Chapter 694

Kat wasn’t able to properly relax now she knew something strange was inevitably going to happen. Because of this, when the doors suddenly burst open Kat leapt up in her seat, everyone else was getting ready to react but when they saw it was just a number of Thymes either in butler outfits or maid uniforms, not necessarily with sexual characteristics matching their attire, they all relaxed again and Kat sat down awkwardly.

The serving staff walking in sync like a marching army. They even synced up so that those with wildly different stride lengths would be able to stay together, with those who had longer legs taking ‘smaller’ steps and the smallest Thymes skipping slightly to keep up. They all placed a cover meal down in front of their respective adventurers before waiting just a moment and lifting the cloche to reveal a very fancy looking salad.

The bowl was designed in such a way to look somewhat like a vase and all the food inside was arranged to look like flowers. Purple lettuce had been cut up and folded to look like roses, cauliflower was left mostly untouched, though the stems were hidden. A strange mix of a carrot for the stem, green cabbage for the leaves and cherry tomatoes for the stamen, the part of the flower that contained the bulk of the pollen. There was a light drizzling of some kind of dressing that settled across the whole dish making it look like a rain shower had recently come through the area.

All in all it looked fantastic but Kat saw that it was a fairly basic dish in terms of ingredients. Nothing she couldn’t find on Earth and after taking a bite, Kat found it wasn’t even any better than Callisto’s cooking. Perhaps an unreasonable standard, but as Kat had partaken in Thyme’s cooking in the first round, she knew they could do a lot better especially with unique ingredients. So all in all she wasn’t very satisfied.

Kat still ate what she considered a reasonable amount of food so as not to seem impolite. Once she was done and started looking around though she noticed everyone was smiling and really seemed to enjoy their meals. Green and Nell had even finished theirs completely. *Odd. Is it just that I’m used to these ingredients? Perhaps they are actually a rare thing here... I mean, with mana surely the plants all mutate somewhat so really to see them so similar to home... perhaps this is some great delicacy that I’m just missing out on.*

Kat looked around for someone to chat with but everyone seemed fully absorbed in their food. Kat reached out instinctively for a drink just to pass the time... but noticed there wasn’t anything in her glass. *Huh... odd... I guess I just sort of expected there to be some...* Kat frowned and looked around for something to do but found nothing to occupy her hands that wouldn’t be overly rude. In the end, Kat took to staring at the painting on the ceiling again, looking for more interesting things. She managed to spot a few, like the soldier who hid a rock in their pie and the Thyme sneaking in a sip from the river.

Eventually the doors opened up again and Kat wasn’t high strung enough to jump this time. The wait staff marched in again, and swapped out the plate for a new cloche hiding the food. A few more moments, for suspense, or so Kat was assuming, and the meal was revealed. This time they seemed to be customised somewhat. Gareth and Kress had a steak of some kind, from the colour it wasn’t normal cow meat. Green and Blue had multiple tiny burgers cut into the shape of jasmine flowers. There were a few more dishes but Kat instead focused on her own.

.....

She smiled at the sight, it looked to be the same spicy dish she’d had last time. Kat could see the people closest to her backing away slightly from the heat alone. Kat just licked her lips, barely noticing the Thymes pulling a jug from under the cloche they’d just picked up, something that shouldn’t be possible without some kind of trick, and poured a glass of red liquid into her cup. Kat smiled down at the ‘Soup of the Sun’ as it’d been renamed by Thyme. Instead of three lilies like last time it now had five.

Kat dove into the meal happily, knowing that you weren’t meant to eat the lilies till later she attacked the other things floating in the soup, quickly spooning them out and sucking up the liquid at the same time. The familiar burst of warmth and savoury taste like nothing else filled her mouth. *I take back every complaint I had about the ordinary salad.* While Kat was enjoying herself, she didn’t notice the slight shimmer in the air signalling a barrier was surrounding her. It wasn’t anything malicious, it was simply to prevent anyone overheating.

A good thing too because once Kat ate the final extra ingredient the lilies melted into the soup and the glow doubled. It was now putting off so much heat Kat could feel her eyes watering ever so slightly. With a smile, and not an ounce of grace Kat picked up the bowl itself and happily drank the contents with no regard for how it looked. The tasty liquid found its way straight to her stomach before Kat carefully put it down and leaned back in her chair with a big smile on her face.

Nell, who was directly across from Kat had a rather pinched look before she went back to eating, simply trying to put that nonsense out of her mind. Nobody else in the room would have been able to sit in Kat’s place let alone eat the dish. That was certainly the reason for the barrier around Kat. While Kat was relaxing and savouring the taste, she missed the round of yawns traveling around the table. Nothing unusual for Green, especially when she finished up all bar one of her burgers and decided Gareth, even in plate armour, was a good enough pillow.

Kat stayed relaxed until the doors opened once again. The Thymes came in and replaced the food once again, though the one grabbing Kat’s did have their uniform come alight. It was simply patted down with a hand as if it was no big deal. When the cloche came off it revealed a wide variety of desserts for everyone, even Green who really didn’t seem to be interested in whatever it might be. Kat could see cupcakes, slices of cakes. *Why both?* What looked to be a large square of fruit crumble, possibly apple and a few other things besides. Kat however, was the only one who got a bowl of ice cream, and the barrier went up.

Kat could see the mist rolling off her bowl and impacted the barrier this time, and realised it was to stop the cold spreading to anyone else. She had three scoops, one was white, the other green, and the last one brown. Vanilla, chocolate, and... mint perhaps? Kat, having not touched her drink, didn’t even notice it freezing over. Kat scooped up a helping of all three together where they met in the middle and took a bite. Frankly she was disappointed.

It was freezing, and chilled her mouth and body, but it wasn’t really a nice chill, or all that powerful. Unlike the soup, the flavour was in no way enhanced by the temperature. It was just really cold chocolate, vanilla, and pear ice cream. She appreciated the odd choice for the third flavour but there was nothing truly spectacular on display here. Still, ice cream was ice cream and Kat shrugged, eating it all quickly with a smile on her face. It’s not like she was going to let it go to waste.

As she eat, vision obscured largely by the fog, the other tournament contestants started to drop. It was slow at first, but before Kat was a third of the way done everyone had fallen asleep on the table. The only reasons Kat missed it was the building mist obscuring her sight. The barrier also prevented anyone sound from getting inside.

So it wasn’t until the barrier came down and the mist rushed out, falling to the floor that Kat realised what was happening. She starred out at the sea of unconscious bodies. Kat was about to react when a plate slammed into the back of her head, making a dull ringing sound like the striking of a gong. Kat turned around and raised a confused eyebrow at the Thyme waitress who’d hit her that looked just as shocked that hadn’t worked. Another nearby Thyme slammed a second plate into her head, forcing it forward but not really dealing any damage. “What the heck was that for?” asked Kat annoyed, not realising that everyone, including her had been eating food laced with a powerful sleeping agent. Her regeneration was more than good enough to fight it off though. Well, the parts of it that wasn’t simply burned away in her stomach.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om