NOVEL NEXT 16: Only The Most Casual Conversation In Tea Shops
The first to act was a certain... good friend of Valencia’s. With Valencia hoisting Astrid up and climbing the stairs, Estelle had leapt into action.
“Did you all see that??” Estelle hissed, slamming her hands on the table as she stood up.
With a teasing grin blossoming on her face, Estelle tried her best to speak between laughs. Unable to get a coherent message across, Estelle’s expression faltered as she was greeted with a cast of apprehensive gazes. “Oh. I forgot you all are afraid of her. Boring.”
Sitting back down to the two amused faces of Joanna and Solomon, Estelle’s expression morphed into one of betrayal as murmurs broke out among the other tables.
“I believe... they’re more afraid of you, really.” Solomon quipped as Joanna agreed with a quiet chuckle. “You have quite the reputation, after all. Plus, you’ve been in the city for the past few decades, unlike Valencia.”
“Eugh... I’m just trying to have some fun... She’s so fun to tease after all...” Estelle took a couple annoyed sips of tea as she stared at the other tables. “It’s no fun gossiping with you two. Even if we’re the same age, you two are bums. The fact you two prefer an older form is evidence itself. I prefer my youngest possible form! Physical prime!”
“Now, now, we’re capable of fun too.” Joanna pat Estelle on the shoulder. “Maybe you’re just the deviant, tons of people have fun with us. Like Sylvia-”
Shuddering, Estelle cut Joanna off as she hugged herself. Pouring herself some tea and taking a long sip, Estelle looked out the window as a long sigh left her lips. “Don’t mention her name...”
“Oh my, you’re still not over it?” Joanna raised an eyebrow as a twinkle danced behind her eyes. “It’s already been a few months.”
“I mean, their spats can go for years though,” Solomon raised his cup, sipping as he shut his mouth once more as Estelle sent a death glare in his direction.
With her glare, Estelle forced the table silent as they decided to eavesdrop on the other tables.
The nearest table, the Church of Eternity’s, was exploding with hushed whispers. Luna and Aelius, though, didn’t participate, electing to watch as bewildered murmurs spread like wildfire.
“Valencia’s not just a cold-blooded killer?”
“I would’ve never imagined that... Did you see how Ignatius looked?”
“Bro, yeah, he was covered in blood!”
“I lost horrendously to him when he first became a deity... I never thought he’d fall so fast. He has... or... maybe had, I'm not sure of his condition, so much potential!”
“Well, keep this between us, okay? But he kinda deserved it not gonna lie...”
“Yeah...”
Making eye contact while sipping their tea, Aelius and Luna shared a knowing nod as they both sat back and listened in on the other deities gossiping.
Aelius and Luna, as twins, agreed on letting their subordinates do their hushed gossiping for a bit. It was entertaining and the revelation was... shocking to say the least. They too were surprised, but, with an image to uphold and some prior knowledge already in hand, they kept their expressions calm.
Looking at her reflection in the tea, Luna warmed her hands as she sank into her thoughts. Today, the tea was... alright. Unlike the tea from the day before, it didn’t have the same miraculous effects, but it still got the job done.
Being the leader of the Church—an organization among three big organizations—Luna was a little sad to give up on the idea of trying to recruit Valencia and Astrid first. After Ignatius had crawled back to the Church in a bloody mess, everyone had gone into panic mode.
What an absolute dumb brick that kid was.
Messengers had been sent out to buy flowers at the crack of dawn. All the deities and the most important clergy members had been called out from their personal affairs. Defenses were raised in preparation for a worst case scenario.
All to apologize to one primordial goddess. Luna thought she had made it clear, even if they were powerful, even if they did have nations behind them on the wider continents, the primordial deities were not to be touched.
They had experience.
They had power.
They had relics forged from the divinity gathered from mountains of dead deities and monsters.
Valencia, herself, had multiple!
Even now, after all the experience and life she had lived, Luna still shuddered whenever she remembered Valencia’s war-like figure tearing through the battlefield with her accursed blindfold on.
Blinking herself back into alertness, Luna sighed as her own tense reflection in the tea stared back at her.
Well, what had happened was in the past.
Now, all Luna, and the church, could hope for was a peaceful and amicable relationship. Though the store was small, Valencia was still a natural disaster in her own right—one who... had a history of giving people impromptu chiropractic treatments.
“So they’re that lovey-dovey. Huh.” Luna sipped her tea as the table fell quiet. Motioning for the rest of the table to continue their own conversation, Luna glanced at Vera. “Any thoughts?”
“It’s not unexpected,” Vera pushed her glasses up, taking a few notes on a handheld device. “Valencia did not leave the city on good terms. No one expected her to be back for another half-century at the minimum. Something must have pushed her to return. A relationship is a plausible explanation. Even if surprising given her history... or well... lack thereof.”
“Well her return was certainly not because of a power issue. She certainly didn’t lose any of that. We know that from a certain someone. Aelius and I already knew of the relationship, but one this intimate would explain a lot...” Luna sighed as she looked over towards Adelyn at the other end of the table.
Adelyn, sitting still as a rabbit though, had been taking sips of tea without making a peep of a sound the entire morning. Staring into a warm lantern hanging from the ceiling, Adelyn—as far as Luna could tell—was in another mental world.
Luna kind of wished she could help Adelyn out a little... but if she walked over and began comforting Adelyn, the situation would, no doubt, only worsen.
There was, however, no doubt about Adelyn’s newfound value. Someone needed to take Ignatius’s place and she was already on decent terms with Astrid.
With their new... situation, one could say, Luna felt getting close to Astrid was their best bet.
Though, if the Church of Eternity had now shrunk itself back and tried to take a neutral, invisible position, the other two tables presented a stark contrast. One was dead silent while filled with people who could pass for a director’s board while the other was filled with military uniform wearing party goers who were rowdy as could be in the morning.
Casimir, sitting at the head of the table with his arms crossed, was keeping his group in line. No one was to make a sound until they left the store. They could do their gossiping back at headquarters. Up in the top floors of their tall skyscrapers, away from anyone and their prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.
They were there to gather information, represent their faction, and be present in the case of an opportunity.
Of course, it didn’t look like there’d be one though. The only thing of note Casimir had learned was the two were dating. Having seen the two kissing, Casimir used every ounce of his concentration to maintain his expressionless face as his jaw threatened to detach and fall to the ground out of shock.
“Cyril.” Casimir hummed as he used a teacup to hide his mouth from potential onlookers. “Are the Federation’s information reports up to date again?”
“Yessir~” Cyril nodded back with a lackadaisical grin.
Twirling a silver toothpick between his fingers, Cyril’s eyes were focused on the faint glints of light reflected off the toothpick under the warm lighting of the store. “Loosen up a bit though Casimir. At the current rate you’ll turn to stone before you achieve your goals.”
“Does he even have goals...” Another deity piped up next to Cyril with a faint smile on her face. “He’s rich enough to buy anything he wants already.”
“No, no, of course he has goals,” Cyril reassured with a smug grin. “Didn’t you see the classic Casimir squint when the two lovebirds were at the counter?”
“I did not.” The woman answered with a twinkle in her eyes. “Enlighten me Casimir, what were your thoughts when you saw those two?”
“The day he tells you is the day the world collapses.” Cyril leaned back in his chair, spreading his arms out as he maintained the toothpick’s twirl in his left hand. “He probably just felt single or something. Don’t you know? He’s so cold he doesn’t know how to talk to anyone he likes. A big baby on the insi-”
With a mountain of pressure crashing down on Cyril, Cyril shut his mouth as faint laughter came from the woman beside him. “Oh, don’t we all know too well.”
Maintaining his perpetual ‘just came out of a twelve hour long business meeting in the middle of the night’ death glare Casimir looked out the window with no reaction while spreading the mountain of pressure to the woman as well.
Looking away, Casimir glanced outside and happened to make eye contact with a random man outside. In a moment of carelessness, Casimir let some of his pressure leak out, sending it crashing down on the man outside.
Muttering a “...My bad.” under his breath, Casimir focused back on sipping his tea as the Federation of Obsidian’s table fell quiet once more.
He’d sit around for just a little longer before leaving. There wasn’t any point in staying.
