16 Surprise

-Mirage Feast Inn-

The people in the Inn were having a rowdy time as they ate their meals and drank their liquor.

Celia was manning the counter while Claud had just stepped out of the kitchen to take a breather while talking to his daughter.

"You think he's coming back? I really don't want to have to pay for another Knife you know. I wouldn't have even given it to him if you hadn't stared at me earlier. Hmpf." Claud said to Celia while looking slightly grumpy.

"Oh now father, you know very well as much as I do that Penta brought in a whole Bone boar which cost at least thrice the amount you paid for that knife. The guests all loved the meat and we are already made enough to get you a new knife and some better furniture." Celia smiled at her father.

*Slam*

The door the inn was kicked open causing quite the disturbance.

This caused everyone to look at the entrance only to see a large shadow cast over it. The shadow looked huge causing some people to get agitated. Celia frowned while Claud just stared dead at the door.

Seeing the shadow take a few steps forward. Everyone saw what it was and couldn't help but gasp in shock and some waitresses almost dropped their customer's meals from the surprise. Celia put a hand towards her mouth as though she couldn't believe what she is seeing while Claud simply had his mouth form an "O" shape.

"Celia! Meat!" Penta sounded as he came closer to the counter before dropping the nearly one-ton beast onto the floor.

Penta was proud of the shocked gazes from the crowd but knew his priorities as he immediately bent his head down while facing Claud who was standing next to Celia.

"Claud... Sorry! Big Sorry! Knife broke..." The last of his sentence was practically a whisper.

Claud looked at the skull of the blood bear and saw that his spare knife's handle was broken and part of the blade cracked. Seeing everyone staring at him afterwards, Claud couldn't hold it in and just started yelling.

"You took my spare knife to hunt a god damned Blood Bear!? You should have told me to give you a sword you idiot!"

"Claud I ask for big knife, you give this... what sword?" Penta just raised his head confused and asked.

Claud facepalmed while everyone including Celia starting laughing.

However, before the laughter settled down. Penta's raging stomach had enough and growled like a prehistoric beast. The growl actually almost overshadowed everyone's laughter.

Celia giggled as she spoke this time.

"Father can you go prepare the kitchen and Penta carry this to the back. I'm sure you want to eat right?"

Penta just nodded repeatedly while picking up the bear and clamoring "yes, meat!!"

The whole Inn started getting crazier as everyone wanted to have a piece of the Blood Bear.

"Wow! I never tried Blood bear yet, the market always sells those to the Shaman tribe or the city elites, I'm so lucky!" One of the guests spoke as he was drooling at the idea of finally getting some Blood Bear meat.

"Me too! I can't believe I get to try it! Let me get a serving too!" Another guest clamored.

Seeing this Celia couldn't help but smile while holding an inquisitive look at the strength that Penta had shown. He had only been gone for a few hours and even at that travelling to the forest, killing a blood bear and carrying it back is already something. She couldn't help but gauge how strong he might be for someone who looks so young.

She knew how shamans were, they wouldn't waste their time doing this sort of menial labour. It was mostly hunters from the city that would take on such tasks while shaman's and their apprentices would usually do tasks for the tribe to raise their resource rating.

"This is going to take a while kid, get Celia to get you something to munch on while you wait," Claud told Penta after he had helped him lay the bear on the large table in the back used for preparing meat.

"Yes! Big sorry Claud for the knife." Penta still remembered to apologize again as he didn't want to get into Claud's bad side.

"Its okay kid. See these claws? I can get the blacksmith to make me something decent with these so I'll take it as a fair trade." Claud laughed before starting to skillfully disassemble the Bear.

"Celia!" Penta called out as he returned to the front while holding his stomach.

Celia turned over and saw Penta holding his stomach and figured what he wanted. "Go sit"

"Yes," Penta mumbled as he walked over to an empty seat. Within the minute Celia went over to his table and served him a warm bowl of bone boar stew that was made earlier today with some side dishes. She could tell he ate a lot from the thunderous sounds his stomach made. Shaman apprentices, especially the body-focused one's could devour a whole boar if they were hungry.

"Thank you Celia!" Penta smiled before wolfing down the food.

'Man this emperor is starting to like this beauty. She knows me so well!' Penta thought while eating.

"Celia, tonight yes?" Penta asked expectantly as he had brought over a whole Blood bear so he was sure it should cover whatever fees for the food, board and lessons.

"Sure, Penta." Celia smiled before returning to the kitchen.

The atmosphere in the Inn, however, changed as all the men were suddenly looking over at Penta with weird looks. They were giving him odd looks as though they knew and simply smiled while others were frowning at the conversations that were happening.

Celia didn't notice anything until one of her waitresses came over and looked her up and down before asking with a questioning look: "So he's the type of guy, you would go for eh?"

"What the hell are you talking about Sasha?" Celia asked confused.

"What do you mean what I'm talking about! You're still going to deny it after everyone heard you agree to his request for "tonight" hmmm?" Sasha pouted as though she wasn't trustworthy.

Celia immediately blushed as understanding dawned over her.

"No! NO! THAT WASN'T WHAT THAT MEANT! Oh god, everyone thinks that now!? So embarrassing!" Celia refused adamantly to a Sasha that gave her a "It's okay, we all know now" look.

An hour passed by as Penta kept eating, while Celia kept avoiding eye contact with him. He found it odd but ignored it as the pleas from his stomach were still unending.

"Oy! Get me two servings of that bear meat too!" Mathias shouted as he and Serge entered the Inn as the evening began.

"Get in line Mathias! Ain't no way, we're letting you have it before us!" Another guest shouted at Mathias in a familiar tone.

"Huh, and why would I care about what you fools want. I already got a deal with the kid who brought it in!" He shouted back but soon spotted Penta eating some vegetables on the side and walked over.

"Hey, kid! How's it going, food ready yet?" Mathias sat down at Penta's table with Serge joining them.

"Waiting, me too!" Penta mumbled as he too kept looking towards the kitchen every few minutes.

"Oh Mathias and Serge, welcome to the Mirage Feast! Haven't seen you two in a while." Celia smiled as she walked over.

"Hahaha, dear Celia, beautiful as always. We saw the kid bringing it in the afternoon and he told us he was headed here so we decided to swing by for a taste." Mathias laughed as he explained.

"Oh, so you guys are familiar with Penta already? Well, we will be serving soon so I'll grab you two something to drink for now." Celia smiled before heading back.

"Thanks Dear, Celia!" Both Mathias and Serge thanked.

"So your name's Penta eh? Nice to meet ya kid I'm Mathias and this is Serge." Mathias introduced while Serge nodded.

"Nice to meet too!" Penta tried his best to reciprocate their introduction.

"Let's get serving!" Claud yelled and the whole Inn started cheering.

The Blood Bear meat started getting served and when a few huge plates were placed on Penta's table. The three men immediately started drooling at the aroma.

The evening was one to be remembered as everyone was in awe of the meat and Claud's cooking skills. The meat was so tender and juicy, it practically melted in everyone's mouths. Penta made sure to get as many extra servings as Celia allowed.

The night soon came over and with everyone leaving and Mathias and Serge told Penta to call them next time he catches something good before they departed as well finally brought the Inn to a more lax vibe.

"Penta, I'll be up in a bit so go wait for me," Celia said while blushing but Penta just took off to lie in his bed after such a great meal.

"Oho, have fun you two," Sasha said as she cleared the table with a provocative look towards Celia.

"Shut up Sasha, I'm teaching him how to read and speak better! Geez!" Celia pouted as she was counting the profits of the day.

The night ended the same as the one before with Penta learning a lot more words at surprising speeds before he cosily ended up going to bed in his warm bed.