Chương 4: Uvogin's Tears

The smell of the Kobe steak filled the room. For a moment, all four of them froze.

"Aren... were you hiding food on you?" Uvogin blurted first.

"No, that can't be right. I checked you before. You didn't have anything."

"No," Machi said calmly.

"It appeared directly in his hand. He didn't take it out." Nobunaga's eyes sharpened.

"If he made it appear, is that like the strange powers the elders' bodyguards have?" Aren knew what he meant. Nen. He had no idea how he had gained this ability, but he was sure he had not awakened Nen. If he had, he should have felt something. For now, he had no good explanation.

"I don't know," he said.

"I just felt like I could do it, so I did." Uvogin's eyes lit up.

"Forget how for now. Can you make more?" For once, the loudest person in the room had asked the most important question. They did not need to know the source of Aren's power. Not immediately. What mattered was the result. If he could keep making food, they would never have to worry about starving again. In Meteor City, food was survival. Nobunaga gave Uvogin a surprised look.

"I didn't know you could ask smart questions." Machi glanced at him.

"Even fools get lucky sometimes." Uvogin ignored both of them.

"Aren, try it again."

"I... probably can." Before he finished speaking, another steak appeared in his left hand. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Uvogin snatched it and bit straight into the meat. Juice, tenderness, rich beef, sauce balanced so perfectly it felt unreal. For Uvogin, who had spent his entire life in Meteor City, the taste hit like a miracle. He had once believed Machi's roast chicken was the best food in the world. Now that world shattered.

Tears ran down his face. Even so, his mouth never stopped moving. Nobunaga, who had known him longer than anyone, had never seen him like this. He grabbed Uvogin by the shoulders and shook him.

"Uvogin! Hey, what's wrong with you?" Uvogin swallowed the last bite, drew in a huge breath, and roared, "That was incredible!" The shout made Aren's ears ring. Nobunaga, standing right beside him, suffered even worse. Only Machi escaped. The moment she saw Uvogin inhale, she covered her ears.

"Idiot!" Nobunaga slapped him over the head.

"Why are you yelling?" Uvogin did not care. He pointed at the others, practically glowing.

"Nobunaga, Machi, hurry up and try it. I'm telling you, it's so good you won't believe it."

"Can it really be that dramatic?" Nobunaga muttered. He admitted the meat looked good, but Uvogin had cried over it. That seemed excessive.

"It is. Try it. Aren, give us a few more." From the feeling he had just experienced, creating food did not seem to cost him anything. Aren aimed his right hand at a plate and produced a dozen steaks in a neat stack. Considering Uvogin's size, a few pieces would not be enough. Uvogin grabbed one in each hand and looked at Nobunaga and Machi expectantly, like someone desperate for his friends to understand his discovery. Under that stare, they each picked up a piece and tasted it.

The instant the beef touched their tongues, both of their eyes widened. A warmth they had never known spread from the taste itself through their entire bodies. Now they understood why Uvogin had cried. It really was that good.

"Hahahaha! See? I told you I wasn't lying." For a while, nobody spoke. They simply ate. Even Machi, usually the coldest one in the room, lost some of her restraint. In the end, she was still a child raised in a place where food was never guaranteed. Watching her eat with such focus made something in Aren's chest soften. As for Uvogin and Nobunaga, their size made sympathy a little harder to summon. Machi seemed to sense his gaze.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes, as if asking whether he had been thinking something rude. Aren only smiled. She stared at him for another moment, then surrendered to the steak in front of her.

'For all that ice, she's still young.' Aren cut into his own steak. He still felt no hunger, but good food could soothe the mind even when the body did not need it. After the day he had endured, he would take that comfort. When the meal ended, Uvogin and Nobunaga sprawled shamelessly on the floor, hands on their swollen stomachs and faces full of bliss. Machi was less obvious, but even she had eaten her fill. Aren had created more than thirty steaks. He had eaten two. The other three had handled the rest.

By the end, he could only stare. This really was the kind of world where a child with a bit of training could push a ton. The appetites here were just as unreasonable.