“... I really need to make a more permanent summoning circle.” I muttered, as I looked at the circle I used to summon the ice dragon.
Even with no fighting or show of force, the circle drawn on the dirt of this floor had been damaged to the point where it would take more time to fix it than it would take to draw a new one. Well, let’s just completely erase this one. I’ll later find a good place where I can make permanent circles of different sizes.
With all the evidence of my … I was going to say screwing around, but I was actually doing something quite serious. Well, with the place cleaned, I teleported myself back to the surface.
“He's back!” Eline yelled, as she spotted me. “My Lord. How did it go?” She then asked, as she ran to me.
“You know you can just keep calling me Brian, like you did earlier.” I reminded Eline. “And it went well. I made a summoning contract.” I told her.
“Amazing! I know you could do it.” Eline said.
“... then where is it? I don’t see it.” Einar asked.
“I can summon her now.” I told him. “Himeśaila. Would you be so kind.” I requested, as I was trying to use the Advanced Summoning Magic skill. That is how this works, right?
I felt a bit of mana being drained from me, and then the temperature got colder, just like it did when I summoned her inside the dungeon. Ice crystals began to form next to me and eventually they took on the shape of a dragon.
{M-master. You already called me.} Himeśaila at first spoke shyly, but as soon as she realized I wasn’t holding the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword, her tone changed a bit. {Well, of course you would call for me. What summoner wouldn’t want to show off their amazing familiar? Yes. Gaze at my glory, you lowly people.} Himeśaila said, as she raised her head up high, posing as if she was the greatest dragon in existence.
“You- you made a contract with a dragon?” Eline asked.
“Of course he would.” Einar said. “What else would our Master summon?”
“Maybe a phoenix?” Eline suggested.
“Can you even summon that?”
“With a card I could.” I told Einar, before turning back towards Himeśaila and speaking to her in draconic. “Also, can you stop releasing cold air? You’ll kill the grass if you keep that up.”
{If it cannot take my frosty breath, it doesn’t deserve to serve as my summoner's footing.} Himeśaila responded.
“...” I didn’t say anything, but just glared at her.
{... I … I shall hold it back.} The dragon said, as she visibly shrunk and the amount of cold air coming off of her went down significantly. She was still letting out some cold air, but a lot less, and to the point where it won't freeze anything.
As we were talking, some of the others came out to the yard, possibly to check what the commotion was about. That included Alice, Lua, as well as the two dragons. Well, one is a dragon avatar, but still.
“So this is your new summon. She looks pretty.” Lua commented. Naturally she and Alice already knew about my shenaniganz, as I told them via the System Link.
“You always did lack water dragons, so I guess an ice dragon is a decent substitute.” Alice added.
“Is this a new card?” Agunan asked. “May I fight her?”
“No. This is different.” Lady Janina told him. “She is a summoned dragon. Not one made by Brian’s unique skill.”
As the four chatted with me, Himeśaila shrunk in size even more. To the point where I honestly began to think that she was getting physically smaller, as if her body was deflating.
{M-M-Master? Wh-Why is… a fire dragon here?} She asked, sounding terrified.
“Oh? So she talks.” Agunan spoke to Himeśaila in draconic. “I am here as I have dedicated my life to my Master. Of course I shall stay close to him.”
{Y-Y-you? You are a dragon slayer? And you have a dragon dedicated to you?}
“Well, kind of. But if you think about it, the only dragon I’ve ever really slain is Agunan there, but he is very much alive, so I wouldn’t actually consider myself a dragon slayer. Even if I have technically killed a dragon.” That was all spoken in draconic, so I wasn’t worried about Einar and Eline hearing it. Not that the duo don’t know that I can resurrect people, as I literally did that to Einar. As well as Mufasa just a bit ago.
“That does still make you a dragon slayer.” Lady Janina pointed out. “Besides, if you count what happened in the Factory, your monsters have killed Agunan a number of times, and even I succumbed thrice.”
As Lady Janina kept talking, I think her identity finally became clear to Himeśaila, as she immediately dropped her head to the ground to show respect to the dragon in front of her.
{M-M-My Queen. W-W-What is someone of your might doing here?} Himeśaila just barely muttered out.
“Don’t be like that. Brian won’t like it. Since this is his domain, and everyone is equal in his eyes, that isn’t necessary here.” Lady Janina said. “But if he summons you in my domain, it may be a different story.”
… well, she isn’t wrong, but she also is. While I do agree that I don’t want any of this crawling on the ground BS on HomeBase, there is still a clear hierarchy here. I’m at the top. Below me are Alice and Lua. Agunan is technically also at that level, as is Lady Janina. Below that is Ria, followed by everyone else in seniority by work time. So Wilma, then Einar and Eline and at the bottom are the four newcomers. My monsters in the dragon avatars, as well as Endy and Magie, aka Magical Exemplar installed into the dragon avatar, are somewhere around Ria in rank, depending on the monster.
Spoiler
After everyone saw my new dragon, I unsummoned Himeśaila. I probably shouldn’t summon her in front of Agunan too much, as she seemed honestly terrified of the fire dragon. Even Lady Janina was less scary to her, but that might be because that is just the dragon avatar Janina, not her true body turned into a human form. Oh, and speaking of human forms, Himeśaila cannot transform into a human form, but she was willing to learn how to do so, so she might join me on my Draconic Body/Magic practice sessions.
Alice and Lua were also both interested in testing out if they can summon monsters and make contracts, but I asked them to wait until I have the more permanent summoning circles done. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two to do that after all. I just need to pick a good spot, make a stone slab or something like that there, and then have one of my monsters carve the summoning magic circle to it. Then later I might look into adding that mana autofill, as Lua and Alice really don’t need it. They have plenty of mana, just like I do.
After a somewhat eventful day, I decided to have a different kind of evening. We are levitating above the capital, so why not go and check out the capital’s nightlife, and maybe the bar scene. So after swapping our clothes for something that wouldn’t stand out as much in the capital, Alice, Lua and I beamed ourselves down to the ground. We appeared already in the ‘commoner’ district, in a random alley I noticed was empty.
We got out of there and onto a main street before some … not so savory people could spot us, and headed towards where I remember seeing a bar. There were plenty of them across the capital, but we were quite close to one, so may as well start there.
It wasn’t difficult for me to order a drink, as I could really go for anything, but neither Lua or Alice had any experience with alcoholic drinks. Alice because her Father never offered her any and Lua because it would have tasted awful to her.
After a bit of pondering and some recommendations from both me and the bartender, Lua ended up taking a glass of rosé wine, while Alice had a fruit cocktail.
“How do you like it?” I asked.
“... I don’t really see the appeal.” Lua said. “Blood is way better.”
“Maybe I should mix some into some red wine and have you try that.” I offered, before I added something in a much quieter voice. “In legends from my world, vampires enjoyed red wine with blood mixed into it. So you might also really like that.”
“Really? Then… I’ll test it out.” Lua agreed. “... as long as it is your blood.” She then added teasingly.
“What about yours, Alice?”
“... It's good. But I want something else next.”
“Alright. Then let's finish these drinks and head to the next place.”
We ended up doing a few more bar hops. Lua was testing out different wines, with just a drop or two of my blood mixed into them, while Alice was more focused on mixed drinks. I was mainly testing out the house ales, if the place had any. And if they didn’t, I just ordered something at random.
I was actually fully expecting Alice or Lua to get drunk quite quickly, as neither of them is experienced, but possibly because of our abnormally high levels, or maybe their advanced races, neither of them was really getting drunk. At least not as I could see. And I didn’t feel anything myself, so that is probably the case.
“Maybe one more place?” Lua suggested as we left the bar we just had a drink in.
“Yes. Then home so we can … we can…” Alice continued, but she refused to say what she actually wanted.
“Cuddle?” I suggested, as she had been practically sitting on my lap in the last place.
“... yes.” Alice said very quickly.
“Sure. Then maybe we should skip the next place and head straight home?”
“Only if I get a drink directly from you.” Lua cut in. “I want more of your blood.”
“Don’t get too addicted to it.”
“Too late, I already am.” Lua said. “But don’t worry. I know a Blood Magic spell that helps you make more blood quickly.”
“Convenient.”
“We have to take care of your food sources, right? … though admittedly it is quite the difficult spell, and I learned it from Vampire Grace, so other dhampir probably don’t know it.”
Spoiler [collapse]“Are you teaching it to others?” I asked.
“No. It requires at least LV.8 True Blood Magic, so it is not something most could use. … also, I don’t want anyone turning a person into an endless blood bag.”
“Yeah. That might cause some … bad blood.” I joked, only to get a stupefied look from Lua.
“... that was just awful.” Even Alice didn’t like my joke.
“Why don’t you two appreciate my puns?” I asked.
“Read the room.”
“We are on the street.”
“Smartass.”
“... sorry. Let’s just get our last drinks and go home.”
At least that was the plan, but things don’t always go as planned.
“That place will do.” Alice said, as she pointed out a small pub.
“Sure. Let’s go there.” I agreed.
As I said earlier, this pub was quite small and there were only a handful of customers inside. That means this place is either garbage, or not well known. I guess we will see.
After ordering our last drinks of the night, we sat down at a small table.
“... it’s actually really good.” I said as I took a sip of the pub's ale. This was definitely one of the best of the evening. Maybe not the best, but easily in the top 3.
“As is the wine. It has a nice deep taste.” Lua was also complimenting her drink.
“... this one is… so so.” Alice was the only one not quite happy with her drink.
I don’t know if the bartender heard Alice’s complaint, but soon after her comment, I saw him coming towards our table.
“Miss, I may have misheard you, but are you saying that your drink isn’t to your satisfaction?” He asked.
“... I mean. It isn’t bad, but … I’ve had better drinks tonight.” Alice answered honestly.
“I see. Could you go into more detail? I would like to know what you think is wrong with it?”
Oh? Looking for actual feedback? I wasn’t expecting that.
“... well, the fruit blend doesn’t really suit my palate.” Alice began. “And there is quite a bit of alcohol in this, so it isn’t that easy to drink. I think if you…” She then gave a few suggestions that she thought might make the drink better and the bartender seemed to focus on committing them to memory.
“... I see. Thank you. Would you care for another one? Free of charge, of course. I just wish for you to test it.”
“... sure. Why not.” Alice agreed.
As the bartender left to mix up another drink for Alice, someone new walked into the pub. He was a man, a bit short at only about 160 cm with black unkempt hair, and his clothes looked like they had been passed down from his big brother, to his other big brother and then finally to him. Aka. they were beaten to shit. The worst part of him was the smell. He reeked of alcohol, and that is coming from me after I have been barhopping all evening.
He walked to the counter like he owned the place and in a voice so loud that the entire neighborhood probably heard it, he demanded a drink from the bartender.
“Just a second, Lord James. I’ll make you your regular as soon as I finish the miss’s drink.” The bartender responded to the drunk guy, as he pointed at our table about the drink he was working on.
“Humph. You prioritize new customers over me. Last mistake you might make.” The man grumbled.
“You know the rules, James. One more ‘incident’ and they are tossing you in the slammer.”
“They have been saying that for years, but here I am. So Give Me My Drink!”
“Yes. Yes. Just a second.” The bartender again told this James guy, as he began walking the finished drink towards Alice.
“I’ll take this one then.” James said, as he moved at near superhuman speeds and snatched the ready drink from the bartender’s hand. Then in just one swing, he gulped the entire drink down.
“Hey! That was for…”
“Weak!” James yelled over the bartender. “Why would anyone want something this WEAK!?”
“It wasn’t for you, but for the…”
“Them Make Mine!”
“... yes Sir.” The bartender shrunk in size, as the angry shortstack turned to him.
Is calling someone a shortstack when they are 160 cm appropriate? Probably not. Do I really care? Because this guy seems like an asshole, I don’t.
“... maybe we should leave?” I suggested quietly. “This place is getting rowdy.”
“Yes, let’s.” Lua agreed.
“... yeah. Might not be worth waiting for my free drink.” Alice also agreed, so we got up to leave.
I wanted to thank the bartender for his service, but as he seemed way too focused on making James’ drink, I decided to just leave quietly. We had already paid for the drinks, so don’t think this is stealing or anything. I did decide to drop a small silver coin as a tip on the table though.
But we didn’t quite make it out of the door, as just before we reached it, a blur moved in front of us.
“And where do you think you are going with these lovely ladies!?” The drunk shortstack had moved at speeds that I could just barely follow with my eyes to block our path.
“We are heading home, thank you for asking. Now would you please step aside.” I requested.
“A youngster like you? With two ladies? Why not share one?”
“... what?”
“You heard me. Leave one of those two for me. But I’m not greedy, so I’ll let you choose.”
“No.” I just said.
“No? No!? Did you just say No to me! Do you have any idea who you are speaking with!?”
“I should ask that of you, James.”
“Why would I, the Great James, the S-rank adventurer James. The Master James. Know some random youngsters?”
“Hmph.” I almost began to laugh as this guy introduced himself. “Master? Maybe a drunk master.”
After I said that, I heard some quiet chuckles from both Lua and Alice.
“Now if you would, step aside.” I said with a much more assertive voice.
Then, before I really had time to figure out what was happening, a fist was flying towards my face. I only realized it when a card I had set on myself activated.
Spoiler [collapse]Negate Attack. It was one of the go-to cards for defense, and I had one set on all three of us. It would automatically activate if someone tried to attack us with the intention to harm or kill us. That proves that he had legitimately attempted to at least harm me.
“AARGH!” James yelled, as he held his right fist with his left hand. It had hit the defensive barrier my Negate Attack had made, and apparently it hurt him, at least a little.
And because Negate Attack comes with a temporary stun, you know, because of the entire ‘then end the Battle Phase.’ part of the effect, James was just standing there, so I pushed him aside, so the three of us could walk outside.
Not that we got far before the stun of Negate Attack ended and drunken master James rushed after us.
“YOU! You dare humiliate the GREAT JAMES like that!” He yelled.
“Why wouldn’t I? I did nothing.”
“You… you… you… Nothing! You call that NOTHING!”
As James kept yelling, something strange was happening to his body. It was… growing. Like actually growing, and not just some visual gag. It was almost like… well, I can only really compare it to one thing. It was like he was transforming into the Hulk or something.
His muscles got bigger, his skin turned from a white-ish tone to dark red, and the already ripped clothing he was wearing was ripped even more. I guess that answered the question as to why his clothes were ripped to shreds. Can’t really hulk out without destroying your clothing.
“YOU! Are! Going! To! Pay!” The now monstrous James yelled at me, but I really don’t care that much. I can handle him. Probably.
As he rushed at us, I moved my arm to where another card was set on me and quickly said its name to activate it outside of the condition I set for it.
“Mirror Force.”
Spoiler [collapse]Mirror Force would usually only activate against ranged attacks, not melee, so I had to activate it manually. But its effectiveness was more than sufficient, as all the force this drunk moron put into his rush reflected back at him, sending him flying down the street.
But despite taking a full force of his own attack, the drunk rage monster didn’t stay down. He pushed himself back to his feet and rushed at us again.
“Shadow Spell.” I activated the next card to stop him. And this would hopefully keep him still for a bit longer.
Spoiler [collapse]Dark chains quickly bound up the raging drunk monster, and they seemed to work alright. But I’m not sure if they will be absolute, as I heard some not so good sounds coming from the chains, as the monster was trying to break free.
“... Maybe I should have her deal with this…” I muttered as I pondered my choices. Yeah. That will help him… actually, let’s make that joke a bit later. “Ice Dragon Himeśaila. Appear by my side.” I summoned my new ice dragon. I just got her and I want to see her power. And I don’t think this drunk monster will die from it.
After Himeśaila had fully materialized, I made a simple request to her.
“Our drunk friend needs to cool off. Do you think you could make it so?” I asked the ice dragon.
{That is simple, Master. And as a service to you, I won’t even kill him.} The dragon responded before she blasted the drunken monster with her ice breath.
By the time it was over, the drunk monster was encased in a block of ice, with the chains also around him. Well, the chains will disappear in two hours, and that should weaken the ice to the point where he can be broken free. Or someone can break him free.
I then walked to the barkeeper, so I could talk with him for a second.
“Sorry about the mess.” I told him, as I handed him a full gold coin. “Do you think you could deal with that? Call the guards or something. Actually, they are probably already on their way considering all the noise we made.”
“.... yes… anything you want.” The barkeep agreed. “But… what is your name? If the guards need it.”
“Oh yeah. It’s Brian Wood. And I’m staying at the Sawyer family’s capital manor. If the guards have anything they need from me, tell them that that is where they will find me.”
“Y-y-yes, my Lord.” The barkeep quickly said, as he bowed to me. “I-I-I … I thank you for your business. Please do come again.”
“We probably will. Please make sure to remember the drink Alice wants, as she will get it next time.” I told him. “Alice, Lua. Let’s just head home from here. Himeśaila, thank you for your service. You can go now.”
I called a teleportation beam from HomeBase to pick us up, as the ice dragon disappeared into the night air. Unlike with the B.E.S. teleportation beams, the one from HomeBase was invisible for anyone that didn’t hold a HomeBase access ring, or other access device, so for the ones watching, it would just look as if we were standing still in the middle of the street, before we suddenly disappeared. That might cause some urban legends, but they might just think it was teleportation magic, which in a way, it was.
But man. What a night. We definitely should have called this off one place sooner. Would have avoided a lot of trouble.
nro_8 End of the month again. And like always, 31 day month means that I'll take an extra day off. Next chapter will come out on the second.
“... I really need to make a more permanent summoning circle.” I muttered, as I looked at the circle I used to summon the ice dragon.
Even with no fighting or show of force, the circle drawn on the dirt of this floor had been damaged to the point where it would take more time to fix it than it would take to draw a new one. Well, let’s just completely erase this one. I’ll later find a good place where I can make permanent circles of different sizes.
With all the evidence of my … I was going to say screwing around, but I was actually doing something quite serious. Well, with the place cleaned, I teleported myself back to the surface.
“He's back!” Eline yelled, as she spotted me. “My Lord. How did it go?” She then asked, as she ran to me.
“You know you can just keep calling me Brian, like you did earlier.” I reminded Eline. “And it went well. I made a summoning contract.” I told her.
“Amazing! I know you could do it.” Eline said.
“... then where is it? I don’t see it.” Einar asked.
“I can summon her now.” I told him. “Himeśaila. Would you be so kind.” I requested, as I was trying to use the Advanced Summoning Magic skill. That is how this works, right?
I felt a bit of mana being drained from me, and then the temperature got colder, just like it did when I summoned her inside the dungeon. Ice crystals began to form next to me and eventually they took on the shape of a dragon.
{M-master. You already called me.} Himeśaila at first spoke shyly, but as soon as she realized I wasn’t holding the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword, her tone changed a bit. {Well, of course you would call for me. What summoner wouldn’t want to show off their amazing familiar? Yes. Gaze at my glory, you lowly people.} Himeśaila said, as she raised her head up high, posing as if she was the greatest dragon in existence.
“You- you made a contract with a dragon?” Eline asked.
“Of course he would.” Einar said. “What else would our Master summon?”
“Maybe a phoenix?” Eline suggested.
“Can you even summon that?”
“With a card I could.” I told Einar, before turning back towards Himeśaila and speaking to her in draconic. “Also, can you stop releasing cold air? You’ll kill the grass if you keep that up.”
{If it cannot take my frosty breath, it doesn’t deserve to serve as my summoner's footing.} Himeśaila responded.
“...” I didn’t say anything, but just glared at her.
{... I … I shall hold it back.} The dragon said, as she visibly shrunk and the amount of cold air coming off of her went down significantly. She was still letting out some cold air, but a lot less, and to the point where it won't freeze anything.
As we were talking, some of the others came out to the yard, possibly to check what the commotion was about. That included Alice, Lua, as well as the two dragons. Well, one is a dragon avatar, but still.
“So this is your new summon. She looks pretty.” Lua commented. Naturally she and Alice already knew about my shenaniganz, as I told them via the System Link.
“You always did lack water dragons, so I guess an ice dragon is a decent substitute.” Alice added.
“Is this a new card?” Agunan asked. “May I fight her?”
“No. This is different.” Lady Janina told him. “She is a summoned dragon. Not one made by Brian’s unique skill.”
As the four chatted with me, Himeśaila shrunk in size even more. To the point where I honestly began to think that she was getting physically smaller, as if her body was deflating.
{M-M-Master? Wh-Why is… a fire dragon here?} She asked, sounding terrified.
“Oh? So she talks.” Agunan spoke to Himeśaila in draconic. “I am here as I have dedicated my life to my Master. Of course I shall stay close to him.”
{Y-Y-you? You are a dragon slayer? And you have a dragon dedicated to you?}
“Well, kind of. But if you think about it, the only dragon I’ve ever really slain is Agunan there, but he is very much alive, so I wouldn’t actually consider myself a dragon slayer. Even if I have technically killed a dragon.” That was all spoken in draconic, so I wasn’t worried about Einar and Eline hearing it. Not that the duo don’t know that I can resurrect people, as I literally did that to Einar. As well as Mufasa just a bit ago.
“That does still make you a dragon slayer.” Lady Janina pointed out. “Besides, if you count what happened in the Factory, your monsters have killed Agunan a number of times, and even I succumbed thrice.”
As Lady Janina kept talking, I think her identity finally became clear to Himeśaila, as she immediately dropped her head to the ground to show respect to the dragon in front of her.
{M-M-My Queen. W-W-What is someone of your might doing here?} Himeśaila just barely muttered out.
“Don’t be like that. Brian won’t like it. Since this is his domain, and everyone is equal in his eyes, that isn’t necessary here.” Lady Janina said. “But if he summons you in my domain, it may be a different story.”
… well, she isn’t wrong, but she also is. While I do agree that I don’t want any of this crawling on the ground BS on HomeBase, there is still a clear hierarchy here. I’m at the top. Below me are Alice and Lua. Agunan is technically also at that level, as is Lady Janina. Below that is Ria, followed by everyone else in seniority by work time. So Wilma, then Einar and Eline and at the bottom are the four newcomers. My monsters in the dragon avatars, as well as Endy and Magie, aka Magical Exemplar installed into the dragon avatar, are somewhere around Ria in rank, depending on the monster.
Spoiler
After everyone saw my new dragon, I unsummoned Himeśaila. I probably shouldn’t summon her in front of Agunan too much, as she seemed honestly terrified of the fire dragon. Even Lady Janina was less scary to her, but that might be because that is just the dragon avatar Janina, not her true body turned into a human form. Oh, and speaking of human forms, Himeśaila cannot transform into a human form, but she was willing to learn how to do so, so she might join me on my Draconic Body/Magic practice sessions.
Alice and Lua were also both interested in testing out if they can summon monsters and make contracts, but I asked them to wait until I have the more permanent summoning circles done. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two to do that after all. I just need to pick a good spot, make a stone slab or something like that there, and then have one of my monsters carve the summoning magic circle to it. Then later I might look into adding that mana autofill, as Lua and Alice really don’t need it. They have plenty of mana, just like I do.
After a somewhat eventful day, I decided to have a different kind of evening. We are levitating above the capital, so why not go and check out the capital’s nightlife, and maybe the bar scene. So after swapping our clothes for something that wouldn’t stand out as much in the capital, Alice, Lua and I beamed ourselves down to the ground. We appeared already in the ‘commoner’ district, in a random alley I noticed was empty.
We got out of there and onto a main street before some … not so savory people could spot us, and headed towards where I remember seeing a bar. There were plenty of them across the capital, but we were quite close to one, so may as well start there.
It wasn’t difficult for me to order a drink, as I could really go for anything, but neither Lua or Alice had any experience with alcoholic drinks. Alice because her Father never offered her any and Lua because it would have tasted awful to her.
After a bit of pondering and some recommendations from both me and the bartender, Lua ended up taking a glass of rosé wine, while Alice had a fruit cocktail.
“How do you like it?” I asked.
“... I don’t really see the appeal.” Lua said. “Blood is way better.”
“Maybe I should mix some into some red wine and have you try that.” I offered, before I added something in a much quieter voice. “In legends from my world, vampires enjoyed red wine with blood mixed into it. So you might also really like that.”
“Really? Then… I’ll test it out.” Lua agreed. “... as long as it is your blood.” She then added teasingly.
“What about yours, Alice?”
“... It's good. But I want something else next.”
“Alright. Then let's finish these drinks and head to the next place.”
We ended up doing a few more bar hops. Lua was testing out different wines, with just a drop or two of my blood mixed into them, while Alice was more focused on mixed drinks. I was mainly testing out the house ales, if the place had any. And if they didn’t, I just ordered something at random.
I was actually fully expecting Alice or Lua to get drunk quite quickly, as neither of them is experienced, but possibly because of our abnormally high levels, or maybe their advanced races, neither of them was really getting drunk. At least not as I could see. And I didn’t feel anything myself, so that is probably the case.
“Maybe one more place?” Lua suggested as we left the bar we just had a drink in.
“Yes. Then home so we can … we can…” Alice continued, but she refused to say what she actually wanted.
“Cuddle?” I suggested, as she had been practically sitting on my lap in the last place.
“... yes.” Alice said very quickly.
“Sure. Then maybe we should skip the next place and head straight home?”
“Only if I get a drink directly from you.” Lua cut in. “I want more of your blood.”
“Don’t get too addicted to it.”
“Too late, I already am.” Lua said. “But don’t worry. I know a Blood Magic spell that helps you make more blood quickly.”
“Convenient.”
“We have to take care of your food sources, right? … though admittedly it is quite the difficult spell, and I learned it from Vampire Grace, so other dhampir probably don’t know it.”
Spoiler [collapse]“Are you teaching it to others?” I asked.
“No. It requires at least LV.8 True Blood Magic, so it is not something most could use. … also, I don’t want anyone turning a person into an endless blood bag.”
“Yeah. That might cause some … bad blood.” I joked, only to get a stupefied look from Lua.
“... that was just awful.” Even Alice didn’t like my joke.
“Why don’t you two appreciate my puns?” I asked.
“Read the room.”
“We are on the street.”
“Smartass.”
“... sorry. Let’s just get our last drinks and go home.”
At least that was the plan, but things don’t always go as planned.
“That place will do.” Alice said, as she pointed out a small pub.
“Sure. Let’s go there.” I agreed.
As I said earlier, this pub was quite small and there were only a handful of customers inside. That means this place is either garbage, or not well known. I guess we will see.
After ordering our last drinks of the night, we sat down at a small table.
“... it’s actually really good.” I said as I took a sip of the pub's ale. This was definitely one of the best of the evening. Maybe not the best, but easily in the top 3.
“As is the wine. It has a nice deep taste.” Lua was also complimenting her drink.
“... this one is… so so.” Alice was the only one not quite happy with her drink.
I don’t know if the bartender heard Alice’s complaint, but soon after her comment, I saw him coming towards our table.
“Miss, I may have misheard you, but are you saying that your drink isn’t to your satisfaction?” He asked.
“... I mean. It isn’t bad, but … I’ve had better drinks tonight.” Alice answered honestly.
“I see. Could you go into more detail? I would like to know what you think is wrong with it?”
Oh? Looking for actual feedback? I wasn’t expecting that.
“... well, the fruit blend doesn’t really suit my palate.” Alice began. “And there is quite a bit of alcohol in this, so it isn’t that easy to drink. I think if you…” She then gave a few suggestions that she thought might make the drink better and the bartender seemed to focus on committing them to memory.
“... I see. Thank you. Would you care for another one? Free of charge, of course. I just wish for you to test it.”
“... sure. Why not.” Alice agreed.
As the bartender left to mix up another drink for Alice, someone new walked into the pub. He was a man, a bit short at only about 160 cm with black unkempt hair, and his clothes looked like they had been passed down from his big brother, to his other big brother and then finally to him. Aka. they were beaten to shit. The worst part of him was the smell. He reeked of alcohol, and that is coming from me after I have been barhopping all evening.
He walked to the counter like he owned the place and in a voice so loud that the entire neighborhood probably heard it, he demanded a drink from the bartender.
“Just a second, Lord James. I’ll make you your regular as soon as I finish the miss’s drink.” The bartender responded to the drunk guy, as he pointed at our table about the drink he was working on.
“Humph. You prioritize new customers over me. Last mistake you might make.” The man grumbled.
“You know the rules, James. One more ‘incident’ and they are tossing you in the slammer.”
“They have been saying that for years, but here I am. So Give Me My Drink!”
“Yes. Yes. Just a second.” The bartender again told this James guy, as he began walking the finished drink towards Alice.
“I’ll take this one then.” James said, as he moved at near superhuman speeds and snatched the ready drink from the bartender’s hand. Then in just one swing, he gulped the entire drink down.
“Hey! That was for…”
“Weak!” James yelled over the bartender. “Why would anyone want something this WEAK!?”
“It wasn’t for you, but for the…”
“Them Make Mine!”
“... yes Sir.” The bartender shrunk in size, as the angry shortstack turned to him.
Is calling someone a shortstack when they are 160 cm appropriate? Probably not. Do I really care? Because this guy seems like an asshole, I don’t.
“... maybe we should leave?” I suggested quietly. “This place is getting rowdy.”
“Yes, let’s.” Lua agreed.
“... yeah. Might not be worth waiting for my free drink.” Alice also agreed, so we got up to leave.
I wanted to thank the bartender for his service, but as he seemed way too focused on making James’ drink, I decided to just leave quietly. We had already paid for the drinks, so don’t think this is stealing or anything. I did decide to drop a small silver coin as a tip on the table though.
But we didn’t quite make it out of the door, as just before we reached it, a blur moved in front of us.
“And where do you think you are going with these lovely ladies!?” The drunk shortstack had moved at speeds that I could just barely follow with my eyes to block our path.
“We are heading home, thank you for asking. Now would you please step aside.” I requested.
“A youngster like you? With two ladies? Why not share one?”
“... what?”
“You heard me. Leave one of those two for me. But I’m not greedy, so I’ll let you choose.”
“No.” I just said.
“No? No!? Did you just say No to me! Do you have any idea who you are speaking with!?”
“I should ask that of you, James.”
“Why would I, the Great James, the S-rank adventurer James. The Master James. Know some random youngsters?”
“Hmph.” I almost began to laugh as this guy introduced himself. “Master? Maybe a drunk master.”
After I said that, I heard some quiet chuckles from both Lua and Alice.
“Now if you would, step aside.” I said with a much more assertive voice.
Then, before I really had time to figure out what was happening, a fist was flying towards my face. I only realized it when a card I had set on myself activated.
Spoiler [collapse]Negate Attack. It was one of the go-to cards for defense, and I had one set on all three of us. It would automatically activate if someone tried to attack us with the intention to harm or kill us. That proves that he had legitimately attempted to at least harm me.
“AARGH!” James yelled, as he held his right fist with his left hand. It had hit the defensive barrier my Negate Attack had made, and apparently it hurt him, at least a little.
And because Negate Attack comes with a temporary stun, you know, because of the entire ‘then end the Battle Phase.’ part of the effect, James was just standing there, so I pushed him aside, so the three of us could walk outside.
Not that we got far before the stun of Negate Attack ended and drunken master James rushed after us.
“YOU! You dare humiliate the GREAT JAMES like that!” He yelled.
“Why wouldn’t I? I did nothing.”
“You… you… you… Nothing! You call that NOTHING!”
As James kept yelling, something strange was happening to his body. It was… growing. Like actually growing, and not just some visual gag. It was almost like… well, I can only really compare it to one thing. It was like he was transforming into the Hulk or something.
His muscles got bigger, his skin turned from a white-ish tone to dark red, and the already ripped clothing he was wearing was ripped even more. I guess that answered the question as to why his clothes were ripped to shreds. Can’t really hulk out without destroying your clothing.
“YOU! Are! Going! To! Pay!” The now monstrous James yelled at me, but I really don’t care that much. I can handle him. Probably.
As he rushed at us, I moved my arm to where another card was set on me and quickly said its name to activate it outside of the condition I set for it.
“Mirror Force.”
Spoiler [collapse]Mirror Force would usually only activate against ranged attacks, not melee, so I had to activate it manually. But its effectiveness was more than sufficient, as all the force this drunk moron put into his rush reflected back at him, sending him flying down the street.
But despite taking a full force of his own attack, the drunk rage monster didn’t stay down. He pushed himself back to his feet and rushed at us again.
“Shadow Spell.” I activated the next card to stop him. And this would hopefully keep him still for a bit longer.
Spoiler [collapse]Dark chains quickly bound up the raging drunk monster, and they seemed to work alright. But I’m not sure if they will be absolute, as I heard some not so good sounds coming from the chains, as the monster was trying to break free.
“... Maybe I should have her deal with this…” I muttered as I pondered my choices. Yeah. That will help him… actually, let’s make that joke a bit later. “Ice Dragon Himeśaila. Appear by my side.” I summoned my new ice dragon. I just got her and I want to see her power. And I don’t think this drunk monster will die from it.
After Himeśaila had fully materialized, I made a simple request to her.
“Our drunk friend needs to cool off. Do you think you could make it so?” I asked the ice dragon.
{That is simple, Master. And as a service to you, I won’t even kill him.} The dragon responded before she blasted the drunken monster with her ice breath.
By the time it was over, the drunk monster was encased in a block of ice, with the chains also around him. Well, the chains will disappear in two hours, and that should weaken the ice to the point where he can be broken free. Or someone can break him free.
I then walked to the barkeeper, so I could talk with him for a second.
“Sorry about the mess.” I told him, as I handed him a full gold coin. “Do you think you could deal with that? Call the guards or something. Actually, they are probably already on their way considering all the noise we made.”
“.... yes… anything you want.” The barkeep agreed. “But… what is your name? If the guards need it.”
“Oh yeah. It’s Brian Wood. And I’m staying at the Sawyer family’s capital manor. If the guards have anything they need from me, tell them that that is where they will find me.”
“Y-y-yes, my Lord.” The barkeep quickly said, as he bowed to me. “I-I-I … I thank you for your business. Please do come again.”
“We probably will. Please make sure to remember the drink Alice wants, as she will get it next time.” I told him. “Alice, Lua. Let’s just head home from here. Himeśaila, thank you for your service. You can go now.”
I called a teleportation beam from HomeBase to pick us up, as the ice dragon disappeared into the night air. Unlike with the B.E.S. teleportation beams, the one from HomeBase was invisible for anyone that didn’t hold a HomeBase access ring, or other access device, so for the ones watching, it would just look as if we were standing still in the middle of the street, before we suddenly disappeared. That might cause some urban legends, but they might just think it was teleportation magic, which in a way, it was.
But man. What a night. We definitely should have called this off one place sooner. Would have avoided a lot of trouble.
nro_8 End of the month again. And like always, 31 day month means that I'll take an extra day off. Next chapter will come out on the second.
