The tall man who dragged Lia to her table served as the contest host. He introduced the judges for the contest — the town mayor, the head chef of the biggest restaurant, one of the city council, and ‘Sir Eldric’ as the guest of honor. After the introduction, the host called all twenty participants in front.

“We have twice the number of participants for this year!” the host grinned at the contestants, mostly at women. “In front of you are the ingredients that you can use. But you have to be fast. There is only limited supply of these so you better grab yours right away before another contender do. However, it is against the rules to hoard them just so your rivals won’t have anything to use. Just get what you will need so that we can also avoid wastage.”

Lia stared at the long table before them. There were pots and baskets of all kinds of ingredients, pork, beef, chicken, vegetables, spices, everything. Yet she still had not come up with a recipe that she would use.

‘Anything is fine since I won’t try to win this.’

The theme was someone you love, then how about a dessert? Or she could just copy the novel Lia’s recipe to make her life easier. ‘But that might increase my chances of winning, no?’ she thought as she chewed on her inner cheek.

“As for this year’s theme, I’ll let our distinguished guest tell that you,” the host regarded the protagonist with a nod, to which he replied by standing and walking towards the contestants.

Lia heard gasps and murmurs around her as the girls ogled at the protagonist. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Eldric said as he looked at each participant, “for this year’s theme, you have to create a dish that reminds you of home. That’s simple don’t you think? Best of luck.”

Eldric turned on his heels but not before holding Lia’s gaze who gawk at him. She could not help it. That was a completely different theme! Her planned recipe would not fit the theme. She may not want to win, but she did not to be a laughingstock for her choice of dish either.

As the host signaled the start of the contest, the other participants dashed to the long table, grabbing everything they could. They rushed to the ingredients with such ferocity that some of them started fighting over a single item.

And Lia stood in the middle of the chaos, dazed.

Gosh darn it. She hated last minute changes the most. But her mind went blank when the theme was announced. Meanwhile, the rest of the contestants seemed to have started with their preparation already. The long table had lesser people and much lesser ingredient.

The intense atmosphere came to her like a jolt as though a fire was lit inside her. She rushed to the table and tried to ignore the disapproving gaze she received from the judges. Her mind raced as she scanned the remaining items on the table.

“Home,” she repeated chanted the word as if saying it out loud might give her the inspiration she needed.

And like a magic word, it did.