“I am in heaven” Burning Rose said in glee as she stuffed herself at the banquet.
The buffet table was filled with a variety of food items from common to very rare. There were mainstays of every party like steaks, chicken, and pork and the rare ones wyvern tenderloin and Deep cave Slitherer egg soup. All of these were of course prepared by the finest chefs in the Kingdom prioritizing taste over “health benefits”.
She then remembered the food back at the institute. It was not bad by any means, it was just bland. It tasted really plain and looked very weird. The food they were given at the institute was made from ingredients that would help grow their Mana and promote the growth of their magic power, meaning it was mostly made from herbs grown at the institute itself. She appreciates the sentiment, but eating the same thing day in and day out was just torture to her. Even worse was the nightly drinking of that horrible potion that she believes was just a massive prank done by the founders of the institution.
She joyfully sampled every dish taking a small portion as she slowly worked her way around the dining table.
Her palette felt like it was in heaven after receiving these new wonderful flavors. The savory sauces, the crunchy texture of the fried foods, the warm feeling brought about by soups were a welcome change.
“So good, so good!” Burning Rose said to herself ever thankful for her teacher for bringing her along.
As she was taking a small portion of some deep fried gryphon meat, something caught her eye. The inverted heart shaped petals and the darkening red color the closer it is to the center, and finally beautifully crimson colored stigma. There was no mistaking it, it was the most prized food item even among Royalty! The heart of the Goddess
The heart of the Goddess is the flower of an extremely low blooming plant called Crysilia. There is no rhyme or reason for when it blooms as it happens randomly. Sometimes the plants will bloom at summer, sometimes they won’t even bloom at all for a year. Thus its value increased even more, and that’s not including the taste.
The Goddess part of the name comes from the divine sweetness it has. The gentle flavour of the petals mixing together with the intoxicating sweetness of the center, it can only be described as a gift from the Gods themselves.
Upon seeing this Burning Rose immediately stopped what she was doing and hurriedly went to the flower. There was only one more Goddess’ heart left, and it was calling to her. She felt that it was destiny that she found this heart at the banquet.
When she was a few paces from it, she paused, closed her eyes, and thanked whatever deity it was that has blessed her with this gift. But when she opened her eyes, her world fell apart.
A tall blonde man wearing an unfamiliar looking coat nonchalantly grabbed the last flower and ate it.
Right. In. Front. Of. Her.
Even though it was all her fault for stopping midway like an idiot, she was still feeling a very irrational anger towards the man who stole what she thought was rightfully hers.
With her self-righteous fury born from her own stupidity, she walked closer to the man and Exclaimed:
“YOU, HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY HEART!”
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Karl was having the time of his life. The food here was beyond his imagination. The textures, the flavour, the feeling, it was oh so different. He felt that his tongue has reached travelled to another world. As he was busy sampling all the other food on the table, something caught his eye.
It was a flower, a red flower on plate.
At first Karl thought it was some kind of decoration, but it was placed on rather beautiful looking plate with gold tracing on its edges. He also noticed that the flower was not in the center, meaning there was probably more of it earlier.
Karl approached the flower as if he was being drawn to it. As he was walking towards the flower he noticed a girl with red hair wearing a rather boring robe standing a few steps away from it. The Girl’s eyes were closed and look liked she was in deep concentration
“She must be praying or something” Karl thought to himself as he walked forward and grabbed the last flower.
He was a bit hesitant but ultimately he took a bit of the flower, and a wonderful sweet flavour exploded in his mouth. He could not believe what he was tasting for it was nothing like the sweets back on earth. It tasted magical, even divine.
But his trance was short lived when a woman approached him and suddenly berated him.
“YOU, HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY HEART” The woman said, fury radiating from her eyes.
Karl was stunned by those words and didn’t immediately reply.
“Am I getting hit-on? I mean, I am pretty handsome but why does she look so angry?” Karl said to himself obviously very confused about the situation.
“Pardon?” Karl could only mutter one word in his confusion
“YOU TOOK AWAY THE HEART, THE GODDESS’ HEART” The woman continued with her rant
Karl finally realized what she was referring to. It was flower that he was currently eating. He then looked at the flower and back at the woman.
“I’m sorry, you want some?” Karl replied sincerely as he offered the half eaten plant to her.
“I mean if she wants it that bad I don’t mind giving it to her” Karl said to himself. But the gesture only served to anger the red haired woman even more.
“WHY WOULD I WANT A HALF EATEN FLOWER?” The woman said almost screaming.
Karl started to notice that the people around were talking and staring at them, and at this point he was starting to get irritated too.
“It’s just a freakin sweet flower” Karl thought to himself.
“Look.Lady I’m sorry about the flower, no need to get angry” Karl, even though he was getting increasingly irritated by this farce, was trying his best to remain calm
“NO NEED TO GET ANGRY? THAT FLOWER WAS MINE, IT CALLED TO ME. IT WAS DESTINED TO BE EATEN BY ME! AND NOW YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME” The woman said with an audibly louder voice
Then Karl remembered that she was the woman who stood with eyes closed as if she was praying. Karl thought about how stupid this whole situation was, and how ridiculous this woman is. “Who in their right mind would stop and pray in that situation?” Karl thought to himself finally no longer caring about being courteous.
“Look here woman, in this world if you want something you need to be ahead of everyone. No one cares about second place or almosts. First come first serve” Karl said with an irritated voice.
“Oh, you’re not remorseful in the slightest huh? So this is how it’s going to be” The woman said in a low voice
“I will bring upon you divine punishment! A curse that will haunt you for the rest of your life!” The woman declared
Alarm bells suddenly rang inside Karl’s head. He realized that the woman was probably a Sorceress seeing that she was wearing a robe. He feared that he was gonna be cursed, all for a stinking sweet flower. He braced himself for whatever spell will hit him and just comforted himself with the fact that Nelson will not let this woman off the hook once this is all over.
“That’s it, do your worst. In the end I will have the last laugh!” Karl said to himself
But the spell didn’t come, no light, no sparks, no nothing. The woman simply looked down on the floor. Then he heard a whimper. He realized what the woman was planning to do, and the moment he realized this it was all too late.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” The woman started crying an ugly and unsightly cry, streams of tears flowing down her cheeks.
Karl could only stare silently as he felt the piercing gaze of everyone around.
“I am dead, I am so dead”