My Friend and I Reincarnated Into a Tragedy Dating Game

Chapter 16: Resounding Failure

As James had said, he was able to prepare everything needed on the same day. Honestly, it kinda felt like he was a little too efficient. There was one point that he wanted to tell me, apparently something about the costs, but he just stopped himself.

It was kinda weird.

But I no longer thought about it.

Right now, I was in the middle of the slums, in a fairly large area with not much going on around. I couldn't help but notice almost every single person in the area was looking at me kinda strangely.

In fact, it happened the moment I stepped off the carriage.

...For some reason it looked like they were afraid of me.

I mean, I'm not that ugly, right?

One of the chefs that were brought over hesitated for a few moments, but came over and lightly tapped me on the shoulder. His voice was just barely above a whisper.

"Lord Bryson, why did you ask for us to come out all this way to cook for them? If you wanted to do a charitable act, you could simply hand out some of the grains to the commoners."

I shook my head.

"No."

The chef looked rather baffled by my statement, probably because I didn't explain myself.

Oh, and I don't plan to either.

By my suggestion, we were able to get a few tables spread out in the empty area. They were all connected together into one long line and would be able to seat fifty people. My ideal was one hundred, but considering that we still had to get some more food delivered, I decided to start relatively small.

From there, all of the chefs began preparing the food. There were people quite far away from me whispering to each other. Though I could hear the murmurs, they were too far away for me to actually catch on to what they were saying.

I was wondering how to gather people, but they seemed to do that all on their own.

After clearing my throat, I called out to them.

"Hello, everyone. I have come here to provide those that want it with meals. I only have a limited amount of food, so I'm sorry if I am unable to provide for everyone that wishes for it."

I then raised a finger.

"There are only two rules that I have in place if you wish to eat some.

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First off, you are not allowed to cause trouble at the table, or else you will be kicked out immediately.

Second, if you wish for food, you must eat it at the table."

One of the butlers pulled out a sign from a carriage with the same words I had said and put it down into the ground for everyone to see.

The reason for the first rule was rather obvious, but the second was one I thought of when I imagined the greedy nature of commoners. After all, I knew that mentality very well living on the lower end of the middle class.

It would be a blessing if we were able to have a little extra meat at the table, and I found myself trying to hold on tightly to every single cent that I had. It wasn't as though I was starving, I was still eating well. However, I would've preferred to have a little more at times and that wasn't always possible.

I've grown out of that mentality nowadays, but it was definitely something that was going to overtake the minds of those unsure if they had food or not in the future.

I couldn't just expect all of the commoners to grow out of that mentality, as such if I simply gave it out then they would probably try to get extra whenever possible. They would probably try to get as many bowls as possible and keep them at their home.

However, if they were only allowed to eat it at the table, it would be very hard for them to do something like that.

Sure, they could stuff themselves until they were on the verge of bursting, but it was still a very real limitation.

This was one of the problems of simply just handing out food. That the cunning and greedy would end up getting more. Not only that, but it wouldn't be uncommon for some to attack one another to get their share that was handed out.

But if it was already in one's stomach, then there wasn't much to do about that.

With all that said, that wasn't the main reason. But it's not really important.

By the way, the chefs were working on making some pottage. I was kinda hoping to see other foods, but apparently, this was the easiest thing to make a large quantity of when there were ingredients from all over the place.

Soon enough, many servings were ready.

They had cooked about enough for twenty people to eat before waiting around. Unfortunately, while there were a lot of people watching, none of them walked up. There was a kid that tried to walk forward, but was hurriedly pulled back by their parent.

Regardless, I didn't let this faze me and took a bowl myself before sitting down.

The chefs were rather surprised and let out their worries, that it wasn't food fit for someone like me but I simply ignored it. I sat at the table alone and began to eat. It was a rather wide table, making the fact that I was eating alone very apparent.

Yet, at the same time, countless people were looking at me.

This was rather nostalgic, though not in a very happy way. Because at school back on Earth this very same thing would happen for quite a while. Naturally, it didn't happen in my later years because there was Nathan to sit with all the time.

But still, it was something that happened.

Nonetheless, I continued eating without a care in the world. Even when I was near halfway done with my meal, not a single person stepped within a one-hundred-meter radius of me.

I've already changed bodies, so it can't be because I'm ugly... right?

Though it was expected that things basically always start small, I still thought at least a few people would sit down to eat. It was at this point that I accepted that none of the commoners were willing to sit down.

With a sigh, I turned to the servants and guards.

"Hey, have you guys eaten yet?"

They looked at each other before slowly shaking their heads. One of the butlers stepped forward with a bow.

"We will eat our meals when we get back. It is common etiquette to eat only after the master has eaten."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, why don't you all get some and eat as well?"

The butler's face twitched when he heard that.

"Lord Bryson, that wouldn't be very appropriate. The etiquette I just mentioned-"

"I've already eaten, no?"

I cut him off, not letting him say any more. With a shrug, I continued.

"Besides, I hope you know that I plan to finish all the food that was cooked if nobody else is eating it."

The butler looked rather stunned as he looked at me.

"E-Eh? But why?"

I blinked a few times before responding.

"I was the one that told you to cook this stuff, so naturally I will be the one to finish it should there be any left over."

The butler frowned slightly before bringing up his concerns.

"Lord Bryson, the food will be spoiled before you can finish it all."

It was at this point I smirked and waved at him.

"Then wouldn't it be easier for me if all of you took some and ate it?"

Altogether, there were ten other people with me. Considering there was enough for twenty different people already cooked, that meant there was going to be extra even after.

The butler was the first to hesitantly take a bowl, but he sat rather far from me. This seemed to start a chain reaction as all the others did the same. The guards were the most reluctant, but I was able to convince them with a few words.

Though the first day was a resounding failure, I didn't get hung up on it. Instead, I just enjoyed the food in front of me with the others. Just, none of them sat next to me. In fact, there were two seats from my left and right that were both empty.

Everyone else at the table was quite nervous, but as they got into eating they began eating quite quickly. It appeared that they actually were pretty hungry.

Some time passed.

Then out of nowhere, I heard a familiar voice called out.

"Eh? What is going on here?"

Nathan pushed through the crowd to see what everyone was staring at. After he had called out like that, many of the commoners backed off, not wanting to be seen as related to him.

With a smirk, I gave Nathan a wave.

"Hey, my plan was a resounding failure. Want to take part in the fruits of defeat?"

He laughed before coming over.

"I'd be glad to!"

Nathan unabashedly took a bowl of pottage for himself before sitting right next to me.

"Hey, if you think about it, now it isn't a complete failure because there's one commoner willing to sit next to you!"

I let out a long sigh while rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose I will take it."

We then proceeded to chat about useless things. Nathan finished the bowl rather quickly. He even went for seconds, which I similarly did.

The spar we had at school was quite tiring after all.

Though, I noticed that he was eating a rather unnatural amount. Nathan wasn't doing that intentionally, but rather without really noticing it. From the looks of things, he actually wasn't eating that well.

I guess if nothing else, then at least I was able to help out Nathan a little.

There was one point during the meal when Nathan began speaking to me in a barely audible whisper.

"I saw Edward."

He still had a smile on his face and wasn't looking at me. To onlookers, it appeared as though he was just enjoying the food. I felt a bit of dread wash over me but stuffed a carrot into my mouth as though everything was ok.

I similarly whispered just so that he could barely hear it.

"What did you do about it?"

Nathan responded after a few moments, in no rush.

"Tailed him and found his house, nothing other than that."

Edward was one of the villains in the story. Although he definitely wasn't the biggest one, he still caused many people to die. As of now, he was just a commoner, not the villain that he was in the story, but it would not take long for him to become that.

He created many problems, and some of them would end up indirectly killing characters if proper measures weren't handled. That was because he would end up becoming a blood mage.

Apparently, he just so happened to have some sort of strange bloodline that allowed him to use blood to cast spells. However, it didn't have to be his own blood. To fuel his powers, Edward did an inordinate amount of killing and would then use those powers to kill more people.

Though this game was a tragedy, it was worse for Edward. No matter what route you took, he would die. Either the hero would kill him off early, or the hero would kill him with the help of the magician association, or the magician association would kill him themselves.

Still, it was a deserved ending.

If we could directly cut him off early... that would save us a lot of trouble.

Sure there was the moral dilemma that he hadn't done anything yet so he didn't really deserve to die, but neither Nathan nor I cared about that. I mumbled under my breath to Nathan.

"Do you need any help killing him?"