Ho, this is great . Red Dragon Meat Seasoned with Lemon Dragon Fruit, Queen Pineapple Salad and Live Sashimi of Sea Slug Kraken . That's as good as last year's winner, John Freslin. This year's ingredients and flavors are even better than last year's.

The lord sips the sumptuous food served to him with an exclamation of admiration, and the gastronomic group members around him.
By the way, as for the gourmet group members, "U-Ma-Yi-Zo-Oh! That's all I've heard from somewhere else.
Well, even if it's not that, you can definitely tell that the food is good just by looking at it from a distance.
Many diners have presented their dishes, but John Freestand's dishes lightly surpass them.
In fact, the dishes served so far have been scored, and most of them were rated 5 or 6. At most, it was a seven or eight.
But the score served at John Fleshtrans is 9.8. That's a de facto winning number.

By the way, the owner of John Fleshtrang is laughing as if to say, "What about you, John Fleshtrang?
Next to him is the gourmet hero, standing quietly with his eyes still closed.
That boy is so quiet, is he sleeping?
Well, be that as it may, it's time for us to go.

And finally, our first participation of the year!　It used to be a modest little diner, but the recent improvement in the quality of ingredients has made some food connoisseurs wince, and the smiling face of the owner and daughter of the restaurant's founder is secretly making her a growing fan club!　A representative of the common people's restaurant Mina Diner!

Mina looks nervous and nervous as the announcer introduces her.
However, I put my hand on her shoulder and posed with my thumb.
Encouraged by this, she smiled and brought the food she had prepared in front of the lord and all the judges.

Meh, the menu is jack-o'-lantern soup. Devil Carrot Soup with Mandragora Flowers. Cockatrice with killer plant sauce. Grilled entree with cockatrice.

All first-class ingredients from our home. The mandragora with flowers was made possible through the courtesy of Dora-chan, who gave me a flower that was attached to the head of the mandragora.
While the main body of the mandragora is better tasting, the flowers were also edible and tasted great.
The only problem is that it takes a few weeks to grow out of the plant once it's harvested, so we can't eat it that often.

First, the lord and the other judges eat the soup and flowers.
They must have exceeded your expectations at that point. You can't help but let out an exclamation of admiration and eat it all.
Then, you'll continue to bite into the fragrant, grilled entree mushroom.

This is ...... wonderful. The aroma before the meal was the same, but the flavor lingers in your mouth to stimulate your appetite. To be honest, I've eaten quite a lot of food up to this point, but the aroma stimulates your appetite and makes you eat more and more.

The members of the gourmet group next to me are still saying, "Ummm-mah-zoo! And that's saying.
That's a high praise for anyone other than John Freeland. But still, having eaten their food just before, it's a step inferior to that.
Then it's time for the last dish. The lords bring the cockatrice meat with yellow sauce all over their mouths. And...

......!

The judges' forks fall off, including the lord's.
Then, when the scores from the food judging were announced, the entire hall, including us, gasped.

Ten points.

What is ......!

The owner of John Fleshtrans, as expected, opened his mouth at that score, and the brave gourmet girl who had been standing quietly next to him quietly opened her eyes and looked at the number.
Oh, you're awake.

This is .　Big surprise!　With a maximum score of 10 points over John Fletcher Run, Mina Diner is the winner!

A whoop and a cheer. At that, Mina can't help but jump around with Lily.

Please wait.

But at that moment a quiet word brings the audience to a halt.

May I ask why?

It was the gourmet girl who stood in front of the lords, including the judges, and asked them why.

I have captured various high-class food demons from all over the world. The red dragon you captured this time was also the one you defeated at the end of your most difficult quest. As for the Sea Slug Kraken, it's a fantastic squid that appears once every few years in the icy cliffs of the ocean. Capturing it was one or two of the best adventures I've ever had.
Let me ask you. Why was the premium material I gathered defeated?

The girl's question would be the very best. Her adventures have brought her a variety of high-grade materials.
You can't just accept that because you were outclassed by us.

You'll find out the answer after you eat this dish.

I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot more information on this topic. I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot more than just a few of them.
But the moment you take a bite of it, her expressionless face changes.

You're not going to be able to find a way to make it work.　Hey, this is ......!

Do you understand?

With that one bite, the gourmet hero understands everything, and a look of disbelief appears on his face.
Then, without pause, he walks quickly toward you and asks me.

It was you who provided these ingredients?　How on earth did you find this?　Tell me.



I'm pretty close to him. Well, anyway, in anticipation of this, I've brought the demon who will be the guest of honor for this meal.

Okay. Alright, let me tell you. This is the secret genie of the dish.

Then I brought from the back of the room a killer plant that I put in a jar. By the way, it's alive.
The whole hall was in an uproar as soon as they saw it.

Wha-ha!　Here's a killer plant from the Mina Diner food provider!　Or rather, it attacks people indiscriminately!　What are you thinking?

A gourmet brave man who immediately reaches for the sword at his waist when he sees it I brought.
But soon, he notices something strange and begins to relax his guard.

...... What does this mean?　Why doesn't it attack?

Yes, the killer plant we brought along shows no signs of attacking anyone. Of course, it's already mature and has fangs in its mouth. But it moves so slowly, it's as if it has no desire to attack.
The whole audience may have noticed this, and soon the voices of doubt began to rise one after another.

"It's simple. That's probably because this is the true form of a killer plant.

My answer to that question caused the audience, and even the gourmet in front of me, to look at me in confusion.

...... Explain it to me.

First of all, this isn't just any plain, wooded, dirt-filled place. This is a killer plant grown in a grassless, completely dry wasteland north of here.

?　Nonsense, a killer plant can't grow in such a place!

Well, it's normal to think so. Not only killer plants, but ordinary plants and demons can't grow there.

By the way, killer plants do grow there. In fact, it grows because it's a killer plant.

What do you mean?

I saw a cartoon once. It's called fasting.

It was a cartoon of a famous and delicious person who used the minimum amount of water and fertilizer necessary to push plants to the brink of starvation and bring out their full potential and increase their flavor.

I've had a question about this killer plant for a long time. When it grows, it will attack people unnecessarily.
No, not only to people, but also to the neighboring jack-o-lanterns, obviously not for predation or nourishment.
So I turned the idea around. Could it be that the killer plant was overgrown and, conversely, had become violent because of its excess energy?
The fruit that the killer plant produces is the tomato. And I hear that tomatoes become fattening when they are over-fertilized.
So, the environment in which the killer plant was growing was rather fattening for them, wasn't it?
So I decided to grow them in a wasteland, with minimal watering needs, using Spartan farming methods.
As a result, the fruits are not red, but yellow. And when they were mature, they didn't attack people, but rather concentrated on producing their own fruit.

The result is this yellow fruit. This is the real fruit of the killer plant. Its flavor, its sweetness, everything about it goes far beyond the existing killer plant fruit. It's a taste that rivals even the finest ingredients, and it's hidden in a commonplace monster.

After saying this, I toss a yellow fruit from the killer plant I grew up with, pointing it at the gourmet hero.
The gourmand looks down as if quietly convinced.

Then are there no objections from either of you now?　This match will be won by Mina Diner and the wonderful demon grower Kyou who contributed to it!

This time the whole audience cheered and congratulated him on his declaration.