"Yes, I suppose that would be me, now." Robin replied.

"You wouldn't happen to have any samples of the dish you gave the previous bunch,do you?" he asked. "I've never had the chance to taste a perfect dish before, after all."

Robin smiled. "I might. But, wouldn't it be better if you learned how. to make it yourself? I do believe the recordings of my cooking will soon be up for sale." She replied wryly.

"Oh, too bad. I'd have liked to sample your skills." He sighed as he sat down nearby.

Robin blinked lazily. She somewhat had an inkling of what might happen, but even she would have been surprised had she seen the future of Port Oracle. Because of Robin's partic.i.p.ation in this contest, sus.h.i.+ would soon become the prevalent dish among the local restaraunts in Port Oracle, to the point where it became unofficially known as Sus.h.i.+ City much, much later.

Robin watched the chefs ply their craft, but none of the dishes looked that interesting, so she soon became bored.

She took out a nondescript plain silver ring, and began rolling it across her knuckles, to the distraction of the judges.

"Say, how do you do that?" one of them asked.

Robin paused, trying to think of how to explain it. "My older brother showed me a long time ago, and I thought it was really neat, so I've been practicing ever since." She replied.

Seriously? Did no one know any sleights of hand? Robin paused, then put away the ring. It wouldn't do to upstage the main show, after all.

But Robin was seriously bored. She didn't know any of the judges, but they were acting pretty reserved after that last comment of hers. This contest didn't seem like it would be over soon, either...

In the end, Robin decided to sit back and take a nap.

"Ponzu, wake me when they're done." She asked as she leaned back in her seat, and covered her head with her newsboy cap to keep off the sun.

The rest only stared at her in dumbfound surprise, By all appearances, Robin had immediately fallen asleep. She was still a bit tired after waking up so early, after all.

"Let him be. It must have taken him quite the effort to create a flawless dish, after all." The new lead judge shook his head.

Robin had no idea about the exhausting undertaking with which she would soon be burdened.

-----

In the end, none of the other dishes even came close to Robin's score. And so, she and her companions were granted an audience that evening. Robin was handed the official invitation along with a large golden medal.

Immediately after she left the venue, she was surrounded by her companions, who were looking at her with similar eager expressions. Robin laughed.

"All right, let's go back to the inn, then! We'll have some dinner before we head to the Protectorate's palace." She announced.

"Yay! I get to taste Robin's cooking again!" Gerard cheered. It had been a long torturous day without Robin's cooking, even after all the stall foods he had eaten.

Robin opened up the invitation, and sighed. It seemed that the Protectorate also had the same idea. She would have to reserve some of the sus.h.i.+ to present later, when they visited Port Oracle Palace.

Robin sighed. Hopefully everything would go well...

-------

In another part of the continent, A man was looking at a rough sketch of a young man, with a heroic pose, wearing a sword at his side, and a mask upon his face.

"You're sure that this is all you could catch of the man's face?" He asked, with a frown.

"Absolutely certain, Master. This was all we could gather about the young man traveling with the Prince. Apparently, he is the newly discovered Hero that the whole of Ekkins.h.i.+re kingdom is raving about."

"Is there a name?" The man asked.

"By all accounts, we believe his name is Robin." The man reported.

"Robin!?" The man's head jerked a bit, and his eyes narrowed. Impossible. There's no way that it could be....

"Master?" the reporter asked, not understanding his actions.

"Ah, no. It's the name of a youngling I knew a while back...there's no way they could be the same person, though." The young man sat back, a harmless amiable smile gracing his handsome face.

"And, why is that, Sir?" the reporter asked.

"Well, first off, this person is too old." came the generous answer. "And, the second thing is that, well...the Robin I knew back then was the most adorable little girl I had ever laid eyes on."

'Impossible, indeed.' The young man thought as he looked fixedly at the sketch. Yet, there was something highly familiar about him, as well. He had a somewhat uncomfortable feeling in his gut about that man. Finally, he opened his mouth again.

"Send the word out. See if you can get a look or a sketch of the man's face."

---------

Robin suddenly felt a cold s.h.i.+ver run down her back as she sneezed into her elbow. Was someone talking about her? Or was she getting a cold? But wasn't wasabi good for keeping colds away?

"Good one!" Gerard laughed, giving Robin a thumbs up.

"Please excuse my manners." She sniffed.

"No problem. As long as you weren't reading from the book of prophecies in a public area, you should be good." Jasmine rea.s.sured her. The men couldn't have cared less about her manners.

"So this is sus.h.i.+, huh?" Christian said, surprised at the refres.h.i.+ng feeling he had while eating it. "It sure is filling."

"You could say that about ten more times, couldn't you?" Keith patted his satisfied stomach. It had been about half an hour since Robin had won the cooking contest, and already most of the sus.h.i.+ was gone.

The only reason why there was anything still remaining was due to Robin rationing it for them. Rice was a very filling staple food, after all.

"Ahem!" Jasmine cleared her throat. "So, is there a specific time mentioned for the audience on the invitation, Robin? Or was it left open?"

Robin looked up at the clock. "It's 4:30pm right now. The invitation says 5:30pm."

"An hour doesn't leave us much time, does it?" Jasmine clicked her tongue. "And here I was going to drag you to the tailors..."

Robin blinked. "Tailors? What for?" She asked.

"Don't you think I haven't noticed you wearing the exact same clothes for three days. You need more clothes!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"Eh?" Robin could not quite understand. "But, why? My regular clothes are still fine, aren't they?" She looked at the grey blue tunic she was wearing which didn't have a spot on it. fourteen s.h.i.+rts and seven tunics should be fine? Why would she need more clothes?

"Because you are going to see the Demon Protectorate, Oracle! You must have a new change of clothes!" Jasmine insisted.

"Can't I just wear the blue brocade I wore at the dinner party a few weeks ago?" Robin said, completely puzzled.

"You don't understand!" Jasmine said, despairingly. When meeting an important person, wearing a new change of clothes was a must.

"No. I suppose I don't, Jasmine." Robin frowned. "This lowly commoner does not understand high society, nor the hidden rules that have built up over the years. I am completely new to this area, so what's all this fuss about new clothes? Can you explain this to me?"

Jasmine sighed. "Such a dillema!"

Christian interjected from the side. "Jasmine, do we even know if Protectorate Oracle even follows court fas.h.i.+ons? What if he has different customs? I think you should instead be asking if it's worth making him wait over Robin getting new clothes. Besides, Robin here isn't that worried about it. Why are you getting so upset?"

Everyone paused, surprised. Christian had actually said something logical!? Jasmine stared at Christian and cast a high heal on him.

"Hey, I'm not possessed!" He protested.

Keith looked at Robin.

"What did you put in that sus.h.i.+ stuff again?" he asked.

Robin sighed. "Jasmine, since we don't have time, we'll have to make do with what I have. Rather...Please allow me to choose my own outfit." She looked pointedly at Jasmine.

"I already know what I am going to wear."

Jasmine looked at Robin's clear blue eyes with a measuring gaze, then sighed. "Fine. Do what you want. But, don't make me regret this."