Chapter 19: Giant's Wine

Pete was a goblin who liked to sit on a magical puppet.

Most goblins had this habit.

They always sat on top of something, looking down on others from a height.

"Hi, Rod, long time no see."

Inside the Violet Tavern.

In the booth at the very back.

Pete shouted and waved.

His magical puppet was holding a wine glass to his mouth.

Goblins and dwarves were almost the same; both were alcoholics.

Rod ordered a special local drink from Shi Ying Town: Giant's Wine.

Although countless drinks on the continent claimed to be from giants, the owner of the Violet Tavern still insisted that he had personally stolen this from a giant's nest, making it the authentic Giant's Wine.

The same claim made by countless other taverns selling Giant's Wine.

"You know, Rod, the Giant's Wine in Shi Ying Town is the worst I've ever tasted."

Rod did not refute him.

Full of impurities and tasting different every time, the only merit of Giant's Wine was its strength; it was designated trash by the residents of Shi Ying Town.

"But this is what a man should drink!"

Pete suddenly shouted, raising his glass to the other guests in the tavern.

Guests drinking Giant's Wine raised their glasses in response, and the boss working behind the bar even shouted that he knew his stuff.

Others were too lazy to pay him any mind.

Clearly, this kind of scene happened often in the tavern.

"Coward."

Pete muttered the insult under his breath.

"By the way, Rod, where is your succubus?"

"The Artisans' Guild? I don't know; she has her own hobbies, and I rarely interfere with her."

Pete grinned wickedly.

"Impressive, Rod, to be able to support a succubus on your own; do you have some secret medicine for that?"

"I can only say it's purely personal ability."

"Don't joke; even a ninth-rank human martial artist cannot support a succubus alone. Tell me the secret formula, and I'll help you sell it; we split the profits fifty-fifty."

Indeed.

In this particular contest, humans often ended up defeated.

The growth of spiritual power strengthens the body and is also beneficial in that regard.

However, humans have a natural limitation in this area; spiritual power only affects that aspect to a small degree, and it is basically impossible to break through.

Yet Rod could support a succubus.

It relied mainly on the 【Second Heart】.

In fact, one could say Rod was already a human succubus.

"David said you found the item."

He stopped chatting idly with Pete.

"A treasure compatible with fire and poison attributes; of course there is one, but it's expensive."

Pete narrowed his eyes, scanning Rod up and down.

As if to say, 'What kind of money could a forest ranger have?'

Clatter—

Rod flicked out a small cloth bag, which landed on the table with a tight metallic clinking sound.

Pete leaned over to look, and his eyes immediately lit up.

The magical puppet opened its abdomen and retrieved a spell satchel.

"Fire Dragon Scales, Voodoo Amulet, Hydra's Snake Shedding, Fire Lizard's Heart, and so on; all are items of quite good quality. Only I can get such fine goods."

Rod had sold all the gifts Isabella had sent him previously.

One had to admit, the Argyle family was truly wealthy.

It exchanged for a full 1,700 Jin Along.

Good heavens, Rod had never seen so much Jin Along before; his eyes went straight at the sight.

With the money in hand, he immediately planned to spend some to buy the treasure commissioned by the Scorpion Woman Hera.

A eighth-rank thigh; Rod had made up his mind to hold on to it tightly.

"I'll give you a discount; 500 Jin Along."

Compared to high-rank spiritual arts, that was still quite cheap.

He took it immediately.

"I'll also give you a piece of news for free."

While counting the Jin Along, Pete said, "The Parliament rejected the Argyle family's accusation against the Yige Sect, stating that Father Owen had long been removed from office and was not an official Yige Sect priest; everything was his personal conduct."

Rod frowned.

Was it rejected so lightly and casually?

He had originally thought the Argyle family could successfully counterattack, or at least tie them up.

He began to suspect that the entire Parliament had already been infiltrated.

The two chatted for a while.

Jingle, jingle—

The tavern door was pushed open, jostling the copper bell above it.

A burly human walked in leading a dog-headed person.

The dog-headed person had black-and-white fur, two round eyes wide open, each looking off to one side, as if he had his own thoughts.

"Two glasses of Giant's Brew!"

The dog-headed person shouted and swaggered into a booth.

"Coming right up!"

The boss immediately brought over two large mugs.

Rod watched the two of them.

"Well, isn't that convenient."

The two of them hadn't accumulated much spirituality.

The human was at most fifth-tier, and the dog-headed person was at the peak of third-tier.

"You know them? Hah, what's with that dopey dog-headed person?" Pete mocked.

"Don't know them, but I will soon enough."

He was about to stand up.

Then he heard the dog-headed person go pfft, spraying the drink from his mouth.

"What the hell is this?! Giant's Brew? Tastes worse than my grandpa's three-year-aged piss!"

The crowd looked over one after another.

Many of those drinking Giant's Brew were already showing displeasure.

Pete even cursed under his breath.

The human across from the dog-headed person rapped the table, signaling him to cut it out.

"Brother Wally, hold on! Let me handle this. Damn, in some backwater place like this they dare to fob people off with this kind of swill."

The dog-headed person, looking vicious, smashed the mug to smithereens.

"Where's the boss! Boss, get out here!!"

Rod pushed open the window beside him and asked a passing little girl to fetch the sheriff, offering five copper Jin Along as payment.

The boss of the Violet Tavern was a muscle-bound brute.

His internal spirituality was only first-tier, clearly not someone focused on cultivation.

He walked out from behind the bar with an ugly expression.

"I'm the boss."

"What's wrong with the drink? You add piss in it?! Scooped it up from some outside ditch?!"

"Out-of-towner, I'd advise you to watch your mouth. This is the most authentic Giant's Brew on the entire continent."

Watching the two of them escalate their quarrel.

Rod asked, "Have you heard of the Ruins Brotherhood?"

"Of course."

Pete tossed a mule-lotus seed into his mouth—a product of his main body, crispy and fragrant after being fried.

"A low-down organization where unscrupulous, shameless exiles huddle together for warmth. No honor, no bottom line. Seventy percent of the continent's dirty work that can't see the light of day is done by them."

He said, "There are even rumors that in the Aethelorn Kingdom's defeat in the war against the Celestial Court Flower Kingdom, the Ruins Brotherhood had a hand in meddling."

"They don't sound like they have that kind of ability."

Pete shook his head, "Sometimes the more despicable, low-class people are, the more they can influence the course of battle."

The quarrel over there was escalating.

It had already come to shoving and pushing.

The customers were all the type who loved watching a scene and never thought things got big enough—some had even started placing bets on who would win.

Wally was shoved aside, his brows tightly furrowed.

"Come on!" the boss shouted.

"Bring it!" the dog-headed person shouted back.

"No spiritual arts allowed, pure body, I dare you!"

"What do I have to be afraid of? What's the use of being big?!"

"Skinny dog!"

"Fat pig!"

The boss suddenly struck, his burly fist coming down.

The speed of the move far exceeded first-tier.

The dog-headed person didn't even have time to react; after taking the punch he went completely rigid, then dropped to the ground stiff as a board.

The crowd cheered loudly.

Wally's face changed and he rushed forward immediately.

A layer of spiritual qi membrane activated, wrapping his whole body.

The boss threw another punch.

The qi membrane shattered instantly; Wally flew out, half his body crashing straight into the bar, his butt sticking up as he went limp and still.

"Wooooo!!!!"

"Boss!!!!"

The crowd erupted in cheers once more.

Rod stared, dumbfounded.

A human boss whose surface-level spiritual accumulation was only first-tier had, with a casual punch, blown apart a fifth-tier.

What hidden dragons and crouching tigers this was!

(End of chapter)