It Lacks a Little Bit of...

"Aha! There you are!" shouted a male voice out of nowhere. A red haired-man with a ponytail running down his shoulders came dashing toward me. "I've been waiting for you..."

"Uhh... Who are you?" Jake asked, confused by his sudden appearance. "Oh, right! You're the weird chef guy or whatever I met back then, right?"

"Hm, seems like I haven't made a proper impression to be forgotten so quickly."

Noticing Alea beside me, his eyes immediately jerked in desire, crouching down and gently holding her hand. "What may your name be?"

"A-Alea..." she hesitated, slowly pulling her hand out of his.

"She's with you? Hahaha, I see you're a, uhh. What's it called again?" the man's gaze drifted up to my face as he looked me over. "A harem hunter! Yeah, you're a harem hunter too? Of course... You've got the looks too, although not as good as I."

"Let's just get going, Jake. He's a little weird," Alea whispered softly.

As they turned their backs to the red-haired man, he fell to his arms in rejection. "Why can't I even get I single girl..."

They began walking together towards their destination. The sun was still rising, painting everything in gold colors; trees were decorated beautifully with golden leaves while colorful birds sang songs of life to greet us on our journey.

Eventually, making it to the castle entrance, they saw that there were already many people gathered outside for today's competition: adventurers of every sort that came from far and wide, ready for some action. As Jake approached them and stood next to a group of fellow contestants and a large tent full of food and drink, he realized how much work and effort went into this event.

Everything here seemed so organized, especially considering the overly concise introduction of a competition that was held the days earlier. He had expected it to be something to get over with, like a minor event, but of course, with the princess on the line, it would naturally be a grander occasion than normal.

As the main port opened, Gilbert stepped out the crowd went silent. He stood once again with a line of men in fine attire. This time around, he wore a scarlet robe embellished with several decorations, such as flowers and dragon wings. On his head rested a small crown covered by a veil, signifying his authority—or at least, the mastermind behind all of this.

"Perhaps I underestimated him," muttered Jake to himself.

The speaker placed his arms behind his back and began addressing the audience. "Hello, everyone," he greeted. "You have one hour starting now. Best of luck to you all." He then exited the area, leaving the audience somewhat perplexed about the rules.

Jake reflected, "That was even more brief than the last time?!" However, he quickly refocused and got to work without further delay.

After arriving in front of their respective tents, each contestant received their own stationery with detailed information regarding what items they needed to do.

In short, it simply said that the princess is the only judge, and it must be semi-healthy to qualify as a dish. It had to include certain nutrients, and fortunately, sushi had it all; there was no need to worry about anything else except for Jake's lack of certain ingredients. Naturally, thing like wasabi was impossible to find, but the princess would most likely puke at the taste, anyway.

But there was still one problem: There was no way to pasteurize eggs to make the mayonnaise. The guide explicitly mentioned the use of raw unpasteurized meat or similar products was forbidden, with eggs being one of them.

"Damn, isn't there a substitute," he thought, slicing up the cucumber into long strips. "It's not traditional, but it sure adds a nice touch. I have to think quickly..."

There were still 24 minutes left, plenty of time to finish up. He decided to take things slow and carefully started to put together some of the components—salmon, kraken, vegetables, and his seasoned rice. After the first side of his plate was finished, he took out his knife and carved out the salmon flesh with ease, leaving the red flesh on his cutting board. Next came the kraken.

"Ugh... Damn fish!" he cursed under his breath as he sliced them apart from the little part he had cut off earlier before selling it to the hooded mysterious boy.

He quickly used the other half to garnish with some edible flowers, hoping the look would add some extra points. In order to bring along more color, Jake then added in a few more slices of vegetables along with some fish eggs for decoration.

Eventually, on his wooden board lay the masterpiece that he had spent years mastering. There were three sets of each sushi, from oshizushi to the everyday maki as well as appetizers.

In the middle of his dish lay pieces of delicate and tender kraken.

Taking a small bite out of the kraken to taste, he began to panic slightly. Sure, the taste was good, but it was far too crumbly and even slightly dry, something that wouldn't fit a princess's taste buds.

Without mayo, this dish was screwed.

"Crap, crap, crap... Should I risk it and use the eggs? No, I can't risk doing that to a princess just for a better texture. Do I have time for vegan mayo? But I don't have the ingredients for that..."

Stressed, Jake began to look around for anything until he noticed Alea, rooting at the very end of the crowd—standing on a table to see. Her face wore an expression of surprise as she stared at his plate.

"Yes, this is it..." he mumbled, dashing toward Alea like lightning with all haste. He quickly grabbed her arm, dragging her toward the backside of the castle where trees and bushes covered the sight.

"What's up, Jake? Are you finished?"

"No, I need your help. There is one thing missing from my food," Jake whispered softly. "I didn't find any way to make the mayonnaise. I just taste-tested the kraken meat, and it desperately needs a binder, like mayo."

"You want me to get some mayo? I can't get my hands on that this quick, Jake. Isn't there something else you can use?" she whispered back, her eyes darting back and forth to check if people were looking.

"That's exactly why I bought you over here!"

"Shh, not so loud. People are gonna find us. And what do you mean by that?"

Jake placed his mouth close to her ear. "Remember when we fucked yesterday night? After I came inside, you still weren't fully satisfied, so I ate you out. I got a little taste of my cum."

She smirked slightly. "Haha, didn't I tell you? It tastes good! So? You're gonna put that on the kraken?"

"Yes..." he admitted, slightly ashamed. "Please help me cum, Alea."