<h4>Chapter 281 Rio as a tea shop owner?</h4>


    Link hurriedly walked over to the cafeteria after changing clothes.


    Vanya''s fire attacks partially burned his clothes, so he had to return and take a shower to cool his head before changing clothes.


    But even then, Link barely took less than ten minutes to do all this, and after getting ready, he directly hurried over to the cafeteria without hesitation.


    When he reached the door of the cafeteria, he noticed several familiar figures sitting inside, so he immediately walked in.


    But then he was disappointed that Riya was still not there.


    "Yo, you are finally here… The food nearly got cold waiting for you…"


    Link sat down on a nearby chair, and a confused look appeared on his face after hearing Liam''s words.


    "You guys were waiting for me?"


    At Link''s confused tone, Liam nodded his head and said,


    "Well, we already knew that you would rush here immediately after the match, so we already ordered some food for you too… You can have it; today''s meal is on me…"


    Liam rarely shows such thankless kindness to anyone other than his summoned beasts.


    And today he was willing to pay for the meal for everyone, which just showed that he was also concerned about Link''s situation.


    After hearing Liam''s words, Link was on the verge of refuting them, but Rio intervened.


    "Eat properly… You will be fighting me tomorrow if you end up losing… don''t make an excuse that you were fighting with an empty stomach…"


    Hearing Rio''s words, Link still wanted to refute them, but then Ellie appeared beside him and handed him a juice ss.


    Then all four of them stared at Link as if they wouldn''t let him go unless he ate something.


    The pressure from all four of them forced Link to eat his fill.


    He could feel it in his bones that if he dared not finish the food, the four of them would bind his legs and arms to forcefully feed him food.


    Link had no other choice.


    He hadn''t eaten anything since Riya had left, as he was feeling anxious and had no appetite at all.


    Despite the fact that Rank A individuals can endure for several months without any sleep, food, or water intake, All this still puts a psychological burden on a person.


    A living being can''t suppress their emotions for too long.


    Too much stress can cause mental health issues, and Link has been under so much stresstely that he has lost quite a bit of weight.


    To solve Link''s stress, the four of them came up with the simple n of forcing him to eat something delicious.


    Eating delicious food can also be considered a way to relieve stress.


    Link had a feeling that Riya wasn''t eating well these days, so he wasn''t in the mood to eat either, but now that everyone was forcing him to eat, there was no other choice.


    Rio poured Link some tea after he finished his meal.


    A puzzled expression appeared on Link''s face at that moment.


    "Who even drinks tea right after eating food?"


    To that question, Rio''s answer was straightforward.


    "Tea is not about drinking it or filling the stomach; it''s about enjoying the taste of this beautiful masterpiece. There''s no drink better than tea in this world…"


    "I may only have decent cooking skills, but when ites to making tea, I don''t think I am inferior to anyone!"


    A rare look of pride appeared on Rio''s face, which surprised all of them.


    It was extremely rare to see Rio talk so much about something, and it was even rarer to see him express his emotions that deeply.


    Even Lia was taken aback after hearing Rio''s words.


    Although she already knew that Rio was a big fan of tea and liked to drink it more than ten times a day, she didn''t know that he would feel so proud of it.


    (Fun Fact: Rio got addicted to tea because he didn''t have money to buy food… he used it to skip meals in his past life…)


    …


    A bewildered look appeared on Link''s face when he saw Rio smirk like that.


    Aside from Lia, generally no one sees his facial expressions much.


    Link has actually already started to think that Rio''s facial muscles were likely paralyzed or something, as they never seemed to change.


    But seeing it today, it seems that isn''t the case.


    Link immediately sipped the tea that Rio gave him, and his eyes widened in surprise.


    Even as the sole heir to the Rex family, Link had never drunk such amazing tea.


    Link has tried the tea made by national-level award holders that are working for his family, but even they seem to pale against Rio''s skills in this aspect.


    Rio is merely average in every other aspect of life, but when ites to making tea, no one can match him.


    "You really can make some insanely good tea… How about you work as my personal butler? I will pay you handsomely!!"


    Rio shook his head at Link''s words, speaking in his usual emotionless tone.


    "Well... If I didn''t need to be stronger, I would have certainly liked to just open a small tea shop and live the rest of my life in peace; getting hired by a rich young master like you would have been even better…."


    Liam was taken aback by Rio''s words and asked withplicated emotions.


    "So... you are saying that, if you were an ordinary person and not an awakener, then you would have opened a tea shop? That would have been such a unique sight to see…"


    Rio nodded his head before speaking.


    "Actually… I am nning on opening a tea stall after retiring from the life of an awakener…"


    Link and Liam, who bothe from wealthy families, struggle toprehend Rio''s perspective.


    They can''t understand what was so good about living your life in obscurity like that.


    In their opinion, living with hundreds of servants working to meet your needs was obviously better.


    You wouldn''t have to worry about anything, and even your daily needs would be taken care of.


    Rio ignored the two''s bewildered looks and sipped the tea with a slight smile on his face.


    He nced at Lia and then said, in a calm tone,


    "Well, if I had never be a strong awakener, I would not have been able to meet Lia… So I think it''s better that I became an awakener; meeting her was the best thing that happened to me in this life…"


    Hearing such tant praise from Rio''s mouth, Lia was taken aback for a second, and then her face became a bit red as she smiled happily at those words.


    "Me too… I think it was a great thing that I met you…"


    Lia''s voice was quiet and small, like a mosquito''s, but Rio heard it clearly, and he nodded his head at her words.


    Link gulped down all of the tea in one go and then said it with a rxed look on his face.


    "Well, if you say it like that… Then meeting you was one of the best things that happened to me; after all, a rival like you is extremely rare…"


    Seeing that the usual rxed and calm look had returned to Link''s face at this moment, Rio nodded his head.


    ''Good, he''s back to his usual self now…''


    While Rio was relieved that Link was back to his usual self, Liam patted Ellie''s head, who was sitting with her head leaning on his shoulder.


    "Well, if you think of it like that… Meeting Ellie was the best thing that happened to me in this life, and getting into this small friend group was the second best thing…"


    "I can''t deny that staying with you guys feels quite amazing…"


    Hearing Liam''s words of praise for her, Ellie stopped behaving like a mischievous kid and calmed down a bit.


    She was thrilled to hear such high praise.


    Rio put down his empty teacup and nced at Link.


    "As for Riya… You should stop being too overprotective; if you keep things like that, she won''t be able to grow. Overprotectiveness can hinder a person''s progress."


    Hearing Rio''s words, a solemn look appeared on Link''s face.


    He started to think about it deeply, and he came to the conclusion that Rio''s words made some sense.


    Although Link wants to protect her, being too overprotective has bad effects on Riya.


    He might really be a hindrance to her growth.


    Looking at it this way, perhaps Riya''s time away from him served as a valuable training opportunity.


    She needs to learn to be self-sufficient. Link can shelter her from exterior threats, but if she can''t progress because of him, then he will be guiltier than ever.


    Thinking this far, the usual calm look returned to Link''s face.


    He seems to have figured out everything at that moment; he not only got rid of his anger, but his pent-up stress disappeared too.


    Having this simple chat with his friends helped him solve the problem that had been guing him for days.


    ''I just hope Riya returns safely… Now I don''t mind waiting for a longer time… It would be better if she improved a bit from her training...''


    All of them kept chatting for a bit longer, and then they dispersed one by one.


    This small get-together was indeed a good idea, it seems.


    Not only did Link get to calm down a bit, they even got to see Rio talking about his own hobbies today, which was extremely rare.


    …


    …


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! Link has calmed down a bit, and now he can fight with a calm and cool-headed mind. Let''s see what happens next…


    Question of the day:


    Would you have been a regr customer at Rio''s tea shop, if he had one?


    1. Yes


    2. Absolutely yes!!


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.