Chapter 204: Tastes of Jade

Sylvie sat at a round table at the corner of the so-called “Tastes of Jade” bakery. Though this was her first time here, based on the polished floors and dozens of sweet delights portrayed behind the glass panels, Sylvie decided this was definitely a high-end bakery. Then again, she had never been to any bakery before today, so who was she to judge?

“Thanks for letting me tag along!” Poppy gushed to the group of “popular kids.”

“The more the merrier,” Kegrog raised his porcelain cup of tea as if it were a mug of ale.

“So, Sylvie, what are your first impressions?” Callum asked with a charming smile.

“It looks really nice, I love the bright green and white tiles,” she said.

“You’re easy to impress,” Freya chuckled.

Callum sent an annoyed glare at the dwarf.

“I’m just happy to be here,” Sylvie admitted. “My parents usually never let me out. Seeing a place like this, it’s…” She shrugged, “Nice.”

Freya tried to pat Sylvie’s shoulder, but she couldn’t reach, instead, Freya settled on patting her forearm. “I know what you mean. My dad used to never let me go anywhere. Then when I turned 16, I grabbed one of his wallets and I ran away from home for a week. I spent the entire time at a spa, but my parents got so worried that when I came home they decided to give me some ‘space’ aka freedom. Worked like a charm, hehe.”

I’d be lucky if my parents didn’t lock me away for life, Sylvie thought.

“Is everyone ready to order?” Kithina asked impatiently.

The group nodded.

Except for Sylvie, “Oh, uh, sorry. I didn’t really look at the menu.” She glanced at the wooden sign hanging from above the front counter.

“Why am I not surprised,” Kithina muttered.

“S-sorry,” Sylvie bowed, embarrassed.

“No, it’s fine,” Callum smiled. “I’d find it hard to choose if it was my first time here too. Tell you what, why don’t I just order one of everything? That way you can try each one and find out what you like.”

Sylvie shook her head, “Thanks, but you don’t have to do tha-”

Poppy grabbed her hand, “She’d love that, thanks!”

“Great, then one of everything it is,” Callum nodded.

Sylvie glanced at Poppy with a questioning look.

“Just go with it,” Poppy whispered.

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea, Cal,” Kithina said. “The owner and head chef of this place is a human. She based most of her food on old human recipes from the Jade Realm. I don’t think a vampire like Sylvie would be interested in human food.”

“Oh, sorry, Sylvie,” Callum winced. “I didn’t even think that you might have a particular taste in food. Ugh, and I know a bakery may not be your ideal image of dinner. It’s just that my friends and I usually eat here often. Dammit, I just realized this place doesn’t even sell blood wine. I’m sorry, we can go somewhere else.”

“Weeell, I don't know about that last part,” Kithina said.

“Actually, it’s fine. I’m half-human,” Sylvie said. “I’m more than comfortable eating food from the Jade Realm.”

“You’re half-human?” Callum's eyes went wide. He smiled warmly, “So you’re like me?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Sylvie grinned.

Freya leaned over to Kithina. “Wow, those two really are a match. I’m afraid you don’t have much of a chance,” she whispered.

“Shut up, Gold-Eyes,” Kithina snapped.

After a few minutes, the waiter came back and brought them their food. Dozens of plates lined the large table, each with a different pastry. Sylvie breathed in the scent of delicious sweetness and licked her lips.

Before anyone else had started, Sylvie had grabbed her fork and dived into the food eagerly. Everyone watched in awed silence as she devoured plate after plate with no sign of finishing.

Sylvie noticed their round eyes staring at her and stopped, her fork halfway to her mouth.

She chewed and swallowed. “What?”

“N-nothing,” Poppy mumbled.

Sylvie’s olive cheeks turned rosy. She grinned sheepishly, “I sorta have a sweet tooth.”

“Clearly,” Kithina noted snidely.

“I knew dires had a big appetite but damn, you know how to eat! I love it!” Freya pounded the table.

“So do I,” Callum pounded the table in agreement.

“...” Kithina glanced at her half-finished slice of cake. She liked food as much as the next person, but she tried to hold back while in front of Callum.. She didn’t want to appear less feminine. Had she been wrong?

Sylvie scratched her cheek, “My parents seldom let me have sugar growing up.”

“Your parents seem like real prunes if you ask me,” Freya said.

“Sometimes it felt like that,” Sylvie sighed.

“Well, the way I see it, you can have all the sweets you want now,” Callum smiled.

“I guess you're right,” Sylvie said. “Thanks, guys, for everything. I don’t really have a lot of friends, but I’m really happy you guys invited me.”

“Glad to have you, Sylvie. It’s nice to have someone taller than me in the room,” Kegrog laughed.

Sylvie looked over at Freya and Kithina, “I’m sorry about earlier today, Freya. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I really didn’t mean any disrespect towards dwarves. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Meh, I’ll forgive you this one time,” she shrugged. “So long as you pay for drinks next time we hit up a tavern.”

“Deal,” Sylvie smiled.

Kithina felt shame creep over her back. Perhaps she had misjudged this tall stranger? The dire hybrid actually seemed… nice.

“So, Sylvie,” Freya said. “We know you’re a mageborn and we know you're not from around here.”

“Uh, yes?” Sylvie nodded nervously.

“But what I really want to know is what chromatic color are you? I wonder if we’ll have any classes together?”

“Oh, um, maybe,” Sylvie shrugged. “I have 5 colors, so who knows?”

Callum choked on his tea, “F-five!?”

Everyone stopped eating and stared at Sylvie, again.

She wondered if this was going to become a habit. “Um, yeah. I’m a chromatic green, black, grey, brown, and, um, blue... Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Poppy burst into laughter and elbowed Sylvie’s arm, “My girl’s a real genius.”

“Having multiple colors doesn’t mean you’re a genius,” Freya wrinkled her nose. “There are plenty of mages with six, seven, or even eight colors in our academy. And most of them can’t even cast a proper spell in two colors, let alone five.”

“Yeah, but Sylvie tested dark in all of her colors,” Poppy said proudly.

“All of them?” Kithina mouthed, stunned.

“Well, damn,” Kegrog muttered.

“Hehe…” Sylvie laughed awkwardly. She really wasn’t used to so much attention.

Callum stared at Sylvie’s scarlet eyes. She really is incredible, he thought.

A waiter walked over to them, a platter in hand, “Excuse me. Miss Goldelm, the owner wanted to extend her appreciation for your patronage.”

“Oh?” Freya said.

The waiter lifted up the silver cloche and revealed a three-layered raspberry cake with chocolate syrup drizzling from atop. “A new pastry she’s been working on.”

“Why thank you,” Freya smiled. “Please send the owner my compliments.”

“As you wish, Miss Goldelm,” the waiter nodded and walked away.

“Wow, you must be really popular for even the chef to know you,” Sylvie said, impressed.

“I am, but the owner of this bakery works for my House. So that helps,” Freya winked.

“Those are the Goldelms for you, the richest family in Hollow Shade,” Poppy whispered in admiration.

Freya grabbed a slice of the cake and ate a bite. She chewed for a few moments, judging the taste. She swallowed, “Hmm, it’s not bad. Your chocolate cake is better, Keg, just barely though.”

Kegrog smiled wide, “Well, I’ll have to try harder then. How about I bring a new cake over to your place tomorrow?”

Freya sighed loudly, “Fine, if you insist. I suppose I can take some time out of my busy schedule.”

“O-o-o-h, I didn’t know you two were so close,” Kithina smirked.

“We’re not,” Freya crossed her arms. “Despite Kegrog being of common birth, he just so happens to be a decent cook. And he so happens to need someone to try out his food, make sure it’s alright and all. I’m just being a good friend. Honestly, he should thank me.”

“What a good friend indeed,” Kithina grinned slyly.

“Obviously,” Freya nodded repeatedly.

“Freya, you’re blushing,” Callum noted.

“Shut up, Cal,” she frowned.

“Ahem, would you like to try some?” Callum cut a slice of the cake and offered it to Sylvie.

“Yeah, thanks,” she nodded happily and dug in. “Mm, it's good!”

Kithina grabbed a slice and nodded in agreement. “...I wish we all could have had some.”

Callum nodded, his face solemn. “...Yeah. It’s like Kegrog said, the more the merrier. But lately, I feel like our friends keep drifting away.”

Sylvie recalled the drow hybrid from earlier. “Are you talking about Stryg?” she asked.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess you did meet him,” Callum said wryly.

“He’d usually lighten up the room, even when he didn’t mean to, which was always,” Freya chuckled.

“Really?” Sylvie furrowed her brow. “‘Cause he doesn’t seem very nice”

“Well,” Callum began. He frowned, “Actually, hm. Well, Stryg isn’t a nice person, per se, not really. But he isn’t a bad person either.”

“Stryg cares about his friends,” Kithina nodded.

“He’ll still beat the shit out of you in a sparring match though,” Kegrog muttered grimly.

“No one’s perfect,” Kithina shrugged.

“You only say that because you haven’t sparred with him yourself,” Kegrog said.

“There’s a reason there are a bunch of rumors about Stryg,” Poppy grimaced.

“If you did spar with him, I guarantee you wouldn’t want to spar with him again,” Callum chuckled.

“I do,” Sylvie said. “I had a lot of fun in today’s sparring match. And if I’m being honest, I don’t really like to lose.”

“I like your spirit, dire girl,” Freya grinned. “I too didn’t give up after sparring with Stryg. I fought him a second time in an all-out duel.”

“Wow, that must have been incredible,” Sylvie said excitedly.

Freya nodded proudly, “Mhm, it was. I had Stryg on the defensive almost the entire match. I overwhelmed him with my attacks. The crowd screamed and cheered as I fought.”

Kithina looked at her with a dead-pan stare, “Then we saw Stryg knock you unconscious.”

“And almost kill you,” Callum added.

“Stryg would have, if Tauri hadn’t stopped the fight,” Kegrog added.

Freya’s pale cheeks turned as bright red as a tomato. She glared at Kegrog.

“...Sorry,” he whispered.

“Sooo, Stryg doesn’t hold back, huh?” Sylvie guessed.

“Yeah, holding back isn’t really a concept he grasps,” Kithina admitted.

This Stryg guy really didn’t seem like a good friend, Sylvie thought.

“Oh, Callum, you have a bit of um, you know,” Sylvie pointed at her cheek.

Callum blinked, “Right, thanks.” He grabbed a cloth napkin and wiped a bit of icing off his cheek. “Is it gone?”

Sylvie nodded, “Yup. Hmm…”

“What is it?” Callum asked.

Sylvie tilted her head, “On a closer look, you’re actually cuter than I thought. Huh, weird.”

Callum stiffened.

The naive Sylvie went back to eating her food, failing to recognize the true implications of her words.

Kithina glared at the vampiress. Poppy smiled from ear to ear. Freya burst into laughter and pointed a shaky finger at Kithina.

“Hey, guys, I don’t mean to be a downer, but we probably shouldn’t stay up too late,” Kegrog said. “We’ve got class with Professor Rime early in the morning.”

“That strict asshole,” Kithina groaned. “I hated him when he taught us magic theory our first year and I still hate him now.”

“Everyone does, it’s Professor Rime,” Poppy nodded sympathetically.

“Is he really that bad?” Sylvie asked, worried.

“Not if you know your shit,” Freya said.

“Except that tomorrow he’s supposed to be teaching us about the theory of void mana and no one know’s shit about that,” Callum sighed.

“By the way, did anyone else do the readings he assigned over the summer?” Kithina asked. “I had some questions about the material I didn’t understand.”

“I didn’t have the time, I was busy learning about managing my family’s businesses all summer,” Freya said.

“I skimmed through it a bit. I didn’t understand much,” Callum admitted.

“There was a reading?” Kegrog asked.

Kithina sighed, “We’re fucked aren’t we?”