I really didn't want to burn it.

"It's okay."

The Flower Goddess answered succinctly.

"That's good."

Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief; as long as no one found fault with it, that was fine.

“There’s nothing I can do…” Chloris said, fiddling with the cake on her plate with a dessert spoon. “After eating that woman’s cooking, other dishes just don’t feel quite right.”

Li Ang raised his eyebrows but did not answer.

The "woman" Chloris was referring to was Ryougi Shiki.

Don't let her status as the eldest daughter of the Ryougi family fool you; her cooking skills are truly exceptional. Even Li Ang, who has experienced countless timelines, believes that Shiki's cooking is among the best he has ever tasted.

"Hey, I say... how about we tie up Ryougi Shiki and bring her back to Qin to be your Imperial Preceptor's cook?"

"Claus suddenly asked."

Li Ang said with a wry smile, "You can't expect Shi to cook every day..."

Ryougi Shiki is a really good cook, but she cooks entirely based on her mood.

When she's in a good mood, she might cook for several days in a row; when she's not, she might not step into the kitchen for months.

"That's true, what a pity..."

Chloris bit down on the straw of her drink with slight disappointment.

During the conversation, the sound of two men arguing suddenly came from the shop entrance.

"Haha, don't be so discouraged, dog!"

"Stop talking!"

"Well then, since I'm in such a good mood, how about I treat you to a meal? Hahahaha!"

"Shut up, you bastard!"

……

"Guests, what you're doing is bothering the other guests!"

The restaurant waiter tried to stop him, his voice trembling with tears, but the arrogant king clearly had no intention of restraining himself.

"Hahahaha! This is really making me laugh to death! Dog, you really are my source of happiness."

"Who do you think caused this! If it wasn't you who inflated the prices..."

"Aren't they...?"

Chloris stared wide-eyed at the shop entrance, utterly astonished.

As for Li Ang, the moment he heard a very distinctive voice, he subtly shrank his body, attempting to hide his presence.

However, it was too late. Mr. Jin's Arch class was not for nothing; he recognized them at a glance.

"Ah! You guys are actually here!"

Bah!

Gilgamesh slammed his hand on the table.

"Li Ang, good afternoon!"

Li Ang turned around helplessly, forcing a not-so-pleasant smile.

"It's already afternoon, isn't it?"

Li Ang looked up and noticed that besides Gilgamesh and Cú Chulainn, even a certain fake priest was there. However, Kirei Kotomine hadn't spoken earlier, so Li Ang hadn't noticed.

"Alright, the Fuyuki City Church trio is complete."

"This taste... Woman, are you a god?"

Gilgamesh looked at Chloris with an unfriendly expression.

"Hey! Arch, let's go."

Cú Chulainn called out to Gilgamesh, but Gilgamesh remained unmoved.

Such a commotion naturally attracted the attention of the shop staff.

"Excuse me, sir, please don't disturb the other guests..."

Gilgamesh casually waved his hand and said in an unquestionable tone, "We know each other, let's share a table."

Li Ang frowned.

Although shopping with Chloris was tiring, he still preferred the troublesome trio to the former.

Chloris didn't mind; she got up and moved to sit next to Li Ang.

"You're quite sensible."

Gilgamesh casually sat down opposite him.

Cú Chulainn originally intended to leave, but at Gilgamesh's prompting, he decided to sit down.

Kirei Kotomine remained calm, as he didn't care who he ate with unless Kiritsugu Emiya came along.

The waiter looked embarrassed; he'd rather not serve such a difficult customer.

However, his nightmare had only just begun after these people sat down.

"I'd like a serving of Mapo Tofu."

The fake priest ordered food without looking at the menu.

"I'm sorry, sir. We are a Western restaurant and do not serve Chinese dishes."

"Then give me a Mapo Tofu Steak."

"Guest...are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm serious."

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't have that either."

"The Mapo Tofu Curry Rice?"

"No……"

"Mapo tofu baking dish?"

"no!"

Mapo tofu tiramisu?

"No, not at all!"

"Why don't you have anything?"

"Sir, you should at least order something other than Mapo Tofu!"

……

Gilgamesh ignored his Master who was tormenting the shop assistants and instead focused his attention on Leon and Chloris.

"I never expected you to be so close to gods. Didn't you hate gods the most?"

Li Ang asked, "Do you know me?"

Li Ang had this question last night, and Gilgamesh acted as if he knew him very well.

She had never seen him before.

Li Ang genuinely had never seen this before; he didn't recall ever traversing Uruk or Mesopotamian mythology.

Is this a case of mistaken identity, or is there some other reason?

"Hmph, if you don't want to admit it, then so be it."

Gilgamesh snorted coldly, seemingly disdainful of explaining anything to Li Ang.

Li Ang's lips twitched.

The fact that he only said half of what was said made him feel very uncomfortable.

"So, what's your situation?" Leon looked at Cú Chulainn. "How did you end up with them?"

"Do you think I wanted this?!"

Cú Chulainn slammed his fist on the table.

"If you hadn't forced my Master to stay in bed, I wouldn't have had to come out on patrol with them!"

"patrol?"

Li Ang tilted his head.

Cú Chulainn crossed his arms; he, too, didn't want to waste any more words.

It was called a patrol, but in reality it was setting up surveillance points throughout the city, but such a secret matter could not be told to the enemy.

And so, the conversation stalled there. Only Kirei Kotomine continued to torment the waiter.

Do you have Mapo Tofu Ramen?

"Guest, can't you order anything else besides Mapo Tofu?"

"Mapo tofu over rice?"

"It's no use circling back; if it's not there, it's not there!"

……

Well, it seems their conversation will continue.

Perhaps he was getting too bored from the silence, Li Ang finally spoke up.

"Hey, what were you arguing about at the door just now?"

Cú Chulainn's face darkened further upon hearing this question, while Gilgamesh burst into another fit of maniacal laughter.

"Hahahahaha!"

"What are you laughing at! If you hadn't messed things up, how could this have happened..."

Cú Chulainn was so angry that he wanted to reach out and strangle Gilgamesh.

"What's going on?"

"Let me explain."

Having finally laughed enough, Gilgamesh arrogantly put his feet on the table and began to explain to Leon.

It turned out that while they were patrolling the commercial street, they passed by an antique shop and discovered that the shop was actually selling Gilgamesh-related items.

"your things?"

“To be precise, it was my Noble Phantasm from yesterday,” Gilgamesh replied.

"Wait a minute, didn't your Noble Phantasm disappear?"

Last night, Li Ang did see Gilgamesh's scattered Noble Phantasms on the ground, cut in half by the Ryougi Shiki and not retrieved.

Li Ang originally thought that these things would disappear on their own after the magic disappeared.

"I originally thought so too, but that woman's eyes were a bit beyond my expectations," Gilgamesh said with a hint of deeper meaning.

"What do you mean?"

"Her killing, in a sense, is to leave things in their final form—death."

Li Ang roughly understood that things killed by "Ryougi Shiki" could no longer change, so Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm was preserved in a broken state.

"And then what?"

"Then, of course, I bought it with my own money," Gilgamesh said matter-of-factly. "Even though it was broken, how could I give my things to someone else?"

Upon hearing this, Cú Chulainn became agitated again.

"Get out of here!"

With Cú Chulainn's explanation, Li Ang finally understood the cause and effect.

Although Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms are genuine, they are damaged, and they are in very good condition.