Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[OP: ]

"I couldn't ask you anything before because of the thing you did, vice captain Lucifer."

Standing before the judges and the person that had given him the chance to make something he had never thought about himself before this day, he smiled bitterly at his teacher.

"I apologise once again, Teacher."

"Hmm, hmmm. It is alright now, but now that you are done making the thing you were so focused on, it should be fine to ask you the pending questions i could not before, right?"

"Of course."

The other students were asked questions byu her when they were making their dishes and they had to answer in the middle of the accreditation process but since he had blocked himself inside that place, she could not ask him anything.

He got away with the hard thing since they all could see what he was doing was already much more difficult than the other students.

He needed to focus and they gave him the chance. And for that he was already thankful to his teachers, the headmasters and the judges.

But, he was still the same as the other students giving this exam.

He was not8ing special or different from them, so he had to give the answers just like the other students.

"Alright then. First, tell us why you decided to use such a complex method when you could have just done the same as the others and taken the easier route? With the skills that we have seen, it would have been easy to get a perfect score even with a very good dish made with the simple methods or with the things that you have learned in my class."

That was her first question and she was not going to take a simple answer, he knew that already.

The reason she asked it in the first place was because she knew there was a profound reason he had done something so daring.

There was certainly no reason for him to show all those skills before so many people. He was only putting his peaceful life on the line by doing all that.

After laying low for all this time, this was his first time showing what he was capable of and they couldn't understand why he would show his skills in a cooking test of all the places.

"Well… teacher. The answer to that question might be a little disappointing."

He himself knew that there was no reason to go so far and show them all those skills.

He not only summoned the spirits using the external energy methods, the kind of magic he had structured with the external energy sources was not something even some of the teachers present here could believe.

It was unique, and more than that, it shouldn't have been possible for a first year student to summon six spirits temporarily and use them in such a professional manner.

One of the teachers among the crowd that was in charge of the spirit summoning class was so surprised she wanted him in her class while the way he had used those skills to infuse the elemental powers into the ingredients and created all the things that he did without using any special equipment was a shock to the teachers as well as the judges.

"Tell me. Whatever it is, it surely should be something that would make you do all that."

His teacher had taught him and looked after him in all those classes. She knew already that there was something special about him, something that he wanted to hide.

And, unlike many others of his peers, he was very good at it.

He not only knew how to not reveal the thighs that he wanted to hide from the others even unintentionally, he had a mind so unique that someone as skilled and experienced as her could not look past it.

It was strange, but if he wanted, he could have just concealed all the skills that he had until he graduated and no one would have ever bothered him.

He also wanted it. She could feel it in his cooking that all he wanted more than anything else was his freedom and the fun he had with his partner and his friends.

He was already amazing without revealing half the things that he was capable of, so if he were to reveal all that he had shown to them today, there was no telling what might have happened to his peaceful life.

"I…"

She wanted to know the reason why he would go so far in this simple cooking test.

"I love cooking."

But, his answer, his reason surprised her.

"You love cooking?"

"Yes. it is one of the most important, and special things to me."

In his previous life, he did not get to cook for himself that often. Making creative things like these was just a dream for him in that life. However, after coming to this world, he was able to do it from an early age.

"My dad was the first person who taught me how to actually do the basic cooking."

He was very young when he first cooked something for his mom along with his father. It was a present for her and he enjoyed making it much more than he had expected.

"I had to live away from them for a long time, and had to use those cooking skills dad taught me to survive with the kind of things that weren't always edible."

In the great forest, there were not many edible things.

He could not eat just ant plants as he wanted since the Mana saturated forest mostly produced Mana rich things that would have killed him if he ate them recklessly.

He had to either survive on meat of the weakest and smallest creatures, or he had to process the things he caught with long processing to make them safe and edible.

"Until I met my master– the person that taught me how to cook using these fancy techniques, I had only ever made things using fire, water, and patience. But, she taught me how to actually make things that represented what I wanted them to be."

This was his first time revealing to them that he had learned cooking from his 'master' and as someone who understood emotions and feelings better than the others, Miss Cleo was able to understand that strange sadness, loneliness, and void that she had always felt from him.

"Well, when you said we had to make something that represented sorrow, I just thought back to all those things and things ended up the way they did."

He just wanted to make those things without thinking much about the consequences.

And even though he took all the necessary measures, he still knew they were not enough.

They were not going to be enough whatever he did since he knew he could not deceive at least the eyes of his headmasters.

"I just made them like that because I wanted to. There's… nothing too deep about it."

There was a smile on the headmaster's face that was surprising even to the vice headmaster sitting beside him.

He knew him better than anyone else present here– perhaps not as well as his partner– but he knew this child better than the others present here.

He could tell he was telling the truth. That he really just made what he thought was going to be enough not for the judges or for them… but something that would quench the thirst he himself had.

"He has an artist's soul." he couldn't help but compliment him. A simple action that surprised the rest of the judges present around him.

"I see…"

On the ground below them, even the teacher could not help but just sigh with a helpless smile as she looked at the rate but awkward smile the young person before her had.

"You're a much more simple person than I had expected, vice captain."

She shook her head with a smile again, and proceeded with the other questions.

She now knew the answer to the most important question that she wanted. She knew why he did what he had done and she was satisfied with that answer.

She was actually impressed more than she had expected she could be, so, the rest of her questions were all related to the things that corresponded with the methods that he had used, the things he had used in his cooking, the way he prepared some of the things and the reasons he used some of the techniques even when there were alternatives.

She asked him some of the most difficult and advanced questions she had ever asked someone in this grand kitchen, but surprising all his fellow students as well as the judges, he answered them all in a way no one would expect from a student giving the very first exam of their life in the academy.

He was good. Much better than what she had expected.

He knew what he was doing and he knew the consequences of his actions and he still did it regardless. Showing them just why he was called the craziest vice captain the academy has had in the last few centuries.

"Alright then… that would be all for the questions."

If it were some kind of theory exam based on cooking and things related to that, he would have received the highest score as well as the most extra points ever given to someone.

Alas… there were no extra points for this test. And, since this was a cooking exam, the theory did not play as great a part as the final products themselves.

"Then, shall we move on to the highlight of today's test?"

Every single one of the people present in this kitchen, the judges, the teachers, the students, even the headmasters had been looking forward to this part.

"Yes, teacher."

And since it was finally time, they could not help with their excitement anymore...