Festival Night (2)

The festival has begun.

Numerous stalls were set up inside the academy.

Lively music echoed here and there, and colorful lights lit up the night.

Huge stacks of food were piled high and overflowing, with men and women coming and going in colorful costumes.

Everyone enjoying the festival was dressed as a ghost.

Most were zombies or skeletons, with the occasional vampire or mummy.

The same was true for Ryukeion, the newspaper club that opened the bar.

"Welcome to a ghostly bar with romance and chivalry!"

"The snacks are friendly and the boss is delicious! Come on in!"

"Sancho! The snacks and the boss have changed!"

Tudor, Sancho, and Piggy are hard at work hawking their wares.

Tudor, dressed in black armor and a Death Knight costume, was wooing female customers with talk of chivalry and romance.

"Beautiful lady, why don't you join me in Ryukeion's bar to discuss drink and poetry?"

"Kaaaak- okay!"

"You look like a wandering knight!"

Sancho, dressed as a Snow Maiden, was a favorite among his fellow muscular macho men.

"Wahahaha- come to Ryukeion's bar! If you stay until 9pm, I'll serve you blood stew as hot as a warrior's boiling blood!"

"Ho-ho, that must be a hunk of protein and iron, I can make up for my muscle loss, I can aim for three tons!"

"Cross-dressing, you're dressed quite manly, aren't you, hahaha- go now!"

Piggy, dressed as a fairy, is also attracting quite a bit of attention among the women.

"Hey, hey, hey. Over here, I need a flyer!"

"What? Look at this cute kid. Are you a student at the academy too?"

"If it's a concept that stimulates maternal love, it's a success, huh, ho-ho-ho- come on, my sisters will buy it for you."

As a result, the front of Ryukeion's bar was bustling with people.

Meanwhile.

"Hey, this is such a blasphemous outfit, won't it cause a controversy? Who wears a swallow like this...."

Saintess Dolores hesitated in the back of the bar.

Black leather gloves, black cloak, boots, and a plague doctor's mask covering his entire face.

It was the look of a Night Hound.

Tudor walked by and laughed at Dolores.

"A bit of a social controversy, the Night Hound."

" ... Is that true?"

"Still, the plague doctor mask isn't the only trademark of the Night Hound, is it? It's a look that's often seen on Halloween, and it's always been a part of the festivities. Wouldn't it be weird if we banned a certain costume because of the Night Hounds?"

If you look at the bar next door to us, there are often people wearing plague doctor masks.

It's been a staple of Halloween celebrations since the beginning of the Empire, so I don't think it's something that should be enforced.

"...."

Dolores was conflicted.

Only she knew that the Night Hound was innocent.

But that didn't mean she shouldn't be dressed in a way that might make some people uncomfortable.

Dolores was just deciding whether or not to step out in front of the tent.

"What is that outfit?"

As expected, there's someone who doesn't like Dolores' outfit.

Professor Morg Banshee. In addition to being the professor of the Hot Class, he was also the advisor to Ryukeion of the newspaper department.

"President Dolores. I didn't expect you to dress so inconsiderately."

"...."

"Even though it's a festival you enjoy without thinking about, you wouldn't say you didn't think about the social repercussions your outfit would cause, right? How can you possibly imitate such an irredeemable trash criminal?"

Professor Banshee's criticism was harsh.

His words were well within the realm of rational understanding, but the last line cut deeply into Dolores's emotions.

'He is not a criminal, but rather a holy and sublime...!'

But Dolores couldn't shout that.

It would be against the will of the Night Hound, who did not want to reveal his identity.

So Dolores decided to be bold.

"I like this outfit."

"...what?"

"I'll be serving like this."

Professor Banshee's mouth dropped open in disbelief as Dolores bit her lip tightly.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ms. Dolores. I thought you were a smart student, even if you are young."

"...."

"Well, you'll have to take responsibility for your own behavior. Even though I'm your advisor, I have no right to interfere with your attire, so do whatever you want."

Professor Banshee clicked her tongue in frustration and returned to the tent.

Meanwhile, Tudor, Sancho, and Piggy, who had been watching, were gossiping amongst themselves.

"What's going on? Professor Banshee is here. Why is he here?"

"Professor Banshee isn't the only one. There are other professors."

"Usually, during the festival, the professors go around to the bars in each division and class to make sales."

That's right. Professors enjoy the festival too.

It was an unspoken custom among professors to visit the bars of the students they were responsible for and sell them alcohol and snacks, giving them compliments and attracting other customers.

Thus, Professor Morg Banshee had come to the bar here in Ryukeion today.

But.

None of the students working in the bar welcomed Professor Banshee's visit.

That's right....

"Tsk!"

Professor Banshee took a bite of the food Tudor had brought him and spit it right back out on the floor.

"This chicken is so undercooked that if a skilled veterinarian treats it, it could be saved."

That wasn't all.

Professor Banshee continued to lash out at the food that followed.

"It's a good thing the empire is united, because if there were still many other nations on the continent, they'd surely be greedy for oil and invade these pork chops."

"You'd better keep this beef separate from the salad, it's so undercooked I think it's still alive, and it's still trying to eat the salad next to it."

"What a fine mace. It's hard and heavy, so I can crush the head of my enemy at any time. Oh, and by the way, is the bread I ordered still here?"

"If I had to choose the most delicious thing on this table, I would choose this water without hesitation. Of course, even this water is dry and hard."

"These beans are so undercooked that if they do well, I might plant them and hope for another year."

"This pork isn't cooked at all, can't you hear the Hakuna Matata that this pork is singing."

Professor Banshee is known for having an incredibly picky palate.

The students working in the kitchen began to resent his relentless taste assessments.

Dolores, who was less than impressed, stepped forward.

"If you're going to make so many complaints, why did you bother visiting?"

"I don't want to visit either. But it's customary among professors to go to the bars of their students and give them a boost in sales, which is why I'm sitting here in this dirty chair, eating low-quality ingredients, poor hygiene, and condiment-laden food served by workers who don't pay taxes and don't have health certificates, even though the food isn't cheap and they only take cash, so it's not tax deductible and I don't get a cash receipt."

Not even Dolores can argue with Banshee's point.

Professor Banshee looks down at the fried potatoes and chicken dish in front of him in disgust.

"But if it had any flavor, I wouldn't be complaining about it. Taste is the most important thing, and the absence of it makes the bad stuff seem even more pronounced, doesn't it? There's nothing to see here, this snack probably tastes like waste...."

However. after scooping up a spoonful of chicken and potatoes, Professor Banshee couldn't finish his sentence.

tasty.

Delicious.

It was definitely delicious.

"...What is it? Why is it delicious?"

The subtle flavor of fire, the richness of the bone broth from the shredded chicken, the savory flavor from the soft crunch of Morg's specialty potatoes, and the tangy, salty taste from the mysterious red sauce.

"Holy... this is definitely a flavor I've had before, but only in the most prestigious restaurants in the Imperial City, not in a bar at an academy festival like this?"

Professor Banshee scooped up a few more spoonfuls of chicken stew and looked up.

"Who made this? Did they bring in a professional chef from out of town?"

"I doubt it."

Dolores looks a little puzzled, too.

Just then, a passing Tudor turned his head.

"Ah, so it's to your liking? By the way, I just replaced the chef in charge of the kitchen."

"Replacing the chef? With who?"

"Well, there's this one guy who's an unusually good cook, and he decided to take over the entire kitchen, and there-"

Tudor pointed a finger, and the heads of Professor Banshee and President Dolores turned.

Then, beyond their feet in the kitchen, they saw a face holding a large frying pan to the flames.

Kurrrk...

A sharp nose, dark eyebrows, flawless white skin, and eyes like a lake of blood.

A schoolgirl in a black hat and cloak stirs a wok with mystical flames.

A slight frown, beads of sweat on her forehead.

But her face, bathed in firelight, is mesmerizing.

It was like watching a witch possess and control her victims with her flavor.

Both Professor Banshee and Dolores are stunned by the sight.

"Was there a girl like that in our class?"

The scene was so magical that even the great Professor Banshee was mesmerized for a moment.

But then Tudor's voice interrupted their reverie.

"Professor. Have you forgotten the traditions of our academy?"

"...?"

Professor Banshee shook his head, unable to understand Tudor's words.

Then an exclamation point appeared above his head.

"...!"

That's right.

There is a long-standing tradition at the Academy.

It's called TS.

Men to women, women to men.

In other words, the bewitched witch in the kitchen is a boy dressed as a girl.

And the boy's identity was obvious.

"Order! Three plates of Vikir's special chicken stew, two plates of Vikir's special seafood, six plates of Vikir's special sausage vegetable stir-fry, five plates of Vikir's special meatball rice balls, and another Vikir's special...."

"Uh-huh! Look guys! Another new menu! How in the world did you manage to make such delicious snacks out of leftover ingredients? What's the name of this? What? Nothing? It's just made with leftover ingredients? Let's put this on the menu as soon as possible! This is the 32nd special new menu!"

"Ugh! Ever since we opened the kitchen to the public, we've been getting too many male customers! At this rate, we'd better reveal that this is a guy!"

"Oh no! This time it's the girls! Get more number tags!"

"No! The number of male customers hasn't decreased at all! In fact, they've increased! What's going on?"

The staff is silently taking in the rush of orders.

He's a student, but he's incredibly skilled at creating simple, practical, and delicious dishes.

It was Vikir.