Food Wars: Tavern

As night fell, the bustling city began to light up. People gradually left their workplaces to return to their cozy homes or enjoy a few drinks at taverns, indulging themselves. At the same time, a heavy downpour added a unique charm to the city's ambiance.

Past 7 o'clock, the tavern opened for business, even as the rain showed no sign of stopping.

Due to the severe weather, business naturally slowed down at the tavern. After serving a few customers, Zane found himself with some spare time.

"Such a miscalculation. If I had known it would rain heavily tonight, I would have closed for the evening!" Zane sighed in resignation after a while.

Just as he contemplated whether to close early, some more customers arrived at the tavern - and they were familiar faces!

The first to enter was none other than Erina Nakiri, with her God Tongue talent. Her flowing golden hair was like a cascade, exuding an air of elegance and nobility with every gentle movement. Her sparkling eyes resembled the brightest stars in the night sky, radiating innocence and wisdom.

Surprisingly, she was wearing a gorgeous princess dress tonight. The way the skirt swayed with her every step accentuated her gracefulness.

The other customer was Erina's ever-present companion, Hisako.

Despite Erina's overwhelming presence, Hisako's pure and sweet appearance and gentle demeanor made a lasting impression on Zane.

"Ah?"

"Isn't that Erina?" Zane was momentarily stunned to see Erina and Hisako at the tavern.

After all, considering his views on commoner cuisine from last night, Erina might be holding a grudge. Given her particularly proud personality, she would definitely have painstakingly researched her own cooking upon returning to Totsuki Academy.

Therefore, it was unthinkable for her to return to the tavern the next night. Firstly, Zane was confident that his cooking wouldn't be so easily deciphered. Secondly, the continuous heavy rain tonight was not the most favorable time for her to purposely come.

However, reality often defies expectations, exceeding Zane's predictions!

"I guess..."

"After you returned, you probably tried to redo my dishes using your God Tongue talent. But the result turned out to be a failure, right?" Zane teased Erina after pondering for a while.

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't bother researching your 5,000 yen-worth cuisine. I... I just wanted to try the food at a restaurant and coincidentally got caught in the rain on the way."

"So I had to come here to take shelter from the rain. Yes, I'm here to avoid the rain."

Confronted with Zane's questioning, Erina, who had just entered the tavern, was instantly at a loss!

Subsequently, she blushed. Although his words struck a chord with her, she couldn't admit something like that to Zane. Therefore, she casually made up a flimsy excuse to cover it up.

"Oh!"

"You're here to avoid the rain!"

"Are you sure it's not because you failed to replicate my dishes and wanted to come here to seek advice?" Zane jokingly prodded.

"Or is it that my cooking conquered your God Tongue last night and you were yearning for it again today?" Zane deliberately teased Erina, whose face had turned as red as a monkey's backside.

"No!"

"I've already told you."

"I have no interest in your cooking at all... I... I wouldn't try to replicate it at all."

"Your low-grade, commonplace, boring commoner cuisine only satisfies me in terms of taste. What else is there to like?" Erina continued to argue with a red face.

"I understand, I understand!"

"Stubborn as a mule."

"You say no, no, but your actions speak louder than words. Tsk tsk, I've seen many people like you!" Zane felt an urge to burst into laughter when he looked at Erina, who was on the verge of exasperation.

 Without going into other details, let's talk about the fact that the proud and aloof Miss Nakiri, who usually wears the school uniform of Totsuki, came in a beautiful princess dress tonight. Even a fool would understand what's going on here.

"Zane."

"You... You're really mean!" At the moment, Erina Nakiri was really about to lose it. Damn, this is really too much. This Zane must have known early on that I had no way of dealing with his cooking, so he deliberately embarrassed me like this!

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore."

Originally, because of the weather tonight, I was thinking of closing early. But then you showed up, and by chance, I had just come up with a new dish. Hey hey hey, stop looking at me with such astonishment, okay?

I can assure you, the impact of this new dish will definitely surpass the three Western fast food items from last night!"

With that, Zane stopped paying attention to Erina's astonished expression and rolled up his sleeves to return to the cooking station.

"A new dish?"

"How did you come up with a new dish so quickly? Clearly, I haven't even studied those three Western fast food items... um, are you saying the new dish will surpass last night's beef burger, fish and chips, and chocolate brownies?"

In just a few seconds, Erina's emotions became very complex, including astonishment, excitement, anticipation, and confusion! Indeed, her purpose in coming to the tavern was to see Zane's cooking skill and understand why it could completely incapacitate the God Tongue.

However, upon returning to the tavern, she discovered that he had actually come up with a new dish.

"Let me tell you this. Those three Western fast food items from last night were all made deliberately using scraps of ingredients. Things like toast, tofu dregs, and rice bran, not to mention you, even ordinary people rarely want to eat those things."

"So those dishes cannot represent my true ability. And I can assure you that this new dish will definitely represent the highest standard of the entire culinary world!"

"Huh?"

"The... highest standard?"

If it was someone else making such arrogant statements, Erina would certainly think they were crazy. But coming from Zane, she had every reason to believe it! Could it be that I, Erina Nakiri, am really going to witness the birth of this dish on this rainy night?

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Fine dining, in itself, has no absolute "best"

Because everyone's definition and preferences for fine dining will be different! But if we talk about a specific aspect, fine dining can also have a representative "best," such as:

Peking Duck, one of the famous dishes in China, represents the capital and is acclaimed as "the ultimate delicacy."

Italian pizza.

French foie gras.

Japanese sushi.

Indian curry.

These are all representative cuisines from different countries.

In Erina's heart, the dish that can satisfy her God Tongue is definitely the "best" dish.

Last night, she actually wanted to say: "This is the most perfect dish I've ever eaten."

But because of her personality, she hesitated to say it in front of Zane!

The so-called new dish is actually the special recipe Zane just obtained, the Reincarnation Spring Rolls.

To make this dish, various vegetables need to be prepared, such as mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, bamboo shoots, and bell peppers.

Zane started by turning on the tap and washing these vegetables, preparing to chop them finely.

Then, he finally took out the slicing knife from the Peacock Charm kitchen set.

Upon closer inspection, the knife, though a slicing knife, resembled a wide-bladed sword, with a thick back and an extremely sharp point.

In the dim light, it gleamed, causing Erina and Hisako to find it dazzling.

"Huh?"

"The pattern on this knife..."

Erina was surprised by the strange knife. Her intuition told her that this slicing knife was not an ordinary one found on the market.

Zane, however, paid no attention to Erina's reaction. His eyes narrowed, and after taking a deep breath, he swiftly began chopping.

Accompanied by the sound of the knife, in an instant, all the vegetables on the cutting board were finely chopped by him.

After that, the chopped vegetables were blanched separately, then mixed with a special sauce.

At that moment, when looking at Zane's chopping movements, Hisako couldn't help but cover her mouth, her eyes filling with disbelief. 

Up until that point, she had barely realized that when Zane made the three Western fast food items last night, he didn't seem to need a knife. 

Therefore, it was difficult to observe his knife skills. Now, witnessing his knife skills, the speed and strength of his cutting made her deeply impressed!

"Miss Erina."

"His... his knife skills are really aggressive."

"I have never seen a chef whose knife skills are so decisive!"

Finally, Hisako couldn't contain her astonishment and exclaimed loudly.

"He should also be around 20 years old, right?"

"At that age at Totsuki, he's about the same as Senior Dojima and Senior Kobayashi."

"But I have witnessed the cooking of the members of the Council of Ten, like Senior Saito and Senior Kobayashi."

"How should I put it?"

"Their knife skills are indeed amazing."

"But I believe that with a few more years of practice, I could also reach their level."

"However... Zane's knife skills make me feel that even if I work hard for several decades, I may not reach his level!"

Erina's eyes flickered for a moment, and soon she realized a terrifying fact: the power displayed by Zane seemed far beyond his age.

And if Zane were to know her thoughts, he would surely praise her intuition, as before his transmigration to this world, his culinary skills had already reached the level of a five-star hotel chef. 

Not to mention young chefs around 20 years old, even chefs of the age of 50 may not be his match!

The vegetable filling was completed, the next step was to handle the sea bream.

When a large sea bream was placed on the cutting board, Erina's eyes couldn't help but sparkle a little. In the hall of Japanese cuisine, sea bream is like a "godly" existence.

In all of Japan's seafood markets, there are approximately 170 types of sea bream, but only 48 are truly delicious. 

Among these 48, they are categorized into super delicious, very delicious, and delicious. There are only 16 types of sea bream listed as 5-star fish. 

This sea bream is one of the top 16 types of sea breams.

Looking closely, Zane's sea bream was quite large. Just from the length, it was over 1 meter, making it a "giant" among common sea bream. 

Although bigger fish do not necessarily mean better taste, larger fish often have more flesh and nutrients. It's not an exaggeration to say that Zane's sea bream is a rare find in the market!

"What a letdown!"

"Doesn't his tavern also have very rare ingredients?"

"If he could have used those ingredients last night directly, maybe I would have been truly impressed!"

Turning her gaze away, Erina muttered a few words to herself. From her tone, it seemed like she was slightly complaining but also... looking forward to it!

At this moment, Zane was seen cleaning the sea bream's surface. 

He then continued using his Peacock's Charm kitchen set slicing knife to remove impurities and scales from the surface. 

Placing the sea bream on the cutting board with the head up, back facing outward, and belly down, he directly made a small incision on the fish's skin with the tip of the knife. 

Following the division line between the skin and flesh, he gently cut along it.

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

In no time, Zane swiftly removed the entire skin of the sea bream with meticulous knife work, completely different from the aggressive knife skills he had just displayed. 

Watching Zane use the same knife to apply different techniques for different ingredients left Erina dumbfounded!

"How many amazing skills does he still have up his sleeve?"

Turning her gaze away, feeling a bit numb, Erina could only ask herself. She felt lucky that she had disregarded the pouring rain tonight and came to the tavern.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have witnessed Zane's stunning knife work, missing out on such an exciting scene!

Ding ding!

Ding ding!

Just as she secretly felt happy about it, Zane unexpectedly brought out a knife covered with steel rings and small holes.

"Huh? What kind of knife is this?"

Seeing this, Erina's eyes instantly filled with curiosity!

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This was a 2-in-1 chapter, meaning there is 2 different chapters in this 1 chapter. Make sure to give more power stones! Also, just a question, would anyone be willing to pay for advanced chapters? I'm thinking of setting up a patre0n when this gets larger.