A Pile of Slop

By the way Violet was talking about the food on their way to Jericho's, it sounded like it was good, no, it was something to die for and they needed to have a bite at least once in their life.

But as they got there and ordered their food from the menu, the two were left horrified.

Sitting down on a stool by a food stall located in the busiest part of the Lanes, the food market, Art and Ezreal looked at the dish before them with the same thought in their mind… Am I going to die if I eat this?

Art and Ezreal could not help but be suspicious. They were from the topside and were used to having their food clean and presentable, especially when they were from the southern part of Piltover, a place where people of high status and the rich lived.

The food was a pile of slop in a cold, metal bowl. The meat was blue, and the yellow sauce was glowing. It looked like something you would feed to livestock, a pig to be more exact.

On second thought, even calling it food was being too generous and should have been called poison instead. And it most certainly didn't help when the chef, a big blue sea like humanoid creature, was scratching his fat ass in front of his customers while butchering what seemed to be a fish. A radioactive one at that.

"Is this edible? I feel like I'll die if I take a single bite," The blondie leaned in and whispered.

Art gave Violet a quick glance. She was too busy eating with her hands as the sauce was all over her mouth, palms and fingers. He then turned his gaze back to Ezreal. "It- it should be safe to eat. We'll look suspicious if we don't eat," he whispered, his voice trembling. "I'm gonna give it a go."

"You're crazy," replied Ezreal with his eyes wide open. "I'll go after you then. I'm a future explorer, I must not back down from this challenge."

Art ignored Ezreal and went in for a bite, but stopped and looked at his hands.

Unless you were rich or someone of power, clean water was hard to access in the Undercity. He wanted to try his luck, but upon thinking about it some more, he found it to be a stupid idea... I'll probably sound sus as fuck if I ask for water just to wash my hands. Now that I think about it, I can just do that.

Using [Creation Magic], Art created gloves to keep his hand from getting dirty. It was so thin that it could not be seen unless you look hard enough. He grabbed a piece of meat from the metal bowl and gave it a smell as sauce dripped down from his hands. He closed his eyes and took a bite.

What is this rich depth of flavour? I feel struck to the core of my being!

Art was frozen in place as he was hit by a sudden influx of complex flavours. Then, he quietly shut his eyes, completely obsessed with the flavour. His body shaking from excitement.

Inside his mind, he had transformed into a fish with a human head as he was swimming in the sea, free and liberated as he swam in the cold, deep waters of the vast ocean. He was surrounded by singing mermaids, bringing him a sense of comfort.

Ezreal shook Art's shoulder. "Is it good?" he asked curiously, snapping him out of his foodgasm.

"Try it for yourself," replied Art, licking his fingers clean before going in for another bite. He was too engrossed that he could not bother to reply.

Ezreal gazed at the metal bowl in front of him, and seeing the other two stuffing their faces, he mustered up the courage and started to eat. When he took his first bite, just like Art, he was smitten by the flavour.

A few minutes later, the three were done eating, their stomachs a little bloated from all the food they ate. They walked around the block to digest the food they ate faster, enjoying the various scene before them.

"That was amazing!" Ezreal exclaimed, rubbing his stomach. "Who knew food from the Undercity--"

"--Thanks for showing us to such a good place, Vi," Art quickly covered the blondie's mouth as he was about to speak without thinking.

"No need, I should be the one thanking you for the treat," Violet replied as she reached out and ruffled his hair in a friendly manner. "Oh, sorry, my hand kinda moved on its own."

"It's fine," Art smiled, happy that they were starting to get close. "So Vi, we have to go soon. Do you know where Ezreal and I can find this? We got lost trying to find where they are holding this event," he continued on to say, pulling out the wrinkled poster from his pocket before showing it to her.

Violet squinted her eyes a little and read the poster. "Yeah, I know where it is," she said. "Are you two planning to enter?"

Art nodded before showing her the Muhammad Ali Shuffle. "Yep, I know a move or two. I've been training since I was six."

Violet giggled a little. "Impressive, what about you?" she asked, turning her gaze towards Ezreal.

"Nope," Art shook his head. "I just came to watch Art fight."

"I see, anyway, Art I don't think you should enter," Violet said worriedly. "It's pretty dangerous, you will be going against people my age. Also, I'll be entering as well, and I don't want to hurt you."

"It's fine, I'll just forfeit the opponent is too much for me," Art replied confidently.

Although Violet didn't want Art to get hurt, but seeing how confident he was, she did not try to convince him any longer. They had only met each other an hour ago and warning him once again would be strange. Their relationship was not yet to the point for her to show him that much care.

"It seems that I can't change your mind, let's go," Violet sighed, "I'll bring you there."

***

The atmosphere was lively. Hundreds of people of varying ages surrounded the fighting pit in the heart of the lanes, excited for the event today, an underground fighting tournament.

This was quite a common event in the Undercity… People needed entertainment, and this was something to enjoy in their lives and to forget about all their troubles. It was also a chance to make some cash and were getting ready to bet.

Arriving just now, Art and Violet made their way through the crowd and to the registration booth whilst Ezreal went to the audience seats. He was not allowed to go where they were going as only those participating could go.

Behind the booth, they saw a man sitting down at a table. He resembled a skinny version of Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter. The only difference was some of their features as he had brown eyes and a short figure. His hairline was fucked while the rest of his hair was tied into a ponytail.

Violet was familiar with this man. He was a friend and a merchant who frequently went to her father's bar to conduct his businesses with foreigners. As for what he sold to his customers, she had no idea and didn't bother to ask.

She walked up to him and tossed him a small bag of coins. "Sign me up, Huck."

The man named Huck nodded and proceeded to write her name in the notebook in front of him.

It was then Art, who was beside Violet, stepped up and gave him the money for the entree fee. "Sign me up too," he pointed at himself.

Huck looked up and upon seeing Art, he could not help but raise an eyebrow. He looked towards Violet, and seeing her shrug, he turned his gaze back to Art. "Are you sure?" he said with a jittery voice, "you'll be fighting against people much bigger and stronger than you. Do you still want to enter?"

Upon being doubted again, he did not take any offence. He could understand where Violet and the man in front of him were coming from. Even Ezreal, his best friend, doubted his abilities and thought he was crazy for thinking about entering the tournament, after all, he was only a kid.

Under normal circumstances, there was no way a kid could ever beat an adult. 99.90% of the time, the kid would always lose unless he was a protagonist from a shonen anime.

Although Art was aware of this, he did not care. He trained for this day and in case something went wrong, there was always the option to use a little bit of magic… it's not cheating if no one finds out, he thought.

Art nodded and said, "Thanks for the warning, but I think I'll be alright."

"Okay," Huck said, tapping the tip of the pen in his hands on the table. "What's your name? I'll need to write it down to call you up later."

"It's Art," he replied.

"Okay kid, you'll be called for your first fight shortly," Huck said before pointing to the side. "Just wait over there."

Turning his gaze towards the direction Huck was pointing, Art saw the other participants. It was just like he had said; they were indeed bigger and taller than him by at least several factors.

The other participants stared back at him as if he was easy prey, and although he had prepared himself for this, he could not help but feel nervous. He began to walk over to them, but stopped and turned around.

"Wait, are the rules?" Art asked out of curiosity and for his own safety.

"No weapons and no killing allowed," said Huck.

So does this mean I can be beaten half to death... no I'm sure there will be someone to stop the participants if they go too far, right? Right?!