[FGO]: 156

Ryou contentedly put away his fishing rod.

"Ano~ Can we have our duel now?"

Miyamoto Musashi, who had been waiting by his side for two hours, hadn't even had breakfast in her hurry to get here.

Even with her excellent physical condition, the prolonged wait was taking its toll, and she couldn't help but feel a bit dizzy from hunger.

"What's the rush? Are you in a hurry?"

Ryou glanced at her.

Musashi could only laugh bitterly. Big brother, you're here for a duel, not to fish. You're putting me in an awkward position, you know?

"It's about time to eat. Let's fight after I finish my meal."

Without glancing at Musashi—whose eyes were practically shooting fire—Ryou began preparing the seafood he had caught.

Musashi took a deep breath, her expression growing serious.

"If you're trying to disrupt my mental state like this, I advise you to stop. I've already mastered the One. Your tactics will only humiliate you. Let's have a proper duel, like real warriors."

Her voice was firm.

Ryou paused for a moment, but his hands kept working. Mentally, though, he was racing.

From the first moment he saw Musashi, he knew his previous plans were irrelevant. The historical Musashi—known for his schemes—and this straightforward young woman were fundamentally different.

The schemer Musashi lacked confidence in his swordsmanship, so he relied on underhanded tactics. That Musashi was more of a strategist than a swordsman.

A duel with that Musashi would have been a battle of wits and tactics.

But this Musashi was different.

She was straightforward and pure, her heart solely focused on the sword, reaching the pinnacle of swordsmanship—the One realm.

Mental tricks or traps were utterly meaningless to her. From the moment she stepped off the boat to the moment she stood beside him, she had perfectly avoided 23 traps.

This duel, it seemed, would be a confrontation with a terrifyingly skilled swordswoman.

But Ryou wasn't the least bit anxious.

It appeared that Musashi had put all her talent into swordsmanship. Outside of a duel, where she was calm and sharp, she was rather naive—cheerful and easy to trust others.

To put it bluntly, Musashi was a bit of an adorable airhead in her daily life, with intelligence not exactly being her strong suit.

It made sense. How could someone with a complex mind reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship—the One—at such a young age?

With this realization, he immediately had an idea.

Seeing that Ryou was ignoring her, Musashi started rambling.

"Hey, did you hear me? This isn't going to work. Let's just fight honestly. Don't worry, as a big sister, I'll go easy on a pretty boy like you."

"…"

Ryou silently retracted his earlier thoughts. As long as she didn't draw her sword, this woman was just a carefree, clumsy airhead.

Dealing with someone this adorably naive, he felt confident he could even trick her into switching to firearms.

He wouldn't even need to draw his sword to win.

By this point, thanks to his enhanced heroic spirit body, he had already finished preparing a large amount of seafood and was ready to start cooking.

First up was the salmon—perfect for sashimi, known for its firm and tender flesh with almost no bones.

He didn't use a knife at first. He simply ran his hand along the front and back of the fish, and all the scales fell into his palm.

Then, a small silver knife appeared in his hand.

In an instant, the plump salmon was enveloped in dozens of flashes of light.

Whoosh!

The next second, countless knife cuts appeared on the salmon. The head and tail were cleanly severed, the cuts smooth as mirrors, and the thickest part of the fish was covered in delicate lines.

Musashi's eyes immediately narrowed. From the dazzling display of knife skills alone, she could tell that Ryou's swordsmanship was on par with hers.

What she didn't know was that his impressive performance was a combination of his swordsmanship and his masterful cooking techniques.

In pure swordsmanship, he couldn't compare to Musashi, whose heart was entirely devoted to the blade.

Ryou set aside the fish's head and body for later use.

With a swift motion, he sliced the pink salmon fillets, each one tracing a beautiful arc through the air before landing on a tray he had prepared.

Musashi instinctively moved to a better angle, observing the fillets as they caught the sunlight.

Each slice of fish was not only identical in size and thickness but so thin that sunlight passed through them.

This level of precision left Musashi wide-eyed.

Even for her, achieving this level of skill would require entering the One state during a sword duel.

Ryou, however, casually remarked that combining Sasaki Kojiro's swordsmanship with his culinary skills made this a basic technique.

He ignored the stunned Musashi and retrieved a large assortment of seasonings and tools from his storage space.

Although he couldn't use the store to exchange supplies, as a seasoned foodie and master chef, keeping cooking tools and ingredients in his storage space was second nature.

Ryou's movements didn't stop for a moment, as the dish wasn't finished yet.

He sprinkled colorful spices over one side and drizzled a deep black sauce on the other.

With a click, he lit a torch, and a blue flame emerged from its tip.

Holding the torch in his right hand, he swiftly passed it over the spiced fish. Wherever the flame touched, the paper-thin pink fish quickly turned white.

Under the heat, the spices released a mouthwatering aroma.

Meanwhile, the fish slices drizzled with the black sauce remained untouched by the flame, showing no signs of cooking.

Every small detail revealed one undeniable fact: Ryou's control over heat was as masterful as his knife skills.

Two clusters of fish, arranged like rose petals and prepared in the same way, were placed in the center of the fish slices.

Slurp!

Just as Ryou came out of his cooking trance, he heard the sound of someone swallowing nearby.

He instinctively looked over and found Musashi turning her head away in embarrassment, her fair cheeks flushed with a rosy hue.

"Do you want some?"

Musashi instinctively nodded, then quickly shook her head.

"I don't…"

Before she could finish saying I'm not hungry, her stomach growled loudly, betraying her to the fragrant temptation.

Musashi was already feeling embarrassed, but what made it worse was his next comment.

"Hehe~ You say no, but your body is being quite honest..."

The smile on Ryou's face was, in Musashi's eyes, the ultimate teasing.

Furious and humiliated, Musashi snatched the tray from his hands without a word. She picked up a piece of the grilled white salmon and a piece of raw fish drenched in black sauce, popping them both into her mouth.

The moment the fish touched her tongue, an explosion of flavors erupted.

The smoothness and tenderness of the sashimi, enhanced by the specially prepared wasabi sauce, reached their peak.

Meanwhile, the flame-seared salmon locked in the fish's freshness, dancing with the mixed spices in the heat.

The various flavors burst forth, yet miraculously blended in perfect harmony, without the slightest sense of conflict. Each flavor elevated the other.

This was the pinnacle of balance!

At that moment, Musashi seemed to envision two salmon—one enshrouded in flames, the other covered in frost—swirling together.

Unbelievable! How can there be such delicious fish in this world?

"Mmm~ This is just too good!"

Musashi eagerly stuffed more fish slices into her mouth.

She didn't notice the sly, wicked glint in Ryou's eyes, clearly expressing one thing: the plan worked.

In less than three minutes, the large plate of fish slices had disappeared into Musashi's stomach.

Yet, instead of feeling full, she felt even hungrier.

"Alright! It's decided! If I win this duel, you have to be my chef for life!"

With one hand on her hip, Musashi boldly declared, pointing at him.

Ryou paused, raising an eyebrow.

"What gives you the confidence to think you've got me beat?"

"Of course, it's you! You let me taste such amazing food! You're the first person to fill me with so much fighting spirit before I've even drawn my sword! No matter what, I won't lose today! You better be prepared!"

Her voice was full of bravado, but to him, it seemed this woman had been completely influenced by his drug-laced cuisine.

Ignoring her, Ryou continued cooking.

He retrieved a coconut about the size of a basketball from his storage space, cracked open the top, and poured out some of the coconut water.

Then he stuffed the leftover salmon head and tail, along with sea cucumber, prawns, clams, and other seafood into the coconut, sprinkling it with sea salt and various seasonings.

Finally, he replaced the coconut lid, built a woodpile, and placed the coconut in the center, making sure it was fully surrounded by firewood. Then, he used a torch to ignite the firewood.

With that done, he moved on to other dishes.

Grilled Ise lobster, stone-grilled cod fillets, charcoal-grilled Pacific saury, garlic butter crab...

And finally, the pièce de résistance: coconut seafood soup, cooked for a full hour using the entire coconut as the pot, with coconut water replacing regular water.

As soon as he removed the coconut lid, a rich coconut aroma mixed with the scent of seafood filled the air.

Just the scent alone made Musashi's legs weak, her mouth water, and her cheeks flush.

After serving the dishes, Ryou took out a few bottles of divine sake from his storage space, exchanged them from the system and saved them for special occasions.

Musashi, a lover of alcohol, lit up with excitement but tried her best to restrain herself.

"Almost fell for it! You're trying to get me drunk so you can win without a fight, aren't you? How sneaky!"

"Then you can choose not to drink."

Pop!

The ceramic bottle was opened, and the magical aroma of fruit-infused sake filled the air, blending beautifully with the food's fragrance.

Ryou deliberately sipped the sake and savored a bite of seafood right in front of Musashi.

The look of pure enjoyment on his face wasn't faked at all.

Watching this, the wine lover inside Musashi stirred restlessly.

By the time Ryou poured his third cup, Musashi couldn't hold back any longer.

All he saw was a blur, and the cup that had been filled with golden sake had vanished.

Gulp!

He instinctively looked up to see Musashi tilting her head back, the cup's rim at her lips, a stream of golden liquid flowing into her mouth.

"Ah~ Fantastic sake!!!"

Musashi sighed in satisfaction, but when she noticed him looking at her with an odd expression, she glared at him.

"What are you staring at?! If you drink, I drink! That way, you can't use being drunk as an excuse later and say the duel doesn't count."

Ryou was speechless. The way you're acting, it'd be easy for someone to take advantage of you, you know.

Suddenly, he felt no sense of achievement in outsmarting this carefree and clueless Musashi. The thought left him feeling somewhat empty.

Musashi, however, didn't care about his inner thoughts. She downed cup after cup of fine sake while devouring the various dishes on the table.

Half an hour later, more than 80% of the food had vanished into Musashi's smooth belly.

Bloated from overeating, Musashi held her cup, humming an unknown tune, completely resembling a stuffed fish that couldn't move.

And at that moment...

"Well, you've eaten and drunk to your heart's content. Now we can start the duel."

Ryou's face lit up with a kind smile as he poured the golden liquid from his cup onto the ground. It wasn't sake at all, but fruit juice that looked almost identical to what Musashi had drunk.

The bottle Musashi had snatched was the real sake, while Ryou had been using juice.

Musashi's cheerful expression instantly froze. She turned her head with difficulty.

"Uh... Can we postpone the duel?"

Ryou smiled.

"Nope!"

He mercilessly refused.

"You! You tricked me!"

Even someone as dense as Musashi realized at that moment that she had been played from the start.

"Swordsmanship is also a form of strategy. Besides, there's no one else around to witness. In the end, people will only know one thing: that you lost."

Ryou unceremoniously released his fighting intent, making it clear to Musashi that he was serious.

"Despicable!"

Musashi gritted her teeth, spitting out the word.

"Sorry, I learned it from you."

Ryou shrugged.

"When have I ever used such tactics?"

Musashi was on the verge of tears from frustration.

"The parallel world version of you."

Musashi almost coughed up blood.