Serena smiled as the orphans brought home their respective ingredients before the sun set.
“You’ve all done well,” she praised.
The kids beamed with a sense of accomplishment after successfully completing their respective missions by themselves.
“You must all be tired,” Serena said. “Go on and rest.”
She was being unusually kind, and while the orphans all obediently accepted her words, they couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Isabel raised her hand neatly. “Sir, I thought we were going to cook with these ingredients, sir.”
The orphans had been told that their task was cooking, but they had only gathered the ingredients. If they were allowed to rest, did that mean that the chefs of the duke’s household would handle the cooking portion?
The response they received was utterly unexpected.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Serena replied. “I’ll be the one to cook.”
How could she do any cooking? Normally, noblewomen never picked up the knife themselves. This was especially true for those of high rank, such as Serena.
“Sir, have you had any experience with cooking, sir?” Richard asked, clearly sounding surprised by this revelation.
“Of course not,” Serena replied simply. “But I’m sure that I can make do. I’m a genius, after all.”
Oh, you’re a genius all right, but in a completely different sense… the orphans all thought.
The items that they’d all gathered today served as excellent ingredients on their own. Each would cost several gold coins if purchased from the market. They couldn’t possibly be handled carelessly by a cooking amateur. For the orphans, these served as trophies of the first monsters that they had ever defeated by themselves.
“Sir, I believe that it’s best if you receive a lesson from a chef first, sir,” Oscar desperately pleaded. The killerfish that he’d obtained was the result of an hour-long fight in the water.
“Sir, please allow us to offer our assistance, sir,” Isabel added.
She had tears in her eyes. She had thought that she was fighting one bloodbear but soon discovered that she was against two. She’d ended up fighting for her life and barely managed to defeat them both. The paws that she’d brought back were precious mementos of her struggle and her victory.
“I’ll be fine,” Serena said.
Usually, she would punish the orphans for speaking up unasked, but today, she was in an especially good mood.
“If I receive your help, it won’t be my cooking, will it?” she said. “This is a surprise of sorts to reward your hard work today.”
The most terrifying thing was that she didn’t contain even an ounce of ill will today. She genuinely wanted to prepare the ingredients alone and care for her squire candidates. The orphans all fell silent; they had no means to stop their master.
A few hours later, their lavish ingredients had undergone a wretched transformation. If they were to describe the dish, it resembled the entrails of a demon.
“Now, eat up!” Serena declared. “My special cooking will enhance your physical and magical capabilities!”
Her words might have been true, since the ingredients she’d used were known to have those effects, but a bite of her hideous cooking would probably shave a couple of years off one’s life. She was smiling so proudly, though, like a flower in full bloom, that no one had the courage to refuse her offer.
“Sir, I shall have a bite, sir,” Richard said.
In a display of manliness, he grabbed a spoon and ladled a mouthful of shockingly black soup into his mouth. He immediately fell to his knees.
“How is it?” Serena asked. “Good?”
“Sir… The taste leaves me unable to stand, sir…” Richard muttered, turning pale as a sheet and pressing his hands to his mouth.
“So he says,” Serena said. “It’s apparently that delicious!”
He never said a word about it tasting good! The other orphans internally shouted. However, no one dared to voice their thoughts aloud as Serena kept smiling at them.
“Go on, don’t hold back!” Serena said.
She didn’t have her usual demonic sneer on her face; instead, she beamed gently, like an angel. Yet it seemed like this mission that the orphans had been tasked with was harsher than usual. One by one, they challenged themselves to eat the entrails of a demon. While they’d stood victorious in front of powerful monsters today, they each fell to their knees when faced with the toughest opponent of all—Serena’s cooking.
Still, they had to eat it. The orphans all crawled from the depths of Hell to eat another bite, only to be kicked back down. And once again, they would climb up and fall from the awful food.
The dish actually was very potent and increased the orphans’ stamina and magical abilities greatly, but not a single one of them felt compelled to report that to Serena.