Chapter 41: Settling In
After his showing at the first duel of the year, the rest of Kir's day was extremely tame in comparison.
He ate lunch with Kordia, and nobody tried to sit with them, though some girls cast eyes at him that were curious instead of hostile.
Browsing through the menu was quite a chore, considering it was more like a small book. An entity similar to Host ran the kitchen with many clones of itself, and all a student had to do was request their meal and pay the price, which could range anywhere from a few coppers to a gold strip depending on how rare the ingredients were.
Most students just walked up and asked without even checking the menu.
According to Kordia, there was a real chef available for the administrators, but their kitchen was off-limits. She ordered a "bean jelly" steak, and Kir was surprised when she was presented with what was essentially a block of tofu with grill marks, some rice, and a deep dark sauce that sparked memories in Kir of sushi and don bowls. The whole thing cost her a copper strip, and Kir wondered if she was still being frugal or just liked the dish.
Kir was more than a little hungry after his match, so he ordered a salad with fried boar meat, paid a silver strip and three copper coins, and brought his meal to the table along with the menu.
After a few futile minutes, Kir decided to just browse the drinks section, which was surprisingly thin. A smile crossed his face as he realized that there were some items that simply didn't exist (yet), and none of the drinks on the menu had any particular properties except for the wide variety of medicinal teas.
Nothing on the menu was designed to keep people awake, and that's where Kir saw his opportunity as he closed the menu.
"You uh... must really like food..." Kordia said awkwardly, already halfway through her dish.