Chapter 11: Soup of discord

*CLANK*

“Lunch!!”

Opening the double doors with force enough to almost rip them off from its hinges, Lean rushed inside and made his way to the counter.

“Aunt Lisha! Aunt Lisha! I want a serving of pork today!”

“NO”

To the full of life Lean, the answer he received was as if hitting a brick wall head on.

“EH?! Why not?!”

“Since you started eating in the dining room, you only had meat! You’re young, so you need a proper balanced diet!”

“Then I will have chicken!”

“NO!”

“How about roasted Lokens?”

“For the 3rd time... NO!”

“But-”

“No, means no! Have this rich vegetable soup instead!”

“Ugh, this disgusting looking thing is soup?”

“This recipe includes a variety of 15 vegetables! All carefully cooked by me! You will receive proper nutrients for once! Now go and take a seat, if you’re still hungry after eating that, I will give you some meat-”

“REALLY?!”

“That is, if you finish the plate properly”

“Gu! I will not fail!”

Leaving the counter with reluctance Lean proceeded to search for a seat…

“(Should I sit on the circular tables in the middle or the rectangular ones in the sides? I should search a seat with lots of people...[How to be a proper hunter rule #18: A bad meal is less painful if shared with others!])”

Or that was the idea, as in the moment he turned he found a peculiar sight

*....*

People

Not one, or two... Almost twenty youths surrounded him.

“....”

*....*

A strange tension filled the atmosphere and as if playing a game no one dared to break the silence, that is, until.

“Even if it tastes bad… I’m not giving you any of this okay?”

Lean even turned sideways to cover the tray and his food on it

…

…

…

“Ugh, so creamy… I don’t like this texture…”

Lean expressed his opinion after taking some spoonfuls of the rather hideous looking liquid meal, his half-closed eyes and tightly shut mouth also helped conveying his reluctance towards it.

“Are you sure that’s not venom?”

“Uwaah, look at the bubbling, disgusting!”

“Even if it looks like that, didn’t the cook Lisha said so? That it was a food rather nutritious… Sorry, forgive me, don’t look at me like that…”

“Well, how about we also order something? Asha, are you listening?”

“Nn? What?”

“*Sigh* Why are you so prone to doze off?”

“Ehehe! Sorry about that Ceril, yeah, let’s go get something, the aromas are making me hungrier than normal…”

After the two left, one of the girls that already had food on her plate asked the boy that presumably was part of their group.

“How about you? Erm, your name was…”

“Tomas Doyle, better don’t forget it again, you heard me?”

“Uh? What’s your problem?”

“Why are you thinking about eating something now?! Didn’t you see that guy?! He already contacted with a spirit!!”

With a rather harsh tone, and increasing his volume by every word said, Tomas pointed at Lean almost as if accusing him for doing something bad

“Whoa, calm down a little, won’t you? There is no reason to raise your voice like that, is there? See, even the guys in that other table are looking this way”

A girl with long green hair, raised from the opposite chair and while saying so, pointed in the direction behind them. In a circular table, five people were looking back, a particularity of the group were the same black hair and eyes shared by everyone seated.

“Who do you think you-”

“AH! Will you shut up, or do I have to shut you up? Choose one, you bastard!”

The one who raised a cry and threatened Tomas who was about to retort, as he was crackling his knuckles, was a boy who had small scars here and there adorning his face, his uniform was rather disheveled than tidied raising the threat a level further. As he looked more of a thug that robbed the clothes from a true student, the man directed his hostility openly until.

“Look at that Carol! A gathering of dogs fighting over who is more stupid is happening! And here I thought only the people from Gedos were thrash…”

“It’s not good disregarding everyone that way, your majesty…”

“Che! You’re no fun Carol”

The two new people were passing by when they heard the commotion, and the one directing a scornful voice while, at the same time, making fun of them was the young looking man. If one were to ignore the voice filled with malice, the tall boy possessed handsome and refined features befitting a royal or straight of a work of art, and with the firm posture that did not crumble even in the slightest while the youth walked, exudered elegance.

The girl who walked a few feet behind Siegfrido and offered such remark, Carol, also showcased sophisticated features, her short wavy hair displayed a dark red colour that seemed to seep the light away.

At the appearance of the pair, a girl quickly shoot up from her seat and directed a piece of her mind

“Well, well, what do we have here? A stinky fake prince and his bitch aid! Now I have lost my appetite, good work Siegshit and Carolwhore!”

The girl in question, like Carol, possessed wavy hair, but while Carol’s was short, her’s was naturally long and displayed a beautiful blonde colour. Her pristine brown eyes, while narrowing them and scrutinizing the subjects, also directed a filled with contempt voice.

The girl next to her also commented

“Haha! You tell them Iris!”

And the girl farther right

“*Sigh* I do not appreciate this conduct, you, Iris and Arian, as well as you Rente subjects, please mind your behavior at the time and place”

Arian who agreed with Iris, seemed to be on the shorter side, even for a girl. But contrasting with her small frame like that of a small and cute animal, her arms were rather toned.

The girl who acted as if mediating both sides, Leurea, showed her disapproval after sipping from the tea cup which she held in her left hand

“While I share your opinion, Leurea, there seems to be a noodle haired-”

“Don’t bother with them Carol, it is clear that even the air is wasted on these lowly Gedeians”

“Why don’t you say that again you -”

“Care to go and FU-”

“*Clap clap* Well well, ladies and gentleman, why don’t you all go outside and spit at each other or have an orgy or whatever? You all are bothering me and can’t enjoy my meal in peace, so, please, why don’t you all hold hands and jump off from the astrology tower or something?”

Interrupting the flow while also gaining their attention, a slender man spoke from a diagonal position. His well-trimmed hair kept rather short, aside from three bangs that reached and covered his right eye, was a picturesque mix between green and olive colours. His face features while on the small side, didn’t fail to give the youth a vicious look. Such appearance was further increased by his food, lemon and grapefruits, as he ate them raw.

In contrast with the picturesque eating lemon youngster, the man sitting beside him displayed a wholesome extreme outward appearance summarized in a sole word: White.

His hair, like a blossoming flower, defied the law of gravity and mostly pointed upwards in a messy manner. His face, with the exception of his eyes and lips, laid behind bandages tied slovenly… And finally, his attire. Without the black vest over the long sleeved shirt and a set of straight pants and boots that were not part of the uniform, the picture was complete.

Also, the boy remained as quiet and still as a statue, the only expression on him were the wide open silver eyes of his, as if he was in a constant surprised state.

The impact the two had on the quarreling side was soon put on display.

“You sure have guts to make such statement mongrel, identify yourself”

“Your majesty, please, don’t heed his words, these people… They look dangerous”

The first to react was the Rente’s pair. And responding to Siegfrido’s command, the stylish yet fiendish man spoke.

“Freddick Fester at your service… My friend here, Sedo Mata, we both come from the humble Iracundos estate your…. High-n-ess”

Freddick made a frisky bow while gesturing his free hand with the palm open pointing upwards, accompanying his playful tone, he phrased the last word in an odd manner.

“You insolent bas-”

“Siegfrido, don’t!”

Crumbling his dignified semblance with a sharp scowl and rising his tone, Siegfrido almost jumped on Freddick. Carol too, with a shriek, lost her demeanor but managed to hold Siegfrido’s arm and held him in place.

“Whoa there! Calm yourself a little your high-n-ess, haha! You don’t want to leave vacant the throne, before you even get the chance to sit on it, don’t you?”

Freddick, not giving it a rest, still tried to rile him up. This time, he also made sure to show that Sedo was already griping his fork and knife in his right hand while glaring at him with his not changing astonishing expression.

“Tch! Let’s go Carol…”

“At your will your highness”

As both started to depart from there, Freddick raised his voice once again.

“Ah! I almost forgot! I love seeing the expression of serious and fierce looking women crumble in bed… Don’t you want to share some lovely night eve, some time?”

“(!!)”

Carol froze for a second, but ignoring him, kept on walking straight. And Freddick, making a disgusting grin, said to no one.

“Ah, such a shame… Oh well, they always ignore me at first…”

For their part, the Gedeian trope.

“Uwhaa, that guy, disgusting!”

“Yeah, better keep ourselves away from scum like that, you hear me girls?”

“Eek! The white one is looking here, creepy!”

“Arian, Iris… Do not involve yourselves with tenebrous individuals such as those…”

The trope shared a unanimous consensus on the matter of the third party involved…

Back to the middle zone of the table where it all started.

“Oh, how nice to see our seats not taken, don’t you think so, Asha?”

“Nn? Yeah, you’re right Ceril”

The pair that went to get their lunch while at the same time evading the small and big discussions, finally came back and found a strange phenom.

“Huh? Why is there water on the floor?”

Ceril, who took notice of it, started following the trail until finding the source: A crying Lean

Next to him, the green haired girl was making a fed up expression, next to her was another girl who seemed to be trying to soothe her as the gesture of her hands seemed to point that out.

“Will you quit it crying like a baby? I even tasted it, and it’s surprisingly delicious! What are you complaining for?!”

“How can you like this…”

Two rivers trailed the face of Lean towards the table and finally flowed in the new formed lake on the floor. If one were to ignore the endless surplus of the crystalline liquid and focused on the source of it, Lean’s eyes had lost all of the light, proof of the living, and only a bottomless well of despair remained.

Next to his head, which was resting on the table, laid the perpetrator and monster who brought the young hunter down.

A half emptied bowl of soup.

“*Giggle* I have seen many strong looking men crying over the loss of a dear friend, losing an invaluable object or seeing their daughters being married off… But, over a bowl of soup? This is a first! *Giggle*”.

“Sivir! Stop laughing and help me here!”

“Sure Nana, *Ahem*. Nice to meet you, I’m Sivir Viento”.

“….Lean Landrer….”

“*Giggle* Well Lean, do you want to eat this Busho skewer?”

“…”

“It’s meat”

“REALLY?!?!”

The vision of Sivir giving a portion of her food distorted in such a way, that before the eyes of Lean, the look of the tanned girl started to glow a dazzling golden and silver hue. Accompanying the birth of the beautiful light was the sound of a royal and mighty melody, one that wouldn’t fail to create a chain of emotions one after the other…

…But it was just the delirium of the yearning boy. In reality, the people surrounding Lean grew a sense of discomfort while watching the inhuman act of him eating the contents of the over 20 centimeters piece of wood filled with many cubes of sliced meat, in one whole mouthful motion.

As if watching the end of a play, the spectators delivered their reactions.

“Holy shit dude! How do you do that!”

“How… How is that possible?”

“Did he just…”

“Hahaha! Do it again!”

“Such a barbaric way of eating. Please mind the rest of the people sharing the same table…”

“Wow, am I witnessing the birth of the human ostrich?”

“…”

“Hahaha, that was interesting, wasn’t it Ceril?”

“I remember a street performer who could eat a sword, is this, perhaps, the secret behind such act?”

“Eh? Aren’t you reading too much into it?”

“Fanks tyong! Fanfs tyong!”

Oblivious of the various reactions, Lean tried to mutter something, failing miserably because he was halfway eating still, which helped Nana breaking out of her stupefied trance.

“Damn it Lean, don’t talk while eating!”

“Mufts fftsut shoftw grofft?”

“You-!”

“Now now, calm down Nana, and Lean, Nana is right. Please mind your modals on the table.”

“….*Gulp* You are right, I’m sorry about that. ([From the How to be a proper hunter rule #18: In the end, be it a good meal or a bad one, mind your manners!])”

“*Giggle* It’s okay if you understand. Now, why don’t you ask him Nana?”

“*Sigh* Okay, Lean. How did you contract with a spirit?”

At the mention of the question, the surroundings grew ever so quiet, to the point that the only sound in the room, was that of the muffled voices of Lisha and her coworkers, in the back of the kitchen.

Many students, as if coordinating the silent action, prepared themselves to get a better grasp of the conversation held in the center of the table. Even the few that were eating alone in the farther tables like islanders in their own island’s solace.

“How? I used the paper Aurora gave us…”

“You fuc-!”

“Try to start a new discussion and I’m slicing your throat Tomas”

“*Cough cough* Just had something stuck in my throat…”

Before Tomas could end his swearing, Ceril, delivered dangerous words. The threat itself, seemed like a lie, coming from the frail looking girl. Even more, if one were to have a glimpse at her and not focus enough, one could mistake her for a human sized doll. Still, Tomas, who dared not back down from the threat of the thug looking fellow from before, now had a few droplets of sweat in his temple while awkwardly turning his head away from Ceril.

“*Ahem* I know that, we all have the same paper, but only you could make a contract… Can you explain what you did?”

“Even if you tell me that… I only poured mana in the paper… The next thing I knew I was in the infirmary…”

“How do you pour mana into the paper? I don’t understand shit of this!”

Raising from his spot, a guy put his paper on the table and looked at Lean.

“You are?”

“Nat Vararder”

“Well Nat, let’s slow down a little, we all are in the same boat here.”

Interrupting the conversation between Nana and Nat, a surprised voice escaped from Lean

“Eh? You don’t know how to pour mana into something?”

“And I’m telling you, I don’t understand shit of this! *BAM* I was enjoying the festival when I had this strange pulse in my heart! The next thing I knew I was being enrolled here!”

At the exclamation of Nat, who strongly hit with both of his hands the table, others started a wave of murmurs.

“Oh, something similar happened to me…”

“Eh? You too?”

“I didn’t have that strange beat, but I started feeling like being more conscious of the surroundings? Something like that…”

“Mm, some have only awakened recently then? I happen to know of my aptitude since I was 12 years old.”

“Oh myself at 14!”

“Look at the idiots babbling their mouths at the smallest of the things!”

“Your highness, you are not in any better position…”

“Pffft! Did you hear that Sedo? The almighty high-n-ess of that Rente estate is no better than that 3rd rate looking thug… What was his name again? Cal? Tal?”

“…Nat”

“Eh? You remembered him? Hahaha!”

“Those lowly Iracundo’s pieces of shit!!”

*CLAAAAP*

*…*

With a powerfull applause, Nana regained control of the derailed conversation and supplemented.

“Okay, that’s better! Now, those that are not interested in how to manipulate mana, I will kindly ask of you to not disturb our conversation! Thanks!”

Even if the contents were clean, the hidden intentions were not so hidden… But even if someone wanted to retort, a new disruption would ensue causing history to repeat again. But finally, a silent agreement was reached letting the flow continue.

“Now Lean, please, a hint is enough, can you tell us how to pour mana into the paper?”

“Well… You have to feel the mana, then when you grasp it you can start moving it and finally project it into the paper!”

“(Too abstract… Aurora explained it better…)”

“How do you start feeling the mana?”

Sivir made a quick question, she even raised her hand as if she were in class.

“Mmm… You project mana outside!”

“Eh?”

To the confident answer Lean gave, Sivir muthered her not understanding even faster than her question.

“What the hell man! You use mana to feel mana? But I don’t know how to use mana in the first place! What kind of bullshit is this?!”

“Whoa, calm down Nat.”

“How do you want me to calm down? I only got 40 days!”

“Not just you, we all are in the same boat!”

“Guys calm down… Don’t overreact to the very first answer gotten.”

“You sound all calm and what not Sivir, but just now you were also lost with the answer he gave!”

“Well, it did surprise me…”

“AH! *BAM* I know!”

Hitting his right fist on his left palm, Lean exclaimed as if finding the answer. The rest, built a bridge of hope faster than the speed of the sound, and then.

“You see, mana is everywhere, like air, but is like water! So when you feel mana you feel being submerged in some kind of water, but you can move it at will! The mana inside of one is like a personal lake!”

As if being proud of his exclamation Lean held his head high with eyes closed as well as his arms crossed in a confident manner. Contrary to him, the surroundings…

“THAT DID NOT EXPLAIN SHIT YOU BASTARD!!”

“Wait! Don’t flip the table! Oi! Get a grip on yourself!!”

“Damn it Nat! Calm down!”

“Ahhh! Stop him Tomas!”

“Stop him? I’m helping him! This fucker act all high because he contracted but doesn’t know shit!”

“Now it’s our chance Carol, let’s assault that lowly snake head!”

“Haha! Come here, little prince!”

“*Sigh* The food was good, but now I feel sleepy… Should I go to that tree’s shadow?”

….

….

….

“Ah..Ah…Ah… Finally, damn it, how fast is that guy? Lean was it? Is that even possible for a human? Ah…Damn it, I need some exercise… Now I’m hungrier than… Normal?”

Isen, who run after Lean back at the infirmary, reached the double doors of the hall. But, what laid in front of him was a scene of pure chaos.

A long rectangular table as well as two circular tables along its chairs were flipped. Following suit many plates and food was scattered all over the area in between said furniture.

His class members, for the most part, were tidying the place and all looked fearful of the maid looking woman supervising everyone, and with a reason, as standing behind the maid was a giant humanoid thing that reached the 4 or 5 meters tall dining room, with many arms and dark blue skin. If anything, the giant looked diabolic and exudered an impressive threatening aura…

To this spectacle, the young boy only muttered.

“What the hell happened here?”