The low wooden door made no sound when Shane pushed it open, as if it swallowed all noise.
The scene behind the door was surprising; the interior of the tavern was much more spacious than it looked from the outside.
Several dim kerosene lamps hung from the high ceiling, their light becoming hazy in the diffuse sweet fragrance.
The scent was peculiar, like aromatherapy made from aged oak and dried flowers and herbs, making one relax unconsciously.
The people who had entered earlier were scattered in various places. Everyone was silent, as if waiting for something, without any communication.
Shane and Erza exchanged a look and chose a table near the wall to sit down.
The rough wooden chair creaked slightly. The moment he sat down, a familiar throb came from his consciousness.
The silent Book of Heroic Spirits flipped pages soundlessly, revealing small characters like flames.
[Trial: Vigorous Thirst for Knowledge and Curiosity That Needs Restraint]
[Outstanding individuals are all people with strong desires; they always have something they pursue. Now that what you pursue is before you, you can choose to seek knowledge or restrain yourself.]
"What I pursue?" Shane was slightly stunned.
He subconsciously pondered what he wanted most at this moment. Wealth? Power? None seemed that urgent. At most, he wanted to know about that legendary Black Wizard Zeref's...
No, I seem to be quite desperate for wealth, Shane knocked his head speechlessly, suppressing this untimely thought.
So... is this tavern related to Zeref?
This thought made him sit up straight unconsciously. He was indeed full of curiosity about that legendary Black Wizard. If this place was really related to him, it certainly piqued his interest.
Just as he was contemplating, a figure approached their table silently.
It was a man wearing a clean but outdated attendant uniform, with a formulistic smile on his face that was just right but lacked warmth.
He didn't ask anything, just placed two glasses of clear, transparent liquor in front of them.
Neither Shane nor Erza touched the glasses; they just looked up and down at the only service staff in this tavern.
The attendant didn't mind their wariness and said with a smile, "Won't you taste it? This is rare good wine."
"Who would drink something of unknown origin!" Erza made no secret of her suspicion.
"We aren't fifteen yet..." Shane tapped his knuckles gently on the tabletop, making a thud thud sound, pulling the attendant's attention back to himself. "Also, why pull us in?"
"You are invited guests." The attendant's smile remained unchanged, his gaze flowing over the two with an indescribable scrutiny. "We just want you two to enjoy our service as soon as possible."
"Service? What service?" Shane pressed.
"Since you two could be invited in, naturally you have wishes in your hearts that you long to realize. Our service is to help guests achieve their wishes."
"Don't talk such fantasy nonsense!" Erza didn't believe it at all.
The attendant just smiled, as if saying "believe it or not."
Shane held down Erza, who wanted to say more, and looked straight at the attendant: "I do have a wish I want to realize. What do I need to do?"
Erza beside him turned her head abruptly, looking at him in surprise.
"You believe this kind of thing?" Erza lowered her voice.
Shane seemed not to hear, just looking at the attendant, waiting for an answer.
A trace of satisfaction finally appeared on the attendant's face: "Of course, you just need to pay a small price."
"Price?" Shane raised an eyebrow.
The attendant pointed casually: "For example, that guest, he longed for wealth. So we took away his compassion, sympathy, and enthusiasm. Correspondingly, within a year, he built the premier Merchant Guild in the city."
Shane looked in the direction he pointed; it was the manager from during the day. Thinking of what Noel said, it indeed matched the attendant's description.
The attendant pointed to another table: "That guest wanted to stand out. We took away the instinct of 'craving love' in his nature—no pursuit of food, no desire for the opposite sex, no yearning for vain fame. With no distractions, naturally, it's easier to emerge in his career."
Shane recognized that it was the heroic burly man met on the road who said he wasn't interested in the tavern. At this moment, he sat alone in a corner, his gaze numb, turning a deaf ear to the surrounding noise.
After finishing, the attendant looked at Shane leisurely, hiding a faint expectation in his eyes. Every time he introduced it like this, what he enjoyed most was the guest's subsequent reaction.
He wanted to hear the guest say: Without kindness and enthusiasm, what use is money? Losing desire, success and fame make one just a walking corpse...
And after these self-righteous people finished their impassioned speeches, he didn't need to do anything, just watch them quietly—
They would always think they were different, and then, propose a deal.
Sure enough, the black-haired boy spoke.
But unexpectedly, he didn't deliver any grand speech, but asked directly:
"Tell me all the intelligence about Zeref. What do I need to pay?"
However, unexpectedly, the other party didn't spout the same old grand principles but proposed a deal directly.
The smile on the attendant's face froze instantly. Although it returned to normal immediately, Shane noticed this detail.
This tavern is indeed related to Zeref. A smile appeared on Shane's face, and he continued to press: "Isn't it a trade? What do you need from me?"
Zeref! Why would he mention Zeref? Waves rose in the attendant's heart, but he maintained calm on the surface:
"That is a legendary Mage from four hundred years ago; the price is very expensive..."
"No harm in saying it. If I can't afford the price, naturally I'll propose another trade." By now, the initiative of the conversation had quietly come into Shane's hands.
"Then, I need your..."
Before the attendant's voice fell, a huge roar suddenly sounded outside the tavern.
He swallowed the unspoken words and signaled: "Sorry, it seems a small matter has occurred. Please wait a moment, guests."
Watching his back as he quickened his pace toward the outside of the tavern, Shane pulled Erza: "Get ready to act."
"Weren't you going to trade with him?" Erza hadn't reacted yet.
"The intelligence I wanted to know is already in hand; there's no need to talk nonsense with them anymore." Shane stood up, the longbow manifesting in his hand, and the deep red ribbons marking his seriousness fell from his shoulders.
"Besides, I really dislike their style."
Shane's gaze scanned everything in the tavern like a falcon. Everyone sitting at the tables stared blankly ahead. Those faces void of desire made him sick; they looked more like walking corpses than the slaves in the Tower of Heaven.
"Them?" Erza was still pondering Shane's words when she saw a stream of light shoot straight up from below, hitting the tavern roof.
A ripple like a water curtain came from above. Immediately after, the stream of light pierced through firmly, breaking a large hole in the roof.
Shattered wood chips and dust fell like rain. The broken roof revealed the moonless, pitch-black sky, as if a huge black curtain was shrouding down.
In this instant, muffled roars sounded in the tavern, like the wailing of wounded beasts.
Those people who were originally sitting blankly at the tables seemed to receive some kind of command. They raised the glasses in front of them simultaneously and drank it all in one gulp.
Immediately after, their bodies began to distort and deform violently—their skin turned an unnatural green, a keratinous layer quickly covered their body surface, and their faces twisted into strange insect-like shapes.
Shane raised his bow expressionlessly. After so many days of accumulation, his Strength and Endurance finally broke through the critical point and reached a new rank.
With Arash's release able to last for 20 minutes, he had plenty of time to play with the people here.