"What's a cook off?" It took her a moment to gather her composure, but once she did, she asked unsure.

"It's a competition to showcase our skills. We both prepare a certain dish and the one who does it better - wins."

"And how do we decide which one is better?" 

I pretended to think for a moment, just long enough to really sell it.

"Then, how about you decide that?"

"Decide what?"

"Decide which one of us is a better cook."

"What?" she asked, her interest peaked. "I can't both compete and judge!"

"Of course you can," I said simply. "Besides, you are not going to believe whatever someone else tells you, you'll need to make sure of it yourself. And I trust you to judge fairly."

At this point all of the maids in the room were listening to our conversation. I'm not sure how familiar they were with cook offs in this world, but something had managed to capture their attention.

"You want me to decide, which one of us is a better cuisiner?"

"That's right. We both cook something, we both taste it and you decide which one is better."

She eyed me suspiciously for a while. I successfully managed to catch her attention. 

"Fine, I will accept your challenge," she announced, to audible awes from the maids. "When shall it commence?"

"How about during the Queen's festival?" suggested one of the maids. "That's in two weeks time."

"Or we could just do it now," I said, putting the room to silence.

"What do you mean now?" Athena asked, dumbfounded.

"Why not? We have the time," we absolutely did not have the time. But I needed to make some sacrifices if I wanted her help. "You wouldn't happen to be afraid, would you?"

"Fine," she said, pressing her lips together so hard they turned white. "What kind of dish will we be making?"

"Oh, it really doesn't matter," I said, trying to sound both confident and unsure at the same time. "How about, oh I don't know... Sauce?"

"Sauce? Why sauce?"

"Sauce?" the murmur echoed through the room.

"We can make something else, if you can't make sauce..."

"No. Sauce will be fine."

It seems she was hard set on beating me at my own game. All the better for me. 

"Then if I may suggest," I put the cherry on top of this cake. "A sauce that would go nicely with fried chicken. And the winner's sauce will be served tonight for the princess."

Hook, line and sinker, she was in. The moment I mentioned princess's dinner she forgot all else and threw the caution out the window. Whatever doubt she still had about my offer a moment ago wasn't there anymore. The only thing on her mind was beating me and getting her sauce in front of the princess. 

She would make the best sauce she had ever made today or she would die trying. 

The rest of the maids acknowledged the challenge and now were discussing it among one another.

"Back to work, girls," Clem reminded them.

The girls went back to their stations, but continued glancing at Athena, who was now passionately doing her thing. None of them paid much attention to me, as far as they were concerned I had already lost. Not only did a fool who was boiling oil had no chance of winning against Athena, he had stupidly handed her the right to chose the winner. Everyone who knew her for longer than two hours knew how competitive she was and how much she hated losing. There was no way in hell she would ever admit that she had lost. The winner was already clear, but it did not make the spectacle of it any less interesting for them.

"Do you know what you are doing, Fool?" Clem asked me.

"Not since the eighth grade."

The oil was almost ready to boil, which meant I needed start the culinary magic.