The Gourmet Event
Come dinnertime, an unexpected culinary showdown erupted in the cooking lab of the academy’s Main Building.
“Isabelle, that’s incredible!”
“She’s using six steamers at the same time!”
“She looks like a real chef. So cool!”
Drawing upon the copious experience points invested into her Cooking skill, Isabelle expertly prepared the Giant King Crab. Watching her bathe in praise, the central nobles bit into their handkerchiefs in bitter jealousy, while imperial students hovered restlessly around the fringes, swallowing hard, unable to bring themselves to beg for a bite.
“E-Excuse me…!”
Just as an imperial student cast shame aside to ask for a single mouthful, Arcadia and a flock of frontier nobles banded together to block the path.
“My, you imperial children always hold your noses so high and look down on the provinces. Surely you aren't about to beg for food just because your bellies are rumbling?”
“Heaven forbid! If they possessed so little shame, they wouldn't dare call themselves citizens of the Empire ever again. Wouldn't you agree, Lady Arcadia?”
“Ho-ho. Naturally. Every word is true.”
Apparently retaining at least a shred of dignity, the imperial students retreated, heads hung low in burning humiliation. They were left to watch helplessly as their peers cracked into succulent crab meat to fill their bellies, the tormentingly sweet aroma drifting thick through the air.
“Hmph! Once I go home, I can eat three-tier Francois cakes whenever I want! Who’d even want to eat cheap meat from a Giant King Crab anyway?!”
“You’re drooling…”
“Gah!”
“Why can’t we eat something like that?”
“Yeah, exactly! We can just make it ourselves!”
Sparked by that sudden epiphany, life returned to the eyes of the imperial faction.
In a flurry of activity, they rushed out en masse to procure cooking utensils and hunt down crabs of their own.
“Like that’ll ever work, nya!”
“They’ll be lucky if they don’t end up in the infirmary.”
The Upper Class students from the frontier shook their heads in collective disbelief. Even they never would have dreamed of feasting like this if not for Orknodi. Even granting that steaming was a simple cooking technique, and assuming they could somehow borrow the tools, who was going to hunt a Giant King Crab? And how did they plan to crack and carve those iron-hard legs down to steamer size in any reasonable timeframe?
“Looks like dinner comes with a free comedy show tonight.”
The frontier students grinned from ear to ear, eager to nurse their pride after enduring endless snubs, sneers, and ridicule from the imperial elite.
Yet the Empire was not an empire for nothing, nor had its noble scions inherited culinary house names in vain.
“A steamer? Why run all the way to the dining hall in such a fluster? I brought one along specifically for frying chicken.”
“You claim we must carve it to fit a pot to steam it? Then we shall simply roast it. Hand it over. Once we scrape out the meat, it will make a splendid crab pizza.”
“Who limits cuisine to mere steaming? Proper cooking demands a stir-fry! Bring the carapace over to my station.”
Horner Fried Chicken of the Fried Chicken Ducal House.
Cheddar Potato Pizza of the Potato Pizza Ducal House.
Leff Iron-Plate Charcoal Galbi of the Iron-Plate Charcoal Galbi Ducal House.
Stepping forward in succession, the heirs of the Empire’s Three Founding Noble Families set to work preparing a three-course Giant King Crab feast.
“Wait, where on earth did those guys pull steamers, enchanted ovens, and iron griddles from?!”
“Word is they bought them with Points.”
“Whaaat?! They burned precious Points just to buy kitchenware?!”
“Unbelievable, seriously. I guess being from a ducal house means you can afford that kind of luxury.”
The watching students could only marvel. Burning Points was sheer madness, but thanks to their extravagance, delicious food was on the horizon. Nothing tasted quite as sweet as aristocratic excess!
“Ugh. We’re losing our lead!”
“What do we do? Isabelle, can’t you cook something else?”
“Lend a hand before you start barking orders!”
Isabelle snapped at the pestering frontier students. She had stepped up to cook purely because she couldn't bear to see the crab Orknodi hunted go to waste, yet her classmates were behaving like shameless peddlers demanding the bag after being pulled from a river.
“Fret not. If you desire an alternative recipe, I happen to have an exquisite one in mind.”
“Lady Arcadia!”
“As expected of the ducal daughter of the maritime Florence Kingdom! When it comes to seafood, she bows to no one!”
The rootless Florence Kingdom—a treasure goblin of the high seas that got plundered by pirates whenever it had a spare afternoon. Whatever the occasion, Florence was usually the butt of every joke and sneer, but tonight was different. Tonight, it stood as a proud realm defending the honor of the frontier against the imperial juggernaut.
“First, extract all the crab meat.”
“What dish are you making, my lady?”
“A crab salad and mock crab rice bowl.”
The students’ eyes sparkled.
“A recipe that honors the pure, natural flavor of the ingredient!”
“We don't need expensive equipment authorized with Points to make it!”
“A meal that even impoverished frontier students from technologically stunted regions can enjoy with nothing more than cracked shells! Lady Arcadia devised an accessible recipe just for us commoners!”
“Whoaaa!”
“All hail Arcadia! Long live the Florence Kingdom!”
As festival fever gripped both the frontier and imperial camps, waves of new students trickled into the cooking lab.
“I heard there’s a crab festival going on in the kitchen!”
“Give us a plate too!”
“Is this where the free soup kitchen is…?”
Frontier students naturally gravitated toward the frontier counter, and imperial students toward the imperial tables. Portions that had seemed vast enough to leave half untouched by midnight vanished at a terrifying pace.
“What do we do? We ate all the crab!”
“Let’s go hunt more!”
“It’s not fair if we’re the only ones left out!”
Under ordinary circumstances, a Giant King Crab was far beyond the hunting capability of first-years. Yet when a dozen students wielding an array of eccentric abilities teamed up, successful hunts began to tally.
“Incredible… Freezing its bodily fluids to kill it instantly. Now I see why everyone praises Lady Irene, the Northern Grand Duke’s daughter!”
“Hero Ishtar is quietly insane too! Parrying every claw strike with raw swordsmanship before ramming her blade straight down its gullet!”
The fresh haul was promptly funneled into the pots and pans, letting the students luxuriate in an exceptionally late dinner. For once, nearly the entire 981st cohort went to bed on full, satisfied stomachs.
“Bwahaha! You could open a restaurant, Isabelle!”
“Shut it. You have no idea how brutal it was getting drafted into being the head chef.”
“Speaking of which, where did our little lady wander off to?”
“Beats me. I lost sight of her halfway through.”
“She’s right over there.”
At Zhuang’s passing remark, the entrance exam comrades turned toward the imperial dining tables. There they saw her: Orknodi, blending seamlessly into the pack of imperial students to receive her ration.
“That little squirt… using assassin stealth arts for a handout? What a waste of technique.”
“Don’t be so heartless. She grew up starved under brutal training, remember? She even had to sneak into church storehouses to steal emergency disaster relief rations just to survive.”
“…Is that true?”
As Isabelle nodded with grave solemnity, Son Ocheon felt a sudden pang of guilt, wondering if he was being a terrible adult.
“Tch. That little shrimp. Never breathed a word of that past to me. Next time I see her, I’m dumping ten kilos of bananas in her lap.”
“Where are you going to find bananas?”
“Deep in the forest, I saw a savage red monkey with blue shark teeth munching on a bunch.”
“…That monkey sounds terrifyingly strong.”
“Isabelle. Giselle. We’ve got to find something to feed the squirt’s maw. If you’ve got time next weekend, come help me pick some bananas.”
The two let out a synchronized sigh.
“Put it that way, and I can hardly refuse.”
“Just this once.”
You have consumed Steamed Giant King Crab.
You have consumed Giant King Crab Mock Crab Salad.
You have consumed Giant King Crab Mock Crab Rice Bowl.
You have consumed the Rare Dish: Hearth-Baked Cheesy Giant King Crab.
You have consumed the Rare Dish: Teppan Giant King Crab Innards Fried Rice.
Food Codex Stacks: [Common][Rare][Seafood][Giant Species] have increased!
Total Dishes Registered: +5
Common Dishes Registered: +3
Rare Dishes Registered: +2
Seafood Dishes Registered: +5
Giant Species Dishes Registered: +5
While both factions squabbled over saving face, you slipped seamlessly among the crowd to reap practical gains and maximize your codex completion rate!
Deception EXP +2
Stealth EXP +1
What a productive meal.
Basking in sated bliss, I stepped out of the cooking lab, only for a bright, cheerful voice drenched in sheer ecstasy to ring out from within.
“Whoaaa! Crab is insane! I never imagined the innards would taste like this~!”
“Y-Your Imperial Highness! Mind your dignity! If you do not watch your vocabulary, your reputation as a member of the imperial family will—”
“Haaah~? Your nagging is so noisy! Not like you can cook anyway.”
“Kh…”
“Go learn at least half the culinary skill of the Iron-Plate house before you lecture me♡ You scrub♡ Lowest-tier cooking proficiency♡ Can’t even cook wild berries♡”
“I-I’m starting today! Beginning with berries, tree leaves, wooden chopsticks—I’ll grill everything in sight! Waaaah!”
The Imperial Princess’s retainer fled the room, spraying tears into the wind. I certainly hope they train hard and whip up a massive feast of delicious treats down the line!
“Should we turn in early tonight?”
“It was so good, I just want to crash and sleep.”
“What about our assignments?”
“…Ah.”
Remembering the homework they had forgotten in their gourmet reverie, the students plunged straight into despair. Their torment was my own.
Ugh. I still have to drag myself to that fifth-period lecture.
To make matters worse, the notice stated the class would be held outdoors in the middle of a windstorm. Worried that Titocoga might lose her nerve on the way—or worse, get devoured by a stray Giant King Crab after working up the courage to attend—I waited for her in a nearby corridor.
“Orknodi! Did you see the magic clock? Is Professor Sadako completely out of her mind?!”
“I was thinking the exact same thing…”
“On a night like this, couldn't she just hold an indoor substitute lecture? How can she conduct a night class out on the campus outskirts in a howling storm with Giant King Crabs crawling everywhere?!”
“Did you bring a raincoat?”
“Lord Andersen gave me three, saying we’d have a rough time in the night lecture.”
“Raincoats?”
“He said students enrolled in Sleeping Well Anywhere refused to crawl into raincoats to sleep in the downpour while listening to giant crab footsteps, so they dropped the course. That left him with three spares.”
“Ah, so there were only three students in that class too.”
“He said there were seven! Four stayed, and the young grand duke went off to attend the lecture with them. He looked so pitiful…”
“?!”
Was the young grand duke’s mental fortitude always that unbreakable? Surely not.
I tilted my head in confusion before the hidden variable clicked into place.
The gourmet event!
Consuming high-tier, delicious food conferred a massive morale buff, frequently driving people to undertake absurd activities they would never fathom on an ordinary day.
“Sigh. Who am I to worry about anyone else?”
“Right?”
“What should we do with the last raincoat?”
“I’m putting it on my Light Stand!”
Titocoga fussed endlessly, trying to drape the spare raincoat over her cherished Light Stand—which was already thoroughly waterproof. With the raincoat hooded over it, the lamp cast long, eerie shadows down the far end of the corridor.
Tracing the silhouette with my eyes, I spotted a head suddenly duck out of sight.
“?”
A moment later, the head popped right back out. It was Zhuang, glaring with bitter resentment at the hooded Light Stand.
It seemed Andersen wasn’t the only student whose gourmet morale boost had tricked them into marching off toward a hellish class they would have dropped under any sane circumstances.