Chapter 64: Day 7 (13)
An elegant yet humble noble walked up to Cain while he was observing the banquet. "Greetings, I'm Noah. Would you mind if I sat at your table and ate with you guys?" The young man asked Cain. He glanced at the noble and then stated, "If you can recommend a few tasty dishes and bring them over, go on ahead." Noah called over a butler then whispered into his ear some premium dishes. The butler hurriedly went off to grab them, bowing on his way out.
The noble looked at Cain with a slight smile then glanced at the chair on his left. Cain gestured for him to take a seat. "I recommend that strawberry cookie down at the edge of the table." Noah pointed to a plate of pastries near the end of the table as spoke. "Oh? Guess I have to try it then." Cain stated, then used his mana to stack all of the empty plates he and the party accumulated and bring the strawberry pastries to him.
Dresil called for a butler or maid to come clear out the stacked dishes. Noah looked at the movement of food in astonishment. "Is this telekinesis?" He asked in wonder. "Something similar. It only works on dishes and food though. It's a technique my master taught me so that I could eat faster." Cain replied as he reached for one of the strawberry cookies.
—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (17ms)
Cain: Why are you guys so quiet?
Dresil: …you had us muted. Did you forget?
Cain: Oh… guess I did huh?
Rex: Wow…
Rex: Anyways, shouldn't you cover up the movement of the dishes with a mana-word or something?
Cain: Nah, that'd just be suspicious since I already showed this off 3 days ago in the guild.
Bob: So that's why you said it was a technique…
Cain: Ye. You guys should go watch Code:Geass or Death note. Something like that that has a lot of plots and scheming.
Cain: It'll help improve your brain cells.
Rex: Hm…why not. I can't access memes anyways.
Rex: :dead:
Bob: I'll give it a try when I'm not so busy.
Cain: :thumbs up:
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Cain grabbed one of the cookies as he used his mana to softly set the plate down on the table. For once in the entire time he ate something in this world, he did not inhale the food. He took a tiny bite, half of the normal size, and calmly savored the taste for a minute. "Hmm… Tastes like strawberry flat cake." He commented then ate the rest of the cookie at once. "Flat cake?" The noble asked, intrigued as to what this new and possibly tasty dish was.
"Yeah… It's a type of cake from my hometown. It's pretty good, used to eat half of it at a time." Cain stated then continued to eat the surrounding food. Noah kept recommending dishes for Cain to try as he kept clearing out the table. This continued until some butlers and waiters brought over the food requested by Noah.
They laid out a total of 23 dishes on their table, catching the eyes of many nobles. "What? It's a banquet right? What else are you supposed to do besides eat here?" Cain snapped at the nobles who kept staring; annoyed by the numerous gazes that refused to leave. Noah sighed then pointed to what appeared to be a roasted chicken, except it was much smaller. "Try the pheasant over there, the seasoning used is exquisite."
Cain looked to where Noah pointed and used his mana to bring the dish in front of him. "You guys have pheasant here? What a pheasant surprise." Cain's pun caused Veronica to snicker on the side. Noah laughed slightly then challenged Cain. "Shall we see who can eat the most amount of dishes?" Cain looked at Noah in the eye, inspecting him for any ulterior motives. After deducing there were none, he said, "Sure, try not to get full though."
Noah was perplexed by Cain's words at first. Then he saw Dresil call over a few butlers and maids. She told them to keep bringing out a variety of dishes until she said to stop. Dresil then handed each servant a gold coin for their troubles; the gold coins were withdrawn from the Adventurer Guild during her shopping spree with the girls. Some stores were too small to rely on the credit system the Guild and the Imperial Family set up and required customers to pay up front.
—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (87ms)
Cain: Oooh, can you keep a gold coin so I can inspect it later?
Dresil: Of course, just don't make too many or you'll mess up the economy.
Cain: Yep. Also, do they have banks or something?
Dresil: Something like that. The Rapidclaw family is in charge of a few banks.
Dresil: Although the Imperial Family manage each bank, their accounting abilities aren't as great as the merchant family so they hired Rapidclaw to manage each bank.
Cain: I see… So you stack up debt with the guild or stores, make money from quests/events, and withdraw/deposit money into an account managed by the Rapidclaw family.
Cain: The Imperial Family also has a stake in all of this so they either know how to delegate or are more of a dictatorship/monarchy… it checks out.
Dresil: Just about.
Cain: Oh, right. Do all adventurers get a bank account or something? Is that where you withdrew from?
Dresil: Yep. Anyone or any party in debt, whether they owe the guild or the guild owes them, have an account created by the bank and the money is stored there.
Cain: …Unless they just moved 20-something-thousand to a vault for me, it seems like they just write the transactions down and the bank holds all the money.
Cain: …so a paperback version of the modern banks?
Dresil: Yep. Draven didn't implement this though.
Cain: :sigh: Now I'm convinced there's some sort of organization or something that's suppressing technological advancements to try and keep them in a medieval fantasy setting.
Cain: From what the blacksmith said 3 days ago, to these glass cups even though they shouldn't have the capabilities to make these glass wine cups, and then the king's memories.
Dresil: The technology is available to make glass cups though.
Cain: Yeee, but the clearness and the thickness on these bois are a smidge away from the modern wine glasses. Unless there was a genius craftsmanship, then someone from around the 21st or even 20th century was summoned and shared the techniques.
Cain: Yet, I did not see a single wine glass outside this building.
Cain: So there's a high chance they were made then something suppressed them into not sharing it beyond the nobles or inner walls of the capitol.
Dresil: Didn't you already know there was an organization behind the king though?
Cain: Nah, I just knew there was a small-medium sized party suppressing the king. I didn't know it was to this extent and the king doesn't even know who they are either…
Cain: :sigh: We should leave here soon or try not to mess with this organization anytime soon.
Dresil: But you're op :bleh:
Cain: That doesn't help much if I don't know who my enemies are…
Dresil: …true.
Cain: Oh, ye. Can you contact the Dean or Maddison or to lmk if any quests relating to dragons pop up? I forgot to do so yesterday morning.
Dresil: Of course, It'll be tomorrow morning though.
Cain: Sounds good.
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When Dresil and Cain finished their conversation in the dms, the butlers and maids departed with Dresil's instructions. Noah looked at Cain and then the table, his face somewhat pale, showing a dazed expression. He had just realized the situation he got himself into. 'When was the last time I had lunch…?' Cain thought to himself, unaware of Noah's dilemma.
—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (5ms)
Dresil: Master… You woke up close to 11am and had breakfast then. You didn't have much to eat besides snacks and such until now…
Cain: Oh… no wonder I'm famished
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"Shall we start now?" Cain asked Noah who stared back at him with a trickle of sweat going down his face. "S-sure…" The two thus began their feast while the party talked about random topics or watched the show. Occasionally Veronica would join in, only to stop moments later when a piece of food landed or grazed millimeters away from her dress. She reluctantly watched the two as they feasted on the food.
Cain used his mana to continuously bring new dishes closer to him and Noah then stacked the empty plates to the side. Dresil moved the stacks of empty plates to the end of the table for the constant stream of butlers and maids to replace with new food. In the first few minutes, Noah matched Cain's speed, but gradually slowed down as he got full. Roughly 20 dishes later, Noah leaned back in his chair, head tilted back, and exhaled heavily.
"Phew… I can't go on any longer. I thought I was the biggest glutton in the capitol until I met you. …and he's still going, wow." Noah lifted his head up to check on Cain's progress, only to see him constantly eating various dishes without slowing down at all. All sorts of meat were brought to the table and occasionally a few fruits. The butlers and maids even brought out some monster meat, hoping this would make Cain slow down to digest the mana properly.
Their mouths dropped in awe as they saw Cain's speed increase when he reached the monster meat. The head butler was the first to recover his wits, "What are you guys staring at?! We need to keep bringing more dishes!" The maids and butlers immediately rushed back to the kitchen, bringing along whoever they saw on the way.
"Hey, you! Let's go, we need more hands on deck!" One of the butlers yelled to another. "Oi, Billy, you're not a sailor anymore." The second replied. "Oh… well who cares, there's someone eating food faster than we can replace so we need more people." The first yelled as he backpedaled to the kitchen. "Man… I'm still on my break though." The second complained, reluctantly following after Billy.
Back in the halls of the banquet, a noble requested the band to play a song matching Cain's pace, then slowly speed it up. The band promptly refused, stating that they knew no song that could even keep up with his current speed.
—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (23ms)
Rex: Oooh, Cain. This seems like a good chance for another rave.
Cain: Ah, yes… Converting a noble and eloquent banquet into a rave…
Cain: Nah, I'll just play some epic orchestral music and maybe some classical remixes.
Dresil: Why not swing or electro swing? That way they could dance to the beat and there won't be too many complaints.
Cain: Oooh, good idea.
Bob: so what songs are going to be played?
Cain: Hmm… I think the first one will be "Strength of a Thousand Men" by Two Steps from Hell on 2x the speed.
Cain: The second one will be a beethoven remix, the third will be the normal version.
Cain: Then the fourth will be electro swing, and finish it off with swing.
Bob: I see…
Rex: Aww… the music gradually goes from epic to somewhat calm…
Cain: Well… it's not like they can keep up with the epic pace anyways.
Rex: …true.
Cain: Bob, can you open a portal to the Mana Storage?
Bob: Understood.
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A wide portal appeared above and behind Cain. Some nobles gasped and cleared out from its surroundings, expecting something to come out of it. Cain used the mana within that dimension to slowly create two speakers, from the stand up, and lower them onto the floor. He then made a magic circle on the back of each speaker, acting as a USB with the stored music on it. Cain consumed 10 million mana to establish a link between the speaker and each Digital Storage circle so that the music would play smoothly. The circle stored Cain's memory of listening to the music, but only outputted the audio.
More nobles gather around Cain as they watch the two strange objects descend from the air. They waited patiently and eagerly for something to happen when they landed, but nothing occurred for the next few minutes. Right when someone was about to say something, the speakers started to play "Strength of a Thousand Men" on 2x the speed. Cain refrained from blasting it since it might needlessly cause conflict. That was until a noble shouted in the back, "Turn this up! Sounds amazing!"
Cain stopped eating for a bit to let the maids and butlers accumulate dishes. "Alright then… Those with sensitive hearing should move to the back." Cain waited a few minutes for some of the nobles to relocate. Then he turned the volume on max and restarted the song. He resumed eating at this time at an even faster pace. Some nobles in flexible clothing tried to dance to the beat while others merely bobbed their heads.
"...what is this masterpiece…? Even though it's sped up I can still hear the energy, no… the speed only enhances the energy!" The conductor of the band ordered his musicians to stop playing when he heard the music. He immediately took out a booklet, a quill, and some ink. The conductor used the stand that held the music notes to scribble down the sudden inspirations he had. "It's not enough… Isabella-no, everyone, I need whatever parchment you can find right now!" The conductor hurriedly ordered his musicians. Some swiftly turned over their music sheets and handed them to him, while others gave him pages out of their own booklets.
Cain continued to eat to the tune for the rest of the song. By the end of it, around 40 butlers and maids were needed to keep up with his pace, yet they were slowly running out of food since it couldn't be cooked enough. Cain took a break from eating to stretch and clean his mouth when the song ended.
—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (7ms)
Cain: Give every employee involved a gold coin, including the chefs and such.
Dresil: Understood, are you going to keep going?
Cain: Nah, I'll finish what's here and maybe dance.
Dresil: You can dance?
Cain: Not at all. I can swing though.
Dresil: :kek:
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