After the new Supreme Council of East Asia was finalized and the region returned to peace, Jaden prepared to head to the Northern Country.
He was going there to participate in the gourmet competition Rundle had invited him to earlier.
Although the competition wasn't a normal one-supposedly judging who could cook the worst-tasting food-Jaden didn't feel any pressure.
Erina couldn't come this time due to other matters, so Jaden traveled alone.
For him, this trip felt more like sightseeing than anything else.
He had already been to the Empire and experienced its unique atmosphere-medieval knights mixed with wasteland-style mechanical technology.
He grew up in East Asia, where classical martial arts and black technology were blended so naturally that it felt ordinary.
Only the Northern Country remained unexplored.
Thinking back, the Empire was likely the superpower formed by the first group of runaways from the Great Kingdom. They'd been trapped in endless wars and conflicts, only truly unifying two or three millennia ago.
Great Xia, on the other hand, was founded by the later group who fled eastward. They'd settled there ten thousand years ago and built their civilization steadily.
As for the Northern Country...
If Jaden remembered correctly, the people who had refused to leave back then-and had been driven north by him-went in that direction.
Was the Northern Country built by those people?
To be honest, Jaden was a little curious.
According to the timeline, the Great Kingdom should have split into two major powers.
One formed by those who believed in the gods.
One formed by those who didn't.
Those became the current Empire and Great Xia.
Because he destroyed the gods, the Empire likely went through a war of faith after divine signs vanished. That probably explained why it only unified a few thousand years ago.
Great Xia relied entirely on human development.
Jaden even suspected that Great Xia still preserved records of the original Great Kingdom.
But the Northern Country...
This one felt like an anomaly.
It might not have originated from the Great Kingdom at all.
It could have been founded by outsiders.
That alone made it interesting.
With those thoughts in mind, Jaden arrived and saw it.
White buildings with an ancient architectural style.
A multi-layered mountain city.
Towering, massive city walls.
To be honest, the scene made Jaden feel like he was looking at a dangerous frontier fortress rather than the entrance to a nation.
Yet this-
Was the entrance to the Northern Country.
Scott Wafflin Domain.
From outside the main gate, the entire domain looked like a city stacked atop colossal white walls.
But once you passed through the gate, you realized how wrong that impression was.
The city gate itself was carved directly through a mountain.
The walls leaned against the mountain's body.
Only after passing through the long, tunnel-like passage did the full view reveal itself.
Behind the walls lay a flat city.
Short houses.
Rows of windmills.
And if you climbed the stairs along the inner side of the wall, you'd discover that the mountain itself was also part of Scott Wafflin Domain.
The mountain city.
The ground city.
Together, they formed the complete domain.
Logically, bordering Great Xia, this should have been a frontier city.
But in reality, it didn't feel like one at all.
It was lively.
Bustling.
According to the locals, this place was one of the Northern Country's most important economic zones.
Because of the country's geography, the farther north you went, the colder it became.
Scott Wafflin Domain sat in one of the most comfortable climate zones in the entire Northern Country.
As for why it didn't feel like a frontier-
The local didn't explain.
But Rundle, who had come to receive Jaden, did.
"Mr. Yuki," Rundle said as they walked, "compared to you, people here are weak. Compared to you, humanity itself is nothing special."
"After all, you stand at the absolute peak of mankind."
"Even the person ranked second wouldn't be able to see your back, no matter how hard they tried."
He paused, then continued.
"But compared to ordinary people..."
"We Northerners are known as a fighting race."
That was all he said.
But it was enough.
Jaden understood.
Perhaps the entire population was effectively militarized.
He was only mildly curious.
He didn't ask further.
He simply followed Rundle toward the venue, located in the mountain city.
...
Gourmet competitions were rare in the Northern Country.
Here, fighting tournaments were far more common.
As they walked, Rundle kept enthusiastically introducing various combat tournaments.
Jaden listened politely.
But he wasn't particularly interested.
The old man had told him to rest for a while.
After resting, he would likely need to start dealing with matters related to the other world.
Although Duel Spirits had already been sent to gather intelligence, no one knew what awaited them on the other side.
What if it was a wasteland?
What if it was a biological apocalypse?
Even if it was an anime-style world-
What if it was Dragon Ball?
Here, he was the strongest human.
But in Dragon Ball...
That task might not be so easy.
Because of that uncertainty, the old man told him to rest.
So Jaden set those thoughts aside.
He relaxed.
Loosened the tension he'd been carrying.
Seeing that Jaden wasn't interested, Rundle gradually stopped talking about tournaments.
After a brief pause, he shifted topics.
"Mr. Yuki, the format of this gourmet competition is a bit different."
"It's basically a single-stage event."
"Everyone cooks at the same time."
"And after everyone finishes, the dishes are judged."
"You're not allowed to use inedible ingredients."
"And you can't add drugs or similar substances."
Hearing this, Jaden nodded.
After explaining the rules, Rundle smiled and prepared to leave.
He still had many things to arrange.
But before going, he left Jaden with one last remark.
"Mr. Yuki, there should be a few people you know participating."
"Someone might come greet you later~"
Hm?
Jaden paused.
Then he sensed someone approaching.
Not long after Rundle disappeared, Jaden saw a familiar figure walking toward him with a grin.
Saiba.
Or rather-
Joichiro Yukihira.
"Oh? Yuki, you're competing too?"
"Haha, I can't beat you with normal cooking."
"But don't even dream of beating me when it comes to cooking the worst-tasting food!"
Jaden blinked.
He looked at him expressionlessly.
"Yukihira."
"Did you ever consider that I can also use my ability on my own dish?"
Ah.
That.
Joichiro froze for a moment.
Then he laughed.
"That's fine too."
"Since I can't surpass you directly, seeing your ability in reverse isn't bad either."
"The more I understand it, the higher my chances of breaking through it."
When it came to Jaden's cursed ability, most chefs treated it like Asahi Saiba's Cross Knives.
If Cross Knives could be surpassed, then theoretically, so could Jaden's ability.
Most chefs no longer sought shokugeki with Jaden.
But people like Joichiro were different.
They were still trying.
Quietly.
Persistently.
The leader among them was Erina.
After her-
The Yukihira father and son.
So hearing this, Jaden nodded.
"Then good luck."
"I'll see you at the venue later."
...