Chapter 1385 - The Decisive Battle Between Supreme and Phantom ③

Chapter 1385 - The Decisive Battle Between Supreme and Phantom ③

Now then, the Cooking Showdown between Ein-san and the Phantom Maid abruptly started. The Judges who would decide the winner of this showdown are the Four Super Maids…… and me.

No, I understood their logic. If it was a match between these two, it wouldn’t be possible for people with half-baked skills to judge them, so it’s understandable that the Super Maids are chosen as judges.

I also understand that the number of Super Maids is even, and that they need to add one more person to make it an odd number. What I don’t understand…… and don’t want to understand is why they chose me.

“Now then, with the addition of the Official Maid Advisor Miyama Kaito-sama to the Four Super Maids, our lineup of judges are finally ready.”

Seriously, I’d like it if you would stop naturally introducing me like I’m some sort of heavyweight in the Maid World. I just took stomach medicine earlier, but I now feel like my stomach is starting to ache again.

I’m currently at the judges’ table specially set up at the venue…… and I’m sitting in the middle of the table, as if I’m the representative of all these judges.

[……You’ve got it rough, Kaito-san.]

[No, Camellia-san too……]

My only saving grace is that Camellia-san is sitting next to me on my right, and she’s the only one who can be considered a healing presence in this abnormal space.

Incidentally, the one sitting to my left is Alexandra-san. I had seen Alexandra-san when I visited Chris-san. I had never directly talked with her, but I remembered her as the person who prepared tea and meals for me.

Now that I think about it, I’m an important guest to Chris-san, so she probably had the most skilled maid service for me.

[……It’s the first time we’ve directly talked like this, Miyama Kaito-sama.]

[Ah, yes. This certainly is the first time we’ve talked with each other huh. As you probably know already, I’m Miyama Kaito.]

[Thank you for your courtesy. My name is Alexandra. Thank you for always taking care of our Emperor, her Majesty Chris.]

Alexandra-san, who had tied-up beautiful blonde hair and an elegant face, greeted me with a beautiful light bow.

Now that I think about it, speaking of Super Maids, Camellia-san was originally my acquaintance. I met Beatrice-san the other day. As for Alexandra-san, I had seen her several times at the Imperial Castle…… which means that only Emily-san is someone I had completely met for the first time.

No, I mean, I’ve never been to the castle in the Hydra Kingdom. Whenever I met Laguna-san, she would either visit me or we would meet at that harbor where we had fished together before, so I had never been to the castle.

Emily-san is an active-looking woman with chestnut-colored semi-short hair, and although this is only my quick impression, I get the impression that she has a cheerful personality.

While I was thinking about that, it seemed that the preparations were complete and the match was about to begin. Both sides then picked up a few ingredients and proceeded to cook with fluid movements.

As expected, both of them were so skillful that even though they weren’t accelerating their movements, it was still hard to follow them with my eyes…… No, I actually couldn’t follow them with my eyes, so I put on Shiro-san’s special glasses. These glasses really are useful.

“Both competitors are cooking with tremendous dexterity.”

[……What beautiful movements. Both of them are cooking without any wasted movements in their actions at all…… How hair-shuddering. Just watching them cook makes me understand that I’m not a match against them at all.]

Their cooking is so amazing that it took Alexandra-san’s breath away. The ingredients and utensils they were using seem to indicate that Ein-san was going to cook Western food and Alice was going to cook Japanese food.

However, the fact that they’re taking this much time at the speed those two are going at, I wonder if they are planning on making quite a large batch?

“T- This is!? Both of them took out 5 of the same utensils at the same time!?”

[……Fuuu, I guess that’s to be expected of maids of their skill. Just as I did in my match, they were intending to change the seasoning to suit each of the judges huh……]

[…………………]

“What an astonishing surprise! It seems that, within the time limit of 1 hour, both will prepare dishes with seasonings that will suit each of the five judges…… I see, as they all have different tastes, it is indeed important to match the tastes of each of the judges.”

Honestly, I think I’m getting what she means. As I was not the only judge, unlike that showdown back at the Six Kings Festival, it isn’t enough to make a dish that suits my liking.

It’s best to make a dish that suits each person’s taste. Of course, doing it like that would normally be difficult and time-consuming, but if it’s those two, they could easily do it.

[……It’s understandable that Ein-sama would know, but does that mysterious maid also know our taste? However, even so…… Even though she’s a maid of such talents, I just can’t think of who she could be. For her to possess that much control over her body movements…… I think she’s a Count-rank or higher……]

When I heard Camellia-san tilt her head curiously, muttering that, I realized something. Alice’s Recognition Inhibition Magic is of an extremely high rank, that even the members of the Six Kings couldn’t easily see through it. So, even Camellia-san would be unaware of the identity of the Phantom Maid.

This is something I learned quite recently…… It seems like the reason why her identity is unknown to everyone, even though I could clearly see that it was Alice, was because of her Recognition Inhibition Magic.

In my case, Shiro-san’s blessing automatically nullifies her Recognition Inhibition Magic, so that would be why I could perceive her true identity.

……I suppose that’s also the reason why people don’t perceive the incredibly obvious identities of some people like a certain Baby Castella Mask huh……

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [So, do you think you can win?]

? ? ? : [I dunno, I wonder about that? It’s not like I…… Alice-chan cares about the outcome of the match, and I think it’s alright with her even if she loses…… Well, when it comes to Kaito-san’s vote, I think Alice-chan plans on winning that. As long as she can win that vote, the other people’s evaluations don’t matter……]