"O-Of course, Sir Drake! Your dish and cooking was so impressive I will give you the VIP Chef Guild License right away! A-And you don't have to pay me anything either, this delicious dish was already worth its weight in gold!"
Eustace celebrated, quickly using a special magic item to create a new license for me with my name and a photo of my face. Magic technology was quite advanced, although only really accessible for the wealthy.
"Thank you! Now that we are done here, I should get going, I got my whole family waiting for me. I've already taken way too long…" I said with a smile. I couldn't help but feel rather happy to be recognized by such a figure of the culinary world of this continent. However, I was in quite the hurry right now, so I decided to quickly go back to my family to tell them about the good news.
"W-Wait, before leaving, Sir Drake… I want to propose you an idea!"
Eustace stopped me from walking away.
"Huh?"
"Please, join the Cooking Contest!"
And out of nowhere, the Orcus suddenly proposed me a wild idea. A Cooking Contest.
"W-What do you mean with a Cooking Contest? Is there such a thing?" I asked in perplexity.
"Yes, the Chef Guild gains recognition and clients each year by making a big Cooking Contest, it is always a big thing and part of the Festival of the Moon!" Said Orcus. "This year we are celebrating with a bunch of new contestants, even those that have yet to register can participate in the contest. Veterans are not allowed, of course, it is a contest where newbies show off their talents."
"What? That sounds great! But what's the Festival of the Moon all about?" I wondered with curiosity, as Eustace smiled and nodded while immediately sitting back on his seat and explaining things more.
"Heaven Port is an ancient city built by the Frost Queen after she freed the world from the Age of Blood, since she reconstructed society and the world that she decided to create celebrations to lift people's spirits. The Festival of the Moon is one of them, we celebrate it whenever the second moon emerges from behind the Silver Moon!" Eustace said.
"There's a second moon?!" I asked in shock.
"Yeah, the Crimson Moon! It is an artificial Moon created by the Blood Venerable long ago to create a perpetual night when he was alive. However, after our Frost Queen was born, she shattered the Crimson Moon in two halves and deactivated all of its powers. Now we celebrate when it emerges at day as a celebration of her victory over the evil of the world, and the opening of a new beginning." Said Eustace. "Since the day she shattered the Crimson Moon in half was when the world truly changed, and people was once more given the warmth of the sunlight."
"Ohh… I see. It relates to history, even… So how long is this festival? When is it starting?" I wondered. "I haven't seen the Crimson Moon yet."
"It will appear tomorrow or past tomorrow in the skies. And stays visible for a whole week. The festival of the moon starts right after that, and the cooking contest is part of its opening ceremony, therefore it will begin past tomorrow at around two PM! The Cooking Contest is composed of five parts, one each day. You must start by opening a food stall and whoever sells more will continue. It is rather harsh, but this is how we determine who is a profitable chef. Nobody's a better judge than the people of this town themselves. They always await this contest each year, so there will be many clients, don't worry about being unfair in that regard!" Said Eustace with a wide smile.
"I see… It does look quite challenging. So do we need to just sell our products?" I asked.
"Not only that, after three days, five winners will be decided, and those winners will go against the other in a cooking fight! They will be cooking and serving food to a large group of clients, the two that sell the most and please their clients will move on to an ultimate cook show where both will prepare their greatest plate and feed it to judges, I am included in such a contes as a judge!" Said Eustace.
"Interesting…"
I guess I could participate? I am dealing with the Frost Queen Dungeon tomorrow though, but past tomorrow it begins, so maybe I could do it? Also the whole thing over Ruby, I was also planning to do it for past tomorrow. Well, who says I cannot be in two places at the same time though? I can always employ a Clone, but not the Head Clones, those guys are too unique and different from me, but I can always create a Clone using my flesh and slime which I can shapeshift and generate out of my body. I usually don't create these clones because they often lacked my ego and mind, but now that I've become a God I am pretty sure I can create them more "completely" and connect them directly with my soul.
"P-Please, participate, Sir Drake! If you join, you'll be able to show the entire city your amazing cooking skills and the delicious dishes you can prepare!" Said Eustace.
"Alright, I'll do it. Register me in that and give me the details written in a paper for now." I said. "As I said before, I am in a hurry, but I'll do it, no worries."
"Alright! Now I am pumped! I will expect your dishes with great expectation and delight!" Eustace began writing everything and in just a minute, he gave me a paper with every specification.
"If you got any questions, you can come see me and ask me about them without problems." Said Eustace.
"Alright, thanks Eustace." I said, waving my hand as I finally walked away from his office with a new and shiny gold-colored license.
Now I am an official member of the Chef Guild, I can access their special benefits such as discounts in their products and in the many branches they have over the city, and many other things! I am honestly looking forward to that contest, even amidst all the things I need to do.
