Chapter 40: Eating Contest
As Caspian finished saying this, more people began to file into the arena. So far it was still mostly females and their mates, but the arena was already nearly a quarter full. There were more females here than Iris had seen since arriving in the beast world.
After the final female beastman filed in a very strong and older looking beastman walked to the center of the arena. Caspian casually explained
"That's this city's beast king. He is a six starred celestial beast in his early forties with no element. He will be in charge of today's events and if he is here it means the event will be starting soon.
I haven't gotten to everything, but, don't worry, I'll be by your side the entire time. You won't have to do anything you don't want to, though. As a female, no one would bat an eye if you threw a fit or acted a bit demanding. Well, as long as you don't go overboard."
Just then the sound of a loud lion's roar was heard from the man in the center of the arena. Everyone went silent as they looked to the beast king with anticipation. The man soon began to speak in a loud and deep voice that easily carried across the silent arena.
"Good afternoon everyone, we will be beginning the festivities soon. If each female could take a seat in the center and keep only a few mates beside them that would be appreciated. We can't have the ladies too crowded and make the competition difficult to see after all."
Iris watched as all of the females chose 2-3 males to take with them and were carried into the middle of the arena to take a seat. Iris looked nervously at Caspian who offered her a reassuring smile and his arm as he helped her find her way.
Finding a spot towards the middle left side of the arena, Iris sat down and waited with tense nerves. Regardless of how much or little info Iris had, today was bound to be stressful. She had to make a good impression and make decisions that would effect the rest of her life.
As soon as all the females were safely situated, the arena began to fill further as single males came in and found seats. Unlike the females with their mates, the males were a lot more quiet. This was largely due to having no reason to talk with one another, but also because they were intensely observing this year's females.
Soon the arena was full to the brim with hundreds of beastmen. Many were even standing around with the sheer lack of seating. The guards would have to work hard to manage the crowd and ensure all of the females safety. This was a big event for the city and it would not be good for business if any mishaps were to occur.
The beast king continued to carefully observe the proceedings. When he felt the stadium was too full to accommodate any more beastmen, he issued another roar to gather everyone's focus.
"Now that we are all gathered here, we shall begin tonight's festivities! For now we shall begin with introductions of the females participating. The designated male who speaks for his household should state their female's name, tribe, number of mates, and preferred food so we know what to serve them today. Begin from the far right and ending on the far left, begin!"
Iris watched as female after female was introduced. Almost all of the females were from tribes that were more suited to colder weather such as artic wolves, snow leopards, bears, and even penguins. Only rarely would there be a female like Holly who had left their original tribes and traveled to such a northern portion of the beast continent.
Nearly two-thirds of the females present were meat eaters with those eating plants being less common. It would seem Iris was in the minority and that made her stress levels spike. It was already difficult to complete her quest what with requiring 100 males to fall for her without having factors working against her.
Luckily, since complete females were quite rare, there were only five besides Iris. While Iris was not prejudiced against half orc females as she loved Holly like a sister, she could not deny that she was privileged to be one of the only complete females here.
When it was close to being Caspian's turn to introduce her, Iris remembered that her hood was still up on her cloak. She quickly removed it and the audience filled with murmurs. They had assumed the female was merely a half orc female who was embarrassed of her appearance. When her face was revealed, many of the single males were instantly charmed.
Iris was not only a complete female, but was easily one of the most beautiful to have shown up that day. Soon it was Caspian's turn to speak.
"Iris Hart of the gorilla tribe. I am currently her only mate. She wants to eat plants today."
The murmurs in the crowd grew louder as more males got excited over this female. Gorillas were known to be very smart and good craftsmen and while they would choose plants over meat, they were in fact omnivores. This meant the beautiful females was quite a catch and a rare find in this region.
The fact that Iris only had one male made her decision to stay hidden seem smart to many in the crowd. They felt that they would also hide such a beauty away too if she were theirs. Unbeknownst to Iris, she had already completed one of her quest conditions.
Soon the introduction portion was finished. Several guards began to carry over bags full of food to the females. When everyone had food in front of them the beast king bellowed out
"Begin eating!"
Iris opened the large bag in front of her and found herself quite disappointed. Much of the contents were everyday grass with only some of the items being food she would actually choose to eat of her own accord. Iris could only convince herself that it was better than raw meat as she stuffed a handful of grass into her mouth.
The rather bland, bitter earthy taste that filled Iris's mouth was unpleasant but she forced herself to continue eating. Soon she began to feel quite full. She was tempted to stop eating, but with a quick glance around she could see no one else had stopped yet.
Iris sighed as she shoved another handful of grass into her mouth. Iris hoped if she chewed slower she could manage to wait it out until more females dropped out of the competition. However, she began to soon feel like vomiting and could only stop with the hope of not being judged too harshly.
Caspian rubbed Iris's back in order to comfort her. He could tell she didn't like to eat the grasses and knew she had already forced her to eat far more than she usually did at meal times. Seeing her stop eating he softly whispered in her ear
"You did a good job. Don't force yourself anymore."
Caspian leaned over Iris's stone seat and rubbed her stomach in small soothing circles. Caspian felt bitter that he couldn't do more for his mate. He wouldn't even be able to give her more than water to remove the unpleasant taste from her mouth.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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