Chapter 18: Hangover
The two followed Fang out the door into the magic section, looking for Mii. It didn’t take long before they found her, with a pleased expression on her face she waved and shouted, “Fang!”
In fear that Mii would be bullied, Fang told Mii to forget that she was a maid, so she just called him by his name.
Smiling, Fang pointed towards his side. “Mii, let me introduce you, this is my roommate, Blue.”
Because his roommate’s personality was a little strange, Fang was hesitant about introducing him to Mii until they were better friends, and so, this was their first meeting.
What a beautiful sorceress!
Blue was surprised; magic users were rare and highly sought after, so how could Fang, from a small unknown city like Victoria City know someone like this? As well, they looked very happy together.
He couldn’t help but note that Fang and Mii had a close relationship – inadvertently, Mii’s actions gave away that she trusted Fang completely, even depending on him. Even though Blue was quite handsome himself, Mii’s eyes didn’t wander at all from Fang’s. Plus, when Fang looked at her, she instantly knew who he was and they went into their own little world.
If nothing else, this girl called Mii should be Fang’s girlfriend.
The only merits Fang had was his instant parry and that fast energy absorption. He couldn’t understand at all how he successfully got a talented magic user for a girlfriend.
Blue couldn’t help but add another one to Fang’s mysteries.
--- --- ---
Minuet City was a city of a thousand years of history, with nostalgic, buildings contrasted with the newly, sturdy constructs. Walking through the city, stalls would be open, expensive delicious and common, hearty food wafting their aromas through the streets. Soft music smoothly played by bards lit up the lanterns hanging on the sides, while laughter and talk echoed from the restaurants and cafés.
The renaissance style present through the intricate design around the city captured Fang’s and Mii’s eyes, slowly walking.
On the other hand, Blue and Durin, didn’t seem excited at all. Beautiful scenery wasn’t as attractive as a pot of liquor, so after enduring the smells of barbecue and strong spirits, Durin finally dragged the rest of the group into a bar.
In the big cities, dwarves weren’t uncommon, usually they combined their two delights in life together: blacksmithing in the day, and brewing as well as drinking in the night. Of all the places, Durin chose one with a dwarven sign – after all, he felt camaraderie with his own race.
Sitting down on a wooden stool, Durin loudly ordered, “Owner, give us ten pounds of barbecue and ten jugs of dwarven rum!”
Ten jugs of dwarven rum?
Fang almost jumped, he had planned to accompany Durin for a small drink or two, but the dwarf just ordered ten jugs, and not of any alcohol. Durin ordered dwarven rum, a drink rumored to be prepared using the materials of fierce monsters to give it that extra impact.
Many people were known to get drunk off a single cup.
Hesitating, Fang quietly protested, “Durin, I don’t think we can drink so much.”
“Rest assured Fang, all this will be under my tab!” Durin laughed. “You said that you didn’t get to visit any dwarven taverns while you were in Victoria City, so you definitely haven’t drunken dwarven rum. This is the best liquor in the world, try it and you’ll instantly be addicted!”
“Well said, dwarven rum is the best spirit in the world!” Another dwarf agreed, as he came around the counter with equally hearty laughter. “A dwarf that likes dwarven rum is a true, good dwarf, I’ll give you two extra jugs free of charge!”
Fang closed his open mouth, and swallowed what he was going to say. These dwarves were proud of their alcohol, and he didn’t want to cause a scene arguing with them.
As twelve jugs quickly hit the place and piled up, Fang couldn’t help but let out a groan.
And on top of that, the usual cups for drinking were absent; instead, several big bowls took their place. With the dwarven love for alcohol, drinking from cups would be too slow, so the most defining characteristic of a dwarven bar were their bowls for drinking.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Durin poured the jug of dwarven rum until three bowls were filled, near to the brim. “Mii, well, she’s a girl, however, Blue, Fang – you can drink with me and toast our worries away!”
Blue picked up a bowl and in a single gulp, downed it. “Okay!”
Fang and Durin froze up in shock, then, after a second or two had gone by, Durin gave him a thumbs up. “Nice Blue!”
To follow up, he also picked up a bowl and drank it to the last drop. “Fang, now it’s your turn, you can’t leave without a drink!”
If Blue didn’t drink, I could’ve refused, Fang thought. But they both had a drink, so he could only go with the pressure, picking up that last bowl and drinking it.
Spice scorched through his throat – it felt like he was drinking fire, after all, dwarven rum was highly potent. He almost wanted to throw up as his face turned a fiery red.
“Rest assured Mii, there’s nothing wrong with Fang. He can still drink a lot more of this fine rum.” Blue added while picking up another bowl.
Fang nearly fainted, he didn’t think especially Blue would drink so much. Durin cheered Blue on, pleased that he shared his love for drink.
Under the urging of his friends, the second bowl of rum emptied into Fang’s stomach, and with dazed eyes, he didn’t see a sly flash of color run through Blue’s eyes. By the third drink, Fang was dead drunk, as laughter rang out through the tavern, and a blur of colors seemed to run by his face. The world seemed to spin and everything, the tiny person standing, the dim lights, the wooden accents around the place seemed to be so funny. Dizzy, Fang tried to stand upright, when he remembered the elder that boasted he could drink through a treasury without any problem. In fact, that portly old fellow was extremely proud of his ability to out drink anyone in the world, and forcefully tried to pass his passion to Fang. Unfortunately, Fang wasn’t interested at all, but ignoring his complaints as usual, Fang was fed information on how to successfully speed up his alcohol metabolism from inside his body, allowing him to enjoy as much alcohol as he liked.
Bringing it up to mind, he focused his energy to his liver and soon enough, his head cleared up and his body didn’t feel so hot anymore, as he exhaled heavy, wet breaths.
Since the problem with alcohol had been solved, Fang had no reservations and picked up a fourth bowl of dwarven rum.
Blue closely examined Fang, wondering what antics he would be up to drunk, but only fell into confusion.
Huh? Why does Fang suddenly look so fine after that third bowl? He looked quite drunk a minute ago, and now he’s suddenly fine?
Seeing how Fang and Blue readily picked up the bowls of rum, Durin shouted, “You both are great drinking buddies, come on, let’s continue!”
A fifth, sixth, seventh bowl of rum went down Fang’s throat like water, and Fang sighed in relief. Although his energy capacity was quite low, the method of internalizing and hastening the breakdown of alcohol was extremely efficient compared to the traditional technique of completely burning alcohol.
Blue looked again in puzzlement, he knew that the rum wasn’t weak at all, and that it was impossible to have a body that was resistant both to the poisonous laxative he had given earlier as well as alcohol; there had never been a case in history of someone with that kind of body, not even among the dwarves who were naturally tolerant to alcohol.
He wasn’t afraid though; Blue was confident that he could out drink Fang. And so, two people kept refilling their bowls over and over, emptying the twelve jugs of dwarven rum in a single hour. Excited to see that they were able to hold their alcohol so well, Durin immediately ordered another ten jugs, which the owner added an extra three to.
Once in a while, when there would be a break in the talking and drinking, Fang would visit the washroom a couple of times, rinsing himself from all that water and gas from the alcohol, and come back, looking entirely fine.
Guests inside the tavern couldn’t help but turn their attention towards Durin’s table; empty jugs were strewn over the place over large hunks of charred meat as the three figures called for more jugs.
Even the dwarves couldn’t hide their surprise, not even they would dare to drink so much so recklessly!
Who were these people?