The dining knife sliced through the crisp, charred klada steak, fat seeping along the blade and dripping onto the old plate.
Broken Antler Tavern.
Though the spring hunt was nearing its end, the hall was still packed with adventurers as noon approached.
He Xi speared a piece of steak and put it into his mouth.
"Eat slowly..."
Sitting across from him, Zoya cut the steak on her own plate into small pieces and placed them into the exclusive dish she had personally chosen beneath the table.
Watching the fellow under the table practically bury his head in the bottom of the dish, she felt somewhat puzzled.
Strange... Why had Bruce stopped looking at me since last night?
At that moment, the guilty dog was doing its utmost to focus on the steak.
The delicacies that normally made it drool now seemed unusually heavy.
Its ears drooped back, and it did not dare meet that concerned gaze. Inwardly, it whimpered:
Zoya... has always been sharing her steak with me...
Thinking of how it had actually helped He Xi keep watch on her atop the valley's rock wall last night, the steak before it felt as though it were roasting its soul.
Damn He Xi... Not only had he gone to bed early after coming back last night, he even had Zoya feed me. This is torturing this dog's conscience!
At another table not far away, the voices of several adventurers drifted over in fragments.
"You finally decided to show your face. What, I heard you're planning to take a break?" An adventurer teased the companion across from him whom he had not seen in a long time. "Didn't you used to insist on waiting until the spring hunt was completely over before washing the Goblin stink-blood off your boots? Why are