Night Banquet in Mutobashi Village
The village had scarcely any concept of marking time.
Inside the village the fog was not as dense as beyond its borders, yet the place remained dark from dawn to dusk. Perhaps the grace of the three great gods failed to reach the heavens themselves, for the sky over Mutobashi Village stayed forever wrapped in mist.
Mutobashi Village was dark all day long by nature. Night merely made it darker still.
"Your meal."
"Thank you."
For Sakaha and Lily the only ways to tell time were day and night—and the two meals the villagers prepared for them each day. The food the village woman had just brought was their second. Not long after this meal ended, night would fall.
"So what are we going to do?" Sakaha asked, having polished off her food with casual speed, eyes fixed on Lily.
"You mean the banquet they're holding tonight?"
"What else is there?"
"If we attend, the whole thing feels suspicious. If we refuse, I fear some kind of retaliation… No matter how I turn it over, I can't find a clean answer."
"Ugh. Quit padding it out. Are we going or not? Keep it simple. For the record, I'm going."
"You're going? Why?"
Sakaha ran a thumb along the hilt of her sword as she answered.
"If they've already decided to pull something dirty, we meet them head-on. Hiding inside a house they prepared for us and waiting for them to come? That's what livestock does—animals that don't even know they're already in the pen."
"If you put it that way, then I'll go as well. Still, we should take precautions. Only one of us drinks."
"Fine. I'll drink."
"…Why? If a fight breaks out, you'll be the one who has to shine. Wouldn't it be better if I took the sake?"
"No."
The refusal was absolute; she offered no further explanation.
Honestly. The moment alcohol enters the picture she loses all restraint!
Lily kept the complaint to herself and closed her mouth.
Once the meal was finished the two of them set out for the village hall where the banquet was to be held. Streams of handsome young men and beautiful women were already flowing in the same direction; there was no need to ask the way.
"Thank you for coming."
The village chief greeted Sakaha and Lily in person.
"To be frank, I was afraid you might not appear."
"Would our absence have caused you some difficulty?"
"Not difficulty, no—only regret. The reason Mutobashi Village is paradise owes a great deal to this Oomurasake."
"So it's more than ordinary liquor? How special are we talking?"
Sakaha's insolent tone did not ruffle the chief in the least. He simply answered the question as it was put.
"To live forever with nothing to enjoy—that would surely be hell. Oomurasake is deep of fragrance and exquisite of taste. It lifts the spirits and kindles joy, yet never summons rage or illness. And there is no hangover!"
"Sounds like the nectar the gods themselves drink."
"Hahaha! Beautifully said. The sake we offer the three great gods is simply our own brew refined several times over with still greater care. Looked at that way, we have been drinking heavenly wine all along!"
The chief was genuinely delighted. Excitement quickened his speech and multiplied his words.
"You may look forward to it. First-time guests at the banquet are served the clearest portion of the sake. That clear sake is liquor, yet it also clears the mind and heals sickness and wounds. Is it not marvelous? Nothing but rice, koji, and water—yet such mystery dwells within! Ah, O great three gods, we thank you! We thank you!"
Can't even look at the man.
Sakaha regarded the chief with open disdain as he worked himself into a religious frenzy, yet she could not deny a flicker of curiosity about the sake itself. How good could it possibly taste to make him carry on like that?
"Now that every seat is filled, let the banquet begin."
More than three hundred young men and women had gathered; another fifty or so were old, shabby, or roughly featured. At the chief's opening declaration several burly men set down jars the size of a man's torso with heavy thuds.
"A few days ago Miss Sakaha and Miss Lily found their way to our village. They said they would stay only a short while before departing, yet until the very moment they leave we shall treat them as comrades who share this same paradise."
—Clap. Clap. Clap.
The assembled guests answered with applause.
"Here. Please accept these."
The chief himself offered two cups of the clear sake. Transparent, fragrant liquor filled the vessels. True to their earlier agreement, Sakaha snatched both cups and drained them in swift succession.
"Ah…"
The strongest knight of the North, a member of the party that had once saved the world—Sakaha had been worshiped as the mightiest of knights and had tasted countless rare and costly wines on Terra. That the sake was free of any foul play went without saying. Its flavor could stand proudly against the legendary wine of the fairies, a draught said to be beyond the reach of any price.
One great difference remained. Fairy wine came in sips barely enough to wet the tongue; this sake could be swallowed in generous gulps.
"Lily. Maybe we've been thinking about this place all wrong. The village, these people—they're suspicious, sure, but maybe they're not bad."
"Sakaha, I can't tell whether the sake has already addled you or whether you're simply joking because it tastes good. Speak seriously, please."
"No tricks in the drink. As for how it tastes… I'm not telling you."
"Haaah. Sake truly is your mortal enemy."
Sakaha savored the lingering fragrance that still clung to her palate and the tip of her nose. The chief had not been boasting: the sake was superb in both taste and aroma, lifting the spirits without tipping into anger—a perfect balance.
Yet—
What did he mean, 'it clears the mind'?
A knight who had survived long years of hardship felt the unmistakable sense that something important was being overlooked. Before she could pursue the thought, the chief approached again, bottle in hand.
"The clear sake is a special gift reserved for first-time guests. I'm sorry Miss Lily could not share it, but we have no more to offer. In its place you may drink as much of the mixed sake as you like. Enjoy yourselves to the full."
Sakaha's hand shot out toward the bottle on pure instinct. Lost in the liquor, she let the half-formed thought slip away.
"Damn! This one's good too. No—outstanding!"
The mixed sake lacked the crystalline purity of the first cups, yet it still rivaled most celebrated wines.
"Hahaha! Lily, we were way too serious about all this! Look—I'm chugging it down and nobody bats an eye! You try some!"
"Please. Help yourself."
Lily left the flushed, high-spirited Sakaha to her own devices and surveyed the hall. Nearly five hundred people filled the space, yet it never felt raucous. Guests shared cups and exchanged quiet conversation. No one raised their voice, cracked crude jokes, or started a brawl.
This atmosphere belongs at a royal or noble banquet…
A refined, dignified gathering. The least presentable person present sat right beside her—Sakaha, guzzling sake and laughing at the top of her lungs.
"I'm telling you it's fine! These people aren't as bad as they look! Weird rules, gloomy mood, and yeah they talk like assholes sometimes, but still!"
"Quiet a moment."
"…You sense something?"
Sakaha's expression snapped into cold alertness at once. Lily spoke calmly of the oddity she had noticed.
"Weren't there more people than this? They seem to be thinning out little by little…"
"Yeah. You're right."
If the banquet were a trap, the vanished guests preparing an ambush from the rear was the most obvious possibility.
"Shall we take a short walk?"
"Let's."
They rose quietly and left the hall. No one paid them the slightest attention; even as the door closed behind them the banquet continued without interruption.
"About a hundred people disappeared at some point. Do you think they'll attack?"
Get them drunk, lower their guard, then strike—classic tactics of the underhanded. The two women raised their vigilance and scanned every shadow.
But then…
"Aahh—ahhn! Yes!"
"Cum in me! Deep as you can!"
"Slurp… slurp… ugh. Today's load is so thick I can't swallow it all."
Empty rooms, latrines, thickets, the far side of trees—everywhere around the hall, indoors and out, men and women were coupling without restraint.
"Sakaha… does the sake have that kind of effect?"
"No. I drank both the clear and the mixed, and neither did anything like this to me."
The village's eerie backdrop made the scene feel more grotesque than it was. Couples who had caught each other's eye at a banquet slipping away to make love was hardly unusual. There would be no ambush. Only young, beautiful men and women, warm with sake, sharing their bodies.
Having forced themselves to accept that conclusion, the two returned to the hall.
"Slurp-slurp… Haaah… Hold me tighter."
"Aahh… No matter how many times I breathe it in, Rumi-oneesan's armpits always smell so good."
"Pervert. I like the smell of your cock too, so I guess that makes us both perverts?"
In the short time they had been gone the banquet hall itself had filled with lewd talk and heavy scent. Couples kissed, groped breasts; one degenerate was openly licking an armpit. If there was any mercy, no one was yet fucking in plain sight. Those who could wait no longer simply took each other's hands and left the room.
"…This sake really is fine stuff."
"Murata's brewing skill keeps improving, doesn't it?"
Not everyone had sunk into lust. Roughly fifty of the older, shabbier, or plainer-looking villagers sat in quiet clusters, steadily draining their cups and savoring the taste and aroma alone.
"How… realistic, and how cruel."
The beautiful couples bit and sucked at one another while the less favored simply drank in silence. Sakaha's anger at the vulgar display faltered when her gaze fell on the solemn knot of men before her.
"Is something the matter?"
A young man approached. It was Noki, the handsome guide who had shown them around the village the night before.
"Where I come from, doing that in front of others is considered vulgar. Does this village have different ideas about common decency?"
"Haha… Of course our village condemns indiscriminate, vulgar behavior between men and women. But at the night banquet we do not interfere when hearts that have found each other choose to share love. Drink good sake, make love—that is all there is to it."
"Is that why you invited us here? Hoping to get a taste yourself?"
"Your words are far too harsh."
Their gazes locked in mid-air. It was Noki who first looked away, losing the contest of wills.
"I know nothing about either of you. Love is reached only after two people come to know each other and their hearts align. We are nowhere near that stage."
"Ha!"
Sakaha laughed straight in his face. He denied it with words, yet the ulterior motive was plain to see.
"I'll say this so you can stop dreaming. A little shit like you is never getting a piece of me. Carve that into your chest."
With that, Sakaha and Lily left the banquet hall. No one barred their way. They returned to their lodging and slept.
Day four. Day five.
They remained unharmed. The villagers still showed no sign of making a move.
Day six.
Sakaha and Lily spent the entire day wound to the highest pitch of tension. Naturally, no treacherous ambush or trap appeared.
And then the long-awaited seventh day.
"…Lily. How is it?"
"It's strange. There's no change at all."
"Maybe we miscounted the time we wandered in the fog. Let's wait a few more days."
Day eight. Still no hint of their power returning.
Day nine. The same.
When the tenth day passed without the slightest recovery, the two of them finally accepted the gravity of their situation.
"Our strength… isn't coming back."
"M-maybe the Hero will come looking for us…?"
"If our power isn't recovering, that means the Hero's side isn't recovering either."
They were still nothing more than ordinary, powerless people. When their strength would return, how many days or months or years they would spend in this village, when the Hero would come to save them—
They knew nothing at all.