collected were quickly used in cooking again, and the students enjoyed a late dinner.
It was a rare occasion when the majority of the students from the Class of ‘981 enjoyed a hearty meal.
“Heh heh! We could open a restaurant, Izabel.”
“Shut up. Do you know how hard it is now that I’ve suddenly become a chef?”
“But where did our little lady go?”
“I don’t know. She just vanished halfway through.”
“She’s right over there.”
The classmates searching for Oknodie looked towards the Empire’s table at Jiang’s words.
And they saw her naturally blending in, receiving servings among the Empire students.
“That sneaky little thing—is she using her assassin’s skills for this? Such a waste of talent.”
“Don’t be so harsh. That girl has suffered from brutal training and has experience stealing disaster relief supplies while hiding in the church storage.”
“…Is that true?”
When Izabel nodded seriously, Son Ohchun felt like he’d become a bad adult for no reason.
“Tch. That little bugger. She never shared that part of her past with me. Next time we meet, I’m giving her 10 kg of bananas.”
“Where are the bananas?”
“In the depths of the forest, the ferocious red monkey with shark teeth devoured them.”
“…That monkey sounds terrifyingly strong.”
“Izabel, Jezel. We should find something for the little bugger to eat. We should go banana picking together next weekend.”
The two sighed deeply.
“After saying that, we can’t not help.”
“Just this once.”
━━━
[You ate Giant King Crab Steamed.]
[You ate Giant King Crab Imitation Meat Salad.]
[You ate Giant King Crab Imitation Meat Rice Bowl.]
[You ate Rare Dish Giant King Crab Cheese Oven-Cooked.]
[You ate Rare Dish Giant King Crab Iron Plate Offal Fried Rice.]
━━━
[Food Handbook [Common][Rare][Seafood][Giant Species] stack has increased.]
[Total dish collection increased by 5 kinds.]
[Common dish collection increased by 3 kinds.]
[Rare dish collection increased by 2 kinds.]
[Seafood dish collection increased by 5 kinds.]
[Giant Species dish collection increased by 5 kinds.]
━━━
[Collection Effect]
Total dish collection of 150 kinds – Item drop rate increased by 1%. Health increased by 1.
Seafood dish collection of 20 kinds – Additional underwater damage increased by 1%.
━━━
Rare Dish [Giant King Crab Cheese Oven-Cooked] collection – Ignore Defense increased by 1%.
Rare Dish [Giant King Crab Iron Plate Offal Fried Rice] collection – Physical Resistance increased by 1%.
━━━
[You mingled among the crowd as both sides of the factions collided, increasing your handbook collection rate.]
[Trick Experience +2]
[Hide Experience +1]
It was a fruitful dining experience.
As they left the kitchen filled with satisfaction, cheerful voices filled with happiness echoed from within.
“Wow! The crab is incredible. I never imagined it would taste this good from the innards!”
“Y-Your Highness! Your dignity is at stake! You must be careful with your wording as a member of the imperial family…”
“Huh? Stop the nagging. You’re the one with no cooking skills.”
“Ugh…”
“Learn to cook even half as well as that Iron Plate Fried BBQ family before you start nagging♡ You novice♡ Your cooking skills are at the bottom level♡ Can’t even cook tree fruits♡”
“I’ll start today! I’m going to roast everything from tree fruits to tree leaves, and even tree chopsticks! Waaah!”
The princess’s followers sobbed as they rushed out.
They sure hoped she practiced hard and made some delicious dishes!
“Let’s go to bed early today.”
“I want to rest this way because it was too delicious.”
“What about the assignment?”
“Oh.”
Recalling the assignment they temporarily forgot while enjoying culinary delights, the students fell into despair.
The pain was mutual for both sides.
“Ugh. I still have to go to the fifth-period lecture.”
It was particularly unfortunate that it stated they would have to take the lecture outdoors, with wind and rain whipping by.
Having gathered the courage to attend the lecture, they were still in the hallway waiting, too scared to go to the lecture hall or potentially getting eaten by a giant king crab.
“Hey, Oknodie! Did you see the magic watch? Isn’t Professor Sadako completely out of her mind?!”
“I think so too…”
“On a day like this, how could she be conducting night classes outside in the storm with a giant king crab around?”
“Did you pack a raincoat?”
“Duke Andersen gave us three, saying that we would struggle with the night class.”
“Raincoats?”
“Students attending the class [How to Sleep Anywhere] too shy to hide in their raincoat and listen to the sounds of giant crabs while sleeping decided to drop the course, so three raincoats ended up left behind.”
“Sounds like three students were indeed attending the same class.”
“They said there were seven students, but four remained. The Duke went to attend the lecture. He did look quite pitiable.”
“?!”
Was the Grand Duke that mentally resilient?
Surely, not?
They tilted their heads, then realized the variable.
Gourmet event!
Eating delicious food could boost morale, sometimes leading students to participate in activities they normally wouldn’t.
sigh.
“Who would worry about anyone else?”
“Exactly.”
“What should we do with the leftover raincoat?”
“I’ll cover the lighting stand with it!”
The determined Titosso tried to drape the raincoat over the cherished lighting stand (waterproof).
As the covered lighting lurches toward the end of the hallway, they turned their gaze to follow the shadow, noticing a head quickly ducking down.
“?!”
Moments later, a head popped back up.
They discovered Jiang looking resentfully at the raincoat draped over the lighting stand.
With morale boosted from the gourmet event, it seemed the only student heading to the lecture, who originally wouldn’t have, besides Duke Andersen, was not the only one.