William was not at all worried about Alice’s safety.
He had realized that Alice was capable of grasping even a fraction of the Poseidon’s Stormblade, a sword technique potent enough to slay deities. Even a little understanding of it was quite impressive.
Perhaps she had been diligently working on her skills in his absence.
Moreover, William had set a rather high starting point for Alice. He had personally demonstrated sword techniques to her, helping her grasp his secret sword technique.
She also received direct instruction from the Sword Spirit of the Sword of Soulbreaker and was bolstered by the divine aura of a Cosmic Entity.
Frankly, it was like having an arsenal of incredible cheats at her disposal. If she couldn’t become a formidable fighter with all these advantages, then she would indeed be disappointingly inept.
After changing into his usual attire, William stopped by his regular café to buy three coffees. As he was preparing to head back to the Soulmancer Academy, he sensed a familiar presence in a neighboring shop and decided to walk over with his coffees.
Approaching the entrance, he saw Amy sitting on a chair with her head resting on the table, looking utterly bored.
“Mr. Johnson!” Amy called out upon seeing William at the door, sliding off the chair with agility, resembling a nimble little guinea pig.
Her eyes naturally glanced at the coffees in his hand.
Of course, a child like Amy wouldn’t be interested in the coffee William was holding, right?
Absolutely impossible!
She must have had something else on her mind!
That’s when William realized that Maria had opened her shop in this busy snack street of the business district. The rent here was certainly not cheap, but the funding provided by Bella should be sufficient.
“William, you finally showed up. I tried calling you these past two days, but your phone was off. You saw the message, didn’t you?” Maria, who was discussing the shop’s rent with a broker, hurried over to William and said, “Now that you’re here, could you take a look and see if we should open the shop here?”
Indeed, William hadn’t charged his phone for two days, and his arrival was purely coincidental.
“These decisions are up to you,I don’t really know much about this,” William felt Maria had a good sense of business. The location near several office buildings in the heart of New York City certainly meant high rent, but if she aimed for a high-end approach, it was a suitable choice.
Maria had been in business for many years and negotiating rent was something she could handle without William’s advice.
“Always leaving it to me, huh?” Maria expressed her stress. Both Bella and William, the major stakeholders, seemed hands-off: Bella providing funds and connections, William teaching her cooking, but otherwise leaving all decisions to her.
Maria had never seen such trust in a business partner before.
“Maria, you handle things here,I’ll take Amy out,” William read a lot from Amy’s eyes,the child clearly didn’t want to stay there.
Maria understood her daughter’s wishes all too well.
“Alright, but no coffee for her. Kids need to limit their caffeine intake. And cut down on snacks, she’s already had two glasses of milk today. Any more and her stomach will burst.” Maria noticed the coffees in William’s hands and knew how much he spoiled the child.
“Got it,” William nodded and then said to Amy, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to a movie.”
It had been a long time since William had gone to a cinema.
“Yay!” Amy excitedly clutched William’s hand. She rarely went to movies and felt that being with William was always fun.
After the two walked away, William handed Amy the coffee topped with vanilla ice cream that he had prepared for Alice.
“Mom said kids should control their caffeine intake, and too much will make my stomach burst,” Amy eyed the ice cream on the coffee with a look of refusal.
“I just wanted you to hold it,it’s Alice’s coffee,” William clarified.
“Oh,” Amy continued walking, holding the coffee. She thought William was indicating it was alright to just eat the ice cream on top, believing that even drinking the whole coffee wouldn’t burst her stomach. She was ready to tentatively start eating the ice cream.
But she hadn’t expected William to simply ask her to hold it and declare it belonged to Alice.
Alice’s coffee didn’t seem appropriate for her to drink.
At the cinema, William and Amy watched an animated movie. Amy enjoyed it and whispered to William, “Mr. Johnson, won’t drinking two cups of coffee make your stomach burst?”
“I’m an adult, my stomach won’t burst. You don’t want to drink that vanilla ice cream-covered coffee in your hand, do you?” William had already finished his coffee, but Delmar’s cup was still untouched.
“I don’t want to drink it; my stomach will burst if I do,” Amy insisted on her principle… .𝒎
After the movie, Amy seemed to be in agony, holding the vanilla ice cream-topped coffee with a forced smile. William always thought watching movies could never compare to the sight of a child trying hard to resist temptation.
“Why doesn’t the vanilla ice cream on this coffee melt?” Amy asked curiously.
William smiled and replied, “That’s because I used a bit of magic on it.” His tone didn’t hint at any secrecy.
Amy looked at him, her eyes filled with wonder and curiosity.
After the movie, around 4 pm, William finally said to Amy, “If you want to eat ice cream and drink coffee, you can.”
Amy’s eyes lit up, “Won’t my stomach burst?”
“I don’t know, it might,” William said. “Normally, a child would burst their stomach after drinking two glasses of milk and then a cup of coffee with a serving of vanilla ice cream in half a day. But what if you’re not normal?”
Amy frowned, deep in thought.
“So, if I only eat the ice cream, my stomach won’t burst, right?”
It seemed like a soul-searching question.
William could only say, “That should be the case.”
“But this is Alice’s coffee… she won’t be angry if I eat the vanilla ice cream on top, right?” As she spoke, Amy couldn’t resist licking the ice cream on the coffee, her face showing contentment.
William seamlessly responded, “If she finds out, she’ll probably kill you.”
Amy’s face turned pale. She didn’t know whether to believe William or not, but she had already licked the ice cream.
She wouldn’t really be killed, would she?
With that thought, Amy fiercely licked the ice cream twice more. If she was going to die, she thought it might be better to die of overeating.
William observed and said, “Amy, you’re done for.”
As she sipped, Amy suddenly found the ice cream less sweet and looked at William, “Mr. Johnson, is it too late to apologize to Alice now?”
William shook his head, “I don’t know, I’ll take you to see her.”
With nothing better to do, William decided to take Amy for a walk.
The fights at the academy were too gory, so he planned to take Amy to play with Luna and the others.
Even though Luna has lived for so long, she still looks like a child, and William thinks Luna probably isn’t much smarter than Amy.
William brought Amy to the arena and asked her to wait on the side.
At this point, Alice had already fought countless battles. William wanted to establish some rules and did so by directly taking control of Alice’s body.
𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t