Chapter 151: What kind of person is he?

He sat opposite to him, eating a meal so spicy his eyes, nose, even his ears were tearing.

He could not handle the spice at first but, as he ate more of it, the incredible taste seeped through his mouth, spread throughout his entire body, and blossomed into a strange warmth inside of him.

He was a man of simple taste. He had eaten in this establishment a hundred times before, and yet, he had never experienced something so exquisite.

In fact, he had not experienced something like this in the high rising restaurants of Topaz, or wealthy culinary masterhouses of east, jade embedded castles of the western lands, or in any of the prime houses inside the academy.

This was a native taste. A primal taste. A traditional taste… a delicate taste.

If you don't eat the same thing the way he guides you through, you would miss the subtle notes of the hundred ingredients that are used in the dish.

You'd miss the garlic, the sea salt, you'd miss the distinct flavors of dessert and spring, and most of all, you'd miss the story behind it.

"They represent the wartime. You see the placement of that shrimp? That represents the war or Salance castle."

The ones who made these dishes didn't just make it for the people to enjoy them.

There was a story to each element that was used in its making, each element that was placed in the way that it was, even the way the taste threads through the food…

He had never known something like this could exist. In fact, he did not believe the inn owners wanted to make this dish for just anyone.

They were the first people he had seen here that ate these things. So these delicacies weren't for just anyone.

"How do you know about these?" He asked him, not minding the red volcano that he had become.

"Mm?"

From the looks of it, his dish was far more spicy than what he was having.

His entire body was red, he could see. He had a bad reaction to what he was eating. At the end of the day, this person was still the same human as him.

It was just that there was something strange to him. Something different.

"Ah, don't worry about these things. Eat. Here, have some more."

He had just arrived at the academy and yet he knew more about this place than what he had known after being here for many years.

He was a man of many secrets, but there was still something very human to him.

"Ah, thanks."

As he watched him enjoy the endlessly spicy food with such a nostalgic smile that it almost made him wonder if this was something he used to have.

Perhaps he knew someone who knew about the secrets of this place, this academy.

Maybe it's thanks to that person that he was able to secure such a position as soon as he arrived here.

But then again, he was here because he had the qualities to be here.

The system of the academy was impossible to trick, the proctors who watched him wouldn't have allowed misconduct.

Lastly, he had secured the position after going against the scrutiny of the Deans of the academic schools.

If he passed through all that and still retained his rank, then it only means he had what it took to have it. And perhaps more, knowing the strict nature of the academy.

'I know the world is unfair.'

He was the proudest of that unfair world himself. Born to a golden spoon, raised under the best conditions, had everything one could wish… but that's precisely why he chose this path over everything he had over there.

It was his choice to forsake everything for a future that was of his own making, and maybe the person sitting before him was not so different from him either.

Maybe he also wanted something that he could never have in his prestigious house.

'What reason could a Sungrade have for showing off so much to begin with?'

There have been toppers from the Sungrade. The academy has had many who stood at the top when it came to the masters of salamanders.

But he wasn't here for a position that the students would aim for.

He came here, suffered under the worst test that people now have the public summary of, and he climbed to one of the highest academic ranks not because he wanted to learn.

No. He wasn't.

He did all that to make a difference: like a foolish dreamer dreaming of a better world, a different world.

A fool like himself. Someone who still saw the good that was left here.

"Why me?"

But even as he understood all that. He could not understand why, of all people in this great institution, he was the one eating this amazing meal with him.

Just what was it about him that led them here, that made him care specifically about him so much.

Did he know who he was? Probably. But then again, he couldn't be of much help to him even if he had any power outside of the academy.

There were far better places to make connections with. Far more people with actual authority.

Hell he now had more authority than kings and warlords operating several fleets in the ocean, tamers of the highest ranks, even mages of the ornamental positions.

What was it that made him so interested in him? Was it just a whim?

That couldn't be the case either since, strangely, he knew more about him than anyone else in the academy… then, should he be worried about him?

The boy did not know.

"What are you thinking about? Get your head out of the clouds and eat, Goodman. We still have places to go."

"We do?"

"Of course we do. Did you think we were done already, Mr. Theo?" He was still crying happy tears as he asked that question.

"I guess?"

"Oh, come on now. We still have much more in the bag."

What bag was it? And what more unfathomable things were they going to do?

He was a little worried but at the same time, he wanted to know. He wanted to know what they would do, what they would see.

Would it be things he had known about like this tavern again? Or would he get to see something better? Something beyond his expectations?

There was a tingle in his heart as he thought about it.

It was strange… but, he wanted to stay by his side and see more of the wonders of the academy that he had missed all these years.

Maybe, who knows if they'll see another creature as crazy as that white bird.

"Chirp~!"

Damn thing had been enjoying and slurping up on the red noodles as if they were the best sweet he had ever had in his life.

'He's as crazy as his master.'