The Old Man Invites You to Tea

The Old Man Invites You to Tea

The tavern owner hurriedly apologized, terrified of offending another customer.

"It's nothing, really. After all, this old man isn't some kind of demon!"

Only after hearing Rota's forgiveness did the tavern owner raise his head to look at him, and he was instantly frightened.

He was so tall—far more intimidating than even the rough crowd in his tavern! At that thought, the tavern owner's legs began to tremble.

"Ah, this old man isn't that scary. No need to be so tense~" Rota said slowly, scratching the back of his head with one hand.

Rota had no idea what was going on. This was their first time meeting, wasn't it? Why was this man so wary of him?

"Of course, sir! Let me introduce myself. I'm the owner of this tavern. I bumped into you earlier because I had some troubles on my mind. Let me buy you a drink!"

The tavern owner before him was clearly acting unnatural, and Rota had reason to suspect that something must have happened to him earlier.

"Hey, you two, don't block the doorway. You're stopping people from coming in and out."

Rota turned around and saw a group of people behind him, apparently customers who had come to drink.

But this tavern was very dangerous. It would be best not to let any more customers enter.

Rota turned around, looked down at the man who had spoken, and slowly took a token from his pocket.

"My apologies, sir, but this old man has something to inspect in this tavern. Please don't make trouble for me~"

The man wanted to argue, but the moment he saw the token in Rota's hand, he cried out in alarm, "An Elder Token!"

"That's right. Spirit Hall is handling official business. Surely you aren't planning to meddle, are you?" Rota leaned down with a kind smile and stared at the man.

Clashing with Spirit Hall was simply courting death. The man promptly led his underlings away. He had no desire to throw his life away for nothing.

As for the tavern owner, he still had no idea what had happened and remained utterly bewildered.

"Sir, what... just happened?"

The tavern owner had only vaguely heard Rota discussing his tavern. Could it be that his establishment had violated some law?

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. Sweat soaked through the clothes on his back.

"Don't worry. If your tavern were the problem, Spirit Hall wouldn't need to intervene at all~"

Only then did the tavern owner gradually calm down. If his tavern were investigated, he would truly be completely ruined.

"Then, may I ask what is wrong with my tavern?"

Rota thought for a moment before asking, "Um, have you seen the person on this wanted poster?"

Rota handed the wanted poster issued by Spirit Hall to the tavern owner.

After carefully comparing it, the tavern owner helplessly shook his head. "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't recognize the person on this wanted poster. May I ask what this person did?"

"You must have heard about the massive destruction in Nuoding City's western district earlier, right?"

The tavern owner's heart trembled. Of course he knew about such a huge commotion, but what did that have to do with this?

"To be honest, the person on this wanted poster is the one responsible for that atrocity."

"How could that be? Could that person be in my tavern?" The tavern owner hardly dared imagine it. Wouldn't that mean he had been in danger the entire time and could be killed at any moment?

"This old man merely said it was possible. After all, there's no way the other party could have gone somewhere beyond even this old man's senses in such a short time."

"My lord, let's go inside and speak!"

It would be terribly disrespectful to leave a distinguished Spirit Hall elder standing outside!

"That works too. This old man is rather tired as well~"

The first thing Rota noticed upon entering the tavern was that it did not feel like a tavern at all. It was far too deserted. Only a few scattered drinkers sat drinking, while the number of servers nearly matched the number of customers.

"Business seems rather poor here. Did something happen?" Rota was curious how this tavern had been run into such a state.

"My lord, please don't mock me. It was my own poor decision-making. I didn't hire Soul Master guards from the start, so people kept eating and drinking without paying..."

Rota understood. So it was people drinking on the house. Judging by the owner's personality, he was not one to provoke trouble. Everyone probably thought he was easy to bully!

"My lord, what would you like to drink?"

"No need. This old man still has business to attend to. Drinking could interfere with it."

Rota had not forgotten why he had come. The red gem was now glowing steadily, which meant the target was very likely in this tavern.

"This old man will ask you a few questions. Just tell me what you know."

The tavern owner nodded rapidly like a pecking chicken. He knew this concerned something serious, and the consequences were not something he could bear alone.

"It doesn't matter if you don't recognize the person on this wanted poster. They may have disguised themselves, so what this old man wants to know is whether any unusual-looking people came by today."

"Unusual-looking people?" The tavern owner pondered.

Wait, the people in the private room upstairs had arrived not long before this elder did. Could it be...

"My lord, there is indeed a group of people drinking in one of the private rooms. They don't look like good people. I don't know whether they are the ones you seek."

"Oh? When did they arrive?"

"Not long before you came here, my lord."

The tavern owner told the truth, and this information was extremely helpful to Rota.

"Very good. This is your reward~"

Rota gave the tavern owner 100 Gold Soul Coins as a reward.

"This... How can I accept this? My lord, please take it back!" The tavern owner was overwhelmed by the favor. He had never expected to receive the goodwill of a Spirit Hall elder.

"This old man will not take back a reward once given. Besides, you're a decent person. Take it and run your tavern well!"

Seeing how resolute Rota was, the tavern owner could not refuse again. Otherwise, he would be rejecting the elder's goodwill.

"Go call down the people in that private room. Tell them a Spirit Hall elder wishes to invite them downstairs for tea."

"Yes!"

The tavern owner was no longer as afraid. First, a Spirit Hall elder was backing him up, and second, he no longer wanted to be so cowardly.

A loud knock sounded at the door!

"Come in!"

When they saw that it was the tavern owner again, everyone in the private room burst out laughing.

"You again? Are you trying to make us pay? Don't worry, we're never going to pay."

This time, the tavern owner was not frightened into backing down. He raised his voice and said, "Someone downstairs is looking for you."

"Someone is looking for us? Who? Someone you called?"

At the tavern owner's words, the burly men in the private room began cracking their knuckles.

"Brothers, looks like we've got a fight on our hands!"

"A Spirit Hall elder is looking for you. He said he wants to invite you downstairs for tea!"

The tavern owner repeated Rota's exact words.

The moment he finished speaking, these restless men fell into an unusually long silence...

"A Spirit Hall elder wants to have tea with us? Fine, let's go meet this elder!"

Fire Bull was the first to speak. It was not as if they had never killed a Spirit Hall elder before. Hadn't their boss killed that Titled Douluo-level elder who came before?