As Armad walked to the kitchen, he made a rough estimate of how much time he had before all his enemies would come knocking. The prince was given exactly four years to develop this small town to satisfy his father and he had already spent 1 year and three months. So Armad had two years and several months before his father would decide to come knocking. Until then, he had some veiled protection.
Even though his brother already has the support of the King's Legion, he couldn't attack him directly and openly without attracting their father's wrath. Even though his mother was dead and there was barely anyone left in the High Council to speak for him, they still needed to keep appearances. But once the time was up and he was deemed unfit and chased out of this town, all the hidden snakes would show their ugly fangs.
Even the surrounding towns were waiting for this chance. The old king ruling this town before the prince came was also hiding somewhere and waiting for this opportunity. From the prince's memory, Armad remembered the face of the former king and how he didn't even wait to say his goodbyes to the prince before he left.
But despite this veiled protection provided to him by his name, Armad knew the jungle dwellers would attack since they didn't care about any rules. Even as it was they were being hunted by the empire, so why respect any prince? He also felt that the King's Legion wouldn't leave this area and would likely lurk around in the surrounding towns. They might even instigate the towns to attack him. If they were to incentivize the local kings and tell them the crown prince would protect them, then everything would change.
Armad remembered the High Council's warning before he left: the empire and its forces will not help you in this assignment, if you need help building a small town over a long period of four years then you have failed. In fact, someone even warned him that if they found out that any of his mother's former associates were helping him for build the town, he would automatically fail the assignment.
It was unfair but Armad didn't care. With the System, he just had to eat everything and produce as many pills as humanely possible. All he needed was a small period of time and he wouldn't fear even the Ururu. Despite his line of thoughts and confidence, he was still half running back to the kitchen.
***
Back in the kitchen, Musa was still in a state of fright. Despite Armad's assurance that no harm would come to him, he still felt threatened. He would be safe as long as he didn't tell anyone, right? The prince even dangled a possible reward before him if he would only keep his mouth shut.
But then, his fear was for a different reason now because the food Armad ate was meant for the kitchen staff. How would he explain to them, as some of them even took it back home to feed their families? Right now, the soup was gone, thanks to the prince. Even the mush was partly eaten by him, and he knew that some of them might return since there wasn't anything to feed their families. He couldn't possibly tell them it was the prince that ate it, so the fingers would only be pointed at him. The penalty for stealing royal foodstuffs is a jail term of at least two years. What could he do now?
He stood thinking of what to do and eventually decided to prepare another meal since it wasn't too late. So he made a fire and started cooking, but it wasn't long afterward that the door opened again, and Armad returned.
Only then did he remember that he hadn't locked the door the first time the prince left. He should have done so to avoid any disturbance while cooking, but it was too late. As soon as he entered, Armad saw the fresh pot of boiling stock, and he realized the situation. He understood what the man was about to do. This made him hesitate a bit, but then he saw another pot at the far side of the kitchen.
It caught his attention because it was filled to the brim with soup. It was placed slightly slanted on the counter, making it easier for him to see the generous cuts of meat swimming within. He meant to ask Musa before proceeding, but seeing that pot stopped him from doing so. Within a short time, he picked up the pot, and without seeking a spoon or anything, he opened his mouth and poured.
The soup splattered and made a mess of the floor and his clothes as meat fell into his mouth.
But Armad didn't care. All he cared about was getting more cultivation.
Something that bothered even himself was that he never felt full. The amount of food he had eaten recently was enough to burst his stomach, but Armad felt unsatiated.
He felt famished. It should be recalled that he ate at 2 in the morning, and then he ate the soup meant for the kitchen staff. Now he was devouring from a pot thrice as large as the first, without knowing whose food it was.
As for Musa, he felt his breath hitch at the way Armad entered unexpectedly. He felt momentarily paralyzed and didn't react as quickly as he should have. He was yet to regain his composure from their earlier encounter, but the next thing he saw was the prince gulping soup from a pot and devouring the meat within it.
Instinctively, he leaped up towards him. "Be careful, Your Highness!" he shouted. "There is meat inside that soup," he warned.
Armad didn't heed him, and before Musa could finish, he had swallowed everything that went through his mouth. Still, he kept on at it.
Musa was fearful the first time, but now he was in full-blown terror. He thought that it was impossible to get any more terrified than he already was, but now he was proven wrong.
The prince had long since been banned from eating meat when he was a child. Back when his mother was alive, he had once been fed with some food. It was prepared with meat stock, but the prince wasn't fed any meat. After eating that food, he spent two days unconscious and was later confirmed to be allergic to meat. This was why two separate meals were always prepared in the prince's kitchen. The second meal was for the royal army that works for him, while the first, which was meatless, was for the prince, and the kitchen staff also fed from it. They endured a vegan meal in solidarity with their master.
What would happen to someone who ate a meal cooked with meat broth and fell unconscious for two days, now that he had eaten meat?
Musa was so alarmed at the moment. All his friends had witnessed how he was the only one left alone with the prince in the kitchen. He knew that all the cultivation in the world would change nothing for him if something happened to the prince. No one would believe that he wasn't the one who hurt him. He and his family would be dead even before the prince regained his consciousness. And he realized that this was the very beginning of his terror.
Without wasting another second, he ran towards the prince in a bid to stop him from continuing with this insane mission.
He began to wonder if it was the prince or if it was a demon that looked like him. Was it some evil influence working on him? He had never seen even the lowest of the nobles behave in such a way. But he hit a wall that blocked him midway. It was a Pol construct that stopped him from reaching the prince. Armad wasn't about to let anyone stop him from his quest for acquiring more Pol years and improving his cultivation base.
Musa watched helplessly as his eyes brimmed with tears. He watched as the prince emptied everything in the pot, and it was a very large pot that could feed at least a regiment from the royal army. When he was finished, Armad scanned around and saw another pot full of rice and another full of mush. There was a third one also filled with boiled yam that was about to be pounded. Without wasting time, he took a serving spoon and set to work. And with every mouthful, a new alert from the System surfaced. It was always a message about another new substance that was acquired. This only served to boost his confidence.