She Becomes The Hero In Another World 90 She Surprises Everyone Iii

While the bracer could hold far more things, the magic bag a.s.sured freshness. That was why, when storing things, Robin placed the fresh ingredients into her magic bag, while those which were good for many years were placed in her magic bracer. Some things tasted better with age.

The first judge was a youthful young lady, with a rather strict, sharp expression. Many chefs had been on the end of her tongue las.h.i.+ng, as she loved to point out their shortcomings. While many chefs dreaded her criticisms, she was a popular judge among the audience. They enjoyed seeing the pompous proud chefs brought down a peg or two back to earth.

She glared scathingly at the colorful array. There was nothing wrong with the display, but the colors were so bright. Many brightly colored animals and plants were found to be poisonous. Glancing at the alive and kicking chef a.s.sistant, Ponzu, helped to allay her fears. If the chefs weren't afraid to eat it, then why should she?

The judge picked up a piece of California roll upon her fork, and placed it in her mouth. Her eyes widened, and her frown grew deeper. She glared like a bloodthirsty tiger at the plate before her, but refrain from saying anything. Actually, she couldn't say anything. From start to finish, her mouth was full of the different flavors of sus.h.i.+, spicy mayo, pickled ginger, and the ever refres.h.i.+ng spiciness of wasabi. She finished every bite on that plate, including the garnishes.

By the time she had finished her plate, the audience was silent. Everyone was waiting for her scathing remarks. She opened her mouth.

"I have tasted many foods, from many different places, but not many have been able to impress me to the point where I have nothing to criticize. My only regret is in not having a stomach big enough to eat more of it! This dish has full score from me!" She declared.

The audience exclaimed loudly. Full points!? The number of times this judge had given out full points could be counted on the fingers of one hand, it was that scarce!

Having gotten the first judge's approval, the other six judges gained the courage to try it out. Each one was surprised by the refres.h.i.+ng, addictive flavor of fresh sus.h.i.+. Although they couldn't copy Robin's feat of using homemade chopsticks to pick up the sus.h.i.+ pieces, they could still use their forks to pick up the bite sized pieces.

It was only after they finished their plates that they realized that they were too full to sample the rest of the dishes. After discussing the good points among themselves, they came to an agreement. The most revered of judges, a muscleman with a salt and pepper colored beard, stood up to announce their verdict.

From the pointiness of his ears, and the darkness of his skin, it was apparent to everyone that he was a half-breed between demon and human. The fact that he was still so revered spoke volumes to the lack of racial discrimination in this town. Robin paid attention.

"For presenting us with such a refres.h.i.+ng twist on a food that is close to all the citizens of Port Oracle, as well as showing us new ways to use familiar ingredients, as well as using what we had previously considered unusable, we judges cannot be more happy. There was no flaw, neither in presentation, plating, taste, condiments, or freshness of ingredients. All of the products were items we are familiar with. Moreover, it even included the hidden ingredient which Protectorate Oracle added to the magic list." The man sighed in contentment.

"It has certainly been an awfully long time since I have had such a satisfying meal." He continued. "And we are not even sure if among these other chefs, we can find another dish quite like this one. But, at least for this dish, we are unanimous in declaring it the first dish ever to gain full points from all of us!" He finished his declaration, and sat down.

The other chefs were speechless. Only one dish, and already there was a flawless verdict? Some of the chefs even burned their fish as they were too dazed to pay attention to their cooking. Thus, Robin's dish, inadvertently effected the quality of the other dishes. Robin twiddled her thumbs as she stood at her station until the inspector came by.

"Grand Chef Robin." He addressed respectfully. "The judges would like to have a word with you about your dish."

Robin tilted her head. "Um, Robin is certainly my name," She replied. "But I don't recall ever becoming a grand chef."

"It's a special t.i.tle given only to those who get a flawless verdict from all seven judges." The inspector explained. "From now on, whenever you are in Port Oracle, you will be addressed as such, since you are the first to ever achieve such an impossible thing."

"All right." Robin sighed in resignation. 'At least it's not as bad as being called "Your Highness" everywhere.' She thought to herself, as she followed the inspector up to the judges seats. Ponzu was left behind to finish scrubbing out the pots.

When she arrived at the judges seats, another chair was brought out for her to sit in the center of them. When she was about to refuse, they insisted.

"Please, it's the least we could do to repay you for such a good meal!" The eldest insisted. "Besides, all of us here are also former winners of the chef's compet.i.tion, but none of us have ever been able to get a flawless verdict. As someone who was able to do what we couldn't, can't we at least show you our respects?"

Under their coercion, Robin sat down. But, in reality, it was just so the chefs could wheedle some tips and tricks out of her for making sus.h.i.+ on their own. Unlike in Ekkins.h.i.+re kingdom, Port Oracle was more lax in the guarding of recipes. In fact, it was encouraged to spread rexipes so that everyone had a chance to enjoy them in their homes. Of course, the best place to taste the original was in the restaraunt of the owner of the recipe.

"So, is there anything we need to be wary of, when making sus.h.i.+?" The old man got straight to the point.

"Always use fresh caught fish." Robin happily instructed them. "Make sure to clean the rice before steaming, and only make the sus.h.i.+ right before you are going to eat it, because sus.h.i.+ easily spoils at room temperature. I wouldn't eat it after three hours of making it, unless you have a method for keeping it cool. Even then, the raw fish it can only last for about 12 hours, unless you freeze it. But, I warn you, freezing will lower the texture quality of the rice and vegetables used in the food, so don't freeze unless there is no other way."

"I am curious, though." One of the judges asked. "As someone who arrived from Ekkins.h.i.+re kingdom, I had expected you to be more protective of your recipes. Why so open with the advice? You do know that we recorded the whole process with a magic eye, right?"

Robin smiled. "I suppose that must be because I am not originally from Ekkins.h.i.+re kingdom. Where I come from, people are much more open with their recipes, especially if it's a really tasty one. We take pride in our ability to create new and flavorful recipes using local ingredients."

"So, you must come from another coastal area, right? Otherwise, how would you know such a delicious seafood recipe?" Another one chimed in.

"Er, while it was not my birth town, I did study under a master for a certain amount of time in a large group of islands." She replied. She refrained from mentioning that this master was not a chef, but a swordsman.

Well, she had also picked up sus.h.i.+ making while living there, but that was a different thing. She learned how to make sus.h.i.+ from Google sensei. But, as people here were unlikely to understand the internet, she diffused the conversation by talking about something else.

"So, do you think there will be another flawless verdict appearing in this contest?" She asked.

The rest of the judges looked chagrined.

"Um, to be honest that will be really difficult." The sharp eyed lady replied.

"Oh? Do you only give out one flawless verdict per contest?" Robin asked, curious.

"It's not that." Another judge denied. "It's just that your dish was so tasty that we ate until we are full. Thus, it will be difficult for us to a.s.sess the dishes from now on. Currently, we need to request the a.s.sistance of the other seven winners to judge in our place."

At that point, seven other people came over, being led by the inspector.

"And, here they are!" The seven judges stood up, relinquis.h.i.+ng their spots.

"I look forward to tasting more of such dishes in the future." The sharp eyed lady said, in farewell.