Necromancer's Descent

33 - The Five Despairs

Nao / Rosalin's point of view

I stare down at the opened bundle, and find more of that dark grain filled bread again, but this time in two thin slices topped with some slices of eggs, salad of sorts and herbs.

Despite being what you might think of as a small looking meal meant for kids, it look heavy. Not fatty or oily, but I remember the bread as heavy and filling.

No wonder the cook told me not to eat more than this. I don't think I could really eat more than this without forcing it down, but more importantly, everything tastes way better when you're hungry so it'll probably go down in a jiffy.

Honestly, I didn't even notice that I forgot breakfast until Marcus told me.

Despite lacking an appetite from the Marcus' story, as I take a bite into the flavorful grainy bread, my appetite comes back with a vengeance, and before I look up again to find Marcus smiling at me, I've already stuffed my mouth with the first slice of bread.

"Easy there, no one is going to take the food away from you," Marcus half laughs, and pats my back.

"Remember to take a feel of your fullness. We can't have your keeling over from refeeding. Not that we have cake to trick you into eating."

"What? Wait, cake? You have cake?"

I pause, as I'm about to start on the second slice.

This is probably going to be a weird comment, seeing as this is clearly not earth, but I'm pretty sure medieval Europe shouldn't have that. Mainly because of the lack of access to sugar.

Marcus pauses, and stares at me like he's searching my eyes for an answer.

...

..

"Uhm... I mean, because of the war, I was wondering if such things were still available."

...

... His stare hurts.

..

"What do you mean tricking someone to eat cake?"

Marcus' expression darkens a bit at my question, but he finally seems to let go of my previous question. Knowing what questions are normal and which aren't seems difficult.

"It's from a misconception that just getting a starved person to eat a lot fatten them up. Or perhaps it's partly pity. Like 'if I was that poor then I'd want to eat everything I wanted' and since the person is skinny, they can indulge in all the snacks that they can't because they need to watch their weight. Though, what actually happens is that the person dies because their stomach can't handle it. You see it a lot with all the refugees right now." He glances away, looking quite uncomfortable.

I glance down at my second slice of bread uncomfortable as well. Does that mean it was a miracle I didn't die at that Inn? Did that have an effect on why I only got half the food of everyone else, or was it just the money?

Actually, I think I ate the previous slice so fast I can't quite feel I ate it.

I bite into the second bread slice, this time forcing myself to eat slower. I'm already trying so hard to survive, I can't be done in by simple gluttony... but if this had been a bunch of different cakes, would I have been able to hold back without knowing?

I glance to Marcus, who shifts his attention to some of his buddies, but he's still squeezing his hand into a fist, and a faint black mist seeps from his heart.