"These dishes aren't just for fun," Vampire wagged her finger proudly, the other hand holding a half-eaten spicy strip. Her little face was flushed red from the heat. "That apple pie you're holding—if you eat it, it increases the shelling damage of German (U-line) shipgirls by five percent, lasting one hour."
Gulp.
Yamato swallowed hard, her voice trembling. "Say that again?"
"It increases damage! Lexington-sis made it."
Lexington's smile was as gentle as ever. "My cooking's a bit rusty. Otherwise the effect should last at least ninety minutes."
Yamato's hands shook as she set the pie back on the table. She pointed to a simple plate of beans. "And this one?"
Changchun raised her hand, boasting with pride. "That's Navy-style baked beans. Big success! Yat Sen-sis made it. Increases accuracy of medium ships by five points, lasts two hours!"
"And this fried rice?"
"Also made by Yat Sen-sis. Increases battleship accuracy by five points, lasts two hours."
That meant… this entire table was covered in food with special effects. Eating one dish was practically the same as equipping half a piece of naval gear.
Yamato, clinging to a last shred of skepticism, pointed at a plate of slightly charred sausages. "And this?"
"I made it. Thuringian sausage with beer. It boosts armor by seven points, but only for German battleships." Bismarck looked slightly embarrassed. "I messed it up, so the effect only lasts forty-five minutes."
Even a failed dish could grant a buff this outrageous?!
No, no—hold on.
Why did their food give beneficial effects? Weren't we living in the same world before?
Yamato was howling inside.
She remembered the serialized fantasy novels she sometimes read in magazines during her free time. Now she began to wonder if this world really did hide some secret "gourmet masters" who could create glowing dishes.
No, no—no matter how you thought about it, food like this shouldn't exist!
She looked over at Glowworm, happily munching on spicy strips.
"Eh? My spicy strips don't have effects, only the ones on that other table do." Commander shielded her snacks possessively. "Those ones increase speed—but only for destroyers! They won't work on you!"
Speed—equivalent to agility, mobility. Generally, ships under 27 knots were considered slow.
And spicy strips could boost speed? What kind of logic was that?!
Yamato felt like her entire worldview was crumbling.
Desperate, she turned to Hikaru for answers.
"That," Hikaru said with a smile, "I'll leave to my most adorable head chef to explain."
He pulled Yat Sen forward.
The chef girl shyly wiped her hands on her clean white apron, shooting Hikaru a reproachful glance as if scolding his sweet words, before turning back to Yamato.
"It's nothing strange, really. Just special recipes that consume resources to make. The added buffs aren't that much. I only cooked more this time since we're about to go to war, so there'd be some stored up for use."
Not that much? Yamato could tell the buffs were anything but minor.
She pounced on the key point. "Consuming resources? How much exactly?"
"Quite a lot. Even the cheapest, spicy strips, consume fifty units of each resource. A pot of mapo tofu that raises light cruiser firepower by seven points costs a hundred fuel and ammo each, plus seventy-five steel and thirty aluminum. But that's about as expensive as it gets."
On the table, the mapo tofu was served in an enormous iron pot big enough for twenty people, and the spicy strips gleamed red with chili oil, heaped in a basket.
Yamato swallowed again, asking, "And how many people can one dish buff?"
"Well… I've never really counted." Yat Sen, who had been reciting details so smoothly a moment ago, looked a little embarrassed. "But one to two hundred people should be fine. Even if you eat just half a strip, the effect lasts its full duration. The only catch is, food can't be stored for long—once it spoils, the buff disappears."
The reason she could estimate "one to two hundred" so precisely was because in the past the district had never held more than two hundred shipgirls. One dish was always enough for everyone.
She deliberately said a smaller number now, so as not to overwhelm Yamato. That was Yat Sen's kindness.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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