I Will Stop This Crazy Vegetarianism

The third magic, Thundercloud. Followed by the fourth magic, Sun Rain, and the fifth magic, Deep Sea Wind.

I shot magic every time the students repaired their broken shield, and the defense class of continuously blocking the magic I kept shooting ended with the eighth magic.

In fact, since all the students were magicians and could recharge mana from the surroundings given enough time, we could have continued if we forced it, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a matter of mana but that the class time was up, so we had to end it there.

As time passed, the time to replenish depleted mana and restore the shield became longer than the time to withstand my magic, so the class ended quickly.

When I glanced back, fortunately, the observers seemed satisfied, saying they had a good show, so I cleaned up the messy large sports field with one wave of my staff and said:

“Okay… That’s it for today… Everyone enjoy your lunch…”

“Ahhh! It’s finally over!!”

“It’s lunchtime, so let’s run first!”

“That’s right! We can’t miss it again!”

The students ran towards the cafeteria as soon as my words ended.

Probably because of the dishes from my Yeonhwa booth with a limited daily quantity, but to think they’re running like that with bodies that should be wanting to collapse right away from depleted mana.

“Their enthusiasm is incredible…”

Although delicious food can be a driving force, is it that delicious?

Since it was the cooking I did myself, I didn’t feel much excitement, but it seemed different for the students.

Come to think of it, even Isolde and Morgan threw away their usual expressionless and battle-maniac appearances only when eating, so maybe it should be seen as having that much impact.

While having these trivial thoughts, I glanced at the group of observers below.

The students had all rushed to the cafeteria, so the large sports field was empty. Thanks to that, I could clearly see the observers standing outside the large sports field.

-…, … …

Although I couldn’t hear properly because of the distance, seeing Mira speaking a few words and then heading towards the cafeteria, it seemed they were going to have lunch with the students.

Seeing that, I scratched my head, recalling the contents of the letter that had come to Yeonhwa from Mira the other day.

“First, I was asked to serve meals to the observers…”

A letter that came to Yeonhwa from Mira the other day.

Because there were so many important people among the observers, a letter came asking me to prepare lunch separately to serve a meal befitting them.

I received a small gift and a polite request, so of course, although I wasn’t keen on it, I accepted it, and because of that, I now had to go quickly and finish preparing the dishes for the observers, including the students’ orders.

“Myu should have done all the prep work…”

Probably Myu had prepared all the prep work for the cooking, so now all that was left was to finish cooking with Myu.

The thought of cooking while preventing Isolde and Morgan, who would creep in smelling the food, from eating it already made my head ache.

“I hope no more problems arise…”

300 servings of food and preparing dishes for the observers, along with keeping two gluttons in check, was already enough, so please let there be nothing more to worry about.

I desperately wished in my heart, shaking off the anxiety that came with a tingling pain in my fingers, and disappeared from where I had been floating using teleportation magic.

And usually, bad premonitions tend to come true.

---

Lunchtime.

At Lua Academy, lunchtime is literally a fierce battle to obtain one of the 300 meal tickets for Yeonhwa’s booth.

And at the same time, for Riana, who originally had a quick body and had her potential awakened at the academy, allowing her to easily take the lead in this battle, lunchtime was like heaven.

After all, it’s lunchtime where you can eat dishes that engrave bliss on your tongue from the first bite. What else could be called heaven if not this?

Although Riana wasn’t particularly religious to begin with, she could be certain that if there were heavenly food, it would taste like Yeonhwa’s cooking.

That’s why today too, right after the second period ended, Riana was running towards the cafeteria at an almost flying speed, nimbly climbing the walls and roofs of buildings.

Tadadadada───!

“Arin-san and Kana-san are down there.”

Checking below while running, Arin and Kana were running towards the cafeteria at the forefront.

Basically, they were both so fast that they were running far ahead, creating an overwhelming distance from others.

Of course, they couldn’t be faster than Riana running on top of buildings, though.

However…

Thud──!

“One meal ticket please!”

“Oh, Riana. Did you just arrive?”

“You’re quite late, Riana-san.”

Even Riana, who prided herself on being faster than Arin and Kana, couldn’t be faster than Shati and Pina who knew how to use teleportation magic, the cheat magic.

The two waving their hands to greet her as soon as she opened the door and requested a meal ticket.

Unlike herself, whose breath was slightly uneven, the two were already eating their food, having received their meal tickets with even breaths and without a single drop of sweat; seeing this, Riana felt anger rising inside her.

Magic is really unfair after all. While they were running using their bodies, just moving a little mana allowed instant movement to the desired location.

Therefore, Riana was about to express her dissatisfaction with this unfair world, but soon cooled her anger upon seeing their clothes covered in dirt.

Their clothes were covered in dirt as if they had rolled on the ground like stones.

“…Looks like you had quite a tough training in the previous period?”

“Don’t even mention it. We just went through a full-scale war.”

“Thanks to that, our clothes and hair are a complete mess. Come to think of it, we forgot to wash up.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Hearing Riana’s words, they seemed to realize their dirty state, so the two put down their utensils and used their mana to wash themselves.

Saaaa───

As they flicked their wand and staff, a spray of water disappeared, eating away only the dirt without wetting their bodies and clothes.

“Oho…”

Riana’s eyes briefly shone at the seemingly very convenient utility of that magic, but knowing that she herself had no talent for magic, she soon sighed and received the meal ticket handed over by the counter staff.

Magic is a mystery that can only be grasped by those born with bodies capable of using magic from birth.

It was already billions of light-years away from Riana herself, so there was no interest arising.

“Today, let’s try eating something a bit greasy.”

Usually, Riana would have eaten light salads, pasta, or honey cube steak, but today, heated by the irrationality of magic, she craved food that would oil her insides.

Therefore, after looking around the menu, Riana soon brought a meal ticket to Yeonhwa’s booth and ordered:

“One extra-large tteokgalbi please.”

“Hm? Is it Riana? Alright, wait a bit and it’ll be ready, so stay here.”

When she ordered with her meal ticket, Yeonhwa peeked her face out from under the waiting board to check on her.

It was an action showing their familiar relationship, having often eaten her cooking and met face to face, though not as much as Kama who teaches archery.

“Yes, I’ll be in your care.”

As Riana nodded and answered, Yeonhwa snatched the meal ticket Riana had held out, and soon the sound of fire blazing fiercely rang out from inside the booth as if about to start cooking.

The sound of flames blazing with a whoosh, followed by the sound of meat grilling in oil.

“Mmm…”

Gulp…

Just hearing the sound makes one’s mouth water involuntarily.

Riana had eaten it a few times when she craved heavy meat dishes, so the completed dish was even more vividly imagined in her mind, making her salivary glands lose control.

And after waiting like that for about 3 minutes. Although a meat dish should take at least ten or so minutes, after waiting about 3 minutes, a plate with tteokgalbi as large as a steak was handed out in front of Riana.

“It’s done. Take it.”

Handing out the steaming plate and then turning back inside coolly as if there was nothing more to say, Yeonhwa.

Riana inwardly exclaimed at that admirable appearance, but right now it was lunchtime and she was hungry.

The most important thing for Riana at the moment was the food right in front of her rather than Yeonhwa, so Riana took the plate and walked over to sit next to Shati and Pina, who were already halfway through their meals.

And as soon as she sat down, the sound of two sets of footsteps reached her ears. Followed by dozens of footsteps in succession, Riana, Shati, and Pina looked at each other’s eyes without anyone starting first and said:

“They’re here.”

“They’re here.”

“They’ve arrived.”

At this time, the sound of dozens of footsteps could only obviously mean one thing without needing explanation.

-Everyone line up properly!

-Know that you can’t enter before lining up properly!

-When the student council speaks, you should move quickly!

The voices of other students who had arrived at the cafeteria, and the student council members controlling them and making them line up before it became a mess, echoed into the cafeteria.

Hearing those ear-piercing voices, Riana elegantly cut the meat with her fork and knife, and Shati let out a small sigh.

“It used to be nice to be able to eat behind the cafeteria without having to hear this commotion.”

“But it can’t be helped. Yeonhwa chef also said it’s difficult now because there’s a risk of being caught.”

“But well, in the end, we can still eat easily like this, right? So isn’t it not much different?”

Shati muttered, recalling when they used to be able to eat comfortably behind the cafeteria before, and Pina sympathized, while Riana answered while putting the cut meat in her mouth:

Certainly, compared to this noisy place, the old days were better, but apart from this commotion, there wasn’t much difference.

As an elf with excellent hearing, it would be a lie to say she didn’t miss the old days, but by now, Riana had become as accustomed as she could be to the noise of humans.

And seeing this, the two seemed to think Riana was right and nodded in agreement, and watching them, Riana let out an exclamation that came naturally at the fantastic texture of the tteokgalbi spreading in her mouth.

“Haaa…”

It’s truly a fantastic taste no matter when you eat it.

Riana kept moving her mouth endlessly until the taste of the one piece she had put in her mouth disappeared, and after swallowing it completely, she immediately cut the next piece and put it in her mouth as a sigh full of lingering sensation flowed out.

She probably would have put the next piece in her mouth if it weren’t for Shati’s voice that was heard just as she was about to do so.

“You really love meat whenever I see you. But I just thought of something… Didn’t you say last time that consuming meat is quite strictly forbidden in the elf race?”

“That’s right. Come to think of it, Riana-san’s mother came today, is it okay?”

Shati expressing doubt and Pina asking along in agreement.

At their words, Riana froze in the posture of trying to put the cut piece in her mouth.

“…”

There was nothing wrong with what the two said. When Shati had asked her before seeing her eating meat, Riana had certainly answered like that.

<Is it strange for elves to eat meat? Well, consuming meat is strictly forbidden in the elf race. If you’re caught eating or obtaining meat by the patrol guards, you’ll be severely punished.>

It’s the plain truth.

Elves have insisted on only vegetarianism for generations, and it was known externally that they only eat vegetables.

But thinking that all elves like vegetables and dislike meat just because of that was merely a prejudice.

Even among elves where vegetarianism is forced, those who have tasted meat become addicted to it and secretly bring in meat, or eat it even if they have to leave the kingdom, and elves who know each other often turn a blind eye to this.

And Riana too only ate vegetables when she was young, but because her older sister had secretly given her meat a few times, she knew the taste of meat and now that she was out of the Moonsgard Kingdom, she was eating meat to her heart’s content like this without having to be wary.

Therefore, Riana’s silence wasn’t because of Shati’s question. The reason Riana fell silent was because of Pina’s words that followed.

At that one phrase, ‘Is it okay since your mother came?’, Riana froze in place.

Because she had been taking classes as usual and came to the cafeteria as usual, she had momentarily completely forgotten about that person’s face and realized what she was eating now because of it.

And as they say, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Thud… Thud…

Suddenly, the sound of new footsteps was heard.

Then, not from the cafeteria entrance where students were coming in, but from the door exclusively used by professors, Mira and the group of observers she was leading entered the cafeteria, and the moment Riana saw her mother’s face mixed in that group.

“…”

Clang.

Only the sound of Riana’s fork falling from her hand rang out.