Chapter 44: Let's Get Wasted (1)
TANIA
*sigh*
This is bothersome. Who would have thought that the old man I met earlier today is also the owner of this pub. And aside from that… why the fuck are they glaring at me?
The ominous gazes are stabbing at my nape. One is from the old man’s son, Derox, the barman and the other one is from the oldest lady of the House of Reginleif. Melancholy Dessa Reginleif, seeing her in a place like this is not something I didn't expect. The infamous Cicada of the Reginleif Count's Family with a LOT of loose screws.
"Sir, is there anything more you need? I'll prepare it for you-" This time, I'm the one to cut off the old man's sentence, and that only made Derox's expression even darker.
"I'm fine, Gramps, but why don't you take a break first? You've been working all day like a madman, do you want to overwork your body?" I ask bluntly but that only makes the old man's expression brighter, like someone who's sitting on cloud nine.
"Thank you for worrying about this old man, sir. If that's the case, then allow my son to fill my spot. You can ask him anything, you might as well beat him down if he offends you." A delightful smile flashes on his face but it reverts back when he looks at his son with a glare. "Come here, boy. You better treat Sir Randall as if he's royalty, and do not do anything that might give me a heart attack."
'I never intended to be treated that way though… but if this will keep anyone from bothering me, then so be it.'
After that he bowed politely at me before retreating upstairs. Derox, who is grumbling, obeys me and provides me with my orders. Eight tankards of Menalian beer in total. I'm not fond of drinking beers but this
*smack*
Someone lightly hit my shoulder, that made me stiff. It's Melancholy with an awkward smiling face, holding a tankard.
'I take it back saying no one will dare bother me… ugh. Why did I end up crossing paths with her anyway?'
This girl. She's ten times more annoying and crazier than Tania in the story. I know that she ended up dying later too, and when I recall her background story I genuinely felt sorry for her. Among the side characters' background stories, she gained the most bitter ending. I want to help her but there's only one factor that prevents me from doing so…
She asks me, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"Yes." I nonchalantly and immediately responded. I could care less where she prefers to sit but not the seat beside me. Please.
"Now, now don't be like that. Are you going to drink all that by yourself?" She asked, eyeing the tankards in front of me before licking her lower lip, and regardless permitting her, she sat down anyway.
'…she's a walking calamity.' (Yep, a calamity, not a disaster)
"Derox, give us ten… No, make it twenty glasses. I want to drink with this new friend here." She grins and laughs like a lunatic.
I have a feeling that she and I don't sit together, "But I don't want to drink with you. Do you mind sitting away from me?" I asked in an annoyed manner.
I notice her squinting her eyes but she ends up flashing a mocking smile. Instead of getting irritated because I show her a rude attitude, she just puts her chin on her palm while leaning on it and keeps on staring at me.
"What's up with you? Are you afraid of losing to a frail lady like me?" She asks in a mocking tone, but it didn’t affect me.
'She is a certified drunkard, so who wouldn't be afraid of drinking with her? Tch.'
"Haa…" I sighed.
Her face shows confusion and surprise at the same time.
"Ohh, you're not denying it? Are you really afraid of losing to me? You really are unreadable. But why are you keeping your hood on? Aren't you feeling hot?"
*Ignores*
"……" I want to roll my eyes but nah… why can't she have a clue? I don't wanna talk to her.
I grab one glass of beer and take a sip. Geez… I don't like its taste at all, it smells like a sewer…ugh. I gulped half of the beer without paying attention to its disgusting smell and taste.
"FUCK! YOU PIECE OF SHIT! EAT THIS!" A broad man from the table on my far left stands up and grabs the man sitting with him by the collar upward.
"Ackk! You basta-@$₩%#"
The broad man shoves the bottle of beer into the other man's mouth and forces him to drink it. But the other man struggled and managed to grab an empty bottle and hit the broad man with it… but he missed, instead, the bottle flew in my direction.
'…that dumb guy…!'
It's too late. I was prepared to dodge it but Derox tries to save me, as he dumbly attempt to block the bottle with a bat and that cause the bottle to break into pieces and the shards landed on me.
The shards cut my forehead, left shoulder, left cheek and left side waist. I hiss as blood gushes out from the cuts. Shocked by what happened, Derox went pale while panicking at the sight of me.
Melancholy stands up on the seat and she yells at Derox to instruct him, "Derox! Go and stop those dumbasses and turn them over to the Bastille Palace for disorderly conduct and hurting a noble."
"N-Noble?! What bullshit is that?! Why would a noble be hanging around this place?!" It was the man who threw the bottle that asked.
"So all this time, you never thought of me as Noble? You bastard, just you wait, I'll add disrespect to a noble in your case." She added, as she irritably put her hand on her waist.
'Haa… she looks like a kid arrogantly stomping on their little Pride.'
While shaking my head, I opened my inventory to get a healing potion but before I could even grab a bottle from it, a hand landed on my shoulder that made me flinch. Then a refreshing sensation flows from the hand and eventually spreads inside my body to heal the cuts.
"Excuse me but stay still for a second." When her voice reaches my ears, my body froze upon realization. I couldn't utter a word… I need to stop her no matter what!
"N-no…! Get your hand off m-!" But when I attempted to push her, it was exactly the same time when she removed her hand from me.
"Done." She smiled.
'Shit.'
Slowly, Melancholy's face turns devious and her eyes glint black… Yes, her entire eyeballs turn black. In a second while meeting mine, she says something I'm terrified to hear from her mouth using a creepy voice.
"Do you want me to predict what will happen in 10 minutes?"
~~~~~
Flashback.
Earth, Country AC, Lancent Subdivision.
"Huh? They're the weird one. Why would they bully someone who was just using their ability? It's not even harmful if it's just a prediction." I mumbled after finishing the 142nd chapter of the book. So I flipped the page to read the next chapter.
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'Chapter 143.
Alta looks at her older half-sister with hostility every time she meets her or passes her by.
"Brother, why would we have to stay with her? Shouldn't we kick her out because she always brings bad luck?" Alta asked her brother.
"Even if we want to, father won't agree. You know him, he doesn't want his reputation to be sullied by gossip. Just bear with it a bit more until I succeed in the title of next lord."
"I understand." Alta responded, "It's good that she can heal, if only she doesn't have that second ability, everything will turn out well."
"Why? Is it getting in the way of you being the next priestess?" Arkanse asked as he sadly observed his dear little sister's face.
"Yes. Her healing ability is fine since it's the power from our family. But that cursed second ability of prediction isn't. I'll be criticized for having a relative who has a curse power when I'm a candidate for the next Priestess." Alta reasoned out.
Her older half-sister, Melancholy, who has a curse ability of prediction, will definitely become a thorn in her path. She needs to eliminate her as soon as possible. On top of it, Melancholy was never a great sister to her nor a good member of their family. Everyone knew that she's just worth as much as a decoration because of her unique beauty and nothing more. A total black sheep of their family.
Later that night, Alta went to her sister's room to lure her to the bait that she had set up. The room is full of dangerous stuff like knives, sharps, and empty alcohol bottles. Alta grits her teeth in frustration but still proceeds. Then she caught Melancholy drinking on the bottle of whiskey that she stole from their father's collection.
"HAHAHAHA If only I could kill that fly, I would have it's colorful gem like eye-"
A loud thud was heard from Alta's hiding spot. Then her cries followed.
"Ah- AAAH! M-My Arm!" Alta cried.
Alta was caught off guard because she was startled by what her sister had said just now. From her point of view, she's seeing a devil laughing while drinking a reddish-yellow liquid which is whiskey, she assumed it was blood. So she took a step back but ended up stepping on an empty whiskey bottle that made her slip, while her arm landed on a box full of sharps and knives.
"AHHHH!"
Four knives thrust through her arm, while there were several cuts on the other side. Melancholy was surprised by Alta's cry and immediately supported her. Melancholy didn't know that her sister was there until she found her weeping with her limp arm. By the looks of the arm's state, it is not much of use anymore because the arteries and some tendons were damaged completely.
Melancholy, who knew her sister's ambition to be the next Priestess, but she won't achieve it with only one arm… Though she also knows her sister's hatred toward her, she still used her healing ability on Alta. The damage disappeared and her arm was restored in less than a minute. After the healing, Alta calmed down but her face became darker and scared when she saw the face of Melancholy changed, her eyeballs became full black and her smile turned to a smirk.
Alta, as the candidate of the next Priestess, learned some perception and mana detection. Her body trembles, when a devious mana is emitting from her older half-sister's body.
"Do you want me to predict what will happen in 10 minutes?" Melancholy asked, grinning.
'…too much evil mana…! Is this really coming from a human being? It's a curse!'
Alta, scared at the sight of her sister, answered the question as soon as possible. "Yes! Please spare me!"
"In 10 minutes, your nanny Noerin will have an accident. Both of her hands will need to be amputated so that she could live."
After that, the expression of Melancholy returned to normal, with a worried and annoyed face. But Alta's reaction remained shocked and scared that she couldn't move and eventually peed her night dress.
……..
……...’
I grip the book, "Shit. I didn’t expect it. That scared the hell out of me. What the hell? That's a two faced ability but a fucking horrible one."
End of Flashback.
~~~~~
'That's why she's a calamity. What now… what should I do to prevent her from telling a bad luck prediction.'
"I don't want to." I answered.
"That can't be, you must answer yes, that's the only payment you should pay for healing you." Her smile curves up even more, it's creepy to look at.
I respond with a glare, "I never told you to heal me. I don't want to hear your stupid prediction."
"Sorry but it's fixed. Prediction is on the house. So you must hear it." She insisted.
“Haa… Sorry but I don’t think I still want to talk to you. I suggest you leave me alone.” I firmly stated.
"It can’t be helped then. I’ll just tell you. Ten minutes from now, you…" She trailed off and I gulped.
'Goddamn it, I hope it won't be about the people around me or about death…! Please, please, please…!'
My body was stiff and I couldn't even lift a finger because of nervousness while waiting for her curse.
"huh…? This is really weird. Why is it my prediction does not work on you? How is this possible?" The black full eyes slowly return to its normal color and the ominous energy around her disappears.
"...Oho. It didn’t work?” I asked with confusion… and relief.
Even Melancholy looks troubled and relieved that the curse she herself was afraid of, didn’t activate. “T-This is a first… Ha-hahaha. What was your name again, Mister?”
“Err… That… It’s Randall Artenza.” I told her my other name.
‘This progress wasn’t in the book. Is this by any chance because of me again? If so, then maybe I could give it a shot and try to help her too?’
In the book, everyone of the characters, no exception, fell victim to her curse. Especially at the time of war where healers are the most essential. Ahh… well except for Tania and Vega, Tania locked herself inside the mansion before she died while Vega was sent to Menalia where the Artenza Family were. The point is, there’s no chance Melancholy would heal Tania in the book, moreover, those two always had each other by their necks so it's unlikely Melancholy would really heal Tania if ever she's at death's door.
‘Is it because of the system? Or is this Tania’s ability? Let's see…’
*dingg!*
♤Character Status♤ Name Melancholy Dessa Reginleif Age 21 Gender Female Title
Job
Melancholy Dessa Reginleif, 1st daughter of an Earl. She is a former daughter of a Prostitute. When her mother became the Countess of the House. Melancholy is an illiterate kid when she first came, who doesn't know any etiquette and became hated by all. She hates studying, she lacks manners, but she is honest- until Alta, set her up. Alta hates her to the bone because she's from the street, but she acts kind only in front of their family members.
Later in the story, Alta will accuse her of a crime she never committed to eliminate her, but no one expects Melancholy will be rape several times in prison before she die, though Alta appeared in her last moments to apologized to her for what she had done and admit that it was all planned to set her up. Because of her strong will of revenge, she made a deal with the Devil and hunted the people who killed her one by one.
*Slam!*
“Hey! Are you listening?”
I was brought back to reality when Melancholy slams the now empty tankard on the counter. I really can't imagine how strong her hatred towards her sister was during that time…
“Ah. Sorry, what were you saying?”
I lost focus. I told her not to talk to me, but here I am asking her to repeat what she had just said. I grumble. I should not involve myself with her, but since an unexpected turn of events occurred (her curse can’t affect me), maybe this is an indication that I should also help her and change her bitter ending? I still believe that the reason I reincarnated inside this novel is because I must change the course of the ending of every side and extra characters in this story.
“I said let’s compete. You must drink 8 tankards of beer, while I’ll drink 10. Since you’re new here, I shall have a handicap in this competition. If you win, I’ll leave you alone just like you said but if you lose, you’ll be my buddy. Deal?”
*snort*
A smug look crosses my face. “What made you think I’ll make a deal with you?”
Buddy? Her? Seriously? I can still recall some of the scenes in the book where Tania and Melancholy were yanking each other’s hair, if not arguing, if not dirtying each others dresses, if not exchanging ugly facial expressions in the public just to make others laugh like a madman and be humiliated, instead of laughing in an elegant and lady-like manner. (facepalms) What a joke. Fortunately those scenes have yet to happen.
“What? Is that another way of saying the conditions are unfair and you can’t seem to win even when I'll have a handicap? Oh my… I never thought, you are refusing such generous conditions Mister Randall, how disappointing.”
*snap!*
I feel like something snapped inside me due to her words, my fighting spirit surges and ignites, I can’t let her mock me like this… This fox won’t have it her way. And I hate losing.
“I never said I’m refusing, just wait and see, you’ll soon shut your mouth after this.”
“Oh my, the deal is on, right?” Melancholy smirks and arranges the tankards.
My fiery eyes shoot her way, “Yes, deal.”