"Time limit is five minutes. The moment the life-protection artifact activates, all attacks, magic, and movement are forbidden."
"Yes, sir!"
"Well... it's not your first or second time, so you both know the drill. Then, to your positions."
It had been four days since the chaotic atmosphere of the combat practicum had settled down.
In the combat track classes of the Magic Department, practical sparring was underway, no different from usual.
The stars of the sparring match were celebrities of the Magic Department.
They were called inseparable best friends and rivals.
Isilla, whose specialty was ice magic, and Kariel, whose specialty was flame magic.
"Isilla. You lost last night too, so I hope you’ll put in some effort today."
"Hmph. Last night was a mistake. I got excited and... this time, I’ll really nail you with one shot."
"Gasp, did you just hear what the Princess and the Imperial Princess were talking about?!"
"Oh my. To think the two of them get so excited at night..."
"Until all the ice magic melts...!"
Last night, the two of them had played a trump card game in the dormitory.
It was merely a story where Isilla, thinking she had the upper hand, got excited and revealed her hand, resulting in a comeback loss.
But... two flowers on a cliff that everyone admired.
The imagination of those flowers entangling with each other was a topic that students in their prime could hardly endure.
The shrieking screams of the students gradually subsided,
and before long, silence filled the training hall.
The only sounds now were the focused breathing of Kariel and Isilla.
And the instructor’s whistle signaling the start of the match.
Beeeeep!
With the whistle signaling the start of the battle, both Isilla and Kariel drew out their mana.
Starting from the heart, stamping down to the toes, then circling up to the head.
The mana rotation of both gradually increased in speed until it was fully ignited.
Isilla looked back at herself from just a few days ago during the combat practicum.
Compared to then, her mana rotation speed and total mana amount had clearly changed.
She didn’t know what had triggered her growth.
Perhaps it was because that day, eating the tteokbokki that Gang Jin-u made for her, she had completely untied the knot in her heart.
As Headmistress Ermia had said, the most important thing was the caster’s will and determination.
Crackle, crack—
Isilla extended her hand forward.
At the same time, spears of chilling cold condensed above Isilla’s head.
They were so pure one could see right through them, yet gleamed fiercely as if they would permit not a single scratch.
Kariel didn’t flinch in the slightest, even faced with such an attack.
Rather, she took a step forward boldly and opened her mouth.
"I’ll concede the first move. Come at me hard."
"Hiyaaaah!!"
Ssssshhheeeek!
Blue ice spears shot forth with Isilla’s shout.
But contrary to the vigorous shout, the ice spears’ speed quickly dropped.
Fwoooosh!
A flame wall blazed up like Kariel’s red hair.
Under that threatening heat, which could be felt even in the spectator seats, the ice spears helplessly had their cold stolen from them.
"Your power seems to have improved, but it’s a shame. In the end, it’s the same as before."
"No, watch until the end."
"What?"
Watch until the end? What was there to see?
They would obviously melt away and disappear just like in previous matches.
Still, Kariel’s gaze followed the trajectory of the ice spears.
No matter how precious a friend Isilla was, a match was a match.
Rather than underestimating her and getting hurt, crushing her thoroughly and stepping over her was Kariel’s nature.
But... what was she supposed to see?
Most of the ice spears had already melted down to the level of cute snowballs.
Kariel surveyed the surroundings with puzzled eyes.
But then.
Thwack!
Kariel, who had been looking only at Isilla.
Something with heavy mass struck the back of her head.
Kariel’s vision spun around for a moment.
It was only thanks to the sparring protection artifact she wore; if this were real combat, the impact wouldn’t have ended with just dizziness.
Kariel staggered and looked back.
The empty space behind the training area that had been created when she stepped forward earlier.
That empty space was now filled with small, fluffy, silver clumps of fur.
Eee-ing, woo-ing!
Cold spirits that had been summoned and commanded at some unknown point.
Those tiny things were expressing joy as they created frozen snowballs.
And then came Isilla’s triumphant voice.
"Since when did you mistakenly think I was only using ‘Ice Spear’?"
"Isilla, don’t tell me... double casting?"
Double casting, where if performed incorrectly, the mana flow would get tangled and risk a mana explosion.
The technique that even she couldn’t use in sparring due to its instability—Isilla had succeeded in it?
Kariel’s pupils were dyed with shock.
Isilla didn’t bother answering that double casting was possible.
Instead, she smiled slyly, raising the corners of her mouth.
"Now it’s your turn to attack, isn’t it?"
"You... Illuwight!!"
In overall combat power, Isilla might still be lower.
But in this very moment.
Isilla’s mana manipulation ability had certainly surpassed Kariel’s.
***
"Ah, so you won?"
"No..."
"No? What."
Ever since the tteokbokki party last time, I had started speaking casually with Isilla.
I ate with your father, went on a foreign trip (Nuareldel), did everything, after all.
Perhaps feeling that we had become much closer by speaking casually, Isilla chattered away about today’s sparring match.
She told the story as if she had won it all, but it seemed the actual result was different.
Kariel, who had been listening quietly to Isilla’s story from the side, cut in.
"Hehe, I didn’t expect the double casting, but what matters in the end is decisiveness. Isilla ran out of mana mid-way and forfeited."
"Ah, is that so? What a total fizzle..."
"Ugh, I’ll win next time. You one-trick flame wall abuser!"
"What? You summer-limited ice maker!"
As if forgetting I was right in front of them, the two were bickering affectionately among themselves.
Ever since their dramatic reconciliation while eating tteokbokki a few days ago, they had been like this every day.
It was good that they were getting along as friends, but why did they have to do it right in front of my stall?
Thanks to that, I wasn’t bored, which was nice.
"By the way, Master, could you package a bit of ‘that’? I want to eat it at night."
"Sigh... Your Highness. ‘That’ isn’t on the regular menu. It’s difficult if you keep doing this."
"Oh my, are you getting annoyed at the Imperial Princess right now? That’s as impudent as two bowls of ‘that.’"
"Ah, please. I’ll do it. Just keep it a secret from the other students, okay?"
"Master, me too. Please make one for me too!"
The true identity of ‘that,’ which Isilla and Kariel were desperately craving, was tteokbokki.
I wondered if they really needed to hide it by using pronouns, but you never know.
It would be troublesome if others came to the toast shop asking for tteokbokki that wasn’t even on the menu, not just these two.
I had considered putting it on the regular menu, but making rice cakes was more hands-on than expected, so it was pending.
However, if I made a lot and froze it, I could have breathing room, so I planned to launch it once I had surplus stock of wheat rice cakes.
So for now, I had no choice but to make it through dark channels while hiding that fact.
I put water on the individual burner inside the stall.
While skillfully adding seasonings according to the recipe in my head and boiling, Eilenna, who was beside me, spoke.
"J-Jin-u. Can you make some for me too?"
"Of course. I have to make it for you, Lady Eilenna."
"Master, that’s unfair. Would it hurt you to be so willing for us too?"
"Then you work here too. Employee benefits include meals."
"How stingy. Hmm? If I’m eating a cooking master’s food for free... is that good benefits?"
"That’s why I’m not a master... Sigh, never mind."
No matter how many times I said it, I couldn’t shake the misunderstanding that I was a master.
At this point, should I just become the empire’s first cooking master for real?
But I wasn’t the type to be so obsessed with positions or honor.
In the first place, maintaining a peaceful and quiet restaurant life had been my goal from the start.
But if the title of the empire’s first cooking master got stuck to me, wouldn’t I instantly become a tourist attraction in Silvaerin?
You could tell by looking at various tourist nations suffering from overtourism.
They say indifference is scary, but sometimes even that is desperately needed.
The sound of carriage wheels and horses crying day and night around the restaurant.
Troublesome customers of all races would come so diversely that their patterns would be hard to grasp.
Hmm, just imagining it makes me dizzy already.
While envisioning the worst future that would come with becoming a master, Kariel spoke.
"Gang Jin-u, no matter how much you deny it, you can’t fool my tongue. If you wanted to hide that you’re a master, you should have made it a little less delicious?"
"The reality that no one believes me is sad."
"Hehe. Ah, ‘that’ is all good, but it’s quite spicy, isn’t it? Yet if you make it less spicy, it seems like it wouldn’t taste as good. Isn’t there a good method?"
"A good method... there is a royal road, yes."
A Korean with a brain marinated in spiciness to the point where I didn’t even consider ordinary food spicy anymore.
So much so that there were foreigners who said, "Koreans are crazy. They say this isn’t spicy."
But Koreans weren’t some superpower race.
They didn’t have an ability to turn spiciness into sweetness.
Instead, there was the best pairing for spicy food that only locals knew—a marriage.
I had been so absorbed in making tteokbokki that I hadn’t thought of making those beverages.
The recipe was simpler than expected... well, would it be okay to make them?
"There is a drink to have with it, but..."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. But hmm... it’s a bit much to just give it to you."
"If it’s that kind of thing, speak comfortably. Who do you think I am?"
Clink!
Kariel smiled provocatively and flicked a single coin with her finger.
Wait, she talked like she would give a lot, but it was just a single coin?
Even as I thought that, I caught the flying coin.
And checking the coin in my hand.
"Th-this is a gold coin? Is this real?"
"Of course it’s real. Would an Imperial Princess carry counterfeit gold coins?"
"Even so, this is too much..."
"Well, consider the rest as covering this and that in addition to the drink and food."
Wow, I made quite a bit of money through the hardtack business and the stall, but...
A gold coin was a first.
It wasn’t as heavy as I expected, but the texture felt oddly pleasant.
I hadn’t asked for this much money, but there was no need to refuse what was given.
I needed a bit more for the stall operations and Eilenna’s wages anyway.
With this level of sincerity... it was enough to make it.
There was always at least one stationery store in front of the school.
Opening the freezer showcase of the stationery store, there were always frozen milk carton drinks filling one section.
You could buy them for less than 500 won, and the stationery store owner would cut the top off on the spot.
And the taste of scraping the corners with the wooden stick given alongside it.
Or the drink that was always stocked by type at snack bars.
With tteokbokki, buldak, chicken feet, etc.
Wherever there was Korean spiciness, that thing followed.
A fruit-flavored yogurt drink with peach flavor being the most popular.
It was time to create Cool X's, or by another name, Ju X Cool, in this other world.