〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

V. Amazing!

The children stared in amazement at the giant pot bubbling in front of them. It looked big enough to hold food for the entire town.

"Dinner's ready! Come and get it!" Gobta called out. The rest of the crowd of monsters all stood aside, allowing the children to go first, since the feast was in their honour.

'Honestly', Emma thought, 'I would be happy to go last.'

She had seen some of the ingredients they had thrown into the pot, including what looked like the head and legs of a spider, except this one was about a million times bigger than any spider she'd ever seen.

"Well, ladies first," Norman said, smiling nervously.

"No, you can go first," she quickly replied.

"Weren't you the one who was intent on looking after everyone?" Ray added humourlessly. "Think of this as checking to see whether or not the food's safe for the rest of us to eat."

Emma glared at him, and would have been happy to shove him forward, but at that moment the kids were all lined up behind them, and the crowd was waiting for them so that they could get their helpings as well.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she made her way up the steps to the pot with her bowl. An overweight hobgoblin stood by the pot with a huge ladle. He reached in with it, and scooped out some of the pot's contents, and poured them into her bowl. He nodded at her, and she gave him a half-anxious smile. Luckily, what she had in her bowl didn't look anything like a spider, but the knowledge that it was didn't do anything for the queasiness in her stomach.

The rest of the children all went up one by one, obtaining their dinner, but none of them started eating. She cursed lowly, as the kids were waiting for her to take the first bite. Most of them had started looking to her, Ray and the other older kids as their leaders, which apparently included being their food-tasters. The crowd were all looking at them, too, apparently waiting for her to take the first bite.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, she scooped out some of the food and shoved it into her mouth. The second she did... she felt her taste-buds explode. The food at the plantation had always been nutritious and filling. While it had been good, none of those meals had even come close to the delicious flavour she was now enjoying.

Getting over her fear of moments ago, Emma practically dove into her bowl, scooping out spoonful after spoonful, and plunging it into her mouth, devouring it all. Once the rest of the children saw her digging in, they soon followed her example, and like her they were soon wolfing down every bite. The crowd cheered, and then went on to get their own helpings.

"Yum! How can something as disgusting as a spider be so tasty?!" Emma said excitedly.

"You shouldn't judge something without first giving it a chance," a voice said behind her, and she looked to see Rimuru smiling at her. "The same goes for people," he added.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense," she hastily apologised, but Rimuru waved off her concerns.

"It's okay. For what it's worth, most people have the same reservations about eating spiders for the first time. I think it must be the number of legs. It freaks them out."

Emma smiled. Around them, the kids were either eating or playing with the townsfolk. Phil and Nat were playing with Ranga who was in his giant form, lying on his back on the ground, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, as the boys rubbed his belly. Gilda and Anna were talking with Shion and Shuna, asking about their healing potions and their weaving. And Thoma and Lani were with the orc leader Geld, holding onto his arms, as he lifted them high into the air, laughing.