Poured You A Glass

Ezekiel sighed deeply, realizing he might have underestimated this audacious young man. 

He had heard rumors of Lawrence Von Carrion, but nothing had prepared him for the actual encounter.

Meanwhile, Lawrence leaned back in his chair, his grin widening. He swirled the low-quality booze in his glass, observing its dull, unimpressive color.

"So have you thought it over, Old Fool?" Lawrence asked cheekily. "All I want is the 4 Aetherforge Elixir, and nothing more for now." 

Keep in mind that he said, "for now." 

His word games must be paid close attention to, otherwise, who knows how many advantages you would be taken by him?

Luckily, Ezekiel wasn't that foolish to not understand his underlying meaning as he wondered if the young man in front of him was truly a youth. 

The actions that Lawrence had demonstrated so far were not the kind of actions that a regular youth would be able to do, much less be this audacious in someone else's shop. 

Not even the arrogant nobles would behave like this. 

"Again, I don't know what you are talking about… Lawrence." Ezekiel responded, finding it a bit weird to call him Lawrence. 

As for the other shortened abbreviation "Law", Ezekiel had no interest in calling him that. They weren't that close for him to be addressing him in such a friendly manner.

"Stop pretending, Old Fool." Lawrence placed the booze glass down on the table and held a solemn expression, void of his previous casual and cheeky expression. 

"Others might not know what that is, but I know very well. I need it for something serious, otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered coming all the way over here and disturbing your peace and meditation." He added. 

Ezekiel's eyes narrowed as he studied Lawrence. It was clear that this young man was no ordinary student, and his current expression and tone were a stark contrast to his earlier behavior.

This realization made Ezekiel feel both wary and intrigued.

"You've said you're Lawrence Von Carrion, so I supposed you're from the Carrion Household. Was it your father that told you to come here?" Ezekiel asked in a somewhat cautious tone.

Just when Ezekiel expected a solemn response, Lawrence suddenly started laughing merrily.

"Oh dear, do you think that father of mine can detect you or even know where you reside, Old Fool?" Tears of laughter began seeping out of Lawrence's eyes, almost as if he had heard the funniest joke ever. 

'Huh? So his father does not know, but how did he know then?' Ezekiel was able to determine the genuine laughter emitting from Lawrence, but it only made him more confused. 

His seclusion was concealed, and no one should be able to detect his whereabouts. Yet Lawrence was able to find him and even outright called him an Old Fool in a friendly manner. 

If it weren't for the fact that Ezekiel was able to discern that Lawrence's addressing him as Old Fool was like an old companion to one another, then he would have thought Lawrence was insulting him repeatedly. 

However, all of those conjectures only made him more dumbfounded than ever. It was easy to read Lawrence, but also not at the same time. 

"Stop trying to read me, Old Fool." Lawrence suddenly said and acted like a frightened youth. "You looked like a pedophile when you kept staring at me. I know I'm handsome, but please, I'm straight as fuck." 

"..."

Clenching his fist, Ezekiel was imagining in his mind beating the crap out of Lawrence.

What kind of blabber nonsense was he spouting? 

He was merely trying to comprehend Lawrence's actions, yet was being accused of wanting to do something vile to him? 

The one that was doing vile things was Lawrence. 

Not only did he come here unannounced and destroy one of his precious booze, but he also went ahead and opened another one to drink as if it were his own home.

"Do you have any shame or not!" Ezekiel spit on the floor and pointed at Lawrence.

"No, I have no shame," Lawrence replied swiftly with a deadpan expression.

Shame? 

As if shame could do anything in life. 

Who cares about etiquette and politeness if being shameless gets things done? 

"Old Fool, I have 1 gold coin here. Now I know it's far from enough for one Aetherforge Elixir, but I'm broke. Please do me a favor and give me 4 of them, you kind-hearted Old Fool." Lawrence pleaded, showing a series of puppy eyes. 

Ezekiel's mouth twitched somewhat downward as he flashed a disgusted expression. Although their interaction might not be long, there was one thing Ezekiel was confident in.

And that the current pleading Lawrence was beyond disgusting and nearly caused him to have goosebumps in his arms. 

"Take those ugly puppy eyes away, or you can forget about even continuing the conversation." Ezekiel threatened, feeling extremely repulsive. 

Hearing that, Lawrence clasped his hands in joy and flashed a cheeky smile. 

"Oh, does that mean you're willing to give me the 4 Aetherforge Elixir? Old Fool, you should have said it earlier. I would have poured you a glass of booze as gratitude." He said, quickly grabbing a new booze glass, pouring some booze in it, and handing it over to Ezekiel.

The action was so smooth that Ezekiel unconsciously held the booze glass and started taking a few sips… until he realized something.

Wait a minute!

Wait a goddamn minute!

This booze was his property, and so was the booze-glass he was holding.

So why did it seem like he was the outsider and Lawrence was the host?

Motherfucker! This Lawrence truly knows how to make himself comfortable and change the situation. 

"Brat, stop acting as if you owned this shabby shop!" Ezekiel raised his tone and slammed the booze glass heavily on the table, nearly breaking it. 

And when he realized his action, Ezekiel began to panic. He started examining and inspecting the booze glass left and right.

He was only relieved when the booze glass remained intact. 

Clicking his tongue, Lawrence shook his head repeatedly. "And this is why I called you an Old Fool."