Chapter 101: The Pale Feast

Top of the noon, everyone.

This is your friendly Narcissus.

—

[The Pale Feast]

[Description: A banquet table set in the middle of nowhere, adorned with rotting food and decomposed flowers, yet still strangely enticing. The chairs are always occupied by ghostly, translucent figures that appear to be enjoying the feast, but the moment someone attempts to sit, they are pulled into the macabre ritual.

The food on the table warps into writhing, living things—twitching eyeballs, hands that grasp at your throat, and still-beating hearts. As the new guest partakes, their body slowly turns translucent, becoming one of the ghastly diners. The more you eat, the quicker you fade from existence]

[Hint: The key to escaping the feast is to never partake, but breaking away requires someone else willingly sitting in your place—a cruel cycle of sacrifice]

—

And I'm currently dealing with a Calamity Object that couldn't be solved with overwhelming firepower.

Right now, Kuzunoha has suppressed all of our recruits with her arcane ribbons ever since Amelia, out of all people, is trying to sneak past beyond my sight and tries to get the feast on that accursed table.

And after checking the Moods and Sanity of everyone, it seemed like Amelia was not the only one who was affected by this Calamity Object.

"You're not feeling hungry, Verina?" I jested.

"... Don't make me ask Kuzunoha to bind you too."

"Since when the two of you are in cahoots- Nevermind, you just want to see me being binded by those ribbons."

"We got caught," Kuzunoha said with such a guilt-free smile.

Kuzunoha had acted quickly, her arcane ribbons coiling around each recruit like serpents, binding their movements and preventing them from making any reckless decisions. The ribbons shimmered with a faint, ethereal light, contrasting starkly with the dark and rotten landscape around us.

Amelia, who had been the first to make a move towards the table, strained against the ribbons with a frustrated growl, her military discipline cracking under the influence of the Calamity, something that I didn't expect at all. "I wasn't going to eat anything—I just wanted a closer look."

"Not with a drool on your face."

Kuzunoha's voice was calm but firm, her parasol resting lightly on her shoulder as she kept the ribbons in place with a mere flick of her wrist. "Dearie, the moment you even think about sitting down, you're already halfway to becoming one of those lovely diners."

Amelia gritted her teeth, her blue eyes blazing with defiance, but she didn't argue further. The tension in the ribbons around her slowly eased as she stopped struggling, though her gaze remained fixed on the table, as if part of her still longed to break free and join the feast.

It was quite horrifying to see someone susceptible to Calamity Object to change their personality and demeanor right in front of me.

The others weren't faring much better.

Yora, the scout, was breathing heavily, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and fascination as she stared at the ghastly figures. "It's… it's like they're enjoying it," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I can hear them laughing. How can they laugh?"

"They're not laughing," Kara snapped, her tone sharp and irritated. The brawler had her arms crossed over her chest, her muscles bulging slightly against the magical restraints. "It's all in your head. This is just another one of those Calamity tricks."

"I don't know…" Erika mumbled from behind her, her oscillating owl-like eyes darting nervously between the feast and the recruits. "I can hear them too. It's like… whispers, telling me to sit down. They're saying it won't hurt. They are asking me if I want to have a taste at those scrumptious and lovely meatballs. I'm not lying!"

Kara shot her a look, her dark eyes narrowing. "You're not seriously thinking of listening to them, are you?"

"I... I don't know," Erika admitted, her voice barely a whisper. "It just… sounds so convincing. Sounds so… delicious…" Drool started to form on the edge of her mouth.

The food probably looked different in their eyes. Because in my eyes, they were disgusting.

"Don't be stupid," Naosi called out, her voice carrying a more pragmatic tone. The weaponsmith was sitting cross-legged on the ground, clearly trying to ignore the pull of the feast. "This is classic bait. You sit down, and you're done for. No one's laughing, and no one's whispering except the damn Calamity itself."

Sera, the mysterious forager, whimpered softly as she tugged at the ribbons around her wrists. "It's not just whispers… I can see them looking at me. They're waiting for me to sit down. They know I'm going to. I… I can't stop thinking about it."

Yeah, that was a goddamn lie, her Moods and Sanity were barely affected.

This little missy was really trying her best to maintain her timid persona. I applaud that. But sometimes, it irked me, since it reminded me of myself

Callista, ever the one to break tension with humor, let out a low chuckle. "Honestly, it's kind of poetic, isn't it? A feast that devours you while you think you're devouring it. I can't decide if it's genius or just plain cruel."

Lydia, the supposed strategist of the Rough Mist, remained eerily silent, her sharp gray eyes observing the table with cold calculation. I could practically see the gears turning in her mind as she analyzed the situation, though she hadn't voiced any of her thoughts yet.

Kuzunoha, standing with her usual air of casual elegance, let out a soft sigh. "It's both, darling. Genius and cruel. The Pale Feast is one of the more interesting Calamities I've encountered. It doesn't use brute force to break you down. No, it's far more patient than that~ It plays on your hunger, your curiosity, your desire for something more.

And once you give in... well, you become part of the feast~"

"Right, thank you for stating the obvious," Verina playfully retorted.

"Not everyone can understand the obvious, I'm just helping those with such a disability~"

Amelia, who had been glaring at the table this whole time, finally spoke up again. "So, what's the plan, then? We can't just sit here tied up and become a burden when the next wave of Calamity Object arrives."

Well, you're still a burden regardless of the scenario.

I smirked. "What, you don't trust in Kuzunoha's lovely ribbons?"

Amelia shot me a look, half annoyed, half amused. "They're doing a fine job of keeping me from making a mistake, but they're not exactly a solution."

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Kuzunoha chuckled softly. "Ah, but they are keeping you alive, dear. And that's more than enough for now." Sёarᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I guess Amelia was trying her best to reclaim her own pride. I'm her new employer, and she probably didn't expect that we would be encountering this kind of Calamity Object on the first day.

After all, her performance had been spectacular before the Pale Feast arrived.