Inside the tavern, a wall that did not truly exist divided the space.
It formed two entirely different worlds.
Elias stood his ground, taking in this world that truly belonged to transcendents.
There was no suffocating stench of sweat or low-quality tobacco here.
The air was thick with the peculiar scent of expensive potions.
Quiet.
Compared to the clamor outside, it was eerily quiet here.
The dim gaslights were turned low.
A dull yellow glow outlined the mysterious silhouette of this underground tavern.
On a platform in the corner of the room...
An ancient wooden harp stood silently.
There was no musician.
Yet, the strings plucked themselves under some invisible force, automatically playing a soothing and mournful ancient melody.
At the dark bar...
A few transcendents sat in small groups, drinking to forget their troubles.
They maintained a safe social distance from one another, with almost no conversation passing between them.
This area was completely different from the outside.
Transcendents themselves were uncommon.
Therefore...
Compared to the noise and chaos of the low-level sailors outside, this place possessed a special, albeit oppressive, atmosphere.
Elias’s gaze swept over his fellow drinkers.
He quickly noticed a key detail.
Due to the massive amount of spirituality contained within a transcendent’s body, they had long since moved beyond the physiological limits of normal humans.
Ordinary alcohol was simply unable to make their tainted brains feel even a hint of intoxication.
Even if their bodies felt the slight stimulation of the alcohol, their consciousness would not truly fall into a stupor.
This was especially true for high-Scale transcendents like Captain Crowley.
Their bodies, repeatedly enhanced by spirit vision potions and rituals, had long ago evolved freakish metabolic capabilities.
What did alcohol matter to them?
So-called beer...
Was essentially just carbonated wheat juice.
And red wine...
Was at most a slightly over-fermented fruit vinegar.
Even the strongest spirits that could burn through a normal person's stomach...
Once ingested by them, were equivalent to fermented sugarcane or grain juice.
Rum and whiskey were nothing more than soft drinks in their eyes.
Hoping to get drunk on such worldly things?
They could drink until their bladders burst without ever experiencing a single hallucination.
Therefore.
If a transcendent truly needed to get drunk—to numb their nerves from the constant torture of divine whispers—
Generally speaking, they required very specific beverages.
“What are they drinking?”
Elias stared at a patron not far away.
The man was holding a crystal glass no larger than a thumb, sipping the translucent blue liquid inside as cautiously as if it were a rare treasure.
He couldn't help but ask curiously in his mind.
“Abyss Tears,” Old Ed replied.
The old man seemed to know these dens of iniquity like the back of his hand, his tone even carrying a hint of mockery.
“Want to try some?”
Old Ed said teasingly.
“That stuff has quite a kick. I guarantee it’ll make you forget every worry in your head.”
“Dammit...”
Elias cursed inwardly.
That name.
It sounded like it had an unexpected affinity with sirens.
Abyss Tears?
This thing sounded incredibly unlucky.
“I’m not drinking that,” Elias refused without hesitation.
“Actually, you’re overthinking it,” Old Ed explained leisurely.
“Essentially, it’s a drink made from the toxin of an Abyss jellyfish.”
Upon hearing this piece of trivia...
Elias’s footsteps came to a sudden halt.
“Wait, what?”
The corner of his eye twitched wildly, and he completely abandoned any thought of trying it.
“It’s poison!”
“If anything, I wasn't thinking enough!”
“Mm-hmm.”
The old man gave a noncommittal grunt.
“There’s a bit of toxin, but it doesn’t have much of an impact.”
“Refining a toxin capable of numbing the nerves of a transcendent is a quite complex process.”
Old Ed smacked his lips and quoted a figure.
“A small bottle of that stuff can sell for dozens of gold crowns on the black market.”
Elias felt a pang of phantom pain in his wallet.
“What?!”
He was shocked once again.
He felt the bearer check for three hundred gold crowns he had just extorted in his pocket.
It seemed it wouldn't even be enough to buy a few bottles of poison.
“I’m out of my league.”
Elias swallowed hard, possessing a great deal of self-awareness.
Sorry for the interruption, goodbye.
He tucked away his stray curiosity, walked to the bar, and tapped on the surface.
He asked the same question he had asked outside.
“Hello.”
“I’m looking for someone.”
Behind the bar.
The bartender, who had been looking down wiping a glass, looked up at the sound.
It was a rather handsome young man.
Or rather, he was a bit too beautiful.
Because the light had been too dim before, Elias, standing at a distance, hadn't noticed what the bartender looked like.
He had assumed it was just an ordinary transcendent waiter.
But when the other person truly looked up and his face was fully exposed to the blue glow of the bar...
Elias saw it clearly.
On both sides of the man’s head, a pair of curved long horns grew straight out!
The horns had a dark red texture and were covered in complex spiral patterns.
They looked like some kind of ram horns.
“Hello.”
The bartender put down the cloth and tilted his head slightly.
“Who are you looking for?”
The bartender spoke.
This bartender was clearly not human.
Although he possessed an exquisite appearance highly similar to a human’s...
His skin tone was a pale reddish color compared to a normal person's.
That red wasn't the healthy glow of good blood circulation.
It was as if some kind of glowing lava was flowing beneath his skin.
His voice also sounded somewhat neutral, making it difficult to distinguish between male and female, carrying a strange magnetism and a mesmerizing lilt at the end of his words.
Elias narrowed his eyes, his gaze discreetly sweeping over the other’s horns.
He didn't show much surprise.
In this messed-up world, let alone growing horns, even if a head full of tentacles was mixing drinks behind the bar, he wouldn't find it strange.
He stated his target directly.
“I’m looking for Edward.”
“Edward Crowley.”
Elias stared fixedly into the other’s vertical pupils.
“Is he here?”
As soon as the words left his mouth...
Elias clearly felt the surrounding air suddenly stagnate.
In the corner.
The harp that had been automatically playing ancient melodies let out a piercing trill.
The strings abruptly stopped vibrating.
The music was cut off.
The atmosphere of the entire area instantly became delicate, even hostile.
The transcendents at the bar who had been sipping their poison all stopped their movements.
The horned bartender did not answer immediately.
He slowly put down the glass in his hand and paced unhurriedly out from the narrow passage behind the bar.
With his movement...
A thin, whip-like dark red tail emerged from the back of his trousers.
The end of the tail was triangular.
At the moment, it was swaying slowly behind him like a cat’s.
The bartender stopped less than two meters away from Elias.
There was unmasked coldness in his vertical pupils.
“What do you want with him?”
The bartender asked coldly.
As the question was thrown out...
Elias could clearly feel gazes from all directions piercing his back like steel needles.
Some came from those hidden in the shadows of the first-floor booths.
Others were cold stares cast down from the railings of the second-floor private rooms.
Every single gaze carried a lethal aura of danger.
It felt as if, should his answer be incorrect, he would be torn to shreds by these transcendent powers in the next second.
Elias gripped his walking stick tighter.
The expression on his face, however, remained as steady as an old dog’s.
“He has a deal with me,” Elias replied.
Upon hearing this answer...
The bartender said nothing.
He continued to step forward.
It seemed the other person had no intention of stopping.
However.
Elias did not yield in the slightest.
He remained rooted to the spot.
His left hand was in his coat pocket, his right hand leaned on his cane, and his eyes met the other’s without flinching.
But in reality...
At this very moment, in his mind, Elias was having an intense conversation.
“What kind of creature is this?!”
Generally speaking, creatures with ram horns and triangular tails were not exactly friendly.
“A Dvorin,” Old Ed answered calmly.
“A what?”
Elias was stunned for a moment.
He didn't catch the obscure term, thinking the old man had been dead so long his speech was becoming slurred.
“Half-human, half-devil,” Old Ed translated into plain English very considerately.
“Holy crap?!”
Elias let out a massive gasp of surprise in his mind.
“There are actually people bold enough to fall in love with a devil?!”
“Why wouldn't there be?”
Old Ed’s tone carried a hint of disdain for Elias’s lack of worldly experience.
Having finished the lesson...
Elias silently gave a thumbs-up in his mind.
Then...
He carefully sized up the handsome, delicate bartender across from him and curled his lip.
“Tsk.”
Elias muttered to Old Ed with a hint of disappointment.
“I thought it was a succubus.”
“What’s a succubus?” Old Ed asked, puzzled.
“Never mind.”
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