"What are you doing in there?"
Myrtle covered her nose, thinking she could keep out the thick smoke pouring from the kitchen. But simply covering her nose and mouth wasn't enough. The stuff attacked the body from every direction. Though she had her nose and mouth covered, tears streamed down her face.
As soon as she finished speaking, Myrtle began coughing violently.
"Nothing, nothing."
Seeing that Myrtle could still hold on, Hoshino called back loudly while tossing another handful of chili peppers into the stove. The sulfur compounds burst apart, filling the air with a dense, spicy haze. Myrtle couldn't take it anymore and fled the scene, not even daring to come back for her flag.
Finally...
Hoshino breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't expected the task to be completed so easily.
She quickly went back to touching Myrtle's little white flag, watching as Valkyrie Pledge slowly unlocked. The moment she touched the flag, the unlocking speed suddenly picked up, jumping by two or three percent at a time. It would take only ten minutes or so at most.
At this critical moment, please, let nothing go wrong!
But what you feared always came to pass. Hoshino turned her head slightly and sensed Nian approaching.
"Sniff, sniff—"
Nian was inhaling the smoke from the burning chili peppers, like a deity savoring incense before an altar. You could tell from the sound alone that she was being extremely dramatic about it.
"Are you smoking something?"
Miss Nian had gotten the wrong idea. She asked excitedly, "That's such an ancient cooking method. Smoked food has that distinctive charred flavor, and you're smoking it with chili peppers, too. Just imagining the taste... tsk, tsk... incredible."
This woman wasn't thinking of coming in, was she?!
Hoshino tensed.
Nian's voice drew closer and closer.