The alcohol I want most in the world
"Well, then. Let's meet again."
"Yes, travel safely. I'll see you in Luoyang. General Liu, I'll see you again later as well."
"Of course, General Cao. Until then."
With those brief farewells, Ji Ling and the three Liu Bei sisters set out for Luoyang.
Watching their retreating figures, Xun Yu spoke in a quiet voice to Cao Cao.
"No regrets?"
"Regrets about what?"
"You know perfectly well... General Ji Ling aside, don't you secretly wish to take those three sisters into your service?"
"... Heh. How could I not? There's no need to say how rare people of such martial skill and character are."
"Then why didn't you press a bit harder? Hasn't cultivating such connections always been your specialty, my lord? It wouldn't have been for now, but it would have laid the groundwork for the future."
"You know the reason as well as I do..."
Throwing Xun Yu's words back at her, Cao Cao smiled quietly.
"Certainly, heroes as great as they are—if I showed more favor, I might eventually find an opening. But no matter what, they would never truly become mine. For the same reason that I, as I am now, can never belong to anyone else."
"... You say such things so naturally now."
"Heh... I have someone to thank for that."
With those words, Cao Cao looked toward the party that had already vanished beyond the horizon.
Then she turned her steps back toward Xu Province City.
'For the heart of a woman in love is harder than steel...'
*
"What? That bitch Cao Cao did?"
"Yes, Lord Zhang Rang. Her momentum has been unusual lately, and now she's gone and captured Xu Province City as well."
"Tch... I knew she was no ordinary person... but she's far quicker than I expected."
At Duan Gui's report, Zhang Rang tasted bitterness in his mouth and grimaced.
The Grand Coalition taking shape through the power of the Imperial Heirloom Seal.
The three Liu clansmen who were already Inspectors of the southern three provinces had accepted the titles of Vassal King, and the Governors beneath them were likewise bowing their heads one after another, accepting the offices Zhang Rang had scattered.
But amidst all this, Cao Cao's movements—carried out under the pretext of the Yellow Turban Rebellion Suppression and far faster than expected—filled him with deep consternation.
After Qing Province and Yan Province, now Xu Province too.
Effectively, the richest heartland of the Central Plains had fallen into Cao Cao's hands... or rather, to be more precise, into Yuan Shu's hands. And because of this, Zhang Rang's plan to encircle them from all sides had a gaping hole torn in it.
In particular, the loss of Xu Province—with its vital trade routes and fertile territory—was a particularly bitter blow for Zhang Rang.
'With just a little more time, Tao Qian would have come over to our side as well... If only that Liu Yao had moved just a bit more proactively...'
Liu Yao, who had ignored Zhang Rang's urgent proposal to join hands with Tao Qian.
Zhang Rang understood that a regional lord had his own circumstances, but even so, the way Liu Yao had bungled things by failing to see the larger picture was a source of deep irritation for him.
'Haa... No... no. What good does it do to keep agonizing over what's already done?'
So Zhang Rang suppressed his emotions with effort and faced reality once more.
Then his gaze returned to the map spread before him.
Though Xu Province had been lost, the coalition still commanded roughly sixty percent of the realm.
Furthermore, with forces positioned to encircle the enemy from both north and south, the strategic picture was highly favorable from their standpoint.
Yuan Shu's army might be formidable, but even so, stopping an offensive coming from two directions would be no easy task. And for the same reason, recklessly moving his forces to strike first at one front was equally difficult under the present circumstances.
Yuan Shu still had not marched against them in Bing Province despite settling Luoyang, which proved precisely this.
Though Cao Cao's swift campaigns had given the enemy some breathing room, Zhang Rang was certain that if they kept applying slow, steady pressure from above and below like this, he would be the final victor.
'The problem is that in this situation, Ding Yuan and Gongsun Zan are absorbed in something peculiar...'
Both generals had, for some time now, been drawing in manpower and supplies on a massive scale.
Ignoring Zhang Rang's directive to gradually squeeze Yuan Shu from this point on, they were busy conducting some scheme of their own.
Laborers were being conscripted not only from Bing Province but from Gongsun Zan's home base in You Province as well.
Their independent course of action—which hardly looked like war preparations but instead something else entirely—was so frustrating to Zhang Rang that he resolved he would have to sit down with them soon.
'Mere hunting dogs who, once they're back in their own kennel, stop listening to their master... What in the world are they thinking at such a critical moment?'
Ding Yuan and Gongsun Zan had, ever since arriving here in their home base of Bing Province, grown increasingly deaf to his commands.
Zhang Rang disliked everything about this situation—being treated with contempt by frontier boors—but for now he had no choice but to endure it.
Now that they had fled Luoyang, it was they who held the hilt.
With the thought that for now he had no choice but to coax and placate them, Zhang Rang let out a deep sigh and, in his stifled mood, drained his teacup.
*
"Hurry! The stone shipment must be moved by the end of today!"
"Send the newly arrived laborers over there! Anyone caught standing around in a daze and disrupting the work flow will be severely punished!"
A noisy site that brought a construction yard to mind.
A vast plot of land with a mountain at its back.
And laborers gathered there in numbers that seemed endless.
Observing them, Ding Yuan slowly nodded his head.
"Impressive. To draw this many laborers all the way from distant You Province—with numbers like these, there should be no major issue in carrying out the work."
"Fufu, is this not for our grand millennium-spanning scheme? Naturally, we must mobilize every resource at our disposal."
With deep smiles, Ding Yuan and Gongsun Zan unfolded the blueprints once more.
What was as yet only marks on a single sheet of paper—as they gazed at what would soon become their future, their redoubt, a profound smile settled on the lips of both.
*
-Glug, glug, glug.
Wine filled the cup with a pleasant sound.
Sliding the brimming cup across the table,
I offered a deep smile to the woman sitting alone across from me—at her own request, in this room with no one else present.
To Ji Ling.
"You've really worked hard. Rescuing Elder Cao Song and then distinguishing yourself in the Xu Province campaign too. I know I promised to grant your wish, but haven't you been working just a little too hard?"
"Hm... hm... Well... since I was already there... I just helped a little."
Ji Ling blushed as if embarrassed. I felt a faint surprise at her unusually different air, but I chalked it up to high spirits and moved on to the main topic in a light voice.
"So, what's this wish you want so badly that you've been working this hard?"
"! Umm... ah... that... the wish... well..."
For some reason, Ji Ling was stealing glances at me and hemming and hawing. Just how big a request was she about to make? With a feeling of curiosity and genuine intrigue, I spoke to her in a relaxed tone.
"As a matter of fact, I also heard from Sister Aman. She asked me to look after you a bit. To be honest, I've been feeling for a while now that your treatment hasn't quite matched the hardships you've endured. So speak comfortably; if it's something I can grant, I'll grant it, no matter what."
"No matter... what?"
Ji Ling's face wore an uncharacteristically grave expression. Still, since she wasn't someone particularly greedy for rank or wealth, I was one hundred percent certain the request would be something like a premium vintage, a lifetime free pass to the wine storehouse, her own personal tavern, or just drink, drink, drink. So I waited for her answer without the slightest worry.
'Wait, could it be she's going to ask for some liquor I don't even know about? Like wine or beer from the Western Regions...'
Trade with the West wasn't exactly nonexistent, but it was true that in the Central Plains of this era, even catching a glimpse of Western wine or beer was a rare treasure.
And so, just as I was growing curious about what kind of top-shelf drink she would name—
"A drink... I want. A very precious... drink..."
"Haha, just as I thought... that's just like you."
An answer that didn't disappoint my expectations. Letting out a light laugh, I replied with a willing heart.
"Of course I'll get it for you. Here, tell me anything you want. From unrefined takju to clear cheongju, and if you want, even a drink from the Western Regions. I can get them all for you."
"Uuum...! Glug, glug!"
At my cheerful response, Ji Ling drained the cup set before her in one long drink. I couldn't help laughing a little at the perfect drinking party atmosphere—asking for a drink while already sitting here drinking.
I was starting to grow curious just what magnificent liquor could be worth this much build-up.
But then.
"Hm?"
Ji Ling stared straight at me. The moment I saw her face, faintly flushed from the drink, a strangely disquieting feeling—something very different from before—began to stir.
"What... what is it?"
"... Haa... hoo..."
Ji Ling drew a deep breath in and let it slowly out. Then she abruptly rose from her seat.
And seized my shoulders with a thud.
"... J-Ji Ling?"
"... Any drink... you said you'd get me, right?"
"Uh... yeah. That's... that's what I said... but why suddenly me— Mmph?!"
In the next instant.
With no time to say another word, Ji Ling stole a kiss. Caught between the lingering scent of alcohol and a sensation that was strangely thick and heady, I was seized by a brief daze.
And then.
"Puh-ha... haah... haah..."
Ji Ling pulled her lips away with a rough sound. After wiping the moisture from the corner of her mouth, she spoke to me as I continued staring at her blankly.
"Then it's alright if I take it, isn't it? The drink I want most in all the world. Won-'shu, I mean."
"!"