After rounding a few corners in the passageway, Mikoto saw the figures of three Adventurers in a relatively open area ahead.
A boy was currently squatting in front of a campfire and was in the middle of adding the final seasoning to the dish in the pot.
An elf was waiting patiently.
Behind them, a Pallum wearing a brown hood was setting out cooking utensils and spice jars.
The aroma was definitely coming from here!
After seeing clearly that they were all peers of similar age to herself, Mikoto's originally tense shoulders relaxed, and the nervousness in her heart eased significantly.
However, due to her personality, when she proactively approached to greet them, her face remained tense, and she gripped the scabbard of the katana at her waist tightly.
Although she felt a bit embarrassed inside, she still spoke candidly, "Excuse me, may I ask... are you the ones cooking here?"
"Yeah. Isn't that obvious?" Zephyr nodded.
He felt that the other party was somewhat familiar. Upon careful recollection, this girl in front of him seemed to have appeared in the DanMachi PV. However, he couldn't recall her specific name.
At this very moment, a system prompt appeared before Zephyr.
[Gourmet Sharing Mission]
[The meaning of gourmet food lies in sharing. Please share your cooking with a strange diner and let them feel the true meaning of deliciousness.]
[Mission Progress: 0/10]
[Reward: Random Culinary Talent]
"?"
The mission reward was a random culinary talent. As for whether it was the cooking skills from Chuuka Ichiban!, Dungeon Meshi, or Food Wars!, he would only have a concrete concept after the mission was completed.
Encountering other Adventurers in the Dungeon was a normal occurrence in itself, not to mention that he could sense goodwill in the other party's attitude.
He looked at the spicy braised Minotaur meat in the pot, which was filled to the brim.
The Gourmet Cells that this ingredient could provide were limited, and he didn't intend to eat all the food in front of him by himself.
It just so happened that he could take this opportunity to complete the sharing mission issued by the system.
Zephyr asked curiously, "Yeah, this is a dish that just came out of the pot. Would you like to eat some too? It's spicy braised beef."
So sudden?!
In Mikoto's exploration experiences, there had never been such a development.
However, looking at the food in the pot that vaguely resembled the cuisine of her Far East homeland, she gulped, finding it hard to refuse.
However, Zephyr's frankness made her even more embarrassed.
She lowered her head and sat cross-legged on the ground, politely taking the bowl and chopsticks handed over by Lili.
After careful consideration, she asked, "Is this... a bit of a bother to you all?"
"It's fine. Anyway, the portion of the food is really large, and we can't finish it all. It's better than wasting it, after all, we spent quite a lot of time cooking it."
Most importantly, the system had just issued the mission, and he wanted to see the specific reward, so inviting the girl in front of him to taste it was definitely an opportunity not to be missed.
"Thank you." Mikoto expressed her gratitude.
"Um... I am an Adventurer from the Takemikazuchi Familia, Yamato Mikoto. I'm very happy to meet you."
"Loki Familia, Zephyr."
Upon hearing the identity of the Loki Familia, a trace of surprise appeared in Mikoto's eyes.
She put her hands together and said with a serious expression, "Thank you for the hospitality, then I'll start eating."
She picked up a piece of beef coated in sauce from the pot, and put it into her mouth.
The meat was stewed to a perfect consistency, with the fibers fully absorbing the richness of the sauce, melting completely with just a gentle nibble. The layers were distinct, and the flavors at every stage were handled just right.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed, and she chewed carefully.
An excellent chef must have the ability to taste gourmet food. She considered herself quite skilled, but the impact this dish gave her completely exceeded her past range of experience.
The miso and soy sauce commonly used in her hometown had a seasoning style that tended towards being mild and restrained, emphasizing the umami of the ingredients themselves.
However, the braising technique before her went in the opposite direction—seasonings were piled on without hesitation, each spice had space to play its own role, yet in the end, they miraculously fused into a perfect whole.
How should she evaluate it?
Mikoto couldn't think of a suitable adjective, and finally answered simply, "Delicious."
Upon hearing this evaluation, Zephyr didn't have much of a ripple in his heart. He was purely completing the [Gourmet Sharing Mission], after all, his cooking level wasn't particularly good yet. At best, it was at a level that was edible.
Mikoto's gaze landed on the reddish-brown sauce in the iron pot, and after careful examination, she dipped a bit of the sauce into her mouth, tentatively adding: "I feel... this sauce, if used to mix with noodles or rice, would taste very good as well."
"Especially with piping hot rice, after drizzling the spicy braised beef sauce over it, the rice grains would be soaked with the savory sauce, and every bite would be very satisfying."
"Or using it to cook udon noodles would also be fine. The sauce has enough concentration and strong coating ability, it's a very versatile dish."
"?"
Upon hearing this, Zephyr's eyes were filled with surprise. He hadn't expected that the girl he encountered in the Dungeon would actually have such accomplishments in terms of devouring food.
He saw Mikoto's extremely firm gaze, and asker curiously, "It seems you have your own understanding of food."
"I also like cooking very much." Mikoto answered truthfully.
"When I have nothing to do, I cook and eat in the Familia base."
Recalling the texture of the spicy braised beef she had just eaten, she felt it was slightly different from the beef she had eaten in the past.
She racked her brain but couldn't think of the specific ingredients, so she asked, "Zephyr-san... what kind of beef is used as the ingredient for this dish?"
"The meat quality feels very firm, the fibers are much shorter than ordinary beef, and the meaty flavor feels much richer than the cattle from my hometown."
"It feels like... a cow that often runs in the wild and has well-exercised muscles. But the flavor is much wilder than ranch cattle, and it even carries a hint of gamey scent. Could it be a specialty from some remote region?"
Lili, who was sitting beside Zephyr, was keeping her head down, struggling to hold back her laughter.
She couldn't just come out and say that the ingredient for this dish was actually a Minotaur from the Dungeon, could she?
As for Lefiya, she turned her head to the side and continued tasting the dish in the pot, her hair falling over her cheeks to hide the blush on her earlobes.
Finally, Mikoto summarized the dish, "Hmm... but I can confirm that the meat quality is very fresh. I can feel the vitality of it having just been processed."
Zephyr's expression was hard to keep straight.
He glanced towards the distant Minotaur carcass that had not yet been decomposed.
Although they were just passing acquaintances, Mikoto, who had tasted his dish, had the right to know. So, after a moment of hesitation, he said, "Um... What if..."
He scratched his head and said with a shy smile, "If I said this meat was cut from a Minotaur, would you mind?"
"?"
Mikoto's expressive face froze.
She followed Zephyr's gaze and noticed the monster carcass that hadn't yet dissipated not far away.
The missing piece in the leg from the Minotaur's body perfectly overlapped with the ingredient she had just been devouring.
Mikoto's state of mind right now was indescribably complex. Her eyes darted back and forth between the Minotaur carcass and the dish in front of her, her eyelashes beginning to flutter in confusion.
However, remembering that Zephyr and Lefiya had been eating it from the start, and that she had invited herself, she had no grounds to blame them.
Clinging to a final shred of hope, her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Zephyr-san... you're joking with me, right?"
"Of course not. But you can rest assured that this thing has no toxins. Otherwise, I wouldn't have invited you to taste this."
Mikoto lowered her head to stare at the spicy braised beef, her mind blanking out as she began a long period of contemplation.
After a while, she asked hesitantly, "Zephyr-san, why would you think of making the meat of a monster like a Minotaur into a dish?"
If it weren't for the Strongest Gourmet Hunter System, he himself likely wouldn't have tried turning Dungeon monster meat into a meal.
He carefully considered his words and stated, "I feel that a true chef should master the means to turn the ordinary into the magical. Turning those impossible, looked-down-upon ingredients into dishes that are welcomed by diners—that is the true meaning of cooking."
"Ingredients themselves have no hierarchy or status. The only difference lies in whether the chef treats them with care and whether they can find the appropriate processing method to let them realize their proper value."
Through this explanation of food, Mikoto could feel Zephyr's focused attitude toward cooking.
In her eyes looking at Zephyr, the confusion from before was gone, replaced instead by an unprecedented sense of focus.
She carefully recalled the impact of the beef sauce and the firm texture of the meat fibers. Setting aside the source of the ingredients, it was a dish hard to find fault with.
Moreover, what Zephyr said was not entirely unreasonable. Without this attitude, one could not make such a dish.
She nodded, praising him from the bottom of her heart, "Zephyr-san is right, my thinking was too narrow."
Zephyr smiled and pointed at the pot. "Then, would you like to eat some more?"
Facing the invitation, Mikoto hesitated for a moment. Then recalling the rich flavors, she nodded. "Thank you."