Sanders looked at Angel in silence for a long time.
After quite a while, he sighed and said, "Let’s find a place to sit and chat."
In the New City, on the second floor of Butterfly Red Tea House.
In front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, Angel and Sanders sat opposite each other, and the gentle warm sun outside spilled in, instantly making the atmosphere relaxed.
A young waiter wearing a white shirt and black suspenders walked over with an exquisite tea tray.
"Illusion... Illusion Demon, super..." The waiter’s hand was trembling, and his words became stuttered.
"Alright, just put it down," Sanders waved his hand.
The waiter sighed in relief and nodded, then placed down the tea tray, setting out the gold-embellished teacups, milk, tea bags, and sugar on the table.
"There are also some desserts in the shop. Do the gentlemen want any?" Although the waiter managed to speak without stuttering, the sweat on his forehead revealed his inner tension.
"There are desserts?" Angel picked up the dessert menu and skimmed through it—there were indeed quite a few.
"How did you get the raw materials for these things?" Angel remembered that when he left before, he brought a lot of supplies for the New City, but there was no food among them.
The waiter bowed respectfully, "The raw materials for the desserts come from the bread tree. The milk and saccharin are made by a trick called Milking Technique. I don’t know the specifics."
Milking Technique? Angel recalled, it seemed to be one of the basic tricks of the gourmet branch, akin to Magic Bread. Gourmet Sorcerers could release the Milking Technique and just stir a finger in water to turn it into rich milk.
There was no gourmet sorcerer in the Barbarian Cave, and as for cross-branch practice... Angel could smell the rich fragrance of milk in the air; sorcerers practicing cross-branch gourmet tricks might not be able to produce such fragrant milk.
"Did Greya make it?" Angel didn’t ask the waiter but turned to Sanders, because Sanders had brought him to this shop.
Sanders nodded, "Yes, this shop was opened by Greya."
Sanders went on to explain that initially, Lianna invited Greya to open a gourmet shop to prepare for the future tea party. Greya was unwilling at first, but later she agreed upon learning that Ironclad Granny liked black tea. So, she opened the Butterfly Red Tea House here and hired some apprentices as staff.
"Greya and Ironclad Granny?"
Sanders: "Greya’s mentor is somewhat related to Ironclad Granny."
Angel understood and did not continue to inquire, as there was no need, nor was it appropriate... Angel turned to the waiter, whose ears were perked high: "There’s nothing more for you here, you can go down."
"What about the desserts?"
Angel shook his head, "No need."
The waiter retreated with a look of regret on his face, thinking there might be a chance to overhear some secrets from the big shots...
"You really don’t want desserts? I heard from Lianna earlier that the milk honey cake here is quite good?" Sanders’ tone lifted, and a mischievous look flashed in his dark eyes.
"I long stopped liking those kinds of desserts," Angel protested unhappily.
Sanders: "Then what are you drinking now?"
"Milk." Angel raised his head, a white milk foam still at the corner of his mouth, seemingly not realizing it.
"Milk is supposed to be added to black tea." Sanders raised an eyebrow.
Angel’s eyes flickered for a moment: "I don’t like adding milk to black tea. Since it would just be wasted sitting here, I drank it directly."
Sanders gave Angel a deep look: "Alright, I’ll accept that reason."
Sanders didn’t push Angel too hard; he understood him too well, knowing Angel didn’t care much about other things but was particularly thin-skinned about whether he drank milk.
"Let’s just chat a bit." Sanders took out a spoon, stirring the tea: "Earlier, Lord Reine mentioned the painting exhibition, what is that?"
Sanders hadn’t entered the Wilderness of Dreams for a few days, and it was the first time he heard about the painting exhibition. With mere paintings, it was fine to hear about them, but Lord Reine specifically mentioned Dororo’s prophecy, stirring Sanders’ curiosity.
Angel briefly explained about the painting exhibition.
Sanders: "All works by Magic Painter Wizard?"
Angel: "Yes, just a batch of paintings I stumbled upon. I’m not skilled enough in art appraisal to discern any secrets within them. Hence, I showcased them, hoping to garner opinions from other sorcerers."
After listening, Sanders pondered for a moment: "Do the two elemental creatures you conjured up recently have anything to do with the Magic Painter Wizard?"
When Angel went through the Abyss ordeal, though he didn’t detail Feng’s matter, he did mention Feng had set up a scheme in the Abyss, and Angel was to respond to and unravel that scheme.
Sanders had a nagging feeling that this time, Angel might cause another significant matter upon going out alone.
Big issues in the Abyss were related to Feng. Now that Feng surfaced again, a hint of uneasiness crept into Sanders.
If it were another event like in the Abyss, he was somewhat worried whether, as a mentor, he could continue supporting Angel.
Facing Sanders’ inquiry, Angel hesitated for a moment but nodded: "A little bit related. The reason I encountered these elemental creatures was due to receiving some information left by Feng."
"What information? Can you talk about it?"
Angel thought about it and nodded: "I can."
When Angel nodded, although Sanders maintained a calm expression, a ripple began forming in his heart. He had a premonition that what Angel was going to say next would surely unsettle him.
However, ultimately, Sanders didn’t hear Angel speak; instead, Angel directly used an illusion.
Through manipulating celestial alternation and harnessing the Mirage ability, Angel constructed an object on the table.
A rolled-up, frayed edge skin scroll.
Sanders reached out, gently flicking open the scroll’s clasp, and the soft skin scroll unrolled fluidly under inertia.
"The kinetic simulation of the object is well done," Sanders praised, then began examining the content on the skin scroll.