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Meanwhile, while everyone is starving, complaints started piling up against Oknodie, who was the only one fetching food.
“Oknodie, you love collecting cookbooks, right?”
“Why aren’t you eating today?”
“Seriously, you should join us!”
Grrr
They had fought desperately against the wall of one million calories but fell into despair in front of the two million calorie hurdle!
Oknodie realized it was time to step forward.
“Oh Flying Spaghetti Monster! Please allow me to participate in the trials to help my friends!”
Two gigantic meatballs hanging over the spaghetti looked down at the politely praying Oknodie.
[Exceeds food collection index for the specified entity]
[Entity: Oknodie, exempt from trial judgment]
[Reason for trial exclusion: Does not aid the growth of other weak entities]
Oknodie turned back to Jezel with a big grin.
“They say so?”
“I have another suggestion. Let’s feed the beasts loaded with food. We could have just done that from the beginning, right?”
“Ehhh, that’s a bit…?”
“So you knew but avoided it? Is there some reason for a little lady to hesitate?”
“It’s such a waste! I’ve worked hard gathering rare recipes; to see them go to animals instead of friends!”
Jezel was at a loss for words.
Though she appreciated the sentiment, it was equally tormenting.
Oknodie’s love for everyone was disproportionately huge, mainly calorically speaking.
Humans couldn’t handle such immense love.
It was as harsh as the merciless heart of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
“Ehehe, but it’s heartwarming to see everyone eat eagerly. I’ll try a bit harder!”
Oknodie prayed again to Asin.
“Oh Flying Spaghetti Monster! Though a person is a complete being, we are also complementary to each other by being together. If our relationship strengthens us, then my participation will also benefit the others!”
A spaghetti strand brushed Oknodie’s face like someone awkwardly touching their chin.
[Exception Accepted]
[Entity: Oknodie, deemed participant in the trial]
Oknodie was granted permission for food.
“Then let me show you my skill lightly!”
Fairy fruit tarts made with fairy dust instead of flour, nut cookies made from grain imbued with spirit after raiding the wood spirit’s warehouse, and plunder stew brewed from goblin-style loot.
As everyone devoured all kinds of dishes, their previously absent appetite surged!
And then they all grandly sank!
The moment they added one more spoonful of food to their limits, their stomachs warned them.
“If even one more goes down, it’s an indefinite strike starting now!”
“Whoa Oknodie, I knew you could eat, but not to that extent! How could all that fit in that tiny body?”
“Your stomach isn’t even bulging!”
“Am I seeing things…?”
The boys were amazed, but the girls were even more shocked.
“Her waist hasn’t expanded at all!”
“Oknodie, let me quickly measure your size.”
“Okay!”
With a hope against hope, a girl measured Oknodie’s waist again right after she finished eating.
The result showed no difference before and after.
It was as if she flawlessly practiced zero-calorie consumption.
“Her belly didn’t stick out at all.”
“That’s impossible!”
“That’s cheating!”
“Humans are supposed to gain weight when they eat. Naturally, they should get fat!”
“Wait! Everyone, listen to my hypothesis.”
The one to calm the confused girls was Northern Grand Duchess Irene’s hypothesis.
“Oknodie has a huge amount of dark mana while maintaining a human form.”
“So?”
“How much energy do you think it takes to suppress dark mana, ensuring it does not threaten the human body while controlling the flow of ki constantly?”
“!”
“Right. A person with dark mana ends up consuming calories more than usual. That’s my hypothesis.”
Irene’s hypothesis received explosive support.
At the same time, it sparked an explosive guilt trip.
“If the energy from the food just eaten is immediately consumed, doesn’t that mean Oknodie’s condition is really dangerous?”
“She must be under life-threatening pressure.”
“Then how does she survive without eating?”
“Maybe she breathes in nature mana using mana flow technique and uses that mana to prevent dark mana from threatening her body?”
“Wow. If such an amazing feat is possible, something like meals would… ”
Jiang interrupted the girls’ conversation.
“Not necessary. It would actually be a hindrance. Mana breathing is much more efficient.”
“Seriously…?!”
“If you understand, don’t ever pressure Oknodie to eat again. You made her take on the risk of mana paralysis and dark corruption.”
Everyone bowed their heads, deeply reflecting on Jiang’s serious words.
“I’m sorry, Oknodie.”
“Our ignorance has troubled you.”
“It’s okay! Eating a little won’t kill me!”
“Sobs For having you do such reckless things because of us, and for comforting us after all that, we’re the foolish ones compared to such an adult-like little one!”
“If anyone offers Oknodie snacks again, I’ll be the first to slap their hands away!”
“Ehhh?!”
Bouncing around
The lively conversation led to the harsh result of Oknodie’s snack confiscation, but everyone, except Oknodie, fully agreed with this idea.
“I’ll tell Isabel to stop cooking too. She must have been working hard squeezing out recipes. We should clearly communicate that it’s not worth continuing the suffering.”
“I’ll convey it to Countess Arcadia. We often exchange greetings at the noble tea party.”
Jezel and Irene’s determination was joined by Jiang.
“If seniors who think she’s cute come forward with snacks, I’ll give them a hard time.”
As prohibition rules sprang up, akin to “Do not feed the animals,” Oknodie was so shocked that her appetite vanished completely.
With her hands moving slower and slower, Jezel quickly set up a chair, table, parasol, and a fan to let Oknodie rest comfortably.
Suddenly, Oknodie found herself enjoying a last supper like a death row inmate, unable to speak properly and completely mesmerized.
“Hic… Oknodie, you seem to have suffered serious internal injuries from us.”
“I’m sorry Oknodie… Don’t die!”
“Shh. If you make loud noises, it might worsen the internal damage. Let’s not disturb her while she focuses within, and we’ll handle what we need to do.”
Determination filled the eyes of the students as they looked at the barrier coming down from the sky.
“Honestly, we can’t eat it all just with willpower. Shall we give some to the animals?”
“Oknodie didn’t worry about our cookbook collection while she was feeding the beasts. We must not waste that intention.”
“Considering the identity of Asin we are facing, it might even be a
Jezel reflected on what Oknodie had told her regarding the domain of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
– The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of waste created by the fusion of discarded mana waste and food waste from the ultra-advanced civilization that thrived in the Middle Realm. That being seems satisfied and disappears when it sees a hearty meal without leftover trash!
– What happens if they can’t eat?
– To prevent mana beings born from miserable food waste like itself from arising, it would forcibly modify us into bodies that need to consume 100,000 calories a day to survive!
“The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a being born from discarded food. Since ancient times, people said that feeding animals with leftovers is a kind of ‘discarded food.’”
“!!”
“That little lady must have been aware of this but kept it secret, fearing that we would be terrified of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
“Didn’t we already have more than enough to be scared of with the one million calorie barrier?”
“Choosing a ‘different solution’ and being pushed into not having another option is a matter of mental ease. In reality, we stood idly by and faced the second high-class monster’s emergence, didn’t we?”
What they said was undeniably correct.
Oknodie had been caring, worrying, and taking care of everyone, yet they had only added greater burdens to her.
“Ugh. We’re trash.”
“Sorry, Oknodie… Please forgive us!”
“Didn’t we say we need stability? Let’s keep it down. The only atonement we can do is to eat a lot.”
“Our stomachs have limits. A regular meal won’t do.”
“Well then, we need to come up with an unusual plan.”
Jezel asked Oknodie.
“Little lady, do you know the ‘accurate conditions’ for calorie intake judgment?”
“The value of calories in food can be ‘calculated’ by the ‘eye,’ so the calorie intake judgment is completed once the food goes down the esophagus!”
“Then for the second question. If food evaporates within the body before reaching the stomach, does this lead to a reversal of the calorie intake judgment?”
Oknodie beamed brightly in response.
“Nope?”
“…!”
Jezel finally found it.
A way to surpass the wall of one million calories.
That method was also the ‘official攻略法’ (攻略法 means ‘strategy’ or ‘攻略’ in video games) Oknodie had used.
“Do not feed Oknodie,” was something that should make an excited Oknodie grin instead of feeling heartbroken!
Impressed by how quickly a newbie could catch up to a veteran’s strategies, they were moved.
“If there was such a great method, could it be that Oknodie…?”
Some guilt-ridden students looked at Oknodie skeptically.
Of course, Oknodie, who was moping for entirely different reasons, remained confident, and the students reflected again on Oknodie’s calm demeanor that gave away no signs of lying.
“To doubt Oknodie again, we really are trash.”
“Ugh… Opening a tiny gate in my throat to eliminate food and endlessly gobble it down sounds obviously dangerous, but if I don’t offer this, I’ll have no face left.”
“We’ll volunteer for the experiment. So please don’t judge us as trash!”
Students lined up to participate in the experiment for Jezel’s idea.
Shhh
