Chapter 77 - Volume 3 (1/2)

Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 5

My, oh my, but I’ve already drank so much. So don’t you think it would be a bit unfair for me to fight you as you are right now?」

Klanven said that while pointing towards a mountain-load of empty bottles piling on the table and all around it. The man looked at the bottles and then at me, his eyes saying “How much did you manage to drink?”, but I couldn’t remember. But judging by the sheer number of bottles, it must have been a lot.

Getting no answer out of me, the man turned back and sighed heavily, and then faced Klanven again. His expression still stone-cold, he took the mug in his hand.

「If that’s the case, then let me drink twice for every glass you drink.」

「E, Edilka-sama!?」

Hearing this clearly insane offer, I raise my voice in protest, but that man didn’t even bother to look back at me.

「Way to go, mister!」

「I’m betting again! Two silver coins on the blondie here!」

「I’ll bet three silver coins! Maybe this time Lady Luck will be on my side!」

「Mister, do your best!」

Hearing Edilka-sama’s bold remark, the crowd began to cheer again, and a new bottle of ale was brought to the table. It looks like for these guys it didn’t matter who was competing, as long as they could have their share of fun. Klanven only smiled gently seeing all that.

「Hmm? I see, this should be interesting. If that’s how you want it, then let’s change the betting fees a little bit, shall we?」

Klanven smiled softly while pouring another portion of ale for himself. His reddened cheeks were indicating that he was already quite intoxicated, but at the same time he was still able to go on.

「If you manage to win, I will return to the Red Rose Court immediately and return Filmina to you. But if I win, I’m not heading back and Filmina stays with me. What do you say?」

Klanven said something like that, but something wasn’t right here. I know that this was a competition and they were getting more and more drunk, but I’m not some kind of a prize that can be tossed about as they saw fit!

But before I could say anything, the man poured himself another cup, raised his mug to his mouth, emptied it in one swift go and slammed the mug against the table. The crowd cheered loudly seeing that. From that alone one could easily say that Edilka-sama was also quite good at holding his liquor.

「Fine by me. But don’t you dare to go back on your words once you lose.」

Said the man while pouring another cup for himself, drinking exactly the same amount every time as Klanven.

Just like that, with my will being completely ignored, the competition between the two men began. There was no way for me to intervene and stop this madness. None of them wanted to lose, and so they kept on drinking.

Looking at them going at it, it was easy to say that Klanven was going easy on me during our competition, since the amount of ale and the pace at which they were drinking it right now was simply brutal. I could now understand why the crowd was getting so excited earlier.

The match continued at the same wild pace, with Edilka-sama always drinking twice as much as Klanven did. I had no idea that Edilka-sama’s tolerance to alcohol was so high, but so far he was able to keep up with Klanven without flinching, and neither his complexion nor the animosity in his gaze changed. The patrons all around us were getting wildly excited by all this.

I continued to watch their match while sipping on the lemon water that one of the waitresses gave to me earlier, I could feel someone patting me slightly on the shoulder. Looking in that direction, it was that woman who was so clingy with Klanven earlier, I do believe Aisha was her name. She smiled at me and said,

「You are one lucky woman, having two fine men like that competing over you.」

Aisha smiles at me and winks in a sexy manner. Hahahaha, that’s strange. I don’t feel happy about this. Not in the least. If anything, I would consider them to be a nuisance right now…… First of all, why is it that men had to turn everything into a competition? I looked up at Aisha while trying not to lose my balance and fall off the chair.

「Umm.」

「What is it?」

「Does everyone here know about His Highness’s circumstances?」

Hearing my question, Aisha get a chair for herself, sitting right next to me. Her lips were arching in a soft smile.

「You mean that Klan is the High Priest at the Temple and also a member of the royal family?」

「–––––– Yes.」

There was one of the male patrons coming closer to Aisha and I, bringing Aisha a glass and pouring some red wine for her. Oh. So they did know. That’s unusual, to say the least. Aisha brought the wine glass to her lips and smiled cheerfully.

「For me, no matter who he is, Klan will always be Klan –– a very important friend. Nothing will ever change that fact. And if he ever was in trouble we would do everything in our power to help him, and he would do exactly the same for us. Being a High Priest or royalty has nothing to do with that.」

Aisha said that with iron conviction. I could see that she wasn’t looking at me right now, but rather right at Klanven. He looked back at her, but I wasn’t sure what was that feeling that was reflected in his blue eyes.

–––– Ahh, could this be? Yes, it may have been so.

After all, if you think about it, I don’t know anything about Klanven. I only knew that someone was targeting his life, but even so he would still risk it all to come over here and have a drink with his friends. Maybe I was lacking in life experience to understand. There was still much I needed to learn.

What was Klanven’s real thoughts? It looks like he didn’t really wanted to invite death onto his doorstep, but at the same time he didn’t wanted to be protected all the time.

As I was thinking about it, I heard a loud round of cheers coming from the drinking table. Apparently there was a sort of a breakthrough over there.

「Ooohhh!!! Yeah, that’s right! That’s the spirit, mister!」

「What the hell are you doing, Klan!? I thought you weren’t going to hold back!」

The voices of patrons echoed in my drunk head, as well as Aisha’s voice, who was getting all mad at Klanven for some reason. As for Klanven himself, he just held the mug in his hands, shaking his head and laughing.

「I am genuinely impressed. Just for how long are you going to keep drinking?」

「Until I manage to win, of course.」

「Fufu, well said. But my time together with Filmina is on the line, so I cannot lose either!」

「…… Do you really think that I’m going to forgive you for making a statement like that?」

「And who said I want your forgiveness in the first place?」

「I would like you to refrain from saying things like that. I might misunderstand and go all-out against you as a result.」

「Hmm, hmm, aren’t you going to regret saying stuff like that later?」

Just what are they doing, a member of the royal family having a drink battle with the leader of the knights in a run-down bar?

I also just noticed that Aisha was looking at me in a funny way, smiling brightly.

「Dozed off a little bit, have you? Maybe you drank way more than you should have? Come on, you should rest, let me help you. Oi, you guys, bring some bench here!」