On the way home, the siblings stopped at a food stall.
The rich aroma of roasted, spiced meat filled the air.
Behind the counter, a worker slowly rotated a glistening roast of beef inside a glass box, heat rising from glowing coals beneath it.
“Three, please—one spicy, one savory, and one mixed,” he ordered.
The orc nodded and began slicing meat from the roast, piling it onto flatbread with peppers and onions.
He added dollops of white and red sauce before handing them over.
Keldras could sense Saphira practically salivating in his mind.
It’s been so long since I’ve eaten meat.
Let me taste it… let me taste it.
Keldras had no idea how he was supposed to do that.
He took a bite.
Nothing.
“MMMMM!”
The sound flooded his mind.
He staggered slightly from the sudden surge of emotion.
Gorra raised an eyebrow at him.
“You glutton. It’s not that good,” she teased, taking a bite of her own.
She raised a finger to her lip and wiped away a bit of sauce.
“It is pretty good though.”
Keldras looked down at his wrap, confused.
He still didn’t understand how Saphira had just taken away his sense of taste.
Thinking back, he couldn’t even remember chewing or swallowing properly.
“More please,” came the soft request in his mind.
He lifted the wrap to his lips again.
“MMMM!”
Nothing.
It wasn’t the taste he experienced—it was Saphira’s joy.
It was as if something was stripping the food away before his mouth could close around it.
Then he had an idea.
He quickly took another bite while Saphira was still savoring the last one.
This time, the juices burst in his mouth—spicy, savory flavor spreading across his tongue.
He was chewing.
He was swallowing.
Saphira pouted.
No fair… I was still enjoying that last bite.
Garrok let out a loud guffaw beside him.
“Take it easy, little brother. If you eat too fast, you’ll choke.”
Keldras didn’t respond.
He was already thinking ahead.
If he kept this up, everyone was going to think he was a glutton—especially now that he was eating for two.
By the end of the meal, Keldras had barely managed a few bites for himself and was still hungry.
Saphira immediately urged him to order more, but his siblings were already giving him strange looks at how quickly he had devoured his food.
Despite her protests, he stood.
The moment he did, his stomach rumbled.
Garrok and Gorra turned to look at him—then both burst out laughing.
They ordered another wrap without hesitation.
He couldn’t see her, but he was certain she was wearing a smug grin.
The walk home wasn’t long.
Along the way, Garrok split off toward a nearby stable, where several large wolves basked in the sun among tall, swaying grass.
He vaulted the fence and ran straight to a massive black wolf with a collar of white fur around its neck, wrapping his arms around it.
Keldras looked away.
His brother was deeply attached to that wolf, and the enthusiasm often led to secondhand embarrassment.
When they reached the Blackrend compound, Keldras parted ways with Gorra at the entrance and headed toward the library.
His father had books on various combat techniques, and he was determined—absolutely determined—to humiliate his opponent when the duel eventually came.
The library wasn’t particularly large.
In fact, it likely wouldn’t have existed at all if Valdax hadn’t insisted on its construction.
Much of its collection consisted of notes he had compiled over years of destructive alchemy.
Keldras traced a finger along dusty spines.
Most volumes dealt with alchemy, engineering, or records of Valdax’s experiments.
The few martial texts had clearly been collected more out of curiosity than study.
Keldras moved to a small corner shelf and began sorting through stacks of books and bound parchment.
Most of it was useless to him; Valdax rarely kept anything that didn’t catch his interest.
Just as he was about to give up, he found an old leather-bound journal written in Elvish.
It belonged to a mountain elf weapons master named Rianna Ken’rahel.
The journal was a detailed account of her experience with various weapon types.
There was only a single chapter on polearms, but it was better than nothing.
Keldras was certain he could turn even this limited knowledge into an advantage.
“So, how did it go?” Valdax asked.
“Not sure if I’ll be able to get anything out of it,” Keldras replied flatly.
Valdax didn’t look surprised.
He had intended to train the boy himself, but once he saw the weapon Keldras had chosen, there really wasn’t much he could do.
“Thinking about switching weapons?” he asked.
“No,” Keldras answered coldly.
Valdax sighed in exasperation.
He suspected the boy was being stubborn—thinking that refusing help would somehow force him to give up on training.
At dinner, Keldras piled a large portion of meat onto his plate, along with a normal serving of vegetables and grains.
“Still that hungry?” Gorra asked, startled.
Keldras didn’t respond.
After adding his vegetables and grains, he went back for a couple more slices of meat.
“Did you get a stomach worm?” his mother asked, concern creeping into her voice.
Saphira choked on the piece of meat she had just taken through him and started coughing in his mind.
The corners of Keldras’s lips lifted slightly—barely a hint of a smile—before his expression returned to its usual cold neutrality.
“Just hungry,” he said.
Who’s a stomach worm!
Saphira shouted indignantly.
Keldras quickly took a few bites while she was distracted.
Hey!
That’s cheating!
In retaliation, she devoured the next several pieces of meat before he could even taste them, forcing him to switch to vegetables instead.
“It’s not a race. Take it easy,” Gorra said.
The family continued watching him with odd expressions.
This behavior was unusual—normally, Keldras barely ate anything and finished last.
Now he had more than anyone else and was nearly done first.
Give me more meat!
Saphira demanded.
Another one!
Keldras reached for another slice.
No, that one.
That one looks juicier.
A thought flickered through Keldras’s mind, but he quickly buried it.
…Well?
Why did you stop?
He picked up both meat and vegetables at once, raising the meat toward his lips—but at the last moment, he switched to the vegetables.
No taste.
He smiled faintly.
It seemed he could hide some of his thoughts… if he focused enough.
Food Stall Family Meal Chapter Art https://i.postimg.cc/yNhHCqnN/VOL-1-CH-4.png