Meanwhile, back in〈S.T.E.L.L.A〉headquarters.The recently defeated Mirabelle Archambault dragged herself to the Pisces Department. The staff that saw her didn"t pay any sort of attention to her since she would regularly come over anyway.
She slammed open the office of the Department Head and leisurely sat down on the azure-colored sofa. Alfred Quincy, the adored head of Research and Development in the Pisces Department pulled up his laptop and started opening something when she came in.
"Now, what brings you here today, Mira?"
"Shut your trap, Al."
"Anyways, did you do it?"
"Yeah, it was hard but since he came into contact with the twins, the spy cam should already be transplanted."
"But why do you want a first-hand feed of Cole?"
"That"s because of his existence as a Weapon Master."
"Eh? Isn"t that the deceased hero from the〈Avant Zone〉? Sure, they look exactly alike but..."
"Transmigration."
"..."
"Are you serious?"
"We"ve already encountered one Transmigrator before in one of our missions. It"s nothing new."
"Well, if you say so."
"You already cleared up all your work, right?"
"Ah, I"m also interested in watching after all."
"I"m in charge of Research and Development which includes weapons. That"s why I want some data. But you"re in charge of Medicine, right?"
"The twins are there. I might be able to find some kind of personality trait they"re comfortable with and finally lure Gemi to be a test subject."
"I also hope that I see Mini get horribly attacked since he called me a loli baba."
An ominous aura started to leak out of Mirabelle and her doll-like face started to slowly crack and morph into one of those broken dolls used in most horror films.
"That means "old hag", right? It"s accurate though. I can"t help but remember the time where Cole said ""
"Shut up."
The ominous aura increased and its density seemed to have multiplied as well. However, Alfred simply adjusted his gla.s.ses and continued to be completely peaceful.
"Shall we watch our show, then?"
"We shall."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"What am I supposed to about this spy cam latched on me?"
Cole was currently eating some sweet and sour pork. It was one of his favorite dishes since his mother would make it often. Cole wished that he could fully savor the pork"s flavor but he couldn"t hope to do that when there was something bothering him.
He didn"t remove it right away since the〈S.T.E.L.L.A〉logo was there along with the Virgo and Pisces symbols.
As long as it didn"t hinder his work or mission there, then he thought that there was no reason to remove it.
There"s also the possibility that it was something that was regularly done so they could get firsthand footage and a.s.sess whether or not the mission was completed in a satisfactory manner or not.
"Ah, this pork really is nice."
Cole felt that there were a few seasoning problems but as long as the overall taste is tasty, then he didn"t mind. It could have just been due to the fact that his tastes were a bit different since he was used to eating food that"s thousand years ahead of the place.
And he also thought to himself that he didn"t have any right to criticize any experienced chef after all. Considering that he was a failure at cooking.
「So, what will we be doing after this?」
Val nudged Cole"s arm and asked.
"First of all, don"t talk when your mouth has food in it. I thought you were a master Dragon Chef? Doesn"t that mean you should know and practice basic etiquette."
People who didn"t respect food genuinely p.i.s.sed Cole off. To him, food was something sacred. Food was something that could unite even the fiercest of enemies. It was the reason why he wanted to become a chef so badly.
But unfortunately, the heavens didn"t like that. You guys know how that went.
Cole thought that he had already gotten over his failures but inside, he knew he didn"t.
"Anyway, we"re here at "Zhen Town", right?"
Val nodded and Felicia, as well as the twins, seemed to be listening in as well.
Cole pulled out a map from the leg pouch he wore that was hidden by the lower part of his robes and placed it at the middle of the table. The table itself was quite big and there happened to be an adequate amount of s.p.a.ce for the map.
He could have just pulled up a virtual image of it but then Val wouldn"t be able to see it. Cole had a feeling that Val would end up whining if that was the case. Cole sometimes wondered if Val really was 300+ years old.
"Our next major stop would be "Blue Meadow County " and we can get there in 3 days at the pace we"re traveling at."
Cole pointed to the part that was labeled such. It would take at least a week to get there if they traveled by horse but Val was much faster than that.
They could get there in a day if they wanted so but Cole said that it was better to take their time.
"Nee, Cole. Why do we have to stop there?"
"It"s because the City is a major information hub. We can get a lot of useful intel by hanging there for a few days."
Gemi was the one asking. Blue Meadow County was also the closest place to the tournament venue. It would give the party plenty of time to gather information while allowing them to be at ease since they could head over to the venue any time.
"City? It"s called a county, though?"
"It"s because the main city is also named Blue Meadow."
"Well, we certainly have a lot of time. The Clan Tournament is in 2 weeks right?"
Mini asked with a bit of confusion. I also didn"t understand why they couldn"t be bothered to think of another name for their main city. Felicia seemed to understand the importance of going there and said while she wiped her face with a piece of tissue paper.
She did it all lady-like too. I guess she has already fully immersed herself in her role.
「Are you sure you guys don"t want me to fly you there?」
"It"s for the sake of staying low-key. It would be very noticeable if a black-scaled beast were to be seen flying through the skies. You can do that when its the day of the tournament. It"ll create a fuss and the audience would start panicking. Along with the fact that you"re a Dragon would also attract the Blue Dragon"s attention."
「I see...」
Val seemed to understand but his eyes showed that he was slightly let down.
"Did he really want to fly that much?"
Cole couldn"t help but think again if he really was 300+ years old. Val should have been able to keep his childish impulses in check. It could be just that age progresses slowly along with mental capabilities for Dragons. It was common knowledge in the〈Fantasia Zone〉that they would live for at least a thousand years if they weren"t immortal.
"I wonder when our roasted duck will arrive...?"
"Eh? Cole, you ordered even that?"
Felicia"s face beamed with excitement. It was one of the dishes listed in her cookbook that she had been wanting to try for a while. She had wanted to expand her cooking repertoire as much as possible while still holding a good amount of mastery over her specialties.
"Well, of course. It"s a famous dish, after all. If the restaurant serves it, I must try it."
"But it"s not as if you guys would know. Considering the fact on how you so blatantly decided to have a fight in an establishment made for food."
Cole said his first sentence with great joy since he loved food very much. It was clear to everyone currently dining since he reprimanded them so harshly when cooking utensils were thrown around.
His aura from earlier came back along with malice when he said his second sentence. His eyes were closed and the smile he had on made it look like he was mocking everybody.
Arrows seemed to have pierced everybody"s guilty conscience.
Cole paid no heed to such and turned his gaze to the chef who seems to have brought the Peking Roast Duck.
Cole removed the map and allowed the chef to set it down in the middle of the table. With such an arrangement, everyone was able to bask in its glory.
The chef started to carve it in front of the party and then served the duck skin with sugar and garlic sauce as a dip.
"It seems that even in this Zone its carved in front of the diners."
He then served the meat with some steamed spring pancakes, spring onions, and sweet bean sauce. from the moving tray that the waitress with him brought along. They also provided several vegetable dishes.
Cole took a bite of the duck with his chopsticks and let it sit in his mouth for a bit.
"Hmm... It is indeed tasty. The skin is thin and crisp like it should be. The meat is juicy and tender and I can tell that it was cooked in a closed-oven style which I appreciate."
The chef"s face seemed to glow with every word of praise Cole said about his dish. He seemed to be really proud of his culinary skills and Cole could give him credit for that.
"However..."