Chapter 3

"Hey, Hayato-sama. Are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh, what is it?"

Hayato finally realized what Esha, the maid, was saying. He had been thinking about who to recruit as a companion until just now.

"So, the condition for me to participate in the clan war is that you let me eat the dishes listed here."

"Hmm, are they written on this paper?"

Hayato took the paper Esha handed him.

'Manga Meat - 5 Stars, Bucket Pudding - 5 Stars, Super Eclair - 5 Stars'

(What is this...?)

Hayato tilted his head. He had made countless dishes to improve his cooking skills, but he had never seen or heard of the dishes listed on the paper. He hadn't even heard that they were added in an update.

The 5-star rating was understandable to Hayato. Each item had a quality from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being the highest. However, knowing the quality didn't help if he didn't know the items themselves.

"Are these dishes even real? I've never heard of them before."

"If that's the case, I'll give you the recipes."

(Recipes? I thought the dishes you could make in this game were fixed from the start.)

In this game, when you used cooking items like knives or frying pans, a menu would appear showing the dishes and ingredients. You could cook by selecting a dish from the menu as long as you had the ingredients.

In other words, you couldn't cook dishes that weren't on the menu. That was the common knowledge in this game.

Esha wrote something on a piece of paper she took out and handed it to Hayato.

The three sheets of paper listed the ingredients for each dish. As Hayato read them, the papers disappeared.

(Did I just learn how to make these dishes?)

Hayato took out his favorite cooking item, the "Adamantite Knife - Ultimate," and displayed the cooking menu. The three dishes from the recipe were now added.

(Whoa, I've been playing this game for a long time, and I've never heard of these. This information shouldn't be available on the internet. Maybe this system was introduced with the clan war update?)

Before the clan war started, the internet was buzzing with various strategies and information. However, once the clan war began, the information was kept secret and no longer circulated online.

The addition of cooking menu items through recipes was information that hadn't been available before the clan war. Hayato concluded that this system was likely introduced at the same time as the clan war.

(I can't believe I didn't know about this. As someone who claims to be a production master, it's a bit embarrassing. But these dishes aren't sold or used. Maybe I'm the first to get these recipes in this game? That would be great.)

"Hayato-sama? What do you think? Can you make them?"

"I can make them, but getting 5-star quality will be tough. Plus, the ingredients are expensive. It would be great if I could buy them from the auction or stores."

Hayato checked the ingredients for Manga Meat in the cooking menu.

(For Manga Meat, the only ingredient is bone-in dragon meat, but it's quite expensive. I can make it with normal quality 100% of the time, but the chance of making the highest quality is about 25%. I'll need to try quite a few times.)

Next, he checked the Bucket Pudding.

(For Bucket Pudding, the ingredients are milk, sugar, water, dragon egg, and a bucket. The dragon egg is quite expensive. However, the chance of making the highest quality is 50%. It's not a bad probability, but I'll need to try multiple times.)

Finally, he checked the Super Eclair.

(I already have the dough, chocolate, and custard cream. But 'super' means it's large. The ingredient consumption for one is quite high. I can probably make it two or three times with my current ingredients. The chance of making the highest quality is also 50%. If I can't make it with my current ingredients, preparing more will be a hassle.)

Hayato looked at the ingredients and the success rates for the highest quality and concluded that it would be expensive to gather everything. However, there was something else he needed to consider.

(Esha is a maid. I asked to confirm, but does it even make sense to have her participate in the clan war? If she can't fight like me, it wouldn't be worth the effort.)

Hayato watched Esha, who was happily eating a parfait.

"Is something wrong? It's a bit unsettling to be stared at—do you want me to have another serving? Don't worry, my stomach can handle more."

"No, that's not it. I'm just wondering if Esha would be useful in the clan war. The ingredients are expensive, so I'm a bit hesitant."

"Wait! My stomach is already set on eating that food!"

"It's decided, then. But using a valuable clan slot for someone who can't fight is a bad idea. Also, I just thought, there are mercenary guilds. Maybe I can hire mercenaries without the hassle."

Besides the maid guild, there were adventurer guilds, mercenary guilds, and assassin guilds. Hayato realized that he could potentially hire members from these guilds if negotiations went well.

"Wait, Hayato-sama! No, Master!"

"Master!?"

"This Esha has never said she can't fight. I will definitely be of use! Please, let me eat those three dishes!"

"Please don't grab my collar. My HP is a bit low. I haven't allocated many stats to HP, so I might die."

"Then choose: die now or make the dishes. I recommend the dishes!"

"That's a threat!? Let go! My HP is dropping, and the alarm is going off!"

Hayato was finally released. He took a deep breath and drank a potion to recover his HP.

(Why am I being negotiated with by an AI? No, it's more like a threat. But she can fight. I don't think she's lying, but I need some proof—right, I can check her skill setup. But can I see an NPC's skill setup?)

Players could see each other's skill setups if they were clan members or had permission. However, Hayato had never heard of anyone seeing an NPC's skill setup.

"Can I see your skill setup? I need to decide based on that."

"Skill setup? I see, you want to judge if I can fight. Alright, here it is."

(No way. Could I be the first to see an NPC's skill setup? I'm a bit excited to see what it looks like.)

Hayato looked at Esha's skill setup and was shocked.

(What is this? Skills over 100? No way. Each skill is supposed to have a maximum of 100. But her sniper skill is 200? What did she do to get this high?)

Player skills had a maximum of 100. However, Esha's skill setup showed three skills over 100: sniper, animal knowledge, and magic, all at 200.

(No, wait. Negative skills...?)

Hayato was initially focused on the skills over 100, but there was another value he couldn't ignore: the negative skills.

Cooking, sewing, and animal training were all at -100.

Hayato was even more confused. He couldn't grasp the situation, which seemed to contradict the game's fundamentals.

However, he reconsidered his assumption that NPCs and players were the same. It was said that monsters had different skill setups from players. It made sense that NPCs could be different from players.

"Is that all? What do you think? I consider myself quite strong."

"Before we get to that, can I ask why your skills are over 100? And what's with the negative values?"

"Well, the negative values are like innate weaknesses. No matter how hard I try, they don't improve. The skills over 100 are because I worked hard."

(So, she doesn't know either. Maybe there's a system in NPCs where negative elements allow for breaking the cap. But could I also break the cap? If production skills could go over 100, that would be amazing... But first, let's focus on Esha.)

Hayato thought further.

(Based on Esha's skill setup, she seems to be a ranged attacker. She's a long-range attacker. It would be tough with just Esha, but I can hire other NPCs for the clan war. I can hire close-range attackers, tanks, and healers. It might be difficult to gather nine NPCs right away, though.)

"I understand you can fight. I'll try to gather the ingredients, but it will take some time. Can you wait?"

"Of course. I'll watch the shop while I wait."

Seeing Esha make a fist pump, Hayato wondered if she was really an AI. However, he didn't have time to dwell on that. He needed to gather companions before the clan war.

Hayato left for town to gather the ingredients, leaving Esha in charge of the shop.