The next day.
Stretching as I stepped out of my cell, I began loosening up my stiff muscles. Every time I moved my body, a crackling sound started coming from all over.
“Ugh… geez, couldn’t they have put a decent bed in here?”
Muttering complaints, I recalled last night’s events – Gawein’s apologetic expression.
An unprecedented terrorist attack at the Academy. People had died, and we didn’t even know who the culprit was or what their purpose was.
An investigation was necessary to confirm I wasn’t the terrorist. But due to the chaos from the attack, normal procedures weren’t possible, so apparently all related individuals were detained.
He said he’d get me out as quickly as possible, so I should just stay put for a bit.
‘Said he’d get me out quickly… and here I am out overnight.’
And Gawein kept his promise. He diverted recovery funds meant for repairing the Academy’s chaos and damages caused by the terror attack to expedite my release.
As I completely exited the prison, Yuri and Arthur were waiting for me at the entrance.
“What are you two doing here?”
“To celebrate your release.”
“When a friend gets out of jail, you’ve got to celebrate.”
Just one night in jail, and these two were already acting like this would be their drinking story for life.
Scratching my cheek as I looked at them, Yuri handed me something she was holding. Tilting my head, I examined it – surprisingly, it was tofu.
“You eat tofu when you get out of jail. Eat up.”
“Who exactly taught you that?”
“It’s common sense…”
Before I could question what kind of common sense that was, I remembered that Yuri was a noblewoman from the North, where criminals served instead of receiving punishment in harsh conditions.
Growing up in a place where there were more criminals than regular people, she probably had different common sense from normal folks.
I grabbed the tofu she offered with my bare hands, chewed it up, and nodded.
“Tastes good.”
“…Why are you eating it with your bare hands?”
Yuri pulled out a fork belatedly, looking at me like I was some barbarian. Seeing that, I slightly hardened my expression.
Hey, if you had a fork, you should’ve given it to me earlier.
As the awkward moment lingered briefly, Arthur burst into laughter beside me and showed me what he was holding.
“Did I bring this for nothing…?”
“What is it?”
“Oh, it’s nothing much. My family sent some fruit… but it got too old and rotted a bit.”
“Why bring rotten fruit…?”
“So I put it in a jar and buried it.”
“…?”
I didn’t catch what Arthur was saying about burying rotten fruit in a jar at first – but not long after, I realized what he meant and my eyes shot open.
“Shall we have a drink?”
What Arthur brought was moonshine.
***
Though nobles are known for indulging in every pleasure and misbehaving – teenagers can’t blatantly drink and fool around with women.
Of course, I’d never tasted alcohol before either. My heart started pounding already at the thought of trying alcohol for the first time since being reincarnated.
“Welcome home, young master.”
I immediately headed to my house within Academy Territory. No matter how noble we were, we couldn’t openly drink inside the Academy dormitory.
Fortunately, the mansion survived the terrorist attack unscathed, and we found a place out of others’ sight. At the entrance, I asked the butler who greeted us for some snacks.
“Butler, please bring us something simple to eat.”
“I’ll bring it to your room.”
“Thank you.”
The butler seemed to have caught on to our mischief when we specifically requested it be brought to the room instead of the dining hall.
But perhaps thinking it was better than causing trouble outside, he quietly nodded and headed toward the dining area.
After the butler left, the three of us went to my room. We prepared to enjoy the booze after finding a suitable table and chairs, waiting for the butler to bring the snacks.
“This kind of thing is usually more fun with more people.”
“Anyone else to call?”
“That’s the problem; no one.”
This kind of mischief is more fun with more people. The issue is that there’s no one appropriate to call here.
Yuri is my fiancée, so mandatory attendance. Arthur brought the booze, so mandatory attendance. Other friends I could call would be Ariah and Bellion—but both were awkward choices.
Not close enough with Ariah to drink together, and Bellion is royalty.
‘How do you drink with a prince…?’
If we secretly brought a prince, who has all his actions monitored—what he does, what he eats—it wouldn’t take a day for news of our secret drinking to spread.
In the end, the only ones who could drink together were the three of us here.
“Young master, I brought the snacks you requested.”
“Ah, come in.”
A short while later, the butler brought not only the snacks I asked for but also three wine glasses. Sharp as always. After setting the food and dishes on the table, the butler silently bowed and left the room.
Once the butler disappeared, I immediately signaled Arthur, who then pulled out the hidden booze and started pouring it into our cups with a “jor jor jor.”
“Well then—cheers!”
“Cheers.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Following the international rule of downing the first shot, I dumped the contents of my cup in one gulp and soon regretted my decision.
“Ugh—”
“Tastes bad.”
“The taste of alcohol… isn’t as good as I expected.”
The Aura Master’s body broke down and sensed every nuance of the flavor. Meaning? A non-expert made cheap booze’s garbage-like taste vividly lingered in my mouth.
The bitterness of rotten fruit, the half-hearted sweetness from incomplete ripening, and the sharpness of alcohol hit separately, making it feel like drinking vomit.
Only after hurriedly eating snacks to mask the taste did I escape the nauseating liquor.
“I heard putting ice in alcohol reduces the bitterness…”
Upon hearing Arthur’s words, Yuri immediately started freezing ice cubes into her glass using magic. Unsure if magically created ice was safe to consume, I still pushed my cup forward asking for ice.
Only after the alcohol’s taste was neutralized with ice did it become somewhat bearable. Still tasted like garbage though.
With snack power and ice power tilting our glasses—we ended up emptying nearly half the bottle.
“…Hic! Why do adults drink this stuff?”
“You’re already drunk.”
“What…? Hic! No, I’m not…”
Watching Yuri hiccupping with a relaxed face, I let out a hollow laugh. This girl, totally wasted.
If this world were modern instead of fantasy, she’d probably have been kidnapped by men by now.
After a few more drinks, Arthur naturally started talking about yesterday’s events.
“By the way, Kail, you’re amazing. When did you become a Master?”
“—Hey, that’s a secret—.”
“Master?”
At that moment, Yuri, who had been staggering drunk, sharply pointed it out. I turned to look at her with a slightly hardened expression.
There she was, wearing an expression so cold it was hard to believe she was drunk.
“What do you mean?”
“…Ah, Kail. You didn’t know?”
“…Obviously not, I said it was a secret.”
“No, I thought you’d naturally know since you’re my fiancée…”
“—What are you two whispering about?”
Crack crack—cracks started forming in the glass Yuri was holding. Her magic, responding to her emotions, was freezing everything she touched.
I quickly began to calm Yuri down.
“I wanted to tell you, but Elder Zhang told me to keep it a secret.”
“…Father?”
“Yes, Duke Chang.”
Yuri, who was about to explode in anger, seemed to regain some composure upon hearing the Duke’s name and started assessing the situation calmly.
“Still—does it make sense that your friend knows before me, your fiancée?”
“Hey, he found out by chance while trying to help me.”
“Did you have any reason to reveal your identity as a Master?”
“Well, the opponent was a Master too.”
Right after saying that—I realized I’d misspoken. Thought I wasn’t drunk, but my body apparently was.
Upon hearing that I fought a Master, Yuri’s pupils shook wildly as if in an earthquake, then she downed the remaining drink in front of her in one go.
“…I want to go.”
Swish—Yuri stood up, swaying and about to collapse. Seeing her stumble, I swiftly caught her in a princess carry before she fell and told Arthur,
“I’ll put her to bed and come back, wait a moment.”
“Huh, okay. Take your time…”
“What are you going to do?”
Smirking, I left the room heading to Yuri’s room, where she started clinging to me and whining.
“…Kail.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“…Dizzy.”
“Haha, that’s normal when you drink.”
“Liar, you’re fine…”
Laying her half-slurred self onto the bed in her room, she groaned but wouldn’t let go of my hand.
“Kaaiil…”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“…Don’t die. If you die, I’ll learn necromancy and resurrect you…”
“Oh, oh boy.”
Her extremely realistic threat made me carefully cover her with a blanket and slip out of the room.
After putting Yuri to bed and returning, Arthur, who had been drinking alone, looked at me with eyes asking why I came back so soon.
“What? Why are you drinking alone?”
“Huh, huh? No, I thought—you went to bed with your fiancée?”
“We’re still minors, you know? Not like that.”
Hearing my explanation, Arthur subtly turned his body and bent his upper half. Wondering what he was doing, I approached and noticed something large bulging in his chest.
“What’s that?”
“What, what?”
“That in your chest. Did you steal something? Wait, there’s nothing here to steal.”
“Just, just a moment!”
Forcing Arthur, who was trying to hide his inflated chest, I checked what was inside. Something like slime started to grab hold.
Since it wasn’t something from this room, I lifted his shirt curiously—and out popped a bountiful pair of breasts.
“…Eh?”
I recalled going to the bathhouse with Arthur not long ago. There was nothing but a cliff-like flat chest, and below, a properly equipped small item.
Back then, he was definitely male.
But right now, in front of my eyes, was a colossal pair of breasts rarely seen even among women.
“You… were you a woman?”
Nodded—
Arthur tearfully nodded quietly, covering his face.
I was so shocked I couldn’t remove my hand from her chest.
“…Um, Kail?”
“Yeah, what?”
“Can you stop touching them now…?”
“Oh, sorry.”
Realizing belatedly that I was touching her chest because of her comment.
Such a thick skull, I didn’t even realize I was touching her chest.
Really.
