After all, the day before, Vill-V had also shown her side as a magician.
In short, she was just really amazing!
As for Kevyn's praise, Vill-V didn't react much, but Mei, standing nearby, muttered under her breath, "Isn't it just marinating ingredients? I could do that too!"
So, Mei, who had originally planned to hand the meat she'd chopped over to Sakura or Vill-V for marinating, decided to take care of it herself instead.
She looked at the unlabeled seasonings and thought to herself, This fine, snow-white powder must be starch, so she added a large spoonful to the chopped meat.
Su, witnessing this nearby, couldn't help but look stunned. "Mei, why are you adding so much glucose?"
Mei: "..."
Huh? That wasn't starch?
"Ahem... I just feel like having something sweet."
With that, Mei scooped a large spoonful of another white powder, thinking, This must be the starch...
Su roughly guessed what was happening and kindly pushed the actual container of starch toward her. "Mei, the starch is right here."
Mei: "..."
Then what had she added? Salt or something?
Alright, it seemed she really didn't have much talent for cooking.
And the meat, now loaded with a huge spoonful of sugar and an unknown seasoning, was naturally inedible.
Mei had no choice but to abandon her idea of reaching the top in one step.
For now, it was better not to compare herself to Sakura and Vill-V. She should first learn from Su how to identify seasonings.
The situation with Mei was, of course, all seen clearly by Durandal.
She shook her head helplessly, thinking to herself, 'The cursed culinary skills that the Kaslana family has inherited for thousands of years all come from you, their ancestor. Did you really think that was a joke?!'
In Durandal's opinion, when it came to cooking skills alone, even Kevyn was probably much better than Mei.
At least Kevyn knew how to make noodles, right?!
Instant noodles still count as noodles!
And so, everyone worked together for over an hour, finally finishing prepping the ingredients.
After washing and marinating, all the ingredients were skewered onto bamboo sticks. Then, Sakura and Vill-V took charge of grilling them to perfection on the barbecue.
Grilling isn't a job just anyone can do.
Barbecuing requires even more attention to heat control than regular stir-frying. Too short, and the food can be undercooked; a little too long, especially for meats, and it becomes tough, ruining the texture.
Plus, during the grilling process, you need to find the right moment to sprinkle the right amount of seasoning. Some meats taste even better with a brush of honey.
In short, there were many nuances, and only the experienced Sakura and Vill-V could manage it well.
Fortunately, the members of the Schicksal organization were a talented bunch, not all hopeless cases like Mei, Kevyn, and Durandal. Some were able to learn a thing or two by observing.
So, after Sakura and Vill-V had worked hard for ten minutes, Blanca and Elysia, who had some foundational cooking skills, took over their duties, allowing the two who had been busy for a while to step aside and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Just as Blanca and Elysia were taking over the grilling, two figures—or more accurately, three—also appeared beside them.
Next to Blanca was naturally Ato, who had one arm wrapped around little Griseo.
Holding little Griseo with one hand, he kept accepting the freshly grilled food from Blanca with the other.
After distributing it to others, he would deliberately set some aside.
He would carefully slide the meat or vegetables off the skewer, blow on them to cool them down, and then use chopsticks to feed the busy Blanca.
Although Ato appeared tall and burly—even half a head taller than Emile, another man who stood at 185cm—the tenderness and consideration he showed at that moment were no less than that of any woman.
Perhaps it was precisely because of Ato's attentiveness and gentleness that he managed to find such a wonderful wife as Blanca and have such an adorable child as Griseo.
On the other side, Durandal's performance was no less impressive compared to Ato.
"Elysia, what would you like to eat?"
Even though Durandal couldn't help with the grilling, she could certainly help pick out what Elysia wanted to eat from the ingredients!
After selecting a few things she was most craving at the moment, Elysia reminded her, "The yogurt should be chilled enough by now. Go take it out and share it with everyone~"
Reminded by Elysia, Durandal recalled the sole trophy from their daytime supermarket trip and immediately went into the kitchen to fetch the two boxes of yogurt.
Each box contained ten small cups of yogurt, making twenty in total—enough for all eighteen people present.
Having just eaten the strong-flavored barbecue, everyone showed great enthusiasm for the yogurt Durandal handed out.
After distributing a round, Durandal returned to Elysia's side, prepared her cup with a straw, and handed it over.
"Here, have some yogurt."
Durandal said softly.
"Mhm~"
Elysia lowered her head slightly, bit the straw, and took a small sip of yogurt into her mouth.
Instantly, the cool, sweet-and-sour taste washed away the greasy smokiness of the barbecue, making her squint her eyes with a hint of happiness.
"If it's not enough, you can have mine too."
Seeing how much Elysia liked the yogurt, Durandal made as if to offer her own cup as well.
However, Elysia stopped her.
"Alright~ I'm fine with just my own. You keep yours. Look at you, sweating so much even in this cold weather."
"If you're hot, don't stand so close. Be good and wait over there~"
Yet, how could young lovers in the throes of passion let go of any chance to be close to each other?
Even Durandal was no exception.
She just shook her head slightly, then also took a sip of yogurt, using the coolness to suppress the heat from standing near the grill for so long. She even tried to circulate the Honkai energy within her body.
In less than ten seconds, Durandal stopped sweating further and said with a smile, "See, I'm not hot anymore."
Right at that moment, a voice suddenly sounded beside the two of them.
"You two, I'll take over the grilling from here."
The speaker was naturally Klein, who also had some basic cooking skills.
On the other side, Blanca was relieved by Fuxi.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Klein~"
After a smooth handover, Elysia and Durandal stepped aside with their plates.
One might have thought that after Blanca and Elysia were replaced, everyone would finally be spared from the 'dog food'—the public displays of affection.
But then, Fuxi was joined by Nuwa. The two sisters had always been close, and naturally, they proceeded to put on a show of deep sisterly affection.
And next to Klein, Mobius also appeared, which most people hadn't expected.
After all, whether from past news reports or getting to know her over this period, everyone had noticed that Mobius wasn't good at socializing and seemed to devote almost all her attention to the laboratory.
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