“Nngh...” As soon as I awoke, the strong scent of alcohol filled my nose and I opened my eyes. “Where am I...?”
I was at a loss for a few seconds, but the memory of what had happened quickly flooded back. I was currently in the main hall of the marquess’s residence. I’d fallen asleep on one of the sofas.
“How could I fall asleep in such a place? How careless of me,” I whispered.
I noticed that Tida was lying on the ground by my feet. I turned her body around. Her face was flushed red from alcohol, but she seemed to be happily asleep, a bottle tucked under her arm. I looked around and spotted Gaien and Kagali too. Everyone had passed out drunk.
“O water, purify my body: Antipoison.”
The spell purged my body of the leftover alcohol. I arose and picked Tida up before laying her down on the sofa.
I sighed. “I’m acting like an idiot.”
After successfully relieving Salamander of the excess mana he’d accumulated due to the abnormal spirit crystal, we’d accompanied Gaien and Kagali to the marquess’s residence. I’d hoped to speak to Lekius, but he’d insisted on holding a banquet to celebrate the safe return of his brother-in-law first.
I’d sent Misha back to the inn, but I’d missed my chance to make my escape. I’d ended up being one of the guests of honor at the banquet, along with Tida, Gaien, and Kagali—which meant we’d all been given countless drinks. Dwarf culture deemed it rude to refuse alcohol offered to you during celebrations, so I’d been forced to drink way too much. In the end, I hadn’t even been able to have a discussion with Lekius.
I should have used Antipoison yesterday...
“The marquess doesn’t seem to be here,” I whispered, scanning the room once more. There were plenty of other people passed out on the sofas or on the ground holding bottles or jars, but the marquess wasn’t among them.
I left the main hall to look for him. As I walked through the corridors of the mansion, I noticed that traces of last night’s boisterous banquet had yet to be cleaned up. Then, I sensed the presence of some people inside a nearby room and stopped in my tracks. There was a servant waiting in front of the door. Most noble mansions shared a similar layout, so I could easily guess that this was most likely a drawing room—to be specific, one designed to host guests of a lower rank than Lekius.
Since there was a servant standing there, I imagined Lekius was currently seeing guests. He’d also drunk his fair share of alcohol the night prior, but he undoubtedly knew his limits and had made sure he could fulfill his obligations the next day like a proper lord should.
I was about to go wait somewhere until Lekius was finished with his guests when the door opened and someone left the room escorted by a maid. At the moment, I was still a mere merchant, so I stuck to the wall and lowered my head.
Unexpectedly, Lekius’s guest called out my name. “Miss Ellie?”
I lifted my head and immediately recognized the woman. “Miss Arte?”
The guests turned out to be Arte, one of the investigators for the legal department of the Merchants’ Guild, and her younger brother, whom I’d met during the festival. I bowed to him and kept my head lowered once more, as was proper when greeting the head of a noble family.