Chapter 168: Gourmet Chef

Zen grabbed a piece of meat from a magical beast they had previously killed as he cleaned off the blood and broke the tendons of the meat for it to be tender and juicy.

Afterward, Zen seasoned it with some spices and used his essence flame as the base to heat up the meat. Since he was used to cooking, there was always everything that a chef needed in his spatial ring.

Sniff

"Mhmm, the spices already smelled so good. I'm definitely going to satisfy those three women with my cooking." Zen chuckled softly as he started searing the meat from both sides. 

But as he was cooking, Zen forgot the most important part and that was asking how rare they wanted their meat to be in.

Some preferred to have their meat as rare while others preferred to have their meat as medium-rare or worse, medium-well done.

Zen was caught in a dilemma since asking them now is too late when the meat is being seared already.

"Ah whatever, I just cook all of the meat at a different temperature and let them choose it. I don't have the brain cells to think about their preferences." Zen shrugged his shoulders as he returned to cooking the meat.

Sometime later, Zen finished cooking around half of the meat when Krista Dragoon and Leila Dragoon returned back since they smelled a delicious aroma from afar. 

"Mhmm, what is this aroma I'm smelling?" Krista Dragoon sniffed slightly and sat down next to Zen who was concentrating on the piece of meat in the pan.

"Yea, this smell has even more fragrance than the cook in our imperial family. Zen is truly a gourmet chef to arouse our appetite like this." Leila Dragoon added as she snatched a piece of meat from the plate that was cooked already.

Afterward, she took a bite, and instantly, the juice overwhelmed her causing her to yelp in delight with a bashful face from eating such delicacy.

Krista Dragoon swallowed her saliva in her throat nervously as she watched in envy of her little sister that could just do as she pleased. She wanted to snatch a bite as well but it would ruin her image and it's not an acceptable etiquette as a princess.

Zen smiled at Krista Dragoon's attitude and said, "Those meats are already done and if you don't eat them now then the meat would go cold. It'll be a shame if that happened."

Krista Dragoon didn't even wait for another second after hearing Zen's word as her hand reached for a piece of meat before gulping it down onto her stomach.

Zen started laughing as he flickered his hand and the utensil appeared on the plate, causing Krista Dragoon to become angry.

"You had utensils but you didn't place them on the plate until now." Krista Dragoon shouted as she punched him lightly in anger.

Zen laughed and explained himself that he wasn't the one at fault.

"Who would have thought a dignified princess in a large kingdom to be in a rush to eat food that she needed to use her hand?" Zen shrugged his shoulders as his smile became wider.

"Hmph, I was just hungry after all those fighting and forgot about the proper etiquette." Krista Dragoon scoffed and grabbed the fork as she pierces the meat and brought it to her mouth.

Zen was dumbfounded by her sudden way of eating but didn't dare to interrupt her enjoyment in eating his meat.

'Heh, my cooking skill has not degraded and still has many people that are enjoying it.' Zen said inwardly as he was proud of himself.

Afterward, Zen continued to cook while asking which temperature they preferred the most and both princesses replied medium rare as their answer.

Zen nodded his head and decided to cook at that temperature while secretly storing some of the cooked meat to Cecilia. Cecilia has been nagging on him ever since Leila Dragoon took the first bite so she was jealous and wanted to enjoy the meat too. 

The meat was overflowing with juice and even Zen couldn't help himself but take a few bites as he cooked.

Meanwhile, the aroma of the cooking continued to spread throughout the forest, causing people and magical beasts to search for the source as they wanted a piece of the delicacy as well.

"Zen, are you sure that no one is going to interrupt our meal?" Leila Dragoon asked with her mouth full of meat so it was barely audible for Zen to understand her words.

Zen took a while to understand her and said, "It's fine because I was planning on attracting others to come to us in the beginning. It's very tiresome to walk around, searching for the enemies when we could simply get them to come to us instead."

And he continued, "If the enemies come to us because of the aroma then my shadow can easily ambush them from all sides. Afterward, my points will become sky high so that we can leave this trashy forest in no time."

Leila Dragoon gasped in surprise at the insidious mind that Zen has for trying to cook some delicacies for them.

"Y-You mean to say that when you offered to cook, you wanted this kind of outcome?" Leila Dragoon stuttered as she couldn't believe him to be so calculative in his actions.

However, Krista Dragoon showed no reaction, almost like she guessed his action already. She was a manipulative and calculative woman as well so when she heard about Zen's betting, she already knew he had other plans behind.

The betting part was just a bonus and something for fun while baiting the enemies is the true motive.

"Well, not that his plan is terrible since his meat is indeed pretty good for my taste." Krista Dragoon said as she wiped her mouth gently with a small handkerchief. 

Zen smiled brightly as he held Krista Dragoon's waist and whispered softly in her ears, "As expected of my women, smart and beautiful at the same time. I'm truly blessed to have you by my side."