23. DON’T TOUCH MY MEAL WITH YOUR FILTHY FINGERS YOU BARBARIAN

"Wakie-Wakie, you two should be sleeping in your bed," whispered a child into their ears as Luz groaned in pain while rubbing his eyes.

"Lemme continue sleeping," yawned Luz while rolling to the side on the ground.

Some of them chuckled at the sight of their older roommates sleeping on the ground, while the one carrying the most responsible after Lewis merely sighed before changing his clothes.

Nevertheless, the two woke up a few minutes later due to the chattering of the others with whom they shared their rooms.

Hearing them made the groaning Luz lament why he even left Master Simon's place. It was so peaceful, and he even had his own place. That stingy mage also probably had some medicines against aching muscles.

Luz reached out to the distance and muttered in regret, "Master Simon..... Please save me.... I miss your place," before standing up.

Groaningly, the two changed their clothes before leaving for the canteen.
As always, Luz was amazed by the interior design of the mansion. In the end, Lewis had to drag Luz behind him by the collar as his attention was captured by every statue and portrait, no matter how ordinary it was.

"Why do I have to be responsible for such a person," lamented Lewis. His mood immediately improved the moment he reached the canteen.
Upon reaching the canteen, Luz was astonished by what he saw. He knew that Master Brian had many people working under him, but he underestimated the number by a factor of 3.

'Also, why are there so many females!? I haven't seen that many till now. Well, at least they look all beautiful. Wait a sec… If there are that many females… could it be that Master Brian has a harem!?' shot through Luz's head as he moved his gaze through the canteen.

Seeing Luz's shock, Lewis whispered to him: "Bro… stop staring at these girls and grab a plate. Get what you want since it won't cost you anything."

Nodding, Luz followed Lewis while staring with a sparkle in his eyes at all the trays filled with food offered to them.

'Is that heaven?' went through his head as he gulped down his drool.

The smell made his stomach rumble, and foreign voices immediately echoed through his head.

「EAT」echoed through his head and Luz merely shook his head, questioning himself: 'Am I schizophrenic, or do I hear voices cause I am tired? Well, whatever, I'm hungry.'

The two strolled through the cafeteria and picked any food that caught their interest onto their plate. The choices offered to them were enormous, as they could choose between ten different types of main dishes. Despite Luz giving his best, he failed to recognize most meals.

'From what kind of animal does this piece of meat belongs to, and what are those funny tentacle thing? What kind of vegetable is that? Also, what means vénomouse? Is that a dessert? Whatever… I'll try it,' thought Luz while picking every funny-looking dish he didn't recognize.

Upon reaching for a dish, Luz felt a strange impulse shooting through his body while hearing the sentence:「THIS ONE. EAT IT.」

'I'LL LISTEN TO YOUR DEMANDS, THE MOMENT YOU PAY RENT FOR LIVING IN MY GODDAMN MIND, YOU FUCKING SQUATTER,' thought Luz while grinding his teeth before picking the next thing onto his plate.

'Strange,' Luz thought as he realized that the impulse's intensity varied from meal to meal. It didn't take him long to realize that the impulses he felt for vegetables were weaker compared to the rest.

'Wait!! Could it be that these funny voices in my head don't like vegetables?' thought Luz with a smile.

「HIGH NUTRITION BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL」echoed through his mind. Luz shook his head, thinking: 'I LIKE YOUR FUNNY WORDS, SCHIZOPHRENIC VOICES IN MY HEAD. BUT YOU GOTTA EAT YOUR VEGETABLES."

Hearing no answer, Luz grinned before taking a portion of what the voices told him.

'Maybe the funny voices are my stomach, and that thing probably knows what it wants.'

Meanwhile, Lewis, who had been observing Luz the whole time, had one question on his mind.

'Is he retarded, or why the hell is he making weird grimaces every few seconds!?' thought Lewis before shaking his head and winking to Luz.

Luz nodded, and the two went towards a table where three familiar people were sitting. These three were, of course, Master Brian, Simon, and Liv. Nah, just kidding. Unfortunally, the three waiting for them were the crazy giant Francis who gave his best to fit onto the chair, the tired emo girl Alice and Anna, who is boring.

"Luz, have you never eaten in your life, or why did you fill your plate so full? Never mind, eat as much as you can so that you can grow as big and strong as me," commented Francis with a chuckle while using a knife and fork, unlike the stereotype that one might have of a giant barbarian.

Luz simply chuckled before tasting the different things on his plate. 'They tasted weird… Well, I like it, so that's fine. I guess,' thought Luz as Anne asked: "Yo…I heard that you stayed in Master Simon's tower for like a week. So what did he do to you?"

With a smile, Luz answered: "I've got used as a guinea pig for several days."

"How was it?" asked Anne in curiosity as her eyes were filled with sparkles.

"It was horrible. I hear funny voices in my head," Luz responded while continuing eating.

"Now, you even caught my curiosity. Tell me more about this experiment and what happened there," chimed Alice in.

But before Luz could even comment on it, a familiar voice replied: "Sorry, Alice. But we aren't allowed to share such pieces of information with beginner mages. But, Luz spent several days lying in a water tank with several cables connecting him to machines."

'Calm down, Luz. Just pretend that she isn't here. If you ignore her, maybe she will disappear…' thought Luz as he continued eating.

"Liv, why are you even hear? Shouldn't you be eating with fellow intermediate mages?" asked Lewis, puzzled by her presence.

"Spoilsport," uttered Anne, in disappointment by her answer.

Liv merely chuckled before taking the seat next to Luz.
"Well, I've missed my dear brother,~" she replied while rubbing a handkerchief against Luz's cheek.

"Wait, really!?" asked Luz, confused by her answer as he never expected it.

"Nah, not really, hehehe. I just came here since Luz forgot to check with Master Simon for some follow-up scans," explained Liv before grabbing a piece of meat from Luz's plate with her fingers.

"DON'T TOUCH MY MEAL WITH YOUR FILTHY FINGERS YOU BARBARIAN," Luz commented with grinding teeth while immediately nailing her finger onto the plate.

"Hehe… Luz, my favorite brother… First of all, I'm a delicate elf lady and not a brute like you. Second, has nobody ever told you that you shouldn't be hurting girls and that you should share your meals with your elders, hehe?" Liv remarked with a grin while suppressing the pain.

"Hmmm, you got a good point, but maybe try looking at it from a mage apprentice's point of view. A GODDAMN INTERMEDIATE MAGE IS TRYING TO ABUSE HER AUTHORITY TO STEAL FROM A POOR SLA-…" Luz's voice grew louder with every word, and Lewis immediately put his hand over Luz's mouth while Liv seized the moment to steal a whole piece of steak.

'NOOO, DON'T STEAL MY FOOD,' went through Luz's head as he watched the brutish elf girl gulp down that piece without a single bite.

'THAT BISH DEFINITELY DID THAT TO ANNOY ME,' he sobbed, dejected before devouring the rest as fast as possible so that she couldn't steal any more pieces.

"Lewis, I'll borrow you that young lad. Where should I drop him after I'm done with him?" Liv asked with a smile, to which one couldn't say no.

"Well, just drop him at field five, the one with the flowers whose smell you despise," commented Lewis nonchalantly while sipping on water.

"I'll don't worry," chuckled Liv before grabbing Luz on his collar and dragging him behind.

"No… please let me stay with my friends… don't you have any mercy with this poor broken man," pleaded Luz horrified as he struggled against his elf overlord.

"No bitch. You left the tower without saying goodbye to me. You don't deserve mercy. Also, I already told you that there is no escape from me, darling,~" Liv replied in a seductive voice.

Horrified, Luz immediately shouted: "Francis… please… save me."
But the latter merely shook his head, telling Luz with his gaze: "Motherfucker I'm a beginner mage, while she is an intermediate mage… What the hell do you expect me to do against that crazy monster?"

A defeated but familiar voice screaming: "NOOOO." was the last thing the group heard before shifting their focus back onto their meal, pretending that Luz never existed.

"Today's meal tastes especially well," Francis commented, and the others nodded silently.