Chapter 10. Stubbornness and Arrogance (4)
Chapter 10. Stubbornness and Arrogance (4)
Whether I should call it fortunate or not, there was no dancing at the welcome ceremony.
The Dwarves' welcome dance wasn't men and women dancing together; it was mainly a dance performed by men.
Well, that didn't mean they were hugging each other or anything.
Dwarf men, drunk enough that their noses were bright red, stood facing each other and danced something that looked like a Cossack dance, laughing loudly. People around them clapped to keep the beat, and the band gradually picked up speed, egging the two dancers on.
Then, when one of them fell over, that one lost. The loser drank another cup of alcohol—no, from what I could see, a cup roughly the size of a whole keg—and then went back into the dance battle.
Wouldn't it get harder to keep your balance the more you drank? If anything, it looked like he kept losing and drinking more.
It was a little strange seeing men dressed like nobles doing that, but their appearance was so completely stereotypical Dwarf that it somehow suited them.
The Dwarf women weren't exactly not enjoying the sight either. They stood a little ways off, covering their mouths with fans and laughing as they watched the men.
If the Dwarf men were stereotypical Dwarves, the Dwarf women just felt like human women with their height shrunk down. Their body proportions weren't badly distorted, though they were all a bit plump, so they did look slightly spread out sideways.
Still, there were women among them who, like the princess, had the look of a "beautiful girl from another race."
Maybe it mattered that this was the world of a web novel rather than a Western MMORPG. If it had definitely been content made in the United States, the Dwarf women would probably have had beards.
"You're not going to drink?"
"Hmm, well."
That was how I answered Ria's question.
"Have you ever drunk before?"
"......."
Well, I had. In my Past Life.
Actually, we were at an age where having a beer wouldn't be strange. Both of us were adults this year. In Korea, the legal drinking age didn't quibble over whether your birthday had passed or not, so from the moment the year turned, both Ria and I were old enough to drink.
"Have you drunk before, Ria?"
"Huh? Uh, uh? Y-yeah?"
At Ria's answer, my eyes narrowed slightly.
Right, so she was saying she'd drunk with someone else before.
Ah, of course, that didn't mean it was wrong. In the first place, forbidding even that would be absurd.
Still, I wondered who she'd drunk with.
.......
I didn't really know why I was feeling this way. I was the strange one. Probably, since Ria was the only person in this world I could call a friend, I was feeling it a bit too intensely.
"Can you hold your liquor?"
"Me? Sure. I can hold my liquor."
Ria answered while darting her eyes around, looking a little flustered for some reason.
Right, so she was saying she'd also confirmed her limit.
The standard for one's limit usually meant drinking right up until you blacked out. In other words, knowing your limit meant you'd drunk until you blacked out.
If it was Ria, nothing serious would have happened. A writer with decency wouldn't slip an NTR setup into hidden backstory like that.
But still, it meant someone else had seen her disheveled.
That was a little, well.
"Is that so? Then will you teach me how to drink?"
At my words, Ria blinked.
"Uh......."
"Come on, this way."
I headed toward the bar I'd spotted earlier.
That's right.
Whether Dwarves drank alcohol instead of water or not, there was a bar sitting openly in the corner of the grand banquet hall—the very hall that held the king's seat.
Dwarf bartenders were bustling around behind that bar.
No matter how stoutly built a male Dwarf was, they were shorter than us, so the chairs weren't extremely tall like at a typical bar.
"Hmm?"
When Ria and I took empty seats and sat down, the bartender looked at us, seeming a little taken aback.
"One each, please."
The Dwarf's gaze moved over my face and Ria's once each.
"I apologize, but this bar only serves high-proof distilled spirits. If you'd like beer, over there—"
"Distilled spirits are fine."
At my words, the Dwarf bartender shrugged.
Then he placed a small shot glass in front of each of us and filled both to the brim with amber liquor.
I picked up my glass and showed it to Ria.
Ria took hold of her glass somewhat awkwardly.
We lightly clinked our glasses together, producing the ring of glass—
I raised the glass and threw back the drink.
"Hah."
At the taste of alcohol after so long, that sound slipped out of my mouth.
It really did seem to be fairly strong liquor; I could distinctly feel the cool burn as it went down my throat.
I wasn't purely an ascetic. It had just ended up that way, but despite how I looked, I'd drunk quite a lot during my working life.
They'd told me not to drink at home, but what did that matter.
By the time of my last memories, I no longer had any ties with them anyway.
Ria knocked back her drink the same way I did—
"......Kgh!?"
Maybe because the proof was too high? After actually swallowing it, she coughed as if it had gone down the wrong way.
I smirked at the sight and raised one finger toward the bartender. The bartender shrugged and poured another round into my glass and Ria's.
"......Have you drunk before or something?"
Seeing me toss back the liquor so casually, Ria asked.
Without a word, I raised my glass and threw back another drink.
Ria glared at me once, then knocked back her own drink. As her ears slowly turned red, it became clear she wasn't especially good with alcohol.
"Oh my."
I heard that voice and turned around—
"Princess."
The bartender was bowing his head toward the person who'd made the sound.
"You're already enjoying yourselves."
The princess strolled over to us and took the empty seat next to me.
"The same for me."
"Yes, Princess."
As if it were a familiar routine, the bartender gave the princess the same kind of glass.
The princess knocked back the drink in her glass, then spoke.
"Sister Anna."
The princess said.
"I'm not sure if you know about the Dwarven style of welcome greeting."
"Unfortunately, this is my first time meeting Dwarves."
"The welcome custom is simple. You provide the guest with drink until they're sufficiently drunk—until they can no longer feel the cold."
That was a very Dwarven welcome custom indeed.
"That being said, times have changed, and these days there are guests who don't much care for that traditional welcome."
"It's a shame to see a beautiful tradition fading away."
When I chimed in, the princess beamed.
Meanwhile, the bartender poured another drink into the princess's glass.
The princess tossed that one back too.
And so, all three of us had now had two drinks each, fair and square.
"By the way, Sister, it seems you don't particularly dislike alcohol."
"Well, as it happens, this is the first time in my life I've ever drunk."
I said, glancing over at Ria.
Ria looked at me with slightly widened eyes.
"May I, on behalf of the Dwarves, welcome you, Sister Anna?"
"Of course. As a guest, it's an offer I can't refuse."
At my words, Ria's eyes sharpened for some reason.
The princess raised her glass, and Ria and I raised ours as well.
All three of us tossed our drinks back at the same time.
The glasses were refilled.
"May drink make us forget all discourtesy."
The princess said, raising her glass.
"Is that a Dwarven proverb?"
I said, raising my glass too.
"Hic."
Ria answered with a hiccup instead.
*
May drink make us forget all discourtesy.
It was a Dwarven proverb, but at the same time, it was also a warning.
You might not remember the rudeness you committed while drunk, but at the same time, you could commit "rudeness" while drinking.
And that "rudeness" included every word I might let slip without knowing what I was saying.
You might let important information slip, or your drinking habits might reveal what kind of person you were.
I stayed on my feet to the very end.
Maybe it was because I'd drunk so much in my Past Life, or maybe the Saintess had simply been written that way. Not that it mattered.
The princess didn't seem to be trying to dig something out of me. More than that, she seemed to want to see for herself what kind of person I was.
During an audience with the princess, I'd be on my best behavior and observe every courtesy. Even I could manage that much.
The drinking contest had at some point drawn other Dwarves over to watch—
"......Mmngh."
—but unfortunately, it came to a halt because one of us was absolutely terrible at holding liquor.
"Hey, Ria, are you sure you've really drunk before?"
Well, with a tolerance like that, she'd have figured out her limit pretty quickly.
The room the two of us shared.
Ria was clinging to me.
Originally, I'd planned to just support her and lay her down on the bed, but Ria used that strength to drag me down onto the bed with her.
Nothing risqué happened—
"......."
Then again, with her face buried in my chest, maybe it wasn't true that nothing had happened.
......Still, it wasn't anything major. Ria had just fallen asleep using my chest as a pillow.
"......Without even washing."
I muttered in disbelief.
"......Mom."
At Ria's words, I couldn't bring myself to pull her away.
Mom, huh.
When was the last time Ria had hugged someone this tightly? Her father wasn't the affectionate type. He was the sort of man who hid his affection behind strictness instead of showing it warmly.
"Mommy......."
......She must have been drunk enough that the words simply slipped out.
I slowly raised my hand and stroked Ria's hair.
The way Ria often did to me.
Normally, Ria was someone I found it hard to bring myself to touch, but like this, I somehow wanted to do it.
"......."
As I stroked her hair, Ria soon quieted down.
Before long, I heard the soft, peaceful sound of her breathing.
She still smelled a bit of alcohol, was sticky with sweat, and her face was flushed red.
Well, still, she was cute in her own way.
I chuckled quietly and decided to just leave Ria as she was.
It seemed washing up would have to be postponed until early tomorrow morning.