"...They must have decided it yesterday." Ethea voiced her guess as she looked at the Golden Ladle. "The other two must have met the City Lord, or he learned from his subordinates."
"...Yeah," Soren whispered, still not entirely sure how to feel about it.
He turned his attention back to the spatial ring and inspected its contents more carefully. Inside, he found everything he had requested: the rare ingredients, neatly packed and labeled, along with a few extra supplies Lord Asad had mentioned. But there was more.
Tucked beside the ingredients were several items he hadn't asked for. A large amount of high-grade mana stones, a set of finely crafted cooking tools, and a sealed envelope with the official seal of Bagdad City. He opened it and found a formal certificate declaring him the winner of the Golden Ladle Championship.
