Chapter 165
The rest of the cooking contestants judging goes fairly smoothly, with a number of fancy dishes attracting attention from the crowd and impressed reactions from the judges. Perhaps even using my mystic cooking technique this could be a very tough competition to win.
By the schedule, it’s now a lunch break and intermission between competitions, so I decide to go socialize a little. There are a lot of friendly people in the cooking competition, and having food as a default topic to talk about makes things much less awkward than expected of a group of strangers.
I’m just walking between two shops along the edge of the grounds, heading for the spot where Elder Song is sitting in anticipation of the Inscription contest beginning, when I feel a hand grab my mouth and something poke my neck.
Is someone seriously trying to kidnap me? I swear on the Goddess, if they’ve mistaken me for a child they’re going to suffer a horrible and slow death.
I circulate energy quickly, isolating and burning away the toxin in seconds, but keeping my body limp as if I’m still unconscious.
"I told you we could get her, now hurry and bring her to the boss. At Early Core Formation she won’t be out for more than an hour, tops." A nasally voice comes from above me.
"Got it." a deep voice answers and I can feel myself being carried at a jogging pace. Does he actually think nobody will notice him running with someone over his shoulder? My arms are flopping against his chest and I’m a bit concerned about my skirt length. Being carried like this wasn’t in the plans when Karl selected my wardrobe for the day.
[I felt your alarm, and your anger. Is that you that the big cultivator is running off with?] Karl sends to me.
[It is, he thinks I’m unconscious and he’s taking me to his boss, have Elder Song follow so you don’t miss your competition, this is likely to get messy]