Outside of the Holy Church, Agrias spotted a large wagon with many sets of chocobos. The holy knight wondered what why wagon was there, since it was not there from before. Suddenly, a young knight spoke from behind her; she quickly turned her head, and saw the knight talking to Ramza. The knight had a serious look and appeared as if he was on business.
"Sir Ramza Beoulve," the knight spoke with an earnest tone. "King Delita requests that you visit him before you continue your journey.
"Ramza glanced over towards the wagon, which the generic knight rode in. "With that many chocobos, we could reach his castle before sun fall. If we just spend the night, we could make it back to the Orbonne before Balk could do any damage. Besides, this could be my final meeting with Delita. Still, I wonder why he wants to see me." Ramza thought to himself.
"Why does King Delita summon my presence?" The Beoulve asked.
"Well," the knight gave no certainly in his voice. "It appears to be just for a social gathering. He is preparing a hung banquet for you and your knights' arrival."
Thinking over-and-over in his head, Ramza concluded that it would give him and his troops a nice rest before the battle ahead. "Very well, I shall go with you to Zeltennia Castle to meet with Delita." Ramza spoke with a high-and-mighty tone. The knight looked over to Ramza and gave him an uncanny look.
"Very well." The generic knight said with a loud tone, so the whole group could hear. "We will leave at once; everyone, come on to the wagon, the chocobos will lead us."
One-by-one, everyone loaded themselves into the wagon. Having the ladies, Agrias, Rafa, Reis, Meliadoul, Lavian, and Alicia, go in first; then followed by the gentlemen, Ramza, Mustadio, Malak, Orlandu, Beowulf, Cloud, and Rad. With a crack of a whip, the chocobos began their monotonically gait through the various landscapes of Ivalice.
During the short voyage, Ramza took a good glance at the actions of his troops. He noticed Agrias rested her head on the shoulders of Cloud, who was resting his head against the wall of the wagon. Mostly everyone else did a similar gesture. Ramza realized that this side-trip would not just be for his reasoning, but it is needed to rest the troops; compared to his plan of going straight after Balk, with no break in-between, this rest was needed for the health of his group.
The chocobos pushed with their full might. Upon reaching the castle, one of the chocobos was completely tired. The second the other chocobos halted their gait, the chocobo laid on the ground and fell asleep, not knowing when it will awake. The generic knight sleuthed his head out of the wagon and saw they had reached their destination. He gave a signal to Ramza, and he and the other made their way out of the wagon, with ladies being first.
Ramza was the last to leave the wagon. The knight noticed a shepherd unhook the chocobos from the straps, and led them to a large, gated field. After the chocobos entered the field, the shepherd locked the gate. He then noticed one sleeping chocobos who refused to wake-up. The shepherd stood in front of the chocobo and kneeled. He quickly examined the sleeping creature, and gently shook his head. With all his might, he lifted the chocobo, which had to weigh at least a hundred pounds. Ramza was impressed by the shepherd's strength, and his eyes followed him as he carried the chocobo to along the castle walls.
Rad, placing his shoulder on Ramza, told him that everyone was entering the castle. Ramza took his mind off the shepherd and the chocobo, and followed everyone else into the castle. Inside the castle, King Delita immediately greeted Ramza. Delita, with Ovelia right next to him, walked up to Ramza and shook his hand.
"It's been a while Ramza, so very to see you." The king smiled as he said so. He turned his head to the other people standing in the entranceway "Good day to the rest of you." Delita said as he bowed his head. "You must be tired, please, sit in the atrium; our feast should be ready really soon.
Everyone walked over to the near-by atrium. They all began to seat themselves on the many chairs and structures. Ramza lifted his head and smelt a pleasant scent; it had to be the cooking food. The knight's mouth began to moisten, as the odor entered his nostrils. Looking around, he knew the others enjoyed the scent of their soon-to-be feast. Ramza placed his hand on his stomach, and felt the rumble within it; this made the knight remember none of his troop ate since yesterday. Everyone in the room had a lean-and-hungry look on their faces; he felt sorry for the main-course, knowing it'd be devoured within minutes.
King Delita walked up towards Ramza, and sat next to him. "So, how does your journey fare, thus far?" Ramza told his best friend everything that happened since the death of Zalmo , up to the death of Funeral. He told him of the power of the holy stones and about Lucavi.
"That what has been happening in the world of Ivalice." Ramza said as the finishing statement.
"Hmm..." Delita hummed his voice. "So what's your next plan of action?"
"I plan to chase after Balk." Ramza replied to the king's question.
"Chase? Then don't you think it was a better idea to go straight after him, then sidetracking all the way out here?"
"No." The knight said straight-forward. "I know where exactly Balk is heading, and my troops need a break, badly." Delita just nodded. Ramza took another deep breath and smelt the same odors, only much stronger. Suddenly, a chemist walked into the room where the entire group sat.
"The feast is ready." The chemist said to all who were seated. On that cue, everyone lifted themselves and followed the chemist in to the dinning-area. Upon reaching the area, the chemist stopped, stood against the wall in akimbo position, allowing the other to move ahead of him. The group looked around and were shocked by what they saw, even the king was amazed.
A beautifully cooked chocobo sat in the middle of the table, surrounded by many delectables and sauces. The touched gave the room a dim vibe and somehow made the food more savory. Fifteen sets of chairs lied on each side of the table, with two more chairs on the adjacent sides, creating a total of thirty-two chairs. Ramza and his troops all sat on one side of the table, along with Olan and Balmafula, and Delita's worthy servants sat on the other side.
Delita stood-up, grasping the filled wine glass in his right hand. "Cheers!" The king said with great might. "Cheers to Ramza, for continuing to rid the corruption and evil off Ivalice, and attempting to make this kingdom peaceful again. Here-here!" Delita lifted his wine and drank all the wine in one sip. The others raised their glasses and drank from them as well, all except Ramza, who was red from flattery. After so, the food was passed around.
Everyone on Ramza's side took a large portion of the chocobo, and many servings of the vegetables, which ranged from carrots to zucchini, while all the other took regular sized servings. The king gave a strange look at Ramza.
"How long has it been since you eaten?" Delita asked the hungry knight.
"At least twenty-four hours; we've been busy with these onslaught of events." The Beoulve replied.
The king was shocked briefly. "Twenty-fours? You have to take better care of your troops, Ramza. They should have three meals a-day to keep them strong and healthy. Leave them starving, and they'd grow weak and you're love their morale. Keep starving them, who knows what may happen." Upon hearing this, all of Ramza's troops glared at the knight. Ramza, embarrassed, place his hand on his neck, because he knew Delita was right.
Ramza re-lifted his fork, which he dropped when Delita questioned his group's action, and placed some of the chocobo onto it. He put the food into his foot and bit on it. The second he done so, the many flavors of the bird gushed into his mouth. Ramza quietly moaned from the assortment of the distinctive tastes.
"This chocobo is incredible!" Ramza blurted out. "It must have taken days to give it this kind of flavor."
"Actually," Ramza's cook, Grumio, began to state. "Chocobos are naturally filled with flavor, due to the many green they eat, and chocobos cook very quickly; a full-grown adult bird would take only two hours to completely cook." Ramza's eyes widen from this new learned tidbit. "We usually cook the chocobos who had passed-away, since it is the least wasteful and most of the flavor is still intact."
"So," Ramza turned his head to the shepherd. "When we arrived and that chocobo wouldn't wake-up, you carried him to the back of the castle and slice them up to become food?"
The shepherd nodded, and some of the guests dropped their forks and coughed with disgust. Rafa, who was greatly offended, spat-out some chocobo onto her plate. She then stood up.
"I'm sorry, but I've lost my appetite." Rafa said directed to the whole table. She then held her hand over her month and left the dinning-room. The whole table turned their heads to Ramza. The knight did nothing but stare into oblivion.
"You may be a fine knight, but you have absolutely no proper manners." Agrias nearly-yelling at the young Beoulve.
"I'm sorry. I guess I was being somewhat rude." Ramza said shamefully towards the whole group.
"It's okay." Rad made his input. "Everyone makes mistakes." The Beoulve smiled at the knight's brave jump-in. Satisfied, everyone who was still present went back to his or her meal. The rest of the meal had no interruptions and many casual conversations. With forks down, everyone had all they could eat. Everyone leaned back in their chairs and waited for the king to speak.
"Delicious meal! Show-of-thanks to my workers who help create this occasion." Delita showing a great deal of gratitude. Everyone lightly applauded towards the workers. "Now, feel free to spend the rest of the night doing anything you please. As for sleeping arrangements, choose one of the many available guest rooms. You may leave the table, so the workers may clean the table off."
After this was said, everyone got out of his or her chairs and left the dining room. All of Ramza's troops scattered into different directions, not knowing what to do. Ramza had a fell, although a small one, that this night would many surprises and pleasures to the entire castle. Keeping that thought in his head, he walked down the northern hall.