episode_0084

What is good alcohol?

From what I heard somewhere, I heard that a good drink is one that doesn’t give you a hangover the next day.

But then I think there is no good alcohol in this world.

If you look at just one glass of alcohol, unless it’s a serious alcoholic beverage, there isn’t much alcohol that will give you a hangover that will make you dizzy the next day after drinking just one glass.

However, no matter how delicious the alcohol is and how refreshing it is, if you drink more than 20 glasses of alcohol in one night, you will inevitably have a hangover the next day.

So, I don’t think there is any good alcohol in this world.

Because right now, I’m facing huge aftereffects thanks to all the expensive and good alcohol I drank so much yesterday.

“Are you okay?”

I heard someone’s voice as I was getting a hangover headache right before I woke up.

I heard the voice and answered before I even opened my eyes.

“Ah… I see. It’s not very good.”

Then I immediately opened my eyes and checked the surroundings.

I was lying in bed.

However, instead of a pillow, his head was resting on Thistle’s thigh.

And right in front of my face, Thistle was sitting on the bed, looking upside down at me.

When I saw that, I could roughly predict the situation.

In the end, I couldn’t tell Vincent where my accommodation was, so Thistle must have seen that I didn’t come and came to pick me up.

A ritual of sleeping with Thistle to ward off demons.

‘Reminiscence’ is a ritual that must be performed continuously for more than a week to be effective.

Thistle was waiting for me to return to perform the ritual, but I was talking to the corps commander in the bar during that time, and it was so late that Thistle came to find me himself.

There are other things to say first, but what needs to be said first has been decided.

“… I’m sorry. I ended up causing a nuisance.”

“Sure. Since he didn’t come back, I went looking for it, but I didn’t expect to find it at the last store.”

Thistle looked quite dissatisfied.

‘Is Thistle angry too, or have I made the same mistake again?’

Maybe it’s because I still have negative emotions, but I keep thinking about things in a negative way.

However, the face with puffed cheeks and furrowed eyebrows seems to have been an intentionally created expression.

Thistle soon relaxed his expression and smiled.

She wasn’t wearing a veil yet, so I could see her face as it was.

So, even if I was looking at it upside down or down, I thought Deshade was a pretty pretty person, just as I was confident she would be.

Without saying anything, Thistle lowered my head from my thigh and put his hand on my side to help me up.

Then he said the truth and got up from the bed.

“Hehe. It was a joke. At first, I thought I would leave him alone because he was sleeping so soundly, but as the sun started to get brighter, I felt like he needed to get up, so I woke him up. And I also have to listen to Deshade’s help today, so I think I have to go now.”

“Ah, has it already been that long? Thanks for waking me up. Still, I had to go early because I had to meet someone today.”

“Is that so? Well then, that’s a relief. I was a little nervous because I thought I might have woken you up even though nothing special happened today.”

The day begins whether you open your eyes or not.

Whether I fight with my teacher or spend the whole day drinking, time flies.

Today is the day Aila said she would come visit.

I forgot the time slot and didn’t set it, but I think it might be possible to come out if I go around lunch time.

As I was getting ready to go out and straightening my hair while looking at the mirror in the room, Thistle came up to me and straightened out my crumpled clothes and said,

“Are your thoughts a little more organized?”

“Huh? Did you hear?”

Her words struck me, so I answered quickly.

Even in my dreams, I continued to feel frustrated because I couldn’t communicate with my teacher, and I’m sure he also talked in his sleep.

Of course Thistle, who was sleeping next to me, heard it.

Still, it seems it wasn’t that bad.

“It was something I felt rather than heard. He kept thinking about it while he was sleeping. The grunting was cute, like a puppy.”

“Uh… a puppy indeed. Where can you find such a big dog?”

Then Thistle ran his hand through my messy, barely organized hair.

“Is that so? To me, he’s already acting like a puppy, right?”

Then, instead of me, who had organized my hair sloppily, he started tidying my hair again.

It feels a little strange because it seems like everything is left to Thistle.

‘It’s a bit embarrassing.’

It may be a late thought, but it feels a little strange to wake up and think that there is someone next to me who cares for me like this.

So, in a suspicious mood, I didn’t want to be made fun of, so I counterattacked Thistle.

“…Do you know what? Thistle, have you ever whined like that before?”

“Yes? When am I?”

“When Deshade took the coin from his hand before. Thistle was the same way back then. Thistle looked at me like I was a puppy or something, but thistle actually made a yep sound at that time?”

“That kind of disgusting behavior…”

‘I can’t be the only one who gets hit.’

Thistle, behind the mirror, really raised her eyebrows this time, as if she was embarrassed that she had shown me a strange look without realizing it.

And then-

“Ouch, ouch!”

He pulled the back of my head that he was touching and came forward and made eye contact with me.

“Lee, Lee Lim. How about we keep it a secret from each other?”

“Oh, no. Even if you threaten me like this…”

“You understand, right?”

“… Yes.”

It was such a coercive attitude that I couldn’t refuse.

“Okay. Since we were the same, let’s keep this as a story that only we two know.”

“Surely you didn’t tell other people?”

‘I didn’t say anything. There were other witnesses besides me.’

Actually, there were other people at the time and everyone saw it, but I decided to fake it on purpose.

“Of course. I don’t know about anyone else, but I just need to not talk about it, especially not only Peria.”

Instead, he used that as an excuse to ask Thistle to keep quiet.

If Peria finds out about my story, she’ll make fun of me again.

Only then did Thistle let go of the back of my head and tidy up the mess until the end before retreating.

“Ugh… I was just trying to make fun of you. I never even thought something like that would happen to me…”

“That’s why you shouldn’t sleep anywhere.”

“Ho, did anything else happen? I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days, and I think you know because we sleep in the same bed. Do you really have any other sleeping habits?”

“No? Did you sleep very well?”

“Then I’m glad.”

“That’s it, let’s go down. First, let’s fill our bellies and move.”

“Oh, that’s right. I stayed a lot longer than I thought.”

Time continues to flow no matter what. It is better to use the day efficiently.

After the two of us finished talking, we went downstairs and started eating a light breakfast.

I roughly tear off the dried meat, dip it in the soup, eat it, and talk to Thistle.

“Now that I think about it, what about Astesia?”

I asked because I was worried that I wasn’t able to talk properly after bringing Astesia because I was busy.

“Sister Astesia is following me in serving Deshade. These days, the wizards and alchemists who come to ask questions to Deshade are very busy, so I am taking care of Deshade, but when the people disappear, I will have to make money again. So, I think I will receive a request from the Adventurer’s Guild and Astesia will be serving Deshade while I am away.”

“I’m glad that nothing major happened.”

I’m glad that there doesn’t seem to be any problem, but I also feel sorry for not being able to pay attention to Astesia because I have my own things to do.

In particular, the fact that I have to be in full charge of Deshade is a bit worrying.

‘It’s Deshade’s help. ‘It’s going to be a bit of a struggle.’

From the beginning, I didn’t even think about Deshade taking care of Astesia.

Considering the nature of that god, it is very likely that Astesia is actually holding him back because he wants to jump out here and there.

Thistle, who has to feed the two, is the head of the household at this point. It’s because the family is a religious group.

“But sisters? Looks like you’re pretty close.”

“Yes. I think the child is still having a hard time with us. We decided to be like sisters, asking for more support. Maybe that’s why I’m glad that they seem to be opening their minds little by little.”

I feel fortunate that Thistle is a good person.

After saying that, she cut the dried meat with a knife, but eventually gave up, sighed, and dipped it into the soup just like me, and continued.

“Anyway, I was worried because it was my first attempt, but I am glad that the ceremony seems to have gone smoothly. When I’m sleeping, it seems like a disturbing figure is wandering around, so I wake up and chase it, but each time it comes, it gets smaller.”

“Really? That’s really fortunate.”

Since that day, I have never heard Asmodeus’ voice.

I had a feeling that Thistle was tossing and turning every once in a while in his sleep, but it seems like that’s what he was doing.

“I guess that’s the right thing to do. I really thought I was just sleeping.”

“What are you talking about? It is natural for me, Thistle, Deshade’s apostle, to work hard for Irim, my benefactor and now a member of the same sect.”

Thistle said that, smiled, and met my eyes directly.

In many ways, this is an eye that feels quite strong pressure.

“Same denomination… Ah, yes.”

“It’s been a long time since you became a bishop, so let’s lead the church together!”

It seems that Thistle has come to think of me as a full member of the church.

Of course, I was given the position of bishop, but for me, who has neither land nor many believers, that position is really only in name and is not something worth mentioning.

So I keep pretending not to know, but when I see Thistle trying hard, I sometimes wonder if he is doing too much.

“Oh, and when Hwarim feels better, I hope you’ll stop by here too. I heard from Deshade that Hwarim has also accepted him as a believer, so I would like to see his face at least once. There are too many people these days for me to go.”

“I will.”

‘Master, you are a believer after all.’

Since Master was also a believer, he could have come to show his face, but the problem was that he seemed to not want to meet Deshade, so he never came near him.

After finishing the meal, I was washing the dishes when Thistle asked me to come with him.

“Then, shall we go quickly?”

“Whatever. Because the path is the same. I’ll take you to the bar.”

“Still not over the hangover?”

“… That could happen.”

Sniff-sniff-

Instead of washing dishes, check to see if your clothes still smell.

I can’t really feel it through my nose, so maybe they were just teasing me?

‘I don’t know.’

After that, we packed our bags and left the accommodation.