“Since everything that needs saying has been said, then I will introduce the first Task!” The prince shouted. “For the first task of the Master/Slave competition, we will have a cook-off!”
“Huh?” This caused a great deal of confusion across the board.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a fighting competition? What the heck was he talking about, a cookoff?”
The prince snorted. “What? You though the true measure of a master-slave relationship is just how good a slave can fight? I plan to test various aspects of the master-slave relationship. In the first event of the evening, we will see how good the slaves are at being housekeepers! A well-trained slave cleans, cooks, and cares for their master with impeccable shrewdness!
“Therefore, for our first challenge, you must pick a slave to prepare a meal. Naturally, the judge will be my sister! She has an extremely delicate palate!”
“Hmm? I’m judging?” Eliana seemed completely taken aback, but then she let out a light laugh. “Hoho… well, I do know food well…”
“Actually, she’s extremely picky and only eats things cooked by top chefs! So, good luck!”
My face started to grow pale. How could I have foreseen this being the outcome of this event? I was the guy who did all the cooking, and even then, there were always more pressing things so I hadn’t spent a lot of time leveling it. Had I known things would come to this, naturally I would have trained Lydia up on the Cook job. However, even with the Cook job, there is also something to say about practice. I had six levels in Cook and had still yet to even unlock basic cooking. I actually had Basic cooking in True Dungeon Diver, although it didn’t give me much information I didn’t already have naturally. For Lydia who had never cooked and only learned how to pleasure men, even had I leveled her it’d never be enough.
My only advantage was that Lord Tibult was gnashing his teeth too. Between Salicia, Carmine, and this mysterious girl, how could any of them be skilled cooks? The Slave Master had an ugly expression on his face, but he finally threw out his hand and pointed at Carmine.
“You! Go up there and make a dish that satisfies the princess!”
“Eh? Me?” Carmine put on a face as if asking the Slave Master if he was crazy.
“A slave obeys!” He pushed his hand.
The slave mark on Carmine suddenly glowed and she let out a scream as she grabbed her head. Of course, she was a paladin with high pain tolerance, so the fact that she was screaming displayed just how painful it was. It was clear he was using the Punish Slave skill. The crowd of people started to turn awkward. Salicia stepped forward, but a single dark stare from the Slave Master stopped her and left her glaring with anger but with an edge of fear in her expression. How many times had she been tortured to be cowed so easily? Princess Eliana was starting to tremble as she looked at the slave girl being tortured. The prince had to reach out and stop her from leaping off the platform.
Finally, after an awkward minute, Carmine tearfully crawled up onto the stage, not daring to even meet his eyes, looking more like a scorned dog than a person. Several hands suddenly touched my shoulders, and I looked back to see the girls giving me sympathetic looks. I realized only then that my own fist had been tight enough that it hurt now. Why were they trying to comfort me? They were the slaves. They had to watch another slave being abused. It couldn’t have been easy.
“Master, please allow me to win this competition for you.” A voice behind the other girls spoke up.
I looked back to see Faeyna watching me with a gentle expression. I suddenly remembered that in my haste, I had completely forgotten that she was actually a level 10 cook! I instantly set her job to ten.
“Let’s free those slaves.” I declared.