Chapter 150: Are they new here?

"Theo boy! You haven't been around for a while! What's bothering you?"

The old lady kneading some dough with her hand asked the one sitting before me with an upset look on her face.

"Ah… granny, I've been busy with assignments."

"You graduating students, huh. Always busy with one thing or another."

The granny was wearing glasses over her wolf-face but her deep eyes weren't something I could possibly miss. She was more than just a regular cook in this simple-looking shop.

Since the family of beastfolks was more human-like than the beasts, calling them descendants of beasts was a wrong thing.

If anything, they were descendents of humans who loved some unique beast monsters more than usual.

"Hmm…"

I was looking at her in a way that must have made her alert. Her instincts instantly sent a pulse of energy that was enough to force my attention away.

"Are they new here? New students you're looking after?" Her eyes scanned me and did not find much. By their standards, it was an obvious outcome.

But then the grandpa looked at me and his deep green eyes had a unique shine in them.

"Oh…" He must have sensed the subtle layer of energy that was being expelled from my body.

It was not something anyone could notice, but, again, he was no normal individual.

The wolf grand-couple were lovely. And so was the one who was standing before us now, ready to take our orders.

"We will have an order of number 3 and two orders of number 12, with three extra eggs on the side, as well as a few bottles of your finest duo drink."

"Hmmm?" The one that placed the order was me, and not the boy who had been to this place many times in the past.

And, the specific order surprised the lady who wasn't expecting this from a new face.

"Oh, looks like the new boy knows his things. But, hey…" The grandma looked at us with a little concerned face this time. "Are you sure you can handle number 12?"

The question was once again directed at Theo.

"What?" And he had no idea what was going on here so he just looked at them blankly.

"That'll be for me, thank you." I handed the menu back with a smile on my face.

He wasn't going to understand what these numbers even meant when there were only simple named dishes listed in the menu.

He would have taken a few more years of visitations in normal conditions but now that I'm here with him, he will get to have the secret menu items earlier.

"Boy you've been warned. Think again."

The granny was the strict one.

"Haha, Miss Kim, you don't have to worry about us. This isn't the first time we will be having it."

"Oh?"

Yes this is our first time here but there are always times when you see something unexpected.

She had lived long enough in the Stanox to know not to judge a book by its cover. So, she smiled mildly as she got to work and placed a new patch of flour on the table.

The grandpa also started working on a new broth, preparing the side dishes that were going to be served along with the order.

Additionally, the two of them created an illusion barrier around them that was going to block the people who weren't supposed to see all that they would do.

"Sir… what are you doing? Why are you staring at them?" Theo did not understand why I was staring at them with the excited smile on my face, but he wasn't seeing what I was seeing right now.

He wasn't seeing a Master of energy manipulation infusing each of the ingredients with their inner Qi, he wasn't seeing a master of weapon arts who had spent decades channeling her practices into this new craft.

He wasn't seeing how the different ingredients were simply flying around right now. And more than that, he wasn't seeing the flow state that they had willingly entered just to create three sets of dishes that we had ordered.

"Here you go… huh?" Their daughter arrived with the twin bottles of drinks and glasses first, but when she saw my red eyes glimmering with a unique reflection, as well as how I was following what even she could not, a new astonishment bloomed on her eyes.

She knew I was watching something even she had hardly ever had the chance to do so, so she looked at Theo.

"Just… who is this person?" There was a strange fear in her question. And Theo did not miss it.

He glanced at me, how I was watching the old couple prepare food for us, and yet being in a different world than them, and then he looked at Nyx who was equally intrigued right now, looking in the same direction as I was, and then, he looked back at the server lady.

"He's a Reader. Apparently, he just joined the academy as well."

"What?"

Yes it is unbelievable, it's not something you hear everyday. Both the fact that I was new to the academy as well as how I was given the position of the Reader and how I was still eating here surprised her.

But if the view is something so amazing, eating twice a day in this place would not be boring even after a hundred and twenty days.

"Yeah… it's shocking. I'm still wondering just what kind of person he is."

Theo looked at me with a lot of questions. He knew I was from the Sungrade right now, he knew the people with me were also strange. But beyond that, he was not aware of anything going on in his own kingdom.

He had been in this school for the last three years and since he left his original house on a bad note, he must also not know anything that was actually happening with the empire.

But, to people like us, those big events aren't really that impactful.

He will eventually know what happened and why it happened and what happened after that and all those unnecessary things.

He was a knight and being a knight is what mattered to him. That said, he was a lot more simple than I know from my past life.

'When we first met here, I was getting beaten by a bunch of people.'

Of all the other big places, only this simple looking place had seemed affordable to me back then and so I came here.

Sadly, I got entangled with some wrong people and they ended up taking me to a back alley and beating the crap out of me just before I was eating.

But then he saw me, all beaten and sorry, accepting food on credit because all my money was stolen by those thugs, and he couldn't stand the sight of me after that.

Those days were different…

-Ting!

"Two orders of number 12 and one order of number 3 are ready!"

But we are in a different position right now. So, I don't want to be that miserable young boy that doesn't even get his pity.

"Hmm? Hey boy, why are you crying?"

Staring at them for too long without blinking made my eyes watery as a few tears were cascading down my cheeks.

"Ah… it's nothing." Back then, even seeing a glimpse of their craft was difficult for us.

Even after spending years tracking their movements, I could not reach the level that I am at right now… they weren't around when I got older and the academy fell. They fought at the front, and their memories still live on in my heart.

"Quit crying like some baby! If you're crying just from the smell, we will have to call the healers over after you have your meal."

Since the orders were ready, the server lady placed the bowls of dark red noodles and side dishes that included some fried shrimps and well decorated meat dishes and some fried potato-mushroom dishes.

They looked amazing. So much so that the customers that entered after us were stunned by it.

"Can we have what they were having as well?"

"Oh, apologies sir. My parents only make them once a day."

The server lady as well as her husband had to apologize to the other customers who wanted to have the same thing that we were having right now.

Sadly, even if they could make more, the couple had their rules.

"Now then…" The bowl before Nyx and me was far darker than the light red one before Theo.

He would like what he was going to try right now, and we would as well.

But before we have the food…

"You will have to drink first before you eat."

I grabbed his glass and a bottle of white 'juice' we just received and filled one sixth of his glass with it.

That was the stronger one.

But, the main character was the brown bottle.

"You spin it like this." With a certain movement of my hand, I spun the small bottle and a tornado appeared inside of it.

I did not forget to tap the bottle so the tornado was a good one.

"Oh? Quite some oldies we have with us today."

Then, with a bit of my energy concentrated on my finger, I poked a hole in the bottle cap.

-Psssssss!

As the concentrated juice burst out of the narrow opening, it sprayed out directly into the glass with the white one.

"Quick quick quick!"

He needed to have the drink as quickly as possible so I personally shoved the glass in his mouth…

"Mmmmm!"

He wasn't ready for his first time, but then again, no one can ever be ready for their first time, especially when it comes to fun, expected things like these…