With his end of the bet fulfilled, Marcus smiled down at the shocked Algernon and his entourage.
They had never thought Marcus would be able to get their food out to them this quickly which should have been impossible.
Algernon had even had one of his goons seal the door with earth magic as a precaution.
Yet somehow Marcus had simply bypassed the doors and came out carrying all of the food they had ordered being suspended by dozens of iron threads.
Still even though he felt his heart beating hard in his chest he had one last card to play.
“Well, I must admit that I am impressed that you managed to get all of our food prepared and served within just half the time it should have required. But that really does not mean anything. For such rushed products they are undoubtably horribly flawed and undercooked. Did you think that serving us failed creations even if they are on time would be enough to win the bet? What good is it to have the food out on time if it is not ready and tasted disgusting.”
Algernon then turned his nose up at the food being ever so dramatic..
However, Marcus still looking confident said, “Okay go ahead and try the food that I and the staff of the Sublime Fantasia made. If you can truthfully say that it tastes disgusting, then you win the bet.”
Sneering at Marcus Algernon was about to say that he would not even allow such filth into his mouth when he heard one of his companions say, “It is delicious.”
This young man had smelled the delicious sent coming off of his food and just had to take a bite even though he knew he should have played along.
But after just that one bite he was certain that his was the best food he had ever eaten, and began digging in with abandon.
“It seems that you friend enjoys it. Go ahead, give it a try and look me in the eyes and say it is disgusting.” Marcus said with absolute confidence.
Scowling Algernon hated the look Marcus was giving him, but he decided to play along.
All he needed to do was say the food was disgusting even if it was not and he would win.
Picking up his spoon he took out a scoop of his egg souffle and raised it towards his mouth.
Yet before he took a bite he looked towards Marcus with a vulgar expression and said, “You know I think that after I win this bet I will have you serve me something in bed to make up for this.”
After saying this Algernon took a bite and was ready to put on a show of theatrics to make it seem as if this egg souffle was downright dreadful.
Except as the took a bite his eyes went wide in surprise.
The fluffy texture and smooth delicious taste overtook all of his senses and he momentarily forgot himself.
Reflexively he put his spoon back into the souffle and took another bit, and then another as he lost himself in eating the item Marcus had specially prepared with his magic and cooking skill.
Quickly Algernon and his cronies had finished all of the food Marcus and the staff of the Sublime Fantasia had painstakingly and expertly prepared.
“You must really not like wasting food if you ate all of what you thought to be a disgusting meal. Now go on. Tell me just how bad it was?” Marcus said with a shit-eating grin.
Grasping his spoon so tightly he began to bend the metal, Algernon looked hatefully at Marcus wanting to say that the food was awful, but he just could not do it.
It had easily been the best thing he had ever eaten, surpassing even what his father’s private chef could make.
“Oh, maybe it was actually good then? I see that everyone at your table finished their food so is it possible that what you have been served was better than you expected? If that is the case, I suppose I have won our wager?” Marcus said goading Algernon on.
Grinding his teeth, he hated to admit it, but it was so obvious he had lost any more fight back would just harm his reputation further.
As an heir to a ducal house, he needed his image to be as flawless as possible, and sometimes that meant gracefully accepting defeat when you had lost.
If he tried blowing this even more out of proportion, it was possible he might be disinherited so his best course of action now was to quickly leave and begin damage control.
Grinding his teeth Algernon stood up from his chair before getting down on his hands and knees and saying, “The food was delicious. I would like to apologize to the Sublime Fantasia’s staff and the other guests here. My outburst was rude and uncalled for, and I will better think about my actions in the future. To make this up to everyone here, I shall make sure to pay for the meals of everyone that my behavior has inconvenienced.”
‘Well, if he actually takes this experience to heart maybe he will actually end up a better person.’ Marcus thought seeing how Algernon after everything was at least able accept defeat gracefully.
Of course, he still did not trust the guy in any regard and planned to follow up on him later to make sure he did not plot any sort of revenge.
Having now successfully won the wager Marcus walked up to Sir Randolph and held out his hand while saying, “Now if you would not mind? Hand over my halberd.”
A solemn look on his face Sir Randolph looked over towards his master hoping he might fight to keep this prized weapon.
Unfortunately, there was simply nothing he could do, and nodded his head towards Sir Randolph telling him to relinquish the weapon.
With downcast eyes, Sir Randolph did as he had to in accordance tot eh wager his lord had made and handed over the system recognized mithril halberd to Marcus.
Taking the halberd back Marcus stored it away into his item box, and as he walked away said, “At least now I know that Thabon was right that I should not sell weapons like this on the open market. You never know what sort of person might get ahold of them.