Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In the textile factory in the northern part of the city, a murky yellow smoke rose from a tall chimney.
All the machines in the factory had officially started operating. The cotton was made into thread, and then weaved into cloth by machines. The factory had already started running.
“Your Highness, we’ve already put a bet of 300,000,000 copper coins that Mr. Mag would win in 10 gambling dens, just as you’ve ordered.” Captain Ashley looked at Irina, and hesitated for a while before saying, “If he lost, our army’s expenses would become very tight. By the looks of it, the gambling dens seemed to favor the chef that he is up against.”
“In that case, it seems like we can win even more money,” Irina said with a relaxed smile.
Captain looked at Irina’s profile, and did not speak further. After that, he left the office silently.
“He’s my man. How can he lose?” Irina commented with a smile in that empty office.
“Boss Mag of Mamy Restaurant has won the second round!”
The news spread to the gambling dens very quickly. The original multiplier for Mag’s victory was 2.5 times, but it quickly dropped to 1.2 times.
“Isn’t Master Harris known as the Invincible God of Cookery? Is he going to lose today?”
“No, please. I’ve bet my entire family fortune on him. If he lost, I wouldn’t even have a roof over my head.”
“I betted that Boss Mag would win. Let’s see if I would be able to get a free bowl of tofu pudding tonight.”
Now that the multiplier had changed, many of the gamblers in the gambling dens started to become unsettled. The change in the multiplier meant that the gambling dens thought that the chances of Boss Mag from Mamy Restaurant winning had increased. After all, after the release of the news from yesterday’s competition, the multiplier had already dropped to 1.5 times.
At the entrance of Mamy Restaurant, the atmosphere had become a bit tense now that the score had now become 1:1.
With the reputation of being the Invincible God of Cookery, and Mamy Restaurant’s recent popularity at Chaos City, this duel between Harris and Mag was very exciting. After they’d shown their capabilities in the first two rounds, the third round raised everyone’s expectations.
Both of them had already completed their preparation work for the soup when they were doing the cold dish. Now, the soups were cooking in the pots.
Mag stood at the side leisurely as he waited for the final product to simmer in the old wine vat. The most troublesome part was getting the ingredients ready, but once they were ready and placed in the vat, all he had to do was to wait.
However, because of the time limit in the duel, he could not cook the soup over a small fire for the entire afternoon just like how he normally would. Therefore, he had prepared the ingredients in advance so that the soup could be ready in half an hour.
On the other side, Harris appeared slightly busier.
He simmered and seasoned the soup based on how a bone broth should be done. Harris appeared very serious as he carefully put together the soup that brought him to fame: the sour beef bone broth.
As a chef, he would naturally still be a little proud. This sour beef bone broth was his pride and honor.
When he was 18, he rose to fame in the Roth Empire with this sour beef bone broth. After that, he was invited to Issen Castle by the dwarven king, and was made an honorable chef. The sour beef bone broth had also won the praises of the king and distinguished guests there.
After so many years, just the mention of his name would naturally remind one of the sour beef bone broth that the dwarven king had once called the best soup in the world.
Harris used a big piece of beef bone, chopped it into pieces, and put it into the pot. After that, he added a few spices, and simmered the soup for several hours.
Following that, he added his hand-made preserved radish, and after a sufficient amount of time, it would be delicious.
The process might seem simple, but there were many variables that could cause the soup to fail. For one, the preserved radish was the soul of the soup. Without it, there would not be the sour taste that left everyone longing for more.
Time passed slowly, and everyone was quiet as they watched the two chefs.
It was a very rare chance for most people to be able to watch top chefs at work from such a short distance.
On top of that, watching the ingredients turn into delicacies made the audience anticipate the final product even more.
Ding!
Harris’s timer rang first.
Harris closed his fire, and waited for three minutes before opening the lid.
A slightly sour but rich smell wafted out instantaneously. Its sourness was not that of rotten food, but the kind that would make one drool.
Gulp~
Suddenly, there were sounds of people swallowing their saliva. Everyone craned their neck to look in the direction of the pot. That fragrance was a bit too much for them to handle.
The milky white beef bone broth was still steaming. Harris used a wooden ladle to stir it twice clockwise before scooping up a ladle of the soup into a white porcelain bowl together with a few pieces of preserved radish. After that, he sprinkled some spring onions, and the bowl of piping hot sour beef bone broth was completed.
That smell! Mag’s eyes lit up. He also could not help but look at Harris. Preserved radish soup was nothing new to him, but he did not remember anyone who could actually make sour beef bone broth smell so enticing.
“That smells great. This Master Harris is really formidable,” Anna whispered as she wrinkled her nose.
“Yes, that’s such an enticing smell. It feels just like when you see bayberry, and you just can’t stop salivating,” Yabemiya said with a nod. However, she became a little nervous. “Boss wouldn’t lose this round, would he?”
“Boss is making ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’. He wouldn’t lose.” Connie squatted behind everyone with a helmet on. She calmly said, “That’s my master’s favorite dish. Look, that uncle’s hair is almost gone. If he tried the ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’ for himself, I think he would admit defeat immediately.”
Everyone in the restaurant looked at the small bunch of hair left on Harris’s head, and thought of how the balding old men would fight over the limited servings of ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’.
Everyone suddenly felt that Connie’s words made sense, and their mood suddenly lightened up.
Meanwhile, Harris’s disciples also looked brighter.
The second round was just an accident. Maybe their master had underestimated their opponent.
However, when it came to soups, they could proudly say, “No one knows soups better than our master!”
When the sour beef bone broth was brought out in the duel, it would mean that that was the end of the competition.
“See, this is still a competition without any suspense. Our master is still that Invincible God of Cookery. Of course, he wouldn’t care for that title.” The senior disciple lifted his hand, and dug his nose relaxedly.
“Master is indeed the most formidable.” The junior disciple also heaved a sigh of relief as he chuckled. He would not want to have a grandmaster pop out from nowhere. However, it’s not bad if there’s another junior disciple.