Todd looked at the woman in front of him, then at the knights around him, completely bewildered. He thought to himself, something seems off…
“I will attend the banquet tomorrow night on time.” Wiping away her tears, Mary stood up and said firmly to Todd, “Even if the delegation from St. Guard City brings my father’s personal letter, I will stay by your side!”
Looking at the dozen or so heads peeking out from the end of the corridor, some chattering excitedly, others wiping away tears of deep emotion, Todd's mind immediately went on high alert.
Something seems really wrong!
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The eastern suburbs of Xicheng, an immigrant area.
"How long until tomorrow's banquet?"
Gordon, the head of the Holy Guard delegation, lay on a pile of straw in his shack, looking up at the leaky cracks in the roof, and said weakly.
Knight Harry glanced at the setting sun outside the window and said softly, "About 24 hours left..."
Lying next to Harry, the apprentice knight Nelje pressed his hand to his stomach and said weakly, "I haven't eaten anything all day, and my stomach feels like it's on fire!"
"Bear with it! Think about it, by this time tomorrow night, we can have a feast we'll never have to eat again in our lives!" Harry turned to the side, drew the outline of a 'roast chicken' on the ground with his finger, and drool streamed down his chin.
The door to the shack was suddenly opened, and two people rushed in, startled by the 'corpses' scattered all over the ground.
One of them shouted, “Lord Gordon! Harry, and Nelge! What’s wrong with you?! Have the enemies been here?!”
Gordon glanced at the doorway and said softly, "Oh, it's Kaponodas and Dizzy. Where have you been?"
Kaponodas stared at the three half-dead men on the ground and said hesitantly, "Yesterday, the two of us planned to make a little money by performing swordsmanship at the city gate, but those Muxi people would rather spend twenty copper stars to listen to a play than spend a single copper star to watch a real sword fight."
"Later, in a nearby village, we met a fellow villager from Saint-Guardian. He was willing to take us to a restaurant where we could eat for free and even get paid. We thought we should hurry back and get everyone in the group so we could fill our stomachs first... Speaking of which, why were you all lying on the ground in broad daylight?"
Harry grunted twice: "Tomorrow night, King Muxi will host a grand banquet for the Holy Guard City delegation. These next two days, everyone should try not to eat or move around too much. Tomorrow we'll make up for all the food we've eaten in one meal!"
Nigel, clutching his stomach, roared, "By tomorrow night, I'm going to eat a whole roasted lamb!"
Commander Gordon addressed the group, saying, "The key is that we can save the money we've spent on food these past two days and use it for our return journey. So, from now on, try to talk as little as possible and rest as much as possible to conserve your energy!"
Kaponodas and Dizzy, who had just entered, exchanged a glance, shrugged, and sat down against the corner of the wall.
Lying on the ground, Nelje struggled to crawl to the two men's side, turned around and glanced at the commander who was resting with his eyes closed, and whispered to them, "Hey! What's this about the free meals and money you were talking about earlier?"
Kaponodas patted his belly, looking smug: "My fellow countryman told me that there's a bunch of guys in town who opened an 'all-you-can-eat' place in the immigrant area, where they serve free food."
"Is there really such a good thing?!"
"Of course, although the food was mostly cheap stuff like horse feed beans and unpalatable wheat bran, the key thing was that the shopkeeper promised that you could eat as much as you wanted, and the food would be unlimited!"
Kaponoddas paused, then continued, "However, the owner has a condition: after finishing your meal, you must relieve yourself in the shop's outhouse before you can leave."
Hearing such bizarre conditions, Nelje was stunned for a long time: "After eating, they require guests to defecate in the restaurant?! What kind of restaurant is this?!"
Kaponodas sat up: "Let me finish. After you finish, the shopkeeper won't treat you unfairly. Everyone can get three bronze stars."
Glancing at the sky outside the window, Kaponodas lowered his voice and said to Nigel, "Since the banquet is tomorrow night, Dizzy and I plan to go over for a bite tonight."
"But Lord Gordon has already ordered that we all have dinner together tomorrow..."
Kaponodas put his arm around Nelje's neck and whispered to him, "You're already this hungry after just one day without food. If you go another day, do you think you'll still have the strength to walk? Take my advice, come with us tonight to eat something, at least to fill your stomach."
Intense hunger surged like ocean waves, assaulting my fragile nerves.
Nigel finally succumbed to his appetite and grabbed Caponodas's hand tightly.
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