The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1146

The Gourmet Research Society had deep roots.

Its president, Yuria, had been known among the elves as an eccentric with a wildly unique culinary taste for over a decade. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

However, the problem wasn’t that the bizarre dishes she created were bad. It was that they tasted good—so good, in fact, that it made one feel even worse and more disappointed.

Following the big reveal, Evangeline was stuck in the bathroom for a while. It was like she was trying to purge everything she’d eaten over the previous few months.

As Yuria watched her become one with the bathroom, she commented in a concerned tone, “That’s strange. There’s nothing poisonous in it.”

Despite her words, she had a radiant smile on her face.

Bang!!

“What’s strange about this?! Why would you do something like that?! I trusted you!” Evangeline burst out, eyes watery, practically sobbing.

Yuria giggled softly. “Strange or not, didn’t it taste good? Plus, it’s very good for your body too!”

Hearing that self-assured defense, Evangeline retched again at the recollection of the ingredients she mentioned.

“I’m never trusting you again! I’m not eating anything you give me, ever again!”

“That’s such a shame. Oh, well then, I guess you wouldn't like to try... this?”

“C-Chocolate? Ahhhh?!”

The moment Evangeline saw the box of chocolates, her eyes sparkled. Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for her eyes to immediately narrow in suspicion. “I’m not falling for it. What did you put in this one?”

“Oh, nothing special. This time, I only used ingredients approved by the Gracious Savior.”

The Gracious Savior was none other than Davey O’Rowane, her dad.

Evangeline squinted at her, then at the chocolate. She wanted to say she wouldn’t eat it, yet the sweet aroma wafting from the box was practically holding a gun to her head, demanding that she eat it.

“Ugh. Ngh...”

It felt like the lifeless chocolate was whispering at her as if it was alive.

- What are you doing? Come on, eat me already. I’m that chocolate you love! You know I smell good. You know I’ll taste amazing. I’ll melt in your mouth like a gluttonous little dream!!!

After a long moment of hesitation, Evangeline finally gave in. She justified herself by repeating that it was made with ingredients Dad had approved.

She soon placed the chocolate in her mouth, greeted with a flavor she’d never experienced before.

“It’s delicious!”

The taste was unlike any chocolate she’d ever eaten, even in her dreams.

It was sweet, yet not sticky. Earth may have had some great chocolates, but the one gracing her taste buds was in a league of its own. Afraid someone else might try to take it from her, she quickly stuffed several more pieces into her mouth and smiled blissfully.

Yuria watched her with delight. “So how is it? Do you like it?”

“Mmh! Thho good!” she muttered with a muffled slur, but she couldn’t have cared less.

“I’m so glad to hear that. It makes the Gourmet Research Society’s efforts feel worthwhile. Actually, I’ve been thinking of selling this stuff on a mass scale.”

Evangeline quickly popped the last piece into her mouth. “But what’s it made of?”

Yuria responded with a serene smile, “It’s similar to Earth’s kopi luwak[1].”

Evangeline froze. “What...?”

“On Earth, they use cats...”

“Kyaaa!!”

Evangeline spat out the chocolate and began bawling.

Yuria, meanwhile, smiled even more brightly. “How was it, dear? Tastes great, right?”

“I hate you!!”

As Evangeline ran off, the woman’s grin deepened. “Ahhh. I may have told a lie, but I’m so happy I could die.”

Silently watching her from nearby, Rinne popped one of the chocolates she had hidden ahead of time into her mouth. “A nut from a different cultivation method. Rinne reports that her discovery has resulted in a dazzling success.”

“That’s right, Rinne. If it tastes good and is good for the body, it’s silly to avoid it just because of the ingredients.”

Of course, the real reason Yuria had said what she did was because messing with Evangeline was just too much fun.

Wearing a faintly dazed expression, she gazed in the direction Evangeline had fled and let out a dreamy little moan.

* * *

The Gourmet Research Society had more than a few members. By far, the two most influential figures in the group were Rinne and the eccentric high elf, Yuria Helishana.

The rest were mostly those who knew the truth behind the bizarre creations the society came up with, yet were still intrigued by the flavor or fascinated by the supposed health benefits. Of course, that still only amounted to maybe two or three people.

In other words, the only ones who took the suspicious-sounding group seriously were Yuria and Rinne. Perhaps because of this, the elf and the golem shared an oddly compatible palate.

Still, that wasn’t always the case.

“What in the world is this?” Yuria murmured with a look of uncontrollable curiosity.

When she smiled like that, it only meant one of two things—she was either deeply intrigued, or severely disgusted.

“Mint chocolate. It’s a food with a highly unique and unpleasant taste,” Rinne explained flatly.

Her smile deepened. “Aah! It has such a bold flavor! Yes, it’s like toothpaste.”

“Rinne evaluates it as trash.”

“Trash?! This is the culinary discovery of the century!”

Rinne blinked in shock at her response. She then twirled her small, white finger beside her head while looking at Yuria, questioning if she had lost her mind or not.

“Yuria, Rinne suspects your sanity status. Rinne reports your emotional circuits must currently be experiencing abnormal fluctuations.”

“I’m perfectly sane, thank you very much. Honestly, the people of Earth are amazing. Who would’ve thought they’d invent such a dish!”

Rinne was a devoted mint chocolate hater. Yuria, on the other hand, had clearly developed a deep affection for it.

Naturally, conflict was inevitable when the two couldn’t understand each other.

“Rinne reports that Yuria’s taste buds must be defective. Rinne evaluates President Yuria’s palette lowly.”

Yuria countered, “That’s odd. Perhaps it’s your taste sensors that are malfunctioning, Rinne?”

“Based on all available data, Rinne analyzes this to be a flavor unfit for normal consumption.”

“Says the one who drinks troll blood!”

“Rinne analyzes even troll feces to taste better than this.”

“Hmph! You sure don’t know what’s good!” Yuria giggled as they argued back and forth, finding the entire exchange delightful. She looked at Rinne curiously while she looked back with her usual blank yet unyielding stare. Sparks flew between them.

Just as it looked like they were about to lunge at each other, Evangeline stumbled in, thoroughly exhausted, and sided with Rinne.

“Ugh. Mint chocolate? I hate it. Though, I guess Uncle Al Hajat likes it...”

Rinne kept her slow, blank stare, then slightly curled the corners of her lips. It was only for a moment, but Yuria definitely noticed.

Ding-dong!

“Ooh. Delivery’s here!” Evangeline, who had been watching the two with a rather pathetic face, perked up at the sound of the doorbell and skipped away with light steps.

The first foods the Gourmet Research Society began to explore in another world were the delivery foods of Earth.

Their first experiment was pizza. A new conflict was born between Rinne and Yuria over the existence and viability of pineapple on pizza.

One found it delicious, while the other claimed it was a desecration of fruit.

However, the real chaos came when the following delivery arrived. This time, it was jjajangmyeon.[2]

After tasting both, Yuria and Rinne shouted in unison.

“Jjajangmyeon!”

“Jjamppong!”

“That’s strange. Jjajangmyeon is a magnificent dish!”

“Baseless.”

“Pardon?”

Smiling sweetly, Yuria grabbed Rinne’s head. Not to be outdone, Rinne immediately grabbed Yuria’s head in turn. The two glared at each other, practically growling like cats ready to pounce in a territory dispute.

Watching the two, Evangeline let out a deep sigh. “Why are they always fighting like this? Total basic bitches, smh...”

She’d clearly picked up a few terms from the internet.

Ignoring them, she began unwrapping a container of tangsuyuk, humming as she went. Without hesitation, she poured the sauce directly over the pork.[3]

“Hehe, this is how it’s meant to be eaten!”

Both Rinne and Yuria shouted at once.

“You’re ruining our options!!”

“Evangeline’s palate—Rinne evaluates it lowly!!”

It was rare for the ever-monotone Rinne to raise her voice in shock.

Evangeline, meanwhile, simply kept humming, looking genuinely confused about what she'd done wrong.

As the sauce began to soak the once-crispy pork, Yuria’s eyes narrowed sharply. She could overlook most things, but tangsuyuk was a special case.

Davey occasionally brought it back to Heins Territory, so she’d developed a strong personal preference for it. Actually, it was one of the few foods she and Rinne both agreed on.

Yuria soon spotted a few untouched, still-crispy pieces of tangsuyuk.

‘At least let me save those!’

She reached out, hand trembling slightly. Yet before she could, Rinne shot forward like a flash, scooping up the remaining pieces with both hands.

“P-Please put those d-down,” Yuria stammered in a voice full of anxiety.

However, Rinne just shoved all of them into her mouth until her cheeks bulged like a hamster’s.

Yuria just smiled even more wildly. From her forehead came an audible snap, as if a vein was about to burst.

“You damned hamster!!!”

Rinne kept chewing. Without a word, she swallowed everything in one gulp. For just a moment, she even gave the faintest smile.

That tiny smile was enough to make Yuria explode.

“You want a piece of this, Rinne?” With a bright, unbothered smile still on her face, Yuria reached out toward something.

Rinne’s eyes slightly narrowed in alarm. “Yuria. Rinne determines it to be a very poor decision. Rinne evaluates this lowly.”

“Oh, really?”

“Rinne proposes a negotiation. Parlay! Requesting negotiation!”

Despite her desperate plea, Yuria opened the pizza box in her hand.

It was none other than a warm, freshly baked cheese pizza. It was Rinne’s favorite—so much so that she had even gone through the trouble of heat-sealing it to preserve it perfectly.

Alarmed, Rinne shot up from her seat. Alas, it was already too late.

Yuria had torn open a packet of hot sauce and dumped it all over the pizza. “Oh my. Looks like my hand slipped.”

Bang!!

Golden light instantly erupted from Rinne’s body. Her small wings rapidly expanded into three pairs as a geometric halo spun into form above her head.

Boom!!

The World-Destabilizing Spear materialized in her hand.

“Rinne declares war.”

The president and vice-president of the Gourmet Research Society were usually the most in sync with one another, getting along best. However, when it came to certain tastes, their preferences clashed in the most catastrophic of ways.

1. People feed coffee cherries to the Asian Palm Civet, then its digestive system does the work making it apparently super awesome-tasting and fermenting it. Once they excrete the enhanced cherries, they are harvested from the excrement and used for coffee. It’s supposed to have a unique, smooth, and less bitter taste with earthy and fruity notes. Evangeline freezes because she realizes she just ate poop-beans from some unidentified animal’s rectum. For more information, visit wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak ☜

2. Jjajangmyeon is a Korean take on a Chinese dish brought to the country by Chinese immigrants during the late nineteenth century. It’s a noodle dish featuring thick wheat noodles topped with a savory, thick black bean sauce made from chunjang (Korean black bean paste), meat (often pork), and vegetables like onions, zucchini, and potatoes. It was a staple during wartime due to its relatively inexpensive costs to prepare, and still enjoys great popularity in Korea to this day. ☜

3. Tangsuyuk, a popular sweet and sour pork dish in Korean-Chinese cuisine, is usually served with the fried pork and sauce separately. There is a debate on whether to dip the pork in the sauce or to pour the sauce entirely on the pork when eating. ☜