Free Life Fantasy Online-Chapter 24: 24 Combat Tournament

24 Combat Tournament

Now, today is the day of the combat tournament.

I wake up up in the morning, I log in and head to receive the pig intestines and to buy other ingredients. After that I log out to make breakfast.

I log in a little before 10, when the event area is unlocked.

“Oh, hey Princess!”

“Good morning.”

“Oh? Good morning.”

When I log in, Alf-san and Ske-san were already there. Aside from the two there were also other players on the central plaza, everyone has gathered near Stellura-sama’s statue. It was in Belstead, so the number of people was on the low side. I feel that the Starting Town must be hell.

“Since you are already here, I’ll pass the money from the boss materials to you.”

I received a little over 30k from Ske-san. It seemed to have sold for about 60k in total. Pretty sweet. My total assets are a little above 110k now.

“I hear you’re putting up a stall today, Princess? What are you selling?”

“The usual soup and steaks, as well as my new merchandise - hot dogs.”

“Hot dogs, huh. Did you buy sausages?”

“I bought all types of salted intestines, and made some.”

“Self-made, huh.”

While I was talking with Alf-san, Ske-san started to do a mysterious dance. No, I can somewhat tell what he is doing, but...

"...Warm-up exercises?”

“HAHAHAHA, but of course!”

"...But you have no muscles, right?”

“Oh, right!”

“First of all, this is VR, isn’t it? Moreover, while the area is opened at 10, it starts at 1pm.”

Is it a skeleton joke? Those warm-up exercises… is what I thought, but this joke can work with plenty of races, can’t it? Immortals and plant-types, also Machinery.

“It’s about time for the countdown to end, hm…?”

“Management's countdown is being as self-assertive as always.”

“It really is.”

In front of players waiting for the event… in other words, above Stellura-sama’s statue ,there was a countdown jumping and flying around like the one from the service start. It was currently night in game, so it stood out really hard.

And when the time came, it burst. Since the time has come, everyone moved closer to the statue and teleported into the event field. We should go as well.

The area we teleported to… was a plain. A simple plain with a large, square-shaped stage for the combat tournament.

“It’s so simple it’s almost confusing, isn’t it?”

“How was it in the beta?”

“It felt like a coliseum.”

“In other words… it degraded?”

“It sure has… is there some kind of reason?”

According to Alf-san, it seems to be a degraded version of the beta’s stage, but as long as there is a stage, a combat tournament can be held. It could be said that this way, the preparations are really easy.

“But I don’t think that management wouldn’t use the colosseum just because it’s troublesome, would they? Feels like there would be a reason behind it.”

“Well, they could always use the one they used for the beta, after all? It felt really well-made.”

“Hnn… can it be that it’s located in a place that players haven’t reached yet?”

“An arena huh, makes sense. Can it be the Empire?”

“Apparently there is an Empire in the South. It is highly possible.”

So there is an Empire in the South. Is it beyond the sea?

...Let’s go to the library after the combat tournament is over. I’m really lacking information, so let’s gather some. It’s alright to read the BBS, but recently I have been playing the game all the time and haven’t had time to read any books, so it might be good to spend some time in the library?

With that said, first...

“Now, where should I put out my stall… Oh, good morning Primula-san.”

“Oh, yahoo~.”

Soon after Primula-san came, the crafting group started gathering. It seems like they came from the Starting Town, so there were quite a few of them.

While I looked together with Ertz-san and the others where to put out a stall, there was a change in the sky.

“HAA-HA-HHA! Welcome, players, and hello! GM Yatsuzuka here.”

The energy he started with has disappeared in the middle and he introduced himself normally.

“If you are making up a character, then how about you maintain it? I’m Mitake, also a GM.

Game masters… in other words, the management’s characters in-game. They must have come for the event.

Yatsuzuka-san was a well-built man… considering his initial energy he must be aiming for a “hot” image? Mitake-san was a cool-type woman.

Based on their appearance, the two were angels? They had small cartoonized wings and halos above their heads.

“We will explain once again later, but let’s have a liiiight explanation for now! First, the combat tournament participants who are in the area will receive a notification they need to respond to with YES within the limited time and they will be automatically teleported!”

“The viewers who will gather around the stalls… hop. Please gather in front of the monitor that just appeared. Also, there is a tower-type random display over here. As for the merchants, please set your stalls in a way not to get in the way of the viewers.”

There were a fair number of stages. And in a place away from them, there were four monitors, displaying them. The reason why they have appeared in a location a little away from the stages, is to make space for people who will want to watch directly.

And in the event area’s middle, there were multiple displays piling up in a tower shape.

“Well then, let’s put out stalls in a place a little away from the tower.”

There is no reason to protest, so we agree with Ertz-san and start moving together.

We find a good-looking space and started preparing to put down stalls with everyone.

With me were Ertz-san, Dantel-san, Primula-san and Salute-san - the usual members. I opened a stall in the corner and also placed my Cooking Kit. With the cooking oven and all, it ended up taking quite some space.

Now, let’s use the oven and【Reproduction】to make the merchandise. Also, it’s about time I used seasonings other than salt… seems like I don’t have enough for bouillon yet. How about chicken broth?

And so, I put fire under a large pot set for 12, which I found during shopping.

Now, since I’m making chicken broth, I need chicken bones so I take out the Tokkei meat and split bones from meat. Let’s use the meat for grilled chicken. It doesn’t seem like I need to bother with things getting dirty in this game.

I put the remaining bones into the pot. Then I put inside the upper part of the welsh onions. As for the remaining white part, let’s make a grilled chicken negima with it.

I don’t have ginger, but it can't be helped. Let’s put in garlic and welsh onions. Also, a little of cooking wine.

In real, one chicken’s bones are used for one liter of soup, but I wonder how is it in game. Well, it’s the first time I’m making one so let’s use the real life proportions.

I put in ingredients inside the pot and started seething them on strong fire. Then after diligently removing scum, I changed the pot to a weaker fire and watch it. Being careful not to boil it, I took out scum while avoiding not to take out fat. When the amount of water decreases, I replenish it. Cooking is guts.

Now, while it stews slowly I take out the skewers I previously received from Primula-san and skewer chicken meat and welsh onions interchangeably on them. Salt should be enough to season it, it’s not like I have any sauce anyway.

Furthermore, I put fuel into the oven… after using【Burn】on firewood I place it inside.

I take out the base for bread, ketchup and mustard.

“You look busy, Princess...”

“I need to make the merchandise now, after all.”

“My Satiety bar is getting dangerously low, though...”

“Ohh, I haven’t placed the stall yet. I will do it now.”

Told so by Salute-san I noticed. I can’t sell things unless I open a stall.

For merchandise, I put out the usual steaks, rump steaks I made yesterday, and bear soup. The prices being at 600, 1200 and 800.

This time, I put a limit of one type per person and a total of three food items per person.

"............”

Salute-san quietly bought the rump steak. Then seeing what Salute-san took out, the other crafters also bought one. Thank you very much.

While I still have MP, I make intermediate ingredients with【Reproduction】. Let’s make things that need to be done for crafting… there. Once my MP recovers, I will use【Reproduction】again. Meanwhile, I will do manual work while waiting for MP to recover.

“This is SUPER good! This rump is TOO TASTY! What about rib roast?!”

“That rump steak is one that I made to raise my cooking skill to secondary tier. I still haven’t tried using the rib roast.”

“A shame...”

I guess it’s not something you can eat often. A 4cm rump steak that is.

Actually I do want to make smoked roast beef, but can I do it with this oven? Temperature-wise it should work, but… I have materials, might as well try it.

Leaving Primula-san to herself as she gets all excited over meat, I check on the chicken broth. ...Looks like scum stopped appearing? Then, let’s move the clock a little. After confirming the amount of water and firepower, as well as scum, I fast-forwarded several hours. And done.

I register the complete chicken broth recipe. It used a lot of intermediate ingredients, so it’s really valuable.

And using this chicken broth, pork ribs and nappa cabbage let’s make a mille-feuille hot pot.

First, I separate nappa cabbage and slice pork ribs. I put down nappa cabbage, then pork ribs, then cabbage again… and so I interchanged them repeatedly.

And then, I cut it evenly before putting inside the pot with chicken broth and leave it to stew. It’s a really easy dish. I let it stew slowly.

“Is this steak a new merchandise?”

“Oh, no. It’s my first time putting them out on the stall so they might be a kind of new merchandise, but the main is… this.”

“A hot dog!”

“It’s a festival, or rather, a sports event, so hot dogs fit best.”

Using【Reproduction】I mass-produced the dough that took the most time, then while my MP recovered I made shapes and put it inside the brick oven.

I was able to let the hot pot stew itself slowly, so I worked on the rest in parallel.

Currently I was making bread, negimas and mille-feuille hot pot all at once. I want to fry some steaks, but there is no space over the fire with the hot pot and negimas.

The roast beef’s temperature is too high for the bread, so I can’t make those two at once either.

“ONEE-CHAN, MEAAAT!”

“Here.”

“Eeeh… negimaaa?”

“Shaddup, I’ll make your dinner into pot noodle.”

“N-no wayy...”

It’s the instant noodles that are said to be the worst ever. Dad manages to eat it. As for me, well, somehow. Mom and my little sister throws it out. If you asked me if I’d buy it out of the various other available instant noodles - the answer is NO...

“Pot noodle and ~root beer~.”

“Makes your hunger disappear at once.”

“Root beer... oh, that one. I can drink it.”

So Ertz-san drinks it. I can drink it as well, but I won’t if I have the choice not to.

“So, what is this root beer?”

“A drinkable poultice.”

“Huh?”

“A drinkable poultice. No, seriously.”

“It is a drinkable poultice.”

“What’s that, I’m curious. If it’s beer, then it’s alcohol?”

“Naw, a juice. If it was beer, neither me nor Onee-chan could drink it.”

“Ah, right.”

“You can buy it on Ama.”

Primula-san seemed interested, but I don’t recommend it… That drink chooses the drinker. It sends a scent of poultice up your nose when you drink it.

“Is it different from Doc. Peppa?”

“Completely different. That one also feels like medicine, but it has also fruits in it, right?”

“Yup.”

“Root beer only has the poultice part.”

“The first mouthful is really harsh.”

“Let’s have Mom buy some, and do a toast with Dad.”

““Farewell, dad...””

Ertz-san added a helpful(?) “There is a possibility you will spit it, so make sure not to stand in front of him.” warning?

While we talked, everyone continued with their own crafting.

As the time passed, the number of players has increased and the event site was filled with a fair amount of people.

There were also stalls other than ours, so players were going around checking them. There was still about two hours until the combat tournament starts, after all

“By the way, I would like to ask something.”

“Hnn?”

“What is it?”

“Did you make A quality before?”

I did quite a bit of cooking so far, but I still haven’t seen anything better than B+. In which case, I think there must be some kind of special rule behind it.

“Ahhh… I get it. There’s a discussion about it on the crafting board and it’s not certain yet, but everyone is thinking that the material quality is influencing the quality of the final product. It’s said that with materials of C quality, the limit is at B+. It’s impossible to get A’s without B quality materials? Is what is said.”

“If you want to make something good, you need to have good materials, I guess. Otherwise, there would be no point in materials having quality, is there?”

“Which means, noo one had made one?”

“There is no report of anyone making A-class.”

“Then maybe the hot dogs made with frankfurters might get an A…?”

“You have B-class materials?”

“Actually the salted intestines I got sold are of A quality. They cost a fair amount for an intermediate cooking ingredient, but...”

“Eh, seriouslyy? How nicee.”

“I guess intestines for sausages aren’t something a player can make for themselves, so they prepared them with A quality? Manual disassembly is something only few can do, and whether you can disassemble properly and process it to make it usable is...”

I made a fair amount of bread dough, so maybe I should start making sausages while taking notes? The ones I made last time were B class. Also, sausages fried on charcoal, smoked and boiled were all of the same quality, so the biggest influence should be in the meat seasoning itself.

Oh, the bread has baked nicely. Let’s take it out.

“Freshly-made bread!!”

“Heee… bread made in a brick oven sure looks tasty...”

I’m not giving it to you? It’s not a complete product yet. I cut it, put mustard and ketchup on it, then placed a frankfurter before using【Set Menu】...and. OHH?!

[Cuisine] Handmade Hot Dog　Rarity: No　Quality: B

An easy cuisine made by sandwiching a sausage in bread.

It’s a food item that's the result of pursuit for ease of eating, it’s popular with young people.

Satiety +35

Additional Effect: Increases Strength by 5%

Effect Duration: 4 hours 30 minutes

Cook: Anastasia

Let’s take a screenshot.

And let’s give the first buff cooking to my little sister.

“WOOHOOO! HEY, GM!”

“HA HA HA! What is it, mm?”

“Do food buffs work for the tournament? ON? OFF?”

“Of course they are OFF! So buff cooking was finally made?”

“Onee-chan made some!”

“Oh, Princess has?! That’s great! The buff effect is semi-random depending on the ingredients and cooking methodology, the buff effect and duration is up to Quality! All that’s left is for you to do your best and verify!”

“I see, this is very useful information.”

“If I say too much they’ll get angry at me! Farewell!”

Well, management talking too much is spoilers, after all.

“Rather, Onee-chan, even GMs call you “princess”...”

“Well… they must be checking the BBS so...”

What’s left is to adjust the taste, and...

[Cuisine] Handmade Mille-feuille Soup with Pork and Nappa Cabbage　Rarity: No　Quality: B+

Pork and Nappa Cabbage stewed in Chicken Broth.

The taste of both chicken, pork and vegetables permeates the body well.

Satiety +25

Additional Effect: Increases Agility by 5%

Effect Duration: 5 Hours

Contents: Bowl, Spoon

Cook: Anastasia

Utensils: Primula

WOOHOO! This time it’s AGI? Also, it seems like buffs appear on cooking that needs a little more steps?

Alright, let’s line it up on the stall.

Jerkies for 400, negimas for 400, mille-feuille soup for 800. Also, I change the limit for jerkies. Maximum of six for one person.

However, I increase the price for ones that have a buff. This mille-feuille soup will go for 2000? Price ×2.5.

If I make too many different foods my inventory will get full, so I throw everything I have onto the stall.

Ohh, and let’s also put out the boar meat that I have no intention of using. It might be bought by my fellow cooks. Pricing should be fine at 1000. If they make a soup, they will profit from it.

I lost a lot of money due to costly crafting facilities and materials, but today is a profit day!

“The nice smell coming from next door is evil.”

“The food terror is harsh.”

“I don’t mind if you buy some, you know? All these tools cost me a lot.”

“Naww, and so have ours...”

“Everyone bought the facilities when other towns were unlocked~.”

Well, there is no way crafter mains won’t buy them. With that said, they are crafting pretty much every day, so they must have more money than me.

“By the way, could you try my jerkies again?”

I passed one high-quality jerky each to the four, to have them try.

“Oh, it’s tasty this time.”

“The taste is denser compared to before.”

“Yup, makes me wanna have a drink.”

It was well-received from the three adults. And Primula-san also liked it, same as before. It seems like she likes to chew on them during crafting, so she wants to order a large amount of them. Let’s make them for her after the event. Fast-forwarding time for smoking blows my MP, you know...

“400 for one, huh. The price is the same as field rations, maybe I should switch to jerkies?”

“But if you are to buy it from Princess, then won’t you buy other, normal cooking?”

“Ahh… well, I guess. It’s not like we need to hurry with eating.”

“I’m sure it will be resolved once the number of cooks increases. ...Princess, you can sell more, too, y’know? I wanna avoid field rations...”

“I can make a lot of jerkies at once, so it should be easy to mass-produce them. I’m thinking of putting them on consignment, but I guess I will put normal cooking out as well.”

“Everyone heroically fights over the food once you put it on consignment.”

According to Ertz-san and Dantel-san, the number of people who want to buy cuisine has increased, but there are few who want to make it. Well, it’s because all crafting takes time, including cooking. However, now that the buffs are confirmed, the number of cooks should increase.

Maybe I should put a limit on purchases for consignment sales as well?

The hot dog sale will start after noon, so in the meanwhile let’s mass-produce the ingredients. While increasing the number of bread with【Reproduction】I note down the proportions for the meat seasoning and tweak it. Goal: A Quality frankfurters.

Let’s add not only the pork like for hamburgers, but also some beef. ...It might be nice to make hamburgers too. Well, I can make things after I finish making hot dogs.

Hamburgers with mixed meat are really tasty. Frankfurters should also be tasty. It’s a game, there is no problem going luxurious, right?

I mix meat in the same proportions as when making hamburgers… beef and pork at about 7:3 ratio. However, it’s frankfurters so it needs to be minced finely unlike hamburgers. I add seasonings and garlic to it, then mix before putting the meat inside the intestine.

Raw sausages are very delicate. If they break, the taste escapes, so it’s necessary to incinerate them with lots of love. I’m not looking away from you. I want to see as you get incinerated and your body heats up...

Well, I’m just frying sausages on charcoal. I lower the flame… and by the end I use stronger flame to burn the surface a little

“Princess is frying something super tasty-looking.”

“I’m not selling these separately at the moment.”

“What a shame...”

“I only have as many salted intestines as I could buy...”

I ignore Salute-san’s hungry-sounding voice. After frying them evenly, I move the sausages to over strong fire to make them smell tasty. How about this?

B+ huh, I see. ...What a shame. For now, let’s register this recipe. Now, let’s increase the number of attempts.

As I diligently cooked, lunch time has come.

In the end, I was unable to make A quality. Most likely a single material being A is not enough. There is also a possibility of facilities being insufficient, so it looks like it will take time.

Farming and… livestock, huh. Is there anyone doing them, mm? It might be late to say this, but the range of my actions is pretty small. I only went to about half of the right side of the Starting Town. Furthermore, I only covered about 120° of the surroundings from the South to the East. ...Let’s do some searching once we enter summer break.

I leave the stall to Salute-san and log out for lunch. Salute-san will want to go for lunch as well, so I finish it as fast as possible. My little sister is participating in the tournament, so she wants to finish it fast as well

And when I log in, this time I take care of Salute-san’s stall.

After coming back, I start making dogbread with【Reproduction】and frankfurters manually.

It’s almost time for everything to start, so let’s put out information on the board. The hot dog information I kept silent about and the buff-included food’s screenshot, livestock owner’s information and details on【Reaction Acceleration】.

Considering the numbers required, I continued to cook them one after another. Meanwhile, Salute-san came back so I return the stall to her.

And soon after, apparently the time has come.

“LADIEEEEEEEES ANDDD GENTLEMEENNN? Dear players! It’s TIMEEE! HAA HA HA! THE TIME HAS COME! We’re starting the combat tournament!”

“Just now, we opened the Combat Tournament. And so, we shall now explain the details. First, there will be two main competitions, a solo and party one. Both of them will be held in the form of a tournament and placements will be completely random.”

“The AI will split players randomly and display the ladder all at once! At the same time there will be notifications reaching the participants! If you are late to answer, you get disqualified, so be careful!”

“When the time comes you will be warped to the stage, so there is no need to be nearby, but please stay in this event area.”

“Either stay near the stage, or go watch the monitors that are surrounding the stages! If you have no one to root for and you only want to watch, then you should watch the towers!”

“The individual tournament will start and continue until the best 8 are decided, then following that there will be the party tournament that will reveal the top 8 parties. After that, there will be a break before the best 4 are decided for both individual and party competitions.”

“After that, we will tweak the event area and make a single stage! From there we will do semi-finals and the third place matches! The finals for individuals will be after the semi-finals and third place for party competition!”

“It appears that buff cuisine was finally made, but naturally it will not apply to the competition. During the match, there is a limit on recovery items, with a limit of 10 for each party. However, there is no limit on recovery magic.”

“Friendly fire will work during the tournament, so be careful! Don’t stand in the line of fire! Misfires aren’t permitted! But “I will sacrifice myself, take us both out!” is alright! It sounds COOL!”

“Yes yes. ...These are the important points. Participants, please check the rules once again. Now, we will create the tournament ladder. First, let’s start with the individuals.”

On all displays, an empty tournament ladder was displayed without any names in it. From there on, along with a roulette text has flowed and the names started filling the empty places from top to bottom.

It’s the instant that decides the participants’ destiny, isn’t it. It’s the first tournament so there are no seeds, and it doesn’t matter how famous a player is.

“Next is a party competition! Here, BAM!”

In the same manner, a ladder was displayed.

“Well then! I declare the first official event, the Combat Tournament, to have started!”

Along with Mitake-san’s declaration, fireworks rose up to the sky.

In real it’s just past noon, so in game it’s also middle of the day, but it was visible so I guess it’s all right? Everyone did get fired up thanks to that.

Now, let’s start selling hot dogs. Setting price at 1000, limiting to one each. For hot dogs with a buff, I set the price at 2300, raising the price by ×2.3.

I prepared ones with ketchup only, ketchup and mustard, and buff-included ketchup only.

As the competition begins, I continued to craft while glancing at the displays sometime.

“Are you making money?”

“So-so, I guess~.”

“Hee, that’s nice! And, serious answer?”

“HA HA HA HA! I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING~!”

“You’re good at playing along, aren’t you, Princess.”

“Well, we are in a game, after all.”

I certainly made big money. Considering the initial investment and the time taken by the process, being able to sell like this feels pretty nice.

“Considering the amount of money I had to invest, there is a limit to the amount this time. Well, there would be a limit to how much bread I can make due to【Reproduction】anyway.”

“Is the MP necessary for【Reaction Acceleration】the reason you don’t make it at once with【Reproduction】?”

“Yes. It is used for the yeast, base and dough, so the amount of MP it takes is no joke.”

“So that is why you are doing it manually while using【Reproduction】in the meanwhile.”

“And it’s possible to lure in customers with the scent, too!”

“That’s tough of you...”

A single pig intestine costs 1000 so I can’t stop laughing! The meat inside is one that I hunt by myself, so it doesn’t cost me anything. ...Well, it takes time to gather it, but I can level while gathering so there is no problem.

“Hey you, don’t cut in line and go into the back.”

“AHN?! The hell are ya, I’m from the vanguard y’know?”

“Hooh… so?”

“I hear there’s buff cooking here. Ain’t it natural progression players get favorable treatment, HUH?”

Seems like some person looking for my food started to cut in line and started bickering with a person who warned him, but let’s leave it be.

No, I mean, the person who warned him is Ruzebarm-san… The one who acted as an officer during the world quest and who unlocked the Northern town.

“That might be the case in your head. But it’s not how things work here, so go into the back.”

“YOU’RE SAYIN’ THAT KNOWING WHO I AM?! HUHH?!”

“I’ve got no clue, get lost. Bark when you get as famous as Cecil, Princess or Ertz.”

“Bastard…!”

I think you’re plenty famous yourself, though? Ruzebarm-san.

Well, it might be kind of hard to tell because of how furry he adjusted himself. I mean, he’s a bear… But on the other hand, it would seem like the kemoners know that and would put some kind of sign on themselves to allow people tell them apart...

“F*ck off and die!”

“Hah, BEAR PUNCH SPECIAL!”

“BWHUEH?!”

He easily dodged the sword and punched the guy in the face. Well, it’s only natural.

Looks like he did not know Ruzebarm-san who is among the very top of the vanguard players. Meaning, even if the guy was among the top players, it would be only barely?

First of all… being a top player is something others call you, and not something you announce yourself to be.

“A vanguard not knowing Mr. Bear who’s among the top of the vanguard, is more like vanguard(lol)...”

“Agreed.”

“Princess, you know him?”

“No, not at all. If you don’t know him, Ruzebarm-san, there is no way I would, HA HA HA.”

“Riiight. Your circle of interactions is pretty small… rather, the “I’m not worthy of speaking to the Princess!” joke is kind of being taken seriously by a lot of folks.”

"...Certainly, it is hard to tell if it’s a joke or not.”

RP-wise, character-wise I’m royalty, so I can somewhat understand it. However, there is a possibility that people are simply wussing out...

In any case, it’s that.

“Well, I would be troubled if a lot of people came to me, so let’s retain the current state of things.”

“Ahhh… well, yeah. Oh, there’s STR-buffing food, great!”

Thank you very much, that’d be 2300.

“Ruzebarm-san, are you participating?”

“I am, but my turn is a little later. Which is why I’m shopping while I can.”

There are a lot of stages, but it seems like the participants have to wait quite a while for their turn. Speaking of which, just how many participants are there?

...Apparently there are about 6000 people participating, considering that the first batch had 20000 people, I guess that’s about right… this is PvP after all. Pretty much everyone has participated in the world quest, though. Well, there are other people like me who are “not interested in PvP and only want to fight monsters”. I mean, why do I have to fight other people in a fantasy game. Watching other people fight is, well, alright.

With that said, I’m cooking. I want to secure money to buy the next facilities, the Cooking Kit, so… Let’s earn!

“It’s decided! Individual competition winner is…! Cecil!”

“『”UOOOAHH!”』”

“NWAAAAGH! I LOST AGAINNN!”

“You’re doing wonders with that halberd as always… phew, that was close...”

Oh, Rina was in the finals? Sorry, Onee-chan didn’t look, HA HA HA.

With this, this will be the last hot dog… there. Aww, I did well if I say so myself.

Now, next let’s do… a beef stew! I have ingredients. No, I’m missing just a little of them, but they aren’t found yet so it can’t be helped.

On top of a baking tray that came with the oven set, I put about 2kg of shank meat and threw it inside the oven that has finished its role of baking bread. I set the temperature at about 180°C. It’s a game, so it should fry right away.

Meanwhile I put sliced welsh onion and garlic, as well as carrots on an iron frying pan and stir-fry them. Roughly until the welsh onion gets yellowish.

"...Onee-chan, did you see the match?”

“Eh, what?”

“Your little sister’s efforts...”

“I’ll try doing some cooking I can’t be bothered doing at home, so do your best for the party competition, okay?”

“WOOHOO! I’m off!!”

“Hah, she sure is simple...”

“『”...Imouto-chan…”』”

I turn the meat I put inside the oven, frying until it looks nice.

I throw the shank meat and stir-fried vegetables, along with the burnt parts… there is no burnt smell, is there… into a pot.

Roughly sliced a large amount of tomatoes, poured some of red wine and water.

Then finally, I put everything on the fire. The temperature is set at 90°C, almost boiling, and I take out the scum and fat while I fast-forward. In real it’s 10 hours long work, but in-game I can fast-forward it with【Reaction Acceleration】, so I can enjoy making this.

While fast-forwarding I take out the scum, I stir-fry a fresh welsh onion, two carrots and garlic.

After that, I filter it once and put the remaining meat and vegetables into a new pot. Then I insert fresh stir-fried vegetables. About the same amount of red wine, too! Also, water.

Then again I stew it on middle firepower and lower the temperature right before it starts boiling, retaining about 95°C I take out scum, then fast-forward… Another 10 hours.

And then I mix the soups. Of course I filter the inside. Then again 10 hours. Yes, I stew it on fast-forward. And so, I make fond de veau. However, my goal is a beef stew. Let’s first make a demi-glace sauce.

Which is why, I fast-forward to about week later. If it gets burnt, it will all go to naught, so I do it while watching the fire and the pot, and the thermometer. I mean, I don’t have enough MP to do it all at once.

It was boiled out and concentrated to about half of its size, and I have overcome the worst, so let’s do the finishing touches. I add salt and red wine, as well as sugar to adjust the taste. It’s already very rich and tasty at this point.

Nnn… let’s put in some beef rib cubes. But first, I need to fry their surface on the frying pan and remove the needless fat since it’s ribs, then throw it inside the pot. While taking out scum and fat, I stew it for about three hours.

Then finally… let’s go simple. I slice potatoes and carrots, put them inside the pot and stew for about 30 minutes… all complete!

That was a hellish amount of work.

[Cuisine] Simmery-Stewed Handmade Beef Stew　Rarity: No　Quality: B+

A top-class stew made by a skilled cook, capable of making royalty groan from deliciousness.

A dense stew with multiple tastes dissolved into it.

Satiety +35

Additional Effect: Increases Spirit by 5%

Effect Duration: 5 Hours

Contents: Bowl, Spoon

Cook: Anastasia

Utensils: Primula

...I have accomplished it.

Let’s register the process before the recipe goes away.

“And it’s DECIDED! The party competition winner is…! The party “THE PRIZE IS ONEE-CHAN’S COOKING!” led by Akirina… what’s with this name… well, whatever!”

“『”U...UOOOAAHH!”』”

My little sister has wordlessly… struck a colombia pose1. Congratulations.

...Onee-chan was so busy she did not see the match, however.