Mutou Judai had used the curse skill quite a few times.
He had used it on people, but had used it on dishes even more often.
In this process, Mutou Judai discovered that—the effect of curse on dishes was to make them taste bad, whether they were originally delicious or not, they would all become unpalatable.
However, the difference with different dishes was that...
—They were unpalatable in different ways!
For example, the dishes Erina made, because of her God's Tongue, would bring the two words "unpalatable" to their extreme in terms of taste!
They would make people who ate them feel nauseated!
As for Eizan Etsuya...
Mutou Judai watched the show from the side, while Eizan Etsuya placed his magic stone fried chicken pieces in front of the three judges and began his introduction.
"Although they look like fried chicken pieces on the outside, their actual taste will be very different from the fried chicken pieces you've eaten before. The taste changes quite a bit when dipped in different sauces. I specially prepared three types of sauces, so please try them."
Hearing Eizan Etsuya's explanation, smiles appeared on the faces of the three judges.
"Worthy of being called an alchemist chef..."
The judge sitting in the middle said this, then looking at the golden fried chicken pieces that reflected light like gold under the lighting, his smile became even more obvious.
He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece.
"Oh~ Worthy of you, this texture is different from regular fried chicken pieces!"
He exclaimed while putting the fried chicken piece in his mouth, taking a big confident bite!
Then.
Clang—
"—So hard!"
He bit down and immediately cried out in pain, then the fried chicken piece fell directly from his mouth onto the table with a "thud."
Moreover, the other two judges sitting beside him clearly saw a teeth mark on this fried chicken piece!
This...
The other two looked at each other, then couldn't help but sigh.
Judging was their job.
To maintain fairness and impartiality in judging, they had to try to eat as much as possible on the basis of being able to eat... whether it was the earlier instant noodles or this... "magic stone."
—In comparison, those instant noodles from before were fantastic!
In their hearts, they had probably already sent Eizan Etsuya's entire family lineage to heaven.
But actually, they put down their chopsticks and picked up knives and forks to try cutting it open.
They found it very difficult to do.
Then one of the judges spoke with the Great Universe Bar staff, and the bar's service personnel handed him a saw!
Only then could he saw open Eizan's fried chicken piece!
After sawing it open, he pressed the chicken meat part with his hand...
Although it couldn't compare to very hard metals in terms of hardness, this level of hardness might be comparable to metals like gold...
"Heh, worthy of being an alchemist indeed."
The same evaluation as the judge who was still covering his cheek.
Except the earlier one was praise, now it was pure mockery.
For something like this, it had exceeded the range of what these judges could eat. After all, they were human, and they even felt they might get food poisoning after eating it.
In this situation, the three of them tacitly picked up Mutou Judai's instant noodles and each took a bite.
Mm...
Although they were a bit overcooked now, at least... they were edible!
If their initial mindset when they came was—I must strive for excellence in taste!
Then after seeing the three bowls of instant noodles Mutou Judai brought out, it became—Being able to taste the alchemist's cooking while educating this upstart newcomer, hey, it's my duty!
And now...
Well, as long as it's edible.
So without any surprise, after they announced entering the judging phase, not a single person hesitated—they cast all three votes for Mutou Judai.
The winner of this Shokugeki was—
Mutou Judai!
Mutou Judai wasn't surprised by this at all.
But Eizan Etsuya pressed both hands on the table.
"—I cannot accept this!"
He roared like this, then Mutou Judai quickly walked over, picked up a piece of fried chicken with chopsticks, and directly stuffed it into his mouth.
Then...
Everything was like a replay of before...
Clang—
'Ah—'
One bite down, and Eizan Etsuya was in too much pain to speak.
At this moment, Mutou Judai crouched beside him.
"If you're not convinced, then go eat all of your... what was it... right, go eat all the chicken pieces your alchemist skills created~"
This...
Eizan Etsuya knelt on the ground, looking at the fallen chicken piece with teeth marks, unable to look away for a long time.
But finally, he still sighed helplessly.
"I... lost!"
Hearing Eizan say this, Mutou Judai looked at this Eizan Etsuya who couldn't even muster resentment or revenge, and although he had originally planned to place a fatal curse on him to activate in a few days, now he didn't even have such thoughts.
Most of Eizan Etsuya's fighting spirit had been beaten out of him.
Moreover, the Shokugeki Administration Bureau had a very high position in this world and was a global organization, so if Eizan wanted to continue being a chef in the future, he would have to spend the rest of his life working for himself.
Although with Eizan's business talent, keeping ten percent of his income would already be enough for him to live quite well.
But now Mutou Judai roughly understood the mindset Shinomiya Kaguya had when she approached him earlier about Shinomiya family matters.
Taking ninety percent of someone else's efforts for free...
—This felt too good!
And it was also an important step for his lazy life planning.
Simply a cornerstone!
So Mutou Judai mentally thanked Eizan Etsuya, then left without looking back.
The Shokugeki Administration Bureau would naturally handle what came next.
As for him...
Mutou Judai took out his phone to check the time.
"It's almost noon already..."
The exams for students at Totsuki Resort were limited to the morning. According to Erina's plan, her side should be about finished when he was having the Shokugeki with Eizan.
Thinking of this, Mutou Judai ignored the various noises from the venue behind him that he could hear even here, casually put his hands in his pockets, and walked toward the kitchen of Great Universe Bar.
"Erina should be in the kitchen now. I'll go find her first to understand her situation, and if she succeeded, I'll find a chance to properly apologize to her before she returns to Totsuki."
As for himself...
—He wouldn't return to Totsuki.
After sending Erina back, he would go see old man Mutou Yugi, then publish one volume of "A Certain Magical Index" to Okuya Ken and discuss this matter with him.
And then...
—Then he could go home and lie down!
He should also organize the situation here, then carefully, seriously, perhaps spending several years or even over ten years thinking about how exactly he should live this life.
...
Totsuki Resort.
Dojima Gin looked at this year's exam students—many good prospects barely passed two hundred in sales, and some who should have passed were stuck in the hundreds—and sighed helplessly.
"Although the Director gave me a heads up, I didn't expect Erina could actually do something like this..."
He was very clear that these exam results couldn't count.
Because too few customers came this year. Being able to reach 200 servings was due to luck—most customers had gone to Erina's side.
So if these results were used as the standard, most people wouldn't be able to pass.
However...
This re-examination could be used as a reason to let Erina return, but before that...
Dojima Gin glanced at Shinomiya Kojiro beside him with his peripheral vision.
—They had to find a reason to shut others up.
Moreover...
—Someone had to wake up Shinomiya too.
So.
"Shinomiya, come with me—these exam results can't be counted. Let's go across and see what exactly Erina did."
With this thought, Dojima Gin directly called Shinomiya Kojiro, and Shinomiya Kojiro nodded, having no objections.
"I understand."