"Dad, bring it to a close," Wyntor said as he put a cup of coffee in front of Nick.
Nick looked with surprise, interest, and a bit of awe at the cup of coffee in front of him.
Vernon had sung its praises for over three minutes, and based on what he said, this thing seemed to be just as magical as Recovery Liquid.
Vernon looked like he wanted to continue talking, but he just took a deep breath.
"Sorry, I got carried away," he said, a friendly smile back on his face. "I just like my coffee."
"No, no, it was interesting," Nick said quickly. "I never knew about beans and that they could be turned into liquid."
Vernon slightly furrowed his brows. "Well, it's technically not liquid beans."
Nick blinked in confusion. "Didn't you say it's bean juice?"
"It's not," Wyntor said from the side, interjecting before Vernon could work himself into another sermon about coffee. "It's water that filters through crushed beans. It's like if you keep water in a very, very rusty container for a while, and it starts to be rusty and disgusting."
"Except that this is actually good," Wyntor added.
"Oh, I get it!" Nick said in realization as he looked at the coffee.
When the water had left the apparatus, it had been brown, but when he looked at it in the cup, it looked deep black.
Changing color was quite magical.
"Don't you think sugar and milk would be better for his first time?" Vernon asked Wyntor.
Nick looked up in confusion.
What was sugar and milk?
Wyntor just dismissively waved at Vernon while he put some kind of white liquid into his own coffee.
Vernon just raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked with interest at Nick.
He saw Nick sniffing the coffee.
'This is so interesting!' both of them thought.
"There's nothing in there, right?" Nick asked.
"No, just coffee," Wyntor answered. "Just drink it."
However, Nick was still a bit apprehensive.
After looking at the black water, an image shot through Nick's mind.
An image of something that looked almost identical.
This coffee looked like the liquid of the sewers.
That was just as black.
'Just get it over with,' Nick thought.
"Well, okay," Nick answered.
Then, he lifted the cup by grabbing the bottom and took a big gulp.
Nick was immediately assaulted by a bitter taste, but he didn't mind much.
The insects and mosquito larvae tasted similar.
The bitter taste reminded Nick of the Dregs, and even better, it most likely wasn't unhealthy or poisonous.
Otherwise, Vernon and Wyntor probably wouldn't drink it.
Vernon's eyes slightly widened in interest as he saw that Nick's face didn't scrunch up due to the bitterness.
Nick took another gulp and sloshed it around in his mouth.
Sure enough, it was just water.
Bitter and black water.
Then, he just looked with interest at the remaining coffee in his cup.
It was an interesting taste.
He wasn't opposed to it.
"What do you think?" Vernon asked, almost nervously.
"It's… good," Nick said, looking at Vernon. "I like it."
Vernon smiled brightly when he heard that, and it was like his confidence exploded. "See? I told you it's great!"
Nick nodded.
"Wyntor, quick, I want to see what he thinks of it if we add some milk and sugar!" Vernon said with some excitement.
Wyntor just wordlessly grabbed Nick's cup and added some milk and sugar.
After some investigation, Nick decided to drink that as well.
But this time, he was stunned into silence.
So sweet!
Holy shit!
Fuck!
What the fuck was this?!
How was this so fucking good?!
It was like Nick's body cried out as it tasted the sugar.
Immediately, Nick got the urge to consume all of it and get even more!
Nick immediately downed it and looked at Vernon with widely opened eyes.
"This is amazing!" he said.
Vernon smiled in excitement and pride.
He knew that his coffee was amazing!
No one ever left his office without liking the coffee!
"I'll make you another cup," Vernon said as he stood up from his chair to walk to the coffee machine.
"Yes, please. Thank you!" Nick said.
For the next ten minutes, Nick and Vernon just kept talking about coffee while Wyntor just silently stood to the side, going through a couple of papers that Vernon had lying around in his office.
"Did you get a new Fanatic?" Wyntor suddenly asked without looking up from the paper.
Vernon smiled and looked at Wyntor. "Ah, you noticed?"
Wyntor nodded. "Big increase in Zephyx without a major change among the teams. I guess one of the Elders became a Fanatic."
Vernon just looked with pride at Wyntor. "Yep, the… oh, sorry, forget it," Vernon said while turning to look at Nick.
It seemed like Vernon wanted to talk about the Specter but kept himself in check when he remembered that Nick was also here.
They continued talking for five more minutes.
"Oh, right, I remember that we were talking about you moving into the Inner City earlier," Vernon said.
"I'm not planning on moving there," Nick answered casually. By now, he was fully relaxed and just casually chatted with Vernon.
"Why not?" Vernon asked.
"Because Dark Dream is in the Outer City," Nick said.
"Yeah, sure, but I'm talking about after that," Vernon said.
Nick furrowed his brows. "I'm not sure what you mean."
Vernon raised an eyebrow. "I mean, Wyntor is going to sell Dark Dream to Kugelblitz, and all of you will be incorporated into the training program for new hires."
"It would be a bit strange to have you living in the Outer City while you're working for Kugelblitz," Vernon said casually.
Nick took a deep breath.
Sure enough, his suspicions had been confirmed.
Wyntor was going to sell Dark Dream to Kugelblitz.
"You didn't tell him?" Vernon asked Wyntor after noticing Nick's reaction.
Wyntor casually sipped on his coffee.
Then, he put his coffee down and looked at Nick.