34 34 "The first round of the big cooking competition is over." (1/2)

This is our dish. This is our dish.

Mina brings the dishes to the judges' table.

All the judges gasped at the strange array of dishes on the table.

Hmmm, what's this ......

There was a dish of bite-sized rice with a variety of seafood demon ingredients on top.

It's called SUSI, a traditional dish from my hometown. Please dip a bite into your soy sauce when you eat it.

This is the seafood dish I prepared for you. You can enjoy various flavors of seafood in bite-sized dishes.

Above all, the strength of this nigiri sushi is that seafood is not the only staple food.

In recent years, the variety of meat and vegetable ingredients in sushi has increased, making it more appealing.

This way, I can use freshly grown monsters for the ingredients.

I call it SUSI here because it's a different world style sushi.

It's interesting how you can enjoy different flavors in every bite.

After the judges had eaten it, they put various ingredients of SUSI into their mouths one after another.

Then I signaled Mina to put the food I had prepared in advance on the judge's table.

Here is a special drink called tea. This is a special drink called tea. Please drink it between sips of SUSI.

Hmm, it's quite clever of you to have a drink as well.

One of the judges takes a sip of the tea that was placed there.

I let out a breath of admiration at my first taste of the flavored water.

Although the judges' evaluations are generally favorable, they will still be hazy in front of the wise man's full course.

The question is whether the judges will notice the trick we have prepared for them. Or will they give us credit for it.

It's the only way for us to win.

Now we bring the final dish, the main dish of the evening, in front of the judges.

Thank you for waiting. This is our main dish, a stacked box with Leviathan meat grilled on skewers with a special sauce and topped with rice. It's also known as Liver Juice.

The meat of the Leviathan was broiled with my secret sauce and placed on top of freshly cooked rice, the so-called eel-jyu.

Of course, I had prepared a stacked box for this occasion. You have to eat the unagi (eel) with this.

”Hoho.

It's the best we can do.

All we have to do now is wait for the judges.

One by one, the judges bring the Rivajeu in front of them to their mouths.

The rich smell of the riva-juice wafts through the hall, and the voices in the hall, which had been filled with Kasarina a moment ago, fall silent and a sound like drool can be heard.

Before long, all the judges had finished their riva stew, sipped their tea, and caught their breath.

...... That was a really good dish. Now it's time for the evaluation.

A hush falls over the venue.

In the grand cooking competition, five judges decide which dish is better than the other.

The first judge is the wise and brave man.

d*mn, it's not that easy.

But the second judge, Mina and Kyou, voted for this one.

But in the third person, the wise men and heroes. And then the fourth, again with us, the vote was 2 to 2.

Oops!　This is surprising!　What a difference of votes with the previous year's runner-up, Kasarina!　Despite being an unknown rookie, this is an unexpected development!　The final verdict is now in the hands of the gourmet master!

The Gourmet Master.

It was an old man who gulped in admiration as he drank the tea we had just prepared.

He crossed his arms quietly and then, as if he had made up his mind, unfolded a piece of paper on which he had written one of the names.

The name on it was...

”Nah ......

I can feel the wise man next to me gasp.

Yes....because that's what I'm thinking too. I'm surprised myself, to be honest.

The names on it were Mina and Keogh.

Wha-ha!　No way a big turnaround!　The winners are Mina and Kyou, representatives of the small diner!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Mina jumped on my body, with a loud cheer in the background, and Phytis, Dora, and Locke, who were waiting for me, came running to me, as if they were playing with me.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting things to go so well, and I've been in high spirits since a while ago.

But in contrast to us, there's someone who, despite being shocked, still maintains a calm demeanor and responds to the gourmet master by saying ”I'm not satisfied with the result.

I'm not going to complain about the outcome of the game. I'm not going to complain about the outcome. But first I want you to tell me one thing. I want to know why their food won.

There were no feelings of complaint, just a sense of pride as a chef who genuinely wanted to know the factors that would determine the winner.

Upon hearing the wise man's question, the gourmet master spoke up.

To answer your question, I would like to ask your cook first, or rather the creator of this. What is it?