Chapter 417: Who Clung to Whose Thigh?

"Lords, we have fully loaded all your rare ingredients onto the vehicles."

"Additionally, upon learning that you two intended to head straight to the Gourmet Guild's camp for ingredient appraisal, I called ahead and arranged for their director to welcome you."

Ever since realizing that Seiya and Minezaki were truly powerful figures, the old butler's attitude toward them underwent a complete 180-degree transformation.

Yet, regardless of how Seiya and Minezaki felt about this behavior, the trio of Yūzaburō immediately grew displeased.

This old man is kissing up so well—he's taken all the kissing-up we were supposed to do! Now what's left for us?

"Get lost! Even if you hadn't contacted the Gourmet Guild, Seiya-bro would've had them crawling out on their knees just by showing up with all these rare ingredients."

"Exactly! Old Jin, stop butting in with your wrinkled face—we're gourmet hunters, and you're just a money-grubbing merchant. Why are you squeezing yourself into our circle? Do you think you're some cute girl?"

Undeterred by Yūzaburō's group's taunts, the old butler bowed politely and departed.

He knew his previous conduct had left a somewhat unfavorable impression on Seiya and the others, so he was trying to make amends.

Fortunately, they didn't seem to hold it against him, and his young master's impression of them appeared quite positive.

When the Umama family's convoy rolled into the camp in grand fashion, the gourmet hunters there barely gave it a second glance.

The Umama family is one of Japan's leading names in the culinary industry, and their convoys often come to the camp to purchase rare ingredients.

Because the mistress of the Umama family appears to have some connection with the elderly founder of the Gourmet Guild, and because each time they come to buy rare ingredients they hire heavily armed guards, no one has ever dared to target them.

"The Umama family's show this time is massive—what rare ingredient are they after? Even the Gourmet Guild's president, who rarely shows up, came out personally to greet them!"

"Who knows? But I bet this rare ingredient is extraordinary—maybe even a Capture Level 20 or higher."

"Capture Level 20 or higher? Are you joking? Do you have any idea how dangerous ingredients above Level 20 are?"

Let me put it this way: without using missile-level weaponry, a Capture Level 20+ ingredient can practically rule the human world with impunity."

Watching the Gourmet Guild president's beaming smile and the grand Umama convoy, bystanders began whispering among themselves.

But soon, they were stunned to realize that the Umama family wasn't here to buy rare ingredients—they were here to sell them?

Because as each sealed ingredient storage box was unloaded, the old butler, usually so composed, was no longer calm—he kept instructing his servants to handle the boxes with extreme care.

"Hey, isn't that Seiya and Minezaki? Didn't they go into the Gourmet World? How did they end up with the Umama family? Did they just latch onto some big shots?"

Since many gourmet hunters in the camp had previously worked as chefs, they were all surprised to see Seiya and Minezaki stepping down from the Umama convoy.

It had been over a week since Seiya and the others entered the Gourmet World, and many hunters had assumed they'd met some terrible fate.

Although Seiya and Minezaki were skilled, as rookie gourmet hunters, any mishap in the perilous Gourmet World was entirely plausible.

Perhaps the Umama family's hunters had just been hunting in the Gourmet World, stumbled upon the two in distress, and brought them back along the way?

But honestly, the hunters in the camp didn't care much about Seiya's ordeal—they were far more curious about what rare ingredients were inside those storage boxes, enough to warrant the Gourmet Guild president's personal welcome.

Since Seiya brought back so many rare ingredients and the Gourmet Guild's space was limited, and since so many onlookers had gathered, the president was now thoroughly flustered.

"Just appraise the ingredients right here—no need for such a grand spectacle."

He didn't care about hiding wealth or avoiding envy—too much formalism was just a waste of time.

They'd been away from home long enough; if Aunt Wenren Aunt Wenren Qingying returned during their absence and saw the restaurant closed for half a month, she'd explode in rage.

"This gentleman is…"

"Ahem, this esteemed lord is the owner of these rare ingredients. Since he's decided to appraise them on-site, Moonlight, why don't you just proceed?"

Upon hearing the Umama butler's reminder, the Gourmet Guild president stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "I am Moonlight Kō, president of this camp's Gourmet Guild. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Hmm, just call me Seiya. Do you have professional rare ingredient appraisers in your guild?"

"Yes, I've already heard from Old Jin—you intend to have some unknown rare ingredients appraised here and sell some of them, correct?"

"If the price is fair, I'll sell part of them; the rest I'll take back home."

After receiving Seiya's permission, the president ordered all the storage boxes on the ground opened and summoned all the guild's appraisers to begin work—even he himself soon joined in the appraisal.

The storage boxes on the ground were specially customized top-grade containers, boasting excellent sealing and built-in refrigeration.

In the butler's view, Seiya's previous method of storing these rare ingredients was far too crude.

These were treasures comparable to gems—each one, simply cooked, could become an irreplaceable culinary masterpiece.

Good heavens, when he first saw Seiya tying these ingredients together with mere vines, the butler felt more pain than Seiya himself—he felt as if his heart was bleeding!

As a chef, Seiya knew proper storage mattered, but under the circumstances, just getting these ingredients back was already a miracle.

(Many say the later chapters are filler, but I don't even know what "filler" means—I've written original plots with unique characters and events, not just empty words. (ToT)/~~~)

(End of Chapter)