It was only early noon yet people were throwing up left and right. I guess some people could never hold their liquor no matter what.

And strangely, no one cared about that, no one other than the maids of course since they were the ones who would be cleaning up the mess later.

Who were throwing up you say? Well, our drunken noble friends of course.

And here I thought nobles were sensible. I was stupid to have even a semblance of faith in them. Speaking of idiots, Shia was also throwing up in the corner; so much for drinking with responsibility. Nisa and her two brothers were comforting her and helping and stuff but I suppose that only made her feel even more miserable because she was looking at me with puppy dog eyes every now and then.

I just ignored her though. Not my problem. I wasn’t the one who drank a whole bottle of wine and bragged about it seven times.

“SO, you’re Soler Barack?”

Elf?

I actually hadn’t seen many here. “That’s correct. You are?”

He wore a white suit. Blonde hair, long and straight. “No resemblance at all….” He mumbled to himself. “Pardon, I am Daniel Borges,” he said. “Earl of Winderam. I’m sure you’re acquainted with my sister, Anya.”

Ah, he was Den’s cousin. “Indeed, it’s a pleasure meeting you, Sir,” I put my hand forward. He shook it.

“Congratulations on becoming a Baron. You make us proud,” he said.

“Thank you. I’m trying.”

He was speaking all polite and he was being nice about it. However, I had a feeling he wasn’t just striking up this conversation for no reason at all.

“Have you any interest in visiting our estate?” For a moment I could almost feel his eyes boring down on me. Like he was scanning for even minute change on my face.

“I’ve been rather busy lately and I see myself being busy in the future as well. So, I don’t think so,” I chuckled.

So, you’re worried about me trying to take your spot.

Perhaps seeing my strength first hand had given him some ideas about how the future could go wrong. But he couldn’t do anything to me because I was part of a sinister family right now. If he just wanted to say hello, he’d have done it sooner, rather than later. But he didn’t. Or rather hadn’t.

“I see, I see. It’s a marvelous place but is quite far from the academy. Do consider visiting us during vacation though, we’ll be sure to accommodate you.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Thank you very much. I will try to make time but I cannot make any promises.”

He laughed and left. Cunning bastard. He was merely putting on a show for the people around me, who were now busy gossiping among themselves.

Sigh, politics was always a drag.

The party lasted till evening. It would have lasted all night if it was a typical party. But this wasn’t, it was just a ‘tea party’. No one had any tea though.

I took a long ass walk outside to calm my nerves but it wasn’t working.

When I made it to my room, Shia was already there. She had this frown on her face. Her face was pale rather than flushed, and she was clinging to a glass of water and a bucket in case something went wrong.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Traitor,” she mumbled. “You left me with them.”

“That’s what you get for drinking whole a bottle when you could barely hold against a single glass.”

“It’s good you know.” She pouted.

“I know.”

“Thought you didn’t drink.”

“Well, took a sip, got sick and pledged not to ever again.” Which was a lie of course.

“Hmph.”

I wanted to lecture her about drinking. I wanted to lecture her about a lot of things but in the end, I didn’t. I sat next to her. And although I had much to say, I stayed silent. I still didn’t know much about this world’s customs and I kind of didn’t want to influence her in any significant ways. She was fine the way she was and when I leave the family, she was still going to be fine.

I did make a mental note about at least giving her a warning if I saw this again though. You know, the usual, ‘maybe don’t drink too much this time’ kind of ones. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning. So do make sure to get some rest.”

“Hmm…”

“Thanks, by the way.”

“For what?”

“Everything.”

***

The next morning our stay came to an end and it was time to go home. We decided to delay the departure till noon though. Most of the guests would leave by then.

The reason for the delay was simple; the duke wanted me to list down all the foods his wife was supposed to eat and everything she couldn’t. He also wanted me to come here every month and see how she was doing. When I told him that was too much of a drag, he even offered to literally adopt me into his family and all sorts of shit. Most of it was just empty promises so I declined them without exposing his bluff. What we did decide in the end was the simple act of keeping in touch via letters. Another reason was that Shia had a massive hangover. She kept spouting that she would never drink again, ever. But from personal experience I could tell, that wasn’t true.

Once that was over, I handed over the remaining elixirs (7) I was carrying all but one and the journey began in earnest. Nisa was going to stay the night and leave tomorrow.

Oh yeah, before leaving, Shia actually made the duke sign a contract about the whole money thing he was promised to pay me when I came of age in case, I didn’t take everything when I needed. Not just the duke, she made even the Niv guy sign and the dude happily signed it since she asked nicely.

Just how head over heels was he? And for no reason at all! His love for her had no real cause whatsoever!

It wasn’t just us though, our escort knight was going to escort us back to Schalion. He was actually going to be my guard from now on. I was kind of afraid to ask for his name after all this time though. Oh well.

As we quietly left the scenic beauty of the ocean and the houses, boredom gradually began to settle in.

“Is it going to take another week?” Shia said.

“Possibly longer if something happens,” I said. “Last time nothing happened and it still took six days.”

She sighed and then groaned and then sighed again. “Crap.”

Crap indeed young miss, crap indeed.