"Damn it" shouted Oliver as he threw the 27th dish on the floor. All of them are failures. Forget being able to increase conservation to 5%, just the taste of it is beyond repulsive, along with the smell.
"But how is it possible? Did you follow everything exactly as shown in the video?" Asked James the 2nd, who was standing near Albert, observing the royal head chef making so many failed attempts.
"I did, I even wrote it down as instruction so that even a kid is able to replicate it. But it is still a failure." Said a frustrated Oliver. He too wanted to know how John was able to make, food like that. But he didn't want to know it out of greed but wanted to know as to satisfy his passion as a chef.
"Albert, did you make sure he had no magi or award?" The emperor asked in suspicion, this situation along with many other is forcing him to believe that John has some kind of award. Could it be he awakened before, thus the reason having no reaction towards magi particle? But that doesn't mean his ability won't appear in the memorial tablet.
"I made sure of it so many times your highness. I even used a Rank 5 spell, along with inviting a detecting award user, to detect if he has any items to stop us form detecting his magi particles or Principle particles, or if he has already awakened or if he is a magi. But all tests proved to be negative." Albert sighed; he knew this wasn't going to be as easy as they expected it to be.
"But then how is he able to get a high conservation rate, but when done the same thing we get none, not even talking about the taste of the food?" The emperor questioned confused.
"I don't know your majesty." Albert sighed as he looked up to the ceiling thinking 'He outplayed us again. Just how far is he able to think and plan.'
"Hang on." Suddenly Albert split the recording devices' screen in two and showed two projections of John cooking what appears to be Golden Lobster.
"What is it Albert?" The emperor asked as he observed the video, while not finding anything noteworthy.
"Your majesty, one video shows John making the Golden lobster for me, the other video shows John making the same thing for someone else. Do you notice anything?"
The emperor looked at the screen and shook his head. Suddenly Oliver chipped in "The ingredients, they are different."
"Correct. The ingredient are different although he is making broths for 2 different people. But why?"
"No idea." Oliver shrugged.
"I have 2 theories: 1-he is able to make food that is tailored for each person so as soon as someone eat that food their unique body reacts with the uniquely tailored food."
"Not possible Albert. How can he do that when he has not even seen any of the nobles, when it was their agents collecting on behalf of them?" The emperor questioned Albert.
"Butler Smith" When those two words were said by Albert, the emperor suddenly turned to the silent Smith, who was standing in a corner.
"Of course, the book of 'Nobles and kings of the Empire'." He said as he remembered.
But Smith shook his head "Again not possible, due to the book containing no details, about the rest of the commandments. Also how is he able to remember that giant book, which takes people at least 1 week to learn, in 4 hours?"
"Remember what I said before, he is a pure rotten genius. Remember he was the only person so far in the empires history that was able to be ahead of his teaching material by 2 to 3 years, when he was only 10 years old.
If he had carried on he could have probably finished the advanced courses even in 1 years' time, when it takes others 5 years.
Which one among us was able to do that when we were his age? Isn't that why we forced him to awaken his award 5 years later, as we feared he might turn out to be more dangerous than Jack? Now do you think is it possible for him to have failed to memorise the tablet?"
"I find it hard to believe there can be such a monster." Said the emperor in shock.
"Then what about the commandments who wasn't in the list?" Questioned Smith
"He was able to get me because I personally went there to order the food. The others he would have naturally guessed their behaviours from the actions they do, such as the business they invest in, where they went for holidays, what they don't agree with in the court, which is all public knowledge. Or he could have heard the people around him speak about them since childhood."
"Shit!" Suddenly everyone turned towards Smith, who seemed to be pissed off.
"Since he came to know about awards he always asked me about mine. When I told him, I am capable of reading other peoples behaviour, he always used to ask me what kind of people the commandments where. Although I didn't explain in detail about their behaviour like Alberts' which could reveal our trump card, I gave him a general outline of each commandment."
Everyone's face turned grim.
"What is your second theory Albert? I still find it hard for there to be a monstrous genius like him could exist." Emperor James shivered as he thought about John who was able to read everyone like an open book.
"Something happened or changed between the time he was making the broth for me and for whoever the other guys is?"
"How long is the time difference?" Emperor asked
"2 days. Hmm what could happen in 2 days" mused Albert as he went through all the videos of those 2 days.
"There is nothing happening Albert." Smith said worriedly
"No look, there is something weird going on." Everyone turned to look at the screen where John cooks, food and takes it to a room to eat.
"Every day, 3 times a day he goes into the storage room with some cooked food and comes out 30 minutes later empty handed."
"So?" Questioned Oliver
"Think about it what kind of normal person is able to stay in a chiller that is -25°C for 30 minutes without wearing any protection clothes and come out as if he just went for a walk, without even shivering, or even a shard of frost in his hair?" Asked Albert
"I bet whatever is happening in there will lead us to the reason why he is able to make high conservation food. We just need to get our recording devices in there" He carried on
"Hmm this seems more of a plausible theory. Smith arrange for some recording device and get one of the secret service to complete the mission, and make sure no one notices anything" Smith bowed before the Emperor before walking away.
"Thanks for your input Albert, Oliver. We just have to wait for a while before we crack this code." Said James as he started walking away.
Although he told no one Albert had one more theory that he didn't tell anyone because he himself found it absurd 'What if John was able to naturally make such high conservation food due to his innate talent at being a great cook, as well as improve it by making it tailor made food for every single person according to their behaviour?' Only if he knew he was so close to the truth with his last unspoken theory.