New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 97: THREE ROUNDS— STILL HAVE A CHANCE

Chapter 97: THREE ROUNDS— STILL HAVE A CHANCE

"We are not eating all the food. Just a bite of each is enough. There are limited ingredients provided to each contestant for a particular dish, and they are expected to serve seven plates of the dish. They would be wise to scoop the food in consideration for the size of the food."

The contestants had cooked the food in small quantity. This was because even though there was a lot of ingredients provided, ingredients had also been allocated to the contestants. They had to cook within the range of ingredients provided for them.

"Oh, but may I ask why there are three rounds of the competition?" Mrs Lambert asked.

"There are three rounds and three different dishes. This is because not everyone can prepare the same dishes. Those who don’t fare well in the first two rounds because of this reason, still have a chance." Aristia said.

Most of them did not understand, so she went on,

"You might have noticed that only two dishes were given to the contestants for the first and second rounds and none was provided for the third."

They nodded at her question.

"The reason is simple; The contestants will be allowed to prepare a dish of their choice for the third round. Those who don’t fare well in the first two rounds can still make up for it in this round."

"Oh.That is so thoughtful and kind of you." Mrs Lambert said, impressed and surprised. She couldn’t believe this. Who would do this? This little girl was so considerate.

Allowing the contestants prepare a dish of their choice meant giving them a chance to cook their best dishes; dishes they were good at cooking.

"That means we don’t disqualify any of the contestants until the third round." Mister Lambert said, and received a nod from Aristia.

"Exactly. Tell the contestants about this before the third round begins, after the second round tomorrow."

[They’re probably nervous wrecks by now.] She thought.

She looked towards the door. "It is time."

It was time for the dishes to be served.

The door opened and the five maids came in one by one, each carrying trolleys filled with plates of food.

The maids bowed and one of them came forward and started to unstack the trolley. She placed them in front of the judges.

"This was prepared by number one." She introduced, putting forward a plate. She didn’t look surprised to see Aristia and Owen who were little children.

Aristia wasn’t worried about this because Wilson was the one to arrange for the maids and guards.

After taking a bite, Aristia put down her spoon. The food was not bad, just average.

The rest of the people seated at the judges table also proceeded to taste from the plate.

When the maid saw that the judges were done, she took away the plate and took out the next contestant’s dish.

"This was prepared by contestant number two."

This one tasted better than the first. In her book, Aristia wrote down the scores.

The contestants had been told to serve the dish in seven plates, but when the maids served the food, there was only one plate.

Dorothy turned to Aristia in confusion.

"There’s only one plate."

"Huh? Oh, yes. The contestants serve the food in seven plates as told, but the maids will only serve one plate. So that we have space for all the food." She explained. It was so that they would have room left for the rows of food waiting to be tasted.

"I see." Dorothy nodded.

"Miss Aris, can I take the food?" Dahlia asked.

Even though the food wasn’t much, the remaining other six plates of each food combined would make quite a pot if put together. She didn’t want the food to go to waste.

Aristia thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay." Dahlia probably wanted to give the food to the children. It didn’t clash with her plan so she had no objections.

The time for the food cooked by the next batch of contestants to be served soon came.

"...This was made by contestant number fifty three."

"Goodness," Dorothy shook her head.

They had been tasting the dishes and though there were some dishes that tasted bland, none of them tasted this bland. It had no taste at all. Had the contestant thrown away the salt and spices?!

"This was prepared by contestant number fifty four." The maid uncovered the food.

Mrs. Lambert was the first to take a bite, showing no resistance or hesitation. She thought none of the dishes served could be as bad as contestant number fifty-three’s bland food.

"Pwuh!" She spat out the food.

She had been too confident.

Seeing her reaction, the others became hesitant. Aristia took a little bite and her face wrinkled. There was too much salt and spices! Was the contestant trying to make up for the lack of taste in number fifty three’s food? She shuddered and recorded the score in her book.

Contestant number fifty five’s dish wasn’t so bad. It was average to say the least.

After that, they waited again for thirty minutes for the next batch of contestants.

"Oh my, I tasted quite a lot of... flavors." Mrs Lambert said and drank a glass of water Mister Lambert handed to her. She seemed to not be able to forget the saltiness of contestant number fifty four’s dish. It was still on her tongue, especially since she had taken a not-so-small bite.

The subsequent dishes were either very delicious, delicious, average, bland, or very bad. Aristia recorded them all.

She leaned against her seat, exasperated. She had tasted a hundred dishes after all. It wasn’t an easy feat.

"Gosh, I am dog tired." She groaned lightly.

"You are a dog, and tired?" Mrs Lambert asked in puzzlement, wondering what strange things the child was muttering. Had tasting so much food affected her head or something?

"It means I am very tired." Aristia explained.

"I see." Mrs Lambert nodded. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out how being very tired related to dogs. Nevertheless, she said nothing. This little girl was a peculiar child, after all.

Hours later...

The sky was bright. It was already past noon.

Aristia yawned and stretched her arms. She was really tired. They had finished judging the food of the contestants. She wanted to be done with the first round of the competition as soon as possible. The last contestant was the number one hundred and twenty nine.

The hall was empty. All the contestants had left. They were instructed to come back the next day.

"Did you do what I asked you to do, Owen?" Aristia asked Owen.

"Yes." Owen replied. He had left the judging room hours ago to take care of something.

Aristia turned to the others.

"Since there is so much food. I wish to distribute it to the people. We wouldn’t want the food to go to waste."

The King had given Aristia permission to do whatever she wanted as long as it did not affect the people or the kingdom negatively.

"That is good." They nodded.

However, there were different tastes of the same food, like those that were too salty, and those that were too bland. The food needed some amendment.

Surprisingly, there were leftover food in the pots used by the contestants. That, coupled with the food in the plates actually filled two large pots.

Dahlia, Dorothy and the Lambert couple began to amend the food.

By the time they were done, the food had become two large pots of deliciousness, very fit for consumption.

First, Aristia asked for some to be given to the maids and guards for their hard work. The maids and guards accepted it without question.

Charles asked them to help with distributing the food.

Aristia and the rest left the judging room. Commoners had already started to file in so no one noticed the people coming out of the room. They were focused on the free food.

"Dahlia and Dorothy, take some food for the children."

It felt weird to the sisters to hear her say ’children’ like an adult when she herself was just a child too.

"Yes, Miss Aris. Should we throw away all the bad food? Dorothy asked.

It came to the question of those that were bad, and not at all fitting for consumption.

Aristia felt she wasn’t exaggerating, but there were some that tasted like poison or were burnt beyond recognition to the point of competing with charcoal, unfit for human consumption. Those hadn’t been included in the ones that had been amended. What would they do with it?

"No. Leave it to me." Aristia said and nodded at Owen and Adeline. There was still use. She’d make sure none of it went to waste.

The commoners were asked to line up, then they were served the good food.

"Owen, Linny." Aristia called. It was time to go.

"You’re leaving, Miss Aris?" Mrs Lambert asked rhetorically. "We’ll see you tomorrow, then."

"Goodbye, Miss Aris." Dahlia and Dorothy waved outside the hall.

Aristia smiled and turned to look forward when a carriage approached.

"Miss Aris." Lucas waved from the front of the carriage.

"Lucas." Aristia nodded. "Just in time." She got into the carriage with the help of Lucas.

Lucas chuckled. "Where to, Young Miss?"

"Home." Aristia replied, holding back a sigh. As soon as she was inside the carriage, she slumped on the seat.

"So tired," she groaned.

"Would you like to stop at a stall for some snacks?" Adeline asked. She was full, but she had to consider her princess.

"No." Aristia said without even thinking. "I’ve had enough food for today."

She had tasted different foods back in the real world and in this book world, but she hadn’t ever tasted food as horrible as some of the food she had tasted today. Never in her life.

[Never in my life!] She shuddered.

Owen wasn’t laughing either as he too had the same sentiments. Even before he met Aristia and hadn’t begun eating the exquisite delicacies she was served, he hadn’t tasted such ’poisonous’ food before. Did those people secretly have the intention of killing the judges?

The carriage sped through the streets of the capital towards the direction of the Grand Duke’s Estate.

Aristia alighted the carriage when it stopped in front of the mansion.

"Phew. Home at last."

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