SOS CH 16 (Patreon)

Noah had been quite proud.

He may have had to beat up an innocent woman on the way but he did manage to fool the pirates and enter one of their ships. More than anything — He was finally about to eat real food.

At least — This is what he believed would have happened.

“Where am I? And what is this?”

Noah looked at the person standing close to him. She or at least he assumed it was a female, from the shapely form of the armor the person was wearing, was very tall. There also was only one eye on the armor but there were not much more indications.

The strange tall and towering woman aside, Noah found himself in some sort of totally white room.

His face twitched slightly at the sight of this room. Memories he thought he had forgotten dragging themselves up in his head.

“You need to be kept in a sterilized room until we see whether you are carrying any kind of strange bacteria that could affect us. The chances are extremely low honestly. But I do not like moving with a possible Biological hazard.”

“Oh. Okay, I can understand that. But…What is this…?”

“Food.”

“Food? This?”

Noah pointed out at the plate in front of him. It was composed of one Grey cube, two green cubes, and finally a weirdly pinkish-red cube. Finally, there was a small bottle with a straw in it.

It looked unappealing and honestly disgusting in a certain way. At least this was so for Noah. He distinctly remembered eating this kind of ration when he was in the army or at least something closely similar and while it was heartwarming in a way to find something that reminded him of home. This did not make the appearance of the ‘meal’ any better.

In fact, it made it worse.

Noah was filled with utter disgust. So much in fact that he would rather go back and eat some raw meat after killing a few beasts. After all, this did have some taste at least.

“You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to, you know? We are pressed for time. You have five minutes to decide then we will start moving.”

“Ugh…”

Noah looked at the food and sighed,

“This will make me full?”

“A barbarian like you might not understand what kind of marvel this is. This is the summit of the food industry specializing in space travel and warfare. They have no smell and no particular heat, making them hard to detect on radar. They also have no fiber so soldiers and crewmates can excrete a minimal amount of waste. Finally, because of their composition and their compact size, they can be moved in large quantities without taking much space and can be conserved for years without any problem. This isn’t about just smashing food somehow together and compressing it. This is a state-of-the-art technology of such a high level that someone like you could never understand hope to understand even if I gave more explanation.”

Noah had expected many things but certainly not getting some kind of lessons. She spoke in quite a condescending way and so quickly that she seemed ready to crush Noah with the weight of her words. But he was not offended nor did he care about how she was looked down on his intellect. There was only one thing he cared about. One thing he needed to know and this was why, once he was sure that she finished harping about how incredible those disgusting-looking cubes were, Noah only had one question.

“Are they Tasty?”

“...”

“...”

The two looked at each other. Even without being able to see her face, Noah could hear her heartbeat accelerate greatly. It looked like she was quite angry even though he did nothing but ask a very legitimate question about a problem that was bothering him.

In the end, it looked like she decided that his question was not worth answering as she turned on her heel with a click and started walking away, leaving one last sentence behind her.

“Those four cubes are enough to completely fill even an adult warrior of my species for a few days to even beyond a week. So now, shut up and eat or leave, I couldn’t care less. Once you finish take a shower and put clothes in the room adjacent. They will keep you warmer than the rags you are currently.”

“Huh…”

Looking at her departing back, Noah whistled quietly.

‘Is she…Kind? Tsundere? Damn didn’t think I would meet one like this even in space. Aquarius would have had a field day.’

Aquarius was one of the 13 constellations when he was on Earth. A young shy boy who had his heart on his palm. Animes and the likes were one of the few divertissements he enjoyed after he learned his genitors were of Japanese origin. This gave him the impression of sharing a culture with them.

Now alone, Noah took one of the cubes and looked at it with curiosity.

‘Any ideas?’

— Even if it’s poisonous it will not affect you.

‘I know but this is exactly the problem. Pretty hard to act when you don’t know what kind of feeling you need to show.’

—Speaking of acting. I am surprised at your talent. I thought a prideful man like you would simply jump right in and fight all of them.

Noah grinned as he put the cube in his mouth, hiding a grimace as the tasteless thing seemed to liquify once in his mouth and move down his throat like a gelatinous substance.

‘Jumping all gun blazing in a fight without ascertaining the firepower of the enemy isn’t being prideful. It’s just pure stupidity.’

Noah's code name was Serpent Bearer and he made honor to this name. All his life, he had been trained to hunt, kill, assassinate, lie, and cheat. His was still a little rusty because he had no one to use his skills on for years but thanks to his current appearance, people naturally underestimated him.

After all, how many people would think that a young cute, and small child was in fact a deadly assassin? Even if there was some doubtful points in his performance, they would unconsciously choose to ignore it because he presented no apparent danger to them.

‘Hunting is an art you see and all weapons should be used when necessary. What people forget is that — Words too can be very deadly weapon.’

He sighed and ate all but one of the cubes. He had to admit, while this gave him the impression he was eating some disgusting shit, the taste was non-existent so it was at least bearable.

But the greatest surprise was,

‘Half? No, a quarter full.’

When added to what he already ate on the way, Noah could be said to be half full. Something that only happened after he hunted many beasts and devoured them directly.

Now he understood what the woman meant when she said those things were marvel of technology. He could already imagine that those rations could sustain a large army easily without much problem.

Space exploration could also be for longer without having to come back to resupply. He was learning more and more as time passed.

Once he was a little more satiated, Noah went in the direction of the shower room.

Truly. Only by taking a good hot shower would he feel like he came back to civilization.

As for the meal. He did not count it. Only a true hot meal with smoking meat, some delicious sauce, a few fries, and rice on the side could truly make him happy.

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