“Haha… then did you know, I used too much force and almost burnt my whole arm! The thunder bolts are no joke—very sharp and precise!” Daniel exclaimed, his eyes wide with the memory.
“Pfft-! That’s it? I was almost about to fall off a steep cliff due to the strong wind! Teacher came in the nick of the moment and saved me! I was almost dead otherwise!” Alphonso recounted, a shiver running through him.
They shared stories, laughed about their mishaps, and made fun of others. The sense of community and support filled Oliver with some warmth. He liked this sort of atmosphere.
“Alright! The food is ready, you lot! Let’s have a blast!”
A cheerful voice belonging to Alison sounded as she entered the dining area with a steel pot in her hands.
Suddenly, Oliver had an ominous feeling when he observed the brownish fumes wafting from the steel container.
‘Don’t tell me this is one of those scenarios where the teacher would force us to eat her trash cooking?’
His stomach churned at the sight, and he instinctively took a step back, eyes widening in disbelief.
A look of horror flashed past his eyes when Alison put down the contained on the table for them to see.
And he was right!
The pot was nothing but a brown mess of something between liquid and solid—something unidentifiable entirely.
“Huh? What’s this?” Daniel who was sitting a bit far came over curiously, The pungent smell hit him, and he recoiled, pinching his nose as nausea overtook him.
‘What the fuck is this!?’
He instantly pinched his nose with his fingers, closing the entrance before he inhaled any more of this smell and puked on the table.
His face turned green, and he staggered back, desperately trying to hold his breath. The stench was overwhelming, invading his senses with an intensity that left him dizzy.
He looked at the brown content with a disgusted gaze, before his eyes wandered to the others sitting on the table and he could see they all mirrored a similar expression to his.
‘Fuck!’ Daniel cursed internally, he didn’t want to think that way but looking at the contents, his mind could not help but wander to that direction, as it wandered to the worst possible thought
‘Isn’t this basically someone’s sh*t!?’
His eyes turned into saucers as his brain no longer restrained and thought all the worst things imaginable.
“Ueakkh-!”
Unable to hold it in, Daniel fell to his knees and puked.
The sight of Daniel vomiting on the ground coupled with the smelly brown food and foul smell, all those present felt their hunger disappear automatically. The scene made their hunger vanish!
“What happened to you? Already breaking out on the first day of training?” Alison looked at him confused.
She seemed to be genuinely clueless why he was behaving in such a way.
“Woah! Teacher, it seems he is having a tough time enduring the stress, allow me to take him back to his room! He needs immediate attention and medical care!” Oliver rushed over, hoping to escape the impending meal.
Oliver walked over hurriedly, ready to take Daniel to his room and never return.
However his scheme was cut short when another voice sounded out.
“Wait, let me do it! My room is just next to Daniel, it would be more efficient for me to take him back!” Alphonso said in a panicked tone.
“W-What are you saying!? How is this related to rooms being next to each other? I-I will do it, this way I can make up to him for my mistake last time!” Amber interjected, also desperate to avoid the meal.
Amber jumped in too ready to drag Daniel back with her.
Nadia, Evelyn just watched the drama from sidelines, watching them fight among themselves on who would take him to his room.
They both also did not want to eat this abomination of a dinner either but they could not act like them.
“Stop.” Alison said in a loud voice making the trio who were bickering among themselves on who would take Daniel back to his room.
“I will do it. You guys in the meantime eat the food.”
Alison stated as she picked up the kneeling Daniel with one hand.
“This isn’t too severe; he just needs rest,” she muttered to herself.
She was thinking if it would be better to directly feed him a health potion or not but looking at it, it did not seem to be something too severe so she decided to let him rest.
“This…”
Looking at Alison’s back, they did not know what to say, they planned to take him and then not return back to eat this food but now the plan would not work.
Glancing at the boiling brown food, they all felt a wave of disgust.
“No human should have to eat this…” Amber whispered, worried.
“What do we do?”
Amber asked in a worried tone as she looked towards the other two.
“I really don’t want to eat this,” Alphonso said, on the verge of tears. “I’ve never eaten anything less than a full-course meal, and now this…”
Alphonso looked like he was about to cry, if it was his clan, then he would have simply ordered the cooks to make something else for him.
He was a picky eater and never ate anything less than a full course fancy meal in his lifetime and now suddenly being asked to try this alchemical creation of their teacher.
He was one hundred percent sure that he would never be able to eat this thing.
He turned his head over to Oliver who was now his only hope out of this situation.
Being stared by two pairs of expectant eyes, he felt a little helpless.
Nonetheless, he had to do something or he was sure that he might not ever see the sun again.
“Teacher has gone up to put Daniel back to his room, it should take her a minute or two to diagnose him and then return. In the meantime, the best I could think of is to destroy this… thing,” he gazed at the bubbling hot brown-ish food, “we need to get it done before she comes back. Dispose of this food.”
They exchanged hurried glances, a silent agreement forming. The clock was ticking, and Alison could return any moment.
Alphonso and Amber looked at him and were ready to follow what he spoke.
“Should we throw it outside?” Alphonso suggested with a frown.
“No, are you stupid? Teacher would definitely know if we do that!” Amber immediately retorted.
“Then what?” Alphonso asked.
Oliver sighed, “You all have storage artifacts, right? Someone just store it inside.”
“Oh!”
Their eyes lit up. “Indeed, that’s the best way!” Amber said excitedly.
Amber excitedly said, if they stowed away this in their storage artifacts then there was no way their teacher was ever going to find it unless they showed it to her themselves.
“Great, absolutely genius! Hurry up, we should do it right now!” Alphonso excitedly said to them.
“I am not storing that stuff in my artifact,” Oliver stated firmly. There was no way he was putting that abomination in his space. Either Alphonso or Amber had to do it.
“I don’t want to stain my storage space either.” Amber said and pouted at him and then looked at Alphonso.
Oliver also looked at him.
“Ugh!” Seeing the two of them corner him so quickly, he didn’t have any way out.
He glanced around desperately, searching for any possible excuse to avoid the task, but found none. Resigned, he let out a heavy sigh.
He groaned, realizing he had no escape. He glanced at the two silent girls at the table, still observing the scene.
No! He could not ask two ladies to do it for him! How ungentlemanly would that be.
In the end, he had no choice but to put the food in his storage space.
‘It’s going to be a mess inside, how would I clean it.’
He sighed again, contemplating how to store the contents without contaminating his entire storage space.
“Hey, you guys, please help me out, I don’t want to make a mess inside my storage space. You should know that there are potions and pills inside, if this toxic liquid touched those things, I would never be able to consume them…”
He asked in a bitted tone to the two in front of him.
“Well…” Oliver and Amber exchanged glances, realizing Alphonso had a point. Sacrificing his valuable items just to avoid eating the food wasn’t fair.
They could not sacrifice his stuff just for this. Not only would it be too selfish on their behalf but also a huge waste of such precious resources.
“I have an idea.”
Suddenly a voice sounded out, making both Alphonso and Amber startle from their deep thoughts as they pondered about what should be done.
They turned their heads towards the source of the voice and looked with wide eyes.