Well… Not gonna lie, I was quite excited to try cooking with organic ingredients instead of synthfood so I might have gotten a little carried away with it…

I ended up making steak with mashed potato and fries as the sides, strawberry salad, boiled vegetable stew and some fried chicken wings.

This might be the first time I’m cooking with organic ingredients in this universe but my experience in my original universe carried over here so I could even say that this was easier than that time I first tried cooking with synthfood.

The only sad thing was that I don't exactly have a dining table so we were seated on the floor of my bedroom, which wasn't as bad as it sounds because I do clean it regularly.

I mean… What else could I do when the ship is on autopilot travelling through space?

I guess one of the things I should buy alongside some entertainment is a table and some chairs.

Samson and Amber were just staring at the food I placed in front of them and I was a little worried that it didn't look appetising or something.

I mean… I'm not a five star chef by any means but I think they look ok?

Just as I was thinking of asking what was wrong, Samson lifted his head slowly to look at me.

“You… Really can cook…”

“Err… I guess? This is my first time making this with organic food though so I don't know how it'll taste though.”

He looked down again, “I'm… I'm actually afraid to eat this…”

I grimaced, “Is it that bad?”

“No, no… I'm afraid that once I do… I won't be able to go back to eating synthfood again… Heck, I'm even afraid that normal organic food might not satisfy me anymore.”

I chuckled, “Now you're just exaggerating.”

Amber gulped audibly, “I would have also agreed with him if it wasn’t for the fact that we’re together… Just by the smell… No! Even just the look of it… It’s definitely way better than the food that we ate at that restaurant!! Oh gods… If I send a picture of this to Mara, she’s going to be so jealous!!”

She did just that and started snapping pictures with her personal terminal from every possible angle around the food in front of her.

I rolled my eyes at them, “Ok, ok. Better eat up before the food gets cold.”

I picked up my utensils and prepared to dig in, until I realised that both of them were still just staring at the food in front of them and not moving an inch.

“Really, what is it now?” I asked.

“I… Don’t know which one to start with…” Samson muttered, his face looking like he was trying to decide something that involved his life and death.

“How about just start with the stew first?” I suggested, picking up my own bowl of the vegetable stew to bring it up to my lips.

Hmm… The taste isn’t bad… Although I would have preferred if there was a little more salt I guess? One good thing I found out was that salt was actually quite cheap here. Apparently it’s something quite easy to get around here.

Both of them saw me drink the stew and raised their own bowls to their lips as well, taking a tentative sip from it.

They then lowered it back down without saying a word, though they also made no other movements as well.

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Hmm… That was a rather lacklustre response… Perhaps I really should have added more salt after all? Well that can actually be fixed right now so I’ll just go and get it for us.

Before I could move however, I heard what sounded like soft sobbing coming from the side.

Turning around, I realised that the two of them were literally sobbing right now.

“This… How… How can this even be possible?” Samson teared up.

“Such bliss… Am I even allowed to taste something like this?” Amber cried.

Ok, you guys are seriously exaggerating this right now. It’s only a normal vegetable stew for crying out loud.

I picked up a piece of the fries on my plate and tasted them as well, finding them to be perfectly fried and seasoned. The only thing that I felt was a shame was the fact that I didn’t have any sauces to go with it.

I then took a piece of fry in each of my hands and stuffed them into Samson’s and Amber’s mouths, both of them letting out a gasp of surprise before realising what I was doing and started munching on it.

“Calm down and eat your food ok? You two are acting really melodramatic right-- What are you doing?”

“This is… This is heaven…”

“Tera… I love you… I want your babies.”

Ok, no, bad Amber! Down! Stop trying to strip me! No!

I flicked her on the forehead and she finally returned back to her senses.

Seriously, just eat your food normally, will you?

Amber pouted at me, “It really is delicious, Tera… I don’t even know how you are able to make all this… The food we ate back at the restaurant with Mara can’t even compare to this!”

I don’t even know how to tell her that it’s most likely because whoever made the food there isn’t even a first rate chef…

I’m pretty sure if we were to head to the planets or even just the systems that are growing organic foods, we’ll probably find chefs much better than I am and could cook feasts that are levels beyond what I am capable of.

Now I’m a little worried how she would react if she were to taste food that came from such places?

Then again, considering the fact that Samson was also sobbing while he ate the food in front of him over there… I’d like to think that this wasn’t limited to just her.

I guess when you’re already used to eating tasteless crap like those synthfood… Such a reaction might be expected?

Ugh… Just remembering that sad excuse of a ‘ramen’ I had to eat back then was enough to send shivers down my spine…

Amber went back to eating her food and joined Samson in sobbing over her own portion while savouring every bite of it.

I decided to just let them eat however they want and concentrated on my own food instead, using this opportunity to also gauge how I should improve myself.

Despite what everyone else who has eaten my food has said so far, I still believe I have a lot of room for improvement.

Like this steak for example… I was aiming to make it medium rare but it seemed like I misjudged the timing and cooked it to medium doneness instead.

And the chicken wings I fried felt a little bit lacking in seasoning as well while the mashed potatoes were just a little bit too mushy.

Yep… I still have a lot of areas I need to improve on.

Speaking of which… I’ve kept aside a few of the plants for me to try and see if I could get them to grow on my ship.

Getting soil was out of the question and I did try to do a search around the station to see if there was any being sold but came up empty.

It seems like if I really want to get myself on some soil, I either have to buy it off the Trader Union network for a really exorbitant price or find a colonised planet where I can either dig up some myself or buy them there.

That means I’ll most likely have to search up how to make a hydroponics garden in my ship itself.

I know Amber did tell me that the tech for it was being monopolised by the Alvs but I’m hoping that maybe some records of it might be around that I can use.

Oh well, I guess I’ll see later then…

Just as I was finishing up the last of my food, my Codex let out a beep that caught my attention. Almost at the same time, the same beep resounded on Samson’s and Amber’s personal terminals but the two of them were still too distracted by the food they were eating to even notice that.

Tapping on it to display the notification I received, my eyes widened when I saw what was displayed on it.

‘Emergency request to all available Mercenaries with a combat ship. Request for participation in pirate fleet subjugation by the military. High priority.’

Huh… If this was sent out, that means they have already confirmed that the pirates are actually here huh? Well that didn’t take long I guess?

I tapped on it and it showed more information about the request.

It seems like they intend to attack the pirates head on at… Tonight?! In five hours?! That’s barely any time for most of us to even prepare for it though?!

Are we going to be ok?