Chapter 12: Abilities Come in Different Forms (2)

While waiting for the waitress, I noticed Natal's unusually gloomy behavior. Normally radiating a benevolent calm, he was now pensively watching the burgundy liquid running down the walls as he swayed his glass. His melancholy might not be too noticeable to others, but not to me – after all, we had been friends for most of our conscious lives.

I didn't know what had triggered his bout of the blues, but I had some guesses and the desire to pull my friend out of this slump. Unfortunately, neither the Imperial assassin nor the Earthling were particularly good at providing moral support, so I couldn't come up with any ingenious methods.

"Listen, Natal, don't you think it's unfair?"

"Unfair about what?" His slightly dimmed blue eyes sparkled with curiosity again.

"To engage in a hopeless battle with a monster and not invite me!"

"Engage in a battle with a monster?" Sadness had given way to astonishment. "I don't understand."

"I mean the wine. Thousands upon thousands of daredevils have challenged this ruthless monster, but they all either surrendered or fell at its feet in the end!" I declared with a hint of pomp.

"Haha! So you want a drink too?" The guy asked, his voice becoming a little livelier.

"Yep!" I nodded. "But admit it, an uncompromising battle against an unbeatable enemy sounds much more majestic than just depleting the alcohol supplies, right?" I ordered dinner from the pink-haired waitress who had approached, and while it was being prepared, I asked her to bring a bottle of wine and a glass.

"Kei Lee is a bad influence on you, Kurome."

"Oh, come on. In some things, my future court jester is right: life is more fun with a smile. Although..." I continued, seeing the aforementioned person glancing our way. "You're right. It's all Kei Lee's fault!"

While Natal and I bickered with the prankster, our food and a simple snack were brought to us.

* * *

"Do you want to eat such a mountain of meat?" The blonde girl's eyes, fixed on my dinner, widened, making her look like a character from a manga (Imperial artists also loved characters with big eyes).

"It's a normal portion," my friend chuckled beside me.

"Normal?! I won't eat this much in two days!" Overwhelmed with emotions, the girl began to gesture vigorously. "And if I do eat it, I'll turn into a walking meatball!" With the gesture of a fisherman showing off his catch, she demonstrated her hypothetical dimensions.

"This time, Kurome is still being modest," Natal smiled. "She probably wants to make up for it with dessert."

“On dessert?” the look in Eris' eyes combined disbelief, admiration, and intense envy. “You're going to order dessert too?”

“Yes, I am.”

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“And you're not afraid of getting fat?”

“Not at all. Firstly, I'm quite active, and secondly, spiritual and life energy keeps the bodies of spirit warriors close to ideal, so... hmm?” the feeling of Eris's hands on her waist made me stop in surprise. "Of course I don't mind, but wouldn't it be better to do it in the room?" practically purring this phrase, I gently ran my fingers up the girl's arm to her neck.

For some reason, sometimes I was tempted to embarrass Eris. And sometimes I wanted to show off. If the attraction to her as a girl was stronger, I would have decided that I fell in love. But since I didn't believe in platonic love and other perversions, I explained my feelings with simple sympathy. The green-eyed artist had some naively bright charisma and was able to arouse some affection even from Akira, who was jealous of her masochist, so it was not surprising.

“What? N-no, I didn't mean that!" abruptly withdrawing her hands, the blushing girl exclaimed, showing that my hairpin hit the target. "It's just hard to believe all this, and..."

"And you decided to feel me to make sure I'm not hiding a fat belly?" I asked cheerfully. "Hmm, I like this idea! Now I'll check by touch every time we meet to make sure you're the real Eris and not a cunning spy in disguise."

“Kurome, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I'm conducting a preliminary inspection of the entrusted object for subsequent comparison,” I explained in an official tone. “How else am I supposed to distinguish you from camouflaged spies?”

Meanwhile, my friend pretended to have a coughing fit. Luckily, Kei was busy bickering with Akira, or we might have faced valuable advice and comments.

“Alright, stop, Hunt is coming! He'll see everything!”

We stopped fooling around and started eating.

* * *

The head of the artists, walking to the stage, delivered a brief welcome speech. As it turned out, every year his troupe, heading to some Autumn Festival, stayed at this hotel and put on a performance.

When Hunter left, the place of this imposing old man was occupied by a familiar man with a red nose and a cheeky expression on his face. However, he looked considerably more presentable now, wearing a new white shirt, a black vest, and pants. Even his red nose had been powdered and didn't stand out on his smoothly shaved face. Dark hair was neatly combed, and his brown eyes radiated merriment and subtle mockery.

"Hmm... he reminds me of someone," I thought as the artist began his humorous monologue. It was going quite well, by the way. Certainly not worse than many comedians I had seen on TV in my past life. “I wonder if Kei's actual daddy is making a fool of himself in front of us?” I jokingly mused, breaking away from the meal to share my thoughts with Natal. He was taking a sip of wine at that moment and struggled to keep from spitting it out. Eris, poking at a salad made entirely of greens, heard my words and chuckled quietly.

“Haha! Robbie is daddy! Haha-haha,” covering her face with her hand, Eris giggled uncontrollably.

When the outraged Kei turned to me, I stifled my laughter, theatrically shifting my gaze from the amateur joker to the professional one and, shaking my head, mockingly remarked:

“One to one,” I laughed again, looking at the irritated guy. The whole group burst into laughter at the expense of the guy who loved playing with other people's nerves, even Bayb chuckled a few times.

The reason was that we knew the real father of the scoffer perfectly well. Like the rest of the guys from the Squad. As well as doctors, cooks, instructors, science teachers and in general all the non-deaf inhabitants of the Underground Base. Anyone at least with the corner of his ear heard little Kei Li, selflessly bragging about his parent — the senior lord * of the eastern Empire. How else? After all, "their nobility" is simply obliged to remind the children of peasants, burghers and border guards ** why "their splendor" should be the main thing.

/* — Elder lord, he is also an eldlord — an analogue of a marquis, i.e. a title one step below a duke.

** — Approximate similarity of the Cossacks. A privileged semi-military estate relative to ordinary peasants. They settle on the borders with unfriendly neighbors and Wild Lands. Unlike the Cossacks of tsarist Russia, they are involved in service only during major conflicts. Basically, the settlements of border guards serve as a border buffer./

The fact that half of his noble blood didn't stop his parents from selling him to the Imperial Intelligence went unnoticed by young Kei. But what could you expect from a little boy? When he grew up and became wiser, he stopped bragging. The word "bastard" didn't carry a positive connotation in this world either.

Anyway, by the time the guy calmed down, he had managed to tire the whole Squad. Even after more than a decade, the story was unforgettable.

It is not surprising that the banter caused a lot of laughter from everyone who was tired of the tiny "his nobility". The wit himself seemed genuinely offended. Without getting into a fight, the guy frowned at the group laughing at him, muttered something indistinctly to himself and turned away to the stage. Well, nothing, it's good for him to try his own dish.

"Revenge is sweet. Hehe, you'll learn not to compare me to the southern savages!" — I contentedly dug into my food.

“Um, Kurome,” my neighbor touched my shoulder.

“Yes?”

“I think that joke may have hurt your friend.”

“Nothing, it's useful for this scoffer. If only you knew how he managed to annoy everyone with his highborn daddy!” I returned to my meal.

Soon enough, I was distracted again.

“So, what?”

“If you knew about your friend's honorable father's title, haven't you offended both of them?”

It seemed I had mentioned Kei's family in vain. I had grown too accustomed to the Squad's indifference toward titles and positions. That's how we were raised: any aristocrat or official could turn out to be a traitor — and a target for elimination. However, it appeared that Eris saw things differently.

“Don't worry, Kei's daddy is far away and won't hear. Besides, I can do it. And you should order something less resembling rabbit food, or you might grow bunny ears,” I placed my utensils in an empty plate and signaled the waitress, who cleared the tableware and took new orders from us.

Eris gave me a strange look but eventually calmed down and continued to pick at her salad.