Chapter 74 – Chairman Netero (Part 2)
A tiny glass vial—barely the length of a finger—glimmered between Menchi's fingertips.
Inside it lay a heap of greenish-blue flakes, each no larger than a fingernail.
Osren's keen eyesight even caught the faint, shimmering dust clinging to their edges.
"What is that?"
"No idea. Can't really see."
"Looks weird… never seen anything like it."
The candidates murmured uncertainly, craning their necks to get a better look.
Menchi's expression, however, hinted that this was no ordinary ingredient.
"It's the scale of a rare creature," Osren said quietly.
Even without knowledge of the original storyline, his sharp eyes easily picked out the dark gleam at the edges—unmistakably scales.
"They are scales… and definitely rare ones."
Gon leaned in for a closer look, nodding with confidence.
"Mm. Candidates 405 and 406 really do have good eyes."
Menchi's approving smile confirmed their guesses.
"What kind of scale is that?" Todo suddenly demanded.
"That's…" Buhara frowned, already suspecting the answer.
"This isn't something you see every day," Menchi replied.
She strode toward the cooking station Osren had used earlier.
With a bang, she lifted the cutting board lid and poured out a small pile of the shimmering flakes.
"First—these need to be minced."
She picked up a knife, and in an instant—
shing shing shing!
Several white arcs flashed through the air.
Her knife blurred so quickly that even Osren's eyes widened.
So this was top-tier Gourmet Hunter technique.
Menchi stopped only when the scales were ground to a fine powder.
Then she scooped two small bowls of steaming rice from a nearby pot.
"And then—sprinkle this on top. That alone makes it a delicacy."
The pale green dust fell like snow over the white rice.
The aroma that rose was faint but unmistakably fishy, tinged with a wild, herbal freshness.
"Ugh… smells fishy," Gon mumbled, wrinkling his nose—
but his shining eyes betrayed his excitement.
He wanted to taste it.
"Here. You try this one."
Menchi handed one of the bowls to Osren,
while taking the other straight to Todo.
"Come on, you too. Try it."
"Like hell I'm eating fish scales! What kind of sick joke is that?!"
Todo recoiled, fists clenching.
The more he resisted, the more Menchi smiled.
Osren ignored Todo and lifted a spoonful to his mouth.
"The flavor is… sharp and briny," he said thoughtfully.
"There's a grassy freshness beneath the fishiness.
Unusual—very unusual.
A taste you almost never get the chance to experience."
His calm, analytical tone broke Todo's momentum immediately.
"Is it really good? If it tastes bad, just spit it out!"
Leorio was hovering anxiously, squinting at the shimmering blue dust.
"Seriously, what if it's poisonous?"
"Relax," Killua said.
"Since when do examiners poison examinees?
Besides—if Osren's eating it, it's fine."
Kurapika nodded.
"With everything we've seen from him so far, his judgment is reliable."
Osren smiled faintly.
"There are three principles every Gourmet Hunter should live by:
First—treat every ingredient with respect.
Second—protect any endangered species.
Third—never stop pursuing perfection.
"I'm not a Hunter yet, much less a Gourmet Hunter—
but these are the principles I follow."
He turned to Leorio.
"And thank you for worrying about me.
But based on the third principle…"
He lifted another spoonful of the shimmering rice.
"…even if it were poisonous,
discovering a new ingredient would still be worth it."
Menchi and Buhara froze when they heard Osren utter those three principles.
A strange light flickered in both their eyes—the kind that appears when hunters spot a true gem.
"First: Treat every ingredient with respect.
Second: Protect all endangered ingredients.
Third: Never cease the pursuit of perfection."
Even Satotz—who technically has no mouth—looked stunned.
"A born Gourmet Hunter… I didn't expect that among all these kids, he would be the most outstanding," Satotz thought.
As a veteran Hunter, he could naturally see Killua and Gon's potential—but Osren's words were on a completely different level.
Even he, who wasn't a Gourmet Hunter, was shaken.
So it wasn't surprising that Menchi and Buhara—actual, fully licensed Gourmet Hunters—were staring at Osren as though they were about to combust.
"This 'Three Principles of Gourmet Hunters'… that's your own philosophy?" Menchi asked urgently.
Osren nodded calmly.
"Yes. My personal philosophy. And this is the first time I've said it out loud."
Menchi fell silent.
She grabbed Buhara by the arm, dragged him aside, and whispered rapidly—clearly shaken to her core.
Osren, meanwhile, simply smiled and lifted his bowl slightly.
"Want to try? This ingredient is incredibly difficult to obtain."
He was genuinely offering to share the rare delicacy—after all, the scales of a Horned Scale Bear were from a creature that was nearly extinct.
"Nope!"
Leorio waved both hands like he was fending off a ghost.
He had absolutely zero interest in trying anything that smelled like fishy herbs.
Kurapika and Killua, on the other hand, were curious.
They stepped closer, ready to take a bite.
And Gon…
Gon had already set his sights on Todo's rejected bowl.
Good food should never be wasted.
With a smooth flip, Gon hopped onto the cooking counter, sat cross-legged, and picked up the bowl with all the authority of someone who had just found buried treasure.
"I'll try this one then! I won't be polite."
He scooped up a spoonful and stuffed it into his mouth.
"How is it? It's awful, right? Spit it out if it's awful!"
Leorio practically shoved his face forward in anticipation.
Killua and Kurapika had already tasted it, but neither had said whether it was good or bad.
To Leorio, something this oddly colored and smelly couldn't possibly taste good.
Clearly he needed allies.
Gon shook his head.
"Not bad?"
Gon shook his head again.
Leorio sputtered.
"What does that even mean?! It's not good, it's not bad—then what is it? Just say it already!"
"Let him talk, Leorio," Osren said.
Gon swallowed his mouthful, bright-eyed.
"It's just… I've never eaten anything like it.
It's not about good or bad—it's a completely new taste. Really amazing!"
Osren smiled as Gon unknowingly echoed the exact evaluation a true Gourmet Hunter would give.
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