Beast-making Water (2)
By the time the fruit liquor they had brought ran dry, Chester and Monia’s home had become a place overflowing with pure chaos.
First of all, Black Wind had seized a nearby tree and was tearing at it while bawling like a child.
— Waaaaah!!
Just as he always did when drunk, he was crying over something utterly trivial.
— There’s dirt on my feet!!
For people who spent their entire lives walking barefoot on the earth, what on earth was the problem with a little dirt on their soles?
Then the tree Black Wind had been mauling finally gave way under his weight, collapsing with a tremendous crash.
— Treeee! Waaaaah!
Pinned beneath the fallen trunk, Black Wind clutched it as if mourning a dead lover and began wailing at the top of his lungs once more.
Elsewhere, a drunken Young Warrior and Adult Head were locked in a fight.
— You stole my woman!!
— It wasn’t me, you idiot!!
The Young Warrior had gone down to the lower levels to undergo the rite of becoming a true warrior, only for his closest friend to steal his lover. Afterward he had dueled that friend to the death in revenge, and the woman herself had been executed in a trial attended by every Person of the Summit for the unforgivable crime of driving a wedge between families.
Yet whenever the Young Warrior got drunk, the old pain seemed to resurface; he would grab anyone nearby—man or woman—and attack them, screaming that they had stolen his woman. That was how the Adult Head, who normally just got quietly drunk with no particular habits, had been dragged into the mess.
Their combat strength was roughly equal, so the fight stayed evenly matched for a long time, and the longer it dragged on, the more the surroundings were reduced to rubble.
In yet another corner, the Adult Warrior had seized the Small Warrior and was repeating the same lecture over and over like a tiresome old man.
— Back in my day, you see…
— Ah, yeah.
— So back in my day…
— I see.
— At that time I, you know…
— …
— I, back then, you know…
— Enough already! Ulp—blaaaaargh!!
The Small Warrior, forced to listen, finally snapped and threw up everything in his stomach. The Adult Warrior paid no attention whatsoever to the vomit now covering him and simply kept repeating himself.
— So back then I…
— Blaaaaargh!!
Mid-vomit the Small Warrior simply collapsed on the spot and began snoring. The Young Head, who had learned drinking from the Adult Head and likewise had no real habits when drunk, quietly watched the whole spectacle.
— They brought us along for this reason, I suppose…
The Adult Head and Young Head had almost certainly been sent so that, together with the Small Head, they could think, judge, and observe the others once everyone else had turned into beasts under the influence of the liquor. But when they themselves got swept up in everyone else’s drunken habits, observation became impossible.
The Young Head looked down at the Small Elder, who for some time now had been clinging to his tail and acting coquettishly.
— Hmm? My one and only flower, what did you say?
“My one and only flower” was what the Small Elder called his woman. The Young Head’s face twisted in irritation as he struggled to free his tail, but every time he did, the Small Elder tormented him with sickeningly sweet gestures and words.
— Aww, you’re being so fussy today? Hmm? Not enough love? I know! I’ll love you lots!
— Aaaaagh! Someone save me! Uwaaaaah!!
The Young Head had no idea that everyone else had deliberately dumped the Small Elder on him, the youngest of the group.
— Don’t lick me! Stop licking! Damn it! I can’t even hit him because he’s an elder!!
And the biggest problem of all was that, unlike the others who lost their minds and started swinging the moment they got excited—even at the Small Elder—the Young Head still had the clearest head of anyone present.
While everyone else sank into chaos, Chester and Monia left Ant outside and went into the house to spend time alone together.
“Hah… hah…”
Inside the house, Monia nestled in Chester’s arms, breathing hard again and again.
It was hot.
After kissing Chester and drinking the unfamiliar strong liquor several times, flames kept swirling inside her. Her head floated; coherent thought refused to form. Strength had drained from her body so thoroughly she could barely hold herself up. Yet even in that hazy sense of standing one step removed from the world, one place remained vividly clear.
Her waist—where Chester had held her firmly when he carried her inside, saying he did not want anyone else to see her body.
Sometime earlier, during a conversation whose exact moment she could no longer recall, she had mentioned the time he had carried her up the ladder. She had expected a princess carry and been disappointed when he had simply slung her over his shoulder like a sack of goods. Had he remembered that? This time he had supported her beautifully with one arm while climbing the ladder. If he had done it on purpose because he remembered, she would be so happy.
“….”
Monia quietly rolled her eyes to look at Chester. After carefully laying her on the bed, he was undressing. The clothes she made were fastened with ropes, so taking them off took a little time. Normally he could strip them off in an instant, but drunk and unsteady, even untying a single rope was a struggle for him.
Thank goodness.
Monia thought so inwardly. Because it was taking Chester longer to undress, she had been given time to steel herself for this sudden moment.
….
When she closed her eyes she could feel her own heart pounding as if it might burst. Hot breath kept spilling from her lips, leaving them dry. She licked them with her tongue, then carefully reached for the nearby water jug and sat up. Sitting there, she stared blankly at the liquid inside for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut and drinking.
A scorching sensation as if it would set her body ablaze raced through her, and her heart beat even faster.
“Hooo…”
Monia exhaled alcohol-laced breath and recalled something her friends had once told her.
Will it be all right? They say the first time hurts. How much does it hurt?
The Duke had managed her so strictly that a man’s touch had meant nothing more than a formal kiss on the back of her hand while kneeling. Among the nobility, however, there were those who lived freely and wildly. Women who, if a man caught their fancy, would toy with one after another. At the time she had wondered why they spoke of such vulgar things; now she regretted not listening properly.
Umm, that is… ah, I definitely heard them talk about it! How to make men happy! Ah! Why can’t I remember!
While Monia clutched her head and groaned, Chester finally finished untying every rope on his upper garment and pulled it off. The instant he did, Monia’s eyes were drawn there by reflex.
The body she had once thought looked like a statue. The body she had later come to see as “the body of the man I love.” Perhaps because the liquor made her vision sway, Chester’s frame looked even larger than usual. The rough, heavy breathing caused by his drunken dizziness looked to her exactly like the panting of arousal.
Normally he would have folded his clothes neatly; instead he flung the upper garment into a corner and reached for the rope at his waist.
“….”
But his even drunker hands could not properly grasp the rope. Chester snatched the claw knife from the corner and roughly sawed the rope apart.
“Haaaah.”
He tossed the knife aside, looked at the severed rope with a faintly satisfied breath, and shoved his trousers down. The underclothes that had been swept away by a typhoon long ago were, of course, nowhere to be found.
Chester turned and approached Monia. For a while he said nothing. Then he sat so that their bodies overlapped, pulled her into his arms as if to devour her, firmly cradled the back of her head, and kissed her.
It was rough, as though he meant to consume her, yet at the same time so gentle and tender that it never hurt her. From that completely contradictory manner Monia understood just how much he wanted her, and just how deeply he loved and cared for her. A pleasant flutter rose in her chest, and she closed her eyes.
And the two of them shared a kiss far deeper and hotter than usual.
At that same moment, aboard a ship pitching violently in the rough seas, Rotin was encouraging the crew, shouting orders, and steeling his uneasy heart.
The sea could be endlessly beautiful when it chose to be, yet when it bared the savage teeth hidden within, it became endlessly terrifying. No matter how long a man had sailed, the terror that everything could be swept away in an instant and sink into the deep never truly disappeared—especially right after watching a sailor who had been trying to furl the sail get struck by a thrashing rope and vanish beneath the waves.
Monia.
Ordinarily Rotin overcame this fear by renewing his resolve for the sake of his house. Tonight was different.
Monia must be suffering and frightened even more than I am right now.
For the woman he loved.
Rotin hardened his heart once more and shouted to the crew.
“I can see light far ahead!! It’s the light of the sun! We only need to reach there! Everyone, hold on! Just a little more! Just a little farther!!”