Chapter 227: A Slightly Complicated Dinner!
Left behind by Kurono, Stella silently watched the continuously replaying video on her student handbook.
As she watched, she reflected on her mock battle with the boy.
Stella was definitely not weak - she had earned her A-rank knight rating through her own strength.
The ranking system for Mage Knights made no distinction between professionals and students.
Being evaluated as A-rank meant that Stella was recognized as one of the top knights worldwide.
Even though she was young with limited combat experience, she wasn't someone who could be defeated easily.
But those two in the video...
Setting aside Luke Ashburn, even Kurogane Ikki, an F-rank knight - if he had a means to break through her magical armor, Stella couldn't say with confidence that she would win.
After a long while, the girl who had been watching the video lost in thought murmured, "How did those two become so strong..."
Meanwhile, Luke had returned to his dormitory.
Upon arrival, he found Ikki sitting on his bed, rubbing his stomach.
"Ah, Luke-san, welcome back. We'll be roommates from now on, please take care of me."
Ikki greeted Luke first. From the sparkling eyes upon seeing him, it was clear that Ikki was still savoring their earlier mock battle.
"Yes, please take care of me too."
After returning the boy's polite greeting, Luke began talking more casually.
"Since we're roommates now, let's drop the honorifics."
"Just call me Luke. In my hometown, even classmates rarely use honorifics. It feels a bit awkward to hear."
Hearing his words, Ikki felt they made sense - using honorifics between roommates did seem overly formal.
So after a slight hesitation, he changed his way of speaking:
"Luke-sa... ahem, Luke, you're an exchange student like Vermillion-san, right?"
"A foreign name... you're not from Japan, right?"
Facing the boy's question, Luke nodded.
At the same time, he observed their future living quarters.
Hagun Academy's student dormitories could be called quite luxurious.
Though not particularly large, they definitely exceeded standard four-person dormitory specifications.
Bathroom, closet, balcony, and even a simple kitchen were included.
Just in terms of space and amenities, it was far better than his room at the Loki Familia residence.
Having repeated a year, Ikki was in the same grade as Luke but had already lived in this room for a year.
All sorts of daily necessities were complete, and Ikki seemed to have cleaned before Luke's arrival, making the room quite tidy.
After a brief survey of the dormitory, Luke was quite satisfied with his roommate.
However, more important than these matters, what concerned him most right now was dinner.
He arrived in this world in the afternoon.
After various events plus two consecutive mock battles, they had long passed dinner time.
Hagun Academy's regulations stated that the student cafeteria only stayed open until 8 PM, and it was already past 7:30. Even if he rushed to the cafeteria, he wouldn't have much time to eat.
Moreover, for certain reasons, Luke wasn't particularly keen on eating at the cafeteria.
Fortunately, the simple kitchen in the dormitory was a big help.
Sitting on the bed, Ikki noticed Luke walking toward the kitchen and realized this too.
Actually, Ikki had been thinking about dinner earlier, but since his roommate Luke hadn't returned, he didn't feel right eating alone.
"Um... although we have a kitchen, I usually eat at the student cafeteria. The ingredients in the fridge might not be enough for both of us."
"There's still some time... should we run to the cafeteria? If we hurry, we might make it."
Ikki spoke somewhat embarrassedly.
This suggestion of running to the cafeteria to quickly eat wasn't exactly commendable, but at this point, there weren't many options.
If they didn't do this, they'd both go hungry.
Otherwise, they'd need to buy ingredients to cook, and while Ikki could cook, he wasn't sure if his new roommate would want to eat his cooking.
Having always lived in difficult circumstances, Ikki was cautious about everything he did.
Even though Luke had never expressed any negative emotions, Ikki was still careful not to cause any dissatisfaction.
However, Luke naturally didn't have such concerns.
"No need, I already bought ingredients."
"Let's cook something here. Though I'm not particularly skilled at cooking, I'm at least average."
"If you don't mind, let's eat together."
"Ah, I'll help too, I know a bit about cooking... huh? I don't see any ingredients you brought back?"
Hearing Luke planned to cook, Ikki immediately volunteered to help.
But when he jumped off the bed and came over, he noticed Luke wasn't carrying any of the ingredients he mentioned.
However, in the next moment, with a flash of blue starlight, Ikki watched in shock as Luke pulled one package after another from his palm-sized pocket.
This world didn't have overpowered deities like those from Danmachi, and the convenient excuse of Blazer abilities provided good cover.
So Luke didn't particularly conceal his use of the "Portable Pocket" spatial equipment.
Of course, he wasn't completely careless about revealing every secret.
In the background information provided by the Main God Space, Luke's registered ability as a Blazer was the conceptual-type 'Starlight'.
Only he knew what kinds of abilities this unique power could develop.
While using the Portable Pocket, Luke released some Prana to create special effects, perfectly concealing the true nature of the Portable Pocket.
In a world where even abilities that could distort causality existed, spatial storage ability wasn't particularly remarkable.
However, his actions still gave Ikki quite a shock.
It wasn't about the ability - as Luke had imagined, Ikki instinctively assumed his power was related to storage.
But that wasn't why he was shocked.
"Lu... Luke... how much did you buy?!"
"We can't eat all this... forget just the two of us, even seven or eight people couldn't finish this?!"
Watching him endlessly pulling out food ingredients, Ikki was completely dumbfounded.
Mountains of vegetables and meat piled up, including numerous instant foods and frozen ingredients.
Clearly, Luke had considered cooking time in advance.
"Are you really planning to cook all of this?!?!"