Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Dragon King Festival (Part 3)

 

After that, the group from ?Hell and Heaven? came and took the four away. The remaining three, given that it was lunchtime, engaged in an intense battle.

 

“Thank you very much! We look forward to serving you again!”

 

With a refreshing smile, Rou, the brown-haired boy in a butler outfit, handed a freshly made ?Kushidora katsu? to a dragonkin girl.

 

The girl responded with a somewhat dazed, “Y-yes!” and staggered off to sit on a nearby bench.

 

“Next customer, please proceed without pushing.”

 

As he encouraged the next in line, Rou confirmed the payment with the “Crystal” in his right hand and handed the dish to the next customer.

 

He quickly repeated the motions, maintaining his smile and executing each action with refinement.

 

This required a surprising amount of concentration.

 

I wasn’t bad at repetitive tasks, but there were moments when I almost fumbled while handing out orders.

 

In the past, I had spent 24 hours hunting in the VR game ?Sky Fantasy? with Sora and Shin, so I had some confidence in my focus. However, this was proving to be more exhausting than I expected.

 

It appeared that the line showed no signs of dwindling.

 

Before I knew it, most of the customers in line were women, ranging from young girls to adults.

 

Among them were men in women’s clothing, including some who looked like transgender individuals, and like the other women, they were directing intense gazes at him. So, Rou chose to quietly pretend he didn’t see it.

 

Wow, this is some good training.

 

Even while engaged in this seemingly endless task, I never felt my spirit waver.

 

In fact, it fueled my competitive spirit as I faced off against these formidable opponents known as customers.

 

However, despite my own decent performance, the world’s strongest next to me still operated on a completely different level…

 

As Rou handed over the dishes and confirmed the next payment, he glanced at his side.

 

There stood his childhood friend, now transformed into a silver-haired girl due to a curse from the game’s final boss, the Demon Lord.

 

The boy, now in a girl’s body, efficiently served customers, handing over two ?Kushidora katsu? to two patrons without losing focus for a moment.

 

It was 2 PM, and it had been two hours since they switched with the three girls.

 

Despite this, the silver-haired girl, Sora, continued to move at top speed.

 

She was handling twice the number of ?Kushidora katsu? as Rou.

 

With a radiant smile that never faltered, she gracefully passed dish after dish to the waiting customers.

 

“Thank you! We look forward to your next visit.”

 

“Y-yes…”

 

Using her stunning appearance to its fullest, Sora’s flower-like smile captivated those who stepped away from the line, leaving them dazed as they took the dish and returned to the back of the queue.

 

It was a scene reminiscent of a perpetual motion machine.

 

Furthermore, as people grew curious and started noticing the line, more and more of them were drawn in. Some of the women joined his line, while the others lined up for Sora’s.

 

Unlike earlier, when Kuro had grabbed Sora’s hand, not a single person dared to do so now.

 

They seemed to think that if they touched this beautiful girl, she might vanish, so everyone hesitantly accepted their skewers.

 

This went on for two hours.

 

Unlike in the real world, there was no sweating, so there was no danger of heatstroke or dehydration. However, the mental strain of repeating the same task was significant.

 

Yet, Sora made no mistakes, which was more frightening than impressive.

 

It reminds me once again of the incredible power of the skills Sora acquired through enduring the painful experience of playing a terrible game.

 

He found himself momentarily captivated by the profile of the silver-haired girl, who continued to handle nearly double the workload.

 

Really, she looks so cute but is also so cool!

 

Reinvigorated, Rou accelerated his movements alongside her.

 

………………………

 

At 4 PM, Sora and the others achieved an astonishing score of 4,920, placing them in first place temporarily.

 

They sold about 800 ?Kushidora katsu? combined per hour, and after four hours of continuous work, they pulled ahead of the second-place *Tamaeichika*, which had a score of 4,300, by 620 points.

 

However, what was concerning was that the Ghost Dragon King was closely trailing in third place, and at this pace, there was a slight possibility they might catch up to them.

 

According to Shin and Rou, who had gone to scout, there were no skeletons at the stall. Instead, seasoned warriors reminiscent of battle-hardened soldiers were standing in line.

 

The food that appeared to be standard sweet potatoes turned out to have a crunchy exterior and a fluffy interior, with a delightful sweetness that was addictively good, as described passionately by the sweet-toothed Shin.

 

So, I decided to take Shin and Rou along with me for a break and go scout again.

 

The work area was now filled with people who had acquired the cooking skills from ?Hunters of the Apocalypse? and ?Hell and Heaven?, significantly increasing the number of staff and accelerating the process under Shio’s supervision.

 

We had already peeked at the stall of the second-place ?Tenmoku Ichi-Ka?, which was selling new potions at a tool shop next to a yakisoba stall, unrelated to the festival event.

 

These potions were amazing, offering 500 HP healing to players within the thrown area.

 

Buying the ?Area Heal Potion? and ?Area Magic Potion? for 10,000 El each was quite a good deal.

 

“I ended up buying 50 of each…”

 

“I get it. Anyone would buy those.”

 

“It was a good purchase.”

 

Excited to try out the new potions, I hummed a tune as we walked, and soon the Ghost Dragon King’s stall came into view.

 

“Oh, is that the one…?” Sora asked, her voice trailing off in uncertainty as she took in the full sight.

 

The stall was adorned with a vibrant design.

 

At the back, the Ghost Dragon King and an elderly dragonkin chef in a cook’s hat were frying something that looked like sweet potatoes.

 

At the counter, three elderly women dressed as Shrine Maidens were serving customers, and judging by their horns, they too appeared to be dragonkin.

 

They moved with a combination that suggested years of experience, efficiently handling the long line of customers.

 

Curious about the sudden popularity of sweet potatoes, Sora decided to buy just one for now.

 

“Alright, I’m off.”

 

“Got it.”

 

“We’ll wait here.”

 

After parting from the two, Sora lined up at the end of the queue, selecting the only item displayed on the automatically opened order screen.

 

Without waiting too long, it was soon her turn. She received a food pack containing three types of sweet potatoes: cubed, oval, and stick-shaped, along with chopsticks.

 

“Here you go, ?Candied Sweet Potato?. It’s freshly made and hot, so please enjoy it carefully.”

 

“Ah, okay.”

 

“Thank you very much. We look forward to your next visit.”

 

After about 20 seconds of waiting, Sora completed her transaction and smoothly stepped aside.

 

The level of customer service was impressive, and the handoff was exceptionally courteous.

 

Rejoining Shin and Rou, Sora positioned herself at the edge of the path to avoid being in the way and opened her sweet potatoes, trying each shape one by one.

 

“Hmm, it’s not just the change in texture from the different shapes that makes it enjoyable. This subtle, clean sweetness… maybe they’re using high-quality ingredients?”

 

Not wanting to know the answer right away, Sora finally activated her ?Insight? skill.

 

Then, an astonishing fact was revealed.

 

—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–

?Refractory Sweet Potato?.

A variety of potato created through alchemy by synthesizing the refractary flower, nourished by magma.

This luxury item rarely appears on the market and costs 100,000 El each.

—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–

 

And they’re offering it for just 1,000 El?

 

That’s a massive loss, no matter how you look at it.

 

As expected of a royal, they seem to be playing the power card without concern for profitability.

 

No wonder the dragonkin around here are saying, ?I never thought I’d see the day I could eat this potato for such a low price.?

 

“Hmm, it seems the secret has been exposed.”

 

“That voice… the Ghost Dragon King!?”

 

Sora, aware through her ?Perception? skill that he was approaching, turned around and spoke his name.

 

There stood a translucent old man wearing a headband and a traditional “jinbei”.

 

“To think you would bring this out and still not hold first place. Both you and the second-place adventurers are doing wonderfully.”

 

“Now that it’s out, I’m going to win for real. That’s just who I am.”

 

“That spirit is commendable. I’ll chase you until the end, so be prepared.”

 

With a defiant grin, the Ghost Dragon King turned and, gliding like a ghost, smoothly slipped away.

 

As Sora watched him leave, she realized that this was where the real challenge began.