Food Battle! Arc

The '''Food Battle! Arc''' is the twenty-third arc of the Light Novel in The Rising of the Shield Hero. This arc is light novel exclusive and does not appear in the Web Novel.

Synopsis
With Naofumi's new food power-up method, he must become the best chef in order to power-up. A new challenger approaches.

Summary
With Naofumi obtaining the Vassal Mirror, he learns that its power-up method uses high-quality food to increase the person's stats. Obsessed with the idea of getting stronger to defeat the enemy, Naofumi takes his cooking skill to the limit and starts force-feeding his companions. However, to more power-up more efficiently, Naofumi must learned how to cook the highest quality food. Upon hearing of a famous chef in this world by Tsugumi, Naofumi and the others decide to go meet him.

Arriving in the town of the famous chef "Seya", the heroes find that the villagers are strangely obsessed with his food. However, they continue to the massive restaurant and decide to order. The food ends up tasting terrible and the serve staff are enraged as Naofumi's party's mediocre reaction. Seya comes out of the kitchen and challenges Naofumi to a cook-off. By this time Naofumi realizes that Seya had been drugging his food with an addictive substance and that the whole battle is an unfair battle. Regardless, Naofumi uses his true cooking skill while Seya cooks using pre-packaged meals like you would buy at a store.

When the judges try Naofumi's food, they are repeatedly surprised by how delicious it is. Compared Naofumi's food, Seya's food tastes like cardboard. It turns out that Naofumi catered his meal to counter the effects of Seya's addictive drug. Outraged, Seya calls Naofumi a cheater and calls his wait staff and the drugged villagers to attack Naofumi and his group. However, Seya's forces are quickly defeated. Naofumi convinces Seya to reveal information about his leader but his soul is shredded before any information is released.

Volume 18

 * Chapter Four: Sisters and Jealousy
 * Chapter Five: Ultimate Soup Stock
 * Chapter Six: Seya's Restaurant
 * Chapter Seven: Contentious Cooking Battle
 * Chapter Eight: Medicinal Cooking
 * Chapter Nine: Resolution via Violence

Character Introductions

 * Seya
 * Trash III
 * Rotund Noble
 * Tray