Magic Rice Cooker

In the small building that housed the Magic Research Institute, Xu Yi, Stille, Akali, and Avita gathered around a little table. Four pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at the cylindrical object on it.

Thin wisps of white steam drifted from a gap at the top of the cylinder. They rose into the four faces and condensed into tiny droplets on their hair, but no one paid any attention. They just kept staring at the dark iron vessel as though it held something irresistible.

"I smell it!" Akali cried excitedly. "Can you?"

"Mm, I smell it too." Delight lit up Stille's face as she turned to Xu Yi. "Does that mean it's done?"

Xu Yi sniffed hard but didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Avita. "You're the best cook among us. Why don't you decide whether it's ready?"

"Huh? But this is nothing like before..." Startled, Avita waved a hand, trying to decline.

"It's fine. Only the method has changed; the basic principle is the same. Give it a smell. If it's ready, we can see how it turned out," Xu Yi said.

"Oh... all right." Avita tucked the hair by her ear aside and leaned over the cylinder. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes to savor the aroma, then straightened and nodded to the three expectant faces. "Mm, I think it's ready."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's open it!" Akali cheered, reaching for the lid.

Xu Yi jumped and quickly caught her outstretched hand, stopping her.

"Do you want to burn yourself?" he snapped.

Akali came to her senses and stuck out her tongue at him sheepishly.

Then she noticed that her right hand was still caught in Xu Yi's large hand, and a faint blush rose to her cheeks.

For all her cheerful, lively nature, she had never been so close to a man outside her family.

Xu Yi, however, wasn't thinking about that. Once he had stopped her, he let go. Akali felt relieved, yet a little disappointed too.

Xu Yi fetched a rag to protect his palm, then lifted the lid off the cylinder.

The moment he opened it, a thick cloud of white steam rose with a powerful aroma, filling the room with fragrance.

When the steam cleared, the four of them saw that the cylinder was packed to the brim with glistening white rice. It looked irresistible.

Stille scooped up a little with the spoon she had already picked up, blew on it twice, and put it in her mouth.

"Mm, it's cooked just right. It tastes wonderful. Here, Xu Yi, try some."

She scooped up another spoonful and held it to Xu Yi's lips as naturally as could be.

Xu Yi swallowed it in one bite and chewed. The grains were fragrant and tender, soft yet pleasantly firm. That single mouthful whetted his appetite so much that he felt he could eat two large bowls of the rice on its own.

He had only eaten rice this good when he was very young. Nearly all the rice he'd had since had lacked that flavor.

"Mm, it really is ready." Xu Yi laughed. "Good! That means our experiment is officially a success. Come on, Akali, Avita, try some too. You both deserve a lot of credit for developing this. Come on... Why are you two making those faces?"

Akali and Avita looked at Xu Yi, then at Stille. They exchanged glances and smiled before finding another spoon and each trying a couple of bites. Both immediately nodded in satisfaction.

"This is great! Chairman, this... this... what's it called again?" Akali faltered.

"The Magic Rice Cooker," Xu Yi supplied.

"Oh, right, the Magic Rice Cooker. So does that mean it's completely finished?"

"I wouldn't say completely. There's still plenty we can improve." Xu Yi looked at the dark cylinder on the table. Though he had based its appearance on an electric rice cooker from Earth, it still fell well short of one.

For one thing, electric rice cookers on Earth had proper insulation. You didn't have to worry about burning your hand when you opened them.

Still, that was a minor issue. A few small changes during production would take care of it.

That was right: the Magic Rice Cooker was the next product Xu Yi planned for the Magic Fan workshop.

Back when summer was only half over, Xu Yi had already considered the problem that had been worrying Heinz lately. After thinking it through, he had made a longer-term plan and redefined the Magic Fan workshop as a factory for household Magic Machinery.

As the name suggested, every product the workshop made from then on would be Magic Machinery for ordinary households.

Conditions on the Sains Continent meant that many household appliances from Earth couldn't simply be copied, but there were still plenty they could imitate.

The rice cooker was one example.

In fact, the Magic Rice Cooker, modeled on the principles of an electric rice cooker, was simpler to make than the Magic Fan. The entire research process had taken less than a week.

While developing it, Xu Yi discovered another advantage of Magic Machinery. Because its power came from magic generated by a Magic Array, it didn't need to convert electricity as appliances on Earth did. It could produce the required energy directly.

An electric rice cooker had to use a heating element to turn electricity into heat. The Magic Rice Cooker, by contrast, used a basic Blazing Flame Magic Array inside. Once the switch was pressed, the Magic Crystal powered the array to generate heat directly around the entire inner pot. It heated up quickly, and the nature of the Magic Array made it highly efficient.

On Earth, many people preferred rice cooked over a wood fire for its traditional flavor, believing it tasted better than rice from an electric cooker. A wood fire produced stronger, more direct heat, with better results than heat converted from electricity.

The Magic Rice Cooker didn't have that problem. Thanks to the careful work of Stille, Akali, and Avita, the heat from its Blazing Flame Magic Array surrounded the inner pot on all sides. The rice cooked evenly and was practically flawless.

Xu Yi ate a few more mouthfuls and felt thoroughly satisfied.

Once he handed this to Heinz, surely the man would stop looking at him every day like an aggrieved wife.

"Chairman, come sit down and eat." Avita had already briskly cleared a table and brought out several dishes she had prepared earlier.

"Oh, sure." Xu Yi sat down with a smile. At the sight of four delicate side dishes and a meat soup that made his mouth water, he said, "Avita, you really are a good cook. Whoever marries you someday will be a lucky man."

Avita's hand froze as she served the rice, and her pretty face reddened.

"Hey, mister, that's harassment." Stille tapped the table in front of Xu Yi and gave a snort. "Avita was incredibly popular at our academy. So many boys were head over heels for her. If they heard some older man was harassing the girl of their dreams, do you think they wouldn't come straight here to deal with you?"

Xu Yi laughed. "That scary? All right, I'd better just eat and keep my mouth shut."

Still blushing, Avita brought over the rice and set a bowl in front of Xu Yi first.

"Chairman, don't listen to Stille's nonsense. If we're talking about popularity, Stille was the most popular girl at Lampari Royal Academy. I couldn't compare to her."

"Exactly. If Stille didn't already have someone in her heart, all she'd have to do is say the word, and the boys lining up to pursue her would stretch from here to the gates of Bunta City." Akali sighed, then turned to Stille. "Oh, right, Stille, I keep forgetting to ask. Haven't you always liked Vincent? What happened? Did you go see him after graduation? I think you should at least tell him how you feel."

Vincent? Xu Yi wondered. Was this the classmate Stille had once liked before seeing his true colors and calling him a "**"?</em>

"I did see him, but he's engaged. What was I supposed to do, steal someone else's fiancé?" Stille shrugged lightly, looking as though she didn't care at all.

Xu Yi studied her expression. Beneath that easy look, he could still see a trace of shadow.

It seemed the hurt wouldn't fade anytime soon.

"Engaged? How come I never heard? Who's he engaged to? I bet she isn't as pretty as you. Why don't you steal him back, Stille? I'm sure you could..."

"Akali." Seeing that Akali was about to keep pressing, Xu Yi cut her off.

"Hm? What is it, Chairman?" Akali asked, taken aback.

"Well... you and Avita. Would you be interested in filming an advertisement?"

"Filming an advertisement?"

Akali and Avita looked at each other, neither having the slightest idea what Xu Yi meant.