The ingredients that Bai Mo had mentioned later were, of course, something he had decided to provide on his own initiative.
But since his goal was to deepen the culinary atmosphere at Tōtsuki Academy, what harm was there in offering more?
Especially now that Bai Mo had found the perfect person for farming.
As a dragon who had mastered multiple types of magic, Tohru also knew some time magic.
Thus, farming with time magic was exceptionally easy for her.
With Tohru's help, the fields that Bai Mo cultivated had already yielded enough to fill several storage warehouses.
And the cost? Just three herbivorous dragons!
Tohru, having never considered those mindless herbivores to be her kin, actually enjoyed eating them even more.
Now, with Bai Mo also learning time magic from Tohru, he was confident he wouldn't run short on staple ingredients in the future.
However, more and more of the ingredients would contain Gourmet Cells. Whether that was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.
Who knew—maybe someone might even extract Gourmet Cells from these ingredients.
But that didn't worry him. Even if they did, the cells they extracted would likely be inferior, and nowhere near as nourishing as the ones he had access to.
Once Bai Mo announced that he would distribute more of the dreamlike ingredients, cheers erupted from all corners of the moonlit sky dome of Tōtsuki.
Even if many couldn't get their hands on the ingredients, at least Bai Mo had given them hope!
After tasting the Sumeru Butter Chicken and the delicious Xianghe Meat Pie, every student at Tōtsuki knew without a doubt—Bai Mo's ingredients were of unimaginable quality.
Now that they had a chance to cook with them, how could they possibly hold back?
After making his announcement, Bai Mo greeted the exhausted Tadokoro Megumi and her companions, and was then invited to the office by Nakiri Senzaemon.
Seeing Tohru standing behind Bai Mo, Nakiri Senzaemon didn't say much.
To be honest, being in Tohru's presence made his heart race—he always felt she could crush him like a bug at any moment.
Was this maid someone the Bai family had sent as a bodyguard? Her outfit certainly made that seem plausible...
After pondering in silence for a moment, Senzaemon turned his attention back to Bai Mo.
"Bai Mo-kun, is what you said earlier true? You'll really be providing even more ingredients to Tōtsuki?"
"Of course," Bai Mo replied. "But in return, I hope Tōtsuki will distribute them more fairly so more people can experience the power of dreamlike ingredients."
"Oh, and actually—what I provided before could only be considered second-grade products. From now on, I'll be offering even more refined ingredients."
As he spoke, Bai Mo pulled two apples from his pocket.
One was a regular Teyvat apple. The other had been grown in the Gourmet World and contained Gourmet Cells.
Visually, the gourmet apple was far more enticing, and its flavor simply couldn't be compared.
After taking a bite, Senzaemon's eyes lit up. "Will all the future ingredients be of this quality?"
"These Gourmet Cell-infused ingredients have a capture level of about one," Bai Mo explained. "So of course, they can be stably supplied in large quantities."
"They can—but I won't tolerate waste."
"Cough, cough, of course not! Then... can these apples be added to the supply list too?"
"One hundred jin per month," Bai Mo said plainly. "But a month later, I want to taste some finished dishes made from them."
"No problem! The students will give it their all!"
After bidding farewell to Senzaemon, Bai Mo walked through the academy grounds with Tohru.
"I don't really like that old man," Tohru grumbled. "He seems like he's always scheming something."
"Heh, well... business is like war. Someone who's kept Tōtsuki thriving for four or five decades isn't going to be an ordinary old man. I've known that for a while."
"Hmph. Then why give him so many ingredients?"
"See, Tohru, this school trains professional chefs. Many of these students have ideas I can learn from."
"Cooking isn't something you can master by shutting yourself away. To discover better recipes and bring out the full potential of ingredients, you have to experiment."
"So what I'm doing now is delegating that experimentation to these students."
"What we're offering is only a portion of our ingredients," he continued. "But in return, we'll receive a wealth of valuable culinary knowledge."
"In my view, that's a fair exchange."
Listening to Bai Mo explain, even Tohru had to admit—his logic was sound.
Letting others spend the time while you reap the benefits... the students got to try new ingredients, and Bai Mo gained knowledge.
It really was a win-win situation—though, perhaps, Bai Mo was the one winning twice.
After giving Tohru a brief tour of Tōtsuki, the two left the academy.
To celebrate her recent progress, Bai Mo had sent Tadokoro Megumi a congratulatory message.
Upon receiving the message, a bright smile immediately lit up Megumi's face.
But that wasn't all.
At the entrance of the Polar Star Dormitory, a delivery truck had just arrived.
However, it wasn't carrying ordinary ingredients—it was full of boxes packed with dreamlike ingredients.
A Tōtsuki delivery agent read the order list aloud in front of everyone:
"Fifty jin of herbivorous dragon belly meat, fifty jin of dragon ribs, eighty jin of dragon bone, thirty jin of dragon liver, twenty snake salmon, six jin of chomp fish liver.
Thirty jin of gourmet apples, twenty jin of raspberries, six jin of fragrant berries, ten matsutake mushrooms, ten jin each of rainbow sweet peppers and Jueyun chilis.
Thirty jin of herbivorous dragon cheese, four bottles of dandelion wine, four bottles of apple mead, two bottles of fire dragon whiskey, and two bottles of ghost taro liquor."
"All ingredients are here. Please confirm everything on-site. Otherwise, our logistics department won't be responsible for any future discrepancies."
Hearing the list, Tadokoro Megumi couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Though Bai Mo had said he would send a gift, she never imagined it would be an entire shipment of dreamlike ingredients!
Most of these items, they had never even heard of before.
As the deliveryman finished reading, everyone at the Polar Star Dorm quickly gathered around to examine the goods.
Half of the shipment was a congratulatory gift for Megumi, while the other half was to be shared among the dorm residents.
After hearing this, Isshiki Satoshi, Yukihira Sōma, and the others were instantly fired up.
"The ingredients have been delivered. Next time, make sure to serve me a dish that truly surprises me!"
Reading Bai Mo's follow-up message, Megumi felt more than just gratitude—she was fired up with the passion to experiment with new recipes.
As for fear or hesitation?
After everything that had happened today, there was no room left for doubt in her heart.
Since Bai Mo liked her cooking, she was determined to prove that she could be just as good as anyone!
After all, he had even entrusted her with secret recipes that could easily be considered family heirlooms.
That kind of trust deserved to be repaid with results.
And Megumi had also noticed something else—the look in Erina Nakiri's eyes when she glanced at her today… was different.
Though she hesitated a little, this time, she wouldn't back down.
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T/N:
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