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Volume 1, Chapter 25: I pick a fight.

Although we had arrived at the kitchen, Zeke and I were treated like thin air.

We stood against the wall so as not to disturb their work and observed. After thirty minutes, Zeke’s face began to grow darker and he glanced over at me every now and then. On the other hand, I stayed calm and observed the people working in the kitchen with a steady eye.

There were around twenty chefs in the kitchen. Aside from the head chef, there were two sous chefs, two assistants for the sous chefs, around ten station chefs, and five stewards. They were all men. Even here, the culinary world is male-dominated…

Most of the chefs seemed to have been informed of me beforehand and they did their work while completely ignoring me. However, the steward boys seemed to be curious of our unfamiliar presence and would glance over from time to time.

After a little less than an hour, seeing as standing would lead to nothing, I took action.

“Hey, you there.”

“!! M-me!?”

“Yes, you.”

I called the steward boy washing dirty dishes in the corner of the kitchen. The boy was not expecting anyone to talk to him and was caught off guard.

He did not notice the sharp glares from the station chefs. I apologized to him in my heart and asked him again.

“What’s your dream?”

“…uh, my dream?”

What a pure boy who still answered despite being so flustered. He probably couldn’t tell whether I could be bluntly refused as he didn’t know who I was or why I was here.

“My dream is of course to become an accomplished chef.”

“Accomplished, huh…then, what does it mean to become an accomplished chef?”

“…Huh?”

The boy stared at me blankly. All the chefs in the kitchen who had been listening to our conversation stopped moving.

“When you are allowed to cook by yourself here? When you can make food for royalty? Or perhaps, if you open your own business? Or when you are recognized by someone? Is there anyone here who you believe to be an accomplished chef?”

“U-uhm…”

Clang!

When the boy was confused about how to reply, a huge sound rang out through the kitchen. I looked toward the sound to see that the head chef had slammed a metal container onto the worktable.

“I only hear whining from that mouth…what exactly are you trying to say!”

“Ah well. To be perfectly honest, if he was referring to the chefs here as accomplished, I would have pitied him.”

The chefs slowly began to understand what I was saying and the air grew thick with tension. Feeling their glares centered on me, Zeke immediately took half a step forward to protect me, but I put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

“Hah! Listen to what the young lass is saying! This is a sacred and important place within the royal palace that governs over food. I suggest you go home, little lady.”

The head chef looked down at me icily and made a motion as if to shoo me away. While it was hard not to quail in such a disadvantageous situation, I endured and looked him straight in the eye.

“Would you like me to spell it out for you? I’m saying that the food you make is B-A-D.”

“!! You!!”

The blood rushed to his head and he lunged at me, his face red with fury. But Zeke quickly stepped in and caught the head chef’s fist with his hand. Zeke put enough power into his grip for there to be a grinding sound, and the head chef’s face twisted in pain. I gasped and put my hand on Zeke’s wrist.

“Zeke, don’t hurt a chef’s hands!”

Zeke quickly released his hand at my words, and immediately the chefs in the area crowded around the head chef to see if he was okay. The head chef raised his hand to stop them, motioning that he was fine, and glowered at me.

“You’re all bark and no bite. I don’t know what you told Secretary Warlock, but this kitchen is this country, nay, the world’s peak in terms of cuisine. This is no place for a lass like you.”

The chefs around him nodded and began to say yeah, go home. The kitchen began to get noisier when a man who looked like a sous chef began to speak.

“Head chef, why don’t we show them how wonderful our cuisine is? In the process, we’ll see how good this girl’s skills are, too?”

The head chef nodded proudly, his pride brushed by the sous chef’s words.

“That’s right, why don’t you show us how good your cooking is.”

Although I feigned a blank expression, I quietly chuckled to myself, All according to plan. The head chef immediately turned on his heel to prepare, while the sous chef who suggested the competition winked at me for some reason. Hm, I wonder if this person already knows…?

Somehow, he felt like an ally.