Kat for her part did not hold any complex meetings or overly analyse her new teammates. Instead she found the rather nice bed provided in the centre of the room and fell asleep. Morning came and Kat easily got herself out of bed. Refreshing the summon of her kimono she walked to the door and opened it to find the hallway empty before carefully closing it once again.
Looking out of the window she only just now realised she had been provided it seemed like it was still very early in the morning, though the lack of a clock made it hard to tell for sure just how much time had passed at the very least Kat could see the sun peaking over the horizon.
I guess I can just look around my room or something? I'm supposed to wait for a butler or whatever right? That's how these things are supposed to work I think. And so taking her own advice Kat began to inspect the room.
It was kept well enough, but Kat felt it was lacking a certain something the rest of the house possessed. It was strange, despite the tapestry on the wall and the rune carvings around the place it felt like no one actually lived in the room.
Which, on second thought is probably true. This is just the guest room, one of likely many. That's probably why it feels like one of those fairly new hotels. A bunch of fancy stuff and clean sheets but not like something you'd actually live in.
A short time after Kat had given up admiring the room, she heard a knock at the door. Opening it revealed Maxwell who bowed upon seeing the door open "I had come to inform you of the bathing facilities, but it seems you have already taken care of yourself. In that case would you like to head towards the dining room now?"
You guys had baths and you didn't tell me? Rude. Aw well, it's not like I get dirty anymore, so I suppose I'll just head to the dining room. Down the hall, past the entrance… and down another hall Kat found herself once again in the dining room.
This time, unlike the previous night where the table was filled with a multitude of dishes, Kat instead found that each of the seats they'd occupied the previous night now had a plate with some neatly arranged fruit slices consisting of apples, something that looked like a blue cherry, and something else Kat didn't recognise.
The exception to this was the chair Gareth had sat in which instead had two plates nearby and a slight but noticeably larger chair than had occupied the space at the head of the table last night.
Despite Maxwell offering the use of the baths first, Kat was actually the second to arrive in the dining room. Munching happily on the fruit was Kress who as opposed to the bliss he seemed to be experiencing yesterday now seemed to be absorbed in a calming atmosphere.
His constantly scowling face had levelled out. His eyes remained close as he grasped each fruit with surprising precision for a man not looking at his plate. Kress would move once every thirty seconds, snatching the next article of food before returning to stillness for another thirty seconds.
Taking her seat Kat addressed Kress "Huh, I thought you only enjoyed eating meat"
"It is all about balance in your food. That is the only way to truly appreciate it"
"Then why would you eat only meat last night and only salad this morning"
"I do not mix my meals demon. Morning is for fruits, lunchtime is for vegetables, and evenings are for meat. The occasional snack is acceptable to however it should never come at the expense of one of the three core meals" said Kress with the ghost of a smile and vigour Kat didn't expect from the man.
I guess everyone has things to be happy about, even Grumpy over here. You know what though, good for him. Kat tried her best to imitate Kress' serene calm as he slowly consumed the food on his plate and failed. Sure she could take a bite every thirty seconds but she felt like she was missing something important, just going through the motions and lacking the weight Kress had managed to put behind his own dining experience
I wonder if it's just because I don't enjoy food the way Kress does or if there is something else to it. He looks almost religious this morning, but that certainly wasn't the case yesterday.
Some time during Kat's musing Nixilei managed to sneak into the room unnoticed, though Kress did pause for an extra second when eating, perhaps he detected her presence. Gareth and Green arrived a short time later walking in and taking a seat at the end. Well, Gareth walked in, Green looked half asleep as she leaned heavily on his arms.
Though, as soon as Green touched the seat her eyes shot open and she casted a spell. Green light enveloped her and pooled at her elbows and hands. Moving at a speed Kat could only follow by using a bit of demonic energy Green quickly ate around two thirds of the food on her plate before stopping and snuggling into Gareth's arm and closing her eyes.
"Milady, what have I told you about using your haste spell to eat breakfast" said Nixilei
No response
"Green, I know you can still hear me"
No response
Nixilei gave a blank look towards Gareth who sighed and nudged the 'sleeping' woman in his arms. Green pouted and only buried her face further into Gareth's arm pretending not to acknowledge her presence.
"Gareth, close your eyes" said Nixilei as a sigil lit up in front of her hands. Rotating a spinning, it grew brighter until a massive flash of light went off, not from Nixilei's hands but in front of Green's face.
A squeak came from Green as she jumped a little in Gareth's arms before glaring angrily at Nixilei.
"I have warned you, many times that it is unhealthy to eat breakfast like this" said Nixilei
"What about the damage to my eyes from that" pouted Green
"I've designed this spell especially for you milady, it causes a flash of light and pain in the eyes, specifically. In fact I've keyed it to just your eyes though the flash is something everyone sees. No damage is being done to you" explained Nixilei
"How can you do that, so mean" said Green
"I have warned you, repeatedly, that using haste almost defeats the point of eating breakfast. With all the extra energy you burn in that state it is so wildly inefficient I should make you eat twice that amount" said Nixilei
"Don't wanna" said Green hiding once again in Gareth's arms.
"You are not a child Green" said Nixilei stressing Green's name "You need to act more like your age, or at the very least not act like a spoiled child"
"I behave myself perfectly well, I know the rules of etiquette, but no one is around, and it's early and I'm tired" said Green, whose claim to know of etiquette was undermined due to the fact she wouldn't remove her face from Gareth's shoulder.
Nixilei looked to Gareth for help but he objected "This is your crusade not mine. I quite enjoy my future wife's morning affection and enjoy having her with me. If she really wishes to abuse the haste spell to spend more time sleeping against me I cannot fault her for that for I enjoy it as much as she must surely"
"What do you plan to do when she complains of hunger in a few hours during the competition then?" asked Nixilei keeping her formal tone.
"I have space for snacks in my storage pouch. She is adorable when munching on various snacks don't you think" said Gareth.
Kat cut in at this "Wait, aren't storage pouches really rare? Those are the things with extra space in them right?"
"Yes, they are, though rare is not something I'd claim them to be. A bit expensive perhaps but not unreasonably so for a wealthy merchant or perhaps an above average adventurer. We find them all the time in ancient ruins. I'm sure they'd be harder to buy if you could keep more than one on you at a time without them potentially exploding" said Gareth
"Wait what? Why do they explode?" asked Kat
Gareth just shrugged.
The conversation dwindled after that. Kress had basically finished but the others still had some food to go. It only took everyone another five minutes to clean their plates.
"Well, is everyone ready to leave for the tournament" asked Gareth as he stood up, taking Green with him into a princess carry.
Kat wanted to say yes, but she couldn't help but let her eyes drift to the calmly resting girl in Gareth's arms.