Chapter 372

However, in Roan’s standards, it was not exactly a wrong statement.

On Earth, it was a skill so ordinary that he couldn’t even boast about it anywhere.

He was merely at the level of making simple stews or fried rice with his own hands to eat.

Indeed, among those of commoner origin, there were some who showed movements similar to Roan’s.

However, there was definitely a difference between them and Roan.

Unlike those who barely managed to cook due to their poor circumstances and did not know how to use good ingredients properly,

‘If I can’t make something delicious with these, it’s a crime, a crime!’

Roan possessed the knowledge to extract the potential of all ingredients to the limit.

Not long after, a delicious smell wafted from Roan’s pot.

He had put in five Ungbarami, which allowed broth to brew even with just a little boiling, and added scale flower to add umami, along with Sallangwa, which divine spiritual beasts generally liked, so there was no way the smell wouldn’t be good.

Before he knew it, Nia had come to his side and was sniffing.

“Oh~ the combination is quite good? How did you adjust the ratio?”

“Since the scale flower should be used to support the Ungbarami, I used a small amount, and the Sallangwa is added little by little as the cooking progresses… More than that, Senior, please wipe your drool.”

“Ah, s-sorry.”

Only then did Nia realize that drool was streaming from the corner of her mouth, and she felt embarrassed.

‘If she’s going to be that embarrassed, shouldn’t she be wearing clothes?’

Although it was a bit puzzling, Nia was someone whose own standards were firm anyway.

And it wasn’t just Nia’s problem.

*Kee-roo-rook— Chirp, chirp— Woof, woof—*

[It-It looks delicious…]

This was because the divine spiritual beasts, drawn as if possessed by the smell, were already sitting in a large circle around Roan’s place, waiting for the cooking to finish.

Since the three main ingredients Roan used were mixed specifically for divine spiritual beasts, it was natural for them to be drawn to it.

In other words, it also meant that Nia’s palate had become similar since she had stayed with divine spiritual beasts for so long.

‘Right, Nia I can understand.’

Roan nodded and shifted his gaze.

In that place,

“Ro-Roan! Can’t I just have one bite?”

there was Demona, drooling no less than Nia.

‘But why is this punk acting like this?’

Shouldn’t Demona, who had grown up eating human food all her life, not act like this?

Roan frowned and waved his hand as if telling Demona to back off.

“Go cook your own.”

Demona asked nonchalantly.

“Are you speaking to me?”

“Then who else is here.”

“I’ve never done something like cooking before~”

‘What on earth is this…’

Roan didn’t even have a clue on how to deal with a person like her.

It seemed it would be much easier to communicate if he just caught a passing spiritual beast and talked to it.

*Hum—*

“Since you know both the desert lizard and avian languages, that would indeed be true.”

…It was not a simple metaphorical expression, but actually the case.

However, speaking bluntly worked better for Demona.

“The pop quiz is for you to try doing exactly that.”

“Ah, was that so?”

Demona nodded as if she hadn’t known and went back to her place.

Then, she grabbed a frying pan and poured oil in it.

‘Does she at least know how to do something?’

Given how well she ate at restaurants, she seemed to have quite an interest in cooking too.

In that case, she might possess at least the minimum knowledge among the Acherandir students—

*Boooom—!!!!*

“A-Argh! The frying pan exploded!”

“…How did she manage that?”

But as if mocking his thoughts, Demona’s frying pan exploded with a loud bang.

Demona’s face was covered in soot, and her flowing blonde hair became a disheveled mess.

How on earth she exploded a frying pan that only had oil in it, if that was a skill, it was indeed one.

Even so, Demona showed unexpected persistence as she grunted while holding onto something.

‘…Well, as long as the child makes an effort, that’s enough.’

Roan decided to accept it as a major improvement in its own right.

Meanwhile, Sion had been cooking diligently from the start.

“Professor, what kind of dish is suitable for a beginner?”

“Statistically, dishes with good accessibility—are grilling and boiling. However, if grilled incorrectly and burned—it is bad for health, so I recommend boiling by putting in various ingredients appropriately.”

Like an honor student, she directly asked the professor for the method and even showed amazing receptivity by accepting his advice.

…Among the Empire’s nobles, that was a surprising level.

Since the main purpose of this pop quiz was to give noble students the experience of cooking directly, Alphard also readily gave out information.

Thus she put water in the pot and tried to start cooking, but honestly, she couldn’t know the mixing of each ingredient like Roan.

‘Should I have read a cookbook a bit…?’

Sion pondered deeply as she looked at the ingredients Nia had distributed.

Surely they were given because they all had a purpose, but what role each ingredient played and what taste it produced was a complete mystery.

At that moment,

*Meow—*

“Huh? Noeul-ie, what is it?”

Noeul-ie came over holding a branch in her mouth and laid it down in front of Sion.

Sion picked up the branch in wonder.

Through their communication so far, she knew that such a cry was demanding something.

‘Is it telling me to use it as firewood?’

*Mew—*

Just then, Noeul-ie pointed to the spot of a student near Sion.

A few branches like this were piled up next to it.

Noeul-ie had taken one of her own accord.

“Noeul-ie! You shouldn’t take other people’s things without permission! Put it back quickly!”

While Sion was scolding her firmly,

*Bang——!!!*

“A-Argh! Why is cooking so dangerous?!”

The student’s pot exploded without fail, scattering the contents inside into pieces.

“…You mean put it in here?”

Seeing that, Sion slyly made a gesture of putting the branch into the pot.

…To her eyes as well, using it herself seemed like a better courtesy to the branch than leaving it there.

*Meow—!*

Noeul-ie nodded as if to say that was exactly it.

Sion didn’t know exactly what this branch was, but decided to follow Noeul-ie’s recommendation for now.

Since she was making food to give to Noeul-ie and Pallangi anyway, she thought it would be a good experience to make it together.

“Sure, let’s give it a try. Since I don’t know much about cooking anyway.”

Sion smiled faintly, washed the branch, chopped it, and put it in the pot.

According to what she had vaguely heard, they sometimes put things like this in when making broth, so she thought it would be fine.

However, it did not end there.

*Flutter—*

“Huh? Pallangi, where is this flower from… did you steal it too?”

Not only did Pallangi come holding a flower with her legs,

*Oink, oink—*

“…? Where did you come from?”

*Quack, quack—*

“What are you?”

but suddenly, all kinds of spiritual beasts began bringing ingredients one by one.

Because of this, Sion’s surroundings quickly resembled a spiritual beast farm, filled with noisy cries.

Roan, who was next to her, also looked toward Sion to see what on earth was going on by this point.

“What is all this fuss.”

Sion said with a tearful face because of the spiritual beasts constantly bringing ingredients and pestering her,

“Ro-Roan! What should I do with them? Since I put in the ingredients at first, they keep…”

“Hmm…”

Roan watched Sion quietly and spoke coldly.

“If you keep granting their requests, they will get spoiled.”

“Hing…”

Sion looked even more tearful as it seemed even Roan wouldn’t help.

“It was a joke.”

“Eh? Ah, as expected, right?”

Then her face brightened in an instant.

Roan considered sharing the long-standing Korean proverb ‘If you cry and then laugh, hair grows on your butt,’ but decided to hold back.

Though she seemed clumsy, Sion was a Saintess candidate after all.

If she got offended, he could be dragged away for blasphemy.

‘Hmm, in a world like this, I have to be even more careful.’

Roan looked at the spiritual beasts gathered like clouds around Sion and said,

“First of all, basically, it is because your affinity with divine spiritual beasts is high.”

“Yes? Affinity? But it wasn’t like this normally. Kyaah! Don’t bite, guys!”

Of course, such a thing did not happen just because affinity was high.

Affinity was important when acquiring wild divine spiritual beasts, but the effect was minimal on those that already had owners.

And strangely enough, wasn’t there one person whose affinity was higher than Sion’s?

In any case, the situation was a bit special now.

“Look at Demona over there… no, just looking at anyone will do.”

“???”

Sion followed Roan’s sigh and shifted her gaze.

In that direction, there were of course students taking the test diligently.

*Bang—! Boom—! Crash—!*

…Although the noise followed consecutively as if they were taking it so diligently that it resembled a battlefield.

Roan spoke as if asking if she understood now.

“If you were them, would you want to be with your owner in a place like that?”

“…Ah.”

Sion could also understand now.

Although the spiritual beasts liked it at first without knowing anything when it exploded the first few times, that was only once or twice.

By this point, they had cleverly realized that it was just noisy for nothing, and they wouldn’t even get a single plate of food.

So they had no choice but to come to Sion, who was cooking normally, and ask her to put in what they wanted to eat.

You ask if Roan wasn’t doing it normally too?

*Woof, woof—!*

“Do not touch it yet.”

*Glare—!*

*Whine…*

…In this kind of atmosphere, the only divine spiritual beasts that could approach amiably were Bell and Charlotte.

[Master, how can you speak so meanly.]

‘I just told them not to approach recklessly because the pot is hot.’

[Your expression looked like you were going to dump the whole pot on them.]

Bell confidently spoke his mind to the aggrieved Roan.

Perhaps his master’s image played a part in why the other spiritual beasts didn’t approach him?

Of course it wasn’t.

Since Charlotte was doing well enough.

Roan stared at Bell, who had primly turned his head away, and said,

‘I heard that if you simmer and eat a dragon, you can become a great mage.’

[Heeeeeeyyyyyy────!!!!!]

‘Ah, of course, since you are the legendary Abyssal Dragon, I have no intention of doing so.’

[Y-You human trafficker!!!!!]

Bell flapped his wings and flew to Sion without even looking back.

Of course he knew it was a joke, but…

Was it really a joke?

In any case, as even Bell suddenly flew to her, Sion was truly at a loss.

“Dragon-ie, why are you doing this too?”

[Over there, there is a wicked black mage human trafficker!]

Bell screeched and spoke passionately, but unfortunately, the meaning was not conveyed to Sion.

Anyway, if they left Sion like that, it could cause issues for her pop quiz, so Roan decided to step in.

The method was simple.

*Step, step—*

Simply by Roan approaching nearby,

*Squeal—!* *Quack, quack, quack—!* *Neigh—!!!*

the spiritual beasts scattered in surprise as if they had seen something they shouldn’t.

‘…Well, I knew it would happen, but seeing it in person really makes me feel a bit bad.’

[Hmph, that’s just how a human trafficker is!]

‘Stop that and come here.’

[Argh! I’m really getting kidnapped!]