Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 345 - 143: Culinary God Competition

Chapter 345: Chapter 143: Culinary God Competition

Main Plane, Ahengkixi Mountain Area, Aske was training Peggy and Miel.

The former strived not to be hit by moving at high speed with frequent changes in direction.

The latter tried to see through the opponent’s movement pattern and calculate the lead needed to hit the target.

In a sense, the training content for the two was complementary to each other.

The bullets selected were, specifically, rubber riot bullets, which still caused pain and injury when hitting the body, but for Peggy with her abnormal recovery ability, such damage was negligible.

The two fought fiercely in a clearing in the mountains, while Aske stood by, overseeing everything, constantly reminding them,

"Peggy, pay attention to actively positioning yourself. You can’t just move according to the trajectory of the bullets, or you’ll be forced into a dead end by the opponent."

"Miel, while the firing rate shouldn’t be fixed, it shouldn’t be erratic either. Your rhythm needs to be purposefully adjusted based on your tactical intent."

"The speed of reloading could be faster. Peggy, take note of the opponent’s reloading gap, but also be careful of their targeted deception. Don’t blindly trust; you need to have your own judgment."

"A seasoned gunman will pretend to run out of ammo and reload while actually reserving ammunition in the firearm. Miel, you can try this, and Peggy, see if you can see through her technique."

...

"That’s enough for now, take a break."

The so-called break was just a temporary cessation of training. The journey still had to continue.

Peggy, carrying a Short Sword, walked at the front, Aske positioned in the center, and Miel with her rifle walked at the rear.

"Miel, where do you plan to obtain the auxiliary materials for ’Mia Shadow III,’ Squad Leader?" Miel asked.

"Rose Island, have you heard of it?" Aske replied with a question.

"No." Both shook their heads.

"That’s an island to the northwest of Starnberg Lake," Aske said leisurely, "Legend has it that Eleanor’s ancestor ’Mad Ludwig’ was stripped of his power during an internal duchy coup and was drowned on that island."

"After death, his soul became a Terror, wandering around Starnberg Lake to avoid the soldiers who had once plotted against him."

"So, our hunt this time is for Eleanor’s ancestor?" Peggy exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course not." Aske corrected her, "The real ’Mad Ludwig’ has long passed away. The Terror was born from the mutant Spiritual Body that remained."

"Since it’s in a Spiritual Body state, most physical damage is ineffective against it, and it has strong resistance in the Mind as well. The trickiest part is that it has a relatively weak Desire for battle, tends to flee easily, and is extremely good at hiding."

"What we want are the ’Tears of Horror,’ not the monster itself, so there’s no need to kill it. To make it shed tears, we can resort to more cunning methods."

"So we’re tricking the tears out of it?" Miel pondered.

"Something like that." Aske recalled the strategy from his past life, "It’s said ’Mad Ludwig’ was secretly in love with his cousin once removed, and since the Terror was born from his deceased Spiritual Body, it has parts of his memories and emotions. We can have someone pretend to be his cousin to deceive its tears."

"Then who will play the role?" Miel asked.

"Eleanor." Aske said, "She has Weisbach blood and experience in acting, so she should be suitable."

Peggy listened, somewhat bewildered. Acting? Since when had Eleanor acted? Miel, though, understood the situation and uttered an "Oh":

"She is quite suitable."

And so, Peggy’s expression became even more puzzled... It was at this moment that Mia teleported from the Main Plane, appearing beside them.

"Aske!" she blurted out in panic, "They are making Poison!"

"Poison?" The three of them were somewhat stunned. Making Poison? How could that be possible? The only person with a Toxin Ability in the team was Peggy.

"You mean they’re in the alchemy lab next door, in the Poison-making room?" Peggy asked doubtfully, clearly half-believing, half-doubting, "Using my experiment table?"

"No!" Mia quickly explained, "They’re in the kitchen!"

The kitchen! Aske caught on and hurriedly teleported to Fire Island.

In a way, poison making was indeed about to happen...

Peggy and Miel exchanged glances and wisely chose not to follow.

On reaching Stovefire Island Manor, as Aske entered the hall, he saw thick smoke billowing from the kitchen.

"Fire! Medea, put out the fire!" came Nora’s frantic shout from inside.

The smoke dissipated, and Aske walked in to see the girls, their faces covered in soot and dust.

"What are you doing?"

Nobody spoke.

"Aske, we are making something for you to eat." After a moment of silence, Nora revealed a pure and perfect smile, yet Aske felt inexplicably terrified.

He instinctively turned to run, but heard a loud shout from behind:

"Grab him!"

......

"So, even if you all want to learn to cook, at least let me be present to guide you."

Aske helplessly looked at everyone while the girls had various expressions on their faces.

"What’s this?" He looked at the first dish on the table, which seemed to be some kind of vegetable soup.

"Cabbage and beetroot soup," Eleanor raised her hand and said, "I made it."

Aske picked up the soup spoon, took a sip, and couldn’t help but wipe the corner of his eye: "My goodness, this soup is so salty, why am I crying..."

"It’s the onions." Eleanor quickly said, "I added onions."

"There’s nothing wrong with onions," Aske sighed hopelessly, "unless you’ve mistaken sugar for salt..."

"Eh, I remember I didn’t add sugar, only salt and MSG." Eleanor went and took a sip, frowned as she held it in her mouth, then couldn’t help but spit it out—revealing an expression of wanting to cry but no tears would come.

"What’s this?" Aske looked at the second dish, which was bright red and very festive.

"Chili fried meat," Medea said with a smiling face, "I made it."

"Wrong," Aske said, "It should be meat fried with chili."

"I admit I may have added a bit too much chili..." Medea rubbed her hands, "but it shouldn’t affect the taste."

"You try it first." Aske picked up a piece of pork with a fork.

Medea frowned and ate the pork he passed to her (along with the chili on top).

Then suddenly, sparks seemed to shoot from the top of her head.

"Water! Water!" She gasped and stuck out her tongue for air, quickly rushing to the bathroom to rinse her throat.

"Everyone remember." Aske looked at the remaining girls who were taken aback and said seriously, "If you don’t remove the seeds from the chilis, it’ll burn you terribly... especially with these particularly spicy Brittania peppers."

The girls looked at each other, speechless.

The third dish was a blackened lump of char, apparently some kind of meat, but now the surface was so burnt it was unrecognizable.

"This is Sigrdrifa’s, isn’t it?" Aske asked.

"Hey! How did you know it was me!" Sigrdrifa exclaimed.

"It’s obvious, you let the water in the pot dry out and didn’t turn off the fire leading to the overheating of the iron pot and the meat burning inside," Aske said analytically, "It’s beyond saving. Just throw it out."

Sigrdrifa went off, downcast, to dispose of the ruined dish.

The last dish was a plate of cabbage and ham stew and Aske stared at it for a long while, seemingly afraid to taste it directly. Nora was nervously clutching the hem of her clothes, her expression filled with anxiousness as she watched him.

"That, Aske... just tell it as it is," she said in a low voice brimming with apologetic remorse, "It’s my first time cooking alone, and although there might be various shortcomings, I will definitely strive to improve in the future..."

"It’s not bad," Aske put down the soup spoon, "Unexpectedly light and clear, it passes."

Nora blinked in disbelief, as if she had suddenly ascended from hell to heaven, and her whole being burst into radiance.

I won! Her hands clutching the hem of her clothes clenched into fists, nearly bursting into tears of joy.

I’ve beaten everyone in the first Stovefire Island Cooking Competition! I am the champion!

From now on, the only person who could assist the Squad Leader in cooking, be intimate with him in the kitchen, and become his helpful wife, was me!

Just as she was excited and could hardly contain herself, Aske had already walked over, patting her shoulder encouragingly:

"You’ve grown quickly, the team’s future meals will be entrusted to you."

"You have to shoulder the future of the team, Nora!"

He waved his hand and left coolly.

Nora watched his retreating figure with tears brimming in her eyes, her heart swelling with satisfaction and joy from the recognition, and she subconsciously sent out a Mind Reading.

"...Great, now I won’t have to cook."

Eh?