"Delicious~ Delicious~"
At The Hostess of Fertility, the number of diners had already dwindled.
Normally, this should have been the restaurant's peak dining time. But on one particular table in the shop, an enormous spread of expensive dishes had been piled up. And judging from the situation, the feast didn't seem like it would end anytime soon.
Cao Ye knew it very well—his goddess was angry.
But what could he do? Other goddesses were the ones throwing themselves at him. What was he supposed to do about that?
(Cao Ye: Helpless. Truly helpless. My personal charm is just too strong~~~)
As for Paimon, she didn't care about any of this. Right now, she was happily stuffing herself with food. All kinds of delicacies were disappearing straight into her tiny stomach.
Cao Ye had already noticed something interesting—Paimon seemed capable of absorbing energy directly from food.
As for the exact reason, he had no idea.
But as long as Paimon ate well, she wouldn't need to rely on Cao Ye's magical power to survive for a while. Exactly how long she could last like that, however, was still unknown.
"Cao Ye, nya~ how exactly did you manage to make Syr angry?"
Just as Cao Ye's thoughts were drifting elsewhere, Anya came over. Looking at the mountain of food on the table, she unceremoniously grabbed a dish and started eating while talking.
Because she often visited the Hostess of Fertility, she had gradually become familiar with most of the waitresses.
Especially Anya. Being a cheerful little cat-girl, she had quickly grown closer to Cao Ye over time.
"How would I know? Maybe it's because a goddess suddenly hugged me at the entrance earlier."
"A goddess hugged you?"
"Yeah. A drunk goddess. I've never seen her before, but she's a friend of Goddess Hephaestus."
"A friend of the forging goddess? There's actually such a god in Orario?"
In Orario, although Hephaestus had developed quite well, the number of people she could truly call friends was very small—let alone someone whose relationship could be seen so openly.
"By the way, what's this little guy, nya?"
Anya didn't comment on Cao Ye's "romantic encounter," but her attention was quickly drawn to Paimon, who was still busy eating.
As the mascot of Genshin Impact, Paimon's charm was undeniable. Her cuteness level was completely maxed out.
"This is Paimon, my partner. Hey, Paimon, stop eating for a moment and say hello."
Cao Ye called out to Paimon, who was still burying her head in food. At this point, calling her a glutton would be absolutely accurate.
"Hello! I'm Paimon~"
"Hello! I'm Anya-nya~"
"Anya-nya?"
"It's not Anya-nya, it's Anya-nya!"
"But that's exactly 'Anya-nya'~"
"No, it's— it's— it's—"
Because of her verbal tic, Anya suddenly didn't know how to explain herself.
Her gaze subconsciously fell on Cao Ye, who was watching the show from the side. Whenever people didn't know what to do, they seemed to instinctively look for him.
"Paimon, it's Anya. The 'nya' is just her verbal tic."
"Anya? That's a very nice name."
Looking at the cat-girl in front of her, Paimon said sincerely.
"What an adorable little thing!"
As a girl—especially a cat-girl—Anya had absolutely no resistance to cute things.
She immediately grabbed Paimon and hugged her tightly, rubbing her face against her over and over like a cat revealing its true nature.
"Anya, what are you doing?"
Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind her.
The moment she heard it, Anya's body stiffened. Turning around stiffly, she saw Syr standing there with a faint smile.
"N-Nothing~"
"Mama Mia is looking for you. Why are you running around again?"
"I know~"
Seeing Syr's somewhat darkened expression, Anya didn't dare to provoke her at all.
She quickly put Paimon down and hurried toward the kitchen.
Compared to staying here, the kitchen felt much safer.
Syr stared at Cao Ye.
Looking at the mountain of food on the table, she realized that she might have gone a little overboard tonight. It really was a bit too much.
But she had been angry earlier.
And the real reason she was angry wasn't actually because Cao Ye had been hugged by Hestia.
It was because he didn't reject it at all.
In fact, he even seemed to enjoy it.
What exactly was that supposed to mean?
I'm the one paying to keep you, you know.
Even if she hadn't eaten him yet, he was still living off her money. Since he was taking her money, he should at least behave himself.
And yet he allowed another goddess to hug him right at the entrance of the place where she worked.
Wasn't that basically a provocation?
Of course, Cao Ye had no idea that such a small incident had triggered this entire chain of thoughts in her mind.
"Ah, I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Cao Ye. It seems I served you a bit too much food. My memory is so bad—I must have made a mistake again."
"It's fine~"
A daily special, fruit, a glass of rum—
Even if someone messed up the order, it was impossible to end up with this much food.
But since it had already happened, there was no point bringing it up. It was better to just stay quiet.
Cao Ye took out a space ring—a storage ring with about 20 cubic meters of space—and stored all the food inside.
"Paimon, here you go. This is all your rations."
"Got it!"
Syr couldn't understand Cao Ye's behavior.
Why would he invest a space ring for the sake of a puppet-like creation?
But Paimon didn't care at all.
For her, food was life.
She stuffed all the food into the ring without hesitation, planning to eat it later whenever she got hungry.
And just like that, this meal finally ended—though in quite a "difficult" way.
Because of Syr's little stunt, the Hostess of Fertility became unusually lively tonight. Led by Anya, several girls had already begun enjoying the gossip.
Had the signature flower of the Hostess of Fertility finally been picked by someone?
"I wonder, Mr. Cao Ye—were you satisfied with tonight's 'service'?"
"Satisfied. Of course I'm satisfied~"
The words didn't match the tone. Anyone could tell he didn't mean it.
"Looks like Cao Ye has been completely wrapped around Syr's finger. If the two of them actually get together someday… tsk tsk~"
"Anya, you sound very experienced."
Not far away, Lunor laughed as she looked at Anya.
Despite being a pure maiden herself, Anya talked as if she knew everything.
"Lunor!"
Anya reacted like someone had stepped on her tail, while Lunor simply laughed and walked back into the kitchen.
Soon after, under Syr's overwhelming pressure, Cao Ye paid a large sum of Valis.
Nearly 100,000 Valis.
And that was just for one meal.
It was obvious how badly he had been scammed.
Even Mama Mia looked at Cao Ye differently while he was paying.
He had been scammed so many times already, yet he still acted like this.
Could it be…
This kid really has fallen for Syr?