"I'm sorry."
"Young Lady Erina!"
The Chef, completely disregarding his current disheveled appearance, knelt directly before Erina, kowtowing heavily to express his apology.
"Do you think..."
"...your actions can be atoned for with just a single 'I'm sorry'?"
However, facing the Chef, Erina's gaze remained as sharp as a sword, exuding a chilling aura!
"If I recall correctly,"
"your Ramen Kokugikan hasn't been doing well lately, has it?"
"After all, 120 years have passed, and the original Ramen recipe can no longer keep up with the current culinary era."
"Or perhaps you thought this lobster Ramen couldn't truly satisfy my God Tongue!"
"So..."
"...you harbored wicked intentions."
"How dare you add addictive poppy husks to the Ramen broth!"
"What?!"
"Po... poppy husks?!"
"You deserve to die! How dare you use such despicable methods to defile Young Lady Erina's God Tongue!"
Beside her, Hisako was absolutely furious!
She rushed forward and violently kicked the Ramen Chef twice, cursing him.
"That's enough!"
"Hisako!"
"Someone with such a wicked heart is not fit to be a Chef."
With that, Erina no longer paid attention to the Chef and walked away without looking back!
Clearly, her words had directly ended the Chef's culinary career.
And that 120-year-old Tokyo Ramen Kokugikan was destined to be completely annihilated in the river of history!
Seeing Erina leave, Hisako still felt unsatisfied and kicked him one more time before closely following by Erina's side, leaving together!
...
"Young Lady,"
"I'm truly sorry about this time."
"If I had known he would dare to do such a thing from the start, I would never have let him cook for you to taste!"
Behind her, Hisako was a little uneasy and worried.
After a slight hesitation, she gritted her teeth and bravely spoke, "Hisako, you don't need to apologize to me."
"After all, no one could have predicted something like this."
At this moment, Erina, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and met Hisako's gaze!
She clearly wasn't very concerned about this matter. She then brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and asked, "What kind of dishes are we tasting next?"
"Oh!"
"Let me see!"
Hisako, who had been stunned for a moment before finally reacting, quickly opened the tasting schedule in her hand and scanned it a few times.
"Young Lady,"
"tonight at 7 PM, you... you must go to a Western-style restaurant called Chun Guo Ting Restaurant to taste the dishes!"
Hisako then said faintly, "Chun Guo Ting Restaurant?"
"Why does this restaurant sound so familiar?"
Upon hearing the name of this Western-style restaurant, a strangely familiar feeling surged within Erina!
"Yes, Young Lady."
"This Western-style restaurant is run by Sonoka, the former Second Seat of the Elite Ten!"
Seeing Erina's somewhat puzzled expression, Hisako quickly continued to explain, "We once accepted her invitation a year ago and went to taste several of her Western-style dishes there!"
"Oh, right!"
"I remember now!"
"At that time, after tasting her dishes, I gave them a very high rating."
"That's why her Spring Fruit Pavilion Restaurant's business boomed for a while!"
Upon hearing Hisako's explanation, Erina finally slapped her head, realizing it with a sudden understanding!
But then, she thought of something and couldn't help but frown.
"Strange."
"Why is she inviting me to taste dishes again after only a year?"
"Uh!"
"Well..."
"I heard that her Spring Fruit Pavilion Restaurant hasn't been doing well lately; in fact... it's almost on the verge of bankruptcy!"
Hisako scratched the back of her head, saying awkwardly.
She always felt this matter was too ridiculous.
She was, after all, the former Second Seat of the Elite Ten; her overall ability was undoubtedly excellent.
And she had even had Young Lady Erina taste her dishes before and received extremely high praise from her!
But what happened?
In just one year, this Western-style restaurant, once recognized by the God Tongue, was about to go bankrupt!
"Huh?"
"Bankrupt?"
"This... how is this possible?"
"Even if it's a food street, with all sorts of restaurants and eateries lining the entire street,"
"with Sonoka's ability, she shouldn't have fallen to this point so quickly, right?"
Upon hearing that Spring Fruit Pavilion Restaurant was facing bankruptcy, Erina was so shocked that her jaw nearly dislocated!
Then, she realized her demeanor had been somewhat unseemly. So she pretended to cough twice and continued, "Since that's the case, let's go there tonight!"
"Alright, Young Lady, I'll make the arrangements now."
After speaking, Hisako Arato very discreetly retreated.
"Spring Fruit Pavilion!"
"Senior Sonoka, what... what happened to you?"
Erina, left alone, remained frozen in place, her expression somewhat dazed.
Clearly, she couldn't quite accept such an absurd situation!
...
Night!
It had finally arrived!
But at this time, it wasn't 7 PM yet, so the Izakaya wasn't open for business.
Sosuke was seen leisurely sipping a cup of herbal tea by the window on the second-floor balcony, then looking up to admire the beautiful night sky!
Hmm!
This was his habit.
Before the Izakaya opened for business, he would always come here to relax his mind!
Of course, more importantly, he didn't belong to this world.
So, he would unconsciously set aside some time to recall some past events from his previous life!
"Phew!"
"Time passes so quickly."
"Unbeknownst to me, I've been transmigrated to this world for over a month!"
As the rising moon cast patches of light onto Sosuke's handsome face through the window, he couldn't help but straighten up, drain the cup of herbal tea in his hand, and slowly exhale a fragrant breath.
At this moment, his gaze became resolute!
Although he didn't know how many more things would happen in the future, he believed that with his own abilities and the help of the system, he would definitely stand at the pinnacle of this world, look down upon all others, and change this culinary era!
Then, he stretched lazily, preparing to open the door for business.
However, at this very moment, he saw a luxurious black sedan parked in front of the Spring Fruit Pavilion Restaurant next door.
Although Spring Fruit Pavilion Restaurant never lacked wealthy and high-status diners, it was already 7 PM, well past its usual opening hours!
Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any diners arriving now, should there?
"Hmm?"
"It's... her?"
Finally, when two figures stepped out of the black sedan, Sosuke was stunned!