Extra Chapter: Kiki’s POV — Toast of the Goddess and His Subordinates
“Hey, tonight we’re having a welcome party for you.”
At the end of the training, when the goddess called out to her, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes in surprise. She looked around left and right, but there was no one else around except for herself. Reflexively straightening her back, she replied with a tense voice, “Are you talking to me, by any chance?”
“Who else is there besides you?” the goddess replied with a tone of exasperation. Then he tilted his head slightly and asked, “I intend to combine the welcome party with a gathering for the squadron leaders. Do you have any plans for tonight?”
“No, not particularly…” she, who was taken aback by the suddenness of it all replied awkwardly.
As she stood there dumbfounded, the goddess pointed his index finger at her as if to remind her and said, “Then, two hours… no, meet at the square in front of the tavern at 48 o’clock. That’s all.”
With a tone that sounded like an order, the goddess turned on his heel and left.
Peeking into the tavern, she could see that the goddess, Vice Captain Goat, and the squadron leaders were already there. Perhaps Goat had reserved the tavern, as there were no other customers inside. Several bottles of liquor were lined up on the table, indicating that they had already been drinking for some time.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she exclaimed, before hastening herself towards the table.
Goat, whose eyes were slightly red, raised his hand lightly, “No, no, we just started drinking before you got here, so it’s fine. Come on, take a seat.”
The man then pulled out the chair next to him. On the opposite side, Evelise was sitting, and she almost felt like raising her arms in victory.
“Excuse me,” she said as she approached and sat down on the chair. She then glanced briefly at Evelise next to her, who gently smiled at her. The woman’s modest smile made her heart flutter.
Since the first time she saw her, she had always thought Evelise as cute like a small animal. However, seeing Evelise’s petite figure, was incredibly cool to her, and the scene where the woman was shooting her target with accuracy without being affected by the recoil of the gun was even more amazing.
In an instant, she, Kiki had fallen in love with the woman at first sight because of that contradiction.
“Hey, hey, don’t stare too much. If you keep looking, Evelise will have holes in her,” Goat teasingly said.
Hearing those words, she quickly turned her face away. She then noticed Evelise beside her shrinking her shoulders, looking a little troubled, and felt a bit apologetic. Immediately after, a large glass was placed in front of her by a waiter.
The glass was filled to the brim with a golden liquid. It was the most popular drink at Jeweld, a type of liquor made from wheat. It had a slight bitterness but went down smoothly, relieving the exhaustion of the day when drunk after training.
Seeing the drink delivered to her, Goat lightly raised his own glass. “Well then, let’s welcome our new comrade, Kiki, and cheers!”
Following his casual cheer, voices of “cheers” echoed one after another. As she put the glass to her lips and looked around, she almost choked on her drink in an instant. Unbeknownst to her, there were clearly a few people acting strangely.
One of them was Yama, who clung to Belz next to him, shedding big tears from both eyes. With a sniffling nose, Yama directed a resentful voice towards Belz. “You… You were talking to a stranger today, weren’t you?”
“That was a soldier from the village of Yellow tribe. We were just discussing the squadron’s organization. You know that, Yama, right?” Bells’ explanation seemed to fall on deaf ears for Yama.
Shaking his head left and right, Yama said in a tearful voice. “So… You’re planning to abandon me… No, I absolutely refuse. I won’t leave Belz even if I die…”
“There’s no way I would abandon Yama. I wouldn’t part with you even if I died.”
Responding to Yama’s persistent accusation, Belz replied with a voice that had completely softened. It seemed like Yama’s jealousy made him happy.
Seeing the excessively sweet interaction between the two, which was unimaginable based on their usual behavior, she inadvertently let out a strange sound, “Uh, wow.”
“Ah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? Yama becomes a crybaby when he’s drunk and becomes even more jealous.”
It was a familiar scene, and Vice Captain Goat let out a cheerful laugh. However, the person sitting next to Vice Captain Goat was acting completely strange.
“Hehe, hehehe.”
The one laughing with a voice that resembled that of a young girl was none other than the goddess himself. His usually sharp eyes were moist and had a faint pink tint that reached his ears. It was hard to imagine that just a few hours ago he had a serious expression, as he now wore a melted smile that seemed to have no shape.
“Oh my, Captain Ogami. You’ve had a bit too much to drink, haven’t you?”
While speaking like a devoted lover, Vice Captain Goat tried to snatch the glass from the goddess. However, the goddess held the glass with both hands and shook his head from side to side like a stubborn child.
“I’m still going to drink.”
“It’s not good for you. If Noah-sama and Temeraire, who came to pick you up like before, scold you…”
“I don’t care about those two. They’re always telling me not to drink.”
“Well, if you look like this, they’ll definitely tell you not to drink. I’m also worried that you might get drunk and get taken advantage of by some strange man.”
While saying he was worried, Vice Captain Goat seemed to be enjoying himself as well.
Feeling astonished, she could hear Evelise whispering to her, “The goddess is a laughter addict. It seems he doesn’t go well with alcohol and always gets drunk quickly.”
If that’s the case, someone should stop her from drinking.
Instead of stopping him, it seemed like Vice Captain Goat was even encouraging him to drink more.
She later shifted her gaze to Tyet, wondering what he was doing. Tyet had completely turned his back to the table and was incessantly talking to the female bartender.
“Did you start working here recently? No, if there was a cute girl like you, I would have noticed much earlier.”
That damn flirt. She felt an urge to hit him with an empty bottle for neglecting his duties and flirting with the bartender.
When she turned her gaze towards the crying voice of Belz, she saw that Yama had finally climbed onto Belz’s lap. Belz tightly embraced Yama with both arms, wearing a smile on his face. Belz always had a friendly smile on his face, but it was the first time Kiki had seen him so happy.
Next to them, the goddess held out his glass to Vice Captain Goat and begged for another drink with an upward gaze.
“Goat, pour me some more.”
“Well, I can’t do anything about it, can I?”
While saying so in a voice that didn’t seem like he minded at all, Vice Captain Goat poured a generous amount of liquor into the goddess’s glass. Seeing this scene, she, who hadn’t even drunk much, felt a severe dizziness.
“Everyone, this is how it always is. Don’t mind it and enjoy drinking at your own pace, Kiki.”
Evelise, who cared for her, was the only source of comfort. Thanks to her own persistence in talking to Evelise after the proposal incident, the latter had started calling her by her own name, Kiki and had become more casual in her manner of speaking.
However, she suddenly realized something. What were all those empty glasses lined up in front of Evelise?
“Um, may I have a refill?”
Evelise called out to the male bartender. Was it just her imagination, or did the bartender’s face visibly twitch? And since when did Evelise’s glass, which had been full right when I arrived, become empty?
“Um… Evelise, how many glasses is that?” she asked nervously, and Evelise blinked in surprise.
“Um… let me see…” While saying so, the woman started counting the empty glasses on the table.
Seeing Evelise’s actions, she hurriedly stopped her. “Oh, it’s fine! You don’t need to count.”
Upon hearing that, Evelise tilted her head with the glass held in her small hands. It was an extremely cute gesture.
‘But it was scary how she hadn’t changed her expression even after drinking so much,’ she thought. Trying to divert her attention from the chaotic situation around her, she took a sip of her drink, feeling extremely tired.
At that moment, the goddess suddenly stood up and raised his glass high.
“Alright, we’re drinking until morning!”
At the sound of his enthusiastic voice, she too held her head and let out a deep sigh.
And until near dawn, the chaotic drinking party of the goddess and his subordinates continued in the bar, until the king and his attendant stormed in.