I thought we would return to our ship but we were escorted to a hotel to stay the night instead.

Apparently, all winners of the Battle Royale would be given the right to stay at this station free of charge for life.

I knew that this was just an incentive to get these champions to stay here which would inevitably lead to them spending money here anyway.

Classic trap.

But well… I'm not gonna lie, the place they offered was actually pretty nice. It's actually better than the room we paid for at Palladium Star Hotel.

The room was at least three times bigger and it was basically like a high class apartment of its own.

There was a high ceiling living room with a bar, a dining room with a kitchen that had actual kitchen appliances instead of just those synthfood machines, one master bedroom and three separate single rooms each with their own attached bathrooms, its own gym and indoor swimming pool, and even a study room that can be used for work or play.

Damn… I should take some notes of this place and use it as reference for our living quarters in our new ship.

"Tera? What are these?" Amber asked, already inspecting the kitchen area, more specifically the kitchen island that separated the dining area from the kitchens.

I went over to see what she was looking at and I sucked in a breath when I saw what was there.

They have a teppan grill?! And it looks like a pretty nice one too! Oh man, they even have the oversized spatulas and everything!

I've worked on a smaller version of this in my old universe before and I even learned how to do some tricks with it as well. Admittedly, I was an amateur with it but it's cool that this thing is here!

I definitely want to try making something with this later!

Our guide, who happened to be the woman who acted as our bartender during our first meeting with Linc, chuckled at Amber's question.

"Oh, don't mind that. The kitchen here is merely for decoration. If you would like to eat anything however, we have food establishments downstairs where you can take your pick of any type of cuisine you want!"

I turned to her, "Wait… Are you telling me that all these appliances don't work at all?"

"Ah… I… Believe so? I don't think I've seen any guest make use of them at least."

I took a moment to inspect the teppan grill, which wasn't really that hard since it literally just had a button that you could press to turn it on which I did so.

A holographic screen then popped up which allowed me to control everything about the grill including the temperature on each specific part of the grill. Holy crap, this thing even has a steaming function?

I've got to get myself one of these for our new ship!

Seeing that the grill was obviously working, I went over to the fridge and opened it, frowning when I saw it was empty.

"Do you guys provide ingredients that we can use to cook with?" I asked.

She gave me a serious look, "Are you trying to destroy the building?"

"What? No? I want to cook!"

She blinked at me, "You can… Cook?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I was about to tell her that I actually could when, out of nowhere, Amber, Lea and Ries stepped in front of her to block me from view.

"Just answer the question," Amber demanded.

Eh? Why are they blocking me off?

"Umm… Well… I think we can arrange some ingredients to be sold to you… I'm afraid I will need to ask my higher ups for this. We've never gotten such a request before."

Ries shot her a look of surprise, "You guys don't even have an organic food store here?"

"What's the point of having something like that? The organic food will only be bought by food establishments making organic food and all the food establishments are owned by Mister Linc anyway. We have our own supply of it so it would be a little pointless to open an organic food store when no one would shop there…"

"In that case, why don't we just go and make use of your ingredients to make our own food?"

I grimaced at Amber's question, "Amber… I don't want to be dragged into another cooking challenge like what happened the last time…"

She turned back to grin at me, "Don't worry Tera! I'll make sure that doesn't happen! Anyone who wants to challenge you has to go through me first!"

I'm not even sure if she meant that they have to challenge her to a cooking match first or a physical fight first…

She has been trying her hand at cooking the last few times along with Lea and Ries but… I don't know why they just couldn't do it.

Not to say that they were completely hopeless at cooking because they certainly could sear a steak after I taught them how to do it… But for some reason it just tastes different from how I did it.

I'm not even the only one who thought so because all of them had the same opinion as well. Somehow, whatever I made just tasted way better than whatever they did.

The good thing was at least they knew how to cook a little now so there's that I guess?

But they don't share my enthusiasm in making the food outside of helping me prepare the ingredients I need to cook with. For some reason, they really like to do that for me and they were actually really good at it.

Our guide frowned, "I highly doubt they would allow even VIP guests to do whatever they want with expensive organic ingredients… Although I will try to ask."

Lea then made a shooing motion at her, "Then go and ask… That's the most important thing we need to know right now."

The woman gave Lea an odd look but did not argue, opting to just leave to fulfil their demands instead.

When the door slid close behind her, I crossed my arms at all three of them.

"Really girls?"

Amber chuckled, "Face it, Tera. You already know that whatever they can make wouldn't be able to match up with yours. You'll be setting yourself up for disappointment."

"I kind of want to try though," I admitted a little hesitantly. "That Linc guy seems eccentric enough that perhaps the chef he hires might actually be on par with what I can do, if not better."

Lea gave me a sympathetic look, "I really doubt it, Mistress…"

Let me dream a little ok?

We went ahead to look at the rest of the facilities and there was another surprise when we reached the pool.

"Is this like their water storage or something?" Lea asked.

Amber shook her head, "I think this is their bath… I think…"

Ries peered into the water, "I thought it might be some kind of fountain…"

"Have you girls never seen a swimming pool before?"

"A swimming pool?" All three of them asked simultaneously.

Oh gods…

"Yeah… It's a large body of water where you can swim in…"

"Swim? Wait… You can swim in this?" Amber gasped.

I nodded, "That's what a swimming pool is for…"

Lea gave me a look, "Mistress, do you know how to swim?"

"Err… Yes… I think?"

I mean… I know how to swim in my old universe but I'm not sure if that skill would still work here… What if the properties of water are different in this universe?

Oh who am I kidding, that's definitely not possible.

Amber looked at the water, "Is that safe?"

"Umm… I guess I would say yes since I believe I can swim. But if you don't know how to, I recommend not to jump in."

"Can we swim later? Or can I watch you swim later?"

"Eh? Sure I guess? Been a while since I last did it anyway."

The three of them shared a look and I kind of felt something was conveyed between them.

Before I could ask them what they were thinking about, a notification popped up on my Codex indicating that there was someone at the door.

We relocated back to the living room and I opened the door to see our guide standing there with a complicated look on her face.

"Miss Tera… Mister Linc asked if he could personally sample your cooking? In return, he would give you any ingredient you want for free…"

Eh? Well, that seems like a really generous offer so I nod--

"No! Denied! We'll pay full price for it!" Amber protested immediately, popping up behind me without warning.

The other two girls also quickly appeared behind her with their own protests as well.

"I agree, the food is meant for us, not anyone else."

"I… I want fish…"

The guide seemed unsurprised by our answers and nodded, "Very well… I shall convey that to Mister Linc… I'll return once I have gotten permission to sell you the ingredients.

She then turned and left to enter the lift at the end of the corridor.

What the heck, you girls?