An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 18: The Angel Prepares (4)

Episode 18

Leffrey quickly surveyed the cathedral.

Since things had turned out like this, he had to survive somehow.

'As expected of a cathedral from an ancient civilization, there’s no place for rain or winds to leak in.'

It was indeed the Last Cathedral. Its defenses and barriers must be superior to any other place.

'Then...'

Leffrey tried to go down to the basement.

The basement, which could only be opened by someone recognized as the owner of the Last Cathedral. What could be hidden there? He didn't know what was down there, but there would probably be some useful items for daily life... Leffrey fantasized.

'I'll just ask for a bed, a TV, a refrigerator...! Oh, and a computer that can at least play games, even if it's not the latest model.'

This is what's known as escapism in technical terms.

Click- As soon as Leffrey touched it, he heard the sound of the latch on the other side opening, and the creaking of the hinges filled the cathedral.

He couldn't help but feel a little creeped out.

And the stairs leading down into the endless darkness that spread out beneath his feet. With no end in sight.

Leffrey muttered as he looked at it.

"...Should I go grocery shopping first?"

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He bought simple groceries, snacks, a burner, a fire starter, various tools, and most importantly, a flashlight…

The boy carefully descended into the cathedral basement. Some kind of purification magic must have been working, because the air was quite clean despite the door being opened for the first time in thousands of years.

"...This is."

A mural. (A Mural is a painting on a wall)

A mural that clearly depicted an angel.

And beneath it, there was some kind of inscription.

'It's not a language from the human world. Then is it a language from another world...?'

No, it wasn't that either.

There was no such language among the languages of the other world.

However, despite seeing the characters for the first time, Leffrey could read them.

"An angel without wings is not an angel?"

That sounded familiar.

Leffrey carefully moved beyond the mural.

And he found a few things.

"Some unknown potion... an ancient generator? And a bunch of junk."

Dungeons and ancient facilities always functioned without stopping. Even without any maintenance or fuel. The reason for this was this semi-permanent magic power generator, simply called an ancient generator.

This ancient generator, emitting a faint blue light, was larger than any ancient generator Leffrey had ever seen. For reference, Leffrey was an angel who had even seen the ancient generator at Mariana Camp, humanity's greatest fortress.

The ancient generator at Mariana Camp was only the size of a soccer ball. Yet, it was enough to supply all the power for the entire base.

But this one was…

"It looks like it’s about five times bigger."

They needed a magical genius who could handle this. Perhaps such a genius could create many things with this generator. For example…

Anyway, he didn't have to worry about where to get electricity. If he could just get a magic power converter, it would work out somehow.

Then the electricity problem was solved…

What about the rest?

Growl- Even as an angel, he couldn't escape physiological problems. He had to eat. If he were in the dormitory, he would be enjoying a grand buffet-style meal right now.

"...I'm not envious."

Leffrey writhed in envy.

To live a quiet life without getting caught up in incidents and accidents, you had to give up some things sometimes. And there was also an advantage to not being able to eat buffet-style meals.

'I can cook whatever I want...!'

That's right. Leffrey urgently needed to level up his cooking skill. He didn't know how to raise his other skills, but he knew exactly how to raise his cooking skill.

First of all, the cooking skill leveled up faster the more you cooked and the more difficult the dish was.

'If it just increased by cooking often, I could just boil hundreds of packets of ramen and level up. But even if I did that all day long, I wouldn't level up.'

But could Leffrey cook difficult dishes? Absolutely not. The only things Leffrey could cook were boiling ramen, frying eggs, and making rice. Well, maybe even kimchi fried rice...?

'And those skills are all Lv.1 cooking. Even if I did them hundreds of times, I wouldn't level up...'

However, there was one thing…

One recipe that Leffrey knew and that the skill considered difficult.

In the other world, there was something called corrupted rice. A subspecies of rice that grew in lands affected by magic erosion, it was naturally inedible for humans. Since it was resistant to magic erosion, it was usually only used for experiments to determine the type of magic contamination present.

However, there was a dish made with this corrupted rice.

It was called magic rice...!

It was a dish that mages were crazy about.

The method of making it was simple.

Purify the corrupted rice into edible rice, and then cook it. The resulting dish was called magic rice.

I said the method was simple earlier, but actually, it's not that simple at all. Divine power was more dangerous than any other type of magic or mana, and every time it was used, it damaged the user's body and mind. And to use such precious divine power just to cook rice?

If there was no one with divine power who could purify it, you would have to cook the rice with holy water... cook rice with holy water, a national strategic resource? That would really get you arrested.

That's why magic rice was Lv.10. The most difficult dish recognized by the skill. Can’t you tell by the fact that when you consider that the Lv.9 dish is braised dragon tail?

So Leffrey opened the package of corrupted rice. Black rice... no one ate it, but he liked that it was polished for easier observation of color changes.

And after boiling the water, he cooked the rice with the unpurified corrupted rice.

But wouldn't that just ruin the water and the rice, let alone cooking...?

He then placed a frying pan on another burner and poured in some heavenly fragrant oil.

'I tried a bit of the fragrant oil last time... it was delicious, right?'

Fun Fact: Heavenly fragrant oil is edible.

No, to be precise, it's even delicious.

And if you fry kimchi with it...?

"Is this okay?"

A divine scent wafted through the air. Blessed garlic, chili peppers... and you know, those things.

The corrupted rice was cooked at just the right time. Leffrey placed the corrupted rice on the frying pan with a worried expression.

"...It's being purified."

The heavenly fragrant oil possessed divine power that was stronger than any holy water. Naturally, it easily purified such corruption.

Of course, this oil wasn't meant to be used like this. It was a precious oil to be anointed(Blessed) on prophets or those who would become kings…

The rice grains turned white, then pink due to the kimchi, and even glistened with oil.

It looked somewhat appetizing…

Kimchi fried rice was complete.

"Well, it seems okay..."

Suddenly, the boy felt a headache.

Quite a painful headache.

[Holy Kimchi Magic Fried Rice Lv.12 Completion: ★☆☆☆☆]

[You have completed an incredibly difficult dish!]

[Your Cooking skill level increases!]

[Your Cooking skill level increases!]

[Your Cooking skill level increases!]

[Cooking Lv.4 achieved]

Strange sensations suddenly flooded his mind. How to snap his wrist without spilling while stir-frying. And which spices went well with which ingredients. How to boil noodles... and bread…

"...Huh."

Leffrey, who had never learned baking in his life, had acquired baking skills good enough to open a bakery.

And the boy's eyes fell on the numerous bags of corrupted rice.

...And the Angelic Power still remaining in his body.

Leffrey muttered,

"Today... I'm reaching Cooking Lv.10."

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[You have achieved Cooking Lv.10. You are now a master of all cuisines!]

[Once you become a master in one field, you can set foot in other fields as well!]

[Master chefs were always masters of the knife. From now on, you will receive a talent bonus for swordsmanship!]

[Master chefs were always masters of fire. From now on, you will receive an affinity bonus for the fire attribute!]

[Master chefs naturally have strong stamina. From now on, you will receive a bonus for stamina!]

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The moment he finished the twenty bags of corrupted rice, Leffrey finally reached Cooking Lv.10. It was a truly remarkable achievement.

Reaching the level of 'Cooking Lv.10' was something that even a person with a talent for cooking might not achieve even if they dedicated their entire life to it. But Leffrey had reached this level by cunningly using a trick.

"Ah, oh wow..."

Behind him was a mountain of kimchi fried rice, egg fried rice, and ham fried rice... perhaps because he had used the heavenly oil, the aroma was incredible. And as a result, Leffrey's arms were trembling. Cuts and burns that he had barely treated with bandages and band-aids after using up all his Angelic Power.

And finally, the exhaustion that washed over him as he consumed all his Angelic Power…

"Oh no, this angel is dying..."

Leffrey felt the urgent need to replenish his Angelic Power.

He would really fall asleep at this rate.

If he fell asleep like this, he would never wake up...!

'I need Angelic Power...!'

Leffrey started filling the lunch boxes he had bought yesterday with various fried rice dishes.

'The young men and women from guilds or awakener families wouldn't eat something like this. They're suspicious, so they'd never eat anything given by an outsider like me.'

He had someone to share it with.

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"Damn black magic haters."

A mutter echoed through the bathroom.

Naturally, it was Soya.

The girl with gray hair took out her lunch box with a dissatisfied expression.

...Why was Soya eating in the bathroom?

There were three main reasons for this.

First, there were a few magical families who had a grudge against Soya. Of course, this was the fault of these magical families, who stole Soya's research results and presented them as their own, and then, when they got caught, took the lead in bullying Soya.

Anyway, those jerks were the first reason…

Second, Soya didn't have a very good personality. There's a saying in this world that if you endure, you'll eventually break. But Soya had endured and never once tried to give in.

And naturally, the privileged didn't like people like that.

Finally, it was because of Soya's major.

Black magic…

Actually, the fact that it was black magic wasn't that important. It was just that the other two reasons were too pathetic, so they demonized her as a black mage.

That's why Soya was bullied.

She was constantly harassed in the dormitory, and she couldn't even eat comfortably.

Yet, Soya was the one who never broke.

"Damn black magic haters!"

Vowing to take revenge someday, Soya was about to open her lunch box with joy.

And at that moment…

Splash- Wastewater used for magic purification poured over Soya's head.

Her lunch was ruined in an instant.

"Oh my, is there someone there?"

"Guess no one's there. No answer."

Clear sounds of mockery.

Yet, Soya didn't cry.

She held back her emotions and stepped out onto the roof of the magic department building…

"Found you... Soya!"

A boy called out to her with a bright expression. He seemed to have run all the way here, judging by his sweat.

"Leffrey?"

It was Leffrey, the beautiful boy with a face hard to forget.

"Have you had lunch yet?"

"...No, not yet."

It would have been more accurate to say she tried to eat but failed, but Soya, with her high pride, couldn't bring herself to say that.

"Great, then let's eat together."

"W-Why should I? I have people to eat with too."

"I packed enough for you too... can't you? I'll have to throw this away if you don't..."

A delicious smell wafted from somewhere.

Soya quickly wiped away the drool that was flowing and held her head high before saying.

"Well, then I guess I have no choice. Can't waste food."

And so, Soya ended up eating Leffrey's holy-magic fried rice. The aroma and flavor exploded thanks to the heavenly oil, and the magic rice provided an irresistible taste for mages...!

It was a truly fearsome flavor.

A storm of deliciousness.

"..."

It was literally a heavenly taste.

Soya felt the resentment she had experienced for days crumbling away in an instant. The crumbling resentment turned into tears.

"Ah..."

Soya hurriedly wiped away her tears and said,

"Don't get the wrong idea, this is... this is sweat...! Mages naturally sweat from their eyes...!"

Such a ridiculous excuse wasn't important to Leffrey. What was important to Leffrey right now was…

[Filling the stomach of the hungry is an angelic act!]

[Filling the stomach of a future hero is an angelic act!]

[Accepting the sorrow of a future hero is a truly angelic act!]

These vast amounts of Angelic Power in front of him.