I've Been Exiled, But I'm Alive and Well

“As I thought, it’s much easier being alone.”

I relaxed as I walked around Arburn.

I didn’t have any particular goal in mind, so I just looked at the stores I came across. This was quite fun in itself.

Suddenly, I saw a poster that said,

“Large serving challenge?”

It said, “If you finish a large omurice in 30 minutes, it’s free.”

“So I can eat there for free.”

At the moment, I still had money to spare.

But I can’t waste money.

The idea of a free meal sounded appealing.

And I was just hungry.

“I have to do it now, don’t I?”

So I headed for the restaurant that the posters specified.

When I entered the restaurant, it was crowded, probably because it was lunchtime.

Most of the customers were men. And there were huge omurice on their tables.

Female customers aside, the male customers must have been driven here by the posters.

Free food is so tempting. I can understand why.

The young waitress led me to a seat for two in the center of the room.

“What would you like to order?”

“I’d like to try the large serving challenge that was mentioned on the posters.”

“Eh?”

The waitress’s hand froze as she tried to write the order on a piece of paper.

She stared at me like I was kidding. And the surrounding people looked at me with surprised faces.

I felt a little uncomfortable.

“Umm…”

“Ah, y, yes! Large serving challenge, right! Understood!”

The dumbfounded waitress hurriedly wrote down the order on a piece of paper and left.

The giant omurice was brought out in about ten minutes and attracted a lot of attention.

I wondered why I was the only one getting attention when there were other customers who had ordered it.

Yup, it looks delicious.

“Please finish it before all the sand in the hourglass falls down. If you don’t finish it, you will be charged a fee, so please be careful.”

That reminds me, there was also a notice on the poster about what happens if you don’t finish the omurice.

I was confident that I could finish it, so I didn’t pay attention to it, though.

“Thank you for the meal.”

I ate with a big spoon that was fitting of the giant omurice.

It was quite delicious. I can eat as much as I like.

I was able to finish it in about 20 minutes after I started eating.

As I put the spoon down, a cheer echoed through the restaurant.

I looked around to see what was going on, and all the customers were looking at me.

“Lass, you are amazing!”

“Yeah! I can’t believe you ate all that…”

“I couldn’t eat even half when I challenged it the last time…”

Applause accompanied the praise.

I don’t think I did something that incredible, though.

“This is incredible! You are our first female customer who completed our challenge!”

The waitress who took my order praised me.

I’m the first?

So that’s why they cheered so loudly.

“Thank you for the meal. It was very delicious.”

“Please come again!”

Then she gave me a discount coupon for the restaurant.

I put the discount coupon in my pocket, so I could keep it safe. When I left the restaurant, I saw someone crouching in front of the entrance.

“What are you doing, Jed?”

I looked down at him in disgust, wondering if he was following me.

He gave me a wry smile, as if he had seen that I was taking on the large serving challenge.

“Well… you are quite amazing, Elle.”

Jed muttered, looking somewhat depressed.