"Are you okay?" Olivia walked up to Erin with concern.
Edward followed her. The two of them noticed that Erin started crying and were worried. The treasury staff were already sending back the now empty trolleys.
Ron accidentally saw everything.
He saw Erin opening his locket earlier. He also heard Erin's brief answer to Alice.
This was inevitable because Ron was standing right behind the two of them.
From the somber tone of his voice. Ron had a feeling that Erin's parents were no longer of this universe.
Ron also noticed that Alfred and Alice were misinterpreting Erin's tears.
Before the situation got worse, Ron walked up and patted Erin's shoulder.
"It's okay to cry. Let it all out." Ron's words were gentle. "Although you cannot change the past, you can still proudly look forward to the future. Don't regret the decisions you've made. I'm certain that they wouldn't want to see you cry."
Alfred listened to Ron's words with joy. He was truly glad that his old friend was so considerate. His words struck a note with him. It was like Ron was reassuring him instead of Erin.
Alice felt relief. 'So he wasn't crying because of my comment, right?' Was the conclusion she got from the differences in Ron's words.
Olivia and Edward were still concerned. They didn't let their eyes stray away from Erin at all.
Listening to Ron's words, Erin realized that he got too emotional. There wasn't anything he could do to change the past, so he took a deep breath and decided to live in the present.
The aura around Erin changed a lot at that moment. The look in his eyes was now a smidge bit more mature.
In the depths of Erin's mind, the purple light looked very excited. Something awakened inside of it and the light started gathering energy. This action absorbed the food that Erin ate earlier.
Erin didn't notice these changes yet.
Wiping away his tears, Erin thanked Ron for trying to lift his spirits up.
Alfred felt relief in this sight and Alice's tense shoulders relaxed. Whereas, Olivia and Edward both noticed that Erin was a lot better now and felt relieved too.
A large grumble came from Edward's stomach. Olivia glanced at Edward and sighed.
When Erin heard this, he laughed. At lunch, the little glutton had eaten more than five times the portions Erin ate. Yet he was already hungry again!
A large grumble came from Erin's stomach too! It was several times louder than Edward's noise.
Flabbergasted, both Olivia and Ron did not expect Erin to be a glutton too.
"Brother Erin.." Edward's precious eyes looked at Erin like he was really his brother.
'Huh. Why am I so hungry?' Erin didn't expect that his appetite would recover so quickly. A few minutes ago, he still felt a bit full from lunch. Yet, moments later, he now felt like he had been starving for several days!
He didn't notice that the purple light was still absorbing energy inside of him.
Laughing, Alfred walked up and spoke, "We have many restaurants connected to the lobby."
He mentioned this since the both of them seemed hungry.
Since nobody disagreed, the entire group went back to the elevator and rode it from B200 to the 1st floor.
As they exited, the giant hall that they first entered through came into view.
When they first arrived, the group followed the escorting guard to the elevator. They didn't pay much attention to the central lobby.
The auction house received so many customers that the central lobby actually had its own facilities! From restaurants to entertainment, there were many options.
This was not open to the general public. It was only available to anyone that the auction house deemed a customer. People could not enter the auction house to go to those places in particular.
With the central lobby's design, the giant main hall connected to many smaller halls. There were different guards stationed at the entrance of each secondary hall.
Alfred took the lead and brought the group to a very specific secondary hall. Out of all the smaller halls, the entrance to this one looked very ordinary. In fact, it stood out because it looked too ordinary. Almost every other hall had a touch of luxury in its décor.
Ron raised his eyebrows and Alice looked very delighted. It seems like the both of them knew where they were going. Edward, Olivia, and Erin did not know. The three could tell from Alice's expressions that it was probably a really good place.
The guards at the entrance of this branch hall gave off a very strong aura. They restrained this aura as they respectfully saluted Alfred.
The customers walking around the main hall were very surprised. They've never seen a size-able group that walk into this ordinary hall before. It seems many people knew what this hall led to.
The staff were more shocked by the figure leading this group! This was someone who could dictate the life-or-death of many people. Especially those in the Clover Clan!
The group soon reached the end of the hall. It connected to an open door room with a small dimensional gate inside. Before Alfred could unlock the gate, his communication device started ringing.
When Alfred picked it up, shouts echoed throughout the small dimensional gate room.
"Alfred, have you gone insane?! Why is your Dimensional Rhinoceros taking so many treasures from the clan's core vault?!" A elderly female voice shouted from the other end of this communication device.
Alfred pressed a button and the device projected a holographic image of the person on the other side instead.
"Oh? Was my screaming voice not enough? Did you also want to see the anger on my face?" The female elder screeched at Alfred. She instantly accepted the holographic projection feed. Her eyes were staring at him like daggers!
"I just wanted to show you something." Alfred was very quick to react. He expected that the Clan Leader would contact him soon.
Alfred glanced at Erin and motioned him to activate his orb. Erin adapted fast and knew what he should display.
Alfred then moved his device so that it had a full view of Erin.
"Show me something? You wanted to show me a man wet behind the ears?! How does this have anything to do with the core vau-"
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The female elder's words stopped abruptly when she saw Erin's orb activate.
[Available Cyber Currencies]
[290,086,500 Lafite]
The display above the orb made her completely speechless.
"The items I am taking from the core vault are part of my transaction with this young man. He is willing to exchange all his ancient credits. Also, we negotiated that he would only take half of the consumables instead of all. I also took the liberty of approving 200 million Imperial Units from the Clan's treasury."
"Surely you won't deny this approval and, consequently, cancel this trade?" Alfred turned the projection back at him and spoke these last words slowly. He sarcastically raised his eyebrows at the female elder.
Still speechless, the female elder was absorbing the significance of what she saw!
Edward and Olivia were on the edge of laughing. The female elder's shock reminded them of their faces earlier.
Ron was content with Erin's choices. It was very incredible that he got an advantage over the Clover Clan.
Whereas, Alice's mind short-circuited again. She started thinking about the overwhelming transaction again.
"..Had I said something earlier?" The female elder pretended like she never went on a rampage in the first place. "I did not expect to see such a charming, intelligent young man so abruptly! How striking and gallant! He seems to be very capable and compassionate."
On the holographic projection, the female elder looked back at Alfred's creature. She gestured the dimensional rhinoceros to continue what it was doing.
'Should I introduce this young man to my grand-daughter?'
The female elder was thinking about this seriously.
"Great! Glad to have you approval. In any case, we have to go to an important meeting now. I will contact you later." Alfred hung up the call before he could listen to more of her hypocrisy.
He walked up to the small dimensional gate and a holographic control panel appeared in front of him. The gate was only big enough to fit two adults side-by-side and was currently off. Once Alfred inputted a long password, the dimensional gate activated.
At this point, since the goal was to eat, Erin had an idea of where this gate led. The interlude now didn't affect his desire for food in the slightest.
"Shall we go?" Alfred smiled. He didn't bother mentioning what was on the other side of the gate.
Alice took the lead and happily entered the gate's portal first. The rest of the group followed.
On the other side, Erin's face filled with shock.
This was a small yet extremely lavish dimensional gate room! The floors had a mixture between marble and gold. Whereas, the dimensional gates had a lot of gold and platinum. There was a skylight that let in a lot of natural light and red drapes hung across every wall in this two-story room.
There were less than fifteen small dimensional gates in this room. Only theirs was currently active. Alfred was the last one to step through the gate. Once he did, the portal shut down.
The doors to the gate room opened and a well-dressed waiter walked in. There were guards standing at the entrance of the room. It was to prevent unaffiliated customers from entering the dimensional gate room.
"Greetings, exalted guests. Welcome to Spiritual Haven. I am here to guide you to your room." The waiter greeted them with a gentlemen's bow. When Edward and Olivia heard Spiritual Haven, their eyes lit up with glee! It seems like they recognized the name.
Seeing their reactions, Erin confirmed his suspicions that the gate connected to a famous restaurant.
It's just that he was very surprised that dimensional gates would be built for the sole purpose of getting to and from a restaurant faster.
The group followed the waiter outside the door and through several hallways. All the décor was to the same standard as the dimensional gate room.
As they walked down the halls, Erin noticed that many of the rooms they passed were occupied.
Once the group finally reached an unoccupied room, the waiter seated everyone. He then politely exited the room.
There were no windows in this room. There were several crystal lights that made the room especially bright.
The table had a beautiful white cloth with gold embroidery at the edges. The seats were especially comfortable as well.
"Is there a menu?" Erin asked. In fact, only he was the one bothered by this. Everyone else looked like they were waiting for the food to arrive.
"Haha, this type of restaurant doesn't provide menus. " Alfred found amusement in Erin's question. He let out a few laughs thinking that Erin was being humorous.
'No menu? Then how do we order?' Erin thought this was puzzling.
"I selected this restaurant in particular. It's food is very delicious! I wanted to celebrate our first meeting. Thus, everything will be my treat." Alfred added after he finally finished laughing.
Alfred's kind gesture garnered the appreciation of the whole group.
After a minute, Erin noticed that Edward was on the verge of drooling.
'Is the food here really that good?'
Erin's thoughts cut off as the room's doors opening again.
The waiter whom just left a moment ago was already back. Furthermore, behind him were two levitating trolleys full of dishes!
Plates upon plates of different delicacies were set on the table after the waiter's arrival. The entire table was completely covered to the brim with dishes!
"If you need more food, please ring this bell." The waiter placed a small little bell at the end of the table where Alfred was sitting. If the table of food didn't fill everyone up, the waiter would replenish the entire table at the sound of the bell.
'How could we even finish this?' Erin was mind blown by the size of some of these plates. The meat dishes alone could be three times taller than Erin if stacked on top of each other!
Once everyone started eating, Erin realized that this food was special!
'There's so much energy inside!' He was pleasantly surprised by each mouthful.
The purple light inside his deep subconscious mind was also pleasantly surprised! The light absorbed every single bit of energy that entered Erin's stomach.
'Why am I not getting full?' Erin was weirded out after he finished his 5th plate. He still felt very hungry!
By this time, everyone else in the group was full except for Edward. He was on his 4th plate and still appeared a bit hungry.
Alice was stunned by Erin's and Edward's appetites. She didn't understand how it was physically possible for them to eat so much! In fact, their stomachs didn't even bulge out after eating so many dishes. It's like the food entered an empty void.
By the 7th dish, Edward was finally content. He rubbed his stomach with satisfaction plastered all over his face.
Erin was at his 15th dish. The table was on the verge of becoming empty.
"Erm.. I'm still very hungry." Erin awkwardly glanced at Alfred. His words stunned everyone else.
'This..' Alfred was amazed. He's been to this restaurant quite a few times before, but has only ever ringed the bell with groups of over 10 people.
"Not a problem." Alfred wondered if Erin could even finish a second table by himself. Regardless of if he could or couldn't, Alfred didn't mind. Even though this restaurant was expensive, he wasn't going to be stingy. Besides, this was the biggest client his clan has ever had!
With a ring of a bell, the waiter soon arrived with more volleys of dishes. It's like he knew the entire table was empty. After clearing out the empty plates and replacing them with fresh dishes, the waiter left.
Edward was flabbergasted by the now full table and mentally wanted to eat again. Unfortunately, his stomach refused. He could only see and smell the beautiful sight in front of him.
Erin continued eating until the second table was completely wiped out!
"..Haha." Erin appeared somber. "..I could still go for some more food." These words shocked everyone else till they were speechless.
Alfred and Ron were the only two in the room that truly understood how much energy each dish had.
Each plate had rare herbs or powerful beast meat as their core ingredients! It was basically Spirit Food!
The amount of energy in every dish was enough to support the energy consumption of a rapidly developing youth.
Regardless of if they were a knight, mage, tamer, or other profession, one plate of food could nourish their training for an entire day!
After two tables, Erin already ate 45 plates! That's a month and a half worth of pure energy!
Speechless, Alfred still rang the bell out of consideration for Erin.
'He couldn't possibly..?' Alfred had a lingering thought that he pushed back to the depths of his mind.
This thought resurfaced as Erin finished the third table of food!
At this point, nobody else in the table could even fathom how Erin could eat so much. Even the waiter was dumbfounded. If he wasn't personally clearing the empty dishes, he would think that they were just throwing the food away! The waiter then brought in a fourth round since Erin motioned Alfred to ring the bell again.
Once the fourth table of food was finished, Erin continued motioning Alfred to ring the bell.
This cycle continued until the twentieth table!
By this time, everyone was already mentally numb. If this was a food-eating competition, Erin would win because of how fast he cleared each table! He seemed to be eating faster and faster.
Out of everyone at this table, Erin was the most confused!
'Why am I getting even hungrier?!' His concern was not unwarranted. The situation was too abnormal!
It wasn't until the fiftieth table that Erin's hunger finally vanished!
"Oh?" Erin was about to cry tears of joy.
Whereas, Alfred thought about the fifty full tables and cried tears of relief.
'..My yearly salary.' Alfred was very sad. He already knew this meal was going to cost him dearly.
The transaction earlier used the Clover Clan's funds. However, this meal was being funded by Alfred's own private funds! This grave was dug the moment Alfred said the meal was his treat.
Alice's eyes were staring at Erin like she was looking at an unknown creature.
'Nearly fifty whole tables..' Aside from the first table where everyone shared food, the rest were basically eaten by Erin alone!
The waiter even had an argument with the kitchen. Every dish was personally tailored by a Spirit Chef! Early on, the chefs visited the room just to confirm that their dishes weren't being thrown aside. Once they saw it was being eaten, they went back with flabbergasted expressions.
While Erin was still crying out his happiness at feeling full, the purple light deep inside of him felt content and ready! It sent out a signal that traveled into the depths of space. This signal was summoning something!
When the signal sent out, Erin felt a gushing pain strike the center of his mind!