"Right!"
"Jōichirō."
"You must perform well and show him what's what."
At this moment, in the hotel kitchen, Joichiro Saiba tightly held a kitchen knife, and the knife shimmered with cold light under the illumination of the lamps.
As Totsuki's strongest, as a true pioneer and explorer of delicious cuisine, Jōichirō was undoubtedly given high hopes by everyone, and undoubtedly made the masked man on the other side feel pressure!
"Do you know?"
"I've waited a full five years for this day!"
With that, the masked man took out a slightly worn kitchen knife from his knife case.
"Five years?"
Jōichirō was stunned.
Then, when he saw the kitchen knife in the masked man's hand.
His lazy eyes instantly widened, and his face was filled with an expression of disbelief: "This knife..."
"So that's it, I didn't expect it would be you."
"In just a few short years, you've already grown to the point where you can lead the entire dark culinary world?"
His mind instantly returned to five years ago, when he parted ways with Tsukasa Asahi. He had given him the kitchen knife he used during his student days, hoping he would carry his father's wishes and work hard!
"Yes, in these five years, I have defeated countless people with your kitchen knife."
"And now, this kitchen knife will turn against you; you will ultimately be defeated by your own kitchen knife."
"Actually, all this time, no matter what kind of chef I faced, I always used Saiba as my surname. On one hand, it's out of gratitude for your nurturing, and on the other hand, deep down, I've always believed that you are the strongest chef in this world."
"Saiba, this surname, is the surname I truly should possess!"
The masked man stared intently at the kitchen knife in his hand, mumbling to himself.
...
Meanwhile, at the Izakaya.
Erina, who had just finished buying ingredients from the nearby fresh market, now eagerly arrived at Sosuke's room.
Then, she lay very lazily on the bed, holding a recently popular manga book, "Slave of the Magical Capital's Elite Soldiers," and reading it with great relish.
"So, using slaves also comes with a corresponding price?"
"And this price, why... why is it all about lewd things?"
"The author is really something; the battle scenes are well-portrayed, but even the kissing scenes are drawn to make one's heart pound!"
As she read, her face turned red, and whenever she recalled the female lead and male lead lying on the ground, hugging and deeply kissing each other...
Hmm, she wanted to keep reading even more.
They say men are like mangoes; they look very yellow on the outside, but are even yellower inside.
And women are like an egg; they look very pure white on the outside, but their hearts are yellower than anything!
So, Erina couldn't be blamed; at her age, which girl hasn't secretly read such manga books?
Finally, time flew by.
When Erina turned to the last page of the manga book, she was stunned.
"It's gone? Why does it always end at the crucial moment?"
"Sigh, if only Hisako were by my side, she could help me buy the next volume."
"Speaking of which, can't these dog authors be a bit more diligent?"
"Can't they update frantically 24 hours a day, day and night?"
Subsequently, Erina, feeling bored, kept rolling around on the bed, completely unaware of how cute her current behavior was.
"I'm so bored, I really want to know what the female lead felt after doing that kind of thing?"
After saying that, Erina's face was so red it looked like it was about to drip blood.
As someone with the God Tongue ability, she had never considered a question before: what would it be like if she kissed a boy?
"Oh, what... what would it be like?"
Erina tightly clutched the quilt beside her, muttering shyly.
In her mind, Sosuke's handsome face involuntarily began to appear, and finally, it even magnified several times as she imagined his graceful and natural lip line!
"What's wrong with me?"
"Could it be that deep down, I also long for that kind of thing?"
Gradually, Erina's heart became even more flustered!
...
Another three full hours passed.
At the bottom of the mountain, in the kitchen of a luxurious and exquisite building.
When the results of the two culinary judges were announced, everyone was completely stunned, unable to recover for a long time.
Lost?
Really lost?
The chef hailed as the most outstanding of his generation, whose skill surpassed all Far Moon students.
The strong man known as "Asura" and "Wandering Chef," Joichiro Saiba, actually lost?
At this moment, the entire kitchen was as silent as death, the whole place was as silent as death, everyone held their breath, looking at the masked man in disbelief.
"You're lying, right?"
"Impossible, such a thing couldn't exist!"
"All five judges voted for the masked man, and Jōichirō didn't even get 1 vote."
"This 5:0 result is simply too devastating, isn't it?"
"What's going on?"
"Our universally recognized strongest chef, the most outstanding culinary artist, how could Saiba lose...?"
"Saiba, are you alright?"
At this moment, Joichiro Saiba, who had just finished the cooking battle, directly slumped to the floor, as if all strength had left his body.
Seeing this scene, Alba hurriedly stepped forward, came to his side, and asked with concern.
"I'm fine, just too tired."
"I've been cooking desperately for three whole hours; my body can't quite take it."
He weakly raised his hand slightly, signaling to everyone not to worry, and then Jōichirō's gaze settled on the masked man: "You won, you truly surpassed your mentor!"
"Hey, who exactly are you?"
Alba, pointing at the masked man, asked with lingering fear.
"Me?"
"Tsukasa Asahi."
The masked man pulled off his face covering and said indifferently.
Saiba? That seems to be a surname from Japan, right?
And the surname Saiba, and Joichiro Saiba... Wait, could he be Jōichirō's son? (End of this chapter)
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