Chapter 129: The Freeloading Painter
Chen Ran couldn’t help but find this mysterious person in the cloak a little cute.
Although this person didn’t even say thank you, he didn’t mind. He cut a piece of roasted meat and put it in his mouth, but his attention was completely on the mysterious person. He wanted to know how this hungry person would eat.
A pair of hands came out from the wide sleeves. They were a pair of fair and delicate small hands.
Chen Ran was stunned.
Such a pair of hands didn’t seem to belong to a man. It seemed that this mysterious person was most likely a woman, and she probably wasn’t very old.
In this way, the previous situation was also easy to explain. If it were a man, he probably wouldn’t be so coy. The main reason was that this person’s height didn’t seem to be much shorter than Chen Ran’s, her movements were extremely nimble, and she hadn’t said a word, so it was impossible to tell that she was a woman at first.
Chen Ran laughed to himself, watching the mysterious woman gently take off her scarf-like mask and move her hands in an orderly fashion on her chest.
This familiar prayer gesture was not unfamiliar to Chen Ran at all.
“Are you from the Holy Church?”
This question immediately made the mysterious woman freeze. She stopped her action of about to eat, looked up, and said coldly, “Who are you?”
Sure enough, that slender and cold voice. This was indeed a woman.
He just didn’t know why she was hiding so deeply.
“Don’t be nervous…” Chen Ran made a “don’t misunderstand” gesture. Then he also did the silent prayer that the mysterious girl had done before her meal and said with a smile, “To bless the great God of Light for giving us delicious food. Even if his divine grace cannot cover this area, we still hold reverence in our hearts.”
Then, Chen Ran raised his wine glass and made a toast gesture to the mysterious woman. “For the sake of the God of Light, this meal is on me.”
“Are you also a believer of the Holy Church?” Seeing Chen Ran’s familiar holy tone, the woman’s tone was no longer as cold as before, and she was even a little curious about Chen Ran’s identity.
The funny thing was that while this hungry woman was asking questions, her action of cutting the roasted meat did not slow down at all.
“Um, I guess so…” Chen Ran didn’t deliberately put on any identity. He just casually cast a light spell. The fantastic and colorful light flickered in his hand, a very pure power of light. “But don’t make any wild guesses.”
Chen Ran was very bad. With such a tone and that masterful, deceptive little spell, it would be strange if she didn’t make any wild guesses.
Seeing Chen Ran holding his glass for a long time, the mysterious woman also picked up a glass of draft beer and lightly clinked it with his, giving him some face. Chen Ran drank it all in one gulp, but the mysterious woman only took a small sip, not giving him much face.
At the same time as they clinked glasses, Chen Ran cast an Eye of Insight on her, wanting to see this woman’s attributes. But he was helpless to find that he got a row of question marks.
It seemed that this woman had deliberately hidden her aura, just like that guy Mihawk, not wanting others to perceive her true strength attributes. At the very least, it also proved that this mysterious woman was stronger than him.
This hurt Chen Ran a lot.
As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Chen Ran was free at the moment, and he was also curious about this mysterious woman, who should not be weak, appearing in Diya City, a place with no Holy Church influence. But when he thought of the existence of the Dark Holy Court in this place, Chen Ran felt that there should be some connection.
But these sensitive questions should involve some secrets. For this woman he had just met, Chen Ran had no intention of getting to the bottom of it. He said casually, “You seem to have some status. How can you not even afford a meal?”
“On a mission, I came to this unfamiliar place, and my money ran out without me realizing it,” the mysterious woman said, cutting a piece of roasted meat with her knife and putting it in her mouth, chewing slowly. Although her movements were not very fast, the plate of roasted meat on her table was being eliminated very quickly. In the blink of an eye, half of it was gone, while Chen Ran had only eaten a few pieces.
Seeing that the woman opposite him didn’t seem to like to chat, Chen Ran didn’t bother her. He drank the cool draft beer and looked at the surrounding environment.
At this moment, a tramp with an easel on his back appeared in Chen Ran’s field of vision.
A young painter was wandering the streets. When he passed by this stall, he casually smiled and asked some diners if they wanted a portrait. But it seemed that no one paid him any attention. The diners who were approached kept shaking their hands to show that they didn’t need one.
With nothing to do, Chen Ran couldn’t help but wave to him. “Hey, over here.”
Hearing Chen Ran’s greeting, the young man walked over.
“Sir, do you need a portrait?”
Chen Ran noticed that this was a young man about the same age as him, wearing clothes with all kinds of patches, but there were still many holes, and he looked very shabby. Especially, this person had a thick beard that didn’t match his face. The two curly whiskers on his upper lip looked even more comical. Chen Ran didn’t know how this person, who was not old, could have grown such a beard.
Although this person looked shabby, his spirit was very good. Except for the stubble on his chin, his thin face even had a rare handsomeness, and his posture was very straight, giving one a sense of confident pride.
Chen Ran couldn’t help but ask, “What can you draw?”
The young painter answered neither servilely nor overbearingly, “I wonder if you want a realistic style or a fantasy style, sir?”
“Fantasy style?” Chen Ran blinked. “What kind of fantasy style?”
“Actually, it’s based on the basic portrait, with some imagination added to change some scenes and costumes.”
“Then let’s have the fantasy style.”
Chen Ran knew that besides the skill of the brush, realism relied heavily on a person’s observation, carefully depicting each part. But the fantasy style this young man was talking about required more than just some imagination. The difficulty of depicting a whole new scene based on just a face was not just a little bit. He didn’t know where this painter got his confidence.
“By the way, how much is the fee?” Chen Ran asked.
“Under normal circumstances, I charge five silver coins, but if you’re not satisfied, you don’t have to pay,” the young painter said with a smile. “But I haven’t had a late-night snack yet. If you treat me to a plate of roasted meat and a glass of draft beer, I’d be very happy.”
“No problem,” Chen Ran agreed generously. This price was even considered cheap for Diya City’s prices. So he turned around and shouted to the boss not far away, “Boss, another plate… no, two plates of roasted meat, and a bottle of ice beer.”
Chen Ran felt that one plate of roasted meat was obviously not enough to satisfy the mysterious woman’s appetite, so he thoughtfully ordered another plate.
After getting the boss’s reply, he estimated that it would be ready soon. Chen Ran turned his head and asked in detail, “The food will be here soon. Are you going to eat before you draw?”
