ITK C426: Succession Dispute

And so, this and that began.

A contest—a merciless one-on-one battle for the position of fermented food department head between Discus and Angel.

“Discus! I know we’re friends; but not today! We will fight each other fair and square with all our might!”
“Ahaha…!”

Discus smiles wryly.
They’re part of the Five Legitimate Holy Witches who came uninvited to our farm, so they must know each other pretty well.

Especially Discus when it comes to knowing Angel.

“Friendship isn’t forever after all! To think two people who were always together are now facing each other as enemies! I will not go against fate, however! It is my destiny to defeat you and take all the glory!!!”
“Ahahahahaha…!”

She must also be used to seeing her getting hyped up over the idea of destiny.
Discus only laughs awkwardly in response.

“…What kind of contest are you going to do though?”
“You haven’t figured that out yet? If you want to decide who will be in charge of making pickles, it’s only obvious you have to compare the tastes of pickles!”

Huh.
That does make sense, I guess.

Puffer worked on our farm’s fermented food.
If someone wants to take over her job, they have to know their corresponding duties.

“But I wonder how good Discus actually is? Puffer did make her the official heir.”
“Please, try this.”

A bucket full of rice bran is presented to me.
It’s the bran bed for making pickles.
She scoops cucumbers out of the bucket, washes, and cuts them into bite-sized pieces.
She did the entire process quite efficiently.

“I did everything by myself, including the bed. But with master’s guidance, of course.”
“I see.”

I take a bite of the cucumber.

“It’s tasty!”

The cucumber has been pickled to just the right amount of saltiness!
The bran bed must’ve had the perfect balance of saltiness and pungency.

“I told you, Discus is approaching the same level as me,” proudly says Puffer. “But there’s still one thing she needs to work on. Once that’s fulfilled, she’ll have achieved true perfection.”
“And what’s that, master?”
“It’s love.”

Now, she’s starting to talk about love?!

“The heart that wants to feed the man she loves! That’s what permeates into the pickles and makes them taste many times better! Just thinking of Hun’s ecstatic face activates the lactobacilli that live in my bed a hundredfold!”
“I see! I’ve gained new knowledge once more, master!”
“You’d better find yourself a good man soon, Discus.”
“Yes, ma’am!”

Will the day come when Discus wakes up to the bran bed of love, I wonder?

“Discus has shown us her overwhelming skill. On the other hand…”

Angel, the second princess of the mermaid race.
Can she compete with this?

“Can you even make pickles to begin with?”

If you can’t do that and you’re trying to follow in Puffer’s footsteps, I’d say you’re quite something yourself.

“Don’t worry! I’m more than prepared!”

Bam! goes another bucket being placed in front of me.

“I pickled these with Discus’ help! They’re Princess Angel’s special royal pickles!”
“Wow…”

To ask help from the same person you’re facing off in a contest right now…
Sure, no one else was fit for the task, but that’s still returning a favor with spite.

“But you only learned from her just recently, didn’t you? How can such a hasty preparation beat Discus, who received direct instruction from Puffer?”
“With my noble blood and grace!”

That’s just another terrible royalty mindset right there.

I guess the point is to compare these two girls’ pickles and decide which one tastes better.

…Very well.
Let’s make sure the judging is thorough so that we can get a satisfactory result.

Our judge shall be someone who can make a convincing verdict, so I invited the Lifeless King.

“If you would be so kind, Sensei.”
“Umu.”
“Waiiiiiiiiiiit!!!”

Angel interrupts, sobbing.

“Why Sensei?! Isn’t it too much to ask him to judge something so mundane as our pickles?!”
“That’s not true. Pickles are Sensei’s favorite food.”

We’ve been giving him pickled radish countless times since the beginning of our friendship.
That’s why his judgment would serve us best!

“Um… But still… I’d like a more lenient judge, if possible…!”
“But Sensei’s already lenient enough. He praises most of his students for what they do.”

Currently, Angel is one of the students at the Mermaid Witch Academia Farm Branch School along with the other humans, demons, and mermaids.

This may be the reason why she hasn’t been standing out lately, but it also puts her in the position of being pampered by Sensei as one of his students!

“Sense is the type who gives praise to encourage improvement. Don’t worry. No matter how bad your pickles may taste, I’m sure he’ll find something good in them!”
“I’m not sure I’d like to be told that in advance…!”

While we’re at it, let’s categorize our judges according to their leniency.

Very Easy: Queen Mahi.
Easy: Sensei.
Normal: Prince Arowana.
Hard: Me.
Very Hard: Puffer.
Nightmare: Platy.

“What do you think? Do you want to take the plunge and try Nightmare instead?”
“L-Let’s just go with easy!”

At least she didn’t resort to Very Easy.
If we left the judging to Queen Mahi, she would’ve let Angel win unconditionally, regardless of taste.
But Angel’s good sense told her not to do that, and she stayed her ground.

Now that we’ve finished our formalities…

“Please, Sensei.”
“Very well!”

Sensei tries Angel’s pickled bell pepper.

Wait…
Bell pepper?! Who would pickle such a thing? I bet Angel wanted to deliberately show off her royalty status by using something “special.”
…Ahem. Anyway, Sensei tastes the bell pepper without a single puzzled look on his face.

He chews for a while and…

“…Let’s keep trying harder!”
“It was no good!”

Even Sensei, who usually praises his students, couldn’t find any merit in it, so he had to indirectly criticize Angel’s pickles!
I’m sorry, Sensei!
And thank you for being considerate till the very end!

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah! My pickleeeeeeeeeeeees!!!”

Angel is breaking down in tears.
It seems she also understood her pickles weren’t good enough.

“My ambition to succeed my sister-in-law and make it our family’s tradition! Waaah! My dream of getting closer to my sisterrrr!”

She continues to cry out in frustration.
Then, someone gently places a hand on her shoulder.

“…Discus?”
“I have a favor to ask. May I give my position to Lady Angel instead?”

What?!
What are you talking about, Discus?! You’re the one who was appointed for the task!

“Lady Angel found me and accepted me in her circle. This gave me the opportunity to get here and become an apprentice to the esteemed Puffer. I want to repay that debt to the princess.”
“Discus!”
“Of course, I’ll take care of the practical side of things! We won’t delay work like we did when Sis was here, and we won’t compromise the quality or taste! So, I’ll let you in charge, Lady Angel!”

Doesn’t that still mean Discus is actually in charge, and Angel is only a titular head?

Are they fine with that?

“Waaaaaaaaaah! Thank you, Discus! You are my best friend, after all!”
“Yes! I am ready to dedicate my life to you at any time, ever since you called me your friend! Please let me continue to work for you!”

The two girls embrace each other.

I slightly wonder if things should just end like this, but Angel’s way of motivating others through her natural virtue is much more like royalty than her other two siblings.

“Oh, Angel… I haven’t seen you for a while, but you’ve suddenly matured…!”

Queen Mahi is moved to tears seeing her daughter’s growth(?). Such a doting parent.

“Ahem!”

Even King Nagus is crying. Another doting parent.
I guess fathers tend to have a softer spot for their daughters!

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