Red Flavor #3
Of all people, it had to be Victorica who caught me. Facing her was still uncomfortable.
“Victor, what exactly did you do just now?”
“What manner of action are you referring to?” I deliberately asked in return, feigning ignorance.
Victorica’s face crumpled into a deep scowl, as though saying, You know perfectly well what I mean. Her usual gentle, lovely features made the angry expression all the more striking, instantly seizing my attention.
Fortunately, Nike, who had been standing quietly beside me, came to my rescue in that tense atmosphere.
“V-Victorica, hello.”
“You are Nike Mokemoke, are you not? From the Reshguard Forest.”
For some reason, Victorica seemed to calm down slightly after seeing Nike. I had no idea what shift had occurred in her mind, but it gave me a precious moment to organize my thoughts.
Victorica would undoubtedly be interested in how my base attack power had risen from F to D. What was the best way to handle this? If I played it right, I might even be able to use the situation to my advantage. In some cases, I might have to risk telling one or two lies.
Talent is clear and unmistakable. At least, that was what Victorica believed. A simple 100-meter dash was enough to prove it. Reducing ten seconds to nine. Reducing nine seconds to eight. Between each single second lay an immense mountain range invisible to the eye. To cross that mountain required truly blood-soaked effort. Or else the use of a ‘special’ method.
“So, Victor, how did you do it? That thing just now. You were originally F-rank, weren’t you?”
As far as Victorica knew, this man named Victor was the type furthest removed from ‘special’ methods. He was the sort who would stubbornly climb from the very first step of the mountain and eventually reach the summit.
But was that truly the case?
Lately, Victorica had begun to wonder whether the lens through which she viewed the world had been mistaken all along. That Victor had broken through the wall of F-rank. And in such a short time? To Victorica, who had been wandering helplessly before the wall of 69-B, it was as astonishing as hearing that a wingless person had flown into the sky.
Her former fiancé spoke.
“Are you curious because of the staff? The Arclight Staff, I presume.”
“H-How did you….”
Victorica was visibly flustered, as if her heart had been read. The Arclight Staff. A family heirloom passed down through generations. A magical weapon said to have been crafted with the technology of the gods. To wield it, one’s base attack stat needed to reach B+ rank. She did not know why such a condition existed. This was Ludens, the gods’ playground. She could only dimly sense that it was simply because it would be more ‘entertaining’ to the great deities.
Yet—
It was supposed to be a secret known only to those of the Arclight family…?
Concealing her bewilderment, she asked, “Victor, how could you possibly know about that…?”
“Naturally, because I too was once a member of the Arclight household. There is no way I would be ignorant of matters concerning you.”
“I… I see.”
Victor’s expression appeared somehow strained. As if he were in pain. But Victorica had no leisure to pay attention to such things.
I never even realized this man could cook. Or that there was another woman. Yet he knew so much about me….
She had thought of it as nothing more than a nominal engagement arranged by their families. There had been no need to know each other, no need for deep interest. Because even without such things, their relationship would have remained exactly the same.
Was that only my delusion?
They had lacked conversation. Though they lived under the same roof and served as officers in the same student council, Victorica and Victor had never once spoken openly with each other.
“Victorica, you have always liked spicy food, whether you admitted it or not.”
“...You even knew something like that? That’s rather creepy.”
“Is it? Is it strange for a fiancé to know his betrothed’s palate? In any case, would you care to try some? There is a dish perfectly suited to your taste.”
“Why would I eat that? What exactly is our relationship?”
The words that flew from her mouth were far more curt than she had intended. Even Victorica herself was taken aback. It would not have been strange for someone to call her rude. Yet Victor remained unusually composed.
“What is our relationship, you ask? The vice president of the student council and a member of the cooking club, of course. Is it not the duty of the vice president to constantly inspect what kind of dishes we are creating and whether they are fit to be sold to the public?”
“......”
She could not refute him. Arguing with Victor over such a matter from the start would have been foolish.
He’s right. I’m simply here to inspect the food. There are food sanitation laws, after all. It’s not that I want to taste Victor’s cooking again because it was delicious….
Having reached that conclusion about her own feelings, Victorica spoke.
“Very well. Let me see it.”
“Understood. Nike, bring it out.”
“Really? It’s fine for me and Victor, but I’m not sure if a refined young lady like Victorica, who was raised so delicately, can handle it…”
At Nike’s words, Victorica instantly flared up. It sounded as if she were being mocked as a sheltered girl who knew nothing of the world. As if she were being blamed for failing to notice that her former fiancé had been taken by another woman. She could not help but grow angry.
“You think I cannot eat what you and Victor eat? I do not know what it is, but bring it.”
“I-I see.”
Nike of the Reshguard Forest offered a plate to Victorica. On it lay meat heavily coated in a vivid red seasoning.
“It is Victor-style Bomb Sauce Bulgogi.”
The moment she saw it, an overwhelmingly spicy and intense flavor seemed to assault her senses. Her eyes already stung. Could she really eat such an unidentified dish?
But that soup was incredibly delicious. I did not want to admit it, but… perhaps this will be good too. And there may be a secret behind his jump from F to D….
She had been so busy cleaning up after the outdoor practice that she had skipped lunch. To Victorica, the “Bomb Sauce Bulgogi” placed before her looked remarkably appetizing.
Just one bite. Only one….
Victorica picked up her chopsticks. She gracefully lifted a piece of meat and slipped it between her lips.
“Mmph—!”
The first sensation was an unimaginably fierce spicy aroma. A spicy flavor like a bomb exploding in her mouth!
So this is why it is called Bomb Sauce!?
Her vision seemed to turn pure white. Sweat began pouring from her entire body, and her face burned. At the same time, something like a hot ‘destructive urge’ welled up from deep within her chest.
It is aggravating… but it is delicious…!
Victorica had always loved spicy food. The responsibilities of being a public figure. Her cold family head and older siblings. Her former fiancé, who had been more like a block of steel than mere wood. Caught between them, Victorica had always felt stifled. Eating something spicy felt like it cleared that blockage inside her, and she loved it. The spicier, the better. But she had kept it a secret from everyone. She had not wanted to give them needless ammunition for gossip.
This flavor seemed to expose all those secrets. Even knowing that, she could not stop her chopsticks.
She ate. And ate. She ate well.
Victorica, who had approached the dish with the wariness of a stray cat seeing a sausage for the first time, devoured the Bomb Sauce Bulgogi I offered without hesitation. It was almost worrying to me, the one who had cooked it. That was extremely spicy. I hoped she would not get an upset stomach.
But this confirmed it. Her ‘preferences’ matched those of D&A. Among the foods and items in D&A, some had affinity bonuses. From what I remembered, Victorica’s culinary affinity was for spicy dishes. When she ate spicy food, she received about a 10% additional effect.
Still, she was eating it incredibly well. The sight of her sweating profusely drew the attention of the students who had been striking the training dummies and those merely passing by. They all stopped in their tracks to stare.
“Victorica is eating outside the cafeteria…?”
“The student council officers are busy. I heard they eat anywhere. But what is she eating so deliciously…?”
“I don’t know. It’s an incredibly red color. She’s really enjoying it.”
A famous person eating deliciously became an advertisement in itself.
“Hah, my hair is in the way.”
Victorica raised a hand to brush back her flowing hair and wipe away the sweat, tying her lustrous locks behind her. The pale skin of her underarm was dazzlingly bright. Was she showing it on purpose? No, surely not.
In that manner, Victorica completely finished one full plate of bulgogi.
“I didn’t get to eat any…” Nike pouted, looking somewhat pitiful, but it could not be helped. I had barely eaten any myself.
However, Victorica, who had been eating so heartily, suddenly flinched as she stared at the empty plate. She took out a handkerchief and elegantly wiped her mouth before snapping irritably.
“...It was tolerable. But it seems to lower HP. This is junk food. Junk food. Regrettably, I cannot permit the sale of something like this within Ludens.”
Was she serious?
“Junk food? Do you truly think so? Strike the dummy.”
“What?”
“You will understand once you do it.”
Victorica stood before the training dummy. Then she clenched her fist with all her strength and struck the leather pad over its solar plexus.
71 — B+
In my case, the base attack stat had only increased by 1. But because Victorica had a high affinity with the dish, it rose by 2. Excellent.
“Did you see that? Victorica’s stat went up compared to the outdoor class earlier!”
“What? How did she do that? Was it really that easy to raise?”
“I don’t know, but it happened after she ate that weird meat!”
Everyone’s interest was piqued. I did not miss the opportunity.
“As you have all just witnessed, dishes made with Bomb Sauce produce excellent effects. The buff lasts a full hour.”
I wanted to add something like So pay me a fortune from now on, but Victor’s personality made it impossible to say such things. My mouth simply would not open. At that moment, Nike shouted on my behalf.
“Therefore, everyone, please come visit the Victory Cooking Club often!”
Well done. Viral marketing was all about timing.
As I gathered my satisfied thoughts and shifted my gaze, Victorica was muttering.
“The wall I could never reach no matter how I stretched for it… How could it be this simple…? Not through blood-soaked effort, not by crossing a life-or-death trial, but merely by eating a dish…”
Apparently reaching B+ had been quite the shock.
“Victorica, truth has always been simple enough for even a fool to understand.”
Having surpassed the base stat of 70, Victorica could now equip the Arclight Staff. It was an item exclusively for her, normally obtained around Act 2, and its performance was quite useful through the early stages of Act 4.
“You know me better than I know myself… I cannot accept it. The one at fault is you. The cause lies with you. Is it my mistake for not showing interest, for deliberately trying not to show interest…?”
“What are you saying right now?”
Had she eaten something strange? Victorica was muttering incomprehensible things. I could not understand why she was acting this way. The Bomb Sauce Bulgogi should not have had such an effect. Had an unknown variable appeared?
Just as I was thinking that commercialization would be difficult until I fully identified the variable, Victorica pointed at me with her index finger and declared,
“Victor, I must find out exactly what schemes you are plotting. I will be joining you for dinner tonight, so be aware!”
With that, she turned on her heel and left.
More importantly… she was joining us for dinner tonight?