Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[OP: ]

The cake that had various colours and decorations on the outside was completely black from the inside. Find your next read on мѵʟ

There were no layers to this cake, and all that one could see beneath this colourful layer of decoration was pitch black darkness.

The students, left stunned by the stark contrast of their appearance, could not utter a single word even until the cake itself had magically reached their tables.

They just stared at the abyss-like darkness of the cake that… a certain student standing on the balcony couldn't take their eyes away from.

She didn't know about the colours of the cake but the kind of darkness that she saw inside of the cake had made a deep impact on her.

She could see it clearly.

It was deep, it was dark, it was devoid of anything but what it was, so it was pure.

It wasn't refined either.

While they all looked, it was in its very natural state.

Even when she got her hands on it, unlike everyone else, what she decided to do with this special cake— was to store it away in her storage ring after putting it in a special box with high grade preservation spells cast on it.

She didn't want to eat this miracle.

She wasn't foolish like the others here.

There was an entire world hidden in that small piece of cake that only she could understand. A world that she could resonate with naturally.

She didn't want to eat such a precious thing. Instead, she wanted to just have it, observe it as long as possible, collect data from it, and analyse it thoroughly to know more of what she was actually seeing with her eyes, or feeling with her entire being.

She almost fell in love with that simple piece of cake… if she could, she would have stolen the other's pieces as well.

But, as soon as they got it in their hands, or before them, they just instinctively took a bite out of it and soon finished the entire piece without realising it.

There were many people present already while the cake was just a small thing so, there wasn't much everyone could have.

However, one thing surely happened with everyone who ate that simple yet complex cake…

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish…

There was a strange void in the hearts of everyone who ate that cake.

An inexplicable emotion that suddenly overwhelmed them as soon as they finished that small piece of cake.

The taste that they felt from that simple looking cake was not something extraordinary. It was unique but it could still be divided into unique variations of sweet, salty, and spicy.

It was not the regular kind of cake that they ate, it was perhaps not a sweet or dessert either since the kind of taste that they experienced from it was something unique and different.

Still, the emotions that overwhelmed them weren't their own.

They ate that thing, and the emotions that they were experiencing, emotions that made some sad, some angry, and emotions that made some of them shed involuntary tears of sadness, originated from that thing they all ate.

It was strange— to experience a kind of emotion that they had never experienced themselves.

They couldn't understand this, and they couldn't help but question these sudden bursts of emotions either.

It was certainly deep. It was sorrow as far as they understood it, but this emotion that they all were feeling differently was something that couldn't really be defined as the simple 'sadness' or 'anger'.

They felt it instinctively.

It was sorrow.

a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others… in this case, particularly, by the creator of that cake.

Right after eating it, the judges as well as the headmaster and the vice headmaster present here gave the chef of this wonderful cake a word of gratitude along with their compliments.

They knew the value of such a wonderful piece of art, and they knew the right way to appreciate it from their positions.

So, they did what any headmaster would have, and officially praised the creator of the cake, Lady Cleo on the academy's official announcement board.

The physical one that was situated right outside the classroom corridor of the first floor, not the one that was accessible by their leaf IDs.

It was the greatest kind of praise a teacher could receive- after a salary bonus of course, but she didn't care about that- in this academy.

They were happy to have tasted that wonderful piece, and by the time the students had realised the meaning of 'her' sorrow through that simple cake, the time to start their tests had already arrived.

"Here's the first question to all the students present right now."

The students had to make a three course meal.

A complete meal for at least three judges that would most likely be the headmasters and their teacher. However, that was just the minimum number.

They had to take into account the volume of food that they were going to make and they had to make sure that everything was completely sorted out by the end of this test.

"What ingredients are you going to use? Say at least one ingredient that you are sure you will be using in this test.

The earliest seat number will start."

Unlike the normal theoretical exams of the academy, there were some subjects that had a unique way of taking their exams.

The cooking class of Lady Cleo was one of them. As for this paper, all her students had to create the number and volume of dishes that she announced on the day of the test under a certain 'theme' of the test.

These themes are always the president matter that all the judges including herself would check for before anything else, and the overall grading is also decided based on this.

Similar to this class, the superior grade weapon and magic practical paper that will be conducted tomorrow was one of the most important papers in the entire academy that most of the students wished to get in.

But, only a few who meet the criteria and pass the subject teacher's assessment could attend this class officially.

And yet, there are always extra students who attend this class to watch the practical lessons of the students who attend that class…

"Who's the first one? Speak up! What's the ingredients you're gonna use~?"

The timer clock situated right above the counter that she was standing in was already ticking down.

The time was limited so the students who had yet not thought about what they were going to make were already in a panic.

Their theme this time was sorrow, a rather unusual theme that not every one of them would be able to work on even with so much freedom.

To represent sorrow throughout a three course meal, one first had to understand what the 'sorrow' even meant to them.

They then had to perfectly make a dish that could represent this 'sorrow' which was not something simple even for someone like Eon.

[{ "What you gonna make?" }]

[{ "Dunno. Am still thinking." }]

The students already knew taking inspiration from their teacher's cake was not going to be possible since the sorrow that she presented to them in the form of that unique dish was something that belonged only to her.

Additionally, if even Eon who had a special helper like Lucy couldn't completely analyse the components and the creation methods of that cake, it wasn't going to be possible for any of them to even figure out what ingredients their teacher had used in that seemingly simple looking cake.

[{ "Looks like Lizzy knows what she's gonna make." }]

[{ "She might actually know it better than others, you know? Sorrow is exactly the kind of emotion she understands well." }]

They knew her life had not been the greatest. There had been times when she had to starve.

She was an orphan, and until recently, she had only relied on her own self.

They knew her well, and they knew how she was a kind person despite the kind of difficulties she had been through.

So, it wasn't really a surprise that she would have already started her preparations.

[{ What are you thinking, master? Is it difficult to make something like that pretty cake? }]

[{ "Not really, little one. You see, sorrow is a kind of topic that we can work on in various different ways." }]

[{ Then, are you having difficulty choosing which way you should make it~? I can help with that~! }]

[{ "Hahaha, of course you can help with that. But we aren't looking for what to make… but rather, how to make it." }]

The theme was pretty good this time, he knew that well at least.

Sorrow. It was an emotion.

And he knew how to evoke any kind of emotion through his dishes very well.

Though, to actually recreate that emotion the way he understood it, there was a possibility that he would have to use some not-so-common cooking methods.

'Lucy, do you think it will be a problem if we use some fancy techniques?'

[{ *Is that a question, master?* }]

'Well, I'm just asking for your opinion-.'

[{ *You will have to ask me a question for the kind of answer you are looking for, master.* }]

He loved the 'soup' that his teacher had prepared for them.

It was a very unique dish and now even though there were other students and spectators, he was too tired to hold himself back anymore.

'Alright then. It's a question.'

He wanted to try out many things. Experiment with a few other things. Check out some possible combinations and ideas, and he wanted to make some certain things even though he did not know if they would be possible.

But, he was fired up right now…

[{ *Very well then. The question is received… and the answer is simply a negative. There will not be any serious consequences of what you would be trying out from now on.* }]

'Thanks for the short reply. That's all I needed.'

He knew what he was going to do now that he had revived his green signal.

And his turn to answer their teacher's first question was here as well, so, he looked back at his teacher in the front with a positive smile, and answered to her right after the student beside him…