Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Magical Cooking Contest (2)
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The first one was a Magical Girl with a sturdy build.
"My Magical theme is twofold: Magical cost-performance and Magical meal power."
"Is that so?"
The judging Magical Girl gave a half-hearted nod, as if to say, Go on, then.
"Take a look at this."
Despite the rather intimidating attitude, the Magical Girl pushed her dish forward without a care.
Her dish was rice where each individual grain was coated in a pale brown layer.
"With this special rice, I've captured both Magical cost-performance and Magical meal power—two Magical rabbits in one go."
"Is that right?"
Though her response was casual, the judging Magical Girl must have been somewhat interested. Before they knew it, she took a bite of the dish.
"Oh, that's interesting. What kind of rice is this?"
"Sawdust."
It certainly nailed both cost-performance and meal power.
"...You called it rice?"
"Exactly. Saw'rice'."
"Magical disqualification! Out!"
But perhaps two elements weren't enough to satisfy her. The Magical Girl was now latching onto a third.
Not some vague notion like cost-performance or meal power, but something far more straightforward.
"This is unfair! This is rice made from premium Magical lumber!"
Right.
She'd clamped onto the judging Magical Girl's mouth.
"Try a bit more, and I'm sure you'll acknowledge it!"
With that, she pried the judge's mouth open and started pouring the dish straight down her throat.
"Mmph! Mm-mmph!"
About half the sawdust dish had vanished that way.
This time, two Magical Girls were disqualified simultaneously.
One was the girl who'd force-fed the dish.
The other was the judging Magical Girl.
The former for Magical insubordination, the latter for Magical indigestion.
Though the latter was honestly unexpected.
How could a Magical Girl wail like that after just eating some sawdust?
Talk about overreacting.
Magical Girls should be able to handle sawdust, no problem.
Anyway.
At that moment, a scrawny Magical Girl quickly submitted her dish.
"The Magical dish I've prepared is Magical Shojin cuisine."
An unfamiliar term.
But its meaning became clear soon enough.
Thanks to the octopus throwing a fit.
"No, like the girl said! Magical temple food is supposed to be easy on the stomach!"
"Oh, is that temple food?"
"Well, it's a bit different in detail. That's Japanese-style Magical temple food."
Though called temple food, it looked nothing like it upon inspection.
Just then, one of the judging Magical Girls voiced exactly what I was thinking.
"It looks like Magical eel rice bowl, though?"
"Yes, exactly. A Magical eel rice bowl made entirely with Magical vegetables. The ultimate Magical Shojin dish, you could say."
At that instant, one of the Grandmaster-rank judging Magical Girls narrowed her eyes sharply.
"Ho? Magical vegetables? Are you certain?"
"Of course."
"Is that so?"
True to Grandmaster level, she looked young like any other Magical Girl, but her gaze carried a weight that belied her appearance.
"I have Magical allergies to everything except Magical vegetables. Are you claiming right here that even I can eat this safely?"
Her seasoned eyes gleamed menacingly.
The Magical Girl nodded at the look.
"I'm confident. Please give it a taste."
"Very well."
Only then did the other judging Magical Girls turn pale and try to stop her.
"No, Magical Grandmaster. Just hold back this once. You'll actually die if it goes wrong."
"Magical allergies aren't a joke. Please reconsider."
"I'll prepare something special for you later."
But the self-volunteered judge waved them off dismissively.
"No, it's fine. Can't have an old timer backing down when the young one's brimming with Magical confidence."
And with that, she took a big bite of the all-vegetable eel rice bowl.
Thus began the life-or-death evaluation.
As everyone watched tensely, the Magical Girl slowly opened her mouth while chewing.
"Oh. Impressive."
Her words were pure admiration.
"Tofu for the eel's flesh, seaweed for the skin. Not just the look, but the texture is perfect."
"Spot on. Thank you for the high praise."
The judge took another bite, then tilted her head.
"But how did you replicate the eel flavor? That's impossible with just vegetables."
"That's why I overcame the limits of Magical vegetables."
"Oh, really! Care to explain?"
"Of course!"
The submitting Magical Girl puffed out her chest and explained proudly.
"I ground and simmered Magical eels to make the sauce. That's the secret to the eel flavor."
The judge took a second spoonful of eel rice, then quietly smacked her lips.
"You definitely said this was vegetarian earlier..."
"Ah."
Afterward, two more Magical Girls were disqualified.
One was dragged out for attempted Magical murder.
The other was the judge, rushed away in an ambulance.
Well, she had crossed the line of vegetarian limits.
Not that I'd expected her to cross it that way.
I glanced at the judge with her throat all swollen, then turned to Snowball.
"Don't go vegetarian. Everyone who did ended up dying pathetically like that."
Didn't some German leader go vegetarian before killing himself? Vegetarianism is dangerous.
"Don't worry. I'm not some Magical vegan."
"No, fuck, this isn't a problem from Magical vegetarianism!"
Anyway, it was a good reminder of allergy dangers.
Some might wonder: a Magical Girl's body can't handle allergies?
But allergies are on another level.
Even a rat drops a lion after two bites.
Likewise, Magical allergies fell even Magical Girls after two bites.
True Magical anaphylactic shock.
Anyway.
The contest hadn't been going long, but there were already so many disqualifications. Even two judges were out.
Magical in the name must make it intense.
The cooking contest seemed tougher than expected.
Proving my prediction, Magical Girls started getting sunk one by one as they presented their dishes.
For various reasons.
Useless decorations.
Weird smells from the food.
Poor plating.
"This Magical meat isn't evenly cooked by my standards. Disqualified."
"No, this is Magical sashimi!"
"No exceptions."
Improper doneness, and so on.
It really was a cooking contest.
The judges' standards were high overall.
As a result, mediocre Magical Girls dropped out en masse, plunging the contest into chaos.
But.
Don't heroes appear in turbulent times?
Likewise, amid the chaos, a heroic Magical Girl emerged.
"The Magical theme of my dish is Magical harmony."
This latest one fit the bill.
"There's still so much debate over putting sugar or salt in Magical kongguksu, right?"
Spoken with overflowing confidence, utterly unshaken.
Proof of her faith in her cooking.
"So, through my unique Magical kongguksu, I've presented the perfect Magical solution—neither sugar nor salt."
Just then, two bickering judges turned to her simultaneously.
"What do you think, Magical salt faction?"
"Hmm. This piques my interest."
Their eyes sparkled with half curiosity, half doubt.
"I'm Magical sugar faction. Convince me. Can it really achieve Magical harmony?"
"If not salt or sugar in Magical kongguksu, then what did you put in?"
The Magical Girl smiled brightly as she answered.
"I mixed in rice."
"This bitch needs hanging."
"Upside down. Hang her upside down."
She definitely stuck to the Magical harmony theme.
Her single dish united the two squabbling judges in agreement.
"P-please, spare my life!"
Though it didn't look like she'd save her own skin.
Still, with the mediocre ones gone, decent dishes started appearing.
Two in particular stood out.
"Magical Korean cuisine based on fruit. It sheds the outdated image of Korean food."
"...No flavor at all?"
"That's on the eater."
One was a new type of Korean cuisine combining fruit and Korean elements.
"Magical rice that tastes like beef... Impressive, but personally, I'd like more of the rice flavor..."
"I figured, so I also prepared Magical beef that tastes like rice."
"Oh, perfect!"
The other elevated flavors to the extreme through unusual ingredient combos.
"Barring surprises, the winner is already decided."
The latter was a strong frontrunner, especially.
The combo of beef-flavored Magical rice and rice-flavored Magical beef was an untouchable perfect balance.
At that moment, perhaps irked by "frontrunner," another Magical Girl hurriedly submitted to the same judge.
It looked like plain curry at a glance.
But extraordinary hid within the ordinary.
"Whoa, this Magical curry is delicious!"
The judge gave rave reviews.
No flowery words—just raw praise, which made it all the more genuine.
"This might be rude, but could you share just a bit of the Magical recipe?"
So much so that the judge humbled herself to ask.
The frontrunner shifted in real time.
"Of course."
The Magical Girl nodded readily and rattled off the recipe.
A recipe that felt slightly off somehow.
"Tenderloin beef lightly stir-fried in butter. Potatoes, onions, carrots cut to size. Milk, coffee powder and a pinch of pepper to kill any off-flavors. Finally, one chicken stock for umami—"
"W-wait! I'm writing this down!"
The judge whipped out pen and paper.
"—and ate it and went to sleep."
"What the hell are you saying, you bastard?!"
And hurled them at the Magical Girl.
Only then did I vaguely grasp the source of that uneasy feeling from her initial words.
"Sora, that was definitely a curry recipe, but there's no curry powder in the ingredients—"
"Senior, shut up and don't say more. I'm seriously about to kill everyone."
Meanwhile, as the tasting judge gagged and left her seat, another judge beside her spat sharply.
"Who brings crap like this to a Magical cooking contest and calls it food? I'm suing for real!"
"Oh, you know the taste without even trying?"
Well, she didn't say more.
She just pulled out her magic wand.
- Pwing!
With a cute sound, the submitting Magical Girl tumbled to the floor.
Thus, another strong frontrunner was disqualified in mere minutes.
The competition for the win was fierce.
Even serving up something as cute as that curry.
A few more dishes followed, but none toppled the bastion of beef-flavored rice and rice-flavored beef.
At that moment, the dorm crew shot to their feet.
"Sora, shall we go now?"
"Yeah. Just finished our Magical cooking, perfect timing."
"This was all possible thanks to the girl's timely Magical help."
"Huh? You're done already?"
This was genuinely surprising.
I'd vaguely known they were up to something, but finishing faster than expected.
"What'd you make?"
"A Magical dish that'll shock you, Senior."
Sora flashed a sly smile, then headed to the judges' table with the others.
And.
"Submitting our Magical dish!"
She boldly presented it.