kscans

Chapter 6 - AI Protection and Cooking Preparations

Hayato told Ash the location of his log house headquarters, and then they parted ways.

Ash was now going back to his home to get the materials and then come to the log house. He had enough materials for ten attempts at the moment and wanted Hayato to get started right away.

Hayato had no reason to refuse. He used an item that allowed him to teleport, intending to return to his base immediately and get ready.

Normally, Hayato, who had no magic skills, couldn't use teleportation magic. But being a production player, he could create items that allowed him to use magic even without magic skills, though they had a limited number of uses called charges.

He could also use items that allowed him to use attack magic, but the damage was dependent on his magic skill. In Hayato's case, even if he could use such an item, he couldn't deal any damage, so he hadn't made any.

Using one such disposable item, a "Ring of Teleportation," he returned to his base in an instant.

Opening the door and entering the log house, he was greeted by the maid, Esha.

"Welcuhm bahk, Masher."

"You can wait until you're done eating... Also, all the food from the shop is gone. Could you explain what happened?"

Esha chewed her food thoroughly, then swallowed with a gulp. She took out a handkerchief, wiped her mouth, and straightened her posture with a snap. Her expression became sharp.

"It was absolutely delicious. I must say, you are truly a master."

"Alright, I'm returning you. I'll hire a different maid."

"Please wait. There is a saying that haste makes waste. Once you hear this, it will be clear that I am not at fault. First, please listen to my words."

"...Go on."

"Rest assured. While I may have helped myself to the products, it was only after paying for them properly. All the dishes in this shop were purchased by me with my own money. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I contributed immensely to the sales. You might even call me a valued customer. Is there a discount for valued customers? Or perhaps an employee discount?"

Hayato checked the shop's sales and confirmed that the money had indeed been transferred. He hadn't kept track of the total value of the food items, but he figured it would be around this much and breathed a sigh of relief.

But he also had a question.

Can NPCs buy products on their own?

Selling items to NPC shops was a common practice, but an NPC buying a player's product was a first for Hayato. In the shop he had run in his previous Clan, the customers had all been players. An NPC had never come to buy anything.

"Um, can NPCs buy players' products?"

"Pardon me, what did you say? I couldn't quite hear you...?"

Couldn't hear me? Can an AI do that...? Oh, no, it's the AI Protection security.

This game's AI was said to be so high-performance that the AIs didn't think of themselves as AIs. Also, since the game world was everything to the AIs, to prevent them from becoming self-aware or experiencing self-contradiction, talking about this world being a game or them being AIs was a prohibited matter.

I think something like that was written in the terms of service at the start of the game. Words like 'NPC' and 'player' were probably filtered and didn't get through to Esha... That's right, even if this is a game world, for the NPCs, it's reality. And it would be strange for me to question an NPC for acting in a way I didn't know about. I should just accept it as it is.

"No, it's nothing. But if you're going to buy the shop's products, could you go through me? Having products on display can help attract customers. When there are various things available, people might buy something else on a whim, and it could also increase repeat customers, so I want to avoid having some products sold out as much as possible."

"So that was your reason. Understood. I will refrain from buying only the low-quality dishes. The high-quality dishes are mine."

"You don't understand at all, do you?"

"By the way, Master. More importantly, how are the dishes I requested coming along? My stomach is on the verge of rampaging. You could say it is the day before a Stampede."

"Could you not treat it like that? And a Stampede is that thing where a massive number of monsters rush toward a town, right? I don't want to know what happens if the defense fails."

"Let's just say it gets very messy."

"I really want to return her to the Maid Guild. I've bought the ingredients, so I'm going to give it a try now. Can you keep watching the shop? Also, a customer might be coming, so please handle that as well."

"Rest assured. This Esha Crown will perform her duties perfectly."

I have a bad feeling about this.

Though he thought so, he had no choice but to ask, so he left the shop to Esha and went up to his room on the second floor.

After returning to his room, he immediately began preparations for cooking. Though it was called preparations, it was just a matter of changing his equipment.

Basically, the success rate for production depended heavily on the skill value. In Hayato's case, it was at 100, the maximum.

However, it was possible to increase the success rate from that state through various buffs. In the first place, for some items, the success rate wasn't 100% even with the skill at 100. To get it closer to 100, it had to be raised with buffs.

First was the DEX stat, short for dexterity. It represented nimbleness.

In the case of cooking, for every 10 points of DEX, there was a 1% buff. The maximum for a stat was 100. Naturally, Hayato had put 100 points into DEX, so he had a base buff of 10%.

However, unlike skills, stats could go above 100. This was through the stat-boosting effects of equipment and food. Through these effects, stats could be raised to a maximum of 150.

Hayato raised his DEX by a total of 30 through his equipment. This brought his total DEX to 130.

After that, he ate a "Salt-grilled Saury." It was a dish that increased DEX by 20. Fish dishes were known to increase DEX and were considered a must-eat for production players whenever they were crafting something.

With this, his total DEX was 150. He had received a 15% buff from his stats alone, but Hayato then took out more equipment. There were several pieces of equipment that exclusively raised the success rate of cooking.

First was the "Chef's Hat." A headpiece that increased the success rate by 20%.

Then the "Pastry Chef's Apron." A waist-slot item that also increased the success rate by 20%.

Finally, the "Sushi Chef's Geta." For some reason, this footgear raised the success rate by 5%.

This is probably the highest success rate increase I can get. These are masterpieces I made hundreds of times after learning that random effects could be attached. My stats and equipment are so good that even Dragon Steak, which is said to be impossible to make with 100% success, becomes 100%. I could make a fortune if I sold this equipment, but I could never sell it. Besides, these are all things I have memories of gathering materials for with everyone. I couldn't sell them no matter how much they're worth. And this too...

Hayato took out his favorite knife and equipped it. The "Adamantite Knife - Extreme."

This knife had no cooking success rate buff. But, like the Crystal Dragon Pendant he had shown to the mercenary Ash, it had an absurd effect.

That effect was "Reduces the probability of one-star and two-star results, adding them to three-star." The item didn't specify the exact reduction, but the effect was at 100.

In other words, he couldn't make one-star or two-star dishes with this knife. The minimum quality started at three stars.

Just looking at it makes me smile. Like that pendant, this should be considered a super rare item that few people have. My Clan members didn't seem to understand its value very well either. Well, they were mainly focused on fighting monsters, so they probably weren't interested. And they all had legendary weapons that were unparalleled in combat, so maybe it paled in comparison.

Hayato was reminiscing about the past as he looked at his knife, but he switched gears.

Alright, let's make the dishes Esha wants. But cooking a new dish for the first time is exciting. And I'm curious about the effects of the food. I'd be grateful if they had effects that would sell well.

Hayato put the ingredients in his item bag and began to cook.