There were a lot of people who could not be here today.
Thankfully, Isaac’s most immediate circle had largely escaped damage, though it had been a close thing in Karl’s case. He, along with the team’s spellcasters, had done one hell of a number on the Leviathan, and it hadn’t taken that well. But unlike the others, Karl, however, lacked the teleportation capability of his colleagues and barely managed to escape retaliation.
But there were others who hadn’t gotten away with injuring the Leviathan.
Lukas Müller of GSG-13 had inflicted horrific damage to the monster, his [Right Hand of the Reaper] [Class] granting him insane offensive capabilities but short-changing him in the mobility department. It worked well against enemies he could actually take down, but against a monster of titanic vitality that retaliated against anyone who demonstrated the power to hurt it.
And the Round Table had lost a member. Steff Cooke had been one of the first people to join, Camelot’s third S-Ranker, though in hindsight, he likely would have been better as an associate without a seat at the table. He was helpful when it came to action, but contributed very little to the planning and strategizing.
Once again, his ability to carve a path through everything as long as he had mana had wreaked havoc upon their foe, opening several of the gaps that the others had fired through until eventually, he’d been a little too slow.
That was the story of most losses. Some unfortunate combination of drawing attention and being unable to dodge or block, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time while lacking the durability to survive the attack. Practically random, at times.
It didn’t feel right to be going to a party now, yet somehow, it felt like not going would have been a betrayal of himself.
The entire campus had gotten a makeover for this party. Bailey had talked to the dean and Isaac had written a massive check to prematurely cover all potential damages, and then, they’d run all over the world for good booze.
The campus wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with massive parties, they did have an entire brewing faculty and an annual party with free beer donated by local breweries, but this was going to get truly insane. Mostly because far more than just students had been invited.
Mostly, this was a party for their allies, from Camelot to the Hunter’s Guild, Fenrir’s organization, and every other person where they could explain why they wanted them there. Jason was also there, but in disguise.
And since this was happening on campus, well, they weren’t exactly in the position to keep the students out even if they’d been inclined to do so.
But before everything else, Bailey had gathered every member of his faculty, and some vital affiliates like Stagmer, in the largest summoning room available and was currently standing on a desk he’d dragged in here while trying to somehow stand up straight while also petting Artemis, who was currently rubbing against his legs until Isaac distracted her with some snacks.
“I wanted to thank everyone for their work on understanding the thing that turned the world upside down. You’ve put in a lot of work here, dare I say, more than most of the people who work on this campus. You’ve spent a large chunk of your youth on this, and I want to say: Thank you.
“I know we still have some ways to go, being able to beat a single [World Boss] does not mean we’ve conquered the [System], but as Winston Churchill said, ‘the future is unknowable but the past should give us hope’. We know we’ve not only got the capacity to beat a monster of apocalyptical power, but that we as humans can come together if a threat of sufficient power appears.
“So I think that that’s worth celebrating, you are worth celebrating. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow, I’m giving you the day off.”
He waited for the laughter to die down before warning everyone that, since there were bartenders around with [Skills] to enable drunkenness, they did need to watch their drinking and balance the alcohol with regeneration.
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So they streamed out onto the plaza outside, where the finest stalls were. Some people had decided to start demonstrating how their [Skills] could be used to do other stuff, like Amy, who immediately jumped to mixing drinks with telekinesis and object teleportation, or Stagmer, who was cooking some burger patties by levitating a spatula above a cauldron of molten metal.
But Isaac ignored all that and headed over to greet Elena.
“Milady, may I have this dance?” he asked as the music started, doing a formal bow.
She chuckled and grabbed him by the hand, leading him into the area currently developing into the “dancing floor”, making sure to pick up a couple of drinks on the way.
The music got louder and louder, the bass thumping with enough force that he could feel it in his chest, the alcohol flowed, and Isaac knew the smile on his face had to be looking real goofy. Despite his age, despite the age of a lot of people here, they were finally cutting loose.
They danced, drank, and eventually, he and Elena decided to “zap” up to the roof of the [System] research faculty.
“Is the translation [Skill] malfunctioning, or was that song really called ‘I’ve got an onion on my head, I’m a kebab?” Elena asked with a truly perplexed expression, sounding as though she’d been dying to ask that question for a while.
Isaac burst out laughing, “Yeah, ‘Ich hab ne Zwiebel auf dem Kopf, ich bin ein Döner’ is a real song and among the most ridiculous songs in existence. Something of a party classic, though.”
“Did you see the sign above Amy’s bar?” Elena asked.
“Reality is the illusion created by insufficient alcohol consumption, so come and fix that?” Isaac asked, “Yeah, that’s written in the bathroom of the bar in Student Housing 1.”
“Yeah, that tracks,” Elena nodded, “I …”
She was interrupted by Amy shouting “Heads up!”, followed by two glasses filled with an orange liquid being teleported up to them.
They both grabbed one each and clinked them together.
“Cheers,” Elena grinned as they drank, “So, are you excited to go on holiday?”
“I can’t wait,” Isaac said, “An entire month for ourselves? We’ve never even had half that up until now.”
Elena began to say something, only to pause, pull out her phone, and google something.
“You know what? On second thought, it might have been a mistake to let Amy take care of the drinks,” she said, “Do you know what this cocktail is called?”
Isaac shook his head. He hadn’t looked at her phone to respect her privacy, and he hadn’t paid attention to Amy’s recipe book either. What he had done was make sure there was nothing dangerous in what she mixed, but that wasn’t because he didn’t trust her, but because it was an automatic action that would have been more bother than it was worth to stop doing.
“It’s called the ‘Slow Comfortable Screw’, and she just gave a pair to all the couples,” Elena informed him.
“Oh, that sounds like her,” Isaac laughed, “Good cocktail, though.”
“Not as good as the real thing, though,” Elena winked at him.
Oh, that was something he certainly couldn’t pass up, now could he?
Hand in hand, they walked off.
“You know, I just realized that the cocktails she’s been giving Arthur are called Flirtinis,” Isaac said.
“Do you think she’s actually flirting?” Elena asked.
“I think it’s probably the setup to a prank, it’s too subtle to be actual flirting. You know, go full Yandere on him at the end of the night? ‘I’ve been flirting with you all night, how could you ignore me, you monster?’, that sort of thing,” Isaac suggested.
“Oh my God, he’s going to have a heart attack,” Elena chuckled.
“Pretty sure that’s the idea,” Isaac told her, which prompted her to step in front of him, place both arms on his shoulders and grasp her hands behind his head.
“Isaac, dear?”
“Yes?”
“We’re not leaving until we’ve seen that happen,” she stated before giving him a brief kiss on the lips.
“Good point,” Isaac said and returned the kiss, which led to a far longer make-out session, after which they headed downstairs because someone needed to stop one of the local fraternities from trying to get Artemis drunk.
The party kept going, and things got more and more ridiculous.
Someone exclaimed “Stop frenching the toucan”, which Isaac eventually figured out referred to a toucan-shaped watering can filled with a strong beer called Vitus, obtained from the world’s oldest brewery, that people were sharing with each other.
University parties. University freakin parties.
Isaac laughed a lot harder than the joke really warranted.
***
The party kept going for far longer than anyone had expected, though they really should have expected it. After all, they’d procured enough booze to drown the entire town, and people were literally sleeping it off in a matter of minutes on one of the many mattresses placed in an unused space.
Isaac and Elena ended up spending some more time at the party, before retreating back to the roof with food, drinks, and a picnic blanket, watching the night sky.
But eventually, things died down, crowds dispersed, and Isaac and Elena got to watch Arthur run from Amy as though all the hounds of hell were chasing him. In fact, Isaac laughed so hard he fell off the side of the roof.
So, just two more hours to wake the drunks sleeping in the bushes and to do some general cleanup, and then, holiday time. Explore the planet, explore the solar system, and finally spend some proper time together.