"We need to decide something right now. What do you think about Jigoku Spirals?" The dark-winged demon was the first to propose an idea, looking at them with a faint frown.

  Luca glanced at the others, who didn’t seem too convinced about this. But, there was slight problem. What could he say about this…? He had no idea what the demon was talking about. Jigoku Spirals? The only thing that came to mind was roll. But ‘Jigoku’… it could literally mean any combination—like a meat roll with garlic monkfish, stuffed with dragon fruit.

  Would that even work…?

  "But we don’t have skinsea. The judges will criticize us if the dish is incomplete," pointed out the she-demon. She was still shooting glances toward the other cooking station, her brow furrowed as if preparing to attack the moment they made a move in her direction.

  At least we don’t lack manpower, Luca mused. Otherwise, they’d have already had their pots and pans stolen too.

  "Wait," Claw said, raising both hands to get their attention. "What if we use this as seaskin?" He grabbed the fruit and tapped its shell lightly with a dark claw. "It’s sweet and sour. It’ll pair well with the Fairy Seeds."

  Ah. So they were talking about sushi, right?

  "Sounds good to me," Red Mane said. "But we really need to start now."

  Time hadn’t stopped for a single moment.

  "I’ll handle the fish with Deepthseeds and Maideneyes," Black-Wings said.

  "Leave some for the Fairy Seeds. I’ll take care of that part."

  Luca then suggested, "I’ll make a sauce with Forbidden Fruit."

  Though there were more hands than actual work in the kitchen, it turned out to be a positive thing. The demons who hadn’t managed to gather a single ingredient—despite being scared off just moments earlier—hadn’t given up.

  Not only Luca but the other four could feel their eyes on them.

  Well. Who would want to pass the night with the horses? Luca recalled that in the book, there were demons who died from it.

  "For Angra’s sake, why don’t they bother the other team?" Red Mane muttered under his breath.

  "Isn’t it obvious?" Black-Wings snorted while tending to the monkfish, cutting the meat in small pieces. "They’ve got scared by the guy from the Red Cloud Clan." His expression said everything about how he felt regarding the situation. His tone wasn’t good either.

  Luca glanced toward both stations and thought it wasn’t quite that simple. Imuit was strong, sure, but he also seemed to be in charge of the main preparation from the dish, meaning his focus wasn’t entirely on protecting their ingredients. As for the rest of his group… how to put it? They seemed perfectly content letting themselves be carried to victory.

  Even the dark-winged she-demon appeared to have her mind elsewhere.

  Were they already assuming they’d win? Looking at them, anyone would wonder if they were in a competition or in their own homes.

  The most disadvantaged group, on the other hand, wasn’t just desperate—they had that particular demon with them. The one that didn’t seem to want to let the matter sink so easily. That was the main reason why Luca was keeping an eye in them.

  And sure enough, Luca’s reasoning wasn’t far off.

  No more than a couple of minutes had passed since the scent of cooking spread through the air when something happened.

  An explosion shook everyone.

  Luca’s attention shot straight to the source of the noise—like everyone else’s—but it soon shifted away from the smoke and supposed chaos toward the other cooking station. It was just for an instant, but he caught a flash of color darting between the demons, breaking through their guard. By the time Jackal Head realized something had happened and raised one glowing hand, it was already too late.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What’s going on over there?”

  The “cameragraphers” scattered around flew to the scene so fast they were nothing more than blurry streaks in the air.

  “I’ll make you pay for this insolence!” The dark-winged she-demon was absolutely livid. But over at the other station, the imp had already found shelter behind his teammates, having secured a good haul of resources.

  “Do you really think you have much time to spare, my dears?” the host asked, appearing out of nowhere on the side of the kitchen where Imuit stood. His tone sounded almost curious, but the demons froze, a couple even shooting him frightened glances.

  No one had forgotten what happened in the previous rounds. For all his charm, this presenter didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘mercy.’

  “Mr. Shadow, allow us—” Whatever request was forming died on her lips, and judging for her enraged look at Jackal Head it wasn’t something she chose.

  The host stretched out their hand and pointed at whatever the Participants were preparing—vegetables?

  Ah. Luca noticed at that moment that their his ‘cheat’ had run out of time since he could no longer see what it was. He glanced around, and seeing no one was paying attention, he took out the vial of his pocket. It didn’t take him more than a second to finish the matter.

  …Forbidden Fruit? As Luca discovered what they were using, which was the same than he had finished preparing as sauce, the host tsked. The wave of eyes spread again, but they still focused on that area of the space.

  "With the number of ingredients you gathered, if this is the best you can do, I’m afraid there won’t be enough room in the stables.”

  The words of the host made everyone look at the group in surprise. But Luca, who could get more information at a glance felt the words didn’t really mean that. They were cooking fine—none of the ‘bad’ labels were floating around, though they hadn’t finished anything yet. Their results shouldn’t be bad.

  A brief blur of color on the scene made him change his thoughts.

  With a sigh, the presenter gestured with his hand. “You only have 20 minutes left. Go on everyone, keep cooking!”

  The instant the host slipped away, the scene became more vivid —the demons noticed more ingredients than they had seen before were missing. Luca could see that around seven labels had been 'released'—including the Salt. A shame that it wouldn't give them so much trouble considering the 'Seasoned' floating around their kitchen.

  Even so, the matter persisted.

  “You—!” the demoness wasn’t happy, eyes gleaming. But she glanced at the host and didn't dare to confront the other group with her power.

  “C’mon! We recovered what was us!” The Imp yelled from his kitchen while his teammates scrambled to cook something. “If you’re so afraid of us, why don’t simple step out and leave for your home?”

  “We’ll step on you so bad, there won’t be tears left for tonight!”

  She only glared and returned to cook when Imuit put a hand on her shoulder —which wasn't welcome.

  Friction. How lovely.

  The three kitchens fired up, and the work increased as the minutes passed by. But the tension continued to boil over high heat, contained under a ‘lid.’

  “Five minutes left, Participants!” the host's voice echoed throughout the room, cheerful and vibrant.

  “Ah!” Someone screamed in pain. Anyone would think they had been shot dead.

  “For Angra’s sake, be more careful!”

  “Get your hand out of there, you idiot!”

  "Wait—!"

  Despite the commotion, Luca didn’t have time to worry about the others when something far more important was right in front of his eyes. No—when something had happened right under his nose.

  "Who put spice in this?" he asked, pointing at the rice. He barely noticed his slip —but it seemed it wasn’t wrong.

  "Impossible, what are you talking about?" Black-Wings scowled but tasted it immediately. His eyes widened as he paled. He turned to Red Mane, who had been in charge of preparing it, but the demon threw up his hands defensively.

  "No, don’t look at me like that—"

  "We’ve been played," Claw growled, cracking his knuckles as he glared at the Imp’s team. "I’ll break every bone in their bodies, even the smallest ones."

  But Luca had a different opinion. He had been paying attention to their station the entire time, and there hadn’t been any intrusions. Considering that none of them—not their group, nor the Imp’s team—had managed to gather any spice ingredients, that left only one alternative. Someone who had both the means and a good reason, especially after the Host’s words.

  The Imp’s words didn’t seem to be so dramatic now.

  It seemed that group really was afraid of the others. Or perhaps they were just desperate to win. At any cost.

  A bit of both, maybe?

  "There’s no time to waste," Luca said, grabbing the sauce. It was still intact, luckily, or he would have to resort to a physical confrontation to get a way save the disaster. Turning to his teammates, he added, "Let’s do this…"

  The first thing he needed to do right now was salvage the situation, but he had no doubt this wasn’t over.

  Well, he mused. This matter had never meant to be left alone anyway.