Chapter 314: Chapter 314: The Headline Was Stolen_1
"It seems that the goddess guarding the dungeon was telling the truth," Aiden leaned on his cane, eyeing Melissa’s expression, "Your face, it’s practically carved from the same mold as hers."
"Knowing you’re facing a deity, I can’t hear a bit of respect in that tone," Melissa said, looking at Aiden.
"Would maintaining respect for you be useful?" Aiden asked.
"Of course not, the respect of mortals is utterly useless to the gods," Melissa spoke words that echoed Melifilia’s, then sat down on the chair behind the counter, casually placing a bottle of wine on top, "Very well, since you already know, there’s no need for me to continue with this meaningless roleplay."
Aiden realized that when he entered, Melissa didn’t immediately notice what he knew, it was only when those thoughts surged in his mind that Melissa read them through her mind-reading power.
In other words, Melissa’s mind-reading could only capture the thoughts present at the moment and couldn’t delve into deeper memories right away.
"Oh, analyzing me?" Melissa narrowed her eyes at Aiden, "It seems our ’pawn’ has started to harbor resentment against the very goddess who’s so keen to help him."
"Don’t talk as if I was ever loyal to you, I’m not one of your followers," Aiden frowned slightly, "And I think you should look up the word ’keen’ to see what it really means."
"You should already know, the one who brought you to this world and split your divinity was me," Melissa said with a smile, "No matter how you look at it, I should be considered your benefactor."
"This conversation feels like a complete replay of last night," Aiden shook his head helplessly, deciding to go straight to the point, "I came here today mainly to confirm something..."
"’Want to confirm whether I plan to assimilate your spirit’?" Melissa didn’t wait for Aiden to finish and simply read his thoughts, "Why would you think that? I might be capricious, but I wouldn’t carelessly damage precious toys... However, I can’t promise I won’t suddenly feel like doing so in the future, as it sounds rather amusing. ’Just as expected’? You’ve already guessed the answer, it seems you really are getting to know me better."
"..." Without even getting a chance to speak, Aiden fell silent as the other party took over the conversation.
After a while, he spoke again, "Your mind-reading ability, is it granted by the power of ’Wisdom’ or ’Desire’?"
"It’s actually a bit of both," Melissa said, "’Wisdom’ allows me to deduce the thoughts of others, ’Desire’ lets me feel their objectives, I have both powers... Oh no!" Melissa suddenly read Aiden’s thoughts.
Aiden silently took out the Wordless Code and a pen he carried with him, flipped it open, crossed out the rule concerning Qiqimora, and wrote down a new rule, "Prohibit the direct reading of others’ inner thoughts."
Melissa, as the ruler of "Desire," used the powers of "Desire" authority, which the Wordless Code could not restrict.
But since she did not hold the "Wisdom" authority, and according to the theory that the strength of the authority’s power solely depends on how closely an individual is aligned with it, the Wordless Code should be able to limit her use of the "Wisdom" powers.
If what she said before was true, though it couldn’t completely prevent her from reading some of his "purposeful thoughts," at least not everything he thought would be completely transparent to her.
"Starting to make full use of the sole authority you’ve obtained, it seems you like the gift I ’gave’ you," Melissa showed no sign of anger at Aiden’s actions; instead, she pushed the sparkling wine she had placed on the counter toward him, "Then we should celebrate, rare for me to specially purchase this bottle of wine."
"This..." Aiden glanced at the wine bottle, "Could this be sparkling wine from the Griffon Winery?"
"You have good taste," Melissa said lightly.
"I wouldn’t say I have good taste, but I know this stuff is expensive." Aiden replied frankly, "Even the gods would like this sort of thing?"
Aiden knew that the wine bearing the Griffon trademark was a luxury item affordable only to the wealthy merchants or landowning nobility. The price range of the various wines produced by this winery was vast, but the ’vast’ difference was merely several times to a dozen times his monthly income.
"Just a whim. After all, I am the ruler of ’desires’, and I do not shun pleasures," Melissa said as she took out wine glasses and a bottle opener, "We still have to open the shop today. You go tidy up the balloons; I’ll pour the wine."
"Balloons affect business, but drinking does not?" Aiden reached out and pulled down the balloons used for celebration, "To be honest, I don’t feel there’s anything to celebrate."
"But I want to celebrate because my pawn performed quite well on the chessboard this time." Melissa said, busying herself with opening the wine and pouring sparkling wine into two glasses, "You don’t need to be so uptight. Although I arranged everything, you still benefited, didn’t you? Sole authority, money, and... fame."
"Fame?"
"After all, you made the newspapers. You’re a celebrity now," Melissa spoke with a teasing tone.
She unfolded today’s newspaper on the counter to show Aiden, but at a glance, he only saw a report on a concert held by a female star: "Sophie Carter’s Enchanted Night at the Royal Opera House Concludes Perfectly."
"This front page has nothing to do with me," Aiden said.
He thought the female star looked a bit familiar and after a brief recollection, he realized that he seemed to have seen her often in magazines and newspapers lately.
"Your story is on this side, and it’s still quite significant," Melissa pointed to the second page.
Only then did Aiden notice the report titled, "Notorious Pirate King Navi Drake Caught at the Rose Iron Prison After His Jailbreak from the Capital’s Prison."
"You were just unlucky that a star’s concert took your headline yesterday," Melissa laughed.
"I didn’t exactly want it," Aiden shrugged.
"No matter, even though this pirate is not very famous in inland areas. But in the Empire, especially in the northern coastal areas, he is quite famous. The news of his capture will soon spread there, you are really about to become famous," Melissa said, lifting her glass, "Those with keen noses, be they individuals or powers, might even sniff out something more."
"Sole authority?" Aiden realized Melissa’s implication.
"It might not be enough to realize the full extent, but some will probably make the connection with authority," Melissa sipped her wine, "After all, so many things have happened here, it must have already caught the attention of several forces... To some extent, it could also be seen as a place of controversy."
