Magical Engineering

“You’re kidding, right? A cookoff?” Rabyn said as Pryte, and I told him about the first event.

“I’m not, somehow that’s what they’ve decided on for the first event,” Pryte replied.

“I’m on board with revealing myself as long as you all understand the potential ramifications. But how are they even going to manage to judge that many dishes?” Rabyn questioned as he cocked an eyebrow.

“Not really sure, but we will have a porter coming to collect us in a week for the first event. I’m guessing they have several locations, with a ton of judges, but again, no idea how that is going to work.” Pryte shrugged as he replied.

“How many people are we allowed to bring?” Rabyn asked.

“Surprisingly, they didn’t place a limit. Basically, the only information we have is that ingredients will be searched for any contraband,” Pryte answered.

The more I had considered this, the more I thought there was going to be some trick here. Why weren’t they giving us strict guidelines? All competitions had those. There was something going on, and I couldn’t figure out what.

“Dave, you have a look on your face that mirrors my own feelings,” Rabyn said, interrupting my thoughts.

“You think they’re plotting something too?” I asked.

“Yes. There should be far more parameters if this was a normal cook-off. There is likely something we will learn when we arrive that we won’t like. But I’ll do my best to prepare for that eventuality. How soon are the other events after the cook-off?” Rabyn continued.

“Don’t have that information either,” Pryte answered, his face lighting in some sort of realization after he finished. “Shit. We need to prepare for everything. That’s the trick they are planning, I bet.”

“What? Surprise us by making us use only those we brought for a cook-off for everything?” I asked. It made sense and was a pretty good trick if that was the play.

That meant we were going to have to bring everyone at once, though, and that also meant leaving the city much less guarded than I liked. Considering what happened the last time I was off-world for an extended period, I wasn’t that keen on most of our defenders leaving. The problem there was, of course, like so many times before, what choice did we have?

“I agree, that’s probably the play. That means we likely have a week to prepare for everything. I’ll handle getting the cooking in order. Will you want any of my staff for other events?” Rabyn asked as he pulled a schedule off a wall.

“Are you using Orglina and Red very much? We may need them for a befriending event. Beyond that, no, I don’t think we will need anyone else,” Pryte answered.

“What if they make us do all the events at the same time?” I asked, suddenly worried this could be even worse.

“Then we split up and do them. We don’t have to win every event, but it would probably be better if we came in near the top,” Pryte replied.

“Then we need to get to work preparing everyone right now. Is Connie even healthy enough to do this?” I asked.

“We’re going to have to find out. Rabyn, let us know if you need anything. It looks like Dave and I have a lot of work to do,” Pryte said as he ushered me out of the room.

Rabyn

"Gorpila, I want you to go over our stocks today and confirm everything is exactly where it should be. Following that, I want you to triple-check anything and everything I’ve classified as an A or S-ranked ingredient. We need a full, accurate inventory,” Rabyn said.

He had gathered all of the staff, plus the few newer hobbyists, such as Red, into the staff room the moment Dave and Pryte had left. He may not be able to use Red for the cook-off itself, but he had another use for her. They didn’t have a ton of time to prepare, and with the risk of the other events running at the same time, he couldn’t rely on any help besides what he had here.

Or could he? Rabyn filed a new thought he had away for his next free moments.

“Okay, want me to see if Glorp can help if we need to get it done quickly?” Gorpila asked.

“No, he’s going to be busy with other things. We’ve finally got the full list of events for the competition. And it looks like a cook-off is the first one. That means I’m counting on everyone here to get us prepared. Not only are we going in with all our ducks in a row, but I also plan for us to win.”

Several stares of surprise greeted his announcement, but they quickly morphed into cheers and then rapid movement as they understood what had to be done. Cooking equipment had to be checked. Every recipe needed to be gone over. Any last-second refinements had to be completed and tested now.

Rabyn was proud of them all. No one had questioned him in the slightest. He just wished he had John here to help.

“Red, I’ve got a special assignment for you. I want some incredibly fresh salmon, think you can handle it?” he asked, looking at the bear.

“Of course. How many do you want?” she replied.

“As many as you can get.”

Red gave him a slight nod of her head. She had a nose for the perfect sushi fish, and that nose would be a secret weapon here. He doubted there were many factions out there that had a primal mana beast ready to help prepare their natural diet.

He pulled up the ever-useful soul chat he had gained access to as of late for some help on one task.