CHAPTER 100: BELOVED POISON

"This taste..."

Selia took a careful, measured sip from the cup I passed over to her.

And as soon as her lips touched the surface of the drink, her eyes flashed.

She then pushed the cup further up, pouring the sweet drink down her throat as if it was the cheapest booze.

Then, she slammed the cup down onto the table before her eyes snapped up, to where the other cups sat down, waiting for someone to pick them.

For a moment, I both saw and felt the near limitless desire in her eyes as she eyed the cups, a desire she quickly quelled, hid behind the mask of how she acted when out in public.

"While not exactly the same, that’s the stuff," she smiled, acting as if the whole "killing everyone just to grab another cup of coffee" moment of consideration never took place to begin with.

She then turned to face me before reaching out and dropping her hands down on my shoulders.

"You did it, man, you did it!"

Sparks of joy danced in her eyes as she praised me, amused both by the fact we actually managed to do it, but also by my slightly startled reaction to her words of praise.

For as little as I knew her, I already managed to get more or less used to her teasing. But that came with the cost - if she were to ever praise me in private, I wouldn’t be able to discern whether she was just making fun of me, trying to have a fun discussion with me, or was genuinely trying to commend my efforts.

Out in the public, though? And seeing how she was nowhere near relaxed when out and about as compared to when it was just the two of us?

’That’s legitimate praise,’ I thought, for some weird reason petrified as I stood.

I gulped my spit down before raising my head only to then shake it vigorously.

"No, I did not do it," I proclaimed while still shaking my head. Then, I stopped the motion and looked Selia directly in her eyes. "If anything, it’s us that did it. I merely prepared the drink. You are the one who came up with an idea on how to get our hands on those seeds and then fought with your life on the line to get them!"

This speech served several ends.

First, in the most obvious way, I simply wanted to share the achievement with the saintess rather than acting all smug and pretending it was only mine to enjoy.

Then, there was the deeper message that I directed to all those listening - this drink was something that Saintess risked her life to obtain ingredients for!

The reaction was instantaneous.

The kitchen’s chef who already held a cup in his hand suddenly froze, the cup suddenly appearing to gain so much weight, he couldn’t lift it even a single inch higher, closer to his lips.

The same happened to all the others who were lucky enough to receive a cup, making them look down on it with a newfound reverence and outright fear.

To just drink something that the Saintess worked so hard to obtain?

How stupid one would have to be to do so, when it could be easily resold for a life-changing fortune?

That idea, however, came with its own problems.

Because seeing how no one else was helping themselves to the cups, Saintess happily moved over, picked the blackest of the coffees, and then raised it to her lips.

This time, however, she was even more careful, acting as if she couldn’t for the love of all that’s holy spill even a single drop!

In reality, however...

She saw me put both milk and honey in the cup I presented her with. And now, while she was obviously curious about the original taste of the coffee, she could already predict that both the milk and the sweetener in the form of honey were mixed together with the drink itself for a reason.

And so, I was then treated to quite the show of when Selia finally took a small taste of the black brew only to instantly engage in a battle against her own face as she tried to stop her face from squeezing as the deep, sour taste filled her mouth.

"A natural brew is an acquired taste," I commented while gently prying the cup from Selia’s hand, only to add in copious amounts of honey and then some milk to mellow it all down. "But there’s nothing wrong with drinking it with those additions. It’s not like one kind of coffee is better than the other. It’s all just the elitist nature of some people speaking."

’Just like in a certain line of games...’ I thought.

Funnily enough, the advocates of coffee purity who scoffed at anyone who dared to botch their beloved drink with sugar, milk, or other, even fancier additions, were no different to my eyes than those who argued that certain soul-based games should only be played in one, very specific and restrictive way.

In their eyes, anyone who used the plethora of mechanics included in the game to make the challenge a bit more manageable - wasn’t playing the game right, because they weren’t playing the game the way those people did.

And the same was with the coffee puritanism - nothing more than a projection of one’s own idea of self-importance through something that should be enjoyed to the detriment of all those that simply wanted to enjoy it.

Which is why, the moment I saw this kind of thinking potentially plant its seeds into Selia’s soul...

I had to curb it!

"You have a weirdly serious look on your face," Selia laughed a little as she happily accepted the cup. And this time, rather than vulgarly throwing her head back and throwing it down her mouth, she took proper care, slowly drinking it, enjoying every sip of the brew.

"Yeah," Selia nodded her head once she finally pulled her lips away from the cup. "That’s the taste," she purred in a low voice, her eyelids moving down as she fully immersed herself in the heat that the drink brought to her insides.

’I wonder if the caffeine even works on her,’ I thought before raising my cup again...

I didn’t get to drink, though.

Because that’s when I actually saw the hesitation on the face of the kitchen’s owner as he looked down on the cup.

"Cheers!" I called out, forcing all those who received the cup but were now too shy to enjoy it to reluctantly raise their cups and actually give the drink a little taste.

The reactions were... varied.

Some had their faces tense up as they fought against themselves not to show disgust in the thick, sour pour when it was obtained through the blood and sweat of the saintess herself.

Others, on the other hand, just like the inn-keeper who ended up with the all-black kind, showed simply no response.

But the way they looked at the cup has changed.

The reluctance, hesitation, and doubt I could sense earlier were all because of the lore of this drink. But now?

Before anyone could drink any more of the coffee, however, I coughed into my fist a few times to gather everyone’s attention on me.

"Just so you guys know, this drink has the effect of making you hurry to the toilet. It’s not sickness, just an intensified effect of what you would get if you drank a lot of milk."

Back on Earth, it was common sense.

A coffee, a cig, and five minutes in the brig - was the popular saying back in my college, often used by professors and students alike to excuse being late to the class.

Who could resist when nature called, after all? And there was no law that stopped people from making nature all the more likely to call for them!

"Yeah..." still reeling from whatever his experience of drinking coffee was, the kitchen’s chief massaged his stomach with a slightly weirded-out look on his face. "I can already feel it but..." he hesitated for a moment.

Then, he raised his eyes to Selia first, only to quickly drop them, unable to keep his stare up against the girl’s perceived divinity. As such, rather than looking up to Selia, he directed his eyes towards me instead.

"Sir, if you don’t mind me asking... What is this weird feeling I have now?" the man asked while carefully putting the cup down and slowing his breath while even reaching out to support himself against a nearby table.

Then, the man squinted his eyes, revealing just the distant sparks of fury appearing in his pupils.

"Were those drinks... drugged?!"

I laughed a little before shaking my head.

Then, without another word, I blindly reached out for the cups, grabbed the first one my hand could find, and then brought the cup to my lips before downing the whole thing in one, prolonged gulp.

"It’s not a drug. If we were to go by strictly pharmacist terms, the best word would be poison," I stated... even though I just downed an entire cup.

And a statement like this was enough to even get Selia startled.

"But it’s a poison that works great against small insects. It’s the reason why plants make it to begin with - to keep themselves safe. But to their misfortune," I grinned as I picked up one of the few unused seeds - "for us, humans, all this poison does is help us remain alert, chase away the exhaustion and put some life back into our tired bodies!"