“Umm, until now I refused everyone’s invitations to drink because I wasn’t old enough, but I actually just turned twenty a few days ago, so I guess I could try a glass or two...”
“Wow, so this’ll be your first time drinking. I’m honored to be part of such a momentous event.” I smiled cordially, but on the inside I was seething.
You liar! I know you’re still 19!
In fact, you first met Lily in the game by saving her from some unsavory adventurers who were pressuring her to drink. During that event she kept refusing, saying that she wasn’t twenty yet, but they’d keep on pestering her until you stepped in. In the fourth month of the second year of the game that event went away, which meant that Lily was almost certainly 19 until then.
As I ordered some food and drink for the table, I once again reminded myself that I couldn’t afford to let my guard down around her. While I hadn’t been in this restaurant before, a lot of the menu items looked similar to ones you’d find in a modern Japanese restaurant so the stuff I’d ordered would hopefully be fine.
After I’d finished ordering I casually asked, “You’re from Rinesta, right, Lily? Does your family still live there?”
“Yes. My parents used to travel a lot in the past, but after I was born they opened up a shop in Rinesta. I do want to go back and see them, but this journey has just been so fun I can’t seem to find a good time to.”
“I see, I see. Do you have any siblings?”
“Nope. He he, I would have liked a kind older brother though.”
The coquettish look she gave me was enough to make my heart start pounding. I surreptitiously dug my nails into my palm to keep myself from getting caught up by her charm.
In a vacuum, there wasn’t anything particularly special about Lily’s appearance. Sure, she was pretty, but in fictional settings basically everyone was pretty. Compared to the truly exquisite beauties in this world, like the Goddess of Salvation, she looked a little plain even. Her clothes weren’t revealing either. Her blouse was buttoned up to the neck, and her long skirt went all the way down to the ankles. But the little gestures she did and the expressions she made were perfectly calculated to captivate your attention. Her movements were refined, and her expressions made her seem at once like a child you wanted to protect, and a mother who’d tell you everything would be all right. Everything she did was calculated to make her popular with specifically men. Furthermore, regrettable though it was, I couldn’t stop myself from occasionally shooting glances at her ample bust, which was pronounced even through her modest clothes. She had the kind of boobs only video game characters had. If I let my guard down, I knew I’d be completely at her mercy.
Aware of the effect she was having on me, Lily leaned forward and said, “You’re famous even in other cities, Mr. Rex. It’s like a dream, getting to meet you in person.”
“Oh please. Rumors always get exaggerated. I’m not half as amazing as people say I am.”
“He he, well I think you’re pretty cool. Rex Tauren, the Father of Manual Arts. I’d like to write a song about you someday.”
Hold on, are people actually calling me that?! This is the first I’ve heard of it!
“Give me a break. I’m not worthy of such a lofty title.”
“He he, you’re so humble. But I understand how you feel. People teased me about my name when I was a kid too.”
“Huh, that’s a surprise. You have such a beautiful name.”
“Th-Thank you very much. Umm, while those aren’t very pleasant memories, I can’t deny that I wouldn’t be the person I am now if it wasn’t for that teasing. So in a way, I guess it’s thanks to my bullies that I’m sitting here with you now, Mr. Rex. When I think about it that way, I’m kind of grateful to them.”
The two of us were just throwing empty pleasantries at each other. But I couldn’t deny I was enjoying the conversation still.
Besides, this is a good sign.
Lily was talking more than she ever had in the game, and as far as I could tell she was in a good mood. Of course, that too could all just be part of an act, but that was fine with me. Especially since there had been a tiny kernel of truth in the last thing she’d said, and she’d touched on a topic she normally refused to discuss in the game. Maybe she’d thought it was fine to let that one morsel slip, or maybe she’d thought she’d worded it in such a way that I’d miss the importance of what she’d said.
Either way, keep on letting your guard down like that. It’ll make things easier for me.
Lily was probably confident that her real secret was safe, because she believed the only thing I’d learned about her that she kept hidden was that she was capable of using dark magic. She probably thought for certain I didn’t know anything that could truly threaten her, so she was more talkative than she would otherwise have been. It being her first time drinking alcohol probably helped too.
As a waiter came and filled our wineglasses I raised mine with a smile and said, “A toast, to our fortuitous meeting.”
Fortunately, I was able to hold my liquor pretty well. While I wasn’t as sturdy as the real heavy drinkers, I at least knew when I was nearing my limits. I needed to maintain my facade for as long as I could while looking for cracks in Lily’s. Though at this rate, I might be able to settle this sooner than I’d thought.
Doing my best not to let my feelings show on my face, I tapped my glass against Lily’s. “To our future,” I said boldly.
“Ch-Cheers,” Lily responded hesitantly as our glasses clinked. She blushed a little as she took a sip. “W-Wow, this is delicious...”
As I raised my own glass to my lips, I allowed myself a small grin.
❈❈❈
My brain was ablaze. A whirlpool of fire was swirling around my mind, burning up my thoughts. Loud rumbling noises hammered away at my eardrums. My consciousness felt like it was floating away into space. The only thing that reminded me I was still in this world was my mouth, which I was acutely aware of.
“Like I saaaid! I’m just a normal guuuy! I’m no herooo! Isn’t that right, Lils? Liiils?”
Despite the fire and the noise, I felt very comfortable. The world was space, and space was...also space.
“A-Are you okay, Mr. Rex?”
Oh... There’s a fairy in space.
“You’re so cuuute Lily! The cutest in the wooorld! The cutest in all Japaaan!”
The fairy sat down next to me and rubbed my back. “Th-Thank you. Anyway, can you walk, Mr. Rex?”
“Walk? Of course I can walk.”
I put one foot forward, but then I realized it was a trap! The ground in front of me turned into squishy muck, trying to throw me off-balance. But I was Rex, and Rex knew all about how to deal with traps. So I deftly moved my foot to evade the dangers before me.
“Bwuh?”
My foot slipped, and my head landed in something soft.
Is that a slime?
A flash of understanding passed through me, and I felt my mind grasp a fundamental truth of this world. But even though I knew I’d come to a very important realization, a pink haze covered my mind, and all I could think about was elephants.
“Mr. Rex! What’s the name of the inn you’re staying at?”
My inn?
The elephant turned rainbow-colored, then vanished, only to be replaced by the beautiful fairy I’d seen earlier. I said something to her, but my brain was so foggy... I forgot the words as soon as they left my mouth.