NOVEL NEXT Chapter 990
<988 – Reclaimed Innocence (4)>
“Game of Tag is over!”
Thanks to Oknodie, who declared the end of the game with a determination to jump right into a mystery game, the second years managed to escape by the skin of their teeth.
“How exciting! Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll cook…!”
Seeing Cooking Oknodie unable to contain their joy as they flipped stir-fried rice continuously, Titosso couldn’t help but clap and exclaim, “Wow!”
“Man, that was really intense.”
“Let’s take a break.”
“We need to eat something too.”
A natural queue formed in front of Cooking Oknodie, drawn by the hungry eyes that implored for a meal!
“Oh dear. So many of you were hungry! There’s plenty of food in the fridge, so I’ll go get it!”
“Wait? The Foundation mansion’s fridge…?”
“Hold on, we’re full. We don’t need to eat…”
Just as the second years felt a sudden anxiety, Oknodie’s speed was nothing short of legendary!
The only thing left in the wake of their leaps against the walls and ceiling was a fading blur.
“What could be in the Foundation’s fridge…?”
“It must be some high-level cooking.”
“When we’re back at the main house, isn’t it the Chairman’s specialty cooking?”
“…that chairman?”
“If that person is making it, the dish would surely be lethal enough to kill a giant monster, right?”
The faces of the second years trembled with fear.
Especially Titosso, who had been getting the occasional sweet candy from Reap while happily munching on various foods alongside Oknodie, looked the most distraught.
“Mom, dad, sister… I’ve been having fun dragging around the light stand and making lots of friends… I’m doing well… hiccup.”
Trembling hands wrote a will!
Arcadia, who had boldly come for the main event, patted Titosso on the back to console her.
“Oh come on. You’re such a drama queen. Oknodie wouldn’t serve up food that would kill friends, would they?”
“Who knows? They might just bring anything since it’s the Chairman’s delicacy…”
“A true close friend wouldn’t serve just anything. They’d carefully choose. Moreover, Oknodie is a master of food collection, so they should curate it even better, right?”
With Arcadia’s words, Titosso’s tears ceased.
It seemed to make sense upon reflection.
Once a day, Titosso would get duped easily like this.
Suddenly, the sound of food carts approaching echoed from a distance, and Oknodie appeared.
“I’ve brought lunch!”
Over a hundred carts, enough for dozens to feast heartily and still have leftovers.
As everyone’s expressions brightened at the sight of food piling high on the feast table, they exclaimed:
“Just smelling it doesn’t make my nose melt away.”
“Seeing the food hasn’t blinded us either.”
“On the contrary, my appetite is going wild.”
“I wonder if there’s a magic device that keeps it freshly cooked?”
“Wow. This is real food.”
A grand feast for welcoming friends!
The Guard Golems slowly made their way to the table, finishing the setting of tableware.
“Everyone, please enjoy your meal!”
“Thank you for the meal~”
Titosso quickly picked up a fork.
And then cold sweat broke out.
“Hmm…? Why does the fork feel so heavy…?”
“Looks like you trained in the dining techniques even back at the main house. It was the same way when you were training under Jonnas!”
The ruthlessly heavy tableware was no different from equipment for superhumans!
Still, if delicate Titosso could manage to lift it and cut through a juicy steak with fork and knife, we should be able to handle it too, right?
With that thought, Arcadia Lady looked down at the fork that wouldn’t budge.
“Is it just mine that’s heavier?”
“Every weight is the same!”
At that moment, Arcadia recalled the high-spec Guard Golems that waddled in slow motion.
Naturally, golems with such brutal specs that could even take down Ghost Swordsmen wouldn’t have weights that would be classified as ordinary.
Moreover, Titosso’s body was infused with Giant Blood Serum.
In a flash, she ranked at the top of the Academy’s strength rankings.
If even Titosso felt the weight, that meant ordinary students wouldn’t be able to lift the fork without extraordinary effort.
“Haha! Well, we could just shovel it in. Pirates don’t care about decorum!”
Jigoku exclaimed as he grabbed the food with his bare hands, tearing into his share of steak.
But contrary to Titosso, who was calmly munching away, Jigoku’s expression crumbled dramatically.
“Ugh, what in the world does this taste like…”
“Huh? The food was totally fine. Oh, there was magic on the table!”
“W-What? Poison…?”
Oknodie chuckled softly to reassure the tense Jigoku.
“If you eat without following dining etiquette, the taste will be magically transformed into something horrible!”
“What a petty spell you’ve crafted!”
“Wow, the Chairman sure is cruel. Making delicious food that turns awful when eaten!”
If we had to endure awful meals after overcoming all those trials just to reach the mansion, it would be an injustice that could keep anyone awake at night.
Jigoku wiped his hands, determined to at least try lifting the fork, channeling his mana and practicing the Mana Flow Technique while enhancing his territory to eat.
“It’s… delicious… there is taste, but…”
It’s incredibly hard!
Finishing a single plate felt like battling through a fight, draining all his energy!
Other students could start their meals just as Jigoku had, pouring every ounce of effort into it, but they also quickly became exhausted.
“Whew, it’s delicious…”
“Ugh, I feel like my arm’s going to cramp.”
The second years finished their meal with faces showing a mixture of regret at the feast ending and relief at the intensity of their dining experience.
“Ah, you really don’t have to look so disappointed. There is still plenty of room left in the food cart!”
As the empty plates were quickly whisked away, the next dishes piled onto the banquet table.
The quantity of plates cleared was matched almost instantly with new dishes.
“Crazy.”
“W-Well, it’s nice, but can we actually eat this…?”
“What if we totally drain our mana…?”
Jezel casually took a taste.
“We appreciate our young lady’s efforts, but due to the struggles we faced on the way here, sadly, our appetites have diminished. If it’s alright, may we enjoy our meal tomorrow morning instead?”
“Oh! I don’t mind, but won’t that be exhausting for you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The curse here in the cafeteria is if you leave without eating a certain amount…”
“?!”
“Hehe. Conversely, if you clear five plates, you’ll get a buff! Was the Chairman surprisingly a glutton?”
If you’re someone like the Warrior’s avatar, you’d surely have a high calorie requirement.
Gluttony isn’t all that rare.
But the notion that they too would have to participate sent a chill of cold sweat down the spines of the second years.
“Can you tell me what kind of curse it is?”
“I’ll explain that on behalf of the lady.”
Jonnas the Butler.
As a candidate for Head Butler, he was well aware of the curses placed over meals at the Chairman’s main house.
“The punishment for leaving food behind is realizing the value of a cooked meal. You’d be sent to a room connected to the Monster Area, where you’d have to survive in the wilderness. The difficulty of the area corresponds to the value of the ingredients, and the duration corresponds to how much you failed to eat.”
“!!”
“Of course, at the Chairman’s main house, care is taken to select high-quality ingredients. You’d likely be ‘transmitted’ to a very high-difficulty area and if you attempt to dimension shift before the time is up, you’d still return to the same area due to the curse.”
Oknodie suddenly chuckled in delight.
“Oknodie, you didn’t… filter it out, did you?”
At Jiang’s stunned question, Oknodie revealed the dishes stored on the bottom of the food cart, prepared from boss-grade monsters.
“I made sure to bring only the best meals so you could eat well, selecting ‘top’ dishes!”
Titosso burst into tears.
“Older Sister Arcadia is a liar! You might have filtered, but you picked the hardest dishes!”
“No, but you could still eat properly…”
“Oh right. I forgot about that.”
With a slightly sheepish expression, Titosso picked up a spoon and began to sip the soup.
“Right. There’s a one-hour restriction for meals!”
“There’s a time attack?!”
If they didn’t finish all the plates within an hour, they’d be forcibly transported to the Giant Monster Area for a survival challenge—what a crazily combat-filled meal time!
As the spirits stared blankly at those gulping down their food, Oknodie asked, “Would you like to eat?”
“No. We can’t eat as ghosts.”
“Spirits don’t eat food like that.”
Even though Cooking Oknodie had served the ritual table countless times, the Ghost Swordsmen feigned indifference and disregarded the offerings.
They certainly didn’t want to fall into a predicament comparable to living in a Giant Monster Area.
“Phew. We’re lucky to be eating Cooking Oknodie’s meals.”
“And Cooking Oknodie fortunately isn’t sitting at the banquet table prepping the feast…!”
“Right. You’ll all be cursed as soon as you enter the cafeteria, so you’ll need to eat!”
“Isn’t that just getting double the torture?!”
“Eeeek! That’s too scary!!”
A harsh judgment that doesn’t even allow for a sidestep of dining on Cooking Oknodie’s meals!
Ding ding.
As the grandfather clock chimed, a portal appeared at the feet of those who hadn’t finished their plates.
“Noooo!”
“There’s still time, we can eat more…!”
Shoo shoo shoo
Those who hadn’t met the quota on time vanished beyond the portal.
“Whew. I cannot allow the lady’s guests to be harmed, so I ask for your understanding as I temporarily step away.”
“Have a safe trip, Jonnas!”
Even though he could have finished the meal, Jonnas took a step back to save everyone and disappeared alongside the portal.
The survivors collapsed, utterly drained from squeezing out their mana and exhausting their muscles.
When the hellish mealtime finally wrapped up, the spirits quietly diverted the topic.
“After eating, let’s take a nap.”
“Finding the culprit of the locked room murder!”
“Should I read a fairy tale?”
“Finding the culprit of the locked room murder!”
“Sheesh, this is a mess.”
In the end, they couldn’t escape the locked room murder mystery!
“So… who are you going to kill?”
“Well, that’s up to the card to decide!”
“Card?”
“I brought a board game!”
“…So after all that effort, they’re just going to play a board game?”
Jigoku, aggravated from the battle of mealtime, exclaimed, but once he saw the actual board game, his grievances vanished completely.
Oknodie pulled out a humongous bundle of cards, almost akin to a national treasure filled with mana, teeming with energy.
“May I ask where you procured those?”
“I got them from the Principal!”
Playing board games created by the Evil Dragon Omoshiroi.
Just the thought of it was terrifying.