CHAPTER 184: POUR SOME WATER IN

"Young Master Carlos, this little gadget is one of Master’s proudest creations. Its effects are pretty damn magical."

Demi let go of the big eyeball.

"Uto! Uto!"

After getting its freedom back, the big eyeball immediately zipped over to its master’s side, loudly ratting out a certain woman’s threatening behavior!

"Clink!"

A silver coin dropped onto the disc, and Gauwo’s Eye instantly shut up, peacefully chowing down.

"Master Pergina’s handiwork?"

Now Carlos couldn’t help but give it a serious once-over.

"Young Master Carlos, pour some water in and you’ll see what happens."

Hearing this, Carlos pulled out a water pouch and curiously poured it in.

"Picture some kind of drink in your head."

"Tea!"

Sweet tea!

That was Carlos’s knee-jerk reaction.

Then...

Demi grabbed the long-spouted pot and poured into a cup.

"What the hell?"

Warm tea slowly flowed from the spout. Carlos picked up the cup and took a careful sip.

"Tea! It’s actually tea!"

Even more mind-blowing was that this taste was exactly like Carlos’s own tea!

Just as fragrant and sweet, just as pure, just as comforting!

"Unbelievable!"

Carlos could hardly wrap his head around it.

A tool like this actually existed that could turn water into other liquids!

Just think about it—if it could turn into tea, it could definitely transform into other liquids too.

What an incredible piece of work!

This was clearly one of alchemy’s top-tier techniques—material reorganization transmutation!

’Hold up, this ability to transmute water into other liquids...’

A lightbulb went off in Carlos’s head.

’The Western Sage—isn’t this the Western Sage’s signature move?’

The Western Sage—the most mysterious badass among humanity’s future heavy hitters.

Nobody knew who they really were.

When they first showed up, they’d pulled off the mind-bending trick of transforming an entire lake into precious mithril liquid!

This sent countless organizations into a total feeding frenzy!

Crazy skilled at material transmutation and obsessed with machinery, they eventually pioneered the completely new Steam Body Transmutation pathway, giving human combat power a massive boost!

The Steam Association under their command cranked out tons of inventions that helped regular folks, earning them the title Western Sage.

Though it was just a single tool, Carlos could tell right away how similar this technique was to the Western Sage’s methods.

His look toward Pergina became way more careful and respectful.

’That look again!’

Pergina was baffled.

Young noble master, what have you figured out now?

Can’t you just spill what you’re thinking?

’Ugh!’

Pergina’s head started throbbing.

This magical long-spouted pot was something she’d stumbled across when she got lost in the desert once.

It was definitely magical, but not super useful.

In desert city-states, water was worth its weight in gold too.

Demi also poured tea for herself and her master.

The two women took light sips.

’So sweet!’ x2

Sweet to the point of being brutal!

Pergina choked it down with serious effort, then set it aside like it was poison.

On the flip side, Demi found it had a special kick to it.

’Is this Young Master Carlos’s taste?’

Carlos’s inspiration was spot-on, instantly picking up on Demi’s total obsession with the tea.

’A kindred spirit!’

As long as you’re into tea, you’re cool in my book!

Carlos eagerly refilled Demi’s cup.

This left Demi feeling like she’d won the lottery, totally losing herself in this ’tea.’

’What a scheming little minx!’

Pergina saw right through her apprentice’s game plan.

’Too focused on the short game.’

Seeing the two of them going at it like there was no tomorrow, Pergina had to jump in:

"Demi! It’s getting late. Shouldn’t you be getting dinner ready?"

Quit guzzling tea. If you keep this up, how are you gonna eat later?

"Right! The dinner!"

Demi, who’d been totally zonked out on ’tea,’ suddenly snapped back to reality.

Dinner! A dinner together!

How could she forget the real showdown?

"Miss, please don’t go to any trouble. I..."

Carlos was about to back out.

He wasn’t in the habit of chowing down at other people’s places.

Then he saw Demi’s face go white as a sheet and her ’crushed’ expression.

’Young Master Carlos... shot me down... shot me down...’

She never saw the battle ending before it even got started.

"Young Master Carlos, Demi’s been busting her ass preparing amazing food to thank you. You sure you won’t at least give it a try?"

Unable to stand it, the master had to step up to the plate.

Pergina played the ’guilt trip’ card.

"Plus it’s a gift Demi put her heart into."

Then she played the ’temptation’ card.

Pretty slick.

"Well... then I guess I’ll crash the party."

Since the highly likely ’Western Sage’ had put it that way, Carlos agreed.

Besides, he figured this was a golden chance to test this person’s real identity.

’Master!!!’

The tables had turned.

Demi had never thought her master was as awesome as she did right now!

"Young Master Carlos, just hang tight. I’ll go whip up the food right away!"

Demi jumped up excitedly, ready to hit the kitchen and cook up something amazing!

"If you don’t mind, could I watch from the sidelines?"

It wasn’t that Carlos didn’t trust Demi, but you gotta stay sharp.

What if she slipped something weird into the mix...

Carlos had already quietly told the Purple Vortex around the shop to come charging in if anything seemed sketchy with him!

"No... no problem at all!"

Wait... wouldn’t that mean the two of them would be alone together?

Demi got pumped. She’d show Young Master Carlos her killer cooking skills!

Right then, Carlos suddenly realized he’d forgotten to ditch his mask.

’This Master Pergina doesn’t seem to sweat the small stuff.’

Since he’d noticed, Carlos naturally pulled off his mask. Wearing a mask while shooting the breeze with people was pretty rude.

"Oh! Sweet mother of..."

An exclamation.

Pergina slapped her hand over her mouth.

This... what a perfect piece of work!

All the words she’d ever learned couldn’t do justice to describing it.

Everything beautiful about humanity was packed right there, absolutely mind-blowing.

Pergina clutched her hands to her heart with a totally smitten look.

"Master! Master!"

Demi awkwardly nudged her master.

So embarrassing.

Hadn’t she seen the portraits before?

"Ahem, where were we?"

Pergina snapped out of it. Her face had been battle-tested over many years to be thick as armor—she felt zero embarrassment and played it totally cool.

"Master, I’m gonna prep the food. Young Master Carlos is gonna watch from the sidelines."

"Right... right! Get moving!"

Pergina nodded, showing she got it.

Huh?

Why was Young Master Carlos tagging along?

Pergina sensed something was fishy.

Could he want to cook himself?

That seemed like a long shot.

As for bad intentions, Pergina looked at that face that would make angels weep.

No way in hell!

If something actually went down, who’d end up getting the raw deal wasn’t exactly a mystery?

"Young Master Carlos, please follow me."

Demi shot Carlos an apologetic smile, then headed toward the cooking area.

Carlos smiled back and nodded. He didn’t mind—he was used to rolling with whatever.