For a brief moment, I did not immediately know how to answer Bryn's question. The situation had suddenly become troublesome far faster than I expected.
Before I could properly think of a response, one of the young men sitting at the table abruptly stood up from his seat and pointed toward me rudely.
"Do not lie, you bastard."
I slowly shifted my eyes toward him.
The young man looked eager to impress Bryn, almost as if he had been waiting for an opportunity to support him.
He crossed his arms confidently before continuing in an arrogant tone,
"Brother Bryn recently became a moderate level controller. If he says he can sense energy from you, then it should obviously be true."
Then a faint smirk appeared on his face as he added proudly, "Even though we are still only low level controllers, even we can sense energy from you."
The others sitting at the table immediately began agreeing with him one after another.
"Yes, I can sense it too."
"There is definitely energy coming from him."
"Do not lie."
Even the two women who had been quietly watching until now slowly nodded while staring at me suspiciously.
The attention focused on me became noticeably heavier.
At that moment, I suddenly realized the atmosphere inside the inn had completely changed.
The customers had already stopped talking among themselves, and many of them were now openly watching the situation unfold with curiosity. Even the loud conversations and laughter filling the inn earlier had gradually quieted near our table.
Several workers inside the inn also looked nervous while observing the situation from a distance, clearly worried that trouble might start at any moment.
Everywhere in the world, the moment controllers were mentioned, attention naturally followed.
Even though every person was born with an innate ability, not everyone could successfully awaken it. And without a proper cultivation technique, they could not even form an energy core to become a true controller.
Because of that, ordinary people naturally admired, respected, and feared controllers, since they possessed abilities and powers far beyond normal individuals.
And right now, all of that attention was focused directly on me.
Meanwhile, I quietly tried to think of some believable explanation that could get me out of the situation without creating further suspicion.
But no matter how quickly I searched for an answer in my mind, nothing convincing came to me. The more I hesitated, the worse the situation felt.
In the end, I could only continue pretending ignorance.
"Sir," I said carefully while maintaining a confused expression, "I am not sure what you are talking about. What energy?"
Bryn continued staring directly at me suspiciously without looking away even for a moment.
Then he frowned slightly while continuing to stare at me carefully.
"Weird," he muttered quietly. "I do not feel any energy core inside you."
The others at the table immediately reacted after hearing that.
"Now that you mention it," one of the young men said while narrowing his eyes at me more carefully, "I also do not sense any energy core inside him."
One of the women tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"It is strange," she said slowly. "I can clearly feel some kind of energy around him, but there is no energy core."
Another young man immediately spoke afterward while frowning thoughtfully.
"That should not even be possible," he said. "Even if someone recently started cultivating, we still would not sense energy from them unless they already formed an energy core first."
The group gradually became more confused the more they discussed it among themselves.
Meanwhile, hearing their conversation only made Bryn stare at me even more suspiciously than before, as though he was trying to figure out exactly what I was hiding.
The atmosphere around the table gradually became tense.
Then suddenly, someone from another table seemed to recognize Bryn and spoke loudly enough for several nearby people to hear.
"Wait… is that not the young master of House Caelthorne?"
The moment those words were spoken, several customers immediately looked toward Bryn again with surprise.
"Yeah, it really is the young master of House Caelthorne."
"But what is someone like him doing in a local inn like this?"
"Is he really from that noble family?"
Quiet whispers quickly began spreading throughout the inn afterward.
House Caelthorne...
The name immediately caught my attention. So he belongs to a wealthy noble family within this nation.
The realization instantly made me even more cautious than before.
Someone from a powerful noble family was not the kind of person I wanted drawing interest toward me while Charlie and I were hiding inside Elysis.
After silently observing me for several more seconds, Bryn finally spoke again.
"I might have been mistaken," he said calmly. "You can go."
I quietly lowered my head slightly in response and answered politely, "Thank you, sir."
At first glance, it seemed as though the situation had finally ended, but even while speaking, Bryn's eyes never completely lost their suspicion. He continued staring at me carefully, as if he was still trying to understand something he could not fully grasp.
He is letting me go… but he is still suspicious of me.
The thought immediately made me more cautious internally. Someone from a powerful noble family becoming suspicious of me was the last thing I wanted.
I need to be careful.
Without showing anything unusual on my face, I slowly turned around and began walking away from the table calmly.
But the very next moment, my instincts suddenly reacted violently. Something sharp shot toward my face at incredible speed.
A small thorn flew directly toward my eye.
My body instinctively reacted the moment the thorn shot toward my eye.
For a brief instant, I was about to use my ability without even thinking. But just as I was about to react, I suddenly realized something.
This might be a trap.
If I revealed my ability here inside the inn, it could immediately lead to a fight with them, and if things escalated further, even our fake identities might end up being exposed.
Realizing that instantly, I forcefully stopped myself from using my ability.
Instead, I immediately closed my eyes tightly and acted frightened as I stumbled backward in panic before falling onto the floor.
The sharp thorn stopped floating directly in front of my face only a small distance away from my eye. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the thorn slowly disappeared into particles of energy.
The entire inn had gone completely silent. Not a single person spoke as everyone stared at the scene that had just unfolded.
I slowly opened my eyes again while continuing to pretend that I was still shaken by what had just happened.
My breathing remained slightly uneven as I looked toward the thorn's former position with an expression of fear, acting exactly like an ordinary person who had almost lost an eye moments ago.
Bryn calmly walked toward me before stopping nearby. His expression looked completely relaxed, almost as if he had done nothing wrong.
Then he casually tossed a gold coin toward me.
"This is for the misunderstanding," he said calmly.
After saying that, he simply turned around and returned to his seat as if nothing unusual had happened.
I slowly picked up the gold coin from the floor while quietly lowering my eyes.
He was testing me indeed. The realization became completely clear in my mind now.
If I had reacted improperly even for a brief moment or revealed my ability instinctively, the situation could have immediately become dangerous.
Fortunately, I managed to stop myself in time.
Without saying anything further, I quietly returned toward the kitchen area while the tense atmosphere inside the inn gradually began returning to normal again. The customers slowly resumed eating and drinking, though many of them still occasionally glanced toward Bryn's table while whispering among themselves.
The moment I entered the kitchen area, Miguel immediately hurried toward me with a worried expression on his face.
"Arthur, are you fine?" he asked quickly while looking me over as if checking whether I had been injured.
I gave a small nod and replied calmly, "Yes, I am fine."
Miguel frowned angrily after hearing that and glanced briefly toward the dining area outside where Bryn and his group were still sitting comfortably as if nothing had happened.
"Arrogant rich bastard," he muttered under his breath. "He did not even apologise properly for his behavior."
Hearing Miguel complain so openly about someone from a noble family almost made me laugh. In a city like this, most ordinary people became careful and submissive whenever nobles were involved, but Miguel still spoke whatever came to his mind without thinking too much about consequences.
A faint smile appeared on my face before I let out a small laugh.
"It's okay," I said calmly. "Nothing happened in the end. Besides, if they truly wanted trouble, things could have become much worse."
Miguel still looked unhappy, but after seeing me acting normally, the worry on his face gradually eased.
I then reached toward another prepared plate nearby and spoke again while returning to work.
"Come on. If we stand around talking too long, the owner will become angry again."
Miguel clicked his tongue unhappily but still nodded afterward.
Soon afterward, both of us returned to serving the customers once again while the noise and busy atmosphere of the inn slowly returned to normal as though nothing unusual had happened.