Chapter 373

[Uuuugh… I’m not going! I said I’m not going!]

After retrieving Bell, who was clinging tightly to Sion and refusing to let go,

“Let me take a look.”

“Th-Thank you, Roan.”

Since he was there, he decided to examine Sion’s pot as well.

For the most part, she would have put in only ingredients that spiritual beasts liked, but there was a chance the combination was wrong or incompatible ingredients had been added together.

“Hmm.”

“How is it? It’s my first time cooking…”

Sion asked with trembling eyes, as if she were being graded right now.

“Is there a reason you chose a boiled dish?”

“Ah, because it seemed easier.”

“I see. Did you know what this ingredient was before putting it in?”

“That…”

At Roan’s attitude and questioning, which truly resembled a judge, Sion’s eyes trembled even more violently.

‘What if he disqualifies me, saying I just threw things in without knowing if they were poisonous?!’

Of course, if Roan had heard her, he would have said, ‘I’m not a professor, why would I disqualify you?’ but even the great Roan could not read minds.

“Hmm…”

After contemplating for a moment, Roan shrugged and replied,

“It’s decent enough.”

“Is-Is it okay?”

“Yes. But this is enough for the broth. Adding more would be excessive. Let it brew for about ten more minutes, then add the meat and seasonings.”

“Yes!”

Sion was overjoyed as if she would leap—she actually did hop once—and her face brightened.

Of course, it did not completely satisfy Roan.

However, Roan himself knew to some extent that his standards were extremely strict.

*Crash-bang—! Fwoosh—!*

“Argh! It exploded again!”

“Mine hasn’t exploded for ten minutes already, it’s a new record!”

“Wow, shouldn’t you enter the Holy Emperor’s Palace as a chef?”

…Compared to the students talking like that, it could indeed be called a great achievement.

“Sion.”

“Yes, Roan?”

“Let’s talk later. I will teach you basic knowledge about cooking.”

“Heeeeeek—!”

“…Why are you so surprised?”

“Ah, no. I’m just so grateful.”

Sion made an excuse with an expression that was clearly far from ‘grateful.’

Although Sion liked studying, she knew from experience that the ‘basics’ Roan spoke of were not at a basic level.

Noticing that fact, Roan clicked his tongue.

‘Cooking is the basis of running a country!’

Why on earth were things like the Empire or religion necessary?

Wasn’t it precisely to eat and live?

Roan returned to his seat, resolving to teach Sion even better, since she was a member of the highest social leadership class yet did not know such a simple fact.

Meanwhile, Bell, held by the scruff of the neck by Roan, looked up at him with anxious eyes and asked,

[You really aren’t going to boil and eat me, right?]

‘The pot is a bit small.’

[Y-Y-You heretic!!!!! If it were big, would you put me in?!?!!!!]

‘Of course, it’s a joke.’

Roan grinned and corrected Bell’s misunderstanding.

*Kyaruru…*

Bell was on the verge of foaming at the mouth and fainting.

However, contrary to Bell’s worries, the majority of Empire citizens absolutely did not make food out of holy beasts or spiritual beasts.

They were busy enough sending them to Sacred Combat, so why do such a cruel thing?!

…Although it felt like that roughly, fortunately it was not to that extent.

It was due to the belief that divine spiritual beasts were the holy will of God and nature.

Therefore, what was used as food ingredients was strictly limited to ordinary animals and plants.

‘Although sometimes truly crazy black mages or heretics do that… who knows what state they would end up in if caught cooking a divine spiritual beast.’

Of course, Roan knew of a very few exceptions, but he did not bother telling Bell.

Like a single mudfish muddying the water, it might unnecessarily create bad prejudice against black mages, after all.

* * *

As much as there were numerous hardships and adversities, the time given to the students passed like an arrow.

[If you put this in too, I will specially forgive you!]

‘You cannot eat jewels. Even more so if they are artificially made.’

[Hing… I’ll have to ask Sister Sion.]

Although there was an incident where Bell went around carrying a large jewel and asking to put it in, it was relatively mild.

‘Hmm, this is very fine.’

Roan was satisfied, smelling the fragrant aroma rising from his pot.

*Drool—*

“Does it look delicious?”

[Very much so!]

*Kirik—!*

Since Bell and Charlotte were drooling beside him as they watched, a perfect score wouldn’t be a problem.

“It looks really delicious!”

“…Senior Nia, why are you here?”

“Because there is something delicious here, of course!”

Nia, who was not much different from a divine spiritual beast, had also been sitting sprawled next to Roan’s pot for a while, waiting only for the dish to be completed.

*Hiss— Hiss—*

“Cooking time is over. All students clean up—and submit your dishes.”

Alphard announced the end of the test right on time.

Roan turned off the fire and covered the pot with the lid for now to prevent the food from cooling.

Only then did Nia swallow her saliva in regret and head back to where Alphard was.

And the other students also prepared to submit the dishes (?) they had made.

“Hehehe, everyone will be surprised when they taste mine, right?”

“Hahaha, they will probably faint when they taste mine.”

‘Well, they will certainly faint.’

Roan agreed with the students’ words.

…Of course, he didn’t mean they would faint because it was delicious.

Even if it was burned, keeping its shape would still be a decent result.

“Hey, why did yours turn into powder?”

“You fool, don’t you know that powder form is more helpful for nutrient absorption?”

“Ah, is that so? You are very smart.”

There were many things that made him wonder how on earth they created such results using simple cooking utensils and excellent ingredients.

Ruining it like that would indeed be a skill, if it could be called one.

“As I said earlier, evaluating the dishes—is primarily Nia’s job. Each person must scoop a plate to submit.”

“Yes, Professor!”

The students brought the food they made onto plates with expectant expressions, placing them carefully before Nia.

“By the way, can Senior taste all of this food?”

“Indeed. I think she’d be full just from taking one bite of each?”

Even in the midst of this, the students, as followers of Hiloa who valued love and consideration, worried for Nia.

However, there was no need for such worry.

*Rattle—*

Nia smiled brightly as she looked at the dishes set before her.

The students also smiled back at her seemingly positive reaction.

“Senior Nia seems to like our food too!”

“Naturally! They say there is no bad person among those who love divine spiritual beasts!”

“What if she says everyone gets a perfect score?”

The students waited for the evaluation with such high hopes.

At that moment, Nia lightly struck her fist against the ground.

“What’s that?”

“Is it a custom of Senior’s race before eating?”

“Ah, that could be!”

‘Nia is a human too…’

The students tilted their heads, but they soon understood the meaning of that action.

*Crash——!!!!*

?!?!?!?!!!!??!!!

The plates placed before Nia began to shatter all at once.

The targets were dishes that even Roan thought were a bit too much.

…Although the fact that the number exceeded half was the problem.

The students, who didn’t know the reason that anyone in their right mind would know, immediately protested.

“What are you doing!”

“Is it okay to smash food that others cooked with sincerity like this?”

Nia spoke with a cheerful expression as usual.

“It was already smashed, though?”

…

The students were left speechless by the question that pierced through the exact truth.

“St-Still, to say such harsh words…”

“Yeah, you guys are the ones who are harsh~ I’ll have to lower my expectations of humans further in the future.”

Nia’s witty remark made Roan feel completely refreshed!

‘As expected, Nia only speaks the truth!’

Nia was someone who had quite a bit in common with Roan in her own way.

Nia continued to speak, looking at the food that had tumbled from the broken plates.

“Guys, did you cook or did you perform alchemy?”

“Al-Alchemy?!”

The students shuddered at the word ‘alchemy.’

On Earth, alchemy was a study of romance and mystery that turned stones into gold.

In this world where holy magic and magic existed, it was merely a pseudo-science that deluded the world.

As students learning holy magic, it was natural for them to feel offended by the question of whether they used alchemy.

Nia laughed and asked,

“You turned the ingredients I painstakingly brought into trash, and you feel offended because I called it alchemy?”

*Grind——*

However, unlike her expression, her hand was extremely threatening.

The Acherandir students had very good instincts regarding their own lives, so they immediately shook their heads.

“No, we aren’t offended!”

“We must cherish nature, yes!”

“My hands are the problem! Slap! Slap!”

“And if you feed things like this to your spiritual beasts in the future, you should watch your back at night.”

*Shiver—!*

The students trembled like aspen leaves when Nia, who usually just smiled warmly, threatened them in earnest.

‘She seems quite angry. I really should be careful if it’s to that extent.’

Since Nia was truly angry to that degree, Roan also decided to remember the owners of the shattered plates.

He didn’t have any need to talk to them, but if he got caught up with them at night and ended up as collateral damage, it would be troublesome.

*Hum—*

“I don’t think you are in a position to be collateral damage anywhere…”

“No matter how I think about it, wouldn’t Roan fit the role of a whale rather than a shrimp?”

However, Roan ignored the reasonable deduction of the False Divinity.

In any case, the number of dishes to be judged was reduced to less than half in an instant.

Nia slowly began to examine the rest.

“This one.”

*Slide—*

“This one.”

*Slide—*

“This too.”

*Slide—*

Then, with rapid movements, she pushed half of the remaining food forward again.

The students who made those dishes were puzzled.

“Why is she sorting ours?”

“Indeed.”

After examining all the plates not long after, Nia smiled and said,

“The ones who made these, take them back and eat them yourselves!”

“Pardon? Us?”

“Yes!”

The students seemed a bit suspicious, but in any case, Nia’s word was more important than Alphard’s for this test.

The students hesitated as they stepped forward, and eventually put the food they made into their mouths little by little.

Naturally, there was no way it tasted good.

“Argh!”

“Why does it taste like this?”

The students spat it back out as soon as they put it in their mouths.

Spicy, salty, bitter, sour…

Since all kinds of tastes were combined, it was impossible to eat.

“Kehuck-cough-blergh! Ptooey!”

Among them was Hector.

Roan looked at him with a slightly bewildered expression.

‘What on earth did he make to end up like that?’

If Nia hadn’t smashed it at first, it probably wouldn’t have been to that extent.

Only then did Nia look at Hector and speak.

“Ah, my mistake. I should have smashed yours beforehand. It was so ruined that I didn’t even know you submitted it.”

…Apparently, she had quite a lot of pent-up feelings against him.

“Kehuck! My throat, my throat is burning!”

Hector eventually clutched his neck and fell backward.

Only then did the students whose plates had been broken at first let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew, thank goodness she didn’t tell us to taste ours.”

“Tell me about it.”

In fact, Nia smashing the food was equivalent to saying, ‘If you eat this, you’re in big trouble.’

Nia looked down coldly at the collapsed Hector and said,

“To think you tried to feed such waste to our cute Eongeongi and Silsil-ie. You are not just a disappointment, but a despair.”

*Flinch——*

The students trembled at Nia’s contempt-filled words.

Roan thought they were doing so simply because Nia’s aura was so fierce, but

“Eongeongi and Silsil-ie are cute, what on earth does that mean?”

“I don’t know… Such a shocking statement is the first since hearing that Darc is soft-hearted.”

the reason was a bit different.

‘Even so, is it to that extent?’

Roan stared as if to kill the two students who had just spoken.

[P-Please hold back, Master!]

*Kirik—!*

Although nothing major happened because Bell and Charlotte held him back in the unusual atmosphere.