The middle-aged man paused, looked Sinil up and down again, and gave a look of sudden understanding.
"Oh, right, this is obviously your first time here. No wonder you don't know how strong these three drinks are." He nodded and continued, "Yes, I work for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, but I'm not one of those lofty Researchers at the Magic Research Institute. I'm just a poor Second-Level Mage scraping by drawing magic arrays every day."
Sinil's eyes gleamed with greater interest. He first glanced at the reddish wine, barely a mouthful of which remained in the middle-aged mage's glass, then asked the bartender for two glasses of the same wine and offered him one.
"What's this?" The middle-aged mage looked at him in surprise. "Are you buying me a drink?"
"Yes. I'd like to ask you about a few things." Sinil smiled and nodded.
"Ask me about things?" Although the middle-aged mage was clearly a little drunk, his eyes were still clear. He glanced at the wine Sinil offered and chuckled. "I'm just an ordinary Low-Rank Mage in the guild. What could you want to ask me?"
Sinil moved a little closer, reached inside his clothes, and took out a small badge.
"A Second-Level Mage badge?" The middle-aged mage immediately recognized what it meant. He looked at Sinil in surprise, thought for a moment, then accepted the glass and took a sip. "All right, what do you want to know? Let me say this first: there are some things I can't tell outsiders."
"Of course." Sinil hurriedly gave him an ingratiating smile. "I haven't asked your name yet..."
"Just call me Luther."
"All right, Luther, as you can see, I'm a Second-Level Mage, just like you. And, well... I'm not doing very well right now..." Sinil spread his hands frankly.