Man, talk about a long day in town, Gato thought as he headed back home from the market. He couldn’t help but notice that the Sylpheed Plains, windswept and full of miniature trees and bushes that had once belonged to a nation of fairies in the distant past, were closed to the public. There were contractors hired by the town pitching the tents and doing other work that made a tournament happen.
It certainly does not help that I would love to be out there, helping to set up for the festivities, even though I know better than that. What is wrong with me lately?
“Hey there, kid,” an unfamiliar voice he hadn’t known in his life said to him as he walked by. “Are you here to help set up for the tournament?”
Eh?
Gato stopped the oxen and turned around to look for the speaker… except that the person wasn’t in his field of vision.
“Down here.”
What the…? He looked down and to his left. A dwarf?
Indeed, the person who was speaking was a dwarf (not a midget), one who had copper-brown hair and mythril gray eyes. He had a strange mark of an anvil on his exposed left shoulder, showing that he was from one of the official clans of dwarves. Gato couldn’t tell if that anvil was a birthmark or a tattoo, but he wasn’t about to ask the dwarf when it wasn’t his place.
“Ah, you’re wondering if the anvil mark is a tattoo.” The dwarf followed Gato’s gaze and nodded. “It’s a birthmark, lad. I’m a proud member of clan Ironbone.”
Ah, that explains it, Gato thought. Of the official clans of dwarves, this was the first time that he had seen a dwarf from clan Ironbone, or even a true dwarf.
“I ask again,” the dwarf tapped his boot to the ground, looking Gato in the eye this time. “Are you here to help set up for the tournament?”
Gato blinked. “Actually, I had signed up for participating in the tournament,” he replied to the dwarf. “I’m not here to help set up. I actually have chores to do later today.”
“Ah, so you’re headed home for the day?” the dwarf stroked his beard. “In that case, I hope you have a nice day going forward.”
“Thank you.” Gato nodded. “I hope you have a fantastic day as well.”
“I plan to, young man,” the dwarf said. “I still need to make sure that my duties do not get overridden by idiots.”
“What duties are you supposed to take care of?” Gato asked. “Nothing that would be detrimental to the area of Alfheimwood, right?”
“Correct,” the dwarf said. “I just need to make sure nobody gets it into their heads to ignore certain boundary lines in the area.”
“What certain boundary lines?”
“I mean, there is supposed to be a nearby dwarven kingdom that is deep under the ground we walk on, but nobody is able to figure out where the border for it even is.”
Gato blinked. “Wow... this is rather interesting information,” he said. “How do we know where the nearby kingdom even is? I mean, true, it is underground, but how else do we find the place?”
“They do not like it when people look for them, I am afraid to say,” the dwarf said. “I know what I am talking about, to be honest. I just wish that nobody else had to deal with what I found out.”
“I understand,” Gato said, nodding again. “How are we supposed to keep the others from causing trouble for this kingdom?”
“Honestly?” the dwarf asked. “I do not know the answer.”
Gato planted his face into his palms. “I just had to ask, did I not?” he asked, groaning at that.
“Nothing wrong with asking, lad,” the dwarf said. “It means that you have something you wish to know about anything.”
Gato lifted his face out of his palms. “I see,” he said. “Well, I hope you have a fun time ahead of you today.”
The dwarf nodded. “I plan to.”
“Well, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with me today,” Gato said, before he motioned the oxen to continue on their way —
“While you’re on the path leading away from here, be wary of bandits, young man.”
— Gato barely stopped the oxen again and turned back to thank the dwarf, but he was conspicuously missing. What the heck? Where in the world did the dwarf go?
He shrugged before he began leading the oxen home again. Gato began looking around the area, taking in the sights of the path through the meadow as he rode back home. He couldn’t help but take in the various sights of the birds migrating south toward the warmer weather, the different small critters moving to hibernate for the winter months, and so on. It was an idyllic scenario, one that he’d love to keep going forever. He sniffed the fresh fall air, looking at the leaves that were falling from the trees. He felt the faint tug of a smile on his lips, even as he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. What a wonderful time to be alive…
Gato remembered, at that moment, the warning that the dwarf had given him. He opened his eyes and looked for any sign of bandits in the surrounding area, searching for anything that might be out of place as he headed on down the road for his family’s farm.
So far, no sign of any trouble headed this way… where in the world would any sign of bandits come from? I am not seeing anyone that fits the description of a bandit around here. Great…
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
O=====||===============================>
A short time earlier…
“Okay, men, we need to be careful to keep ourselves away from arrest by the army and by the Hunters around here,” a bandit, giving a toothy smile, said to his group of fellow bandits in a wooded clearing near the road. He was bald, had green eyes that shone with intent to rob, and a few teeth were missing from his smile. He was dressed in shoddy armor and held onto a pair of throwing daggers in their scabbards at his belt. “This is an important mission we need to undertake, so that we can fulfill the boss’s greatest ambition. As soon as we get the word that our jobs are done, we hightail it to Remalia, where we can live our normal lives once again. Any questions?”
The group murmured amongst themselves, before the one at the back raised his hand.
“Yes, Kent?” the lead bandit of the group asked.
“Who are we going to rob this time around?” Kent, a man who had an x scar on his left cheek, blood red hair, and turquoise eyes, asked.
“Well, it’s not like we know who we end up targeting in advance, but we have a fair deal of targets that use this road more often than not. Trust me, I know what we’re up against, and it’s just a bunch of poor farmers who are exceptionally skilled at farming.” The lead bandit looked the whole group in the eye. “Any other questions?”
“What if the people who we’re going to rob fight back?” Kent asked. “Will we want to risk getting imprisoned with charges of murder?”
At that point, the rest of the bandits under the leader laughed at Kent.
“What? What did I say?” Kent asked.
Before any of the laughing bandits could bother responding to Kent, the leader pulled out a hunting horn, took in a deep breath, and blew into the horn. At the startled jumps of all the men who were laughing, he put the horn back where it belonged. “Now, men, quit the laughing like you’re all a pack of hyenas, will you?”
“Chief, why did you have to use the hunting horn to kill the mood?” another bandit asked.
“Because this is not the time to laugh it up at all, morons!” the leader yelled, glaring at the one who asked. “If we’re to do this right, we need to take all questions and comments seriously, especially since we don’t want to be imprisoned here.”
“Uh-oh…” the second bandit said. “I understand, chief.”
The lead bandit snorted, before he turned his attention to the rest of the bandits. “Does anyone else accept that to be the right way to do things?”
Every other bandit in the immediate area nodded.
“Good,” the leader said, his lips turning to a smirk. “Now, how about we go over this one more time? Kent, you be our spotter, to make sure we don’t get arrested and to make sure we get a proper target. The rest of you, you’ll be with me robbing the target blind. We’ll strike fast, we’ll strike hard, and we’ll get out of there as fast as possible.”
Almost all the rest of the bandits nodded, but Kent kept his hand raised.
“Yes, Kent?” the leader asked. “What’s the matter?”
“What about what happens if we get caught by the Hunters stationed in the Alfheimwood area?” Kent asked.
“Oh, for the love of…” the leader pinched the bridge of his nose. “Are you trying to jinx us?! The whole point of us being stealthy like this is to prevent our capture by the army and the Hunters. Don’t allow what we’re up to to be found out by the enemy of our own organization.”
“Sorry, sir…” Kent lowered his head. “It won’t happen again.”
I get it, and the rest of us get it, the lead bandit mused. However, when will our luck run out? It shouldn’t, but it might. I won’t punish Kent for being the voice of reason on us, since that wouldn’t be fair to him, mainly because the leader of our organization is the one who punishes us when we fail.
“So, chief,” the second bandit said.
“Yes?” the leader asked, looking at the second bandit.
“What do you think is going to happen if the boss hears that we’ve been captured by the enemy?” the second bandit asked. “I mean, not that I want us to be captured, far from it.”
“Well, it’s unlikely we’ll be set free…” the lead bandit shook his head. “Enough about that, though. Everyone, get into position immediately!”
With a chorus of affirmatives, the rest of the bandits went into their positions. Eventually, a few minutes later, the leader received the signal from Kent that there was a target worth the robbery.
Well, better get on with the show, he thought, before he walked on his way to the road. After all, it’s not like the new target of our operations is able to stop us that easily. The target seems to be just one boy, who has no idea what he is about to get involved in. It’s not like I don’t pity him, since he’s here without an armed escort.
As he walked, he found himself behind a tree next to the road leading right out of Alfheimwood. He looked to his left. There were two bandits in that direction, both of them from his group. He then looked to his right. There were four bandits hiding behind trees in that direction as well.
This ought to work to our advantage, he thought. Here goes… let’s do this and get back to base immediately.
“Are we about ready to do our job?” the second bandit from earlier asked him.
“Just about,” the leader said. “Relax, this won’t be a problem for us.”
“I hope so, ch—”
The leader shushed him. “Target incoming.” He then walked out from behind cover. “Well, well, what do we have here?”
O=====||===============================>
Gato turned his attention to behind the wagon, just in time to see a small group of bandits jump up onto the wagon. It was not something he could easily stop, so far as he was aware, especially since he was at the front of the wagon. Why did I go so slow as to let these bandits hop onto the wagon, anyway?
“Kid, we will only give you one chance to flee with your life intact,” the head of the group of bandits said, a sneer on his face as he spoke. He drew a pair of daggers out of his belt, which looked to be too new to have been used by the bandit recently. “Run now, or die. Those are your only two choices given to you now.”
Oh, no! What am I going to do?! I am about to be killed by bandits if I do not run, and I am not allowed to run! How do I get out of this mess?!
“You have until the count of ten to get out of the cart and run away,” the bandit said. “If you do not, you will die.”
Gato barely began to pull the oxen to a halt when he heard a woman’s voice in the air around him. “Do not fall for their petty thievery, young man!”
What the… who said that?
“If you value your life, you will fight them, young man! That is the only recourse you have for this situation.”
Fight them? With what am I supposed to do so?
“With a power that has never been seen before in the land that you reside in.”
What are you… are you a demon or something?
“No, I am not a demon, kid. Demons do not give access to power without explaining the benefits and the drawbacks to you over time.”
Well… when you put it that way, that sounds like you are no demon.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I am glad you see it that way, young man. Now, to actively use the power that you have now, you will need to fight and win against the bandits.”
What?! How am I supposed to do that? They have weapons on them!
“Weapons that they will not have the opportunity to use against you correctly. Believe me, I am here to help you.”
I hope you know what you are talking about, here…
“I do, actually. Now, are you in to fight this important battle against the bandits?”
Do I even have a choice on the matter? If I do not, they will kill me, or they will have me run with my tail tucked between my legs, to use the expression. I get that I have to fight.
“Good, you are aware of what your choices actually are. I trust that you will survive the fight to come.”
Gato barely nodded when he heard the lead bandit begin the countdown. “Ten…”
“Hey, bonehead!” Gato stood up from his seat in the wagon. “Who in their right mind would follow your instructions like that?”
The remaining bandits tensed, reaching for their weapons, before the leader laughed at Gato. “You choose death, then, is that it? Good, this will give me the perfect opportunity to test the effectiveness of these daggers.”
Gato turned his form around to face the bandits. “Actually, all of you are going to lose to me,” he said, his face the perfect expression of calm.
Wait, what am I even saying to these bandits?! How come I am talking like that with such a calm pose?!
The lead bandit snarled as he heard that. “You little piece of—”
Gato jumped into the back of the wagon. “Now, let us duke this out, shall we?”
The entirety of the bandit group charged at Gato, weapons drawn and ready to kill him with. The lead bandit flung his two drawn daggers at Gato, one missing wildly, the other embedding within Gato’s left shoulder.
Gato merely pulled the dagger out of his shoulder, the wound closing almost instantly. Wait, how did that happen?!
“You… what are you?!” the lead bandit backpedaled a bit, before he pulled out another pair of daggers. “No mortal is able to heal at so fast a rate as that!”
Gato opened his mouth to speak, but the woman’s voice returned to him. “You did not heal your injuries fully yet. All that would take is a good night’s rest for you now.”
Are you kidding me?! Wait, how are you even reading my thoughts?
“In order, I am not kidding you, and I am connected to you in more ways than reading your mind.”
I see what you mean… or so I think, anyway. Gato turned his attention to the bandits and flung the dagger that was originally in his left shoulder at the lead bandit. “I will never tell you how I heal!”
The dagger hit the bandit in the right shoulder, forcing him to drop his other daggers and fall out of the wagon.
As for the other bandits, one of them swung his sword at Gato, which was dodged as awkwardly as could be expected. However, as the blade was dodged, another using a pike tried to strike at Gato from the side. It was with great luck that Gato didn’t have to take that blade into his ribcage from the side, since he tripped over a basket of potatoes and kicked a different bandit, one holding a pair of trench knives in his hands, in the nuts.
How did I manage to pull that off?! Did I really… pull that one off?
“You little — you will pay for that!” the bandit who got kicked yelled out. He attempted to pick himself up off the floor of the wagon, only for the oxen to get excited by the fighting and start running on their way.
This action, the oxen running on their way, resulted in the remaining bandits on the wagon to fall to the floor of the wagon and roll to the ground outside. It was so ridiculous, Gato noticed that they left their weapons behind by accident.
The heck?
O=====||===============================>
“Ow…” the lead bandit of the group groaned as he got up from the ground. “Note to self: stop that from ever happening again.”
“Oh, brother…” Kent said as he walked over to the boss. “I hope this isn’t the end of the line for the rest of us.”
“Why do you say that, Kent?”
“Because I heard a stick snap in the distance, some fifty meters away, and from the direction of town.”
The lead bandit felt his eyes bug out. “This is ridiculous! How are we supposed to get out of this mess now?!”
At that point, the other bandits that had fallen off of the wagon earlier got up. “What do we do now, chief?”
Before the lead bandit of the group could do more than open his mouth, a sound akin to thunder rode into the area. However, it was not thunder… it was truly a group of war horses.
“Uh-oh,” the chief said. “We have to retreat.”
The other bandits looked at him in shock. “Huh?!”
“I mean it, you louts! We have to—”
“Halt!”
This got all the bandits in the area standing stock still. “Who said that?”
“Your days of highway robbery are over, bandits!”
Kent turned slowly to face the one who spoke. It was one of the group of horsemen that had shown up. “Oh, crud…”
“What do you mean, ‘oh, crud,’ Kent?!” The lead bandit of the group spun to face his subordinate, only to see for himself what was giving Kent trouble. “Oh… that.”
The lead horseman got off his horse and drew his sword, pointing it at the lead bandit. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. If you resist, we’ll cut off your limbs and drag you in!”
The lead bandit of the team groaned. Just our luck. We fail one heist, and the town guard comes to arrest us right away! Who snitched on us? How do we get out of this without revealing who our boss is?
“Well, you louts?” the lead horseman demanded. “Which will it be?”
The lead bandit raised his hands above his head. “You really believe that we think we have any choice on the matter?”
The lead horseman snorted. “There have been times when your kind don’t get the message, so to speak.” He gestured with his head to one of the other horsemen. “Tie him up.”
Before the subordinate horseman could do as instructed, however, the lead bandit noticed that a strange light seemed to shine from the eyes of every other bandit, except Kent. As one, they drew out a single vial of substance each, tossing them at the ground under their own feet. A fire erupted from within their spaces where the vials broke. “We will never talk!” they yelled as the fire consumed them whole.
What in the… who convinced them that they were to commit suicide by immolation?! This bites worse than a kick to the gut from a donkey!
“Chief, that fire wasn’t supposed to consume us too, was it?”
The lead bandit turned his attention to face Kent. “Shut up, will you?”
“Shutting up now, chief.”
The lead horseman gave off an irritable sigh, before he said, “Chuck, you had better tie up the leader. Another of you, tie up the one named Kent. The rest of you, make sure the remaining bandits are identified and then buried properly.”
Oh, that’s just lovely… a town guard who doesn’t know that the rest of the crew here cremated themselves alive. What, is he under an illusion that the rest of us were killed in a different way just now?
“Uh, sir?” the one named Chuck asked. “Are you sure we have any chance of identifying the remaining bandits after they killed themselves with fire so intense that they left nothing behind?”
Every other town guard in the area laughed at Chuck, as if he had said the funniest thing in the entire world.
Ugh… the nerve of the town guards that were supposed to have seen the deaths of my team barring Kent!
“What? What did I say that warranted such a reaction?” Chuck asked.
The lead horseman of the town guard finished laughing, before he walked over to the nearest pile of ashes that remained of a bandit. “Let me prove to you that this is a regular corpse of a bandit that consumed poison, Chuck. I’ll kick the corpse here with all my might and knock the body away from my feet.”
Oh, brother… this is ludicrous! All but one of the town guard thinks that my team ingested poison?!
“That’s impossible, sir,” Chuck said. “You’re standing in front of a pile of ashes.”
The leader of the town guard barely lifted his foot behind him when he heard that. “So, you think this is a pile of ashes for real? I’ll prove that to be false right n-aaaaaaaaaaah—OOF!!”
What happened was that the leader kicked the ashes with such force, he lifted himself off his feet and fell on his back.
Ow… I don’t want to be in the shoes of that particular town guard, no sir. I hope he gets what’s coming to him for this.
“Sir!” Chuck rushed over to his superior. “Are you all right?”
The leader groaned, before lifting his hand out. “Pick me up, please.”
Chuck grabbed the superior’s hand and pulled him up. “Roger that, sir.”
“Thank you for that.”
Chuck nodded. “Any time, sir. Any time, indeed.”
“Uh, sir, does that mean we don’t have anyone to identify or bury?” one of Chuck’s comrades asked.
“Correct, as a matter of fact,” the leader said. “Now, here’s hoping you don’t do the same thing I did by any stretch of the word.”
“Understood, sir,” the same comrade said. “Now, who was supposed to tie the one named Kent up?”
This led to Chuck tying up the leader of the bandits, while Kent was tied by someone else… what a joy.
O=====||===============================>
Gato didn’t have time to let the oxen run all the way to who knew where. He hurried back to the driver’s seat in the front of the wagon and pulled the reins for the oxen back, getting them to stop.
At least that worked. How come the oxen got excited like that, anyway?
He then took notice of the fact that he was nearly to his parents’ property, which set his drumming heart into rest. He then directed the oxen to go where they needed to, so that he was able to take care of the job his parents directed him to do. He didn’t want distractions of any sort to affect him.
It took him a while, but he managed to put the oxen back in the barn where they belonged, which meant that he needed to carry the groceries into the house the hard way. He gave off a sigh of relief —
“Hey, Gato, welcome home.”
— Gato turned to face the speaker, only to see something rather… strange… above the person’s head.
??????, ??? ?? ????????? LVL 4
What the… what sort of prank is this?! I know that’s Andrew, but why is it I’m seeing things above his head?
“Uh, Gato? My face is down here,” Andrew waved his hand in Gato’s direction.
“Ack!!” Gato leaped backwards at the movement of Andrew’s hand. “What is wrong with you?!”
“Huh?” Andrew scratched the top of his bald head. “I honestly do not know what you mean.”
Gato replied, “You really expect me to believe that?”
“In one simple word? Yes.”
Gato shook his head slowly. “Then what is with the strange markings floating above your head, brother?”
“Huh? What strange markings?” Andrew looked up to see what Gato was talking about. “I see nothing above my head…” He then looked Gato in the eye. “Is something wrong with you?”
“Er… that’s a good question,” Gato said. “I really don’t know.”
Andrew walked over to Gato and placed both hands on his shoulders. “Gato, this isn’t normal,” he said. “Please, think back on what could have possibly made you see things that were never there to begin with.”
You think I’m seeing things, eh?
“Actually…” Gato put a hand to his chin. “The only thing that might make sense is that I nearly got robbed by bandits on the way over here, and then I heard a strange voice all of a sudden.”
“You heard a strange voice? Are you saying you had a close encounter with a demon?”
“The voice said they were not a demon, since they gave me access to a power that nobody has even heard of before now, and they said they would explain the benefits and drawbacks to my new power.”
“Gato, please be honest. What is the full extent of your power that you now have access to?” Andrew asked.
Gato opened his mouth to speak, but the voice from earlier spoke up again. “May I explain for you, Gato?”
Sure, though I do not know how you plan to say what you need to for Andrew’s benefit…
“Gato?”
“Yes?”
“I think you need to explain what you are trying to hide from me. What exactly happened on the way out of Alfheimwood?”
“I already told you, Andrew, a group of bandits tried to rob me on the way back. After that, I heard a strange voice that told me I now have access to this unheard of power, which means that I have to find out the limits of my power by myself.”
“Okay, but what happened to the bandits? That part needs to be explained.” Andrew walked over to the wagon. “I suppose it does not ultimately matter. How does a bandit lose to you when you did not have the… training… to… wait, whose weapons are these?”
Gato walked back to the wagon and next to his big brother. “Those weapons would belong to the bandits who were in the wagon at the time. One of them had throwing daggers to launch at me, with one of them hitting my left shoulder.”
“Wait, where in the shoulder?” Andrew looked at Gato’s shoulder. “You have got to be kidding me. How did you get that tear in the shoulder sleeve?”
“That was the dagger entering my shoulder,” Gato said. “The wound closed when I pulled the dagger out of it. I do not know how else to explain it.”
Before Andrew could say anything on the subject, the strange voice from earlier spoke up. “Think of his health as having a numerical value that goes up every time he gains enough experience to do so,” she said. “He also has points directly related to his internal energy sources, as well as abilities that are related to each of his internal energy sources. On top of that, he also has the ability to restore his health and energies to peak condition when he rests in a bed, the condition of the bed impacting how much he recovers.”
Thank you for helping me.
Andrew looked around for the source of the voice. “Is that the same voice you said that you heard earlier?”
Gato nodded. “Now do you understand what I am talking about?”
“Yes, I do,” Andrew said, looking at him. “I apologize for not believing you sooner.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gato said. He looked around for any sign of their parents. “How are we supposed to explain this to Mom and Dad? I doubt anyone else in the world would believe us about the voice being a benevolent sort of voice, to be honest. What do you think about this situation?”
Andrew tilted his head to the side for a few seconds, turned it back upright, and said, “I can see where you are coming from. However, I do not think most people would be unwilling to believe us about it. I just do not know who would listen to us overall about the truth of this.” He walked back to the house again. “Come on, you need to get the stuff you got from the market brought into the house sooner than later, little brother.”
Gato sighed and shook his head. I guess I need to keep my chores in mind… “I am going to need help with the groceries, big brother,” he said. “The produce on average weighs more than twenty pounds per individual item.”
Andrew stopped in mid-step and turned to face Gato. “How much produce did you manage to buy overall?” he asked.
“Oddly enough, the produce is disproportionately weighed,” Gato said. “I need you to see for yourself.”
Andrew walked back to the wagon and picked up an individual item from each of the baskets. “Whoa… these are heavy.”
“See what I mean?”
“I do, yeah.”
“Let us just get the produce back to the house for now,” Gato said. Finally, after a few separate trips to the house from the wagon, he turned to his brother and asked, “Hey, Andrew, where’s Simon?”
Andrew paused in mid-step. “Well, that’s an embarrassing question,” he said. Looking back at Gato, he continued, “Simon’s back in bed now, saying he caught chickenpox.”
“Chickenpox? At his age?”
“I don’t get it, either.”
Gato stood ramrod still, his mouth dropping wide open. This sucks… how did Simon catch that illness? Only little kids get sick with chickenpox.
“Gato? You doing all right?”
“Yeah, I am, thanks. I just hope that Simon gets better a lot sooner than I did when I caught it.” He looked around for a bit. “By the way, where is Jeremiah at this time?”
“Jeremiah is having his lunch break,” Andrew replied, as they arrived at the house.
Gato nodded. “Well, when Jeremiah gets done, we can all start doing our chores together.”
Andrew nodded. “Well, I will be getting the animals in the barn fed now,” he said. He walked over to get a pitchfork, which was leaning against the outside wall of the house, and hefted it in one hand. “I will see you in a bit, Gato, so say nothing that might get you in trouble with Mom and Dad… all right?” Without waiting for a reply from Gato, he chuckled and headed into the barn, preparing for his task.
Okay, sure, I will not say anything for now. I better put away all the supplies that I brought from town.
Gato moved the food items from Alfheimwood and took them to the granary, putting the grains in their respective spaces as designated. As he finished putting the grains away where they belonged, though —
“Gato, are you home yet? It is time for you to eat your lunch!”
— what timing, Mom… what timing, indeed.
“Okay, Mom,” Gato called out. “I will be there in a bit!”
He quickly finished putting the grain away and walked towards the house for lunch. He didn’t know what else was going on with him, but life had dealt him a strange hand that he needed to play with, so to speak. Even still —
*ROOOOAAAAAAAAR!!*
— his stomach just had to growl, didn’t it?