Raizel looked around.
More than a dozen hot pot stoves had already been prepared, each one split into two broths.
One side held Ur's secret extra-spicy base, while the other was a special mushroom broth made by Mira using fungi August had brought from the western continent.
Raizel had tasted it earlier, and both the flavor and texture were excellent.
The ingredients included meat and vegetables from all over, along with grilled sausages, meat skewers, fried foods, and desserts.
By the way, everything Ur made today was spicy.
Whether other people liked it or could handle the heat was hard to say, but Raizel liked it very much.
He had always loved spicy food.
Raizel's own dish today was steak. He had trimmed and marinated the steaks earlier, then brushed them with a layer of honey to add flavor.
He pan-seared them to medium-well, stir-fried fragrant shallots in the pan, and used white wine, red wine, and seasonings to make the sauce.
As for why the wine was free?
Because Layla had gifted the white wine and red wine.
After plating the steaks, Raizel scattered crispy fried shallots around them.
At this point, he could basically split his attention several ways at once.
One person was using an entire teppanyaki grill to cook steak, while also using a spatula and eggs to draw all kinds of patterns, earning waves of surprised cheers.
Not wanting to lose, Mira, Ur, Yajima, and Toma also began showing off their skills.
Since there were people here from all over, Raizel put a lot of thought into the sauces.
He made several kinds, some sweeter and some saltier, labeled them properly, and let everyone choose for themselves.
Yajima was currently making the dish that sold best at his restaurant: fried chicken bites, golden and crispy.
Paired with an ice-cold carbonated drink, they were absolutely perfect.
"Look! That fried chicken is glowing!!!"
Every so often, someone in the crowd would cry out in surprise.
In reality, it was just the hot oil shining on top.
"Raizel, when can we eat?"
Happy rubbed his stomach and sighed.
"My belly's gone all flat..."
"Fro thinks so too..."
Frosch drooled as he raised one little paw.
...
"Everyone, food's ready!!!"
Raizel struck a gong.
"YEAAAAAAAA!!!"
Responses came from every direction.
Everyone gathered around the fragrant dining area. On the stoves, the red oil broth and mushroom broth bubbled away.
Raizel did not sit with Ultear and the others, because August and the others had called him over to the special dining area for big shots.
Since several of them had warmly invited him, Raizel could hardly refuse.
The people seated here included Zeref, August, Jude, the richest man in Fiore, former King Toma, former Council member Yajima, current Council member Org, and the Ten Wizard Saints of Ishgar minus Ur.
Ur was sitting with Irene, Selene, Anna, and Layla instead.
Mavis and current Council member Belno were also at that table.
Raizel, Jura, and Jellal, the three younger ones, blended into the big-shot table without feeling out of place.
That was probably because they were even more proper than Gildarts, who was far older than them, and they could actually keep up in conversation with people like August and Precht.
The hardest person to communicate with at that table was still Warrod.
Every so often, he would throw in a "I'm joking," and the short-tempered Wolfheim almost flipped the table.
The seating was very casual. In general, people of similar ages sat together.
Brandish and Dimaria successfully slipped into the table with Hisui, Lucy, Ultear, and the others.
Sting, Rogue, Natsu, Kurnugi, Gajeel, Gray, Elfman, Gildarts, and Caine Heavyhoof, the minotaur leader, were all big eaters, so they were arranged at a separate table.
The ingredients piled beside them were far, far, far more than at any other table.
"Big eater contest, start!"
Lector struck the gong again.
Each of them ate like they had an extradimensional stomach, wolfing everything down as if even one bite less than the person beside them would be a disgrace.
Meanwhile, Irene, Selene, and Minerva, who actually had extradimensional storage, ate with perfect elegance.
They used knives and forks, chewed slowly, and occasionally paired their food with a sip of red wine.
Their entire theme was elegance.
"This is the life I first longed for."
After spearing a cut piece of steak with her fork and chewing it, Selene smiled with a faint trace of emotion.
Irene, Anna, Ur, Mavis, and the others at the same table all had a slight flicker in their eyes.
Memories flashed through their minds, and then they all nodded.
"Mm."
They knew Selene was not talking about the delicious food.
She meant everyone sitting together in harmony like this, without conflict and without war.
Who could have imagined this scene?
Seated around one table were the Moon Dragon God, the mother of Dragon Slayer Magic, the Fairy Tactician, the Celestial Spirit King's close friend, a Wizard Saint, and a Council member.
Raizel and Zeref's table did not discuss so-called official business either.
Instead, the conversation turned to when the food would be ready and which dishes tasted better.
"How much longer until we can eat these?"
Makarov stared intensely at the hand-pounded beef balls lovingly made by Natsu, Kurnugi, and the others.
Raizel had added the seasonings, while the pounding had been left to them.
With their brute strength, it would have been a waste not to make beef balls.
Raizel took a look and nodded.
"They're about ready."
After Natsu and the others finished pounding the beef, Raizel had not cooked the meatballs in advance.
Instead, he kept them raw on top of lettuce leaves so they could be dropped into the hot pot fresh when people wanted to eat them.
Time to dig in.
Clack, clack, clack.
Chopsticks and forks collided one after another.
This was the unspoken rhythm of Natsu's table. Chopsticks, knives, forks—use whatever you were used to.
There was only one rule.
Grab first!
Chopsticks clashed. Natsu and Sting, Gajeel and Rogue, Gray and Lyon locked eyes fiercely over the table, sparks practically flying between them.
This was the sacred understanding of people who lived to eat.
At the nearest table, Lucy and the others watched, and Hisui was almost stunned speechless.
"They're... hopeless."
Lucy pressed a hand to her forehead.
Then she turned her head and noticed Erza, whose eating speed was absolutely not inferior to theirs.
It was as if Erza had sat at the wrong table.
Erza picked up a meatball from the spicy red broth, dipped it into sauce, and swallowed it almost whole.
Her face suddenly flushed red, and then she went glug, glug, glug with her soup before immediately challenging the next meatball.
Mira, on the other hand, focused entirely on elegance.
She picked up one meatball, gently blew away the heat, and took a small bite. One small meatball could somehow last her five or six bites.
Wendy, Kagura, and Ultear ate at a normal pace, and compared to the spicy broth, they leaned more toward the mushroom soup.
Wendy was not suited to spicy food. Chili was far too explosive for a Dragon Slayer Mage's taste buds.
"So spicy!"
Hisui clicked her tongue softly and turned her head, fanning her mouth with one hand.
"But it's delicious!"
"Have some milk with it."
Ultear pushed a carton of milk in front of Hisui.
Layla gave Ur a thumbs-up.
"This flavor is powerful. You could open a hot pot restaurant."
Ur smiled and shook her head.
"You're giving me too much credit."
Ur had no thoughts of opening a restaurant. If she wanted to cook, making food for the guild members was enough.
'Open a shop?'
Irene, who was eating roasted lamb, suddenly brightened. A few ideas quietly formed in her mind.
"One more bowl!"
Natsu's table moved in perfect sync, suddenly raising their heads and shouting in unison.
Lucy planted her hands on her hips and snapped,
"Nobody's serving you! Do it yourselves if you want to eat!"