"Stop! No more eating!"
Joshua ruthlessly snatched the plate of sweet-and-sour ribs away from Arl and Lloydel.
Ever since Shael had come over to borrow some seasonings and casually gnawed on a piece of sweet-and-sour rib, members of the other groups had brazenly come over to sample the food as well.
At first, there were not many of them. Shael had kept his promise: "Just one piece."
That promise had become the line everyone who came to sample the food would say. Galolie, Herolia, and Sophia were fine... they had basically kept that promise.
But Arl and Lloydel shamelessly ate as much as they could.
"Didn't you promise to eat only one piece?" Joshua stared at Arl, whose lips were still stained with grease.
"It... was only one piece, Child of the Forest."
As Arl spoke, she pointed at the sweet-and-sour ribs in the massive pot. Each rib in that pot was a full half-arm's length long.
She was trying to tell Joshua that the "one piece" she meant was one huge piece from the pot, not one small piece Messiah had cut up and placed on a plate.
Most importantly, Arl showed no guilt whatsoever when she said it. She genuinely believed the "one piece" Joshua had mentioned referred to one huge piece from the pot.
"Arl, why are you only so clever when it comes to things like this?" Joshua sighed.
"Clever? Hasn't Arl always been like this?"
The High Elf once again spouted nonsense in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.
Joshua gave up on holding Arl responsible and turned his gaze toward Lloydel instead.
The Goddess of Order's cheeks were puffed out. When Joshua looked at her, she worked hard to chew the sweet-and-sour ribs in her mouth and swallow them.
In the end, Lloydel swallowed all the