Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

921. Packed Lunch

The street was part of a rather famous food district of Greenbirth – the Capital City of H5. One would expect to be able to find a fine meal on any given time or day here. But to their surprise –

“Closed. Aww…”

“Full and booked right into the evening. Just our luck.”

“Nooo! They took the last table!”

“Huh? The people in front of us took the last meat skewers!?”

– They couldn’t find a place that was serving a meal or had any vacancy to serve them. 90% of the restaurants here required a booking, preferably days ahead. It was considered reasonable, as the more expensive streets or the infamous Gold Tongue District of the City of Diamonds needed bookings from weeks to even months ahead.

Stalls were cleaned out by hungry patrons as well as merchants who possessed small containers with the preservation Gift from the Preserva Collective. Those meals would be resold elsewhere, usually at sites frequented by Adventurers.

Frost had no idea why their luck was down the drain today.

“Aw…” Jury sulked, her ear flaps drooping sadly with her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not all about food. We got stuff in our Dimensional Storage, right? I mean, I’m sure you do.”

“It’s not the same.” She moped.

“Well, I’d rather eat something from you than any one of these stores~”

Frost tried to cheer her up. One of her specialties was, after all, knowing the right words to say to ease people’s hearts. She took her by the hand and guided her to a bench. There, Frost sat down and looked up at her like she was a child who had lost their toy.

“Right Jury? Let’s go find a park. It’ll be less noisy and crowded too. What do you say?”

Jury’s tears grew larger.

Huh?

“I already ate it all.” She murmured. “All one hundred skewers, thirty-eight apples, fifteen beef sandwiches, and ninety-nine eggs benedicts.”

“But that was throughout the week, right? We can always stock up while we’re here too –”

“This morning…”

“… this morning?”

Jury nodded.

“… Ok. Never mind. Were you that stressed?”

“Enough to eat more than half of your daily intake.”

“Hold up. Half my intake? Nevermind.”

Frost was a big eater, but there was no way in hell she was eating that much per day…

… or was she? Her hunger was a problem that had never disappeared. Rather, it was being managed through eating civilized and prepared meals. Cooked food kept her satiated for much longer as well, especially when they were prepared by Ber.

However, she wasn’t a stranger to eating a boar or two in quick succession. Using Blood Manipulation or Skills that utilized HP greatly increased one’s hunger. The cycle of losing HP, using Mana to replenish HP, and then devouring the living to replenish Mana played into the reason why HP and hunger were so intertwined.

Her Sanguine Doves went from being Healers that ate only three times a day to requiring up to twelve large meals every twenty-four hours.

The same was true for Blood Angels, and even Honored Ones by extension.

For them, eating accelerated their healing. Stronger Honored Ones or Blood Angels were nigh immortal in the presence of blood. This was partially the reason why Blood Angels were so reliant on their nebulized blood.

They came from a time where they had to be prepared to be killed at any moment, even by the people they trusted the most. Furthermore, they were highly prone to biting, drawing blood or outright devouring any living being within their proximity.

It was a curse they bared for carrying Uriel’s contaminated blood.

As a result, the mask also served as a muzzle.

* * *

The fact that Jury was still so incredibly fit despite her ravenous appetite wasn’t the strangest thing in the world. But it did annoy her that what Jury ate was just half of what she did.

“Why don’t we go somewhere else then?” Frost suggested.

Jury plopped down beside her, still frustrated at herself.

“I wanted today to be perfect for us. It’s starting to get hard to find the time to be with you.”

“That’s only for now. When your get your new hires, then we’ll have plenty more time.”

“… I guess you’re right. It’s just frustrating.”

“Don’t worry.”

“… I’m worrying because I don’t like things I can’t account for.” She murmured. “Even if it’s as small as this, I don’t want to feel like I could’ve done better. I lost our Moons –”

This time, Frost sealed her lips around hers. She gingerly plunged her tongue into her lover’s mouth and tried to dominate her like Jury usually did to her.

Moments later, the surprised Jury’s tongue wrestled her until she submitted.

Even Frost’s tongue couldn’t top her and would prefer to let Jury do all the work.

After a long, passionate kiss, they parted ways with a single, glistening strand connecting them.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for the death of the Moons. But it’s always good to want to worry. I’m speaking from experience. How many people do you think died in vain around me? How many more died because of me? If I let that dictate every decision of my life, then I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. I’d be ruined. I’m not saying you shouldn’t acknowledge it. I just want you to know that it’s not your fault.”

Jury’s eyes glistened.

She had missed hearing Frost’s small snippets of advice.

“I’ll remember that.” She leaned into Frost’s shoulder. “Small.”

“Small?”

“You. You’re tiny.”

“I kinda wish I wasn’t, but considering I wouldn’t be able to be smothered so easily – It’s a win in my books. You know, with people getting bigger as the years go on, I think I’m going to need to learn a Progenitor Art that’ll let me grow. The podiums I’m gonna have to stand on a thousand years from now will be bigger than me.”

“Hahaha~ Mm. Or I can just carry you.”

The hard, wooden bench beneath Frost became soft, warm and plump. Jury hugged her from behind as she was made to sit on her lap. Her legs couldn’t even touch the ground, and Jury could comfortably place her chin on her head.

“See? I’m still winning~” She gave Jury a toothy grin, revealing her fangs. “So, wanna find a different place? Or, are you content with just having me?”

“I’ll take you to lunch and dinner first~”

“That’s what I like to hear. How about we find a place away from the main strip? Greenbirth is massive. I’d be surprised if there’s a shortage on restaurants, let alone food. There’s thousands of kilometers worth of unused land.”

“A thousand kilometers…” Jury brought up her hands to try to picture just how large that was. “About… maybe the size of an Atelier City from S3 to S10.

Or, like the opening of the Maw of the World!”