Chapter 103: Picking The Forbidden Fruit

"Look closely, Lydia," I prodded softly. "Which piece doesn't fit? What here is different from everything else?"

Her gaze swept over the table again—over the rotting meats, the moldy bread, the sour wine, and the basket of decayed fruits. Her eyes lingered on the translucent diners, their ghostly hands lifting decayed, pulsating organs to their mouths in a grotesque mockery of life. And then, her eyes fell on it.

A single, grape-like fruit nestled among the decay. Unlike the rest of the banquet, it was untouched by rot, glistening with an unnatural sheen. It was small, almost easy to overlook amidst the horror of the feast, but it was whole.

Where everything else had succumbed to the passage of time and the corruption of the Pale Feast, this fruit remained pristine, out of place yet undeniably integral to the ritual's structure.

Lydia's eyes widened slightly, the realization dawning. "The fruit," she whispered. "That's it. It's not decayed like the rest. It's the only thing here that's still intact."

"Go on," I said, my voice soft but encouraging.

"The feast is a trap," Lydia continued, her voice gaining strength as her thoughts crystallized. "But that fruit… it doesn't belong in that environment. It's the core that manifests the phenomenon. If we take it, we disrupt the ritual without sitting at the table. It's the one piece that holds everything together."

"And what happens when you take the key from the lock?" I asked, already knowing the answer but wanting her to say it aloud.

Lydia's eyes met mine, a spark of understanding in them. "It all falls apart."

I grinned. "Exactly."

"Well done, darling." Kuzunoha smiled approvingly, twirling her parasol again. "Looks like some of the investment is worth it, after all."

Seeing that one of the recruits was capable of such critical thinking, Kuzunoha seemed to lower her animosity towards them. At the same time, Verina was holding this expressionless but smug pride that Kuzunoha was the first one to yield her original mindset.

"Alright," I said, my voice taking on a more commanding tone. "Here's the plan. No one moves except me. I'll take the fruit. The rest of you stay back, and for the love of all things, don't touch anything else."

The recruits nodded, still bound by Kuzunoha's arcane ribbons but now noticeably more relaxed. The realization that there was a way out, a solution just within reach, had soothed the palpable tension in the air.

I stepped forward with confidence, deliberately. The ghostly figures at the table continued their silent feast, oblivious to my presence, as if nothing outside their eternal banquet mattered.

My eyes focused on that pristine grape-like fruit, its surface shimmering faintly in the dim light. It was small, almost insignificant in appearance, but I knew better. It was the core of the entire ritual—the one piece that held the Pale Feast in place.

Out of all the options, fruit carries the least overt connotations of surrender or overindulgence. It is associated with temptation, yes, but also with knowledge and control.

While wine, meat, honey, and cheese all carry connotations of overindulgence or corruption in their spoiled forms, fruit—especially when taken rather than eaten—suggests restraint and control.

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There was a reason why it was called the Pale Feast.

I was a little bit off from the center, but this feast stupidly references the fourth horseman of the apocalypse—the one riding a pale horse, has been personified as Death, and symbolizes plague and pestilence.

The food looked diseased, and the attendance of the feast was none other than dead people. There was also numerous symbolism with the food used on the banquet and how they were arranged, but that would be too long of a monologue, heh.

As I reached out, the air around me seemed to thicken, the oppressive weight of the Calamity bearing down on me. The ghostly diners didn't react, but I could feel the ritual's attention shifting toward me. It was like a predator watching, waiting, hoping I'd misstep. But I wasn't about to give it the satisfaction.

My fingers closed around the fruit.

For a moment, nothing happened. The world seemed to hold its breath.

Then, with a soft pop, the fruit came loose from the table. Its cool weight rested in my palm, and as soon as I had it, the atmosphere around us began to change. The oppressive energy that had filled the air began to dissipate, unraveling like a frayed thread.

The ghostly figures flickered, their forms becoming less distinct, less real. The decayed food on the table seemed to wither further, collapsing into dust and ash.

Within seconds, the entire banquet began to dissolve, the Pale Feast crumbling away like a sandcastle caught in the tide. The ghostly diners vanished one by one, their translucent forms fading into the ether. The rotting food, the foul stench, the oppressive atmosphere—all of it disappeared, leaving only an empty, barren space where the feast had been moments before.

I held up the fruit, which was now dull. The unnatural sheen was gone. It was just a piece of shriveled, dried fruit now—harmless. The power it once held was broken.

"Well," I said, turning back to the group with a satisfied grin. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

The recruits stared, some in awe, others in relief. Lydia, though, just nodded, her expression still thoughtful as she processed what had just happened.

"It was the only thing that didn't belong," she murmured, half to herself. "The only thing still alive in the middle of all that decay."

"And now," I said, tossing the dried fruit aside, "it's as dead as everything else."

Kuzunoha gave a soft laugh, her parasol twirling lazily, prompting the arcane ribbon to be removed from everyone it once grasped. "I must say, you do have a flair for the theatrical, darling."

"Naturally," I replied, flicking a hand through my hair. "Now then, I believe I promised a reward for the right answer?"

Lydia glanced up, blinking as if pulled from her thoughts. "I… didn't do it for the reward."

"That's why you'll get it," I said with a wink. "Besides, it's important to keep you all motivated. Can't have you getting lazy on me~"

"Can the reward be anything then?" Lydia smirked.

"It can be anything~"

A second later, her face turned into a hot blushing mess. S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

And here I remembered that she said something about plotting to steal my heart.

Well, I doubted that she could accomplish it anytime soon if she couldn't maintain her ground. Though, I must admit, she was still not the brightest tool in the shed.

Or in this case, the most trustworthy tool in the shed.

Otherwise, how could she let her former leader to raid an unassuming, defenseless bastion with less than five people without thinking that maybe some of those people were strong enough to go through the night by their own.

Then again, I remembered in her Logs tab that she argued a lot with the leader of the Rough Mist. Maybe letting a significant members of the Rough Mist to their death was part of her plan from the beginning?

Not to mention, she was a little bit too smart to be in a rag tag group of bandit.