I sat down once again in my spot next to the girls, still basking in the cheers from the customers in the restaurant. However, none of that mattered to me now that my plate of food had arrived. I grabbed my cutlery and cut into the meat in front of me without hesitation. The piece of meat was easily cut, requiring only a little pressure, much like cutting through butter. The inside appeared slightly reddish, and the meat juices dripped onto the plate.
'Great. This looks delicious.'
I had ordered a piece of meat from a strange species of animal unique to this part of the world. The specific type of animal didn't matter to me, as long as the meat was not fully cooked. I preferred my meat a little red. Until now, the texture, appearance, and smell seemed fine, but the ultimate test was the taste. After all, nothing would matter if it didn't taste delicious!
I raised a piece of meat to my mouth with my fork. The moment the meat entered my mouth and I chewed it, an indescribable flavor captivated my taste buds. To put it in an analogy, I felt like a professional food critic who, after countless years of doing the same thing, stumbled upon a plate of food so delicious it reminded him of the golden days of his life – like the memory of his mother making his favorite meal after a hard day when he was just a kid. That's kind of how I felt.
So, I put the fork in my mouth and...
'Magnificent!'
I continued to devour my food with enthusiasm. The girls, seeing me eat as if it were the last lunch of my life, decided to imitate me and started eating their respective plates of food. The rest of the customers, upon seeing us, also resumed their lunches, returning the restaurant to normal.
On the other hand, Theo and Michael had already disappeared from the restaurant, accompanied by the group of Knights who were obviously protecting them. Since no one was paying attention to them, no one noticed their absences.
***
While we were enjoying our lunch at the fancy restaurant.
"...What the heck happened here?"
Five men in black robes stood where the forest used to be, or more precisely, where one of the organization's experimentation labs used to be located. They had been informed in advance that an intruder had caused a cave-in in the cave where the laboratory was hidden. Consequently, almost all of the researchers and other important workers died, including test subject No. A121, the 'Ultimate Chimera.'
Their presence in this place was to recover the remains of the chimera's corpse and any other valuable traces of information. Later, they would destroy the entire place to leave no evidence behind. However, upon arrival, they found something very different from what they expected.
Firstly, there was no trace that the cave had ever existed; a large part of the forest had changed its appearance to that of a plain. Snow engulfed the entire previously devastated area, making it seem as if the place had always looked like this. But the man who knew that this place should be full of trees couldn't help but feel a sinister premonition.
No matter how they searched the place where the cave used to be, they couldn't find anything. It was normal that they couldn't find traces of the bodies of the members of their organization due to the 'decomposition' that occurred when one of them died. However, it was strange that not even a piece of cloth had been left anywhere. It was as if they had completely disappeared.
'Like they've been eaten by something, leaving nothing behind.'
This was the thought of the group leader. Did the Chimera, just before dying, eat all the corpses? Or was the Chimera still alive and caused all this? It was a difficult idea to swallow. If the Chimera had still lived, the surviving group in the laboratory would have contacted the headquarters beforehand. The head of the laboratory would benefit greatly from sharing this news because the error of his previous failure would be lessened. So, he would have no reason to hide it at all.
'No... Where are the surviving members of the lab in the first place?'
They should have contacted them if any strange variable occurred, like what happened in the forest. And even if they decided not to contact them right away, they should have known that the exploration team would come to do an inspection and cleanup. However, there was no one else here...
"I have a very bad feeling about all this."
Suddenly, a couple of men dressed in black robes appeared from a distance. Both made a salute as a sign of respect to the leader.
"Hand over the report," he said with a serious tone.
"We went to the village, but we didn't find anyone there!" said one of the subordinates who had been sent on a reconnaissance mission to the nearby village.
"...What do you mean you didn't find anyone there?"
The leader couldn't help but express his confusion.
"We couldn't find any trace of any of the women who inhabited the village... And we couldn't find any trace of the surviving lab team either."
"That can't be possible!"
It was already extremely strange that the villagers weren't there, but also that there was no trace of the surviving lab team? Until then, the leader of the group believed in the idea that he could at least meet with someone who would deliver some information in the village.
'Is there really no one?'
"I'll head there myself."
It was an unacceptable idea. If there were no positive results like at least some valuable information, due to the disappearance of all the potential culprits, he would be the only one responsible who would have to bear everything. As unfair as it was.
The entire group consisting of ten men soon arrived at the village. However, no matter how much they searched, they couldn't find anyone. The scariest thing of all was that they couldn't even find a single dead body. There wasn't a single drop of blood anywhere, as if it were a village that had always been abandoned from the very beginning.
***
We returned to the inn at sunset after enjoying our lunchtime and exploring the city a bit. Of course, we paid extra tips to the waiters for the inconvenience caused. Some people in the restaurant tried to get close to me because of my brilliant piano performance. They wanted to make contact with me so they could invite me to play the piano some other time. I appreciated all the compliments, but I ultimately declined the invitations of all of them, insisting that I wasn't a professional musician, to begin with. Of course, I remembered the names of all the important-looking people to turn to in case I failed to collect valuable information at the Duke's party.
As soon as we arrived at the inn, it wasn't long before a knight appeared in front of us, handing over an envelope that clearly looked like an invitation. The envelope was stamped with the Duke's family logo, so it wasn't hard to imagine that it was the invitation to the party Michael had spoken of.
'This was much sooner than I thought.'
There was a possibility that Michael had been given a large number of invitations to give to whomever he wanted. However, it was strange that the invitations would arrive so quickly. He even sent a knight to deliver them for him. He must have been too embarrassed to show his face, so he wanted to end it all quickly like this...
'Well, surely we will meet again at the Duke's
party.'
I stopped giving the matter any more importance.
"Franz, I didn't tell you before because we were busy having lunch, but I loved how you played the piano in the restaurant!" Jess said.
"Yeah! I didn't know you were so talented on the piano! Haven't you thought about becoming a professional musician? You would surely become very famous!" Eva said.
The girls were amazed by my musical presentation.
'It seems it was true that being good at music attracts women.'
I had seen on Earth how countless women went crazy for all kinds of men just because they were good at singing or playing a musical instrument remarkably. There were even women who idolized rude men as long as they liked their music... I guess it's normal, though. I mean, men tend to be that way with famous athletes too. So, you can say it's part of human nature.
"Nah, I don't have the desire to be a musician right now. Did you forget that the fate of the continent depends on all of us? Sadly, I don't have time to dedicate myself to other things," I said.
"So, Franz, what is written on the invitations?" Angie said, changing the topic.
I carefully opened the envelope. Inside, as I expected, was an invitation to the Duke's party. I silently read the letter. After a short time of the girls looking at me with eyes full of intrigue, I explained the contents of the letter.
"The day after tomorrow night there will be a costume party at the Duke's mansion. We'll have to go in formal attire and with masks that cover our identity."
"What's the plan?" Angie asked.
"First, let's go to one of the rooms to talk in private. Talking about these things here isn't a good idea."
We went to one of the rooms, and I explained in detail the plan I had in mind. After we finished organizing the things we were going to do in the next few days, we split into two. Angie, Jess, and Eva stayed in the room they were in, while Nat and I headed to our own room. Even if we had two double rooms, the rooms were located on opposite sides of the inn.
Until that moment, I hadn't entered my room because the girls had moved all my belongings. But I really wasn't curious because I had just been inside another similar room just a few moments ago. The girls' room was made up of two single beds that had been pushed together. In our case, it must be the same, so we would only have to separate the beds, and there would be no major problem.
Unfortunately, things weren't happening as I expected these past few days.
!!!
When I opened the door to our room, we found a large double bed that even had heart-shaped flower petals on it.