Chapter 18: Simple Meal Mini-Class

Chapter 18: The Simple Meal Mini-Class

"A fairy? You encountered a fairy too?"

A few more little witches approached.

Every single one of them had encountered Beryl while passing through the farmland, and the sequence of events was almost identical.

Beryl, who was supposedly about to leave, had never actually left the farmland.

It seemed that whenever a fresh little witch passed by, she would "inadvertently" reveal her presence, enticing the little witches to pursue her.

Then, she would suddenly appear, giving them a fright.

Perhaps ordinary fairies do not reveal themselves easily, and once they do, they have a strong desire to sign a contract.

But Beryl was no ordinary fairy.

She was indiscriminate, dedicated to getting to know every little witch so they would tell her stories.

Things like fairy blessings or signing contracts were nowhere to be found.

At this point, Moran and the others had completely lost heart.

"Forget it, let's just pick some ingredients! Almost a whole day has passed, and we haven't even solved the problem of food and drink yet!" Moran picked up her basket and went to look at the ingredients on the shelves.

She did indeed very much want to have a fairy who was both cute and capable of managing her fields, but that was a matter of fate.

Even if Beryl truly wanted to find a witch to sign a contract with, her method of screening partners was not suitable for Moran; it would require too much time and energy.

Senior Lilith was right; instead of wasting time on that, she might as well read more magic books.

If it were after graduation, there would probably be many witches willing to spend time to win Beryl's favor.

But these five years at the Witch Academy were the golden period for learning; any time wasted would take a thousand times more effort to make up for later.

Fairies were cute and capable, but they were not irreplaceable.

Rather than contracting a fairy to help her, she had convenient magic to choose from!

The supplies at the ingredient collection point were much more abundant than Moran had imagined.

Not only did she find many common ingredients and spices from her previous life, but she also discovered many things she had never seen in either of her two lives.

However, there was no soy sauce here.

Every ingredient was simply piled on the shelves without any labels.

Therefore, Moran didn't dare take anything she didn't recognize; even if she did, she wouldn't know how to cook it.

In a corner of the seasoning area, Moran found cumin, packed in a small cloth bag.

She tasted a bit, confirmed it was indeed cumin, and took a small bag.

Recalling the lamb chops that Aes had praised so highly yesterday, she looked toward the meat section and indeed saw Aes picking out meat.

Moran took the small bag of cumin and went over to hand it to Aes

"Sprinkle a bit of this on the grilled meat at the end, and there will be a surprise!"

"What is this? A spice?" Aes sniffed it.

"Mm! The lamb chops at the entrance banquet probably had this in them. I call it cumin, but I'm not sure if that's its formal name," Moran said.

Since the ingredient collection point...

Aes's eyes lit up: "Where did you get it?"

Moran pointed to the spot.

Aes went back to get two more bags, and took some other seasonings while she was at it.

In her basket, aside from seasonings, there was all sorts of meat.

Moran's selection was much more balanced; she took some grains, oils, seasonings, vegetables, meat, and eggs, only stopping once her basket was filled to the brim.

It didn't take long for Aes to finish her selection as well.

Carrying their heavy baskets, they waited for their companions at the entrance.

The other little witches stood in stark contrast to the two of them.

Aside from fruits and vegetables that could be eaten after a simple wash, they didn't dare touch anything else, even if they recognized it.

Noticing this, Moran and Aes looked at each other.

"Help them?"

"Mm!"

"If they don't know how to cook... let's do steak! You can eat this even if it's not fully cooked!"

"How about a vegetable salad too?"

"Can do! I saw salad dressing."

"There's a small kitchen over there!"

With her memories of Planet Blue, Moran could easily recall the cuisines of various countries, ancient and modern, east and west.

However, what the other little witches needed right now was simply to make something edible to get through this period before they learned cooking magic.

The priority was simplicity, ease of preparation, and a high margin for error.

Steak and vegetable salad were also common delicacies seen on the tables of all the races in Valen.

It wasn't hard to make them terribly, but it wasn't easy to make them exceptionally well either.

After Moran and Aes consulted with each other, they clapped their hands, drawing the attention of the other little witches

"Pan-seared steak and vegetable salad! Come over if you want to learn!"

The little witches, who were currently agonizing over what to make to eat, swarmed over in a crowd.

"I want to learn!"

"Me too!"

"Waaaah! Moran, Aes! I love you guys so much!"

...

"First, go pick your ingredients! This way!" Moran and Aes led them to the steak shelf.

One piece here, one piece there, and the steak shelf was emptied in an instant.

They even distributed them evenly to ensure every freshman got at least one piece.

When they returned after picking the vegetables, they were startled to find that the steak shelf had been restocked.

"Did you see what happened?"

All the little witches shook their heads; none of them had seen anything.

There were only these little witches in the entire ingredient collection area; not a single administrator was in sight.

Yet, the steak had been restocked just like that.

Moran even curiously checked; it wasn't exactly the same as before, but it was indeed completely fresh steak.

It was as if an invisible person had placed the goods there.

Hearing their commotion, Lilith explained

"You'll understand once you've read the *History of the Witch Academy*.

The entire planting area, including the ingredient management office, is managed by the fairy race contracted to Lady Carmella.

The fairies work when no little witches are paying attention.

A fairy must have restocked the shelves just now.

However, if she doesn't choose to reveal herself, no one will see her.

All revealing magic is ineffective against fairies; they remain hidden in a unique spatial dimension."

"!!!"

"Then doesn't that mean the things we said about Beryl might have been heard by the fairies working here?"

The little witches were terrified, wondering how many little fairies were observing them in the dark.

Lilith picked a fresh steak and placed it in her basket

"Of course! But don't worry. Even if they heard, there's no need to fear the fairies acting out.

When these fairies moved into the academy, their entire race signed a contract; they will never act against the witches!

Besides, fairies have very good temperaments. Before Beryl appeared, many little witches didn't even discover the existence of fairies until they graduated!"

The little witches: "..."

Were they worried about retaliation? They were worried about Beryl getting angry!

This was great; they already felt the hope of contracting a fairy was slim, and now it was completely gone.

Better just learn to cook; dinner still hadn't been settled!

After tasting Breadfruit once, they didn't want to eat that to fill their stomachs again unless they were about to starve to death.

The Simple Meal Mini-Class by Aes and Moran officially began.

The two of them worked together to demonstrate, simplifying and refining every step to ensure even a kitchen novice could handle it.

(End of Chapter)