A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Erza was one of the 77 people who passed the first five levels. At this moment, she saw that Kira had noticed her, so she turned her head and gave him a slight smile.

Kira's gaze pierced through the air dozens of meters between them, and he immediately received Erza's silent words: "Don't cheat! I want to win the championship fair and square, and earn honor through my own skills!!"

Since returning from the last dessert competition, Erza has been going to Magnolia's most famous restaurant every three days to learn and practice her knife skills. Her culinary skills have improved by leaps and bounds, so she has full confidence in this competition.

As the 'Fairy Queen', she would never fall in the same place twice.

Based on real skill?

Kira's lips twitched, and he roared inwardly, "What a joke?! How can a half-baked cooking enthusiast who is a mage by profession compare to a group of chefs who are immersed in cooking?!"

But then I thought about it again. Erza has managed to get this far, so she must be quite capable. It also suggests that the chefs in the nearby cities are probably not very skilled.

From this perspective, this so-called "First Glory of God" seems to be on a rather high level...

The questions in the previous five rounds were determined by audience votes and covered a wide range of topics. It is difficult for chefs to be proficient in everything, so many were eliminated.

This is actually not hard to understand. For example, some chefs are good at cooking seafood and can advance to the second stage, but they may stop at the third stage because they are not good at cooking meat. This does not mean that their cooking skills are not good; it just means that they happened to encounter an area they are not good at and were unlucky.

But the chefs who managed to pass all five rounds were undoubtedly seasoned veterans. Even if they didn't surpass others in any particular area, they were at least qualified in every aspect.

If we use learning as an analogy, these five stages are like eliminating those who excel in only one subject. Even if a student gets a perfect score in math, if they fail English, they still won't pass.

In contrast, the next three rounds are to select the best candidates in each subject.

Kira, representing Eileen as the mayor's assistant, is an official figure and the main person in charge of this competition, so naturally he is the first to set the questions.

"Ahem... My topic is 'Ramen,' and the time limit is also 20 minutes!"

If you were to ask which anime has the most famous ramen, it would definitely be Ichiraku Ramen from Naruto. The ramen in Fairy Tail is, to put it mildly, unremarkable.

This is understandable, though, since this isn't a food-themed anime, and ramen doesn't provide for the spiritual or material needs of some of the main characters, so it's naturally not famous.

In ramen making, the dough, knife skills, broth, and seasonings are the four most important elements. This competition uses ingredients provided by a unified supplier, so even if some chefs have some magical secret recipes passed down from their ancestors, they can't use them. Therefore, it is considered to be the most basic test.

Soon, steaming bowls of ramen were served. The cooked noodles were thin, long, and tender. They were left to cool completely in the air by the chefs, drained of their original juices, and then swirled into a ball and poured into a bowl. A few slices of meat, fish cake, and an egg were added, along with chopped green onions, cilantro, and other seasonings. Finally, the essence of ramen, the broth, was poured in.

The rich aroma immediately caused the audience to howl – their stomachs were howling – with Kira shouting the loudest.

At this moment, Kira was almost moved to tears: Finally... finally there was something to eat!

He thought that as a judge today, he would be able to enjoy the dishes prepared by the famous chefs around him to his heart's content, so he came without even having breakfast. Who would have thought that he hasn't had a full stomach since the start of the competition!

Although he had tried many dishes before, in order to maintain his image, he only ate a small bite of seafood, poultry, meat, fried rice, and fruit each time, and he was never full!

To fill the emptiness in my stomach, I had no choice but to make something like 'ramen,' which is substantial in every bite.

As the ramen noodles went down with the broth, an indescribable warmth instantly spread from my stomach throughout my body. It was a wonderful feeling, like drinking sweet spring water in the desert, eating hot pot in the snow, or encountering light in the darkness.

After eating the ramen, power surged from his body. Kira was intoxicated by the blissful feeling of his hunger being satisfied, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

However, on the other side...

"I'm very sorry, this contestant, you have been eliminated!"

The food assistant stared curiously at Erza's bright red hair, but uttered words that seemed to be the coldest and most heartless in the world.

"Why...why did this happen..."

Upon hearing the news of her elimination, Erza froze instantly, her incredulous expression frozen on her pretty face, which was stained with two drops of brown soup, and she remained speechless for a long time.

In the audience, Brandish and Timalia were laughing, Natsu and Gray were sighing, Lucy, Wendy, and Charlotte were lamenting, and Happy was crying.

"The judges think your control over the heat is not good enough. Look, the noodles are all stuck together, and this part is not cooked yet. This kind of food is not up to standard!"

"No...not up to standard..." Erza murmured softly, then collapsed backward, losing all her strength.

"Yes, it's not right... Wait?! What's wrong with you, player?! Doctor!! Is there a doctor?!"

Erza left before the doctor arrived. Although it was a pity that she didn't win the championship, she had to accept it since she was eliminated. She, the 'Fairy Queen,' was not someone who couldn't accept defeat.

Amidst the barely suppressed laughter of Gray and the others, Erza was reluctantly pulled off the stage. Before leaving, she cast a venomous glance at Kira.

Kira, who was diligently eating noodles, suddenly shuddered.

"I feel a chill down my spine... Oh well, filling my stomach is the most important thing!!"

Chapter 519: Spreading the spirit of 'Fairy Tail' throughout the Western Continent

"The winner of this competition is a chef from the Gourmet Guild 'Cake Frenzy'..."

Towards the end of the competition, the host seemed to notice that both the judges and contestants were showing signs of fatigue, so he sped up the pace of the competition, finally bringing it to a perfect close before sunset.

"Let's go eat, let's go eat..."

After awarding the prize to the unknown champion chef, Kira grabbed the 'mobile stall fee' he had collected a couple of days earlier and strode toward the city's most expensive restaurant.

On the street, a tall, slender figure walked slowly. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on him, giving his striking red hair a faint golden hue, and his shadow on the ground was stretched very long.

"What should I eat today...? Since I'm alone, I should treat myself to a super lavish dinner to reward myself for these busy days, right?"

Soon, Kira found himself facing the most important decision of the day, standing at the crossroads and looking left and right: "To the left is the most expensive seafood restaurant in town, and to the right is the famous barbecue restaurant. It's such a difficult choice..."

It's normal for humans to have decision-making difficulties. Although Kira isn't a Libra, he has this symptom quite severely, though he often struggles with what to eat.

Fortunately, Kira quite enjoys this happy dilemma, because when making choices, he clearly knows that he is the kind of person who has enough to eat, not the kind of person who can't afford to eat.

"I've decided, let's go to the seafood restaurant! We've already paid for it, might as well spend it!"

Having made up his mind, Kira excitedly ran to the left: "Seafood feast, here I come!!"

……

Ten minutes later, at the seafood restaurant.

Why are you all here?

Looking at Erza and her group, who were making a ruckus in the lobby, eating and sitting improperly, attracting the attention of other diners who stopped eating, Kira felt a headache coming on.

He had a premonition that he might suffer a major loss later, after all, given the personality and fighting ability of this group of people... those who know, know, breaking a few plates would be considered very minor.

This is the most expensive seafood restaurant in town!!

"I wonder if I can get reimbursed by the finance department later? If they see something like '3 plates' on the bill, they might think I was so hungry that I ate all the plates..."

Considering that he had only been in office for less than a month, Kira felt he should play it safe. The stall fees he collected were enough for him to have a good meal here, but they would definitely not cover the restaurant's maintenance costs!

"I think we'll have barbecue today..."

Thinking this, Kira turned to leave, but before he could take two steps, a clean, strong hand pulled him back: "Come back first, I have something to ask you!!"

"What exactly do you want?"

Kira slapped Erza's hand away from his clothes in annoyance, then, as if remembering something, said nervously, "Let's get this straight, you can't blame me for being eliminated today!"

"I saw the confident look in your eyes, which is why I came up with the topic of 'ramen,' and I was really hungry at the time..."

"That kind of thing is completely unimportant!!"

"Huh?! What?!" Kira exclaimed in surprise.

Happiness came so suddenly that it almost knocked him unconscious. Only after confirming that he hadn't misheard did Kira finally relax and sit down again. "You should have said so earlier... Boss, please add another set of chopsticks and a bowl!"

Perhaps to make up for not getting to eat the two-meter-long elephant trunk tuna, Happy is quickly devouring the boiled fish on the table, Natsu and Gray are fighting over the last hairy crab, and the girls are savoring the seafood restaurant's signature caviar.

"So, what do you want to ask?"

"No, before that, answer my questions first: why are you all here? And what's the deal with those two?"

"So it is, and so it is, and so it is..."

"I see!"

After hearing Erza and the others' experiences, Kira couldn't help but turn his gaze to the two 'shields' who were eating with great relish: "That old man August is one thing, but I didn't expect these two to agree? And they're even joining you guys. What a pleasant surprise!"

Timalia retorted, "Don't misunderstand! Randy and I are only holding back for now out of respect for the old man! Whether or not we fight depends on the Emperor's decision!"

Kira scoffed at this: "We have wives and children in our hands. When the fighting really starts, even if Zeref doesn't hesitate to act, he'll at least be short-handed!"

Erza frowned, swallowing the spoonful of dark caviar with her pink lips. As she chewed, she asked indistinctly, "According to the First Generation's plan, shouldn't you be doing what they did, standing by that 'Twelve Shields' named Irene's side and discouraging her from starting a war?"

In the past few days, Erza has learned about Erin's basic information and Kira's work situation as the newly appointed assistant to the mayor from Brandish and the town's residents.

"Yes... I am trying!"

"With this perfunctory attitude, I can't see any effort from you at all!!"

If you say that, I won't be happy!

Kira immediately pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and slammed it on the table, saying indignantly, "Look, thanks to my efforts, this 'Food Contest' has earned so much money, and the town's income this month has increased by 20% compared to last month..."

"You've completely forgotten about the mission just to make money! What have you been working on all these days?!"

Bang!

Enraged, Erza slammed her fist on the table, smashing the two-meter-long table in two!

"My fish!!"

"My crab!!"

"My food!!"

"My table!!!"

Happy, Natsu, Gray, Kira, and the restaurant owner's colleagues let out pitiful screams.

"What...what are you doing, Erza?! It's very expensive here!!"

"What? You have a problem with that?!"

Erza turned around, her magic surging, her face sinister, her eyes emitting a blood-red light. The bright red hair that Jellal had once gently described as "beautiful" now floated up behind her, baring its fangs like the tentacles of a demon. She was even more terrifying than the great demon king in a fairy tale!

"No...no objection..." ×N

Sensing the dangerous aura emanating from Erza, Natsu, Gray, Happy, and the others, who had long been subject to her coercion, were instantly terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat and trembling all over. They dared not make any rash moves and could only stand obediently in place, like frightened little quails, even lowering their voices by more than ten decibels.

“Red…Red-haired demon… Waaah…” The restaurant owner collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with fear as he looked at Erza.

"Shut up! Are you out of your mind?!"

Kind-hearted Natsu and Gray turned pale with fright and rushed forward to cover his mouth, but it was too late.

Upon hearing the restaurant owner's voice, Erza instantly turned around, her chilling voice and menacing gaze returning: "What did you say?!"