Ch.227Side Story: Culture Lecture – 1

Bellium Academy offers numerous cultural courses. Tea ceremony, chess, ink painting, Western painting, hiking, swimming, walking, and so on. All are designed to give students a break, and thankfully, there are no exams.

If asked to pick the most popular course among them, it would definitely be cooking. Not for any particular reason other than it’s one of the few cultural courses where students can compete with each other.

Seeing people seeking competition even in courses designed for relaxation, I thought human nature truly never changes.

“Women can legally show off how excellent their cooking skills are, and men can compliment their cooking while trying to advance their relationships. Wouldn’t it be stranger if it weren’t popular?”

For such materialistic reasons, cooking classes were always filled to capacity. The competition for enrollment was often fierce.

“Today, we are especially honored to have the Saint joining us. Please welcome her with enthusiastic applause.”

However, things change when the attendees are the continent’s one and only Saint and the Crown Prince.

—Clap clap clap clap clap!

Thunderous applause erupted. The elderly female professor in charge of the class was also clapping with a pleased smile. Rosaria responded with an embarrassed expression.

“I didn’t know the Saint was interested in cooking.”

“Haha… I suddenly wanted to try it. Though I’m not very good.”

“No one is good at something from the beginning.”

The professor nodded with the composure befitting someone of her age.

“I was the same. I burned meat, couldn’t season soup properly, and my dishes often fell apart. But all those experiences built up to make me who I am today. I hope the Saint will thoroughly enjoy her time here.”

Her face, wearing a benevolent smile, turned to the person beside Rosaria.

“We have many guests today. To have Your Highness the Crown Prince attend as well—I’m overwhelmed by such an honor.”

“What honor? You’ve held this position for over thirty years. That’s more than enough proof of your ability.”

“I’m grateful for your kind words. Shall I proceed with the introduction now?”

“Please do.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The professor turned around. The students seated at the magical cooking assistants looked puzzled.

“Everyone, today His Highness the Crown Prince has specially provided ingredients used in the imperial palace. So let’s change our plans. Instead of the recipe I announced last week, shall we try something more sophisticated?”

Once again, thunderous applause erupted. The loyalty visibly swelling in the eyes directed at Laura was unmistakable.

Bellium Academy does provide good ingredients generously for classes. But naturally, they can’t compare to the finest ingredients used in the imperial palace.

Moreover, the professor doesn’t care what happens to the leftover ingredients as long as students complete the assigned dish. She even actively encourages students to take them home since they can’t be reused.

No wonder there were cheers—not only could they taste ingredients used in the imperial palace for free, but they could also take the leftovers home.

“Today we’ll be making côte d’agneau with sauce espagnole and…”

While the professor explained the recipe, maids entered one after another, placing ingredients down. “Wow,” automatic exclamations of admiration burst out from various corners.

We moved to the magical cooking assistants at the far end of the kitchen, which had been specially reserved for us as previously arranged. Rosaria and Latina took their positions confidently.

“Please don’t forget our bet conditions, Saint.”

“You too, Latina. Better start thinking about what you’ll do when you lose.”

Rosaria and Latina. Those two were the reason we were participating in today’s cooking class. Somehow their conversation had led to a bet about which of them was the better cook.

Priscilla, Elysier, Leona, and Laura heard about it and joined in, saying it sounded fun. The chairman was too busy in various ways to come, and Nika was being held by Beatrice.

Karna was busy running around dealing with the gate incident, making it difficult to even see her face.

“Then Rosaria and Latina will go first, and the rest will follow. Is that okay?”

“Of course. That’s fine.”

“I have no objection.”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

I’m the judge.

Well, I am, but I don’t plan to give strict scores. I intend to give full marks as long as the food is edible. Those two might complain about that, but it’s better than having one of them get hurt.

Besides, they’re the type to determine a winner and loser one way or another even without me.

“Alright, begin.”

At my signal, Rosaria and Latina began cooking in earnest. We stepped back to watch with interest.

“…”

But why is Latina putting the whole piece of meat into water that isn’t even boiling yet? No matter how premium the ingredients are, that certainly doesn’t mean they should be cooked so crudely.

Compared to Latina, who had started some outlandish cooking method, Rosaria was proceeding orthodoxly by first making a salad—washing vegetables cleanly and tossing them with dressing. Laura whispered to me.

“The outcome seems obvious already.”

“…Let’s watch until the end. Maybe she’s trying to make five-spice pork or dongpo pork.”

“That would be fortunate. If she’s making boiled meat with that expensive cut, the imperial chef would have a fit.”

Both dishes require quite a long boiling time to develop flavor, but surprisingly, there was magical equipment here that worked for that purpose. The principle? Magic, of course. Questions about whether it’s possible are meaningless in the face of magic.

“Please focus, everyone.”

The professor tapped the desk. Students who had been glancing in our direction reluctantly turned their heads away.

I understand their curiosity, but it wouldn’t be good if our conversation leaked out. I surrounded the area with perception-hindering and soundproofing magic. Noticing my intention, the students finally turned their attention away completely.

“Here’s the salad.”

Rosaria, whose preparation process was practically nonexistent, was the first to present a salad bowl. It was a salad featuring lettuce, chicory, and cucumber as the main ingredients, decorated with various vegetables and cherry tomatoes.

I took a bite of lettuce. With a crisp sound, the characteristic tangy taste of salad dressing spread through my mouth, stimulating my tongue with the raw yet classic salad flavor.

“How is it?”

“It tastes exactly like salad should. Delicious. You seem quite familiar with making it?”

“I used to eat it very often when I was managing my figure.”

Rosaria briefly struck a pose commonly used by women when posting photos on StarGram. Come to think of it, Rosaria before her possession was quite dedicated to maintaining her figure and appearance.

She said she’d even taken several photos, confident they would get amazing responses if posted on StarGram, but ultimately gave up on creating an account, worried about attracting strange people.

“…”

“…”

While I nearly emptied the salad bowl, Rosaria just stood there blankly. Our eyes met.

“What? What is it?”

“Any other dishes? Don’t tell me this is it?”

“Huh?”

Rosaria froze. And exactly three seconds later, she resumed activity.

“Ha, hahaha! Look at me! I forgot about making the next dish! I’ll be right back!”

With an obviously forced laugh, Rosaria returned to the cooking station. Her hands grabbed an apron before touching any ingredients.

It made for a peculiar outfit due to a certain distinctive body part, but at least the apron was serving its intended function.

“She was going to end with just salad.”

“She was planning to finish with just salad.”

Leona and Priscilla’s murmurs overlapped. Laura, who had been picking out only the cherry tomatoes and merely poking at the other vegetables with her fork, also commented.

“An appetizer is a type of dish, but… who presents just a salad when asked to cook?”

“Still, she made the salad well. Her claim about making it often wasn’t a lie.”

“Isn’t salad harder to mess up than to make properly?”

“…”

Rosaria was staring intently at the premium ingredients in front of her, clearly at a loss for what to make.

Meanwhile, Latina confidently set down a plate.

“It’s done.”

On the plate was boiled lamb.

“…?”

That was it.

In response to my questioning look about whether this was really all, Latina nodded, then exclaimed “Ah!” before fetching gravy sauce and pouring it thickly over the meat.

“I almost forgot the sauce. Now it’s really done.”

“The imperial chef would have a fit if he knew.”

“…Is there nothing else, Latina?”

“Well, I saw Rosaria present just a salad. That’s not cooking. So I only needed to present something that could be called cooking to win. It’s the most efficient way to victory.”

Rosaria, who had started chopping something in the background, flinched.

“But Rosaria started cooking again. Shouldn’t you make something proper too?”

Latina’s jaw dropped as if she’d been hit on the head.

Somehow things had been off from the start.

“A draw between two tigers.”

“I don’t think that idiom is meant to be used in this situation.”

Laura and Elysier each gave their assessment of the two results. Both were equally difficult to rank—in a bad way.

Rosaria and Latina shriveled up at the harsh criticism. Neither dish was inedible, but when the evaluation for a supposed cooking competition is “at least it’s not inedible,” things have already gone wrong.

“Both of you, quietly observe. I shall show you what cooking truly is.”

Elysier was the first to stride toward the empty spot. Leona, who had cutely clenched her fists in a silent cheer, followed, and Laura took the remaining position with a troubled expression.

Only Priscilla remained beside me, examining the instruction manual for the magical cooking assistant. Judging by her furrowed brow, something wasn’t going well.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well… can I ask you something?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“The recipe says to leave it at level 3 for 10 minutes. So if I set it to level 6, wouldn’t 5 minutes of boiling be enough?”

“…”

Right. She was also a homebody before her possession.