At this moment, the head chef seemed completely immersed in the bowl of char siu rice. He paid no attention to his dishevelled appearance and began to devour the rice voraciously. His manner of eating hardly befitted the dignity of a head chef. It was more akin to a street urchin, bedraggled and desperate, who had suddenly been given food.
At one point, he even choked, letting out a couple of loud burps, yet he continued to shovel rice into his mouth.
Through his actions, he was demonstrating one thing: this bowl of rice was simply too delicious.
Lloyd was utterly stunned. He had spent several gold coin cards to bribe the head chef, and now the chef was won over by a mere bowl of rice?
The bowl was soon polished off completely. The head chef happily wiped his mouth, his face beaming with gratitude. However, when he saw Ye Chui’s faint, smiling face, his expression froze. He suddenly recalled the stance he was supposed to maintain.
“So…” Ye Chui said with a smile to the head chef, “am I now qualified to compete for the position of head cook?”
“Well, this…” The head chef had come today determined to drive Ye Chui away. As head chef, he had the authority to do so, and even if questioned by the lord, he had excuses ready. But now, after greedily devouring Ye Chui’s dish, would it not lack credibility to insist on expelling him?
Moreover, with so many people watching, the head chef’s gaze swept to the side, catching sight of Miss Windsor’s maid, the plump girl, who was looking at Ye Chui with open admiration.
If he declared Ye Chui unqualified, it would be hard to justify to those above. A head chef could take small liberties for personal gain, but he should not make it so blatant.
After pondering for a moment, he could only nod and say, “Very well, Mr. Stephen’s culinary skills are truly impressive. In just three minutes, you created a dish that lingers in my memory. You are, of course, qualified to compete for head cook. The competition will be held in three days, and I hope to taste Mr. Stephen’s exquisite cuisine again.”
“Head chef, this…” Lloyd immediately protested, eager to say something.
But the head chef waved his hand, cutting him off. Damn it, could he not see the situation? What else could he do? He was helpless too.
Ye Chui and Debbie exchanged a smile, as if it were a habit they had formed. Whenever they accomplished something together, they would share such a glance, incidentally feeding Green a bit of their sweetness. Then Ye Chui smiled, bidding farewell to the head chef and Jacob, while throwing a provocative glance at Lloyd. “Well then, in three days, I look forward to seeing your culinary skills, Mr. Lloyd.”
Lloyd looked at Ye Chui, let out a huff, and haughtily turned his head away.
But when Ye Chui, Debbie, and Green left the kitchen, a trace of worry appeared on his face. He had boasted earlier that he could prepare a dish in fifteen minutes, which was already an exaggeration. Yet Ye Chui had created a dish in three minutes that brought the head chef to tears. He realised this would be a formidable competitor.
As he stood there, somewhat dazed, the apprentice he had sent to deliver a message came running back, sweating profusely. Seeing the apprentice, Lloyd’s heart leapt with joy. He remembered Ye Chui and his companions’ status as “fugitives” and hurriedly asked, “How did it go? Did you notify the guards?”
“I did…” the apprentice panted, still catching his breath. “Mr. Godo has gathered a large group and is preparing to intercept them outside.”
The guards, after all, were guards. They could not enter the lord’s mansion to make arrests, so Godo and his men were waiting outside.
Hearing the apprentice’s words, everyone present was stunned. The head chef frowned and asked, “What’s going on here?” Jacob and the plump maid also looked over curiously.
“Hmph, those three are actually fugitives,” Lloyd declared smugly.
“Fugitives?” The head chef’s body jolted. “What crimes have they committed?”
Lloyd was somewhat unclear himself, so he turned to his apprentice.
The apprentice, having caught his breath, recounted everything he knew in detail.
“I heard that a couple of days ago, they demolished the Coldstone Magic Guild’s mansion, a two-star guild. They boldly stole and damaged Miss Windsor’s wedding invitation. That’s not all. When the guards tried to arrest them, they resisted and fled, causing chaos throughout the main street. Mr. Bastin, Mr. Parnell, and several powerful swordsmen and magic mentors were injured by them. Even a mercenary group disbanded out of fear of offending them.”
Hearing this account, everyone present was utterly shocked.
Lloyd’s jaw nearly dropped.
“These… these things were done by just the three of them?” the head chef asked in astonishment.
“Yes, yes,” the apprentice hurriedly confirmed. “They seem to be from an out-of-town three-star guild, and the one posing as Stephen Zhou is their leader…”
“What? Those three are members of a three-star guild, and Stephen Zhou is their leader?”
At this, everyone in the kitchen could no longer remain calm.
…
Ye Chui, Debbie, and Green cheerfully left through the side door of the lord’s mansion. Everything had gone smoothly. In three days, during the head cook competition, they would present Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, a dish so divine even in another world that becoming the wedding’s head cook should pose no issue. Everything was heading in a splendid direction.
Except…
“Hmm?” Ye Chui opened the map on his iPad magic book, initially just to check the situation near the mansion’s entrance. But he was stunned by what the map revealed: not far away, outside on the main street, it was densely packed with red dots. Red dots represented hostility. Why were there so many people hostile to them now?
Could it be the guards?
“Damn, something’s up,” Ye Chui exclaimed. With his remaining points low, he could not summon Dom Toretto for a high-speed chase. Acting decisively, he grabbed Debbie by the waist with one hand and Green’s collar with the other. Using the primary auxiliary spell [Shadow Stealth] combined with [Wind Walk], he whisked the trio into a shadow, dashing down the street.
Making the dish earlier with the God of Cooking BGM had consumed Ye Chui’s magic power. Despite months of training increasing his magic book’s storage capacity, it was now down to about 43 percent.
“Ah!” An old man carrying a basket of vegetables was knocked over, letting out a cry.
The guards quickly noticed the commotion.
“They’re out, heading that way. Chase them,” shouted the hot-blooded chubby Godo, leading the charge in the direction Ye Chui had fled. The other guards hurriedly followed.
About ten minutes later, on a quieter section of Windrock City’s main eastern street, dozens of guards, their armour clanking, pursued. Ahead were Ye Chui, Debbie, and Green, who seemed unwilling to run further, panting heavily as they stopped. With his magic power depleted, Ye Chui’s magic book had vanished.
“Look, where are you going to run now?” Godo, panting even harder than Ye Chui, drew his sword and shouted. He turned to his comrades, “They’re exhausted. Seize them now.” He looked at the trio, his chubby face flushed. “In the name of the third, sixth, and eighth guard squads, you’re under arrest. I advise you not to resist, or we won’t hold back.”
“Who said we’d let you catch us?” Debbie tore off her fake beard, pulled out her summoning key, and with a flash of golden light, the krypton-gold swordswoman Jilga appeared before them. Ye Chui, supporting Debbie with one hand and Green with the other, said to Jilga, “Don’t be too harsh. Just drive them back.”
He had no intention of publicly killing these guards, as that would leave them with no foothold in Windrock City.
It’s worth noting that in a large city like Windrock, there were three types of soldiers: city defence troops, guards, and personal escorts. The city defence troops were the largest, essentially the lord’s private army. Guards maintained order in the city, like police, while escorts protected the lord personally, being the smallest but most individually powerful group. The five, like Leon, who had gone to Stan Town, were escorts, more akin to bodyguards.
In comparison, guards were the weakest. Becoming a guard required no strength test, and the role could even be inherited, as with Godo, who certainly did not earn his captaincy through effort.
Ye Chui had fled upon spotting the guards, not out of fear, but to avoid alerting the escorts in the lord’s mansion, which would have been troublesome.
But now, facing just a few dozen guards, Jilga could handle them with ease.
“It’s that swordswoman again?” Seeing Jilga, Godo’s plump body trembled. The last time, Jilga had merely stood there, and none of them dared move, leaving a deep impression. Yet, his duty as captain overcame his fear. He rallied his comrades, “Don’t be afraid. With so many of us, they’re no match.”
He charged at Jilga first, shouting, “As guards, we’re prepared to die for our duty, aaah—”
His comrades thought: Damn, we don’t have that kind of resolve.
Bang!
Jilga did not even draw her sword. With one kick, she sent the sword-wielding chubby boy tumbling to the ground.
She turned to Ye Chui helplessly. “Summoning me to deal with these opponents… I expect to eat my fill of those beef meatballs later.”
“Deal with one guard, get one meatball. You do the math,” Ye Chui promised the food-loving spirit, sweating slightly.
Jilga’s gluttonous heart blazed. She coldly eyed the guards. “I won’t draw my sword. Come at me all at once.”
…
The head chef, Lloyd, and a few other cooks, including Jacob, hurried down the street. They had heard about the earlier commotion and wanted to investigate. Naturally, Lloyd hoped to see Ye Chui captured by the guards.
Among them, the plump maid followed, driven by curiosity.
On the street, they encountered another group of guards, the fifth squad led by the scar-faced Lenny, who had been with Cass earlier. The head of the mercenary guild and Parnell, the Coldstone Magic Guild leader, were also present. Lenny had not joined Godo because he had gone to find these two to clear up misunderstandings.
Cass, to avoid exposure, was not among them.
Along the way, Lenny was fraught with worry. “I hope the captain’s companions are alright. The captain should’ve picked more reliable allies…”
Though Godo was a poor captain, he was well-liked. This time, he had rallied the sixth and eighth squads alongside his third, totalling perhaps fifty men. Even the former Tempest Mercenary Group would struggle against such numbers. How could three young kids possibly hold out?
He feared the scene awaiting him might be the trio lying in a pool of blood.
The head chef and Lloyd shared similar thoughts, with Lloyd even secretly gleeful. “What three-star magic guild? With so many guards deployed, let’s see where you can escape to.”
With these thoughts, they soon reached the spot where the guards were confronting Ye Chui’s group.
The scene before them left everyone dumbfounded: guards in silver armour lay scattered on the ground, groaning in pain, looking utterly wretched. A female swordswoman in golden armour stood in their midst.
Not far off, Ye Chui’s trio sat resting. Ye Chui was nibbling bread to regain strength, Green was pouring sweet wine into a cup for him, and Debbie was enthusiastically waving at the golden swordswoman.
Frankly, this scene left the arriving group speechless for a long moment.
“Brother Lenny, you’re finally here…” Godo, sprawled pathetically on the ground, crawled over, shouting, “Why are you only here now?”
“Godo…” Lenny snapped back to reality, his voice thick with disbelief. “I think there might be some misunderstanding here…”
Godo was nearly in tears. “Does this look like a misunderstanding? Ouch, my backside…”
The krypton-gold swordswoman turned to the crowd, her eyes gleaming as if she were looking at a pile of juicy beef meatballs.
