A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1649 - 1101: The Night Before the Celebration

Chapter 1649: Chapter 1101: The Night Before the Celebration

The day before the celebration, the Royal City was already teeming with people, filled with a joyful atmosphere. Inside the Tribunal’s church, the air was equally merry.

"Set up things over there!"

"Tablecloths, where are the tablecloths?"

"Has anyone seen my apron?"

In a corner of the church’s dining hall and kitchen, students were bustling around, each appearing quite happy.

This was no surprise, even though the official ceremony was tomorrow, Duanmu Huai, having returned, said that their celebrations were separate and had nothing to do with them. So, the students were left to prepare by themselves, and they were eager for the commotion, actively participating.

Since the majority were girls, they mainly either managed the cooking in the kitchen or arranged the dining area, while the physical tasks were naturally left to the few boys.

Oh, the tragedy of being male in an arts class—while some view a few boys surrounded by a group of girls as the ideal harem, only by actually being in it can you know how it truly is.

At this moment, in the kitchen, several young women were both handling ingredients and discussing what dishes to prepare.

"What exactly should we make?"

"Curry, maybe? We’ve all gone a long time without it. Earlier, I found a spice in the local market that’s very similar to curry, so I bought it."

"Are you sure it tastes like curry? Last time I went to buy seasonings, I saw yellow granules thinking they were pepper, but they turned out to be sweeter than sugar! The spices in this world are completely different from what we’re used to."

"I actually wanted to make a cake, but the flour in this world is unlike any I’ve used before, and good quality yeast is nowhere to be found..."

"Speaking of eggs, too, they’re not even sold here. Only Nobles have special provisions, and they’re those tiny eggs, completely different from what I imagined."

The girls in charge of cooking were quite distressed. As they say, not knowing the price of firewood and rice without managing a household — those cooking truly experienced the discrepancies between the Isekai and the modern world. Different seasonings, varied ingredients, even the meats they bought had a persistent taint.

This was utterly incomparable to the frozen chickens bought from supermarkets, not even on the same level.

"The teacher said the meat’s gamey taste is because the blood wasn’t drained, it needs to be hung up to let the blood drain thoroughly..."

"Ugh... Honestly, I don’t want to see that scene..."

Catching birds and hunting no longer posed as big a pressure on the students, as the team at the front lines would enter forests and kill animals, bringing them back as food.

But for the students responsible for cooking, it was as though they’d hit a streak of bad luck. They were akin to wives waiting at home while the husbands joyfully went fishing, only for the fish to be tossed aside after, leaving them to painstakingly scale and gut it, hands bloodied, with no guarantee the dish would taste good ... After all, it wouldn’t match those sold at the market.

Regrettably, this world lacked the convenience of supermarkets, leaving the girls in the cooking group to grit their teeth and wield knives, gutting, skinning, and dismembering animal carcasses ... They finally understood the difficulties housewives faced.

Though painful, the cooking group eventually showcased their skills at the banquet. When the banquet began, familiar dishes lay in front of the students.

Burgers, fries, roast chicken ... items ordinarily mundane, yet to the students arriving in this world, seemed like gourmet delicacies!

"This is amazing!"

"I never thought I’d be eating burgers with tears streaming down my face..."

A student gnawed at a burger, almost bursting into tears.

In the original world, burgers were run-of-the-mill fast-food items they’d grown tired of. Upon arriving in this world, they discovered the difficulty of eating something akin to a burger. Initially, the bread here being rye bread tasted unlike the sweet and delicious bread they were used to, with even a hint of sourness.

Everything else was similar, be it food, clothing, shelter, transportation ... Okay, living in this world felt almost like having a return-to-nature, reminiscence-through-hardships experience for the students. They had never thought mundane things commonplace in daily life would be so important.

As with air, humans only understand its significance when gone, so too it was.

"So delicious..."

Even Lilianna joined the banquet, eating a burger in hand, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Is this food from your world, Brave Lord? It’s truly tasty..."

While saying so, Lilianna glanced at Duanmu Huai. Earlier, upon hearing of the Tribunal’s plans to host a banquet, she had suggested sending chefs from the Royal Palace to assist. However, Duanmu Huai refused, indicating he preferred the students to be self-sufficient—a decision that seemed justified now. Even though, to Lilianna, the food not only had unique methods but tasted far better than any Royal Family meal she’d ever had.

"It’s okay."

Duanmu Huai shrugged his shoulders, not elaborating much. An underdeveloped world was like this, modern ubiquitous condiments were products of industrialization, with even the Royal Family unable to savor them every meal. Mass-farmed meats were breeds improved over time, undoubtedly tasting better than wild prey hunted in the forests.