Chapter 2

Speaking of which, I was too busy discussing my world to forget to introduce myself. My name is Marleen Harper, and I am the owner of a less well-known cooking course in this town. The cooking course that I have managed for almost ten years is not very well known, but at least the number of students who enroll at my place every year is always stable, 20 people per year. Not bad for surviving in a difficult situation like now. As long as there were strong-willed disciples, that would be more than enough.

Then, what about ordinary people or ordinary wizards who want to be cooks too? Good question and I can answer unequivocally on this one. The answer is… it is still impossible for them to be a food wizard for now.

Long ago, when I was just opening my cooking school to the public, I once tried to accept students from among ordinary people. I think there could be many people other than cooking wizards who want to create their own food without having to frequent the places where they usually buy food to meet their physical needs for nutrients and minerals. But finally, I understood why none of the cooking schools in my hometown opened their doors to the general public. Most of my students from the third and fourth castes gave up quickly, even though they had only tried a few times.

Ordinary people, such as the third and fourth castes, are known for their super weak mentality; unlike the first and second castes, they had assumed from the start that they were not meant to be hard workers. As a matter of fact, there are certain types of cuisine that require absolutely no magic to make, and it will be a special attraction if they can master it. It is because it means they will be pioneers for future restaurant and pastry shop owners who do not require magic to make most of the food that will be served and sold to the general public.

It's a shame that all of my cooking class students, who are from the fourth caste, choose to give up once they know the number of ingredients they have to prepare and the various ways they must master to be able to cook without magic. They all seemed to prefer the idea of ​​buying food already made by their regular restaurant and bakery owners rather than creating their own menus. Because of that, I can answer with complete confidence that the chance for an ordinary person who doesn't have any magical talent to become a skilled cook is zero percent, without the comma following the zero.

As for ordinary magicians, the main problem they face, according to my experience, is how to fully concentrate their attention when they cook. All the students from the ordinary wizarding circles who studied in my cooking class always find it difficult to give their full concentration when cooking, which makes their cooking results always end in an explosion or shape that can't be described in words. If one person does it, no problem. How about ten people? Or twenty people? That will be the end of the world if I keep receiving them as my students.

Not to mention that ordinary magicians who come to my place to learn food magic usually underestimate the power of food magic owners. All the magicians from the third caste, who came to my place thought that all the food they bought in restaurants or bakeries so far could be created just by imagining and casting magic in the same way they use it when, let's say, making their bed or sorting documents in their workspace. And finally, just like people from the fourth caste, they choose to give up and prefer to buy food in various restaurants and cake shops scattered across the country rather than make their own creations.

"So you're asking me here just to listen to your ramblings about our world system? And indirectly calling me a lazy person just because I come from the fourth caste and you already put me in the category of people who prefer to buy food and taste your food rather than learning to make their own? Is that what you were trying to tell me about, Marleen Harper?" asked Beth with a rising voice while scooping out a mouthful of the fried rice creation I just made today and preparing to throw the fork still in her left hand at me, I immediately lowered her hand for the safety of myself and the future of my fork still in her hands.

Regarding the figure of the woman who responded to my words earlier, she is Beth, my best friend. I will discuss further details about my best friend in particular on another occasion. What I can assure you about Beth is that she is not a bad person, and I always ask her to come to my house whenever I manage to create a new menu to taste it and give comments about my food.

Or at least whenever I feel like I am cooking too much and need someone to help me empty all of my food creations, as I am doing at this time.

"What? I thought you'd like to listen to what I think about our world system and so forth, so I wanted to share what I've been thinking about lately with you. Besides, what I said earlier wasn't directed at you who weren't really interested in cooking, but at my former students who immediately gave up when they found out how difficult it was to cook properly. and without magic."

"Oh, I thought you were talking about me. Next time, speak more clearly. And again, I just liked hearing your explanation of our world earlier. Just hearing it made me feel like a creature from another dimension stranded in the middle of nowhere, even though we are from the same world."

This time, Beth took the last plate of my fried rice and finished it quickly until there was nothing left. Honestly, I really admire Beth's ability to finish ten plates of food in front of her in less than 10 minutes.

Just imagine. In a very short time, she can finish a whole meal by herself, and I even took up to an hour to finish half of my friend's meal, which was very large for me to finish it.

Well, with a note, the food is good in appearance and taste. If she feels that the food she sees in front of her eyes is not tasty or has some slight aesthetic problems, she will not hesitate to ask me to throw the food out of her sight. Or even worse, she will throw the food herself into the street, regardless of the harm she will create from throwing the results of that failed food magic away at the people around her.

"That food, Marleen... Don't you ever show it in front of me again! Just looking at it I'm already throwing up!"

My best friend then pointed at one of the student creations, which I have to admit, looked very terrible. From what I saw at a glance, it seemed that whoever tried to make it was trying to follow the fried rice recipe I just made today, but the results looked terrible. Its color, which should have been slightly reddish-brown, turned into a blackish purple. Even the food garnishes looked pathetic; the person tried to make the garnish stand on top of the fried rice and around the plate, but it just melted and was bubbly. In short, it was not edible for every single living creature who wanted to try that thing.

"Hm... Well, about that one, I must agree that it really shouldn't be eaten. I don't know who made it, but I think the person who made it is great for being able to make it without blowing up the food. Just as a precaution..."

I then got up from my seat and started to close my eyes, concentrating on casting my magic with both of my hands before pointing them at the plate of fried rice made by one of my students to create a shield around the cooking of one of my students whose identity is still a mystery to me.

Next, I returned to my seat and joined Beth, who had set her sights on the food I had put up on the magic wall earlier. After that, both Beth and I saw firsthand how the food, which was already horrifying in shape, started to explode with a sound that sounded like sparks, while the visuals were so displeasing that I found myself turning to Beth for a moment to make sure she was fine.

"It's a good thing you took precautions," said Beth, with a sigh of relief after she saw it. "I don't know what happened to your house if you were too late to prevent it from exploding."