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Chapter 356: Two Food Gods
Originally, knights and gladiators would be the ones parading inside the magnificent coliseum, but what was present inside instead, were large tables and cooking utensils. The name of each of the seven qualifiers were listed on top of each table, while tens of thousands of spectators filled the seats of the coliseum.
Today, most of the residents of Albero Territory took a break and flocked to the coliseum to witness the competition. They were here to lay their eyes on the Gourmet Dragon, for whom the Food God of the past made a satisfying dish! However, the Food God of the past was now dead, it was now the time for a new Food God to sit on the throne. And this Gourmet Dragon Banquet was the perfect competition to choose the person that would take on the mantle of the previous Food God!
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Food God!”
“Food God!”
Anton, the Territory Lord and Twilight Chef, entered the coliseum amidst the calls of ‘Food God’ from the citizens.
He had immediately rushed to Albero Territory after news of the Food God’s death. He was considered to be a man of wealth and power, especially with his restaurants scattered all over the continent. That was why it was not difficult for him to win the favor of the citizens of the Food God’s territory. All he had to do was reduce the tax of the citizens for them to be fond of him. Then, he found some gossipers to spread bad rumors about the previous Food God.
As the lord of the territory, Anton could not be considered to be a bad person. For one, he could just be considered to have bought the title of ‘Food God’ with money. However, while he might not be a bad example as a lord, the same could not be said of his capacity as a chef.
He was the one that hired someone to break Lucaro’s left hand, in order to eliminate his rival and the only remaining person that served the previous Food God. He also kept sending people to Lucaro’s place to try and chase him out of the territory. As a chef, it was very unbefitting. In fact, instead of calling him a chef, it was more apt to call him a ‘politician’.
The citizens of the territory that were unaware of his dirty tricks, sang praises to his name. They shouted in joy the moment he entered the coliseum. And the voices of the citizens of the territory exclaimed…
“Our Food God will definitely satisfy the Gourmet Dragon!”
“My goodness! The dragon is the strongest creature in the world! Anton’s the only being that will satisfy the palate of such an existence!!!”
“He said that he would cook what he made today for everyone!!!”
“His dishes have excellent buffs! If you eat his dishes, you won’t feel tired for a few days!!!”
Not long after Lord Anton took to the stage, harsh winds fluttered in the coliseum. The spectators immediately held down their hair as a black shadow fell down on them. The black shadow casted upon them made them look up in the sky.
“The… the Gourmet Dragon!!!”
“The dragon that’s more ferocious and more powerful than any dragon in existence!!!”
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
“Sc…scary…!”
The Gourmet Dragon stopped in the sky. Surprisingly enough, despite not flapping his wings, he could stay in the sky and look down at them comfortably. He was supporting his tremendous weight and colossal body with the magic Fly! This was an aspect of the dragons, an existence hailed as the king of magic.
Then, the other participating chefs began to appear one after the other.
“Paradise Restaurant’s Balza and his disciples!”
“Sunset Restaurant’s Korean Chef Ager and his disciples!”
“If the Paradise Restaurant is on the glamorous and showy side, the Sunset Restaurant is on the clean and neat side.”
“Kgghk~ So, is it a battle between steak and rice?”
“That’s true!”
The chefs participating brought their disciples and kitchen assistants. After all, the Gourmet Dragon was a dragon of an enormous build! It was not easy for anyone to cook a large amount of dishes alone.
And finally, Lucaro arrived on the stage alone. No cheers and shouts rang out for him. He did not have any colleagues, disciples, nor assistants beside him. He just walked silently by himself. The spectators tried to curse and swear at him, but they could not bring themselves to do so.
‘Wh…what’s this?’
‘He looks quite cool?’
‘He looks confident.’
It was because of the pride and dignity that overflowed from Lucaro’s body. Despite being alone, he exuded a lofty pride and dignity that made the audience fall into a trance. However, the fact that Lucaro came alone would not change. It would still be difficult for him to make a lot of food by himself.
“There will be no time limit set for cooking. The chef that received the highest score from the eight gourmands and the Gourmet Dragon will be the chosen winner. The winner will also receive five legendary ingredients from the ‘Five Legendary Boxes’.”
“The five legendary ingredients that God sent down to earth!!!”
“They’re the ingredients that the Gods eat in their own world!”
“The best part is that the ingredients that will come out will be entirely dependent on what you want!!!”
“Its value is astronomical!”
The spectators and the chefs were in awe.
The same was true for Paradise Restaurant’s Balza, who thought, ‘The ingredients bestowed by God. The five legendary ingredients. What’s more, we can pull out whatever ingredient we wanted from the box. Every single one of those ingredients is priceless.’
Balza’s eyes went green with greed. All of the chefs present here were aware that anyone that could win over Anton would be able to become his successor. In other words, once they won, they would be able to grab the position of the lord’s successor. Albero Territory was a territory that could especially appoint the king of a kingdom! Their biggest strength here was cooking. If Balza won this competition, he wanted to make franchises of Paradise Restaurant all over the continent through the king he appointed to make a lot of money. The same was true for the other chefs.
‘I’ll be able to make a lot of money!’
‘Perhaps, I’ll be able to buy several castles and mansions too.’
The chefs were so filled with greed to the point that they were practically drooling from their imagination. All they wanted to do was to fill their own pockets. They never had the desire to see the happiness and pleasure that the others would feel once they ate their cooking.
Among them, a man stood in reverence as he silently paid his own tribute. The man thought, ‘Please grant me the strength so I can raise my head and maintain my pride, my dignity. I sincerely ask this of you my Lord, Food God.’
The Gourmet Dragon Banquet began just as Lucaro slowly opened his eyes.
Clack!
The chefs brought out their knife roll bags made out of superb monster leather and unfurled them to reveal glittering and colorful kitchen knives. The chefs’ assistants and disciples began to wash and clean their top-notch ingredients, as the chefs grabbed their knives and began to slice, cut and chop.
Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!
The taste and flavor was very important in cooking, but so was the shape and cut of the ingredients. Even when the chefs were only slicing a carrot, there was not even a single margin of deviation in their movements. Their splendid and showy hand movements were enough to bring out sounds of admiration from the spectators!
“W… wooooooow!”
The chef from Sunset Restaurant took out a huge cauldron and reached his hand out under it. Then…
Crackle—
A huge fire bloomed under the cauldron.
“The Sunset Restaurant’s head chef has learned Second Tier Magic. According to him, he learned magic just to incorporate it into his cooking. This is a really great feat!”
“The fire will not go out as long as he has his mana. Even the way he controls the fire is excellent.”
Everyone in the audience exclaimed in awe. Meanwhile, Anton, the current territorial lord and the fake Food God, had the territorial castle’s main chefs helping him.
“From what I heard, he only brought SS-grade ingredients.”
“There’s also the Siren’s Tears included among his ingredients, an ingredient that is comparable to the five legendary ingredients.”
“Amazing ingredients! Spectacular skills! Kgghk!”
Among them, a man continued to knead silently with one hand. His movements were very slow which made the audience, who once got fascinated by his momentum, disappointed.
“What can you do alone?!!!”
“Can you even feed the Gourmet Dragon with that?! Why don’t you just go and feed that beggar assistant of yours!!!”
“Hahahaha!”
Lucaro’s beggar assistant had stayed with him for a few days, but it seemed like he also grew tired of Lucaro and his pathetic nature!
“Shut up! The competition has no time limit! Don’t disturb them with your noises!”
‘Everyone else’s in a hurry. But, it seems like he doesn’t feel the urgency. His hands continue to move cautiously.’
‘How can he show great kneading skills despite only having one hand? Every time his hand moves, the water and the oil that usually doesn’t mix, comes together. It’s like an art.’
‘He chose pizza as his dish. This dish does not require stir-frying or any other cooking technique except baking. It seems like this is one of his strategies.’
‘However, there’s one problem…’
Compared to others, he made one dish at a time. And every time he made a pizza, he would add it together to create a larger pizza. However, with this process, the pizza would cool down. Pizza was a dish that would become tasteless once it cooled down. The stretchy cheese and toppings would go hard over time and could make anyone that tasted it frown.
For the pizza to be called delicious, it had to have enough heat for the cheese to stretch and for the mouth to feel warm the moment someone ate it. What Lucaro was trying to cook was a double-edged sword.
The gourmands lamented after they watched Lucaro finish his dough.
‘How will he slice and chop his ingredients?’
‘Can he even slice and chop those ingredients properly and neatly with just one hand?’
‘Both the taste and shape of the ingredients in the dish are important.’
The audience were also looking at Lucaro as he stood in front of his rinsed and washed ingredients. He stood out, not only because of his pride and dignity, but also because he was the only participant that participated alone.
Not long after, Lucaro pulled out something from his shabby and worn out bag. The item that he pulled out was none other than his ‘left hand’.
“…!”
“…!”
The left hand that Lucaro took out was a magic tool. It would move like it was his real hand and would even provide the same warmth as a hand the moment he placed it on top of his missing left hand. This was something that Lucaro had bought with all of his remaining wealth. However, everyone knew that this fake left hand moved slowly and more roughly than a person’s hand! However, the moment Lucaro put it on, something surprising happened…
Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!
Lucaro’s movements were quick and light, as he began to chop and slice his ingredients skillfully!
“Un… unbelievable…”
“H… how can he do that… with a fake hand too…”
“He practiced a thousand, no, tens of thousands of times by himself!!”
There were limitations to the amount of times that Lucaro could use the fake hand in a day. He used that limited amount of time to practice and grind himself to become skillful with that hand.
‘This is the dish that I’m making, Food God.’
Lucaro’s hands moved swiftly as he chopped and stir-fried his ingredients. His skills did not fall behind Lord Anton, which effectively made everyone watching him shut their mouths. Finally, he placed his pizza in the oven for baking.
“He might be slow… B… but he’s really good…”
“Wow… I have never seen Lucaro cook with both hands until now.”
“H… how can he do it like that?”
The chefs and the citizens of the territory all recognized Lucaro’s superb skills. They had always cursed and swore at him, but they finally realized that they had to acknowledge his skills and abilities.
Finally, the pizza came out of the oven.
“G… gulp…”
“Looks, looks delicious…”
“I have always cursed at Lucaro, but I won’t deny the fact that the bread he makes is the best of the best. I’ve tasted it once… the taste is something that I can never forget.”
“Wow, look at that bubbling cheese!”
Under everyone’s amazement, Lucaro was able to finish six pizzas in under two hours. Lucaro hovered his hand on top of the pizza to check its temperature.
“…”
The temperature of the pizza had fallen. The once-warm pizza had now cooled down, while the other chefs were still preparing their own ingredients. The chefs were aiming to create a warm dish by cooking a large portion in one go. But, that was something that was only possible if there were plenty of people. For Lucaro, who was all by himself, it was nigh impossible.
Lucaro thought, ‘If only I had the Legendary Sun’s Wheat…’
What was the Legendary Sun’s Wheat? It was an ingredient that grew under the direct, glaring heat of the sun and could produce food that would never cool down, nor get soggy. It was a legendary ingredient that would maintain the best temperature suited for the dish, or for human consumption. As long as he had that ingredient… For some reason, he suddenly remembered the boy, Minhyuk, that he kicked out.
‘Go farther away from here. Never look back.’
Lucaro smiled bitterly at the thought.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick—
The time was up for Lucaro’s left hand. The once swiftly moving hand lost its power and stopped moving according to his will. However, he was Lucaro and he would never give up. He continued to spread his pizza dough and sprinkle it with toppings. His feet moved swiftly taking him from one end of his table to another. The chefs standing on the same stage looked at Lucaro in awe when they saw how he was moving.
“A true master craftsman…”
“He doesn’t know the words ‘giving up’…”
“He hasn’t given up yet! His eyes are still burning with the will to win!”
They looked at Lucaro in awe, the person that they had cursed all their lives. However, Lucaro was already reaching his limits. Cooking was a task that required a lot of energy after all. Lucaro continued to move swiftly until…
“Ugh!”
He tripped on something!
The biggest setback that could happen was his right hand, the hand that he used to cook, was bent awkwardly in order to support his falling body. Tremendous pain shot through Lucaro’s right hand. However, he just shakily stood up as he hurriedly moved again, completely ignoring the pain in his body.
Lucaro placed the pizza on a wide iron plate and tried to put it in the oven with his right hand alone. However, another shot of tremendous pain spiked in his right hand, causing him to lose his grip on the tray.
“N… no!”
All Lucaro could do was lament the fact that he would lose this pizza. Just then, someone supported his right hand…
Grab—
…and helped him place the pizza in the oven. Lucaro slowly turned to look at the person that helped him.
‘Who is it? Is there anyone here that’s even willing to help me like this?’
The man that helped him smiled widely at him and said, “Head chef! How can you cook without your assistant! You’re really too much!”
The man was completely covered in dirt with obvious signs of burns all over his body. It would not even be strange if the man were to fall down right away, but he was still smiling brightly in front of Lucaro.
Murmur, murmur—
The audience began to murmur. Surprisingly, someone came to help Lucaro. However, the appearance of the person that came to help him was very unusual. He looked burnt, but his face was very familiar.
“He… he’s the beggar that used to live with Lucaro, right?”
“He’s the one that came to our restaurant to beg for food!”
The murmurs grew louder.
Meanwhile, the man, Minhyuk, looked at the pizza that Lucaro made. The pizza had grown cold. Then, Minhyuk said, “Head chef, I got you the ingredients that will help you make food that will never grow cold.”
Minhyuk took a bag out of his inventory. The moment he opened the bag…
Crackle—
…a pillar of flame burst out.
“Urk!” Lucaro groaned as he took a step back in shock. However, he felt something strange. He thought, ‘It doesn’t feel hot?’
Then, the flames that shot out of the bag were sucked back into the ingredient. The ingredient was none other than wheat, wheat that devoured the red sun as it lit up the entire coliseum.