Tower of Death - Floor of Cooking (3)
After the cooking time ended with a resounding ding, Rote and I gathered the prepared dishes and made our way to the area where the judges were waiting.
“Oh! The delicious aroma is wafting from somewhere. My stomach is growling like crazy.”
The judge rubbed his large belly while sniffing the air.
Then came the thunder-like rumbling sound.
“What was that? What kind of noise is this?”
“Is it thunder?”
“Did a monster invade?”
Everyone looked around in surprise at the sound that echoed like thunder.
The judge, feeling embarrassed, whispered softly, “Haha. My stomach has been empty for a while.”
The rumbling in his stomach was so loud it was compared to thunder.
The kid next to him chimed in, “I’m hungry too! Give me food!”
The 6-7 year old boy was twisting his body impatiently, waiting for the food like he was bored of waiting.
“Then shall we try Rote's dish first?”
With the Goddess of Job Advancement's words, the dishes prepared by Rotten appeared before the three of them.
“Wow. Is that food?”
“It looks like a piece of art.”
“It's a shame to eat it.”
The pufferfish sashimi and various other delicious-looking dishes were laid out around it.
“Oh! This looks delicious. Eat it quickly.”
The judge immediately picked up his chopsticks and started eating the dish as soon as it appeared.
But Rote stopped him for a moment.
“Please wait a moment.”
“Why?”
“Just a moment.”
Rote said nothing more and stood still.
Suddenly, something strange happened.
The pufferfish shell, which had been placed around for decoration, suddenly began to inflate slowly.
“What... what is this? Why is it like this?”
“The pufferfish... it's alive!”
The pufferfish gradually swelled to its original size and then even larger.
The shell of the pufferfish, which had become enormously large, looked as if the pufferfish inside was about to move again.
“Now you may eat.”
Looking at the pufferfish that had seemingly come back to life, with a gaze that said it would poison anyone who touched it, the judges began to eat a piece of sashimi.
“Mmm.”
“No! How did the sashimi melt in my mouth the moment I put it in? And I didn't even dip it, yet it's so rich!”
One judge, after tasting it, was so captivated by the flavor that he started devouring the pufferfish sashimi voraciously.
But then.
Startled!
The judge suddenly met eyes with the pufferfish in front of him.
In that moment, the thought that this delicious dish might contain poison took over his mind.
He trembled at the thought of death coming to him, as if poison was spreading through his body, but he couldn't put down his chopsticks because the taste was too good.
After tasting death, the judge ate all the dishes.
“Kuhahaha! This is amazing. It was truly a fresh experience.”
Feeling death while experiencing the ultimate taste.
No chef could have done that.
The Goddess of Job Advancement also showed a similar reaction to the judge.
Except for one person.
“Mmm.”
“Delicious!”
The 6-7 year old boy was eating the pufferfish happily without any thought of death, just enjoying the taste.
Was it difficult for a child of that age to imagine the deadly poison in the pufferfish?
The innocent appearance of the boy eating the dish one bite at a time while looking at the pufferfish like a funny toy held no message of death.
“Judges, please assign scores to the dishes considering the theme of 'Death'.”
After eating Rote's dishes, the judges scored them based on their own criteria.
“Then we should try the dishes on this side as well.”
With the Goddess of Job Advancement's words, the dishes I prepared appeared before the judges.
Unlike Rote, who served the same dish to everyone with pufferfish sashimi as the main, the types of dishes varied for each target.
“Oh? All different dishes. It must have taken a lot of time to make them like this.”
“Yes. But since I had to give each of you a dish themed around 'Death', that's why.”
And the first one to be revealed was the judge's dish.
Before him was a giant fried squid dish.
“Wahahaha! This is huge!”
The giant fried squid was almost as large as the judge's size.
There was no elaborate decoration compared to Rote, but the size alone seemed sufficient as decoration.
“But why is this related to death?”
“You'll understand when you try it.”
The giant fried squid, which didn't seem related to death at all.
First, the judge started tasting the giant fried squid.
“Crunch!”
The crispness with each bite.
Followed by the soft texture of the giant squid.
Just as the saying goes that fried food is Jin-ri's, the judge, unable to resist the delicious taste, started eating.
“Mmm. Mmm. Delicious. Delicious! I don't feel any greasiness at all.”
The judge, who didn't feel the greasiness of the fried food, continued to devour it without tiring.
And after eating about half of the giant squid.
Suddenly, the judge stopped his hand.
“The portion is too much.”
The limit of how much he could eat was starting to become apparent.
Even though he thought he could eat a lot, he started to doubt if he could finish something larger than his own size.
But because the taste was so good, he couldn't stop eating, and when he was almost done with the giant squid, he felt.
“This is the feeling of my stomach about to burst and die.”
The belly that had swelled to the limit.
Why people say their stomach is about to burst and die, he finally understood.
And while eating the last remaining giant fried squid, he had a happy expression.
“Well. And the second dish.”
“Is that mine?”
The boy opened the box in front of him with anticipation. And what was inside was one eyeball candy.
“Huh? Is this the end?”
The boy, holding the eyeball candy made of skeleton bones, put it in his mouth and started tasting it.
“Roll. Roll. Roll.”
After all, eyeball candy is best eaten by rolling it in the mouth!
The eyeball candy, rolled around deliciously.
“Mmm! It's really delicious! Sweet and savory!”
The boy, satisfied with the taste of the eyeball candy, felt a sense of happiness and slightly turned his head back!
“Cough! Cough!”
“What? Is something stuck in my throat?”
“I need to go get it out quickly!”
The boy started coughing violently as if the eyeball candy was blocking his airway.
But I didn't take any action.
“Cough! Cough! Huh? It's gone?”
The boy, who was having trouble breathing, suddenly felt the eyeball candy in his throat disappear in an instant.
Just a moment ago, the eyeball candy that had been blocking his airway had disappeared as if a magic spell had been cast.
“Wow! Amazing!”
The boy had a bright, innocent expression as if he had forgotten that he had almost died a moment ago, showing that he was satisfied.
“Well. And the last dish.”
“This is something to look forward to?”
The Goddess of Job Advancement, seeing the previous two dishes, subtly showed anticipation.
And the dish that appeared before the goddess.
“Hmm? It looks like an ordinary dish.”
“Yes. It's eagle soup made using the giant eagle. It's perfect for body reinforcement.”
“Is this related to death?”
“I'll explain after you all finish eating.”
The Goddess of Job Advancement nodded and slowly started tasting it.
It looked no different from a regular duck soup, but in terms of taste, it was exceptional.
“Mmm~ It's sufficiently delicious.”
If the picky Goddess of Job Advancement said that, it was an extremely delicious dish.
After eating the delicious dish, the Goddess of Job Advancement looked at me.
“Well. What is the connection between this and death? It was tasty, but it doesn't seem related to that at all?”
“Actually, a special ingredient was added when making that dish.”
“Special ingredient? I didn't feel anything special.”
“Well, that's understandable.”
The Goddess of Job Advancement seemed very curious about what kind of ingredient was added.
What kind of thing was it that was related to death.
“One of the ingredients in the eagle soup is... .”
“Right?”
“The saliva of that White Dragon.”
“!”
At the same time as my words, the Goddess of Job Advancement's face, which was already unnaturally pale, became even paler.
And she fainted from the shock of the words.
After some time had passed since the Goddess of Job Advancement fainted.
The Goddess of Job Advancement, who had barely regained her senses.
“I... Is it really true that White Dragon's saliva was added?”
“No. Haha. I'm lying.”
“...Lying?”
“Yes. How could I put saliva in the dish?”
With my words that it was a lie, the color returned to the Goddess of Job Advancement's face.
I hadn't expected her to faint just from the fact that White Dragon's saliva was added.
That I could be so bad with the White Dragon.
“Ah. The shock hasn't worn off yet. I really wanted to die.”
After the tasting by the three judges was over, the scoring was done in the same way.
And the message that appeared as soon as the scoring was finished.
Score announcement is coming.
Combining the scores of the three judges, the higher score will win.
Drumbeats echoed around the area.
-Rote's score is as follows.
-[98 points] [91 points] [94 points]
-Final score: 281 points.
Rote received an extremely high score with no marks below 90.
For the kid's dish, even though no message of death could be felt from the food, a high score was given because the taste was so delicious.
-Now we will announce your scores.
Drumbeats echoed again.
-[97 points] [94 points] [95 points]
-Final score: 287 points.
-The Cooking Floor has been cleared.
-Please move to the next floor, the Sacrifice Floor.
The Cooking Floor has been cleared.
Please move to the next floor, the Sacrifice Floor.