A Bountiful Corn Harvest (3)
The murderous tension that had been a hair's breadth from exploding evaporated the instant Zion doused it with a perfectly timed splash of cold water.
The invitation itself wasn't a bad deal. Being asked to dinner meant the distance between them had closed that much further.
The problem was that their eyesore rivals had been invited too—but that much, they could live with.
When it comes to raising favorability, nothing beats a gift.
I'll win Lady Zion's heart for certain with the present I've prepared!
What are those two scheming now?
No matter what happens, I'll protect Big Sis Zion.
While the High Rankers each laid their meticulous plans for victory, an entirely different crisis descended on Zion herself.
She had narrowly avoided the worst-case scenario of the chapel being blown sky-high—only to find herself stuck cooking a meal she had never once planned to serve.
She bolted into the kitchen and ransacked the cupboards, but the only ingredients left were mayonnaise, cheese, sugar, and salt.
If I'd known it would come to this, I would've rationed more carefully.
Dusk was already settling outside. Even if she ran down to the village now, there was no chance any shops would still be open.
But even when the sky falls, there's always a hole to crawl through. With what she had left, there was exactly one dish she could make.
A recipe so simple that even Zion—who was hardly on speaking terms with cooking—could pull it off, and one that still guaranteed a solid result.
That's it. There's only one answer left!
Toss corn kernels with mayonnaise, sugar, and salt, top with cheese, and bake until golden. That was the entire recipe.
Calling it cooking felt almost embarrassing—but in a situation this bare, it was the best option she had.
A short while later, a rich, sweet aroma drifted out of the kitchen and filled the chapel itself.
"There isn't much, but… please, everyone, enjoy."
"That rich, sweet smell…"
"I've never seen this dish before. Did the Saintess make it herself?"
"Yes, you could say that."
No point hiding it. The dish Zion had chosen was corn cheese—simply spooned over bread on a plate, and done.
The one silver lining was that none of them seemed to have ever tasted corn cheese before. They all peered at it with open curiosity.
Leon moved first. He happened to be hungry, and he wasn't the type to be picky about food anyway.
Th-this is…!
Pop. Pop.
The savory richness of the golden cheese and the sweet-and-salty burst of the corn kernels exploded across his tongue all at once.
Leon's eyes went wide at the perfect harmony of sweet and salty—a combination he had never experienced in his life. But that wasn't the end of it.
Strength has permanently increased by 15.
Agility has permanently increased by 15.
What?!
For a High Ranker to raise a single stat required either a decade of training at minimum—or a legendary elixir.
And yet right now, from nothing more than a single bowl of food, not one but two stats had gone up.
It was no wonder Leon's consciousness started to blur under a second, even greater shock before the first had even faded.
"Ghk—!!"
"What the hell? Why'd he suddenly drop?"
"That beast just lost consciousness… What kind of food is this?!"
The moment High Ranker Leon collapsed, Elena immediately cast her Appraisal skill on the corn cheese Zion had made.
She simply prayed with all her heart.
That in this cold and painful world, no one would have to suffer.
Perhaps it was because that sacred wish had taken root.
Imperfect ingredients, touched by the Saintess's hands, were reborn as a miracle of flavor.
And Elena very nearly lost consciousness herself. No amount of money could buy something of this value.
Filling a bowl with gold coins and eating those would have felt cheaper than the food sitting in front of her.
In that instant, Elena bit down on her tongue. The taste of blood from the torn flesh was just enough to keep her conscious.
I cannot pass out in front of food this precious…!!
Elena lifted her head. Two Rankers were already visible—not so much eating the food as inhaling it.
On any other day she would have called out two High Rankers for abandoning all dignity… but today was the exception.
Elena's gaze swung to the right. In that same moment, someone clamped down hard on her beautiful hand.
"Trying to stick your hand in someone else's bowl? Do you have a death wish?"
"Tch!"
That's right.
Elena—manager of the 33rd Floor, a noble High Elf of sterling reputation—had just been caught trying to steal someone else's food.
And far from feeling any shame, she openly clicked her tongue as if the real tragedy was missing out.
"For a beast, your instincts are sharp."
"I'm not giving up a single bite."
…Looks like the corn cheese is a hit with everyone.
Of course, to Zion—who couldn't see status windows—it simply looked like they were fighting because the corn cheese tasted too good…
Even after the frenzied meal finally ended, the High Rankers still made no move to leave the chapel.
Zion let out a weary sigh. She'd fed them dinner—now she just wanted them all to get lost.
But contrary to her desperate wish, their real business was only just beginning. Elena struck first.
"Allow me to thank you first, Zion. Thanks to you, I was able to enjoy a truly magnificent dinner for the first time in ages."
"It was nothing at all. So if you could just—"
"This is a token of my gratitude. Please accept it."
"…?"
Zion was mildly flustered. The "token of gratitude" Elena held out was nothing more than a single scrawny tree branch.
What is this—is she mocking me? But Elena looked completely serious, and so did the other High Rankers.
Zion examined the branch in her hand more carefully. A brown twig with blue-green leaves clinging to it like dewdrops…
"Um, this is…?"
"A branch of the World Tree—of which there is only one in the entire Tower."
The World Tree.
A single tree that stood on the 33rd Floor under High Elf Elena's management, its value beyond any price.
She had casually handed over something that ordinary Rankers—and even High Rankers—could almost never obtain.
Tch. Not bad for a weakling.
Something a mage or alchemist would pay a fortune for, just given away like that…
The High Rankers who recognized its worth at a glance kept their faces carefully blank, but inside they were reeling.
Of course, that was their problem alone. Zion's thoughts were somewhere else entirely…
Looking closely, the tip's a little scooped out and rounded. It'd make a perfect spoon.
In an instant, a World Tree Branch that couldn't be bought for any fortune was demoted to a mere spoon.
Unaware of any of this, Elena surveyed the other Rankers' faces with a look of triumph.
She was certain no gift could possibly top this one. That certainty did not last long.
"You're already sure of victory over something that small?"
"I suppose that's a beast for you. Unable to recognize the value of a treasure like—"
"A World Tree Branch. Make a staff from it and you get the finest staff there is; use it as a material and you get a legendary elixir. Isn't that right?"
"My, you know it well. But what exactly gives you the confidence to look so smug?"
"Because my gift is just as good!"
Thud!!
With a voice full of swagger, Leon pulled from his coat a fairly large cylindrical glass bottle.
The moment Elena saw the heart-shaped red gem inside, her expression crumpled like paper.
"…That can't be…?"
"That's right. A Dragon Heart. I got it the hard way on an expedition to Dragon Valley on the 79th Floor."
A Dragon Heart.
Useful for forging weapons and gear—and even if you simply ate it, it permanently raised every stat by 10 by High Ranker standards…
An all-purpose item in every sense of the word. Its value was no lower than a World Tree Branch.
"I suppose even a rotten High Ranker is still a High Ranker. I didn't expect you to have prepared something of that caliber…"
"I didn't expect you to pull a card like that either. But I'm not losing!!"
"Tch! How childish. If I felt like it, I could give a gift of that level too."
"Big Sis Zion, actually… I have a gift for you as well…"
Two of them had already been enough to give her a headache—and now Ifrit and Rin were joining the fray. Zion felt her mind go blank.
Was it really right to hand over a World Tree Branch and a Dragon Heart as thank-you gifts just because she'd given them some corn?
No matter how hard she racked her brains, Zion couldn't find an answer.