Chapter 26 - Last Night's Dinner And Today's Breakfast

The elderly woman wore a purple blouse coupled with a pearl necklace hanging from her neck.

She had a brownish complexion on her skin.

Grey, white hair brought upon by old age.

Her eyes had rounded glasses below.

"My, my, aren't you boys awfully polite."

She said.

"The name's Dinah. As you've seen based from my battle scars, I was once like you, a hardened soldier fighting for humanity's future. But they deemed me unfit for combat because of my left arm."

Dinah tried moving her left arm around, to no avail.

"What happened to you, granny?"

Yin asked.

"It all started millions of years ago, young child, when the Angel's waged war on mankind…"

A man in his thirties came out of a room in the restaurant, he wore apparel befitting that of a waiter's.

Although the man was a bit rough, you could tell he had a kind heart underneath.

"S-Sorry, what will it be, guys?"

He asked after pulling out a pen and paper, preparing to write our orders down.

"My mother has probably finished introducing herself already, I'm her son, we run this small yet humble restaurant together. People around here call me George. You can call me the same as well."

Everybody took turns shaking the sweet mother and son's hands.

Gavin was the one who told him what the group wanted to eat, that's how much he knows their appetite.

"What happened to you guys? You look pretty awful, and obviously famished beyond belief!"

The elderly woman said.

"Yeah, well, we have been kind of getting chased by the Red King and stuff from midnight till morning. As you can see Suna right here resembles that of a ghoul more than a lady."

Luken retorted while pointing a finger at Suna's barely recognizable face.

After hearing the Commander mention the 'Red King' in broad daylight, this prompted George to immediately close the restaurant down.

Luckily nobody else heard it, as they were the only customers that early in the morning.

George locked the windows, closed the curtains, placed five padlocks on the main entrance all in an instant.

"What did you say?"

"Yikes. My brain's too drained to mind the words coming out of my mouth, sorry for that."

Luken apologized.

"Seeing as you reacted to his name, just what do you guys know about the Red King?"

Gavin asked in a slightly interrogative manner.

"I know the underworld goons and thugs mainly operate underneath, but lately, they've been growing bolder and bolder, some have even reported sightings of them right here, in Rizako. And all of the reports say that an elderly man dressed in red clothes are leading them."

George replied.

"We should just deal with these guys, once and for all!"

Yin exclaimed.

"Did you hear what George just said, Yin? We can't fight outside openly and place the people of Rizako in danger. There's got to be another way."

Yin frowned.

He realized his emotions just got the better of him.

He knew better than to confront these shadowy menaces out in the open.

"Cisco is ways away from here, I bet you are all hungry from that sleepless and starved journey. Son, accompany our guests, I'll handle the cooking in the kitchen."

"Alright, mom."

The man took a seat in the counter and made himself comfortable.

Although the restaurant was only modest in size, it was amazingly arranged.

The oaky, wooden walls was painted and varnished with a brighter yet still wooden color.

"I saw the sign outside, Stein's Restaurant. What's the story behind that?"

Suna asked George out of sheer curiosity.

"T-That's my father. He died a few years ago, he was a B rank Water Slayer in the Slayer Corps. They could not even retrieve his body, the men carrying his remains had to drop him because the Ogre chasing them was slowly catching up. That's how it is. My father was a benevolent and kind man, he would not even hurt a fly. He even told us he was going to start a restaurant right here with the zennies he was going to earn working as a soldier. We're just out here slowly realizing his dreams."

"I'm sorry for asking. I really, truly am."

Suna apologized with a heavy heart.

"It's good, he'd be happy seeing mom and I making his dream into a reality. Let's talk about the Red King later when you've finished eating, I can't imagine just how tiresome it must be to run from Cisco straight to the forest at midnight without stopping."

George went to the kitchen to help Dinah prepare the meals.

"Really, Luken? Did you really have to mention the Red King that loudly in a restaurant?"

Gavin had a look of disappointment on his face as he looked at the Commander.

"Hey, don't blame me, all that running and absence of sleep can take a toll on a young man's body."

"Stop calling yourself young, it's weird."

After a few minutes, the aroma of bacon which originally led them to the place started to occupy the atmosphere again.

It was not just bacon. There was also sausages and potatoes.

Dinah opened the door together with her son, George.

They were carrying plates of roasted sausages and fried bacon served with a side of mashed potatoes and four glasses of beer.

Even Gavin, who was extremely behaved, started to drool from the sight and smell of it.

"Thank you for the food!"

They all dug in and ate what was both supposedly their dinner last night and their current breakfast.

After an hour-long feast and three refills and servings, they were finally full.

"Hang on, Yin, you don't do too good with alcohol, right?"

Suna pointed this fact out to him.

It was too late. Yin was choking on the food and had no choice but to down it with a full chug of beer.

"Well, just don't say I didn't warn you."

Suna on the other hand was unfazed by whatever alcoholic beverage there was on Niflheim.

This has always fascinated both Luken and Gavin.

"So, let's talk about the Red King more thoroughly then, shall we?"

Luken said as he placed his palms on the table.