Chapter 615: First Feeling

I see...

She’s still mad at me.

The joke earlier—the whole bloodlust-and-gust-of-wind thing in the weapon shop—had cost way more goodwill than I had budgeted for.

I had already promised her an empire and a whole planet if she would just forgive me and stop looking at me like I had kicked her favorite popstar.

Apparently even that wasn’t enough yet. It looked like I was simply going to have to wait this one out first.

"B-Benjamin!" Heka suddenly spoke in a loud tone, the words cracking across the dining hall louder than anything else that had been said since we sat down. "Your meal will get cold. Hurry up and eat it."

Ah, of course.

There was a unique food in front of me: a soup thing with some nice colors of crops in it, and some meat as well.

The bowl itself was wide and heavy, the sort of thick ceramic that held warmth for a long time.

Inside it floated bright orange strips of root that still kept their edges, deep green leaves that had not collapsed into mush, pale chunks of something that looked like tuber, and several generous pieces of meat that carried a light golden crust from the pan.

The broth was the color of late sunlight, thick enough that when I stirred it once with the spoon the surface took a moment to settle again.

And it smelled heavenly.

The steam rising from the surface had the scent of roasted bones, a soft sweetness, and whatever herbs had gone into the pot while Heka and Erica worked in the kitchen.

My stomach, which Sys and I had spent careful time teaching how to feel proper hunger, gave a small, eager twist. I could not wait to dig in.

As Erica left to get the rest of the food for everyone else, disappearing back through the kitchen doorway with the empty tray, I secretly thought: ’Hehe. Poison doesn’t work on me, so I have nothing to fear if Erica’s love for flowers made her slip something strange and unacceptable in this.’

I took a sip of the broth first, blowing once across the surface the way ordinary people do when they are trying not to burn their tongues.

It tasted like warm, melted cheese. No, like chicken soup. The two flavors kept trading places on my tongue and refused to settle into one clear name.

One moment it was creamy and comforting, the next it carried a clean savory depth that made the back of my throat tighten.

Argh, I’m not sure anymore, but I wanted to eat a hundred plates more.

I went back for another spoonful, this time bringing up one of the green pieces along with the liquid.

The weird looking crop things also tasted good, having a broccoli texture without the broccoli taste.

Dense, a little fibrous, exactly the way broccoli always felt between my teeth, yet none of the bitter green edge I had always hated was there.

Instead there was a mild sweetness and a faint nuttiness that made the whole mouthful feel finished and complete.

I chewed slowly, swallowed, and immediately went back for a third spoonful that took both meat and another piece of the orange root.

I hate broccoli and carrots, by the way.

For some reason, everyone watched me chow down on the food, not touching theirs. Their spoons and forks stayed exactly where they had been set beside the empty plates.

Sophia’s hands rested on the edge of the table, fingers lightly curled. Sapphire kept both palms flat on his lap, posture unusually straight.

Yuki’s gaze stayed fixed somewhere past my left shoulder, her light blue eyes narrowed just a fraction. Aria’s sharp eyes tracked every movement of my spoon with the same focused attention she would have saved for assessing threats.

Maria leaned back in her chair with one arm still draped over the backrest, expression unreadable but completely still.

Even Katana, all the way at the far curve of the table in her soft pink bunny-eared pajamas, had stopped pretending to examine a grain of the wood and was watching me with the same careful attention as the rest.

Hehehe. Is that the game we’re playing?

Watching to see if I would froth and collapse from something toxic first, huh?

I finished the last of the broth in the bowl, set the spoon down with a deliberate little clink against the ceramic, and raised one hand high enough for the entire table to see.

"Delicious! I want seconds!" I yelped.

And the atmosphere got weird.

I thought at first that they were relieved what Erica meant as "experiment" was truly just culinary... but it was more than that.

The soft smiles that bloomed across their faces came one after another, slow and unforced.

Sophia’s mouth curved into a soft, almost shy smile that made her look younger than usual. Sapphire’s shoulders dropped as if he had been holding them tight without realizing it.

The warmth in the air settled over the table like a second layer of lamplight, quiet and steady.

Yuki let out a short, sharp "hmph!" and turned her face away toward the far wall, though the tips of her ears had gone faintly pink and she did not quite manage to hide it.

Erica stood in the kitchen doorway with the next tray still in her hands, wearing a proud and smug look that she did not bother to soften.

And... the tears pouring out of Heka’s eyes ran thick and silent down her cheeks in steady tracks, catching the light from the hanging lamps before they reached her jaw and disappeared into the collar of her clothes.

"Wait, Heka can cry?!" I jolted, seeing the amazon standing beside me crying her eyes out, one hand still half-raised as if I could somehow stop the tears by catching them in mid-air. "I mean, what’s going on, Heka?"

"Haha, relax, Benjamin," Erica skipped over towards Heka’s side and patted her back softly, the motion steady and familiar, the same way she would settle a restless animal. "She’s just overwhelmed by this first feeling of her life."