What appeared in Mog's hand was a syringe and needle set used for injections.
And then...
"These are the meat and fried rice~"
Mog tossed the small vial in his hand and smiled.
"???"
A series of black question marks appeared over Uvogin's head.
These things looked like medicine, and he was saying they were food?!
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something else.
But when he saw that Machi beside him remained silent,
he thought it over and quietly shut his mouth as well.
Then, under their equally inquisitive gazes, Mog opened one of the vials and used the syringe to draw out all the liquid inside.
"This tree will do."
As he spoke, Mog directly inserted the syringe into the large tree before him.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, one of the tree's forked branches began to emit a faint glow.
It rapidly swelled and sprouted, then slowly bloomed.
"Once the flowers bloom and bear fruit~~~"
At Mog's soft words, the tender flower quickly withered, producing a huge fruit like a dark black coconut.
It then dropped into Mog's hand.
"And just like that, the food you wanted is ready."
Mog directly handed it to Uvogin.
"This is meat?"
Though he was shocked by the sight of a branch sprouting, swelling, blooming, and bearing fruit right before his eyes, meat growing from a tree was still far too fantastical.
Uvogin skeptically opened the fruit's lid.
Crack.
The instant the black lid opened, a rich, intense aroma of meat rushed forth.
It assaulted everyone's senses at once!!
"Huh?!!"
Even Phinks and Feitan, who were some distance away and preparing to sneak into the Church, nearly stopped in their tracks at the same time.
"Sniff, sniff~~~ What is that..."
Phinks flared his nostrils, then abruptly turned his head.
His eyes locked straight onto a certain direction.
"What smell is that?!!"
"It smells so good!!!"
I'm Not Some Glutton!!
It wasn't just Phinks; Feitan had already turned his gaze in that direction as well.
He stared fixedly toward where the scent was coming from, almost unable to shift his eyes even a little.
Even Phinks and Feitan, who were quite far away, could smell that aroma.
Not to mention Uvogin and Machi, who were right there at the scene.
The instant that aroma erupted,
the two of them, as the first to bear its full impact head-on,
felt their throats roll uncontrollably almost at the same time.
Uvogin, in particular, drooled uncontrollably from how delicious it smelled.
"So this is meat!!!"
He looked at the chunks of fragrant meat piled inside the plump, coconut-like black fruit.
They were the tenderest, fattiest, most fragrant cuts taken from a large, fat pig, specially cooked into a meat dish with an unparalleled aroma.
Chunk after chunk lay within that black coconut fruit, continuously giving off a thick, enticing fragrance.
The cravings in his mouth had long been churning wildly, while saliva and enzymes flooded his mouth in a frenzy, desperate for a taste.
His tongue and nose alike conveyed to Uvogin an overwhelming desire to come into closer contact with those chunks of meat.
And beneath that intense urge~~~
Chomp!!
Uvogin could endure no longer and thrust his hand straight into the black fruit.
Ignoring the steaming heat and the scalding temperature against his hand, he grabbed a huge piece of meat and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
Smack, smack.
That rich fragrance instantly exploded inside Uvogin's mouth.
The fatty, tender meat was wildly chewed in his mouth.
The abundant juices splashed around deep in his mouth, with even more slowly flowing out from the corners of his lips.
"Delicious, so delicious!!!"
The old Uvogin would definitely have hated to let those juices flow out of his mouth like that.
But right now, he couldn't care less about such things.
There was still so much meat inside that black coconut fruit that he wished he could immediately stuff every last piece into his mouth.
Uvogin even felt that his mouth was too small to cram all those chunks of meat in at once.
There was no helping it. He had been poor for too long... hungry for too long... or perhaps craving food for too long?
Having never eaten anything this delicious before, Uvogin nearly sank completely into the fragrant flavor of the meat upon tasting it for the first time.
To the point that, while eating, he subconsciously turned his back on Machi.
Yes, Uvogin had learned to guard his food.
Machi: "~~~~~~"
Was that really necessary?
It's not like I'm some glutton!!
Machi casually glanced at Uvogin's back, her expression still calm and detached.
But in truth, her throat rolled again without her noticing.
There was no helping it; the smell of the meat was simply too fragrant.
It even made Machi slightly regret choosing fried rice.
She should have chosen the meat and tasted it properly too!!
But since Mog could produce something that smelled this good, and Uvogin was eating with such blissful abandon,
the taste was obviously not bad at all.
That also made Machi feel a faint sense of anticipation.
What kind of fried rice would Mog bring out?
While Machi was looking forward to it, inside the Church's screening room,
"Gulp~"
Chrollo and Pakunoda in the room swallowed their saliva as well.
Though they were inside the room and couldn't smell that aroma,
just seeing the steam rising from the chunks of meat and their enticing color
was enough, along with Uvogin wildly stuffing them into his mouth and chewing, meat juices flying everywhere,
to completely stir up their cravings.
Especially here in Meteor City, where there was practically no rich food at all, it was an absolute temptation.
Even for a genius as naturally intelligent as Chrollo, seeing Uvogin wolfing down meat
made the thoughts in his head crash to a halt.
Why had a syringe and medicine suddenly appeared? Why did inserting the syringe into a branch make it quickly bloom and bear fruit?
Why did the branch grow a coconut-like black fruit? Why did fragrant chunks of meat appear inside once the fruit's lid was opened...
All those phenomena that completely defied common sense, exceeded his understanding of the world, and nearly shattered his worldview
were utterly forgotten before the sight of Uvogin eating meat.
Yes, in that regard, Uvogin was definitely a qualified food streamer.
And after all, Chrollo was only a child who had been born and raised in Meteor City.
He often rummaged through garbage dumps and ruins, searching for anything useful.
He had truly never eaten food like huge chunks of meat before~~~
Fortunately, Chrollo was still Chrollo.
Through sheer force of will, he tore his gaze away from Uvogin—or rather, from the chunks of meat in Uvogin's hands.
He turned instead toward Mog, who had opened another vial, drawn it into the syringe, and begun injecting the tree again.
He had always been curious about what exactly this thing Mog had brought out was.
It could alter a tree's very nature and make it bear fruit containing food.
Before you continue