That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

Shinji Matou cleaned up the table where the ingredients were laid out and drew a transmutation circle on it.

"Lord Shinji, what are you doing?"

"The painting was transformed into an array."

"what?"

After drawing the transmutation circle, Shinji Matou found ingredients, spices, and meat and threw them into it. He clapped his hands to activate the alchemy, and the transmutation circle lit up with a faint blue light. In a moment, a plate of hot and sour shredded potatoes was created.

Even in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, the only family that can use alchemy to cook and whose food tastes pretty good is Matou Shinji's family.

"Alright." Shinji Matou moved the hot and sour shredded potatoes out of the alchemy circle, added ingredients, and continued to alchemize the next dish.

呲味味~

Blue light flashed continuously, and delicious dishes were constantly being created.

Beside her, Ram was stunned by the scene and couldn't understand what was happening. She glanced at the steaming food next to her and wondered if something made with magic would taste good.

With such doubts, Ram hesitated for a moment before picking up some to taste. The shredded potatoes melted in her mouth; their soft, chewy texture and tangy, spicy flavor stimulated her taste buds. Ram looked incredulous and covered her mouth, exclaiming softly, "Delicious!"

This was a flavor she had never tasted before, very distinct and unique. She originally wanted to eat a few more bites, but when she thought about how this was breakfast prepared for Roswaal and the others, she reluctantly looked away, swallowing her saliva repeatedly.

"Don't worry, I can make it as long as I have enough ingredients."

Shinji Matou found Ram's appearance amusing, as he continuously used alchemy to create meals, including appetizers, main dishes, vegetable soup, desserts, and more. He even mastered the art of making snacks such as French fries, potato chips, and pudding.

Ten minutes later, the table was laden with a dazzling array of dishes, almost overwhelming Ram. She was also holding a plate of fruit pudding, which was the third plate she had eaten.

"This should be enough, right?" Shinji Matou clapped his hands.

Ram put down the fruit pudding and nodded hurriedly, "Yes, I'll take it over now."

"Wait a minute." Shinji Matou stopped Ram, found some lids, covered some of the dishes, and then performed a few magic tricks.

"Lord Shinji, what is the reason for this?"

“Cooking isn’t just about taste; color, aroma, and flavor are all essential. It should look good, smell good, and taste good. The latter two aren’t a problem. What we’re doing now is adding color to these dishes. A dish that doesn’t glow isn’t a good dish,” Shinji Matou replied seriously, just to satisfy his own perverse sense of humor.

"You know so much. Even Rem can't compare to you when it comes to cooking." Ram was impressed but didn't understand. She looked at Matou Shinji with admiration, feeling that Matou Shinji's figure was infinitely taller.

Chapter 117 The Purpose of the Royal Selection

In the dining room, Roswaal, the owner of the mansion, was still dressed as a clown. He sat in the master's seat, looking at the table full of food, and exclaimed in a strange tone, "This breakfast is really lavish today, Ram. What's going on?"

Ram stood up and respectfully explained, "Yes, these dishes were all prepared by Lord Shinji."

Roswaal looked at Matou Shinji in disbelief: "This is truly surprising, Mr. Shinji. I never expected you could cook."

Shinji Matou smiled and replied, "When traveling to different countries, this level of cooking is nothing to brag about."

"Traveling to different countries, experiencing the world's cuisines, and encountering extraordinary culinary delights—so that's how it is! These foods have already entered the realm of art, and their taste must be quite amazing! Hmm~ I can't wait any longer!" Roswaal reached out and lifted the lid in front of him. A golden light slowly shot out, accompanied by the rising steam from the food, creating a dreamlike scene.

The main dish is laid out on the plate; the potatoes and meat are glistening and golden yellow, with starch and meat mixed together and poured over the potatoes, releasing an irresistible aroma.

"This is!"

"Potato stew with beef, the kitchen didn't have enough spices, but it was barely passable."

Roswaal took a deep breath of the aroma of the food and exclaimed, "This smell alone is enough to whet my appetite. It's incredible. I've lived for so many years and I always thought I didn't have much of a need for food. Now it seems I was too narrow-minded."

From the doorway came the voice of the elf Puck: "Oh~ Oh~ What is this smell? It smells so good."

Emilia, a silver-haired half-elf; Betty, a blonde twin-tailed loli; and Puck, a cat-like elf, entered one after another.

Betty smelled the aroma, stood on tiptoe to look at the lavish breakfast spread across the table, her round eyes sparkling with excitement, and exclaimed, "Was this lavish breakfast prepared just for Betty?"

"What exactly are these dishes...?" Emilia was also very puzzled.

Emilia and the others entered the restaurant one after another, and were all taken aback by the sumptuous breakfast. Most of the dishes were foods they had never heard of before.

"I can't wait to taste Mr. Shinji's cooking, please, everyone, have a meal." Roswaal smiled and invited everyone to sit down.

"These were all cooked by Mr. Shinji?" Emilia asked incredulously.

Betty snorted: "Looks like you're not entirely useless after all."

······

"What are these slices?! They're delicious! So delicious! What's with this unique texture? I can't stop eating them!" Puck the elf was munching on a potato chip, his face full of enjoyment.

Shinji Matou, sitting next to him, smiled and explained, "Those are called potato chips, and the main ingredient is potatoes."

Emilia covered her mouth, pointing incredulously at the fruit pudding in front of her: "Shinji, what is this sweet food? It's very, very strange, like eating soft ice cubes, it melts in your mouth, but it's really, really delicious."

Betty cut a piece of white steamed bun with her knife and fork, paired it with hot and sour shredded potatoes, and mumbled as she ate, "Although you let that blue-haired maid disturb Betty's reading time for a long time last night, I'll forgive you for the sake of this food."

"Delicious, absolutely delicious! This rich flavor, each with its own unique texture, is unlike anything I've ever tasted before. You won't find this kind of food even at the most prestigious banquets!" Roswaal closed his eyes and savored the food with an exaggerated expression. Aside from not having his clothes ripped off, he looked just like a judge in a cooking manga.

"As long as you're satisfied."

······

After the meal, Shinji Matou found Emilia in the study. She was sitting at her desk, her silver hair flowing down, her posture dignified and elegant, studying knowledge related to the royal selection.

"Mr. Shinji, is there anything I can help you with?"

Shinji Matou sat down at the desk and pondered, "I have learned about the royal selection from Rem. Since I have agreed to form an alliance with you, I will do my best to make you the king of the Kingdom of Lugnica. Before the royal selection begins, I have some questions I would like to ask."

"No need to be polite. You are already our ally, and I will not hide anything from you regarding the selection of the king."

Shinji Matou stared intently into Emilia's eyes, his voice calm yet serious as he asked, "Emilia, why do you want to become king?"

Emilia was taken aback, her face showing unease as she pondered for a moment before answering earnestly, "Fairness. I want to create a world without discrimination, where people are not belittled because of their appearance, and where no one is born a slave because of their bloodline. All people are born equal. Although I don't know exactly what I'm going to do, this one idea will never change."

"..."

Shinji Matou shook his head: "You're lying."

"Why do you say that, Mr. Shinji?"

“I can deduce a lot from your personality and your stance. I don’t know how much of what you said was true and how much was false, but that’s not the real reason you’re participating in the royal selection. I won’t delve into the specifics. Your answer just now satisfied me. I’m just your ally, and the fate of this country has nothing to do with me,” Matou Shinji said calmly. Matou Shinji had traveled through many worlds and had seen all kinds of people.

Power and responsibility are equal. Although Emilia is kind-hearted, she does not seem to be bound by responsibility. On the other hand, if she participates in the royal selection with frivolous thoughts, she will not be serious.

Therefore, Emilia's desire to become the king of this country is definitely not just due to the pursuit of fairness.

Emilia's expression was complicated, and her soft voice carried a hint of guilt as she replied softly, "Indeed, as you said, there are other reasons, very selfish ones, so please forgive me for not being able to say."

Shinji Matou glanced at the books spread out on the desk and asked, "Are these books related to the royal selection?"

"Yes, as a candidate for king, I have an obligation to learn this knowledge."

"What does it say on it?"

Emilia held up the book in her hand and introduced it: "This is the book of the king of the Kingdom of Lugnica. It introduces the king's power and some things he cannot do. The content is not very interesting."

"You haven't become king yet, have you?"

Emilia answered seriously, "I think it's very necessary to learn in advance."

"Speaking of which, can you do me a favor?"

"Please speak."

“I wanted to cast a spell on you to create a shared understanding between us, so that the information from the books you read would be fed back into my consciousness, helping me to quickly learn and understand the language of this country. Rem still harbors strong hostility towards me, so the spell failed on her last night.”

“No problem. If Mr. Shinji can quickly master the language of this country, it will definitely be of more help to the matter of Wang Xuan.”

“Then, please place your hands in mine.” Shinji Matou extended his hands to Emilia.

Emilia did as she was told without hesitation: "Like this?"

This girl is so naive; she probably doesn't even have a clear understanding of the difference between men and women.

Shinji Matou thought to himself, then smiled and replied, "Yes."

A soft glow enveloped their hands. After they separated, Emilia's eyes were filled with curiosity: "It's a strange feeling. Now I feel like I can understand Shinji's thoughts without words."

Shinji Matou found a place to sit down and closed his eyes to rest. He replied through telepathy, "This is the effect of the magic. You don't need to pay too much attention to my presence. Just read your book as usual."

Chapter 118 My mind is only on studying!

This world was once devoured by the jealous witch Satella. Humanity lost not only half of its population, but also suffered a major break in the transmission of civilization, including writing. Currently, only a few mainstream writing systems remain, with the most commonly used being a type called Type I.

The magical effect of empathic thinking grants Shinji Matou and Emilia a unique visual experience, much like playing a VR game. The text she reads is fed back into her consciousness and then transmitted to Shinji Matou's mind.

While resting in his study with his eyes closed, Shinji Matou's thoughts were divided into dozens of parts, studying the world's language from various angles.

The results were remarkable. In just half a day, from morning to afternoon, Shinji Matou had basically mastered the written language of this world. However, due to the limitations of the types of books Emilia reads, he still could not understand some common terms and more obscure characters.

Shinji Matou planned to try the mind empathy with Rem again that evening to fill in the missing part.

"I can't understand some of the magical terminology for now. Ask Roswaal? He might not refuse, but trying to empathize with him feels too disgusting. I'll give up on Betty's traditional tsundere persona for now. Puck isn't human, so I don't know if this magic effect will work."

After leaving Emilia's study, Shinji Matou reached out and touched the wall of the corridor. A small, faint magical energy radiated out, and he found the "Gate of Opportunity" set up by Betty without much effort.

After navigating a few turns, Shinji Matou arrived at the kitchen. He opened the cabinet used for storing vegetables, and his view suddenly opened up. The place where potatoes should have been piled up had become Betty's library, where the blonde twin-tailed loli was sitting on a chair in the aisle reading a book.

Betty looked up and saw Shinji Matou swaggering out. Her childish voice was clearly annoyed: "You're such a nuisance!"

"Betty, I want to learn about magic. Which book should I read?"

Betty turned her face away and snorted, "What does your wanting to know about magic have to do with Betty?"

Shinji Matou walked to the bookshelf, took down a book, and casually flipped through it, teasingly saying, "If I can't find the book I want, I'll just linger here, constantly pacing back and forth in front of you, taking books down and putting them back, making quite a racket. What do you think?"

Betty tried to imagine the scene Shinji Matou had described, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She exclaimed incredulously, "What a shameless guy! This is Betty's bedroom! What are you planning to do in a lady's room?"

"Unfortunately, I now have the right to use this library, and don't forget the promise made by Roswaal, the owner of this mansion."

Betty glared at Shinji Matou, then waved her hand, sending several books flying from the shelf to Shinji's front. She shouted, "Take these books and get out of Betty's sight right now!"

"Thanks." Shinji Matou smiled and waved.

"A verbal thank you is unnecessary, but if you can prepare something that Betty will be satisfied with, I don't mind giving you more guidance."

"No, this is enough."

Betty puffed out her cheeks angrily, stomped her foot, and said indignantly, "You're really infuriating! Don't you believe in Betty's abilities? My guidance is much better than you just standing here like an idiot."

"I think it's more troublesome than making you happy."

"breakfast!"