Chapter5-Are You Over 18?

Owen looked at the two well-behaved girls and suddenly thought of something.

"By the way, are you both under 18?"

The sisters were both very attractive, and their figures looked mature, but since these were the first girls Owen had encountered in this world, he wasn't sure of their age.

The sisters exchanged a glance, and their expressions became a bit delicate.

"Sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves properly," the older sister said. "My name is Flora, I'm seventeen, and this is my younger sister, Alice. She's sixteen."

"So, neither of you are adults yet," Owen smiled and nodded, "but that's no problem."

Flora's expression became slightly flustered, as if she had thought of something. But she took a deep breath, as if to gather her courage.

"At least this strong master is much better than those rude, terrifying mercenaries!" Flora thought to herself. "If it's him, I'm willing…"

With that thought, she couldn't help but sneak another glance at Owen.

Earlier, she had been too nervous to properly look at him. But now, observing him up close, Flora realized how young this low-key master looked—and how handsome he was too!

His eyes were like the purest mana sapphires, clear and full of warmth, with a constant glimmer of friendliness.

For some reason, Flora's face flushed slightly.

Alice, however, wasn't thinking along the same lines. Curiously, she asked, "Master, were you planning to make us drinks? What does our age have to do with that?"

"If you're under 18, you can't drink alcohol," Owen pointed to the sign hanging on the pub's wall, which listed several pub rules.

"But I've had honey wine before," Alice replied, "and my sister has had grape wine too."

Owen shrugged.

Each world had its own rules, but in his pub, his rules had to be followed.

"Young ladies, if you want to taste alcoholic drinks at Red Spark, please come back when you're eighteen."

Owen took out fresh limes, bright green mint leaves, his homemade soda water, ice cubes, and a bit of syrup from the fridge.

After being trained by the system for twenty years, how could Owen not know how to make non-alcoholic drinks?

He had already decided that the two girls, who looked a bit troubled, could use a refreshing, sweet, and sour Virgin Mojito to soothe their nerves after their recent ordeal.

While Owen was focused on mixing the drinks, he missed the shocked expressions on the sisters' faces.

"What are those ingredients? Why have I never seen them before? That green leaf is radiating incredible mana! And that round green fruit—when the master cut it open, just smelling the sour scent made my mana core react!"

"These luxurious magical materials... Any one of them outside could be exchanged for countless gold coins! Even grand mages would want to possess them."

"But the master is using them... just like that!"

If Owen knew what they were thinking, he would have laughed out loud.

These were just common ingredients from Earth, and quite cheap too.

Owen had learned how to grow these items easily from the system's teachings.

As for the seeds? Those were also provided by the system.

Alice was the first to recover from her shock and couldn't help but ask, "Master, how long have you lived here?"

She figured that even though the master looked young, he must have used some kind of magic to alter his appearance. In reality, he could very well be a centuries-old grand mage.

"There's no need to call me master; that sounds too formal," Owen said. "You can just call me Mr. Owen."

"I've been here for about twenty years. It's just me running the pub, so I do everything myself. By the way, you two are my first customers."

Owen pushed two frosty glasses of the special drinks toward the girls.

"As this is your first visit, these drinks are on the house."

He eagerly watched the girls, curious to see their reactions.

Although Owen was confident in his bartending skills, he wasn't entirely sure about the tastes of people in this world.

But unexpectedly, the two girls froze when they saw the finished drinks.

Flora's face changed, and she exclaimed, "This... this water is..."

"What's wrong?" Owen asked with concern. "Is it not to your liking? Is it too cold, or too sour? I can adjust it."

Owen was a bit surprised too. The girls hadn't even taken a sip, yet their reaction was so dramatic.

"That shouldn't be... I made all the ingredients from scratch, especially the limes, which I grew myself."

"Even though I've started using an automated production line for simple tasks, drinks as simple as this one should taste just as good as if I made them by hand."

Flora quickly shook her head and explained, "No, Mr. Owen, you misunderstood."

They didn't find the taste strange.

This had nothing to do with flavor.

The reason was simple.

To the local girls, this drink wasn't just a simple cocktail—it was practically a glass full of concentrated mana liquid!

With their mana cores freshly awakened, they were extremely sensitive to the mana around them.

Flora could keenly feel that the drink before her was far from ordinary.

It was completely filled with mana in its purest, liquid form!

When mana becomes sufficiently concentrated, it transforms from gas to liquid—that's what mana liquid is.

The amount of mana contained in this drink far exceeded Flora's expectations.

"No way, if I drink such strong mana liquid directly, I won't be able to handle it!" Flora knew very well that even though she and Alice had awakened their mana cores, they were still at the novice stage.

Such a powerful potion would be too much for their bodies to handle—it might even make them explode.

Alice shared the same thought.

After their initial shock, they felt immense gratitude.

Master Owen was truly the kindest, most compassionate master. He must have felt pity for them and, out of sympathy, granted them these divine drinks.

"Don't you like it?" Owen asked, noticing that the girls were staring at their drinks but hadn't taken a sip. He suddenly had a thought. "You two don't think I spiked the drinks, do you?"

He wasn't offended.

Whether on Earth or in this other world, it made sense for girls to be cautious.

The rule of thumb not to accept food or drinks from strangers was universal.

"Don't worry, as a professional bartender, I would never do anything to tarnish my reputation," Owen said earnestly. "Or is it just not your kind of drink?"

"No, no, no, Mr. Owen, you've misunderstood again," the girls hurriedly explained. "We absolutely trust your character."

"Mr. Owen, I think this drink must taste amazing. Just smelling it makes me feel happy," Alice said.

"We're not drinking it because…" Flora quickly came up with a suitable excuse. "Well, you see, we've just escaped from the mercenaries. They were so cruel and wouldn't give us any food, fearing we might escape."

"We haven't eaten in a long time, but we were too embarrassed to say anything."

"And since our stomachs are empty, I'm worried that drinking such a wonderful drink right away might give us stomachaches."

Flora wasn't lying.

They had been too terrified to eat while in the hands of the mercenaries, afraid they might be drugged. Now that they were relaxed, their stomachs had started rumbling with hunger.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't consider that." Owen slapped his forehead, realizing these girls had really been through a lot. "Wait just a moment, I'll make you something to eat right away."

He dashed to the backyard.

There, a large, well-tended garden stretched out, filled with all sorts of fruits and vegetables.

These were the result of Owen's idle gardening over the years.

"They've been starving for a while, so they need something high in carbs, with a bit of fat," Owen thought considerately. "After not eating for so long, they might have trouble digesting regular food. It needs to be small, easy to eat, and appetizing."

He quickly came up with an idea.