I Shall Devour Everything

'Four whole days?' Arion was perplexed after learning that he was knocked out for four entire days.

He was surprised he didn't die out of hunger and thirst after these four days and wondered if he wasn't feeling worse because of prana inside his body.

However, he couldn't understand why he even slept for two whole days and didn't wake up before.

'Was it because I was powering up or something?' Arion felt that it had something to do with his recent significant gains in his Defity.

*Growll~*

"Phew, my stomach won't just give me a break, huh," Arion chuckled as he decided to go and see Mei's cooking since he didn't feel like resting anymore.

He walked forward and opened the door, "Oh, jeez! What are you doing here?" Arion was startled upon seeing Shun standing by the door with a crutch in his hand.

Now that he was able to stand on his legs, Arion noticed that Shun was quite short and slim. He doubted if he was even 170cms tall, and thus he had to tilt his head downwards to look at him.

"So, you miraculously somehow survived, huh?" Shun asked as he scrutinized Arion top to bottom.

Arion smirked, "Why? Are you unhappy that I survived? Heh, wanna guess my Defity?" 

Seeing the proud smile on Arion's face, Shun's lips curved as he said, "Just at the peak of the Prana Binding Stage, and you are already this cocky? It seems like you have yet to jump out of the well and see the world."

Arion frowned, wondering if this little Shun fellow was still more powerful than him. Then it struck him as he remembered Mei mentioning that Shun was a legit Defier and not a quasi-Defier, unlike him.

Suddenly, he realized that the gap between him and Shun was indeed big enough for Shun to make him swallow his cockiness.

Still, Arion didn't want to admit defeat and said, "Hmph, I will catch up to you, and then we will see who will have the last laugh."

For some unknown reason, Arion was starting to feel competitive against Shun. He wondered if it was because Shun was the same age as him but way more powerful.

"Still, how did you survive? I heard that a horde of Jawfiends attacked you, and even the corpse of a Queen Jawfiend was found beside you. Who killed them all?" His eyes further narrowed as he looked up at Arion, "And the most astonishing thing is the changes that happened to you. In fact, you have become the talk of the town other than being a noble hero."

"I guess the almighty goddess Alara favors me," Arion answered, taking advantage of the beliefs the people in this world had.

"I doubt such a noble and supreme existence has time to favor someone who increased their Defity by sleeping instead of working hard like others. You have no idea how many people came and entered this house the past four days. Hearing them praise you had made my ears numb. Anyways, I am going to go take a stroll outside," Shun sighed as he limped away towards the door.

'Wow, I got that popular. I guess being a hero does have its perks,' Arion chuckled inwardly.

Shun suddenly stopped and asked, "I forgot to ask. Do you really not remember what happened after that Queen Jawfiend attacked you?"

Arion said in a confused tone, "No, I don't."

"I see…" A contemplative light shone in his eyes as he walked away without saying anything anymore.

Arion made his way to the dinner table and saw many dishes being kept and saw Mei coming out of the kitchen with plates in her hands.

"Ari, actually, I didn't cook since I forgot that Aunt Yaro had brought over so much food for the past few days that I didn't want to let them go to waste. She had been bringing them over for you in case you woke up. She had also been feeling really bad about what happened, especially since she felt that it was wrong of her to leave you all alone that day," Mei said as her eyebrows drew together.

Arion said casually, "It was not really necessary. It was not her fault. I was the one who went out on my own. I guess I have to tell Aunt Yaro personally that I have no hard feelings. Besides, she had to go and save the neighboring ward. There's nothing she could have done."

Mei beatifically smiled, "Well, I guess she will be relieved to hear that from you when she visits here again. Now, she has sent over your favorite meatballs and some medicinal food with pranic herbs mixed along to fasten your recovery."

She then took a good look at Arion and continued, "But I guess you are already fully recovered. Still, these medical foods can help your Defity since I heard that the herbs she used were quite expensive. I told her to let me buy them, but she beat me to it, and I felt quite bad that she was doing so much."

"Well, let her. That way, she will at least feel better," Arion replied as he sat down at the table and greedily eyed the meatballs. 

He was in no mood to eat the medicinal food since he knew that anything with the name 'medicine' always tasted awful.

Mei looked on amusedly as Arion popped a meatball into his mouth. But as he kept chewing, his expression contoured as if he was feeling disgusted. And he indeed was feeling as if he was chewing some rotten food that somebody dug up from a gutter even though the delectable-looking meatballs obviously looked nothing like that.

"Blech!" Arion made a retching sound as he vomited out the meatball he ate, much to the shock of Mei.

If he had vomited out the food she cooked, she wouldn't be this shocked since the meatballs Yaro always made for him were one of his favorite foods.

"Ari, what's the problem??" Mei worriedly asked as she rushed over and patted his back.

She was sure the meatballs Yaro sent over were not bad but freshly made on the same morning, especially when she ate one.

"Cough...cough...I...I don't know...it just tasted like...It definitely didn't taste as it usually does," Arion said with a puzzled expression as he looked at the bowl of meatballs.

Mei knitted her brows and took one of the meatballs from the bowl, and took a bite.

"Mhmm…" She chewed and swallowed but found nothing unusual or distasteful. In fact, the taste couldn't be better and seemed more delicious than the usual ones Yaro used to send over.

It was obvious that Yaro went all in at least in making these meatballs to make Arion feel good and happy.

Since she had only taken a bite, she offered the same meatball to Arion and said, "Try a bite from this. I ate some of it, and it tasted perfectly alright. Maybe the one you ate before must have had some problem."

'Well, an indirect kiss it is,' Arion happily accepted it and took a large bite, feeling quite confident after Mei's review.

However, even after taking a bite again, his expression grimaced, and he even found it hard to swallow a morsel of it.

He couldn't find it in himself to swallow such unsavory food and had no other choice but to spit it out again.

Mei frowned, wondering what was wrong this time and why he was unable to eat such delicious food.

Even someone who hates meat would find themselves watering at the sight of Yaro's meatballs after tasting one.

Arion felt that it not only tasted extremely unpleasant, but it didn't even taste like he had put food in his mouth...at least not one that he could taste and chew.

"I...I don't know...it just doesn't taste like before...I couldn't even swallow it," Arion was the one who was feeling weird and strange about this.

He was sure that nothing was wrong with the meatballs since even Mei ate right in front of him. He felt that the problem laid with him.

Mei also felt the same and held his wrist as she inspected his body but found nothing out of the ordinary.

In fact, his body seemed to be in top-notch condition, making it impossible for anything to be wrong.

"I don't see any problem with the meatball nor you…" Mei mumbled in a confused tone.

Arion decided to test by eating something else and grabbed the medicinal balls Yaro had prepared using expensive pranic herbs.

Even though he hated eating anything related to medicinal stuff, he took in a deep breath as he picked one of the medicinal balls in his hand and looked at it for a moment before taking a small bite from it.

He didn't dare to take a large bite and then vomit like before.

He closed his eyes as if preparing to spit it out again. However, his eyes opened wide as he mumbled in a surprised tone, "So tasty…"