Chapter 6: Wager With the Enemy

"We've returned master." The 2 that went into the city could be made out walking back to the carriage. Emria noticed that Rein was awake and rushed in with open arms. "You're finally awake! Miss D8 and I bought some really yummy food!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Huh? Oh, Emria! You're finally back. Did they hurt you anywhere? Don't let your guard down against these guys." He whispered, snapping out of the deep thought he was just in and patting her on the head with the one hand he had, glaring at D8, who was accompanying Emria.

"Rein, I understand that you don't like Core, I don't either." She said frowning. "But miss D8 saved your life. She's really caring and super funny! You should at least trust her right?" Rein looked at D8, who was looking at them with a blank expression.

"Anyways, what were you and Core talking about just now?" She inquired curiously.

"Before we get into that, it's dinner time!" Said Core enthusiastically. He hopped up and took the bags of ingredients from D8.

"Alister, you any good at cooking? Then again there's not much you can do with one arm."

"Don't underestimate me, I've had to cook with one arm more times than I can count." He said confidently.

"Oh? You're that confident? How about we have a cook-off then. The judges can be Greeny and D8. There's a balance of bias there, but I trust that they'll be honest. If you win, I'll tell ya how you can get that arm of yours fixed." Core proposed, feeling good about his odds, seeing as his opponent is physically handicapped. Rein didn't know how to feel about this. He would be indulging in a friendly competition against the leader of the group that attacked his village, but if he won, he would get information on how to fix his arm.

Just then, Emria's stomach growled loudly. Rein knew she wanted to eat his cooking, which convinced him to accept the challenge. If he would be cooking anyways, he might as well accept Core's wager. He sighed, though not letting his distrust go as he readied himself to cook.

"Fine, but what's in it for you?" He said, glaring at Core.

"If I win, you have to promise me something. Don't worry, it won't be something unreasonable. I also don't even know if it'll work, so I'm taking a pretty big gamble here. I'll also give you the right to refuse the promise if you really don't want to take it." Said Core, giving Rein the better end of the deal.

"Alright then, what ingredients are there?" Rein said reluctantly, telling himself that he was only doing this for Emria's well-being.

"As master instructed me, I procured some flour, buffalo milk, wild chicken eggs, white onions, wild chicken breast, mammoth cheese, buffalo steaks, oyster mushrooms, vegetable oil, and several seasonings such as Aquifian sea salt, and Elven black pepper." Said D8, reciting the list of ingredients by heart.

Dozens of thoughts ran through Rein's head, never having had this many ingredients to work with. He usually uses whatever they had available, or if Leona brought somethings from her Ranger expeditions.

"Alright, time to get started! Make sure to wash your hands at this water spring by the way. We wouldn't want to get sick from this would we?" Said Core, pointing at a pond of freshwater. "Hey D8, could you get us some tables and start two campfires? Also, you bought the pots and utensils, right?"

"Certainly." She took out 2 more marbles and threw them down, revealing 2 wooden tables. Then, with lightning speed, she started 2 campfires adjacent to each of the tables. She then set all the pots and pans and kitchenware that they bought along the 2 tables.

"Perfect, thanks. Start counting D8, stop us after an hour." Core immediately gets started on his dish, taking the chicken breasts and cutting them up into little pieces.

Meanwhile, Rein has just decided on a dish. He begins pouring flour into a bowl, making a well in the center. He pours milk and starts mixing it vigorously with one arm, kneading it out and folding it on itself over and over. Covering the bowl, he left it to rise and got to work on his other ingredients. He cut the chicken into incredibly thin slices, swinging his knife straight down on the meat with impeccable accuracy. Once he had enough slices, he set them along a drying rack over the fire, far enough that they would get smoked, and not cooked. While they smoked, he seared a thick piece of buffalo steak, to integrate the flavor of the smoke into the chicken. He then minced the oyster mushrooms almost into a paste.

"20 minutes have passed." Said D8, she and Emria watching them cook attentively.

The pastry has finished rising, and the chicken has been smoked. For what he's making, he has to bake it for at least 40 minutes. He rolls the pastry into a sheet, placing the mushrooms and smoked chicken on it like a blanket. He took his seared piece of meat and placed it on the layers of food he had set. He seasoned the meat and closed the pastry on top of it, wrapping the beef in smoked chicken and a layer of oyster mushrooms. He cracked an egg and brushed it on the pastry before putting it into a covered pot over the fire. 40 minutes later, he took it out and presented it to the judges.

"Hmph, right on time." Said D8.

"Wow! This looks so good Rein! I've never seen you make one of these before, what is it?"

"Something I just thought up, I call it 'Beef Alister'. Have a taste." Rein said, looking back at Core who had also just finished his dish.

"Amazing Rein! This tastes soooooo good!" Said Emria, gulping down on the dish.

"Indeed. Impressively done Rein, considering your severed arm." Complimented D8, making Rein feel oddly satisfied.

"Glad you both liked it." He breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he doesn't win, he's happy when people enjoy his cooking.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves Alister." Said Core, approaching the judging counter, holding 2 covered bowls in each of his hands. He set them down in front of the 2 judges, taking the lids off both of them. An incredible aroma invaded their senses.

"Wooow! That smells so good! I've never seen this before either!" Exclaimed Emria.

"As expected of Master Core. Though I must admit, I too have never seen this dish." Expressed D8, with a rare smile popping up on her face.

"It's called 'Ramen'. I saw it once in eastern Orthlys. Apparently, it's a huge hit over there." Said core with an informing tone.

"Mmmm! This is really really good!" Emria stated, which followed by D8 nodding in agreement.

Core looked at Rein and smiled smugly, then looked back at the judges.

"So? What's the decision?" He asked with the same smile.

"Not so fast! Miss D8 and I need to decide." Emria said as she and D8 turned around and started whispering to each other. After a few minutes of conferring, they made their decision. They turned back around, declaring the winner.

"We've decided, the winner is..."