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Vur extended his hand, and Tafel placed a small pouch on top of his palm. He stared at it and moved his hand up and down, making sure it wasn’t his imagination that it felt almost empty.
“It’s a symbolic token apparently,” Tafel said, pointing at the ribbon tying the pouch together. The number fifty thousand was written on it. “Put it into your root bracelet, and you’ll have fifty thousand geums added to your account.”
Vur’s root bracelet flashed amber, and the pouch vanished.
“Alright,” Tafel said and nodded. “Make sure you spend all fifty thousand, and if you need any more, you can find Melody at the alchemy workshop. I’m going to be at the blacksmithing area, and Auntie said she was going over there”—Tafel pointed off into the distance—“to buy supplies.”
Vur followed Tafel’s finger, his gaze landing on a building with a giant ball of yarn projected over its roof. Vur redirected his gaze onto Tafel and nodded. “Okay,” he said before pointing at the building with the frying pan over its roof. “I’m going there.”
“You’re going there to eat, right?” Tafel asked.
Vur nodded. “Are you hungry too?”
Tafel shook her head. “We ate not too long ago,” the demon said. “I’ll still be fine for a while.” She stepped forward and hugged Vur before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “Alright, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Vur said and released Tafel before waving at her as she left. When she rounded a corner, Vur hopped onto the nearby grassy spider. “Onwards, Deedee.”
The grassy spider climbed to its feet and scuttled towards the building with the frying pan. A few people in the streets screamed as the massive spider barreled past them, and some even dropped the things they were holding and ran for their lives. One man even pushing his companion into the road before sprinting down an alley. Of course, Diamant ignored everything and stepped over the fallen person before arriving at the chef’s workshop.
Vur hopped off of the grassy spider and went up to the building. He took a sniff before nodding, confirming this was the right place, and he pushed open the door. The sounds of conversation and the smacking of lips greeted him as he stepped inside. The interior of the building looked like a restaurant, and at the far end of the building, dozens of people dressed in white and wearing tall hats were cooking with ingredients that sizzled and popped upon hitting the metal surface in front of them.
“Hello,” a woman dressed in a blazer and long, black pants said. “Are you a customer or an aspiring chef?”
Vur sniffed the air, ignoring the woman, and glanced around. A small, white dog in the corner of the restaurant caught his attention, and he walked over.
“Excuse me!” the woman said, following after Vur. “Sir, hello?”
Vur ignored her and squatted next to the dog, his eyes narrowing at the food placed in the animal’s metal bowl. The dog’s snout was buried in the bowl, and as it ate, its eyes shifted onto Vur. It didn’t stop eating as it stared at him, and it even used its paw to nudge the bowl of food closer to its body. As it ate, large globs of drool dropped out of its jowls, landing on the floor and creating tiny puddles.
Vur raised his head and looked up at the woman who was staring at him with an uncertain expression on her face. Vur pointed at the dog’s bowl. “I want what he’s having.”
“E-excuse me?” the woman asked. “You want a bowl of dog food…? Are you going to eat it?”
Vur nodded as he stood up. His root bracelet flashed amber, and the pouch he had been given earlier appeared in his hand. He offered it to the woman. “As much as this can buy.”
The woman glanced at the ribbon adorning the pouch, and her eyes widened. “I … have to ask the chefs.”
Laughter rang out as a bulky man pointed at Vur with a half-eaten drumstick. “Check it out; this guy wants to eat a bowl of dog food!” The man laughed again and slapped his thigh with his free hand. “If you can’t afford anything else, I’ll let you have my leftovers!”
Vur turned his head towards the man, looking at the food placed on the man’s plate. Then, Vur lowered his head to look at the food in the dog’s bowl. He looked at the waiter, ignoring the man, and pointed at the dog food with his expression unchanged. “I want this.”
“Hey!” the bulky man said. “Are you stupid or something? Why would you want to eat trash like—”
The white dog’s tail expanded and grew longer than four horses combined. With a wiggle of the dog’s butt, the tail wagged to the side and crushed the bulky man along with the table he was sitting at. Then, the dog’s tail shrank until it was proportionate to the dog once more. During the whole process, the dog kept its snout buried in the bowl of food with its eyes still trained on Vur.
Vur waved his hand in front of the woman’s face, drawing her attention away from the dog. “Did you hear me?” He pointed at the bowl once more. “I want this.”
“Uh, yes,” the woman said and bobbed her head up and down. “I’ll ask the head chef to prepare you a bowl of dog food right away, sir.” She backed away from Vur and the dog before turning around completely. Although it wasn’t her job to take the customer’s orders as a hostess, she was willing to make an exception this time around.
The dog slurped up the rest of its food and belched before pushing itself up to sit on its haunches. “Kid,” the dog said, staring Vur in the eyes. “You’ve got a good nose, and you don’t give two hoots about what anyone thinks of you. I like that. Are you interested in joining my Gluttonous Gourmet club?”