After not seeing him for so long, Hero Himmel's eyes still held great spirit.
Due to his hair becoming even thicker, he even appeared somewhat younger than when they first met.
However, from his slightly damaged white robe, it wasn't hard to see that this person had probably just returned to the Holy Capital from the wild.
"It's been such a long time."
"Lady Serie, Gut, would you like to come sit at my place?"
"As companions on the journey, it seems we haven't had a proper gathering since arriving at the Holy Capital."
"This..." A trace of interest flashed across Gut's face. He had been thinking about probing the talent traits on Himmel, and this opportunity couldn't be more suitable.
But what were his teacher's intentions?
Thinking of this, Gut's gaze shifted slightly, wanting to read some clues from the elf beside him.
However, this probing action had barely begun when the elf's golden eyes looked over.
Gut laughed dryly out of guilt and quickly straightened his gaze.
"Heh." The elf gave a noncommittal light chuckle.
From her disciple's small movements, she had already understood Gut's meaning, so she spoke directly.
"Let's go together."
"After all, I don't have any arrangements today either."
"That's wonderful." Himmel said with a smile, his gaze meeting Gut's, both their eyes containing a trace of joy.
Like during their previous adventure, Himmel walked ahead, leading the way to his residence for the teacher-disciple pair.
Along the way, Gut thought of something and curiously asked Himmel ahead of him.
"Uncle Hero, do you also have a residence in the Holy Capital?"
"I remember during our previous adventure you mentioned that you normally live in the Royal Capital, right?"
"About that." Himmel walking ahead turned his head, first praising Gut, then providing an answer.
"As expected of an excellent mage, Gut, your memory is truly impressive."
"That's right. Because I need to balance research on the Spell book with my own duties, I often travel between the Holy Capital and Royal Capital, so I live in both places."
"However, relatively speaking, I still spend slightly more time in the Royal Capital. And my residence in the Holy Capital is actually just staying at Heiter's house."
"I see." Gut nodded, understanding the reason.
Himmel's residence—no, it should be said Heiter's residence—actually wasn't far from the Cathedral.
The reason they still needed to walk for a while was actually because of the return route.
Under Hero Himmel's guidance, Gut and the others stopped in front of a residence that was both luxurious and simple.
It was called luxurious because its geographical location was in the central area of the Holy Capital and it possessed a considerable courtyard.
It was called simple because the buildings on this plot of land were truly too plain and modest.
Not only had the residence not been built upward, but the single-story construction was quite ordinary, as if this truly was an ordinary family's dwelling. Even the courtyard hadn't been planted with lawns and flowers, but instead had racks built on the bare soil, growing some crops and grapes.
"Sorry, the living environment is a bit crude, please forgive us."
After the hero pushed open the door, he scratched the back of his head and said somewhat embarrassedly to Gut and the others.
"It's fine, the environment is very fresh, and such simple design is also a kind of aesthetic."
Gut replied flatteringly, though this flattery also contained genuine admiration from his heart.
The Hero who defeated the Demon King, the Priest who was a bishop of the Holy Capital—with such status and position, what kind of luxurious residence couldn't they obtain?
Yet even so, the two strictly controlled their material desires, living simply in this courtyard.
This state of mind was something Gut absolutely couldn't achieve.
As the group passed through the grape arbor set up in the courtyard, Himmel took the opportunity to pick a large cluster of grapes from above while passing by.
Looking at the heavy cluster of grapes in the hero's hand, just judging from their plump fruit form and the layer of white frost on their skin, Gut could be certain their sweetness would be beyond imagination.
After pushing open the residence door and entering, Himmel greeted Heiter who was busy cooking in the kitchen, handed over the grape cluster, then first entertained the guests by having them sit on the sofa.
Probably because when designing initially, they hadn't planned on entertaining many guests at home.
The living room space in Heiter's residence wasn't large to begin with, and with too many texts and drafts piled up, it appeared even more cramped.
Perhaps accommodating a gathering of four people was already the limit this living room could maintain without being crowded.
Before long, Heiter in the kitchen also finished his work at hand, briefly stepped away to bring out the washed grapes in a fruit bowl, taking this opportunity to chat with everyone for a few sentences.
And when leaving, he conveniently brought along Himmel, this good laborer, into the kitchen to help together.
After all, with two more guests at home, though the previously prepared meal would probably be enough, it was still better to make it slightly more abundant.
In the living room.
With the two hosts not present, reasonably speaking, Gut as a guest shouldn't wander around carelessly.
However, a beautifully packaged magic book and several research drafts covered with writing were placed directly on the table with the fruit bowl, truly at a level where they could be seen with just a glance.
Therefore, Gut glanced over there several times in succession.
While eating the plump grapes that were freshly picked, he followed the logic on the draft papers, speculating what these notes were researching.
However, the more he reasoned in his mind, the more familiar Gut felt the content of these research notes was.
He could now be certain this was definitely ancient magic with considerable history, but this familiar direction—where exactly had he seen it before...
"Sage Ewig's research direction."
"Method for guiding the souls of the deceased to the Soul Resting Place."
Suddenly, two clear reminder sounds rang in his ears, revealing the answer to Gut's sense of familiarity.
"That's right, exactly this!"
Previously when passing through Count Granat's territory, it was precisely by relying on this that he had thought of the purification method for Aura's Scales of Obedience magic.
"Eh, wait!"
Gut looked at the elf sitting beside him in surprise. Just now, it was teacher Serie who reminded him, right?
This meant teacher had also been peeking at it?
Seeing her disciple's surprised gaze and the meaningful shallow smile at the corner of his mouth, the elf turned her face away stiffly, avoiding her disciple's gaze.
"Old timer" so cute.
After this pleasant little interlude with his teacher, Heiter and Himmel also finished their battle in the kitchen, successively bringing out dishes and placing them on the table.
Probably due to habits developed from their early adventure experiences, whether Himmel or Heiter, neither followed normal Western dining procedures of dividing dishes into appetizers, main courses, and desserts, then serving them in batches to be enjoyed item by item.
Instead, they were more accustomed to the adventurer's way, bringing all the dishes out at once and sharing them around the dining table with companions.
"Lady Serie, and Gut, would you like beer? Or something else?"
Heiter carried out two oak barrels of about ten liters each from the storage room, placed them beside the dining table, and asked.
"Beer is fine for me." Gut replied.
Heiter nodded and smiled as he opened one oak barrel, pouring Gut a full cup of golden liquid rich with foam.
"What about you, Lady Serie?"
"I'll pass, do you have fruit juice?"
"This..."
Heiter looked somewhat troubled, thinking seriously—it seemed there really wasn't any fruit juice left at home.
"Eh~, I've got it!"
Suddenly Heiter slapped his forehead, thinking of a wonderful alternative plan.
"Lady Serie, as you can see, the grapes in the yard have only recently begun ripening in batches."
"A few days ago I picked a batch, planning to brew them into wine."
"Now their fermentation time is still short, with less alcohol and more residual sugar in the juice. Drinking it should be no different from ordinary fruit juice."
"Would you like to try it?"
"Like that..." The elf was somewhat moved. She simply drank alcohol less, not completely avoiding it.
In earlier years, she had also drunk alcoholic grape juice at some wineries, and recalling it, it was indeed quite good.
After hesitating, Serie nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then I'll trouble you."
"No problem, no problem. Alcohol is something that's only fun when everyone drinks together!"
Indeed, as he said, Heiter walked briskly back to the storage room, brought out another oak barrel marked with grapes, twisted open the wine outlet on top, and filled a full cup for Serie.
However, looking at the purplish-red liquid in his teacher's cup, Gut was somewhat doubtful. After hesitating, he still spoke up to ask.
"Uncle Heiter, is this kind of incompletely fermented wine really safe to drink?"
It wasn't that Gut was being suspicious, but truly from a safety perspective, if grape wine's fermentation time was too short, it might be unable to kill harmful bacteria.
The high-sugar environment might cause harmful bacteria to reproduce excessively, leading to abdominal pain and diarrhea in the drinker.
Most professional wineries adopted various methods to guarantee quality, but this barrel was handmade in a small workshop, inevitably some things might get mixed in...
"Haha, don't worry, don't worry!"
Heiter naturally heard the concern in Gut's words, laughed and patted the oak barrel containing grape juice with his hand, saying quite proudly.
"Before brewing, during brewing, and after sealing, I used Goddess Magic to eliminate the factors inside that would make people sick."
"So, feel free to drink it."
Looking at Heiter's proud appearance, Gut didn't know what to say for a moment.
However, after hearing Heiter's explanation, he was indeed much more at ease.
Modern sterile production canning technology was indeed impressive, but otherworld Goddess Magic was equally effective!
After the four filled their drinks, they raised their cups in celebration.
With the crisp sound of clinking glasses, this small gathering after brief separation officially began.
During the feast.
Heiter drank one sip after another, enjoying the refreshing and invigorating malt aroma of the beer, while also clinking cups individually with Gut, saying that since the last time he drank, for some reason, he felt his body had become more relaxed than ever before.
Not only was his body's fatigue much reduced, even his spirit was rejuvenated.
Finally, Heiter reached a conclusion: "Alcohol is the essence of grain—the more you drink, the younger you get!"
Hearing this drunkard's declaration, Gut's eyebrow twitched. Skeptically, he called up the system detection module and browsed Heiter's talent trait interface.
"Eh, holy shit!"
"The gray talent trait Alcoholism really is gone!"
"And am I remembering wrong? Hasn't the effect of the blue talent trait Longevity on Heiter been enhanced?!!!"
Glancing at the golden beer in his draft mug, Gut began to have doubts.
"Does this stuff really have special properties?"
"Or did the beer at that coffee shop have something added?"
No good, he'd find an opportunity later to go back to that coffee shop and drink a few more beers to test it.
On the other side, Serie seemed to quite like the taste of this grape juice. Though her drinking speed couldn't compare to Heiter's, after Gut chatted for a while, he was surprised to find his teacher had already finished most of her cup.
After drinking his beer in two or three gulps, Gut also poured himself a cup of grape juice to taste personally.
Sure enough, this old drunkard Heiter really had some skill!
The purplish-red fruit juice, or rather wine, because it still contained considerable residual sugar, was very smooth and comfortable on entry, sweet as if truly drinking fruit juice.
Compared to normal fruit juice, it wasn't so cloying—partly because some sugar had been consumed during fermentation, and partly due to the unique taste brought by a small amount of alcohol.
After tasting carefully, Gut asked Heiter.
"The oak barrel you used to ferment this—was it previously used to brew brandy?"
"Exactly! Your tongue is quite something!" Heiter, who was drinking beer heartily, stopped and sincerely praised Gut.
"No wonder, besides the oak barrel's own flavor, there's also a faint floral and fruity fragrance mixed in."
After getting confirmation, Gut couldn't help but sigh, "A true connoisseur!"
While enjoying the joy of the feast, Gut didn't forget the fundamental purpose of this trip. His gaze naturally looked toward Hero Himmel on the side, activating the system's detection module and directing it at him.
"Hm?"
Unlike mages who relied more on magical power for detection, heroes depended more on their intuition for perceiving everything external.
Therefore, even before the detection module was cast on him, Himmel felt a strong sense of being watched.
Looking in that direction, Himmel found Gut was currently raising his cup toward him.
"So that's how it is..."
After clinking cups with this promising junior he favored, Himmel thought the problem was with himself—probably his perception of danger was overreactive after just returning from battling demons in the wild.
Little did he know, at this moment, a certain cunning old schemer was staring enviously at his luxurious collection of traits.
[Investigation Target: Himmel]
[Target Race: Human]
[Target Talents:]
[Hero's Fortune (Gold-Red/Expired, Cannot Copy), True Hero (Gold-Red/Cannot Copy), Heroic Bearing (Gold/Can Copy), Noble and Kind Soul·Himmel (Purple/Cannot Copy), Devoted (Blue/Cannot Copy), Narcissistic (Green/Cannot Copy), Hidden Injury (Gray/Cannot Copy), Dark Erosion (Gray/Cannot Copy)]
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Powerstones?
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