“You’re kidding, right? A cookoff?” Rabyn said as Pryte, and I told him about the first event.

  “I’m not, somehow that’s what they’ve decided on for the first event,” Pryte replied.

  “I’m on board with revealing myself as long as you all understand the potential ramifications. But how are they even going to manage to judge that many dishes?” Rabyn questioned as he cocked an eyebrow.

  “Not really sure, but we will have a porter coming to collect us in a week for the first event. I’m guessing they have several locations, with a ton of judges, but again, no idea how that is going to work.” Pryte shrugged as he replied.

  “How many people are we allowed to bring?” Rabyn asked.

  “Surprisingly, they didn’t place a limit. Basically, the only information we have is that ingredients will be searched for any contraband,” Pryte answered.

  The more I had considered this, the more I thought there was going to be some trick here. Why weren’t they giving us strict guidelines? All competitions had those. There was something going on, and I couldn’t figure out what.

  “Dave, you have a look on your face that mirrors my own feelings,” Rabyn said, interrupting my thoughts.

  “You think they’re plotting something too?” I asked.

  “Yes. There should be far more parameters if this was a normal cook-off. There is likely something we will learn when we arrive that we won’t like. But I’ll do my best to prepare for that eventuality. How soon are the other events after the cook-off?” Rabyn continued.

  “Don’t have that information either,” Pryte answered, his face lighting in some sort of realization after he finished. “Shit. We need to prepare for everything. That’s the trick they are planning, I bet.”

  “What? Surprise us by making us use only those we brought for a cook-off for everything?” I asked. It made sense and was a pretty good trick if that was the play.

  That meant we were going to have to bring everyone at once, though, and that also meant leaving the city much less guarded than I liked. Considering what happened the last time I was off-world for an extended period, I wasn’t that keen on most of our defenders leaving. The problem there was, of course, like so many times before, what choice did we have?

  “I agree, that’s probably the play. That means we likely have a week to prepare for everything. I’ll handle getting the cooking in order. Will you want any of my staff for other events?” Rabyn asked as he pulled a schedule off a wall.

  “Are you using Orglina and Red very much? We may need them for a befriending event. Beyond that, no, I don’t think we will need anyone else,” Pryte answered.

  “What if they make us do all the events at the same time?” I asked, suddenly worried this could be even worse.

  “Then we split up and do them. We don’t have to win every event, but it would probably be better if we came in near the top,” Pryte replied.

  “Then we need to get to work preparing everyone right now. Is Connie even healthy enough to do this?” I asked.

  “We’re going to have to find out. Rabyn, let us know if you need anything. It looks like Dave and I have a lot of work to do,” Pryte said as he ushered me out of the room.

  Rabyn

  "Gorpila, I want you to go over our stocks today and confirm everything is exactly where it should be. Following that, I want you to triple-check anything and everything I’ve classified as an A or S-ranked ingredient. We need a full, accurate inventory,” Rabyn said.

  He had gathered all of the staff, plus the few newer hobbyists, such as Red, into the staff room the moment Dave and Pryte had left. He may not be able to use Red for the cook-off itself, but he had another use for her. They didn’t have a ton of time to prepare, and with the risk of the other events running at the same time, he couldn’t rely on any help besides what he had here.

  Or could he? Rabyn filed a new thought he had away for his next free moments.

  “Okay, want me to see if Glorp can help if we need to get it done quickly?” Gorpila asked.

  “No, he’s going to be busy with other things. We’ve finally got the full list of events for the competition. And it looks like a cook-off is the first one. That means I’m counting on everyone here to get us prepared. Not only are we going in with all our ducks in a row, but I also plan for us to win.”

  Several stares of surprise greeted his announcement, but they quickly morphed into cheers and then rapid movement as they understood what had to be done. Cooking equipment had to be checked. Every recipe needed to be gone over. Any last-second refinements had to be completed and tested now.

  Rabyn was proud of them all. No one had questioned him in the slightest. He just wished he had John here to help.

  “Red, I’ve got a special assignment for you. I want some incredibly fresh salmon, think you can handle it?” he asked, looking at the bear.

  “Of course. How many do you want?” she replied.

  “As many as you can get.”

  Red gave him a slight nod of her head. She had a nose for the perfect sushi fish, and that nose would be a secret weapon here. He doubted there were many factions out there that had a primal mana beast ready to help prepare their natural diet.

  He pulled up the ever-useful soul chat he had gained access to as of late for some help on one task.

  Closing out the window, Rabyn was left with one thing he still had to do. And the sooner he did it, the better. It wouldn’t be fun, but it was just another thing that could give them the needed edge. He pulled up his class, taking a look at the abilities before debating how best to go about it.

  Rabyn took a deep breath after reading through Recipe Ingestion again. He had already copied the Cookbook twice. He had a backup copy for himself, and there was the one he had given to John. If he could bring himself to go through with the ingestion, he was planning to give the backup to Orglina as a gift as well. There wouldn’t be a use for it anymore once he had it all stored inside himself.

  The problem was that he had to bring himself to actually do it. This wasn’t a simple just do it, and it was over type of thing. No, he had to actually make sure he prepared it correctly and finished the entire thing when he was done. And what little he had learned of the experience had told him it would be an acquired taste no matter how well he prepared it.

  It wasn’t like he hadn’t eaten a ton of things that tasted horrible before. That was how you learned the best combinations that everything went with after all. But for some reason, the idea of eating his precious cookbook had always been a step further than he was willing to go.

  For a very long time, it had been the only connection he had to a life he desperately wanted to live. Not that kidnapped, enslaved life he had been forced into. None of that was true anymore. Dave had even ripped the soul knot from his body.

  He was a man free to pursue his art, mostly. If it weren’t for his family debts, ones he entirely planned to repay, this would be a life worth retiring to. And one day, he would make that dream a reality. That meant it was time to push through this mental block and make sure he was prepared to do what the Empire of Dave needed.

  Gorpila

  “Make sure we get everything down. Rabyn is counting on us. We need this inventory to be perfect,” Gorpila said as she explained the order she wanted to record each of the various storage areas.

  She was a bit surprised Rabyn would put her in charge of something as important as this, but with John gone, he had been treating her more like his second in command of the kitchens. While he had the soul knot, she had basically been running them all herself. Did this mean he expected her to come to the competition too?

  She did have her own core and even a class now. Rabyn had found her a strange one called Pastry Poisoner. He had given her the choice between that class and Pastry Chef.

  She had chosen the poisoner primarily because she wanted to be able to fight. She wasn’t willing to let her brother and everyone else do it without her. Especially not after the jester attack, and she was glad that she had considering the new dungeon delving team her family was forming.

  Those thoughts solidified a bit of reasoning, pushing her past the imposter syndrome that always seemed to sit in her mind. She was going to the competition, wasn’t she? She was one of the few channelers the city had. How could she not have realized that earlier? With that equal parts exciting and stressful realization, she threw herself back into the work.

  Red

  She would need to find the old rivers of her youth. They had the absolute best salmon. The problem was that those memories were hardest to pull forth. They were locked in her brain from before she truly saw the world, even before her own rage, madness, and grief. But she would find a way.

  She had made her peace with Rabyn. She had found acceptance and friendship in this strange place. And even if she hadn’t truly moved past the great loss the Orcs had inflicted on her, she no longer blamed Rabyn for any of it. Her cubs would always live on in her memories. She would help make sure Earth lived on as well.

  “Orglina, do you know if Dave has a detailed map of Alaska somewhere?” the bear asked her best friend.

  “Nope, but I bet Elody will know, and I was just heading to the school anyway,” she replied with a smile.

  “Perfect, then I will accompany you.”

  Worlds are never perfect. The idea that an ideal form of governance exists is a fairy tale taught to children in order to control them as they grow. The only universal truth is that oppression grows until a tipping point is reached and the oppressed rise up and overthrow their tormentors, only for the cycle to repeat.

  How then does someone change the cycle forever? Is it even possible? Does it matter? These are questions for the philosophers, not those stuck in the shit of reality as it exists now. What matters now is dealing with the oppressors as they exist and not becoming stuck in an endless quandary of what’s best.

  When the powerful again rise up to crush more beneath their boots, that will be for those who come after us to fight against. The focus must be on the here and now. On those who are hurting right now.

  We cannot be distracted.

  Together, we cannot be stopped.

  United, we will topple it all.

  Diaries of the Man Calling Himself the Spiral Reformer