Emperor's Reckoning

"Oi, give me some food!"

Lyon shouted from his prison-like cage with no regard for what situation he was in. 

"Hahaha!"

"Hmm?" Lyon raised his eyebrows as he saw the laughter of another prisoner right in front of him. 

Under the dark shadow of the prison cell in front of him, he heard footsteps slowly crawling to the bars that held their freedom. Fragile and old hands were the first thing Lyon could see under the light before a disheveled old man was looking at him straight in the eye. His eyes were bulging crazy with creases on his forehead. 

"Young one, we will be here until we die!"

Lyon shook his head, "The only 'we' here is you, don't group me together with you."

He held the bar with both hands before pushing them apart with popping veins. However, not one bar even bent by the force he exuded.

"Hahaha! If it were that easy, many prisoners would have escaped by now."

*growl

Lyon rubbed his belly before muttering, "Hmm, I need some good food to eat, do you know anything local that is good?"

"Food? Hahahaha!" the crazy old man laughed once more before he told Lyon, "No food, we are here to be starved before our body rot and all of our hard-earned cultivation will be all for naught."

"Just tell me if there is anything local that is good to eat?"

"Pfft! Fine, fine, I will tell you. There is this some type of noodle that was as thin as thee hair, but also as fine as silk. The taste of the broth would explode right inside your mouth the moment your tongue activated their function!" the old man rubbed his chin as he looked at the ceiling, imagining the food.

"Yeah? Then what about the condiments?" said Lyon as he crouched down and pulled one hair of his before basking it with mana from his ring to make it as stiff or as flexible as he needed it to be.

"Ah condiments, that would be, of course, meat, meat, and meat! With a batch of greens and eggs! Oh, it was wonderful! I can still smell the delicious aroma from my memories."

*clank

Lyon shrugged before he asked, "And where is this place?"

"Ah, on the east side of the palace, little stall, an old noble was selling it, I wonder if he still sells it though."

Lyon pushed out the bar before asking, "What color is the stall? What time does it open?"

"A yellow stall, you could definitely see it since it is the only stall that stood there. When the moon reached its highest peak, there is when he would sell some noodles."

Lyon closed down the bar before putting his hands to support his head, "Alright thanks!"

"Your welcome ki— wait what?"

The old man looked at the empty cell right in front of him in disbelief.

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Lyon walked out of the cave before the gentle breeze of the night greeted him. He opened his mouth as he yawned loud and clear before tongue-wiped his dry lips. He scratched his butt as he looked at his surrounding. 

(There is no guard as far as my eye can see? Are they really that confident in their prison?) thought Lyon before he shook his head with a smile. With one last stretch of his back, he looked at the capital in front of him that had a giant palace right in the topmost of the land. The lights from the city were glimmering.

"Huh? Oi, who are you?"

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows before he looked at a drunken dwarf who made his way toward him. His walking was swaying left and right and about to fall to either side but it never came to be as he reached where Lyon stood.

With a blink of his eyes, he immediately activated the blessing that grandfather Sun gave him. 

"W-what...?"

The dwarf was confused before he patted Lyon's shoulder to make sure he was real, "Wow, hahaha, lad, you look a lot bigger from down there, but look at you now, haha! Welp, have a good day! I mean night."

"May I ask where are you going mister?" asked Lyon.

The dwarf walked past him as he waved his arm, "A man, I mean a dwarf must do what a dwarf must do."

"And that is?"

"I'm taking a piss lad."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Huh? Sure thing but I'll be pissing though."

"That's fine, why are there no guards guarding the prison?"

"Hah, you mean this cave? There is no need to guard them the bars are made by yours truly. Finer than steel harder than a Morningwood. Hahaha!"

"Won't they just use the mana around them to escape with magic?"

"Magic? Hahaha! There is no need for magic if you can't activate it."

"You mean?"

"No only the bars but the entire cave won't let single mana in for some reason. Thus the emperor imposes, grr, I mean, proposes to use the cave as the perfect prison."

"Ah, alright, thanks for your answer."

"It is strange, I know but— huh? Where did he go? Damn kids these days, they walked really fast I couldn't even see their shadows."

(I'm still here though) said Lyon to himself after he only took a step to the side. Seemingly that the dwarf didn't notice his existence anymore, he decided to leave for the busy capital ahead.

His halved height helped him tremendously with blending in with the inhabitants of the empire. Nobody thought that he was strange though it was obvious that he acted like a tourist. 

Lyon looked at the harmonious nature of the people before going to the place where a certain type of noodles was sold. On a certain alley beside the grand palace was a lone yellow stall. Steam kept premating out of it as a pair of lampion was attached. 

He entered the stall before sitting down. His nose slightly twitched as he smelled the broth that was coming out of the pot. The fragrance alone almost sent his mind to a different place.

"Haven't seen you around before? Are you a tourist?" 

Lyon opened his eyes before seeing the cook. He had a potbelly on his stomach and had a thin mustache above his lips. Lyon didn't notice any demi-humans trait around his figure besides his vertical pupils.

"Yes, can you serve me one bowl of your special?"

"Hmm, wait there a minute."

"Sure thing!"

The middle-aged man took the noodle strainer before putting it inside one of the two large pots. He lifted up the strainer before shaking it up and down a few times to strain the golden silk noodles. With his other hand, he took a medium-sized bowl and put the noodles inside.

He stirred the other pot with the ladle as meats and mushrooms took a peek of the surface. He gently and elegantly pulled it up before pouring it inside the bowl. He picked up a few greens like lettuce..... and another lettuce.

Lyon's eyebrows immediately twitched before he asked, "That's enough lettuce old man, thank you."

The middle-aged man nodded before he put the bowl right in front of him along with a pair of chopsticks laying beside it.

"How do you know about this place? Quite unusual for a tourist to know about this spot."

"Well, a good friend of mine (by that I mean a crazy old man with disheveled hair sleeping across my cell) told me about this spot. He said a noble is selling noodles here."

"Ah, quite a peculiar friend you have there, may I know his name?"

Lyon was silent with his eyes slightly in doubt about answering. The middle-aged noble understood the meaning of that expressions as he said, "It's alright, you don't have to tell me the name if you are feeling inconvenience about it."

"Yeah, sorry," Lyon smiled wryly as he scratched his head like a monkey, "Hahaha!"

Lyon looked at the noodles inside the bowl that was presented in an eloquent way. His stomach growled before he took the chopsticks and dug in.

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows after the first bite before gulping it down.

"Old man, can I have another bowl?" 

"Are you serious? You didn't even finish that one yet."

"It's alright, I have a plan."

The middle-aged man chuckled, "A plan? What plan? What are you going to do with my noodles?!"

"Just made me one, I'm the customer."

"Hahaha, fine."

--------------------

On the balcony outside the dragon lady's room. The most beautiful dragon was sitting under the moonlight as she looked in the direction where Lyon was held captive as a prisoner. She gritted her teeth at the stupid mistake she made. She shouldn't have returned home in the beginning.

Her door was knocked before a voice from the other side said, "Princess, it's time for the family dinner."

"I will not attend, they will have to drag me there."

After a slight pause, the maid answered, "Understood."

The dragon lady let out a sigh before her nose twitched. She raised her eyebrows before she turned around. 

"Noodles?"

Her eyes immediately turned mellow as if heaven's spring came into her life as she saw his grinning face.

"En!" she smiled.

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