“Ravenwood?” Bryant raised an eyebrow and smiled, “A magician from the Arcane Society?”
Now, Nelson’s appearance certainly made it hard for anyone to associate him with being a magician of the Arcane Society. Moreover, since he had concealed his magical power, Bryant simply thought he was? an ordinary apprentice magician in the Arcane Society.
Nelson gave a slight smile and said with squinted eyes, “My name is Nelson.”
Bryant was taken aback; this name seemed familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere, but it appeared to be the name of a high-level Soulmancer… Bryant hadn’t quite put two and two together yet and said through gritted teeth, “Nelson, you wouldn’t happen to be William’s mentor, would you?”
The two men were sitting on either side of William, shaking hands in a slightly awkward posture. William simply shifted his chair back a bit, stood up, and said, “You guys chat.”
Nelson stole a glance at William and could only say to Bryant, “He is not my apprentice; I just work in a bookstore.”
Bryant had a smile on his face but said disdainfully, “Don’t think that just because you carry the name of the Arcane Society, you can intimidate anyone. I am not afraid of you guys from the Arcane Society.”
“Really?” Nelson’s grip began to tighten.
Bryant was taken aback, and he struggled to keep up. William didn’t want to deal with these two and simply walked over to the bar, smiling at the owner.
The owner handed over a cigarette, a mournful look on his face, and said, “Buddy, you guys aren’t doing some kind of live-streaming eating show, are you?” .
William wondered how the owner knew he was into live-streaming. He hadn’t started live-streaming yet; this owner was quite sharp. William accepted the cigarette and said, “I am, how did you know?”
“You guys… are really live-streaming?” The owner clicked his tongue, and a smile appeared on his face, “Then you could at least help me promote my place a bit. I can even give you guys a discount.”
In reality, many restaurant owners encounter internet celebrities who live-stream their meals, with one person having the appetite of several or even more than a dozen people. During the live stream, to increase popularity, they often discuss how the owner lost money because of them.
But these people all have a fan base, and they can’t possibly eat at the same restaurant all the time. Besides, every time they visit a new place and the video gets played, it brings traffic and fame to these restaurants.
They might incur a small loss today, but the benefits gained from a live-streamed advertisement are certainly more than that.
“The owner even wants to charge less?” William didn’t quite understand this business model and said, “Let’s forget it. I see it’s not easy for you either. How about we pay $100 per person, totaling $4100?”
The owner waved his hand, “Don’t be like that, let’s just charge $50 per person. Let’s be friends; 41 people, just charge you guys $2000 in total.”
William felt puzzled; this owner was being overly generous, wasn’t he? $2000, wasn’t that a huge loss? Reverse bargaining, really?
But the owner mentioned making friends; could it be that he recognized that they were all Soulmancers?
William glanced at the owner; this man was just an ordinary person. After all, with William’s discernment, there probably weren’t any Soulmancers in this world who could pretend to be ordinary people in front of him.
It seemed that this owner just liked making friends and was not stingy with money.
In the past, William had often encountered such restaurant owners; if the owner took a liking to William, there were even instances of meals being on the house.
Wasn’t Matthew, whom he met last time, just such a person?
“Much appreciated!” William also courteously lit the cigarette the owner had handed over.
“No problem, just introduce our restaurant more and say some good things about it in the video.” The owner was all smiles. Given the looks of this young man and the girl, they were definitely attractive and had such appetites; they must have a lot of online fans. With their promotion, the business would surely improve a lot in the future.
$2000 for an advertisement, any way you look at it, was not a loss.
“Absolutely, absolutely!” William nodded. With the owner being so generous, he would definitely bring people to eat here in the future and would surely tell others that the food here was quite good and the owner was very nice.
The two chatted and laughed merrily. William paid the $2000, exchanged some pleasantries with the owner, and then returned to his seat.
At this moment, Bryant and Nelson’s hands were still firmly clasped together.
Bryant’s face had turned the color of a pig’s liver, while Nelson remained calm, a faint smile even playing at the corners of his mouth.
Nelson wasn’t using any energy, but being an exceptionally advanced Soulmancer wasn’t just for show. Besides, Nelson also paid great attention to physical training; how could Bryant possibly outmatch him in pure strength?
Bryant was beginning to doubt life.
What in the world was going on? How could this mage apprentice be so strong?
Moreover, this guy seemed not to be using his full strength. Even if one had innate divine strength, it couldn’t possibly be this massive, could it?
Zoey was sitting opposite, eating her own meal, not joining the conversation.
William simply sat next to Zoey, watching the performance of the two.
Zoey asked, “Aren’t you eating anymore?”
William replied, “No, I’ve settled the bill; consider it treating you to a meal.”
Zoey asked, “Did you also pay the bill for them?”
William nodded. It was only when he was using WhatsApp that he remembered he hadn’t yet returned the money he borrowed from Lila last night.
He still had quite a bit of money left besides what he borrowed from Lila. First, he transferred back the extra money Lila had given him yesterday, and then sent a message saying, “There’s still $10,000, I’ll return it to you in a few days.”
Lila accepted the payment and replied, “Just give it to me whenever you have the money.”
Zoey sneaked a peek at William’s transfer information and exclaimed, “You’re so rich?”
William said, “It’s alright.”
He didn’t feel like explaining anything.
“You are only treating me to a meal; for the others, I’ll have Wes collect the money later and return it to you.”
“I originally told the owner to charge $100 per person, but he insisted on $50 per person.”
Zoey was even more astonished, “The owner gave you a discount?”
“Yes! The owner is quite nice.”
“In that case, I’ll come here often.”
One wonders if the owner, upon hearing her words and learning that William is a host who hasn’t started live-streaming yet, would burst into tears on the spot.
As the two were talking, Wes came back with a bottle of beer, a puzzled look on his face as he stared at Bryant and Nelson, who were gripping each other’s hands tightly. Why was Bryant’s face so red?
Could it be…
Did they hit it off at first sight?
Perhaps it was better not to disturb them.
Wes got up again and started drinking with the other Soulmancers, leaving Bryant and Nelson to their own devices, wisely not intruding.
After everyone had their fill of food and drink, they got up, stumbling a bit, and Nelson and Bryant finally let go of each other’s hands.
Bryant laughed, “You’re quite strong; seems like you have decent talent.”
Nelson nodded, “You’re not bad either.”
“Heh! Young people really don’t know fear. If I had used my energy, that hand of yours would probably be shattered by now.”
Nelson slightly raised an eyebrow, releasing the energy of a high-level Soulmancer.