The real fight: surviving inside a manor

After stating our purpose, one of the three guards in the front yard enters Mr. Wolfe's manor to relay the message. About half an hour later, our visit is approved. Two guards show us into the audience room of the manor, where the local lord is awaiting us. I'd better not mess this up.

After walking us to about eight metres from the throne, the guards kneel down and bend their heads.
"Lord Wolfe, we have brought the magic beast hunters."

As I see the rest of the party starting to bow down, I quickly follow suit and go for a 90-degree bow.

"Mister Wolfe, I am Thomas, the leader of this party. We would like to help you with the electric boar on your territory."

"Very well, raise your heads."

As I get back up from bowing, I see that all the others only went for a 45-degree bow. Better this way than the opposite? I think it's better to go a bit overkill instead of being rude. The lord speaks up after everyone has fully raised their heads.

"Guards, you are hereby dismissed."

The guards bow again before they leave in silence. The lord smiles widely, showing his pearly teeth.

"Thomas, huh. I've heard a few tales about your party, taking out magic beasts in more remote places as a way to test newbies. Truthfully, I have to commend you for your services to people outside Lionhead proper."

"I humbly accept your words of praise. We are simply doing our part during these trying times."

"Whether you are just doing your part or going above and beyond, I appreciate your efforts and would like to invite you to a banquet before you depart. You can take the leftovers with you as rations for your travels."

Are we eating here? Nobody told me about that! I have no clue about etiquette or any of that stiff stuff. Can I just go outside and eat yesterday's leftovers together like Clover?

"Thank you very much. Good nutritious food will surely aid the morale and keep my men, even long after this task."

About a minute later, half a dozen servants enter the audience room, guiding the rest of us, as the lord leads the way with Thomas by his side. Before Mr. Wolfe even opens the door, the scent of our next meal enters my nostrils. As we walk in, there are ten tables set, a dazzling display on each of them. There's a big basket of rice in the middle of the table, surrounded by all kinds of fresh and cooked vegetables and types of fish. There was even some kind of small roll in which fermented rice, fish and spices were combined.

The young lady guiding me gently pulls my sleeve.
"This way, sir. Here is your table."

I'm seated as far away as possible from Thomas, but at least Henry is very close to me. The tables are divided into two rows. Mr. Wolfe sits at the head, where the two rows meet. On my side of the table, there's August next to the lord. One table closer to me is someone slightly younger than me, who looks like Mr. Wolfe Junior, so I assume this is his son. To finish this row, we have the tables for Henry and me.

On the other side, Thomas is seated next to the host and an old man, maybe the father or some kind of advisor of our host. Andy is seated next to the old man, and on the other side, Pierre.
At the end of their row of tables is Leo. Too bad the lines get further away from each other, so I can't properly talk to Leo without speaking so loudly that everyone else overhears what I say.

"Would you like water, tea or Sake?"
As I was so busy evaluating my situation, the servant next to me talks to me, almost making me jump, which would throw the entire table with everything on it onto the ground. Both for the sake of not embarrassing our party and not wasting the food, I'm glad I almost jumped instead of flying through the ceiling.

"Tea, please."

She pours me a dark, steaming liquid from a porcelain pot.
I had no clue the beverage called tea was this warm, so I suppose I'll have to wait a bit before I can drink. Considering everyone has their drinks now, it means we can start eating, right?

Wrong! Everyone claps their hands and says, "Thanks for the food." I quickly follow suit, then pick up the chopsticks and start deciding what to eat. I can hear Thomas and mister Wolfe talking, but it's too far away to understand what they're saying.

"Enjoy the food" The servant says as she leaves. Apparently, all of the servants are leaving, and it's just the ten of us remaining.

I start off with some orange slices of fish, unlike any fish I've eaten before, it has a very distinct flavour, which gets enhanced by the salt on it. I try one of the rolls with this fish and fermented rice. The fermented rice suppresses the taste of the fish, as the dark brown sauce I dipped it in takes over with a combination of salty and umami. I have never had so many tastes in a single bite, never mind being able to mix and match whatever ingredient or dish I want with the sauce I want.

After I try about a dozen different things, I take a very short break. Right as I want to put my chopsticks down, Henry mildly bumps into me before talking silently enough that others can't possibly overhear what he says. Yet it's not silent enough to be whispering, which would be rude and unwanted secrecy.

"Make sure to put your chopstick on that little ornament in the corner when you put them down to drink, and do not pour drinks for yourself. Keep track of when others need a refill of their drink instead. In your case, that's just me."

I take a sip from this 'tea' and to my surprise, the drink is like super bitter! I quickly throw it all back, then extinguish and refresh my throat with a big scoop of rice. As I'm eating this rice, Henry explodes into laughter as he pours me some water.

"I take it you would rather have this instead of more tea?"

"Y-yeah, was it that obvious?"

"It was, I hope our host didn't see you."

After a while, the fine dining finally comes to a close as I eat some of that sweet, stretchy white stuff. Before we leave on our journey again, we stop by a room filled with things called sculptures and paintings first. I have never seen this much paper displayed in one room, but all of the heads staring at me, each one looking more serious than the last, is a little unnerving.

Honestly, if I didn't have to deal with all this stiff stuff, this could have been one of the best days of my life. Getting to eat at noon is one thing, but the food was so good I could have licked the plates clean, which I didn't do, by the way! Being so tense about not making mistakes depreciated the experience.

Back in the Carriage Thomas seems happy, so I guess the banquet was a success?

"You should be glad Mr. Wolfe was not as stuck up as I expected him to be, he talked great, and we just laughed it off when you recoiled from the tea."

"So he saw that?"

"Everyone did, but all in all, you did okay. I'm just glad you didn't put your chopsticks in the food like a flag when resting."

Maybe I'm best off not telling him that was exactly what I wanted to do before Henry told me there was an ornament to put them in. Henry returns to the front of the carriage as if my thoughts summoned him. He took a little bit longer to get here. A guard told him some details about the route and the boar that could be useful before we leave.

"Better hold on to your seats, we're going through a rarely used path in the hills again, it's sure to get bumpy again!"

Just my luck, I hope I'll be fine bouncing all over the place right after eating so much.