“Want something to eat?” William asked Alice, his face expressionless.
“I’m not hungry!” Alice turned her head away, her pride evident.
After all this time, could William not see that she was upset?
Nearby, a woman dressed in a flowing white robe, exuding a celestial aura, stood beside them. She is Seraphine, the owner of the Eternal Spring Tavern.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I know what you’d like to have?” Seraphine asked, her gaze lingering on Alice.
“Forseti, what do you feel like eating? Order whatever you like.” William said, pulling out a fist-sized, fiery red energy crystal, showing off his wealth nonchalantly.
In a place like the Divine Realm, there really was no need for him to be modest.
Especially when it came to dining, why act frugal?
Seraphine’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the energy crystal William pulled out. It was a top-quality energy crystal, and it even possessed fire attributes—a rare find indeed.
Was such a thing really being used to pay for a meal?
Seraphine’s smile grew even wider as she attentively said, “Esteemed guests, we have secret dragon rib racks, grilled griffin wings, and our pan-fried phoenix eggs are famous far and wide…”
Upon hearing Seraphine’s words, Forseti’s face turned ashen, interrupting her, “The ruler of the 13th District, Aphrodite, is a beautiful woman. Is it really okay for your establishment to cook food using the flesh of Shapeshifters?”
Seraphine laughed as if she had heard a joke, covering her mouth, “Dear guest, you jest. This is the Divine Alliance. If we don’t eat Shapeshifters here, are we supposed to eat deities?”
Seraphine lowered her voice, “Or perhaps, you’re interested in trying human flesh?”
William showed no significant reaction to Seraphine’s words.
Shapeshifters preying on each other, members of the Divine Alliance hunting Shapeshifters…
This was a display of the Divine Realm’s law of the survival of the fittest. However, most deities are originally elevated humans from the Prime World, so eating humans is generally off-limits for the people of the Divine Alliance.
But for some deities with pure bloodlines, eating human flesh is as common as humans eating dog meat.
Forseti looked extremely displeased, gritting his teeth, “Is there any meat from deities available?”
Had William not been sitting beside him, Forseti might have already exploded in anger.
“Of course!” Seraphine giggled, taking the energy crystal from William and leaning close to Forseti, whispering in his ear, “With such a generous offering of an energy crystal from your friend, whatever you wish to eat, our establishment can provide. We have the most famous divine blood in the Divine Realm. Drinking it can turn an ordinary person into a deity instantly.”
William acted as if he hadn’t heard, clearly unwilling to consume human flesh.
After all, the earliest humans were his creation, and those made by the Cosmic Entity, in terms of appearance and physique, were essentially indistinguishable from his own creations, making them difficult for him to consider as food.
And as for deities…
Perhaps because they also assume human forms, William also refrained from consuming them.
However, he used to hunt Shapeshifters for food frequently, which is entirely normal in the Divine Realm.
Hearing Seraphine’s words, Alice immediately felt nauseous and said, “William, let’s go to another place, I feel like eating something light…”
As someone who became a Soulmancer and entered the Divine Realm, never considering herself a deity, Alice couldn’t help but feel sick at such conversations.
“Let’s go then!”
William felt disgusted as well. Eating human flesh was something he couldn’t accept, but he didn’t think there was anything inherently wrong with it.
Survival of the fittest, the law of nature.
He didn’t need to concern himself too much.
As Alice stood up to leave, Seraphine quickly said to William, “Sir, you’ve already given the tip in advance, are you sure you won’t eat?”
William nodded, “No, give it back to me.”
“What are you talking about?” Seraphine smiled coyly, “If you had ordered and were unsatisfied with the meal, our establishment would compensate accordingly. But since you gave a tip without even ordering, we can’t refund the tip.”
The tip!
Right!
The tip!
Seraphine insisted that the energy crystal William had given earlier was meant as a tip, not payment for the meal.
After all, William hadn’t ordered anything before handing over such a large energy crystal. How could it be considered payment for a meal?
It was merely a tip.
Makes sense, right?
“Do you realize what you’re saying?” William hadn’t encountered such a situation in years, a woman trying to swindle him?
Seraphine smiled with her eyes narrowed, “Sir, of course, I know what I’m saying… Do you know who the owner of this tavern is?”
“Hmm?” William frowned, “Aphrodite or Uranus?”
“My dear guest!” Seraphine blinked and smiled, “My husband is the fire god Agni.”
Fire god Agni? William frowned. Who was that?
“The fire god?” William really didn’t know there was a fire god named Agni. Where did his wife get the courage to swindle people?
Especially on Aphrodite’s turf…
Quite bold! 𝘳.𝑐ℴ
“Wait a moment!” William’s consciousness swept across the entire Divine Realm, quickly locking onto the fire god Agni. With a thought, Agni appeared before them.
The fire god Agni, clearly in the midst of meditation, appeared suddenly and was a bit confused. Looking around, he asked, “How… how did I end up here?”
After saying this, his expression turned a bit off. Materializing out of nowhere was too odd, even for him.
“Your wife tried to swindle me!” William looked at the fire god Agni expressionlessly.
Agni, having emerged after the Divine Alliance was reestablished, had never encountered William the Obliterator. After sizing William up and confirming he didn’t recognize him, Agni presumed William wasn’t any significant deity.
Frowning, he asked, “Do you have any proof?”
William said, “The energy crystal I left on the table, which is now with her, does that count as evidence?”
Seraphine, puzzled by Agni’s sudden appearance but still arrogantly produced the energy crystal, told Agni, “Agni, he gave this as a tip. He didn’t eat and now wants the tip back.”
After saying this, her gaze lingered on Alice, whispering, “Agni, this girl is enveloped in the power of a divine aura. If you could spend a night with her… the benefits would be immense.”
Agni looked at the fire-attributed energy crystal in Seraphine’s hand and then at Alice.
His greedy expression was unmistakable!
“My friend, how could we possibly refund a tip?” As an official deity of the Divine Alliance with a pure bloodline, Agni considered himself superior to those who ascended from humanity to deity status in the Divine Realm. With such a premium energy crystal now in hand, how could there be any talk of returning it?
And regarding Alice, enveloped in divine aura, the potential benefits of absorbing her power through proximity were too tempting to ignore.
William had no patience for further discussion. Agni’s lecherous gaze at Alice had sealed his fate.
William stepped forward, took Alice’s hand, and said, “Let’s go!”
“Wait…” Agni barely started to speak when his body turned into black ashes and dissipated into the air.
Seraphine also noticed her body slowly fading away, the impending sense of death growing closer, yet utterly unstoppable, filled her with terror.
Who had she offended? 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚
“Do you dare kill an official deity of the Divine Alliance? Are you declaring war on the Divine Alliance?”
Slaying deities? Wasn’t that something William had done before?
With a flick of his sleeve, the energy crystal entered his spatial storage ring. William, holding Alice’s hand, walked out of the tavern.
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮