Chapter 149: The Nation of Cuisine, Girvante (7) "Tonkatsu?"
"What's that? There wasn't any menu with that name among the bunsik we ate."
"Are they revealing a new menu to match the duel?"
"It definitely sounds like it'll be a dish clearly different from tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim."
With an unfamiliar bunsik revealed at an unexpected timing, the citizens began to let their imaginations run.
But it stayed speculation. Their curiosity about tonkatsu only grew instead of being satisfied.
"Since many of you are encountering bunsik for the first time today, we'll tell you about tonkatsu. But rather than words, it'll come across much more clearly if you watch the screen, right? Mr. Jinseo, please play the footage."
At Julien's request, Jinseo played the tonkatsu introduction video he had filmed before for promotion.
Ssssss.
As tonkatsu turning golden in hot oil filled the large TV screen, the citizens held their breath and swallowed hard.
Normally, the sequence should have started with pounding the pork, but Jinseo deliberately edited it so the frying scene appeared first.
Then he showed the cooking process from the beginning. Some chefs took out writing tools and recorded in detail how Jinseo cooked in the video.
"This is tonkatsu, the food truck's signature menu, popular enough to rival tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim."
"For reference, the tonkatsu you just saw is Western-style tonkatsu. The texture of the breading that wraps thinly sliced pork is outstanding."
Julien licked his lips, recalling the crispness of the breading shattering in the mouth.
"There's also a variant called Japanese-style tonkatsu, but Mr. Jinseo hasn't introduced it yet. Personally, I hoped Japanese-style tonkatsu would appear today, but… it seems it isn't time yet."
Fedora sighed in disappointment again and took a sip of ChocoX Milk.
"Soup, tonkatsu, rice, and salad. Four items on one plate. This is the Western-style tonkatsu set meal."
As they listened to the commentators' broadcast, the citizens watched closely as a single serving of tonkatsu came together.
Then the video cut to Craid eating the finished tonkatsu, and sighs burst out here and there.
They couldn't endure the hunger as they watched him cut the perfectly fried tonkatsu into small square pieces with a fork and knife, then dip them into ketchup he had already squeezed out and eat them.
"I can hear everyone swallowing even from here. It's too hard to just watch, isn't it? We've received word that the tonkatsu being fried by the other chefs besides Mr. Jinseo will soon come out as tasting samples, so please endure just a little longer!"
"I'll explain the rules. Soup is served only with the first serving. Aside from tonkatsu, you must also finish the bowl of rice and the salad served with it for it to count as one serving consumed. For side dishes, you'll have pickled radish and stir-fried kimchi. For sauce, you may choose whichever you like between ketchup and tonkatsu sauce."
"Personally, I'd recommend the stir-fried kimchi. The unique spiciness of kimchi cuts the greasiness of tonkatsu and stimulates appetite."
Greg delivered good news to calm the citizens, and Julien calmly explained the rules that would apply to the match.
Meanwhile, Fedora kept revealing her fondness for spicy flavor at every turn, without losing her own identity.
"Tonkatsu will be served one portion at a time, and each time it comes out, it will be weighed so it's provided at the same weight."
"Then there can be no complaints at all. Any duel must be fair without special treatment for either side for it to be enjoyable to watch."
Greg and Julien continued their commentary, and Jinseo listened to it through the speaker while frying tonkatsu nonstop.
*I'm looking forward to seeing just how much tonkatsu those two will eat.*¹
Tonkatsu was a food that often appeared in so-called eating broadcast challenges, so he judged it optimal for their eating duel.
"Salad and rice are ready! The soup is done too!"
"Yes. Let's serve it now."
Jinseo and Skelson each carried a tray with a tonkatsu set meal down from the cooking area.
A moment later, one freshly fried tonkatsu set meal was placed in front of each man seated across the table.
"Thank you for waiting! The time limit is thirty minutes! The duel to decide who is the strongest big eater in the Kingdom of Girvante begins now!"²
At Greg's shout, Lanster II and Craid picked up their fork and knife at the same time.
Slice, slice.
Crunch, crunch.
Within Selfier Castle, where countless citizens had gathered, only the sound of knives cutting tonkatsu and the sound of breading being chewed spread far through the hush.
It had been only a little over ten minutes since the eating duel began.
Yet in that short time, the two of them each devoured five servings of tonkatsu, and for a while, the three commentators silently watched them eat.
The sight alone—quickly slicing the tonkatsu, dipping the small square pieces alternately into ketchup and tonkatsu sauce and putting them into their mouths, and occasionally eating rice and salad as well—needed no further explanation.
Adding commentary in this situation would only be meaningless clutter, so the three commentators stayed silent.
And that silence broke when Lanster II was in the middle of his eighth serving.
"Uh… His Majesty has put down his fork. Is he giving up already?"
When Lanster II set his fork down on a plate with tonkatsu still half remaining, the citizens began to murmur.
"No! It's the opposite! Look closely! His Majesty has removed the crown he was wearing!"
Lanster II rubbed his now-lighter neck with his left hand and rolled his right arm in circles.
Then he seized the fork and knife again and began putting tonkatsu into his mouth with an even fiercer pace than before.
"You pointed out that His Majesty removed his crown—does that have special meaning?"
"Yes! His Majesty removes and sets down the crown like that as a sign that he wants a larger quantity. Then the palace chefs will bring more on their own! Everyone, the tonkatsu eating duel starts now!"
At Fedora's question, Greg poured out his explanation as if he had been waiting for it.
"Ah… Craid—n-no! Lord Craid has taken out his dedicated fork! Not the fork he used until last year, but an adantium fork made by a dwarf craftsman! Just like His Majesty removed his crown earlier, it's a sign that Lord Craid will also go all out!"³
Seeing Craid's dedicated fork with its subtle sheen, Julien lost the composure he had maintained so far and, like Greg, began to get excited.
Stab-stab-stab-stab.
Craid used the dedicated fork to stack and skewer the perfectly square pieces of tonkatsu like a kebab.
Then he shoved sixteen pieces into his mouth at once, chewed, and swallowed.
"That fork… adantium?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Your stance of going all out is commendable! Good. Then I will go all out as well!"
Lanster II and Craid looked at each other, let out a brief chuckle, and further accelerated their eating.
The tonkatsu Jinseo fried continuously vanished quickly into Lanster II's and Craid's mouths, and by the time twenty minutes passed, each man had devoured fifteen servings of tonkatsu.
"Pork inside this crisp breading…"
"Even without salad and rice, just dipping it in sauce and eating it is delicious. This food called tonkatsu."
"With food this delicious, no wonder they can eat that much."
Meanwhile, the citizens watching the duel were busily tasting the sample tonkatsu laid out on the tables in front of the large TV.
They enjoyed the tonkatsu eating duel by eating tonkatsu themselves and watching on the large TV screen as the two men fiercely sliced and ate tonkatsu.
"Aaah!"
Andrew, who had been carrying tonkatsu to the two men nonstop, missed a step from nerves, and two set meals on his tray shot up over his head.
At that moment—
Nero, sitting at the counter, stretched out its right front paw, and the food that was about to hit the floor began to float back up.
The two tonkatsu set meals rose onto the plates again, advanced through the air while hovering, and dropped neatly onto the table where Lanster II and Craid faced each other.
"Nero! Nero's levitation magic protected the tonkatsu set meals safely!"
"It may be unfamiliar to the citizens of Selfier Castle, but the spirit Nero, resembling a black cat, is the food truck's mascot along with Owl, the white owl spirit. Today, it played a role far beyond a mascot!"
Greg and Julien praised Nero's performance.
Nero, however, indifferently turned its back on them and sat on Fedora's thigh.
"Please give a round of applause to our Nero, who protected the precious tonkatsu!"
At Fedora's cry, the citizens set down their tonkatsu and began clapping.
"Nero! Nero! Nero!"
"Guardian of tonkatsu! Nero!"
"The best! Nero!"
As Nero raised its tail proudly at the cheers pouring down on it, Owl, still filming the duel, whipped its head back and glared at Nero.
But it backfired.
When Nero filled the screen, the citizens chanting Nero's name only grew louder.
Thanks to that, the atmosphere heated up even further, but for the two men still in the middle of the duel, an unexpected ordeal arrived.
From the brief commotion, both of them paused their forkwork at the same time, and the fullness they had forced themselves to forget surged in to torment them.
Unable to suffer another defeat, Lanster II stared down at his plate with a hardened expression.
*I've eaten the tonkatsu and the salad. What's left is the rice…*⁴
He stuffed the remaining rice into his mouth and tried to force it down with water.
But as the ruler of the Kingdom of Girvante, his pride would not allow such a shortcut.²
He set the water glass back down and began eating the remaining rice slowly, but without stopping, one spoonful at a time, using stir-fried kimchi as his side dish.
"Thirty minutes! Thirty minutes are up! The tonkatsu the two contestants ate is… twenty servings! It's a tie!"
Lanster II and Craid finished their twentieth tonkatsu set meal almost simultaneously.
There wasn't a single grain of rice or a single piece of breading left on their plates, and it could only look like a draw to anyone, so Jinseo began frying more tonkatsu in preparation for overtime.
"I lost."
However, instead of overtime, Craid acknowledged defeat and set his dedicated fork down on the table.
"No, why would you?"
Lanster II looked up at Craid with an expression that said he couldn't understand.
"Because I focused on cutting tonkatsu quickly and precisely, I unconsciously imbued the knife with aura as I cut. That naturally reduces the time spent cutting tonkatsu, and lets me spend that much more time eating. That isn't fair."
As proof, Craid lifted up an empty plate and held it out toward Owl.
"Oh… as expected of Lord Craid."
"That's skill we couldn't even dream of!"
Seeing the plate scored with sharp, checkered cracks, the guard knights couldn't stop marveling.
Even if it was a dining knife, if you applied aura and strength, it would be normal for the plate to shatter and even smash the table.
But Craid had controlled his aura with extreme delicacy, cutting only the tonkatsu precisely and leaving nothing but cracks on the plate beneath. It was an astonishing level of aura control.
"Isn't that simply your advantage? I accepted the duel with even that in mind."
"No. In an eating duel, no advantage other than the ability to eat should come into play. I cannot accept my mistake."
"By that logic, couldn't your dedicated fork itself be an issue as well?"
"That is within what I allow. In sword sparring, using a better sword isn't cowardly behavior, is it? Please understand it that way."
"But…"
"Your Majesty, excuse me a moment."
Craid stood beside Lanster II, grabbed his right hand, and raised it high, and the citizens' cheers erupted toward the two of them.
"Did I… win…"
Even though Lanster II had overcome his defeat from five years ago and won, his expression was not pleasant at all.
"The next time we compete, I will learn aura as well. A victory like this doesn't sit right with me."
"I look forward to it, Your Majesty."
"By the way, we should step aside now."
Now separated into winner and loser, the two men left the table while rubbing their slightly swollen bellies.
As if they had been waiting, customers surged toward the counter, and tonkatsu orders began to pour in like a flood.
"M-Mr. Jinseo! Can we handle this with just us?"
"Well…"
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