Damien would have preferred to simply walk down the stairs like many of the other people he could see who were coming up or down, but he wanted to make the most time out of the city before he went back home, so he decided to skip the whole stairs trip.

  Nodding in greeting to a few recognizable humans that he saw, and a beastkins and elementals, he began his long journey down.

  The sky was bright, bringing with it a cool, windy breeze that washed over Damien with the accompanying fragrance of delicious food, unrecognizable smells that were pleasant, and a little bit of unpleasant odor.

  Wrinkling his nose a bit, Damien continued skipping, leaping over half a dozen steps in a single jump. He drew quite a bit of attention as he went, some annoyed, while some with curiosity.

  Damien understood that what he was doing was probably wrong and against some kind of rule that might have been put up, but since no one called him out on it, he simply continued. However, he did make sure to avoid colliding with other people, monitoring his landing to avoid stumbling into somebody

  With the wind silently whistling past his ears, Damien leaped past another few steps, and then a few more. Slowly, the dim sounds of the crowded street below grew into a loud roar, turning more chaotic and unintelligible as the voices of people joined in with the loud clanging of steel on steel as artificers worked on their crafts.

  A dull whoosh and Damien landed on the paved street, an inch Infront of the last step. Like his passage from the top, he also drew quite a bit of curious stares from passers-by, who looked at him from head to toe, taking in his soft, black pants, white top, and the grey coat draped over it all.

  A little bit overwhelmed by the sudden attention, Damien cleared his throat, and then unconsciously wiped down his coat, even though there wasn't any dirt on it. A few minutes later, the people turned their attention away and he lost his brief fame.

  They were probably used to something like this.

  The street where he was standing was a large one, about fifty meters in width and stretching into the distance from left to right. A small line had been cleared out, and as Damien watched, a few metallic carts blitzed past, gliding a few feet or so from the paved street.

  On the other side of the street were wide blocky buildings made from black onyx marbles and crimson window glass. They were huge, rising close to a hundred meters into the sky, with two in a line and a wide set of roads interspaced between them and the next set of buildings.

  Down here, the smells that had been faint before suddenly became a whole lot thicker, assaulting his nose in a crazy rush. He blinked and then wrinkled his nose, a little bit disoriented, and then decided to follow one of those smells to where they came from.

  Damien slipped into the crowds, winding his way through and past a few people as he traced the delicious smell that had swarmed into his nose. He called back apologies as he knocked past a few people, cringing at how loud his voice was compared to the people around. Thankfully, the place where he was heading wasn't far.

  Unsurprisingly, the place the smell came from was a quaint little restaurant situated on the ground floor of a huge building. It rested between a closed stall on the left and another that looked like a cloth boutique, judging by the clothed mannequins standing in front of the glass doors.

  While he would have loved to browse through the wears he could see through the glass doors, Damien had more urgent needs. The growling of his stomach a second later swiftly pushed him toward the glass doors of the restaurant opposite him.

  A neon blue sign hanging above the tall doors introduced him to the name of the eatery; 'The Full Belly'. Damien raised an eyebrow at the corny name, and a little bit of doubt crept into his mind at the thought that maybe their meals might not be as delicious as he'd thought. Luckily for them, the aroma wafting through the doors soon changed his mind, reassuring him.

  The atmosphere instantly went down a few degrees, cooling into a comfortable chill as Damien stepped through the doors.

  He breathed in, savoring the calm atmosphere as well as the aroma that seemed to saturate the entire space.

  There were a few people about, sitting inside booths on long, leather, high-backed sofas that rested on the right side of the room, with a large table placed in between those opposite-facing chairs.

  To his left was a long counter made from shiny brown wood that somehow reflected the long bright threads that illuminated the room, a huge contrast to the onyx and red theme that seemed to run through the entire city.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  Calmly, Damien approached the figures that stood on the other side of the counter, a human-looking man with large, wide eyes and thick curved, black horns running over his slicked-back black hair.

  The man had a trimmed down beard and his thin lips widened into a smile as he made sight of Damien.

  "A new customer! Good afternoon, sir! Welcome to The Full Belly! What can we get for you?"

  His enthusiastic voice somewhat calmed Damien and he smiled back. "Who said I was a new customer?" He said with raised eyebrows and a smile on his lips. "I could be an old one that hadn't reached this side in a few years."

  The man's expression slowly changed, his huge enthusiastic smile toning down into something calm and warm. There was a glint of playfulness in his eyes as he mirrored Damien, raising an eyebrow.

  "I've been working at this restaurant for almost a hundred years, sir. I'm very certain that I would have known if you'd graced this room before."

  Damien grinned and then shrugged. "Alright, you got me." He raised his hands in mock surrender. "I was just coming out of the library when the aroma trailing out of your beautiful restaurant drew my nose. Isn't there some rule somewhere in this city against such blatant act of manipulation?" He joked, and as he did, he couldn't help but think back on what the man had just said.

  Almost a hundred years working in a restaurant. Damien had no doubt that the man was a Monarch realm wielder at the least and a Spirit King at most. But judging from where he was working, and as an attendant no less, he toned down that assumption to probably peak Monarch or Early Spirit lord.

  He knew that his assumption might have been seen as degrading and insulting, but he truly meant no harm in it. It was just that he didn't think a Spirit lord would ever be caught working as an attendant, talk less of a Spirit King.

  Back on Ra, Monarch realm wielders might have not been as powerful or as influential as Spirit lords, but even they wouldn't be found working as attendants in a small restaurant.

  He shook his head and concentrated on the attendant. He wanted to feel for the man's aura to determine his realm but knew that that would be insulting and would be certainly be taken as a sign of aggression.

  Even if the man was a Monarch. Living for a hundred years, or likely more than that, would have seen him grow so strong and accumulate enough experience that Damien, as a recently ascended peak tier Spirit lord wouldn't have been able to mask his intrusion. So he simply stayed his hand and kept his curiosity in check.

  The man's smile dimmed a little bit, this time with a bit of worry on his face. "Ah—um... We apologize... if you saw it like that. We didn't mean any harm, and we assure you that there was no mental manipulation whatsoever included in our dish-making."

  "Uhhhh... I was joking," Damien said with a wince. "I didn't even know manipulation techniques could even be mixed into dishes. It was all just fun."

  The man blinked, his thick eyelashes fluttering, and then he gave Damien a short dry laugh. "What can I get you, sir?"

  Swiftly taking the opportunity to get out of this awkward situation, Damien answered. "What do you have?"

  "Come peruse our menu," the man beckoned with one hand while another pulled out a thin leaflet from somewhere under the counter. "I'm sure you'll find something to your liking."

  Damien didn't need to browse through the leaflet to find what he wanted.

  "What's the meal on the fire?"

  "Oh, that would be the vermilion rice," the man answered with a smile.

  "Vermilion rice? I'm sorry, I don't know what that is."

  "Sorry—" the man blinked. "—are you new here? To this world?"

  Damien nodded.

  "Ahh, that explains it," the attendant said with a slow nod. "Nevertheless, I assure you. If the aroma of the vermilion rice could draw you here, then you'll love it!"

  Damien shrugged. He didn't know what a vermillion rice was, and was half a mind to simply order something he was more familiar with. At least, there should be, right? But like the man had said, and Damien had earlier confirmed. The vermillion rice, even though he didn't know what it was, had drawn him here the instant he'd smelled it. So he might as well try it.

  "Okay, I'll have the vermilion rice," Damien said. "What else do you have to top it off?"

  "We have fried Vorese meat—delicious, if you'll ask me. Black peas and pink fried vegetables. Oh, and crabs from the Red Sea."

  Damien eyes widened. "Damn, that's... A lot. But I noticed that you didn't mention onions... And eggs."

  "Oh, onions are always added in most of our meals. As for the eggs, we can certainly arrange it."

  "That's better," Damien nodded. "Aside from the Vorese rice, I'll take the two boiled eggs. Hmm... And the black peas? I hope that it's good. I'll also take the fried vegetables, please."

  "Is that all, sir?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay. One plate of vermilion rice, two eggs, and fried vegetables, as well as a spoon of black peas. That'll be ten bronze Vicari, or one silver Vicari."

  Compared to his brother who was now stupidly rich, Damien didn't have as much money. Thankfully, he'd been able to exchange a mountain of gold coins from Ra for a few hundred black Vicari and some change.

  Who knew gold was also valued in Lese?

  He paid the price and then moved on to one of the unoccupied boots, shifting close to the utmost end of the chair, next to a beautiful illusory projection of an ocean.

  While his food was being readied, Damien took the time to marvel at the beautiful and harrowing sea creatures that swarm past. On occasion, he'd catch the silhouette of monstrous creatures of humongous proportions swimming in the distance, often with a flock of tiny creatures dogging their tails.

  His food arrived and Damien dug into it with gusto. Apparently, the vermilion rice was an apt name, seeing as the rice itself was colored vermilion, with an intense pepperish taste to booth. He tore apart the Vorese meat which was not too soft and also not too hard. It also had some form of strange ability to soak in spices without overwhelming Damien's tongue with a bitter sweet taste. Heavenly.

  In the end, Damien ordered two more plates, and also two takeaways for later in the day. This made the attendants bloom with huge smiles.

  When he was done, he left the place with a noticeably protruding stomach and a contented smile on his face, as well as a silent promise to visit the restaurant as much as possible.

  However, the smile on his face didn't last long, morphing into a frown of confusion and shock as he passed by a dark alley.