“As expected, one of his three dishes was adjudged to be the best of the day. Looks like that chef is going to becoming the new star of the royal kitchen.”


  “His Majesty thoroughly enjoyed all three dishes; I wonder what His Majesty’s going to reward him with.”


  “His Highness really does have a keen eye for talent. He had to have gone to great lengths to find such an exceptional chef.”


  While the attendant rushed off to the invite Mag into the palace, many of the officials present took the opportunity to chat among themselves.

  The officials of Josh’s faction were all very pleased with how things had turned out, while the officials that had pledged their allegiance to Sean were all feeling quite tense. The second prince had completely dominated the proceedings so far, and it appeared that Sean had fallen into a severe disadvantage in their battle to appease the king.

  However, neither Josh nor Sean had the spare mental capacity to consider such matters. Both of them felt as if their mouths and throats were on fire, and the only thing they could think about what how much physical discomfort they were in.

  Sean picked up a cup of wine and drank it in one go to try and douse the fire. However, the alcohol only made the scorching, stinging sensation worse, and he had to force himself not to blast the mouthful of wine out of his mouth.

  “Get me a jug of ice water with extra ice cubes,” Josh said in a quiet voice to the female servant next to him. He had to down an entire jug of ice water to douse the scorching sensation when he last tasted the dish two days ago, and the process of drinking the ice water after eating something so absurdly spicy was an extremely satisfying and exhilarating one.

  Amy turned to Krassu, and asked, “Master, does this mean Father won?”


  Krassu nodded with a smile, and replied, “That’s right. Boss Mag’s grilled fish has been deemed to be the best dish of the day, so he’s beaten all of the other chefs.”


  Novan nodded, and chimed in, “Boss Mag really is a genius.”


  “In the past, every chef who’s won this award has been enlisted to become a chef in the royal kitchen. In that case, will Boss Mag stay here as opposed to returning to Chaos City?” Krassu speculated.

  “Boss Mag will go back to Chaos City for sure.” A confident smile appeared on Novan’s face as he said, “I made this trip to Chaos City with two objectives in mind; one is to adjust terms of the new equality treaty, and the second objective is to take Boss Mag back to Chaos City.”


  Krassu looked at Novan with a perplexed expression on his face. “Since when did chefs become so important? A 10th-tier great magic caster came all this way to Rodu for Boss Mag?”


  Novan smiled, and didn’t say anything in reply.

  As expected of my man; he’s exceptional at everything he does.

  Irina put down her chopsticks with a content expression, and she let slip a small burp as she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. Even though she wouldn’t gain any weight no matter how much she ate, it had been very long since she had gorged herself to this extent.

  It looks like he’s learned to look after Amy during the three years we’ve been apart, and he’s also learned how to cook. I feel like this was almost a good thing, Irina thought to herself as she turned her gaze toward Josh, upon which her expression cooled slightly. But I’m going to make sure to pluck out all of those bastards who took part in the incident three years ago, and I’m going to put them through the most horrendous torture imaginable……

  After finishing all three dishes, Mag was already beginning to clean and pack up his kitchenware in a leisurely manner.

  Even though it appeared as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he was actually feeling rather uneasy. After all, he was here to complete the system’s mission, and it would be a tragedy if he couldn’t complete the mission.

  There were too many unstable variables involved in this mission, the most important of which was the king’s subjective taste. Even though the attendant had told him that the king had been very pleased with his dishes, he still couldn’t be sure of whether one of his three dishes would be assigned as the best dish of the day.

  The meal segment of the birthday banquet was over, and the commotion in the kitchen had suddenly died down. Even though no one had to cook anymore, there were very few chefs who were cleaning their kitchenware in a leisurely manner like Mag was doing.

  All of the chefs were waiting to see just who had received the award for the best dish of the day. That was the highest accolade in the cooking world, and anyone who received this award would be renowned throughout the entire continent.

  “Master will receive the award again for sure this time! Master has already won the award nine years in a row, and he’ll be completing the monumental 10-in-a-row achievement today.”


  “That’s right. Master’s dishes have always been His Majesty’s favorites, and that hasn’t changed for many years.”


  All of the chefs around Bellmann wore confident expressions on their faces, looking as if they were already preparing for the upcoming celebrations.

  Meanwhile, Bellmann himself remained as calm as ever as he carefully wiped down his cooking bench, seemingly completely uninterested in whether he would receive the award or not.

  Nandel looked over at Mag, who was also cleaning his cooking bench, and a deriding sneer returned to his face as he said, “If you ask me, Master Bellmann is surely going to win the award again. All of the other chefs here still can’t compete with him.”


  His usual partner in crime, Vasir, immediately agreed. “Indeed. Not everyone can take the award for the best dish of the day, and no one knows what His Majesty likes better than Master Bellmann.”


  The first two dishes that Mag had made were indeed candidates for the best dish of the day, but that final grilled fish dish that he had made was simply absurdly spicy. Even from afar, many of the chefs couldn’t help but recoil as Mag was making the dish at his cooking station.

  It was common knowledge to all of the chefs present that the king was not a fan of dishes with overly strong flavors. As such, Mag had surely ruined any chances he had of bagging the most prestigious accolade in the cooking world by presenting that dish to the king.

  “Brother Mag, you put so many chili peppers into that final fish dish; is it really going to be alright?”


  Kalulu’s eyes were slightly bloodshot as he looked at Mag with a concerned expression. Tears had been flowing relentlessly from his eyes while Mag was cooking his spicy grilled fish.

  “I can’t even open my eyes now, because they sting so much!”


  “Me too! I feel like a blind man.”


  Luluka and Lukaka were faring even worse than their father.

  “It should be alright.” Mag nodded with a smile. The grilled fish he had served to the king was only a mildly spicy one, and the four times insanely spicy grilled fish had only been reserved for Josh and Sean.

  Amy’s portion was of a medium spice level; that was her favorite level of spiciness when it came to the spicy grilled fish.

  Irina’s portion was also a mildly spicy one. Most elves were not fans of strong flavors, and the mildly spicy grilled fish was Sally’s favorite.

  As for everyone else, all of their grilled fish were at the super spicy level. Even if they were going to blame someone for this, they would all cast their resentment toward Josh. He was even regretting his decision not to serve all of them insanely spicy grilled fish.

  I guess this is what discrimination looks like……

  As for Nandel and Vasir, Mag paid them absolutely no heed. For a master like him, it was unbefitting of his skills to go around stomping on small fry like them.

  Kalulu was just about to say something when an attendant rushed into the royal kitchen, and loudly announced, “Congratulations to Chef Mag; your spicy grilled fish has been chosen by His Majesty to be the best dish of the day. Please follow me to the palace so His Majesty can reward you in person.”