BXBX NOVEL Chapter 451 450: Large Feast For Voracious Appetites
To say my body ached would be an understatement.
Each muscle was bathing in a sea of burning lactic acid even now, and the aches and pains of the various tears lingering injuries that threatened to bruise your skin once more was hellish.
Add on the fact that Lady Fenryas had done a number on everyone and left real wounds on each of us, and that despite being healed the phantom aches felt just as real...
Well, we currently looked like a horde of undead traversing the halls, no one talking or making any sounds beside groans and hisses.
Nursing each of our wounds, we stumbled and shuffled around, and even though I was trying to do my best to maintain a healing aura around the three of us, I could feel my concentration wavering through the pure exhaustion.
We had been pushed so very far, and while this might not be the same numbingly terrible headache that you get after spending hours spellcrafting, it was unique in the fact that your mental facilities slipped away into \'Lite\' versions of themselves.
I was barely able to multitask, the process of putting one foot in front of the other taking most of my capabilities, leaving little in room for me to try and heal the rest of our wounds at this moment.
We felt... pathetic, honestly, and if it had been only us training with Lady Fenryas, that feeling of being subpar and useless would have been exponentially higher.
However, we had the Knights to look at, and see that they had been brought down to the same level as us, that the men and women we revered as strong were just as \'weak\' as we were.
It was a petty thing to think, but it certainly helped us all feel better about ourselves.
When we finally managed to stumble into the kitchen we sat besides the Marquess, all of us looking down at the empty tables with horror, before a Pigkin woman opened a door and shouted "Make space! The foods coming out!"
Those simple six words sent sparks of energy through each of us, and we all sat ramrod straight and created gaps between ourselves, so that the kitchen staff could begin laying out the bountiful feast they had prepared.
Our table consisted of the Marquess, Belian, Sker, Nirinia, and another Knight - a white furred Snow Leopardkin man with a lithe frame and a quiet nature named Dion - as well as us, and that included Leone, who slipped in a few moments after we entered.
The Vampire took a glance around the hall before smiling wryly at the state of each of us, keeping quiet as she took a seat on the end, beside Anput.
We all watched as the kitchen staff laid out platters and trays of meats, pots of soups and stews, bowls of greens, bowls of pasta, trays of bread...
Everyone stared at the awaiting food with ravenous expressions, but they held back as they waited for everything to be placed down, only to lunge forwards when the Marquess shouted "Let\'s eat!"
I... was amongst them as I stabbed my fork forwards for a slab of grilled steak, placing it on my plate before adding a heap of pasta and some salad as well - I also filled a bowl with the beef stew that was placed before us.
Not even bothering to cut into the meat - like everyone else did, except for Leone - I took a giant bite out of the juicy steak and moaned, feeling like I was in heaven.
Anput and Jahi were the same devouring the three steaks apiece that they had grabbed before moving onto the chicken breasts, only to begin looking at other options of food when the meats had been depleted.
When I had come down off my feral desire for food - so when half my plate was gone, and my lips stained with sauce - I managed to begin pacing my eating a little bit, and I instantly took note of the fact that the meal before us had a very herbal scent.
In fact, the stew and soup even smelt a bit like potions, and as I looked up towards the kitchen I saw the Pigkin chef beaming as she brought out some more platters of meat, these ones encrusted in an herbal breading.
The sharp tang of medicinal herbs was well hidden under the scent of the meat, and I could already feel the potions and herbs working to restore my body\'s strength.
It was... wonderful, so I turned back to my plate and resumed eating, enjoying the thin wine sauce over the pasta before figuring out that when mixed with the steak, it tastes even better!
Then I piled some oiled greens onto a slice of bread and added some other meats to it, creating a sandwich for myself that I devoured quickly.
Everything was excellent, and I was inclined to say if tasted even better than my own cooking.
Mainly because I knew I didn\'t need to clean up after the thirty some odd Knights inside the kitchen... but also because that Pigkin knew her way around food.
To say that the Knights were incapable of speech at the moment would be an understatement, as we all constantly had food in our mouths as we pointed and gestured at one another, getting what we wanted through a complex system of bartering and trading foods.
A Birdkin of some kind demanded a salad bowl from the Monkeykin woman, only receiving it after she offered a quarter of her meat to the woman.
On our own table, Sker used her scorpion tail to reach the slab of meat sitting in front of the Marquess, who then grabbed Sker\'s tail and squeezed, pointing at the slab of different meat on the woman\'s plate.
While they did that, Belian slipped his red skinned hands onto the Marquess\' plate, cutting off a portion of her steak and devouring it quickly, smirking at me when he felt my gaze.
Nirinia and Jahi were glaring at one another as they both had forks inside the pasta bowl, the two devouring the contents as they tried to out eat the other.
To say that the kitchen was chaotic would be a severe understatement, but it was a lively, hearty atmosphere that made each of us grin.
After all, what was better than a large feast after a hard days work of being beaten into an inch of your life~?