"It smells good in here." With a towel wrapped around her head, May emerged from the steamy bathroom, her voice ringing out like a bell as she spoke. As she made her way out into the room
But unlike, Ellia, May had changed into her uniform inside the bathroom.
"Come have a seat," Ellia said, pointing at May's seat.
"Thanks for the food." May sat down at the table and began eating like everyone else, though she was the only one in the room that didn't know how valuable the meat she was cutting up was.
"Hmmm?" As the succulent slice of meat touched her tongue, May's eyes widened in astonishment and awe. It was as if she had been transported to another world.
Her taste buds danced with joy as the savory juices flooded her mouth, each one a burst of flavor that sent ripples of pleasure coursing through her body.
But there was more to the experience than just the exquisite taste of the meat. As she savored each morsel, May felt mana spreading through her body like a warm and comforting blanket. It was as if the very essence of the meat was infused with a powerful mana that revitalized her own, filling her with renewed strength and vigor. The knots and tension that had been plaguing her muscles melted away as if it was never there.
It was a sensation like no other, a truly wondrous and enchanting experience that left her feeling as though she had been reborn.
"There's mana in this," May gazed upward with a perplexed expression in an attempt to find what kind of meat this was.
"One of the most expensive pieces of cow meat in the imperial market," Mike answered, also bitting in portion—pure bliss. "Heck, I don't even think they're selling it on the imperial market. I don't know how Second Lieutenant got her hands on this."
"Second Lieutenant?" May lift her eyebrows in surprise once more as she shifts her gaze toward Ellia.
"Hmmm?" Ellia hummed as she held her loose hair aloft, then delicately plucked a piece of cow meat and lowered it into her mouth. 'Oh, my gawd…'
As Ellia was savoring every flavor the meat had to offer, but suddenly her blissful reverie was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a radiant blue light emanating from the system interface before her.
----
0.5 Max MP gained
Max MP: 330->330.5
----
'Oh?' Ellia looked down, quite pleased by the results. 'Wait, Ruth... didn't you say that there was a limit on the number of strength enchantment pills you could consume or any other pills, right?'
"I know what you're trying to say," Ruth said and began to explain. "Yes, you can just eat lots of these meats to strengthen your mana pool, but as you said, these are pretty expensive, and there aren't many within the world."
'I see...' Ellia thought.
"Yea, she probably spent millions just to get all of this," Mike spoke.
"Ehhh?!" May's body jerked upward with such force that her chair toppled backward, and a scream erupted from her lips at the shocking revelation.
As May looked around the table, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. In a bid to regain her composure, she let out a throaty cough before righting her toppled chair and easing herself back into it.
As she reached for her fork once more, her hands trembled as if she was in the artic, freezing. May was now aware of the value of the succulent meat on her plate, which gleamed like a treasure trove before her. The meat in front of her was worth more than a house in the capital of the Empire.
"Second Lieutenant... I'm aware that you're a Nobel, but..." May muttered.
"Oh, you know that I'm a Nobel?" Ellia asked, curious about how others could tell she was a noble.
"Well, I guess it's because of your demeanor and the aura around you..." May spoke. "But the main reason is that Instructor James told me... but that isn't the point here!"
"Go on." Ellia urged May to keep speaking.
"Even for a noble, spending millions of credits on meat is too much..." May said, causing quite a reaction from Alex. His eyes shifted to Ellia, looking at her expression to see if anything had changed.
"Ah... maybe we should..." Alex spoke, trying his best to redirect the conversation, but it was Ellia that spoke up next.
"Are you curious about my rank as a noble?" Ellia spoke, smirking a little.
"Eh?" Alex gazed upon Ellia, his expression turned to one of perplexity. He knew all too well that the topic at hand was a thorny issue for her, something that she kept hidden deep within, but now she was brazenly speaking about it openly.
From what Alex remembered, when he still dated Ellia, was that she never wanted other people to know that she was a noble.
"N-no that isn't it." May shook her head, denying Ellia's teasing remark. However, her defiance only served to amuse Ellia even more, causing her to erupt into a joyous fit of giggles.
"What's so funny?!" May's face flushed scarlet with a mixture of embarrassment and frustration as she demanded an explanation for the source of Ellia's mirth.
"No, it's nothing. I just didn't expect that you would deny it so franticly." Ellia answered, still laughing.
"That's because nobles would turn anybody's life into hell if they felt like they've been offended." Ruth spoke, "It's because you looked irritated a bit."
"Oh? I look irritated?" Ellia's eyes narrowed to slits as she spoke. It was evident that May's words had ignited a fiery fury within her.
"A-ah... that's not what I meant." May stuttered while cowering back.
"Ahahaha! How cute…." A burst of uncontrollable laughter erupted from Ellia, causing her to quickly place her hand over her face in an attempt to stifle the mirthful outburst.
Alex's gaze was transfixed upon Ellia as if he were under some sort of spell. Something about her seemed to have undergone a transformation, and even the way she laughed seemed unfamiliar and foreign to him. Despite his bewilderment, he found himself unable to divert his gaze away from her captivating presence.
Her laughter was like a symphony of pure joy, and her face lit up with such radiance that it seemed as though the sun itself had descended from the heavens and taken up residence within her. The sheer force of her infectious joy was enough to make even the strongest of men weak in the knees, utterly powerless in the face of her beguiling charm.
"C-cute…?" May's voice quivered, feeling her own blood pressure rising.
Of course, she had been called cute by many men, but never a woman! It was almost as if she was being looked down upon.
Everyone else at the table simply watched as if it wasn't their problem.
"Okay... I'll stop now," Ellia's laughter finally started to slowly subside as she delicately brushed away the tears that accumulated in her eyes. "So you were curious about my rank as a noble, right?"
May stayed silent, afraid that Ellia was still trying to tease her.
"You never heard of my last name? Arison?" Ellia asked.
'Arison... Arison...' May repeated inside her mind, but nothing came up from her memories. She just couldn't remember a significant noble that went as Arison.
"Ah! Is it that Arison?!" Issac sprang up from his chair, his eyes widening in disbelief as he gazed at Ellia as if she was a whole different person.
"What do you mean by 'That Arison'?!" May asked, her curiosity fulled by Issac's surprise.
"Don't you know the war hero Ian Arison?" Issac said.
As the words reached Ellia's ears, a radiant warmth spread across her face, and the edges of her lips gently curved upwards, forming a smile.
Aerie, who was peacefully eating, had no clue what the two were talking about.
"You don't mean Arison's that revived nobility from the Empress herself," May muttered, now in realization, also turning to face Ellia.
"It was big news that shook the entire Empire, but since the Arisons weren't in seen for years, they were mostly forgotten about," Issac explained. "And since they didn't need important meetings that the royal family held, they were almost forgotten about."
"I didn't even know they had a granddaughter."
"That's right," Ellia spoke. "The legacy lived on."
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