The food we ordered came relatively quickly and… I don't really know what to say…

I ended up ordering a simple stew with pieces of different types of meat mixed inside it.

I had to ask what type of meat they were using and I was assured that they were actually beef, chicken and pork instead of… You know… Human meat…

Amber ended up ordering a steak or something which came out really weird because… Err… The chef seemed to have decided to cut out the entire middle portion to put some vegetables inside carved into some weird abstract figure… Leaving only a tiny portion of meat remaining.

Honestly, even I couldn't say anything to defend that…

Ries was especially sad because what she got was a rather pathetic pile of fish that had been arranged to look like some face on the plate.

It took me a moment to realise that it was arranged in a crude drawing of Ries's face but it doesn't actually look that great either…

At least Lea's salad actually looks like a normal bowl of salad aside from the fact that it came in a small bowl… But it at least looked like it had dressing this time and Lea was satisfied with it.

As for mine… Well… It looks normal as well… Aside from the fact that the portions were pathetic where I think it's only two shot glasses worth of stew served in a literal cup with the meat pieces being so miniscule that I almost mistook them for strands of hair at first.

Well… The portioning was already quite pathetic so I'm not sure how it was going to taste… And truthfully, I wasn't expecting much…

I picked up the cup that contained my stew and slowly brought it up to my lips.

I mentally braced myself and took a small sip from the cup.

…

…

Hey… This actually isn't that bad?

Like I would grade this at a family diner level of 'not bad' where you wouldn't mind coming back here to eat again.

That was when I looked down and I realised I had already finished my stew.

But I barely took a sip from it! What the heck?! And I already finished it?!

I turned to look at the rest and I found pretty much a rather sad sight.

It was clear that they felt the food was also 'passable' but they were literally just nibbling at their food so that they didn't finish it too quickly.

"This is quite sad," I remarked.

Amber looked up from where she was nibbling on her meat, "You tell me, Tera… This doesn't even taste as good as your cooking so why are they so stingy with it? I seriously don't understand this…"

Lea stopped chewing on the single leaf on her fork to give Amber a look, "Isn't it obvious? It's to make you spend more money to order more dishes so that they can drain you of it."

Ries poked at the fish on her plate, "This is even sadder than the time where I had to take a job cleaning and maintaining some stupid merchant's rust bucket of a ship… The work was so bad and he barely had any edible food that I literally rather starved for the voyage until we reached the station than to eat what he gave…"

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Oh right, sometimes I forget that Ries literally worked odd jobs and stuff to get to where she is right now. I guess maybe that's also why she was so willing to jump at this chance I was offering her.

I tapped on the table to bring up the screen, "Well… We can afford it so we can just order more, can't we? It's not a big deal."

Lea quickly shook her head, "Mistress… That's exactly what they want you to do… I do not wish for us to fall prey to such a scheme of theirs."

I closed the screen and raised an eyebrow at her, "In that case, should we just leave?"

Amber immediately leapt up onto her feet, "I'm in favour of that!"

Ries also joined her while raising her hand, "Me too! Me too, Boss!"

Oh well… I guess let's just make payment here and leave…

I tapped on the screen to confirm the payment for our food and waited for the three of them to finish their food.

Unlike earlier where they had been taking small bites to prolong their eating time as much as possible, all three of them immediately lifted up their plates and bowls to dump the contents into their mouths and swallow it quickly.

Damn girls… At least chew your food before you swallow… And it's not like I'm going to run away or something so you don't even need to rush, you know?

Oh well… I already thought about doing another teppan show for them to lift up their soured moods so let's just go.

Just as I was getting up from my seat to prepare to leave, there was a knock coming from the door.

"Miss Tera?"

I tapped on the table and the screen appeared, showing a waiter standing at the doorway.

I was curious why he was there so I tapped on the unlock button to let him in, prompting the waiter to take a step into the room.

"Miss Tera, may I ask if the food was to your satisfaction?" The waiter asked.

"No," I blurted out instinctively.

The waiter was obviously surprised by my remark while the other three at the table only nodded along with me in agreement.

"May I… May I ask what was unsatisfactory?"

I could just shut my mouth and leave with just that remark but after he asked that question… I felt that I had to set the record straight and let them know that I was disappointed with their food.

"First is the portioning of the food where you've given us so little for the price that we pay. Then there's the ridiculously overly complicated decorations you guys do with the food that is utterly pointless. I could at least forgive it if it tasted extraordinary or even looked really good, but all you've done is just waste the food and our time. I would much rather you make decorations on the dishes using other objects instead of just using the food ingredients itself so as to not waste them. Also, the taste of the food is really just passable at best, so I don't even know why you guys are making it look like it's a really big deal. So yeah, it's not satisfying at all."

The waiter blinked at my small tirade and even I was a little surprised by how much I spoke. I honestly just wanted to tell him about the problems I felt they could fix which should improve their quality.

He quickly raised his hand, "Umm… Is it alright to ask Miss Tera and company to wait here for a little while?"

Amber frowned at him, "You're not going to do something like hold us here for insulting your food are you?"

"N… No… Nothing of that sort, Miss Amber. We would… Erm… Like to compensate you for the unsatisfactory meal you had. So if you could just wait here for a moment?"

I raised an eyebrow at the girls and all of them shrugged to show that they didn't really mind.

I turned back to give a nod to the waiter who practically fled the room and rushed outside, looking like some kind of monster was chasing him.

"Would this really be alright?" I asked.

Amber chuckled, "If they have any ideas like trying to threaten us… We can just beat them all up!"

"But wouldn't that get us kicked off the station?" Ries asked.

"I see no problem with that. In fact, I would even argue that it might be a good thing in the long run," Lea huffed.

"But that would mean we wouldn't be able to use their facilities either… And that includes the apartment we were given," I pointed out.

Both Amber and Lea grumbled but said nothing, probably unwilling to also give up the luxuries we were given in this station especially when we have that teppan grill that was only available here.

We waited around for about ten minutes and it looked like the girls were getting quite impatient when the door suddenly slid open without anyone knocking on it.

Standing at the door was a rather young looking girl with her hair tied up in a bun behind her peeking out from under a chef's hat that she wore on her head. Behind her was the waiter from earlier who looked really worried for some reason.

Before anyone could say anything, she stepped into the room and addressed me directly.

"Miss Tera, was what the waiter here told me true? Where you told him that you were unsatisfied with my food?"

Oh damn… I can already see where this is going… Yeah, yeah… A cooking battle… You girls win…

I nodded, "Yes I did."

Alright, issue your challenge, I'm ready to take it…

She came forward until she was just a step away from me before she suddenly fell to her knees.

"Please teach me, Master!!!"

…

What?