Slurp**!
William sat inside an inn while finishing his dinner.
The warm steam from the bowl rose slowly in front of his face as the low noise of wooden plates and tired voices filled the dining hall around him.
The inn was intended for human travellers, merchants, and escorts who regularly passed through this route.
It was the same inn mentioned in the mission description of his assigned mission, where the person had gone missing without leaving any trace.
Apart from that man, a handful of other reports of missing humans mentioned this inn.
Statistically speaking, many of the disappearances had happened within a few miles' radius of this place, which made it impossible for William to ignore the location.
There was more than one reason for him to change his appearance before coming here, and none of them were optional if he wanted to do what he wanted.
First, if the cultists really were operating in this area, then his original face would be recognised instantly, because the Archon's speech had been broadcast across the Aris and replayed far more times among humans, according to what Leila told him.
Second, he needed to mislead any possible tracking or stalking attempts, especially after what that fiery bull demon had done earlier in the skies of no man's land, because repeating the same mistake twice would just be stupidity.
William had already questioned Amorphous about the fiery bull-like demon. Still, even Amorphous had shown no recognition or fear when the name was mentioned, which only meant one thing.
The fiery bull demon was not famous, but being at the divine spark rank, the demon sent after him was operating directly under a high-ranking demon lord.
Among all the demon lords, Amon remained the most likely being who would come after him, since William had openly gone against Amon's cult and disrupted their plans in the academy.
There was no reason for other cults to watch him yet, unless their interest came from the simple fact that he was the first-year archon and had given a daring speech against them, and they considered him an unpredictable variable.
That thought alone annoyed him.
As he finished the last portion of his meal, a sharp screech echoed across the room when he saw that a chair was being dragged loudly across the wooden floor.
William lifted his gaze slightly and noticed the old store helper pulling the chair to the opposite side of his own table, clearly preparing a seat.
[Oji-chan is unlucky today. He came wearing such a revealing vest and doesn't know the host is a predator.]
"Shut up," William replied inside his mind; irritation was clear in his tone. "You make it sound so inappropriate."
The old man brought two small jugs of mead from the counter and slammed them down on the table with a dull thud before sitting across from William.
William leaned back against his chair, spreading his legs slightly in a relaxed posture, while his arms rested loosely at his sides, as if he had no worries about the old man.
"Young man," the scrawny old man spoke with an unpleasant smile stretched across his wrinkled face as he pushed one of the jugs forward, "the name is Budeen."
William picked up the jug slowly, letting the wooden surface scrape against the table as he lifted it, and replied by imitating the old man's crooked smile.
"My name is Suckmahdi."
The moment the name left his mouth, a sharp glint passed through the old man's eyes, because he understood that the crooked expression and imitated voice were an attempt to mock him.
Instead of reacting, Budeen leaned forward even more, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret meant only for the two of them.
"Young man," Budeen whispered, "your attire makes it look like you're from Riverdale."
William nodded calmly, taking a small sip of the mead before answering, "Yeah, I'm a young merchant, planning to sell my goods in the South."
As he spoke, William's eyes scanned the dining lobby without turning his head, and he noticed how the crowd had thinned suddenly, with several patrons quietly leaving as if on cue.
The timing was too clean to be a coincidence.
"Block the detoxifying effect of the Sun Physique for exactly twenty minutes," William instructed the system silently.
With a casual flick of his hand, a chocolate bar appeared between his fingers, and with a soft snap, he broke it cleanly into two pieces.
One half went into his own mouth, while the other was offered across the table to Budeen, his smile easy and unguarded.
"The goods," William said lightly, as if it were a joke.
"Oh," Budeen's hesitation vanished almost instantly as the sweet scent reached him, and he accepted the chocolate, taking a careful bite.
His expression softened without him even realising it. "This is the first time I've seen something like this."
"These are good, young man," Budeen continued after chewing slowly. "Your goods will soar in the markets of the South."
William nodded again, maintaining the same relaxed smile, while allowing the trust to settle naturally between them.
"By the way," Budeen leaned closer, his voice dropping into something far more suggestive, "you must be tired from the journey."
"Our inn offers special services for rich and young merchants like you," he continued, winking openly now. "We can arrange for some girls to help you relax."
"Oh, interesting," William replied with feigned curiosity, leaning forward slightly. "How much for one night?"
Budeen chuckled. "For VIPs like you, it's free," he said, tapping the table. "Just make sure to stay at our inn whenever you pass through."
"Sure," William replied with a lazy smirk.
"By the way," William added casually, his gaze shifting to the side, "that's quite an annoying dark patch on the back of your right shoulder."
Budeen stiffened, his muscles tightening as his hand moved instinctively toward the black mark visible beneath his vest.
"My old man had a similar patch," William continued, not giving him time to panic.
"He was a knight in the imperial army. Got injured after falling from a height during a small battle. The wound never healed properly and just kept getting worse over the years."
The words were an olive branch to make Budeen lie deliberately. Will was just toying with him; he already knew what he wanted to know.
Budeen caught the seemingly unintentional olive branch without hesitation.
"Yeah," Budeen sighed, his voice turning emotional.
"Painful memory. My own son-in-law and daughter pushed me off a cliff so they could take my inheritance. By God's grace, I survived, and the inn owner took me in and gave me a chance to start anew."
By the end, his eyes even looked watery.
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"Oh," William said suddenly, laughing loudly. "Now I get it."
"You hate your own daughter," he continued, leaning back with a grin.
"That's why you secretly sell other people's daughters here. I get it, old man. There are people I hate too, and I'd do anything to see them get fucked."
"Ahahahaha!" William laughed loudly, his face flushing red as he slammed the jug lightly, acting fully intoxicated.
In reality, the mead was too weak to do anything beyond easing tension.
Budeen smiled thinly. "Let me help you to your room," he said softly. "I'll send the lady there."
"Nope," William waved him off clumsily. "One jug is nothing. I want twelve jugs. Bring more."
The jug hit the table hard, spilling mead across the surface.
Budeen glanced around. The dining hall was finally empty.
From behind the counter, the inn owner emerged silently with another jug, serving it while locking eyes with Budeen for a brief moment that lasted longer than it needed to.
For the next ten minutes, Budeen kept William engaged with jokes and stories while William slowly exaggerated his drunken behaviour.
Originally, William had no idea how drunk people acted.
But now, he didn't need to guess.
His former B-rank talent, False Calm, had evolved into an S-rank talent, Natural Actor, allowing him to imitate behaviour perfectly after observing it even once.
His talent to effect lawless awakening that had been dormant for so long had finally responded when Will had managed to acknowledge the present reality with his whole heart.
It had activated after Will schemed against the fiery bull demon chasing him.
This time it evolved a talent by two ranks entirely, as if it was compensating him for not activating until now.
But all in all, the talent was amazing.
It gave him the ability to imitate someone's behaviour if he even once observed the target doing that behaviour.
Basically, it made him a talented actor. Will had observed many drunkards until now. So he was able to act like he was drunk effortlessly.