The Girl Who Unknowingly Became Harem Queen! - 36 2nd Day-Cooking Lesson

The only person who was not startled was Mai, sleeping like a log and unaware of her friends’ turmoil. ‘I envy you, Mai.’ Maria shot the blonde a half-hearted glare before walking up to bed where the blonde was sleeping and shouted.

“Look, someone is about to take the last piece of meat!” Right on cue Mai’s eyes shot open, leaping from out of her bed.

“Don’t you dare touch my meat!” growled Mai, fire burning from her eyes with the intent of defending her precious meat. Seeing this, Maria couldn’t help but sigh at her meat-loving best friend.

‘She reminds me of a certain anime character. The only things Mai is missing are a straw hat and declaring her dream of wanting to be Pirate King.’ Maria recalled a popular anime series from her old world before walking over and snapping her fingers in front of Mai’s face.

“H-Huh? Where’s the meat?” Blinking her large amber eyes, Mai finally realized her surroundings, which was their dorm room, her precious meat nowhere in sight.

“Hopefully, there’s meat downstairs for breakfast, but if we’re last, I’m afraid there will be none left for you.” It wasn’t until after Maria said this that she regretted her actions when Mai grabbed her by her shirt and dragged her out the door.

“Then let’s go! We can’t let those snobs take all the meat!” Slamming open their door, Mai raced down the hall in a cloud of dust, dragging Maria, whose body was flying with the wind.

“W-Wait! Mai, we still have to get changed!” cried Maria, only for her words to fall upon deaf ears. Nothing but a blur raced passed her vision; a thought entered the back of her head.

‘…Maybe I should’ve used a different method.’

Maria was not shocked by the scolding they received for entering downstairs in nothing but their pajamas. After going upstairs and changing into their PE clothes, the girls made their way back downstairs. The students were broken off into groups and found themselves standing inside a large spacious kitchen filled with cabinets, cooking utensils, stoves, and counter tables.

Since there were only five stoves in the kitchen, the students broke down into even smaller groups. Each group had about five students, and in Maria’s group were her two best friends, but was shocked to see that Arthur Pendragon was also a member of their group. He wasn’t the only one assigned to their group; emerald eyes landed on the passive Princess Luna standing on her left side.

Even though Princess Luna was a grade level above them, third-years and fourth-years blended into one group for the duration of this trip. “Alright, students, for today’s activity, using the ingredients that you picked yesterday, each group must band together and cook breakfast for you all to eat~!!” announced a cheerful woman with long curly hair, who Maria recognized as their enchantment teacher.

“But Ms.Riddle I don’t know how to cook!” cried one girl, and others soon joined, stating the same things. Ms.Riddle smiled and explained the purpose of this activity.

“When out on a mission, using their surroundings, one may need to feed themselves. Your aides will not be with you on your tasks, meaning you must fend for yourselves. Not every mission will offer you the luxury of inns or restaurants. Please note that whatever creation you cook up, must be eaten by you and your group. For those who fail or try to cheat, a penalty awaits you~!”

Ms.Riddle’s tone of voice was jovial as always, but Maria couldn’t help but detect an ominous feeling when she announced that there would be a penalty.

Ms.Riddle sat in a chair placed in the room, keeping an eye on the students to make sure they didn’t fail or cheat. Walking towards the counter in the vicinity of their station, Maria spotted five baskets; each had their name labeled on them.

Maria knew the contents inside three of the baskets but was unsure when it came to Princess Luna’s and Arthur’s baskets. Walking towards the baskets, students began pulling out edible items inside. Standing on her left, Maria saw when the princess pulled out this cold silver box. The princess must have sensed her curiosity as she removed the lid of the box and revealed slabs of uncooked bacon.

“Meat!” Mai excitedly exclaimed with stars twinkling in her eyes

“I ran into a Red-Hawk Boar and butchered and cleaned the animal myself,” said the princess.

“Wow! I would’ve never guessed you did those tasks yourself.” Maria had a hard time imagining the delicate and cute princess executing such a gory labor task.

“Whenever I visit my uncle, he sometimes takes me hunting with him and teaches me how to hunt and butcher animals,” said the princess, and upon noticing the awe shining in Maria’s eyes, there was a twitch in her usual monotone expression.

“Princess, you’re amazing!” Maria complimented, missing how the tip of the princess’s ears turned red.

“Arthur, what are in these two jars?” Mai pointed to the two glass jars, one filled golden yellow thick liquid and the other a dark brown.

“W-While I was out, I ran into a maple tree and extracted its sap. I also extracted honey from honeycombs I spotted lying on the ground,” Arthur answered bashfully.

Once all their materials were laid out on the table, Maria began analyzing ideas. ‘Okay, so we have fruits, honey and syrup, eggs, and meat. From the eggs, we can make an omelet, bacon from the meat, maybe fruit juice from the fruits. Hmm, but what about the honey and maple syrup? It would be nice if we had pancakes!’

Looking over the items again, Maria spotted miniature round sponge cakes, hidden behind the honey and maple jars. “Where did those come from?” asked Maria.

“I spotted a baby PanPan tree while I was gathering,” said Princess Luna

“What is a PanPan tree?” Maria had never heard of such a thing; Mai was the one to explain it to her.

“A PanPan tree grows sponge-like cakes, which are super delicious but also rare since these usually grow where the fairy race resides.”

‘A tree that grows pancakes… Yep, leave it to fantasy logic.’ Not wanting to dwell on the thought of how it was possible for a tree to grow pancakes, Maria discussed with her group her ideas, and after agreeing, they got work.

Mai volunteered herself when it came to cooking the meat, appointing herself as a meat expert. Arthur and Julian teamed up to make the fruit juice, leaving Maria and Luna to make the omelet. There was a sense of smoothness and unity that their group possessed that others didn’t.

The others argued amongst themselves and created a mess, clueless on what to do with their materials. In another room, a certain crimson-haired heir seemed down about something. “Ri-chan, what’s wrong?” asked Akihito, stirring some type of mixture in a bowl.

“Nothing, it’s just, I wanted to be teamed up with Ria.” Richard didn’t know how to explain it, but being around Maria and spending time with her always left Richard in good spirits. He liked that she was true to herself when around him, finding her smile cute and her eyes beautiful. Such a pure and uplifting presence that could only belong to Maria had become his addiction.

‘I can’t explain it, but my heart always beats faster whenever I’m around her, and I feel so happy whenever I see her smile. I wonder why I feel this way?’ Richard asked himself, still too young to process and understand his own feelings towards Maria.