And then, on top of everything, the Madam herself came after me with yet another demand.
“Since we’re at it, let’s have Shun prepare the staff’s meals.”
“Oh, that would be great!”
“Good food will give everyone the energy to keep going this afternoon.”
“R-really?”
Just a quick glance around the square told me there were over a hundred workers.
…Am I really supposed to cook for all of them?
I happened to sneak a look at the steward, and he was clearly relieved. It seemed that even he thought preparing meals for this many people would be a nightmare.
Then, someone raised their hand, volunteering to help with the cooking.
“Then I guess Fina will handle the taste testing.”
“I’m tasting too!”
Shiro chimed in.
“Of course, I will taste it as well.”
Fran added.
“Me too, me too!”
Horn did not want to be left behind.
Yeah… I had a pretty good idea of what they were getting at. Even Pearl was energetically waving her tentacles in agreement. There was no way I could ask this lot to help with the cooking.
So, I had no choice but to get Ao to assist me in the kitchen.
Since we had plenty of ingredients, the meal of the day was settled—yakisoba, of course.
“I’ll help!”
“I’ll chop the vegetables.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”
With the stewards also pitching in, we set to work, slicing vegetables at a steady pace.
Ao used magic to speed things up, cutting vegetables and meat with remarkable efficiency.
“Wow, the slime’s using magic!”
“No kidding… its control over magic is top-notch.”
By the time it was ready to serve, the workers had started gathering around.
Seeing Ao slice vegetables and meat with magic left them genuinely astonished—apparently, they hadn’t expected a slime to wield magic so skillfully.
“Ao’s going to participate in the martial arts tournament too!”
“Ao’s really strong, you know.”
“Mm! Ao can fight hand-to-hand as well.”
“I see… I don’t often come across a slime this powerful.”
“Who knows, it might even steal the spotlight at the tournament.”
When Shiro and the others shared with the workers that Ao would be entering the martial arts tournament, a few of them grinned knowingly. After all, Ao looked like an ordinary slime at first glance—no one would expect him to be so formidable.
As they chatted excitedly about it, I just kept my focus on frying the yakisoba.
“Hey, the yakisoba you made is really good!”
“Seriously! I’ve never had yakisoba this delicious before.”
The staff happily munched away, their reactions encouraging.
But I had no time to relax—I was frantically frying batch after batch of yakisoba.
“Here you go.”
“Careful, it’s hot!”
“Please line up and take turns.”
“There’s plenty more, don’t worry.”
Fina and the others helped hand out the freshly cooked yakisoba.
Thanks to their help, we managed to serve every single worker. Finally, we were able to sit down and enjoy the meal ourselves.
“(Munch, munch) As expected, Shun-oniichan’s cooking is really delicious.”
“Even though it’s simple, it’s truly tasty.”
““Munch, munch!””
Fina and the others had finished helping serve, and now they were enjoying the yakisoba I had made. I was a little tired, but seeing everyone happily eating what I’d prepared gave me a warm, satisfying feeling.
“The treatments have settled down. Since everyone’s been doing heavy labor, there are quite a few injuries.”
“With so many strong people, I guess they’d keep working even if they got a few scrapes.”
“Exactly. When I started treating the injured, many came to me during breaks in their work.”
Sue also came over to me, beginning to eat some yakisoba.
It seemed the medical team had been quite busy, but at least things were finally starting to calm down.
“Shun, your cooking skills are impressive. I’ll make sure you can watch Ao’s matches without interruption.”
“That would be great.”
With the Madam’s words, my schedule for the next few days was effectively set.
Of course, I wanted to see Ao’s heroic performance myself.
And so, the preparations for the main martial arts tournament, three days before it began, were complete.
Tomorrow, the preliminaries would finally start.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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