A blonde woman who was looking after one such drunken old man saw me and called out in a bright voice, “Kaito? Is that you?”
“Good morning, Clié,” I said. It was the woman who had tried to assassinate me a while back. That sounds pretty bad, but she was being controlled by someone else at the time. The man behind it all was Vlad, a level A monster masquerading as an A rank adventurer.
Still, Vlad’s true nature had not been known at the time, and Clié had been imprisoned for attempted homicide. She had still been in captivity the last time we met. Once it had come to light that Vlad had in fact used brainwashing magic on my attackers, Commander Favel of the Public Safety Regiment had promised to release Clié and the rest of those involved, but I had been busy spreading Cure Beam over the city and hadn’t gotten a chance to see her again.
“I’m so glad to see you! I’ve been wanting to give you my thanks,” she said.
“You don’t have to thank me! I just wanted to take down Vlad for being so cruel to my friends,” I said.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you saved me. Please, let me show my gratitude. I’ll treat you to a nice time at my place.”
“That’s what you said last time, isn’t it?”
“You’re not being controlled again, are you?”
Frieze and Oltea interrogated Clié, their eyes fixed on her. She had extended a similar invitation when trying to seduce me, but with the intention of catching me in a trap.
“No, I’m not being controlled. I just honestly want to show my thanks to Kaito.”
“Your ‘thanks,’ huh? What exactly does that mean?” asked Oltea. For some reason, her eyes were fixed on Clié’s ample bosom. She might have been jealous of Clié, who, after all, had the figure of a model.
“I was going to offer him some fine wine,” Clié said.
“Hmm, wine...” Frieze said.
“Do you share an interest in wine, Frieze?” Clié asked her.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I’ve wanted to try some for a long time, but...”
“It’s rarely available in the stores around here. Even when it is, the price can really skyrocket compared to beer,” Clié said. Beyond the capital’s outermost wall, fields spread far and wide, but most cultivated barley. Because beer was produced inside the city with local ingredients, it could be cheaply obtained, but wine was likely marked up due to the added cost of transit. On top of that, because wholesalers gave retailers priority over restaurants, I couldn’t remember ever seeing wine being served with a meal anywhere.
“My father loves wine. He bought a bunch of it for the Spirit Festival. There’s vintage too! I imagine it’s aged quite deliciously.”
“Would it really be okay for us to drink such valuable stuff?”
“Sure. As you can see, my father is completely intoxicated. It’s not like he can drink much more of it himself!”
“So this person is your father, then?”
“A little embarrassed to say yes, but...yeah. Late last night he went out to get some drinks with his friends in anticipation of the festival. I started to worry when he still hadn’t come home by first light. I went out to check on him and found him in this condition.”
“The feshtival is the besht!” the old man slurred. His daughter looked on with an abashed face, her features turning red.
“Since Dad’s in this condition, please, drink as much as you like. You two are invited as well, of course.”
Oltea and Frieze looked quite surprised to hear that.
“It’s okay if I come too?” Frieze asked.
“But it was Kaito who saved you...” Oltea said.
“Still, my actions caused terrible trouble to you two as well. If the wine would suffice as an apology, I would ask that you two also enjoy all you want.”
“Hmm. Well, if you really mean it, then I suppose it’d be all right to take you up on the offer,” Frieze said.
“I agree. In fact, I’m sorry I didn’t accept your apology at first,” Oltea said. She and Frieze seemed thrilled by the prospect. Their tails swished back and forth in tune with their happy moods.
Because it was a special occasion, there was no problem with drinking before noon, but I had always heard that doing so on an empty stomach could get one pretty sick. If we wanted to enjoy the festivities, it would probably be better to have breakfast before we started on the wine.
“Where’s your house, Clié?” I asked.
“Section One, West Gate neighborhood. But I don’t think we can go there right away...”
“Ah, sure. I guess we can’t just leave your father like this, can we?”
“No, I was gonna leave dad to his own devices. It’s not that, it’s just that I was going to meet up with some friends. Everyone is going to be so delighted to hear that I ran into you! They’ve all been wanting to thank you.”
“You mean your friends are the other people Vlad was controlling?”
“Yes. Actually, I’d really, really love it if you would come along.”
“I see. In that case, shall we meet around noon?”
“That sounds best. Starting with alcohol too early in the morning can get a little intense, after all.”
Having decided to regroup at the guild later when the sun reached its zenith, we parted ways with Clié.
“I can’t wait to try the wine!” Oltea said.
“Maybe we should buy some snacks to pair with it, yeah?” Frieze suggested.
“Shall we go shopping after breakfast, then?” I said to their energetic agreement. With that, we set off to find seats at one of the many lively eateries.