12 Feast (3)
Feather went to the contestants' area.
There were many people, big and small, wishing to join the competition. Some were joining for the win, some for the fun of it. There were more than a hundred participants altogether.
The area was situated right next to the big plaza.
On the plaza, many tables were arranged in neat rows. That was where the competition would take place.
The food was being made in the taverns and pubs around the plaza. All of the owners were proud to take part in this. Also, the participation as a chief was to prove their ability to all the people around. It was not an easy feat to produce the astronomical amount of food needed for the competition.
The flavors flowing above the plaza made Feather salivate.
It was great that she'd made it in time to participate. Where would she find a tavern to feed her while that competition was in full swing?
The rule for the competition was to continue until the last person was no longer able to eat.
Usually, competitions wouldn't end in just an hour or two. The longest it had lasted was four hours and a half.
Rows of benches for spectators were set around the tables at the edges of the plaza. The people were sitting there already preparing to cheer on their favorites.
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Finally, the competition was about to start.
The participants were let out on the plaza.
The tables were filled with food already.
Meat, fish, vegetables, and whatever else, there were all kinds of food one might think of.
Everyone was excited.
The host stepped out and started introducing the most renowned competitors. But Feather was not concerned, so she didn't listen. The only thing she was interested in was the food right in front of her. But it would be bad to start eating before the competition started, wouldn't it?
After the round of introductions, the host started describing the food made for the contest.
Feather was infuriated: 'For the Gods sake! Can we start eating already?'
In the end, the competition still started, even if everyone had to listen to an hour worth of rubbish spouted by the host.
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The first hour of the competition wasn't very interesting. Most participants were good eaters, so just a very few dropped out.
After contestants dropped out, all the food they didn't manage to finish up was divided between the poor.
That was the tradition of the festival. And that was the reason this competition was much welcomed by the people.
In the second hour, the number of dropouts rose substantially. And the people around the plaza was even more cheerful after finishing up remaining food.
The contestants were dropping out one by one and soon only the ten strongest remained. Most of them were well-known townspeople. But there were two, who stood out immensely. One was a thin man in his thirties, dressed in the usual outfit of southern mercenaries. He didn't resemble a southerner, though. The other one was a boy of around fourteen.
Both were eating seemingly leisurely, but the number of plates laying by the side showed, that neither was inferior to other competitors.
And with each other contestant giving up, both of them stood out even more. Until, in the end, only two of them remained.
They continued rather unhurriedly as if the competition didn't matter to them at all.
Still, the amount of food they had eaten was enormous, and their speed was off the charts.
In the end, the man stretched and exhaled: "I'm full. Thanks for the meal."
The boy didn't even notice anything, as he continued to ravenously consume the food.
The man looked at the boy with a bit of interest. That was the first time he met someone who could out-eat him.
The time went by but the boy didn't seem to intend to stop. In the end, the host had to go forth and stop him, because as embarrassing as it was, the food prepared for the competition had run out.
What happened next would be a talk of the town for the next several months. The boy finished the last bit of food left before him, after which he was obviously unsatisfied. Then he noticed the barrels of water at the side, went there, and downed three of them one after the other.
The competition ended just like that, with two first places snatched from the hands of locals by two dark horses. What was even more embarrassing how thin both of them were.
Was it the rumored abyssal stomach? To have two of them meet at such a place at the same time. People were astonished.
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In the middle of the competition, Feather felt something was wrong with her.
She thought she would eat a bit, while everyone was at it, and leave quietly without arousing much attention.
But she just couldn't stop. The more she ate, the more hungry she became. She felt like she would die if she didn't continue eating.
She felt terrible. It was the first time in her life that she felt so famished. Even when she starved in the cave it wasn't that bad.
She ate so much delicious food, but it didn't help.
When they told her the competition ended, she was at her wit's end. She needed more food.
Luckily, there were barrels of water standing nearby, so she was able to somehow suppress her heaven-defying appetite.
She had drunk three of them in one mouthful before her head somehow cleared.
She was still hungry, but it wasn't as unbearable now.
Of course, Feather had no way to know that her incredible appetite was the direct consequence of drinking liquid fire for more than two months.
She didn't have the slightest idea what the 'water' in the cave was.
Because of her special constitution after drinking that 'water' great changes had taken place in her body. Her being able to stomach anything edible and something not edible to normal humans was only one of the consequences.
