The hall Anoteros had reserved for the three of them was not exactly the largest around, but it was undoubtedly amongst the most comfortable and luxurious Paradiso had to offer, it was situated in the heart of the city, and was basically a small, one-storey house surrounded by a stone wall and tall hedge, giving complete privacy to what might be happening inside, or even in the small yard around it.

Edrick had also picked a place that was situated at the far end of the town, somewhat hidden away, which could be considered to be the best a city like this one had to offer, considering the sort of goods and services that were offered within it.

The noble scion already had the keys to this place in his possession, so it seemed to Xiao that Anoteros had come in person to make a reservation somewhere in the past, so presumably, he had rented this place even before the tournament had occurred, the protagonist almost wanted to applaud the self-confidence to prepare this before even knowing whether he would win the bet or not, but realised that since the town was controlled by a vassal sect of his clan, that the cost was probably zero for everything.

‘It must be quite useful to be part of such a powerful clan… Maybe I should try to get into one somehow?’

“Good riddance, but let me tell you, the clans, whether righteous or evil, are all full of insane people- Little peasants like us might think that they have it good, but the sheer pressure and expectations placed upon clan members is beyond what you can imagine, great talent is to be expected of them, excellency and power too… The soldiers of the army have an easy training regimen in comparison” the emerald ghost shook his head from side to side, it was easy to be envious of the benefits others enjoyed when you did not factor in the downsides that accompanied said benefits.

Many of the vagrant cultivators without a family name would never have been able to handle having to train on the same level as those they were jealous of, Chengzhe had known many clan cultivators in his life, so he was well aware of the hardships that accompanied the wealth and privileges, honestly, even if given the chance, he would rather be a mere peasant again if he were to restart his life, that sort of thing was not for him.

‘Is that so?’ Xiao thought as the trio, and the spectre, entered the hall, which was already prepared with couches, the floor was suspiciously soft and comfortable under their feet, and there were a variety of luxury items equipped into the hall that even Edrick didn’t have at his residence, those things required some experts to properly put in place, and also required some maintenance.

This included what Anoteros would qualify as magical ways to heat the place up, or cool it down, the amount of thought and resources needed to put just that into place was rather staggering, and even more-so the cost of making it so anyone could operate them, as the wealthy people who would like to reserve a place would not all be cultivators, the stuff equipped there needed to be usable by mundane folks.

But now was not the time to marvel over such things, Edrick went away and flipped a trapdoor open, which led to a basement where all sorts of fun things were stored, such as alcohol and all sorts of drinks, things to eat, to smoke, vials containing substances meant to aid in a certain type of endurance…

The basement was loaded with all sorts of things.

“Gentlemen, I hope you can hold your liquor” Edrick smiled whilst bringing out a whole bunch of what was stocked down there, everything kept in ideal conditions, and also very fresh as everything had been stocked up specifically for their arrival.

Red-Root Beer, Darkshine Smoking Herb, Whishal Alcohol, Lunarshine Wine, Barrenwort Beer, Horny Goat Herb, Weed Of Mari… All sorts of alcohol and cigars stuffed with very specific types of herbs were taken out alongside cups and matches.

Xiao was not very aware of what exactly those things were, he could tell what booze and cigars were, but he felt that it was likely that those had special effects he was unaware of, this was a fantasy world after all.

As for Shu, being the smuggler and good business man that he was, actually recognised what was being presented to him, these were goods Edrick had gotten him to deliver to his residence before, as well as rather popular products overall, but the inner disciple had never actually tried any of them himself, one did not need to be a genius to tell that his small body would struggle to handle alcohol, but who knew? He had started to train and cultivate in earnest again, he might just actually manage to drink like a man.

The three filled cups of Red-Root Beer, which was a rather run-of-the-mill type of beer, cheered and began to drink.

Xiao took a swig and felt the strong sugar-like feeling washing over his tongue and inside of the mouth, as the name suggested, it was heavily made from the roots which stocked great amounts of sugar, drinking it without knowing that beforehand made it feel like Xiao had just been slapped across the face.

As for Shu, he looked like he had been struck by lightning, the inner disciple blinked a few times, seemingly quite liking the taste, and frankly, Xiao wouldn’t say that he disliked it either, he was just taken off-guard.

Meanwhile, Edrick was downing the whole thing in a single go without the slightest of problems.

“Heh, you guys should try some Whishal, it’s a cheap alcohol, but it really blows the roof of your mouth off!” and thus, both Xiao and Shu were dragged along for the ride with Anoteros, who had them try out absolutely everything available, the Barrenwort Beer made them feel like the temperature inside the hall had increased, leading them to settle down on some of the couches whilst Edrick threw them some cigars.

“Darkshine and Weed Of Mari are great to relax, you should have a try- And they have good medicinal effects too! Come on, it’s the best quality there is, you’ll actually feel like you can breathe better afterward, real good stuff…”

He also had them smoke some Horny Goat Herb, which had the obvious effect of making them feel like the first word of its name, but apart from that, it was an incredible herb to smoke, soon enough, the entire hall was filled with smoke from several types of cigars, and despite everything they had drunk, there was still a whole lot more of everything available.

Edrick chugged a full cup of Lunarshine Wine.

“The main attraction should be here soon enough…”