Reincarnated As A Dragon With A Godly Inheritance-Chapter 73: Food at last

Kaedros didn’t defeat the golem quickly.

It took several grueling minutes before he finally drove his sword through its chest with a furious roar.

Chef had enhanced this one after Taria’s match. It was stronger. Smarter.

The golem matched Kaedros in strength and speed but what tipped the scales in his favor was his adaptability. He bent, twisted, moved with a fluidity the golem couldn’t replicate. In the end, that saved him.

"Well," Thalso murmured as Kaedros’ blade pierced the construct’s heart.

The word was small, but to Chef, it spoke volumes.

She hissed softly and took a slow swig from her bottle. "Are you sure we should continue their training? Their strength... it’s more than we projected. The shadow blades were supposed to break them, not sharpen them this much."

"It didn’t," Thalso said, voice unshaken. "There’s no record of anyone surviving shadow blade trials for more than three days."

"And yet you let them endure seven?" Chef’s voice hardened. "Did you trust them that much, not to die?"

"No," Thalso replied flatly. "They did start dying. Several times. I would’ve stopped it if they crossed the line."

He turned to her. The polished surface of his helmet reflected the flickering torchlight. "Let them become powerful. They must. You know why. We all do."

Then he walked toward Kaedros, who was still catching his breath beside the crumbling body of the golem.

Chef watched Thalso go, her eyes narrowed.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. She did. But Thalso had changed since He vanished. The Master.

Thalso had been the most loyal, not out of fear like the others, but devotion. Love, even. And when the Master disappeared... it had shattered something in him.

He lost purpose. Direction.

But ever since the children arrived, she saw sparks of the old Thalso return. A dangerous spark. What if they weren’t the ones? What if he wasn’t the one.

What if this was just another illusion? Another cruel hope?

If they failed... it would destroy Thalso completely.

And he was one of the last people Chef still called family.

"You’re worried about him," Nyra said from her perch in a high branch. Her feline eyes tracked Thalso as he knelt in front of Kaedros, instructing him, guiding him. There was fire in his movements, an old fire. Familiar.

"And you’re not?" Chef snapped, tipping her bottle toward Nyra without looking.

"I am," Nyra purred. "Just... not in the way you are."

Chef tilted her head. "Then what worries you?"

"That he’ll push them too hard," Nyra replied, tail curling lazily. "Like with the shadow blades. He’s desperate. He wants out. He wants to know if the world still exists beyond this cursed place. He’ll risk breaking them just to find out."

"Maybe he never did accept it."

Chef didn’t answer at first. She knew Nyra was right.

"We all agreed," she said finally. "If they ever got out of that chamber... we would use them."

"Yes. If," Nyra said, voice like velvet over a blade. "But Thalso... he’s ensuring they do. Whether they’re ready or not. He’ll train them until they bleed because he needs answers. He needs proof." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"And?" Chef asked.

"If he breaks them..." Nyra flicked her tail. "He’ll blame himself. And we can’t afford a shattered Thalso."

Chef was silent again, thinking.

Finally, she said, "Then we’ll help him. However we must. They must leave this place. And we will finally see if he is the one."

Nyra’s smile was slow and sharp. "Of course. We’ll do what we can. But the rest... that’s on them. At the trial doors."

Chef grunted. "Right."

☆☆▪︎☆☆

"...Once your advanced training begins, speed will be our first focus, Taria," Thalso was saying. "Your weapon thrives on it. Without speed, it’s just a glorified stick."

Kaedros listened intently as Thalso reviewed each of their strengths and weaknesses. His tone was cool, surgical, but not unkind. He pointed out mistakes with precision, always offering a way to improve.

Then a low grrrowl broke the air.

Taria’s stomach.

Kaedros smirked until Rauk’s answered right after. And then Kaedros’ own stomach gave a loud complaint.

Thalso sighed. "Very well. We’ll continue after you’ve eaten."

"So... you earned your meal today?" Chef said, emerging with her ever-present bottle in hand. "Lucky you."

She snapped her fingers.

The nearby trees began to writhe. Their branches slithered like serpents, leaves shimmering with unnatural light. From their depths, fruit began to bloom, round, red-pink orbs swelling to ripeness in seconds.

Some dropped on their own. Others hovered in the air, lifted by invisible forces.

Two fruits floated toward each of them, Kaedros, Rauk, and Taria.

"Your reward," Chef said dryly. "Eat. Or don’t. Makes no difference to me."

Kaedros frowned at the fruit. It wasn’t even as large as his fist. This is supposed to feed me? After seven days with nothing?

Taria didn’t hide her skepticism. "This is it? I’m starving."

"I wouldn’t know," Thalso said simply. "I’ve never eaten one."

Kaedros blinked. He wanted to ask how..how Thalso ate anything through that seamless armor but he bit down the question.

"You haven’t?" Taria asked, genuinely intrigued. "Then what do you eat?"

Thalso ignored her. "Ask Nyra. She’s had plenty."

Nyra yawned from her branch. "Stolen, mostly."

Chef rolled her eyes. "She’s always raiding my stash. I’ll get her back one day. Just you wait."

"Well... here goes," Rauk muttered, and took a bite.

He froze.

Juice ran down his chin and his eyes widened. He didn’t say a word, just inhaled the second fruit like it was air itself.

Kaedros and Taria exchanged glances, then each took a bite.

Kaedros nearly dropped the fruit.

The taste was beyond anything he could have imagined. Sweet, sharp, cold, hot like every flavor at once and none of them. He swallowed, and magic burst through him like fire meeting ice, coursing through his body.

Mana. Real, raw mana.

His fatigue vanished. Muscles relaxed. Mind cleared. He felt... alive.

"This..." he murmured, breathless.

"This is delicious!" Taria exclaimed. "It’s like every fruit in the world crammed into one bite! I could eat a hundred of these!"

Chef grinned smugly. "Too bad. You only get one meal a day."