Chapter : 56

"We... don't have that much money."

The air fell into a strange silence, and Yan Yunqing's gaze became much more peculiar.

No money? Didn't they say this General Sawyer was the current head of the Sawyer family? How come he sounded so poor?

Not only did he not have a dedicated residence, he came to an inn to stay, and the room he stayed in was even of medium quality...

This was not in line with the style of those noble lords.

Now he didn't even have money for a round of drinks. Could the Sawyer family be in decline?

But aren't they stationed at the border all year round?

And this generation has produced a genius swordsman, how could they be in decline?

Anthony was so embarrassed that his toes were about to dig into the ground.

He secretly glanced at that mage, then questioned Adrien with his eyes:

Didn't you insist on making this friend?

What do you mean by frantically exposing your own shortcomings in front of him?

Do you want to announce to the world that the Sawyer family is really poor?

Adrien looked back in confusion.

Anthony was frozen by that icy gaze for a moment and immediately retracted his originally disrespectful eyes.

He looked at his nose and his nose looked at his heart, obediently acting like a quail.

Ai, he had accidentally forgotten that this was his direct superior.

What right did he have to point at his direct superior's nose and curse?

Wasn't this asking for death?

In the end, it was Yan Yunqing who broke the strange silence, "...I'll treat you."

Adrien: !

Anthony: !!!

Anthony's gaze towards Yan Yunqing had undergone a slight change, as if he was looking at some nouveau riche, as if this gloomy mage was now shining with boundless golden light.

Someone actually had the courage to treat their general to a drink?

Come on, look at their general's face, let alone drinking, you wouldn't even be able to eat a meal with him, okay?

He had wanted to say it just now, this mage's guts were really big.

When their general invited him, this mage actually agreed.

And when their general said he had no money, he didn't just let the topic slide, but instead offered to treat him!

A brave warrior!

Speaking of which, did this mage know that not only did their general eat a lot, he was also a heavy drinker?

And Adrien's eyes also sparkled as he looked at Yan Yunqing.

Of course, others might not be able to tell what that sparkle meant, they would only feel that this person's gaze was becoming more and more terrifying.

Like a hungry wolf seeing food, his eyes were starting to glow green.

"You're treating?"

Yan Yunqing felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at by these two.

He pulled his hood, hiding his face in its shadow again, "Yes, so are you coming?"

Adrien agreed in one breath: "Let's go."

Yan Yunqing looked at Anthony again, "What about this gentleman?

Do you want to come along?"

This person seems very cultured, and he also seems to be this silent general's translator.

Why not bring him along? It would save him the trouble of not understanding what nonsense this general is saying.

Anthony waited expectantly for Adrien's agreement.

Wow, this mage is treating him too. What a generous, elegant, and handsome mage!

"He's not going." Adrien shook his head.

Anthony: ?

Question marks appeared in Anthony's eyes, and his face was written with 'why am I not going?'

Adrien said very sincerely: "He's afraid of crowds."

Yan Yunqing was suspicious: I didn't see that this person has social anxiety?

Isn't he quite talkative? Could he be an extroverted person with social anxiety?

Anthony was even more confused: When was he ever afraid of crowds?

How come he didn't know about it himself?

Adrien explained: "On our way here, he always walked alone and rarely spoke with others."

Anthony: What? Wasn't that because I was considerate of the general always walking silently at the forefront, not fitting into the group and looking pitiful, and since I was sent by the Sawyer family to be the general's external brain, so I considerately always followed behind the general?

Adrien continued: "He always follows behind me. He needs to learn to be independent."

Anthony: Slander! He's slandering me! I'm obviously very independent, okay!

Adrien: "So he's not going."

Anthony met those cold, deep blue eyes, and a drop of cold sweat slowly trickled down from his temple: "...Yes, right?"

Yan Yunqing: "...Oh."

Adrien nodded, and the two of them walked out of the inn's main entrance together, with Anthony silently shedding tears behind them.

Old General Sawyer, the young general is no longer a simple little cutie! He's learned to lie now!

On the way.

In order to maintain his persona, Yan Yunqing remained silent.

Adrien was a man of few words to begin with, so he also remained silent.

The icy aura surrounding the two of them could freeze an Anthony to death.

Yan Yunqing was starting to regret it.

He had treated him to a drink because he wanted to find out why Adrien was suddenly staring at him.

If Adrien had some special ability to see through disguises, he could prepare in advance. But this guy didn't say anything at all.

Was he supposed to, with his gloomy persona, be the one to start a conversation?

If he had known, he would have stayed far away.

He should have just said they'd meet another time when this guy said he had no money.

He felt that this General Sawyer was just purely eccentric in his way of thinking, which was why his behavior was different from ordinary people.

Finding the small tavern from his memory that had a decent environment, Yan Yunqing walked in first, with Adrien following closely behind.

This shop was a bit different from others. Most of the drinks sold were fruit wines, with a mellow and sweet taste that didn't get people drunk easily.

Therefore, many female mercenaries would patronize this shop.

According to Yan Yunqing, a few noble ladies also liked to hide their identities and sneak here to taste the fruit wine.

On the contrary, there were far fewer smelly male customers.

After all, the wine here wasn't strong at all, and it was surrounded by women.

Some men always felt that coming to this kind of shop would make them effeminate.

Yan Yunqing could only say that these people were full of prejudice.

He felt that the environment of such a tavern was really good.

At least the young ladies were all very clean, unlike the tavern he went to before to gather information, which was full of the mixed smell of stinky feet and sweat, and almost made him stink too.

Of course, such a tavern would be much quieter.

Although these women also liked to gossip and a lot of information could be gathered, they gossiped and chatted in such low voices that it was really troublesome for Yan Yunqing to gather information.

So if he were to gather information, he would be more inclined to go to taverns full of men, to listen to those men drink and boast.

In order to prove how powerful they were, they would occasionally reveal some secret information.

If it weren't for the really bad smell, Yan Yunqing would be very happy to go to that kind of place every day.

The sky outside hadn't darkened yet, so it wasn't the official business hours of the tavern.

There were only a few patrons sitting far apart inside the tavern.

A delicate-looking young man was propping up his face and Slumped on the bar, writing and drawing.

Yan Yunqing scanned the area and said to Adrien: "Let's sit a little further inside."

When they entered the city earlier, more than half of the commoners in the entire capital had gone to watch.

Yan Yunqing wasn't sure if those people had seen Adrien's face clearly from so far away.

After all, he was a celebrity, so it was better to be a little low-key to avoid causing any commotion.

Adrien had no objection to Yan Yunqing's proposal and nodded directly: "You decide."

He still understood the principle of being a guest who follows the host's arrangements. Whoever paid was the boss, and Adrien, who often had an empty pocket, was already used to this.

Leading Adrien to a seat in the most remote corner, the owner of this shop was also a clever person.

The seats in the middle of the tavern hall were arranged very close together, convenient for guests who wanted to chat and have a good time drinking together.

The seats near the edge, however, were set up as booths, with each table cleverly separated by plants and decorations.

Guests sitting outside couldn't see the faces of the people in the booths, and the people sitting in the booths also felt it was quiet and had a full sense of security.

No wonder even noble ladies dared to come here in disguise to drink.

The owner of this tavern was definitely someone who was very good at studying psychology.

The booth was a square table with chairs with soft cushions on both sides.

Yan Yunqing first chose a seat closer to the outside and sat down. Adrien naturally walked to the opposite side of him and sat down...

Yan Yunqing: ...?

Yan Yunqing looked down and saw that as soon as Adrien sat down, the entire table was pushed a few centimeters in his direction, and his long legs were already directly touching his side.

Tsk.

What did he eat to grow up, to have such long legs?

Yan Yunqing complained in his heart, moved his chair back a bit, and pulled the table over a little as well.

Adrien immediately felt much more spacious. He thanked him very naturally: "Thank you."

He's quite polite.

Yan Yunqing picked up the drink menu on the table and pressed the bell on the corner of the table. A crisp bell sound came from the bar.

The young man who was趴 on the bar writing and drawing raised his head, glanced at it, turned off the bell, and walked towards Yan Yunqing's booth, thinking to himself:

Coming for a drink at this hour, which young lady has snuck out to play again?

Walking to the side of the booth, the young man who had bypassed a pile of obstacles saw the two people sitting in the booth and immediately paused.

What kind of combination was this?

A black-robed mage with a hidden face and a gloomy aura, and a fierce-looking swordsman with a scar who was not to be messed with.

...These two looked very unreasonable.

Their shop shouldn't be trashed today for the drinks being too sweet or some other strange reason, right?

A little worry arose in the young man's heart. He decided to inform the boss later that their shop might be trashed today.

"Customers, what can I get for you?"

The young man put on a smile and walked into the booth, praying in his heart that these two would cause trouble later.

He was about to change shifts, so they could go find trouble with his colleague.

The gloomy, hooded mage looked up slightly, seemingly asking for the opinion of the scarred swordsman opposite him, "Fruit wine, want some?"

The scarred swordsman: "I want strong liquor."

The young man smiled: "I'm sorry, customer, we don't have strong liquor in our shop. We only sell some fruit wines here.

If you like a stronger taste, I recommend this Flame Heart, its taste is a bit more stimulating."

But it was still fruit wine. All the wine in this shop was fruit wine.

The scarred swordsman frowned: "A tavern that doesn't have strong liquor?"

The young man's smile was a bit stiff, "Yes, customer... our boss only likes to brew fruit wine, so all we sell in the shop are some fruit wines."

The young man secretly cursed. Another customer who was dissatisfied with them only selling fruit wine, and this customer looked like he could beat up ten of him.

He wouldn't get a beating right before his shift change, would he?

The gloomy mage interrupted the scarred swordsman's attempt to find more fault.

His cold voice sounded: "Only fruit wine, you don't like it? Then you can just watch me drink."

The scarred swordsman looked down and said sheepishly: "I didn't say I wouldn't drink it."

He hesitated for a moment, then added: "I just haven't had this kind of sweet, cloying wine before."

The scarred swordsman seemed to have compromised!

The young man cheered in his heart and unexpectedly found that this gloomy mage was quite easy to talk to.

Thank you, Your Excellency Mage, praise the Goddess of Light!

"First, bring a pitcher of that Flame Heart you mentioned." Yan Yunqing browsed the menu, but couldn't decide what to drink for a long time, so he could only order the Flame Heart that this young man had just recommended.

"Okay, sir!" The young man's voice became a little more cheerful.

"Um, and bring me some of your shop's better-selling snacks." Yan Yunqing felt a little hungry.

"No problem, sir."

Adrien waited for a while and found that the young man who was taking the order didn't intend to ask him. After Yan Yunqing finished ordering, he was actually about to turn and leave.

He paused and said: "I—"

Both Yan Yunqing and the young man looked at him.

Adrien felt a little guilty being looked at: "I haven't ordered yet..."

The young man was puzzled. He looked at Yan Yunqing, then at Adrien, and kindly reminded: "Sir, the pitchers of wine in our shop are very large, it's enough for two people."

Most of the customers who came to this tavern were women, and none of them came to get drunk. Basically, they ordered one or two glasses at a time.

A pitcher could pour a full six glasses, so only customers who came in groups would order this.

Adrien said nothing more. He couldn't just say that he could drink a lot, right?

The people of Sawyer also had their pride.

Yan Yunqing didn't mind. He waved his hand and took out a handkerchief from somewhere, wiping his pale fingertips, "Then you can take his order, serve him what he says."

The young man rubbed his nose.

He could see that this mage was the one paying, "Okay, what would this customer like to order?"

Adrien hadn't looked at the drink menu carefully.

He took the menu, scanned it, and tapped his finger, "This one, this one, and this one."

The young man watched and recorded them one by one, thinking to himself that you can't judge a book by its cover.

This person looked fierce, but the names of the drinks he ordered were all the cute kind?

However, these drinks were among the sweeter ones in their tavern and were very popular with women.

He felt that this scarred swordsman probably wouldn't like them.

Just as he was about to remind him, he heard the scarred swordsman's cold voice:

"I don't want these, just give me a pitcher of all the others."

Yan Yunqing almost threw the handkerchief in his hand at Adrien's face.

He was shocked: What did this person just say? Did he hear correctly?

What did he mean by he didn't want these and wanted a pitcher of all the others?

The young man was also very shocked and stammered out a question:

"Uh, cus-customer? Are you mistaken?

Did you mean you wanted a glass of everything?"

Although a glass of everything was still a staggering amount, compared to a pitcher of every single wine, a glass sounded a bit more plausible.

Adrien shook his head and repeated for emphasis: "A pitcher, all of them."

The young man: ...

The young man looked at Yan Yunqing.

This was the person who was actually paying.

What if he listened to that scarred swordsman and brought a pitcher of every single drink, and this mage lord was unwilling to pay the bill?

The corner of Yan Yunqing's mouth twitched. He saw that Adrien's expression was very serious, and he said helplessly: "Just do as he says."

As he spoke, he took out a cloth bag from his bosom and tossed it into the young man's hands, "Here's part of the payment for the drinks, if it's not enough, I'll give you more before I leave."

The young man weighed the money bag in his hand, secretly pulled it open a little to see that it was full of glittering gold coins, and immediately perked up, "Okay, customer! I'll go arrange for your drinks right away."

All gold coins! A whole bag of them!

This much money was more than enough to drink several rounds of all the wine in their shop.

He had to curry favor with such a rich mage lord, maybe if this lord was in a good mood, he would tip him a few gold coins.

No, he had to tell the person changing shifts later that he would take their night shift for them tonight!

The young man left happily, leaving Yan Yunqing and Adrien to continue their silent confrontation.

Yan Yunqing increasingly felt that agreeing to treat him was a wrong choice.

No, he shouldn't have struck up a conversation with this person in the corridor at all.

Although a round of drinks was nothing to Yan Yunqing, the gold coins in his backpack were enough to buy ten taverns, but why did he feel so bad about spending it on Adrien?

He felt like he had been taken for a ride.

New customers came into the tavern one after another, and the originally quiet environment was no more. Fortunately, these customers were not loud either.

Most of them chose a seat, ordered a glass of wine, and began to chat in low voices.

The snacks and Flame Heart that Yan Yunqing had ordered were served first.

Perhaps it was because the young man wanted to please him, even the presentation was beautiful.

In contrast, Adrien's side was still clean, and not even a single pitcher of wine had been served.

Yan Yunqing very kindly picked up that pitcher of Flame Heart, poured a glass for Adrien as well, and pushed it in front of him, "Try it, I heard the drinks at this tavern are very good."

Adrien lowered his head and sniffed.

A sweet, fruity fragrance wafted from the fiery red wine in the cup, without a hint of alcohol.

He really didn't think this kind of wine was any good.

But this was paid for by someone else.

Adrien picked up the wine glass, tilted his head back, and chugged it down in one go.

Such a large glass of wine was completely emptied in three seconds.

His overly prominent Adam's apple didn't even make a swallowing motion, and the entire glass of liquid went down his throat.

Yan Yunqing: ...?

This scene stunned Yan Yunqing. After a long while, he could only ask: "...How was it?"

Adrien wiped the corner of his mouth, smacked his lips, and gave an objective evaluation:

"It's okay, just a little sweet, not much of a wine taste, it's like juice."

Yan Yunqing was silent. He pushed the pitcher of Flame Heart on the table, "Want more?"

Adrien shook his head, "There's so little, it's not even enough for you.

I'll just wait for my order to be served."

Yan Yunqing: "...Okay."

Is he a water buffalo? He drinks like a water buffalo drinking water.

Yan Yunqing poured himself a glass of Flame Heart.

The wine was fiery red overall, with a sweet fragrance of fruit and the taste of nectar.

Shaking it a little, the slightly thick liquid did indeed look like a burning flame.

After taking a sip, Yan Yunqing frowned instead.

Hmm... the taste was indeed average.

Compared to wine, it was more like a drink with a lot of honey added, and there was a bit of a bubbly feeling, without a hint of wine taste.

It was good to drink it purely as a beverage.

Yan Yunqing put down his wine glass and began to taste the snacks that were served along with the Flame Heart.

Most of them were fried foods, and there was also a plate of food similar to peanuts, all of which were very suitable for accompanying drinks.

Eating them alone was a bit greasy.

Yan Yunqing stopped after a few bites, slightly disappointed with today's trip to the tavern.

Just then, the wine that Adrien had ordered was also served one after another.

A single table was not enough to hold the pitchers of wine he had ordered.

The young man who had taken the order even brought them another small table, specifically for their drinks.

Adrien didn't even use a cup, he just held the pitcher and poured it into his mouth.

He could finish a whole pitcher of wine without even taking a breath.

The young man who was serving the wine was dumbfounded, greatly shocked:

There are people who can drink like this?

Yan Yunqing felt that his face had been completely disgraced as well.

The endless stream of wine finally got Adrien drunk and happy.

He had been on the road for so long, through wind and rain, and in order to stay vigilant and prevent possible attacks, he hadn't dared to touch a drop of alcohol.

Of course, this also had something to do with the fact that he really didn't bring much money.