About an hour later, Mash stared, utterly flabbergasted, at the scene unfolding within Orléans.
Archer was boiling a large pot of water, while Shirou-Morgan stood beside him with a kitchen knife, contemplating how best to butcher the wyvern in front of them. Even more absurdly, nearly everyone in the fortress was drooling as they stared at the dead dragons.
Mash seriously suspected she had wandered onto the wrong set. This wasn't FGO; it was some kind of cooking anime. The whole atmosphere felt completely off.
The wyverns that had flown to Orléans probably never dreamed that their final destination would be a frying pan and someone's stomach. They had simply been following their master's orders to come and eat a few people, only to become food themselves. What kind of cosmic injustice was this?
They were the ones who ate people, yet they were the ones being eaten. The world was truly upside down.
"Senpai, is this really okay?" Mash asked Mo Wang, a little scared as she looked at the ferocious-looking dragons. "Eating... wyverns... is that safe?"
"Don't worry! I've never eaten one of these before, but based on my experience, they're guaranteed to be delicious," Mo Wang said, giving Mash a thumbs up, thinking she was just hungry. "Just wait a few hours. We should be able to eat around noon."
Mash wanted to scream. Was the taste of the wyvern really her main concern?! These creatures were supposed to be terrifying, yet everyone seemed so excited to eat them. Weren't they scared at all?
But the residents of Orléans weren't scared. Before, they would have run at the mere sight of a wyvern. But now, with five or six Servants in their midst—and one hiding in the shadows—the wyverns had been dispatched in the blink of an eye. The locals hadn't even had time to scream before the dragons were dead. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Mash looked around, hoping to get Archer or Shirou-Morgan to talk some sense into Mo Wang, but they seemed even more excited than he was.
"Don't worry. I learned how to cook dragon meat from Beowulf," Archer said, having overheard Mash's question. "Wyvern meat is a rare delicacy. The taste is like top-grade steak with a hint of chicken. It's an incredible ingredient."
The flavor, he added, was three times richer than beef.
"B-Beowulf?" Mash didn't know what to say. She knew of the famous dragon slayer, of course. But the fact that Archer had learned how to cook dragon meat from him was... a little much.
"Um, aren't you going to stop them?" she asked, turning to Charlemagne.
But Charlemagne just chuckled. "Why would I? To be honest, I've never had wyvern meat before, even when I was alive. I'm quite curious what it tastes like."
Seeing that even Charlemagne was on board, Mash gave up. It seemed that whenever her Senpai was involved, things always took a bizarre turn.
Mo Wang, meanwhile, had already grabbed a greatsword and was preparing to chop off the wyvern's wings. He wielded the massive blade with the skill of a seasoned chef, a focused look on his face and a slight smile on his lips, as if he could already taste the deliciousness to come.
The wyvern's wings were huge and thick, covered in hard scales, but in his hands, they peeled off as easily as paper.
"Senpai, are you really going to use those to make Orléans fried chicken wings?" Mash asked, swallowing hard. Despite her unease, his confidence was infectious, and she couldn't help but feel a little excited.
"Of course! The wings are the best part. The meat is tender and fatty. They'll be absolutely divine when they're roasted!" Mo Wang said, setting the prepared wings aside. He then pulled out a bottle of special Orléans marinade and began to carefully coat the wings.
"This is my secret recipe. I guarantee you'll be wanting more!" he said with a proud grin before pulling a flaming greatsword from his waist—the Judgement of Shamash.
"Wait, Senpai, you're not going to use that to cook the wings, are you?!" Mash's eyes widened in disbelief. She remembered the Judgement of Shamash all too well. It was even more powerful than Excalibur.
"That's right! The heat from the Judgement of Shamash is much higher than a normal fire. It'll instantly lock in the juices and make the meat extra tender and juicy!" Mo Wang said, stabbing the sword into the ground. A wall of intense flame erupted from the blade.
Mash was speechless. Was he really going to use that to cook? It was an EX-rank Noble Phantasm, and he was using it as a barbecue grill. If any other Servant saw this, they'd probably die of an aneurysm.
Mo Wang placed the marinated wings on the wall of fire. They sizzled instantly, the skin turning a crispy golden-brown as a rich aroma filled the air.
"That smells amazing!" Shirou-Morgan exclaimed, her eyes glued to the wings, drool practically dripping from her mouth.
"I never thought roasted wyvern wings would smell like this," Archer said, pausing from his work on the dragon steaks to look over.
Even the usually composed Charlemagne couldn't help but be drawn in, his eyes shining with anticipation. "To think wyvern meat could produce such a tantalizing aroma! I can't wait to try it!"
"Damn it, I'm starving," Cu Chulainn grumbled, his eyes fixed on Mo Wang's every move.
The aroma grew stronger, and soon the entire fortress had gathered around, their eyes glued to the wings on the fiery sword, completely forgetting that they had once belonged to a terrifying beast.
"Alright, it's ready!" The moment Mo Wang finished cooking, a dazzling beam of light shot up from the wings, piercing the sky.
"Wh-what's going on?!" Mash and the others stared in disbelief. Why were the chicken wings shooting a laser beam?
"Don't worry about it. It's common knowledge that food made by a Super Chef glows," Mo Wang said nonchalantly, as if this were completely normal. He would never admit that he had cast over a hundred light spells on the dish.
He picked up a wing and handed it to Mash. "Here, try it. I guarantee you'll never forget it."
Mash took the wing. Though she was still hesitant, the incredible aroma was too much to resist. She took a bite, and an explosion of rich, juicy flavor filled her mouth. The savory taste of the wyvern meat and the spicy Orléans marinade blended together perfectly. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"This... this is wyvern wing?" she asked in disbelief. The rich collagen, the unique smoky flavor, and the incredible juiciness... it was the best fried chicken she had ever had.
And for some reason, she could feel a strange energy flowing through her, making her stronger.
"S-Senpai, why do I feel like I've gotten stronger after eating this?" she asked, unable to comprehend what was happening.
"Oh, it's probably just the recipe. Nothing to worry about," Mo Wang replied. He had gotten the recipe from Teyvat, and it was normal for food from there to have special effects. This one probably gave an attack boost.
It was a shame the effects were temporary. Otherwise, he could just stack a bunch of food buffs and beat the crap out of Goetia.
"Don't worry about that. Just tell me, is it good or not?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"It's... delicious," Mash admitted. Though she still felt a little squeamish, she couldn't deny that it was incredibly tasty. If it weren't for the fact that it was wyvern meat, she would have asked for more.
Sorry, wyverns, but you're just too delicious. Even Servants couldn't resist the allure of good food.
Mo Wang grinned, pleased with her reaction. He knew the culinary skills he'd honed in Teyvat would win her over. He then began to distribute the wings to the others in the fortress.
And with that, the entire atmosphere of Orléans began to take a turn for the bizarre.
"This is... delicious!" an old woman exclaimed after taking a cautious bite. Her eyes widened, the wrinkles on her face seeming to smooth out from the sheer deliciousness. She let out a high-pitched scream. "What is this divine flavor?! I've never tasted anything so good in my life!"
As she ate, a powerful energy enveloped her, and the muscles in her shoulders bulged like Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
A middle-aged man next to her took a bite and was instantly transported to another world. He waved his arms around, muttering incoherently, "Oh my god! The juice... the aroma... I... I think I'm in heaven!" He then promptly fainted.
Soon, the entire fortress was in a state of frenzied ecstasy. Everyone held a chicken wing, their faces contorted in expressions of pure bliss, as if their very souls had been conquered by the flavor. Some even fell to their knees, raising their hands in worship of Mo Wang, the "God of Cooking."
"This... this is a miracle!" a young girl cried, tears streaming down her face. "I never thought wyvern meat could be so delicious! This is a gift from the heavens!"
"I hereby declare that these fried wings will be the specialty of Orléans from this day forward! We will pass this recipe down for generations to come!" an old man who looked like the lord of the fortress announced.
And just like that, Mo Wang had not only stolen the specialty of New Orleans but had also become the inventor of Orléans fried chicken.
Mash watched, dumbfounded. She couldn't understand how a single chicken wing could drive these people so crazy. She looked at Mo Wang, who was standing there with his arms crossed, a calm expression on his face, as if he had expected this all along.
"Senpai, what... what's going on?" she asked. "Why are they... like this?"
"Uh, I guess I used enough... seasoning?" To be honest, even Mo Wang hadn't expected the fried chicken to have such a devastating effect on these people from the past. If he had known, he wouldn't have used so many "additives."
The wyvern meat feast continued with Archer's dragon steaks and Shirou-Morgan's fried wyvern. The people of Orléans, having had their culinary horizons expanded, began to see the wyverns not as terrifying monsters, but as top-tier ingredients.
It seemed that as soon as a creature was found to be edible, its perceived danger level dropped dramatically. Just like the Kaiju from Pacific Rim.
"I just hope these wyverns don't get eaten to extinction in the future," Mo Wang said, offering a silent prayer for the dragons. But then he remembered that Jeanne Alter had a Fafnir. That was a real dragon, right? He wondered if it would taste even better.
"I never thought you would use such a method to eliminate everyone's fear of the wyverns," a voice said from behind him. A woman in a cloak was watching the joyous crowd, a complicated expression on her face.
"It works, doesn't it? Their food problem is solved, and their fear is gone," Mo Wang replied. "By the way, would you like to try some, Miss Jeanne?"
He turned to face her. Under the white cloak was a familiar, standard Saber face.