The waiter who had led Leyton and Miss Glenn to their table quickly approached them after seeing that they indeed knew each other. He handed a menu to Leyton and introduced it, "These are some of the dishes our restaurant offers. The first page features our specialties. Please take a look and see what you'd like. I'll be nearby, so feel free to call me if you need anything."
With that, the waiter intuitively stepped aside.
Leyton casually handed the menu to Miss Glenn across from him and smiled, "Ladies first. Miss Glenn, may I ask what you wish to discuss?"
Miss Glenn took the menu without ceremony. After selecting a few dishes, she handed the menu to Bugs Bunny, Brie, and Ritz, the two cats, who were glaring at each other nearby.
Then, she looked up at Leyton, her deep eyes seemingly containing a dim galaxy, making Leyton feel as if he had no secrets before her. He shifted uncomfortably, leaning back in his chair.
The silence lingered for a moment before Miss Glenn chuckled softly, "You resemble Roselle in some ways. Although I still can't understand many of his thoughts and ideas, whenever I see you, I'm inexplicably reminded of him."
"Roselle? You know him?"
Leyton looked at Miss Glenn across from him with a hint of curiosity and a peculiar feeling in his heart. In his subconscious, any woman Roselle knew was either his lover or a potential lover. The atmosphere in Intis made him feel right at home!
"Your thoughts seem a bit impolite..." Miss Glenn reminded him calmly, her brown eyes seeming to pierce through his mind.
Has she mastered advanced mysticism in the spiritual domain? Could her demigod ritual have used the blood of an angel-level Mind Dragon?
Thoughts flashed through Leyton's mind. He quickly reined in his emotions, looked up at Miss Glenn, and asked curiously, "Are you from Roselle's era?"
"It's very impolite to abruptly ask a lady's age!"
Miss Glenn responded indifferently, casually sweeping the hair draped over her shoulders behind her.
Leyton controlled his expression, nodding without any emotional change, "My apologies, that was rude of me."
Miss Glenn suddenly waved her hand, sounding a bit uninterested, "You really aren't the same kind of person as Roselle. He wouldn't miss any opportunity to flirt with a woman."
"To be precise, I'm not from Roselle's era. When he began to make a name for himself, I had already left the former Church of Craftsmen, which is now the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, and joined the Moses Ascetic Order."
"Joined the Moses Ascetic Order? Why?" Leyton pressed curiously.
Even though the Church of Craftsmen was heavily suppressed by the Eternal Blazing Sun Church at the time, it was still one of the Orthodox Churches. Abandoning a proper position to join a wanted Hidden organization was truly difficult for him to comprehend.
Miss Glenn's gaze became distant for a moment, as if she was lost in distant memories. She said casually, "On one hand, it was about advancement. On the other hand, I simply couldn't stand those stubborn Church members anymore."
"If you've had deeper contact with members of the Machinery Hivemind, you'll find that they often act more stubborn and rigid than those arrogant Sun believers, like rusted Steel—foul and unyielding."
Leyton leaned back quietly in his chair, not responding, until Bugs Bunny handed him the menu that he, Brie, and Ritz, the two cats, had ordered. Leyton took it and saw that they had chosen only dishes with strange names.
"Eighteenth Revision of Fruit Platter..."
"Lucius's Steamed Fish..."
"Lenberg Sliced Cake Standard Version."
This naming style is really like my computer desktop!
After silently complaining, Leyton gestured to the waiter and handed him the ordered menu.
Then he turned to Miss Glenn and casually asked, "What do you think of Roselle?"
Miss Glenn was silent for a long time, seemingly struggling with her words. After a prolonged pause, she carefully said, "He was a genius, a true genius, a genius ahead of his time. But sometimes I also think he was a wretch, a lunatic…"
"…A wretch, a lunatic? Did you have deep contact with him? A casual acquaintance shouldn't lead to such a strong evaluation."
Leyton mused, pressing for more information.
Miss Glenn rested her elbows on the table's edge and said leisurely, "He initially chose the Savant Pathway. With Steam's existence, he could at most become a Sequence 2 Knowledge Magister. For further advancement, he chose to switch Pathways, becoming a Sequence 1 Knowledge Emperor of the Hermit Pathway."
"He obtained that Knowledge Emperor characteristic with my help. In exchange, he separated an extra Sage characteristic for me and helped me complete the ritual required for my advancement."
"We were quite familiar, but only during that specific period. Later, he seemed to encounter some changes and underwent a significant transformation. I even suspect whether he was secretly corrupted by Steam or some Evil God."
A woman's intuition, no, that's not right, it should be a Sage's intuition, quite accurate, Leyton thought to himself, then he skipped this topic and asked, "Why did you come to the Southern Continent, and why are you staying here as a teacher? The cooperation between the Moses Ascetic Order and Mr. Pulak shouldn't require an Angel like you to come in person, should it?"
"This is the will of the Hidden Sage."
"I'm also not clear about the specific reason. His changes are significant; even the Moses Ascetic Order feels somewhat unfamiliar with him now."
"We also don't know whether this is good or bad. To cope with potential changes, I decided to come and see for myself. As for staying here as a teacher, it's just a personal hobby of mine."
Miss Glenn's voice was slightly hoarse as she calmly explained the reason for her presence here.
After a brief silence, Leyton asked again, "In your understanding, what kind of existence is the Hidden Sage?"
Miss Glenn's expression was solemn as she observed Leyton for a moment, then, as if unable to resist, she chuckled softly, "Heh, as a Blessed of 'Knowledge,' you should understand him better than I do."
"However, if you want my personal opinion, I can say this: He is a certain embodiment of knowledge and information in this world. To some extent, he can be equated with knowledge itself. His act of imparting knowledge to every Mystery Pryer, in my opinion, is more like an instinct to spread knowledge."
"We, the Moses Ascetic Order, haven't really had much contact with him. He is very mysterious and hard to fathom."
"But these are all my previous impressions of him. As for now, he is even more mysterious and unfathomable, but I faintly feel that he is plotting something, waiting for something."
"Perhaps, at some point in the future, an existence named 'Hermit' will quietly appear and spread his glory across the land."
Is she testing me?… Leyton lowered his eyes, curving his lips, and then, as if suddenly remembering something, he spoke with a realization, "I wonder if you've noticed anyone secretly promoting such a hidden existence in West Balam recently? He is described as: the embodiment of knowledge, the glory of civilization, the ultimate answer to all mysteries!"
Miss Glenn chuckled softly, then said with a solemn tone, "It's not recent; it started several months ago."
"Most of those so-called New Church members are disguised Aurora Order members. While promoting the True Creator, they occasionally promote this 'Erudite.' In their propaganda, the two seem to be on equal footing."
"My original suspect was the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. They might have reached some kind of secret cooperation to jointly resist the Storm and the Sun, but thinking about it carefully, it doesn't seem right."
At this point, her gaze burned as she looked at Leyton, her words unconsciously becoming more authoritative, displaying the cold oppressive power belonging to a Sage.
"Whether it's knowledge, civilization, or mystery, these terms clearly point to the Hermit and Paragon Pathways. Do you think that 'Erudite' could be the Hidden Sage?"
Without waiting for Leyton's answer, she quickly changed her tone, muttering in doubt, "But after the Spirit World Sorcerer system appeared, I started to suspect the God of Knowledge and Wisdom again. Could it be that he, under pressure or for certain schemes, intends to risk annexing a Pathway that is not adjacent but also emphasizes knowledge?"
"Until you appeared before me, a Blessed of 'Knowledge,' yet a member of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom Church. The secret alliance is not between the God of Knowledge and Wisdom and the True Creator, but between him and the Hidden Sage, isn't it?"
Leyton remained silent, not even blinking. After a long pause, he lowered his gaze and chuckled softly, "This is not for you or me to fathom. Let nature take its course."
"Let nature take its course… Is that your answer?" Miss Glenn murmured. The sounds and food aromas in the restaurant instantly filled the air, and the previously isolated space merged back with the main dining area.
"Here are your meals, please enjoy."
It was still the same waiter who had led Leyton to the table. He spoke in broken Feneportian while swiftly arranging the dishes one by one.
After the waiter left, Leyton looked at the meticulously arranged dishes on the table, which seemed to have been placed by someone with OCD. He felt as if these dishes were copied and pasted by the chef using a recipe so precise it specified exactly how many grains of salt to add down to the second.
"All Lenberg restaurants have one characteristic: as long as the dishes are the same, they will always have the same taste and the same presentation, no matter where the Lenberg restaurant is."
"The downside is that you won't have any expectations when you eat the same meal a second time. The advantage is that you can quickly distinguish between delicious and unappetizing dishes, and you won't fall in the same place twice."
Miss Glenn fluently described the pros and cons of Lenberg-style restaurants. As she spoke, she casually picked up a glass of juice from the table and took a sip, then, as if remembering something, added, "Also, they don't advocate alcoholic beverages that can make people drunk. Correspondingly, their skills in squeezing fruit juice and brewing coffee are very proficient."
A Gospel for those with OCD, and coffee truly suits those who study late into the night… Leyton sighed inwardly twice, then began to taste Lenberg's specialty dishes.
Pfft! Bugs Bunny, sitting with Brie and Ritz, the two cats, widened his eyes and spat out the dark green juice in his mouth, his face almost contorted into a frown. He mumbled, "What kind of juice is this? It's both sweet and bitter."
Brie thought carefully for a moment and replied, "It seems to be Feynapotter Red Glaze Fruit, blended with coffee."
"People in Lenberg drink too much coffee. Brewing it with milk and honey no longer satisfies them. They are obsessed with various sour and sweet coffee flavors."
Ritz added, continuing Brie's explanation.
"Sigh~" Bugs Bunny sighed, looking at the cup filled with the strange dark green liquid in front of him, then swiftly swapped his juice with the one in front of Leyton.
With a smack, Leyton's right hand landed heavily on Bugs Bunny's head, kneading it for a while before letting go.
Then he looked at Brie and Ritz, asking curiously, "Why do you keep two animals of the same Pathway?"
"We were just adopted."
"We're not pets like that gray rabbit."
Brie and Ritz refuted Leyton's question one after another.
Bugs Bunny looked disdainfully at the two cats sitting with him, tilting his chin slightly, and said proudly, "Being a pet means you can freeload food and drinks, and someone takes care of you!"