Plates covered their table as even more made their way toward the table.
"Mmm…" Taro had to appreciate the taste. It wasn't like anything he had eaten all his life.
"Eat up." Seth smiled and dug into his plate.
"Excuse me, can I get a meal combo for the elderly? Make it as great as possible." Seth asked the lady standing beside him with a tray in her hand.
She only nodded and walked toward the counter still holding the tray with two covered plates on it.
"This is good!" Taro said, increasing his pace with every dip of his spoon.
"Relax, if you eat that much, you'll be full before you know it." Seth tried to persuade Taro.
"Don't bother about it. I'm pretty sure I can take it all in." Taro answered, his mouth still filled with food.
"If you say so."
♠♠♠♠♠
After an hour, Taro did as he said. All twenty delicacies had made their way into his stomach and only then did he seem full.
He patted his stomach and a belch escaped his mouth.
Everyone in the cafeteria stared at him like he was a devil who had just eaten a human raw.
Seth shook his head and laughed. "Excuse me," Seth called toward one of the cafeteria workers.
"How may I help you?" She asked.
"Can we get the remaining in a take-home flask?" Seth asked.
"Sure, give me a minute." The lady said and began clearing the table still half filled with food. Seth had barely eaten three plates before he became full so he would take the rest back to the dorm for his other roommates.
"Let's go." Seth stood and so did Taro. He did it so neatly that it seemed like he only ate a plate and not twenty.
Seth walked to the counter and asked the lady. "Is it ready?"
"Yes, it is." She replied, passing a flask of three layers to Seth.
"Thank you." He said, receiving the flask. "How much does it all add up to?"
"Four thousand and thirty gold coins." She replied.
'The food's worth only thirty gold?'
"I'll need a drink to go with this food. As I said, it's for the elderly." Seth requested another thing this time.
"Understood." She walked away and when she returned, she came with a bottle of wine. The bottle was too dark to see the color of its content.
"It all adds up to four thousand three hundred gold coins now." She replied.
'Three hundred gold coins should be enough. Let's make the bills four point five.'
"Well, let's make it a nice figure. Make an additional one hundred and fifty gold's worth of food available for everyone here. The other fifty is a tip to everyone who served us. That's a total of four point five, isn't it?" Seth asked.
"Yes, it is." The lady answered as she began attending to his request.
"That's great then."
"Here's what you requested." The lady who had cleared the table returned with another flask multiple layers bigger than the one in Seth's hand.
"Taro,"
"Understood." Taro received the flask from the lady and they both left the cafeteria.
"I'm guessing the flask in your hand belongs to the dorm master, right?" Taro asked as all he received from Seth was a nod to show confirmation.
"Thank you," Taro said. "For the meal. It's the best I've had."
"You're welcome. How come you ate all twenty though? I'm genuinely surprised." Seth asked.
"It's something that has to do with my training. I'm always eating since my speed of digestion is way higher. My foods get digested way too quickly as they become converted into energy and mana reserves. Nothing I can do about it but eat."
"This is genuinely the first time I've been full as I don't think I can push anything down this throat for the rest of the day," Taro explained without holding back. If Seth could spend two thousand gold coins on him, what's the point of hiding his eating habit?
It wasn't a secret as Seth saw him eating snacks most of the time but since no one ever asked, he never explained.
"I see. We'll talk more about that later." Seth nodded, coming to an understanding of why he always saw Taro eating something.
"So, about that card. What was it?" Taro asked again. He wanted to know what the card was.
"It's a card I got from the principal. All my bills get paid by him as long as I show the card to anyone in the institute." Seth explained.
"There's a limit to how much I can spend but since the meal was a one-time thing, I wanted it to be the best." Seth smiled, proud of his action.
"Thank you very much." Taro said with a smile on his face too.
"Don't mention."
"Now, let's get this food to the old man and that one to the room before I leave for my private lesson." Seth increased his steps and so did Taro as they made their way back to the dorm.
"What took you kids so long?" The old man asked when he noticed Seth and Taro walking toward him.
"The meals couldn't be rushed." Taro responded jokingly.
"Haha… I see, I see."
"Here's yours, old man. Remember… it's not to be rushed." Seth handed the flask and wine in his hand to the old man.
Seth sensed a subtle change in his core and called out to Taro. "On second thought, Taro, you head up with your flask. I wanna get there before the time as I have a little training to do myself before Raiden arrives."
"Understood." Taro nodded and headed into the dorm while Seth turned to leave.
"Slowly enjoy the meal, old man." Seth smiled and ran off.
The old man smiled and opened the bottle to take a gulp first. The fragrance assaulted his nose and only then did he notice what Seth had brought.
"He bought a decade-old wine just for me? Hehehe… I'll be sure to return the favor." The old man smiled.
♠♠♠♠♠
Knock! Knock!
"Come in." A female voice responded to the knock.
The door opened and a student walked in.
"Lady Raela, I bring reports about your brother." The student said with a polite bow.
Raela's pen dropped as she had to rub her temple, expecting more troubled news from this little brother of hers.
"What bad has he done this time?" She asked the student.
"It's not something bad as he gave out food to all students in a cafeteria." The student replied.
Raela squinted her eyes as she spoke. "What happened?"
"Well, he arrived with a friend and ended up spending over four thousand gold coins and even went on to pay for free meals to every student present." The student reported to his lady.
"What!?" Raela banged her chair as she rose in shock.
'Where the hell did he get such an amount?' Those were Raela's thoughts.