Master’s Smile

C72 – Banquet

“Cheeeeers!!!”

The beer-filled mugs were knocking against each other following Apollo’s lead.

I heard that this kind of culture was brought by a hero some generations ago, but I wonder if he came from the same world as Maho and Yuuto.

Well, that doesn’t matter now.

Sorglos and I were visiting Lucille’s guild and having a feast to celebrate our first day on searching for the elixir without any major incidents.

We hadn’t even found the elixir yet, but our journey had been so intense from the beginning that we thought it would be fine to do something like this.

To top it off, we didn’t expect that the normal guild “Shield of Pride (Prishield)” would hunt us down as well.

If the encounter had gone poorly, our connection with Lucille’s group would have been severed, we would have been taken to the royal capital, and Lucille’s group would have been demoted into a gray guild.

Well, despite having some sacrifices like Rust, I still think we managed to settle things down nicely, didn’t we?

“Yooo! Have you been drinking, Master!?”

Ouch!?

I felt a strong shock on my shoulder and was surprised to see Apollo standing next to me.

His face was red and his breath smelled of liquor.

I-I guess he’s already drunk, huh….

“Maaaan! It’s been a really tough day… We had to join forces with a dark guild and a normal guild even attacked us….”

Apollo sat down next to me and started complaining while still wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

H-Hiieee… I knew this was going to be a troublesome drunk talk….

R-Rieg… Where’s Rieg who was supposed to be holding him back…?

“…….”

As I looked around, I saw Rieg sitting a little further from us.

He smiled and gave a thumbs up after locking his eyes with mine.

L-Looks like he’s not going to help me, is he…?

He was quietly sipping his drink, probably because he didn’t want to be involved.

“Hey, give me a drink, too!”

“No, you can’t.”

On the other hand, Lucille and Heroro, the other two who seemed to be able to stop Apollo, were fighting over the liquor.

Ugh… Seems like those guys can’t afford to help me either.

“Like I saaaid! As for meee, I want to make this guild strongeeeer….”

Damn it… Do I have to keep getting tangled up in Apollo’s talk….

“Why are you wrapping your arm on Master’s shoulders? Go away.”

“Gueeeh!!!”

However, there was a girl who was willing to offer a helping hand to the trivial me.

A girl who was like a daughter to me, that is Sorglos.

She blew away Apollo, who was entangled with me, and sat down next to me as if nothing had happened.

Ooh… There are times when I usually think that you overdid things, but you saved me this time. Thanks.

“No, no, no. We did nothing worthwhile to deserve your praise……..*hic*.”

…….

Y-You’ve got to be joking, right?

Sorglos kept swaying back and forth as she sat down.

It looked somewhat dangerous.

Her face was hidden by the cloth, so I couldn’t see how she looked, but her eyes looked as if she was entranced.

D-Don’t tell me….

“Guhehehe…. Masteeer….”

Sorglos said so and hugged me.

T-THIS GIRL IS DRUNK TOOOOOO!?!?

To think Sorglos is this weak with liquor….

Could it be because of her race? Alcohol sure kicks in quite fast huh….

“*sniff**sniff**sniff*! Hafuuu… we do not have a smell fetish, but Maaaster’s smell is indeed very special, yeees.”

Sorglos was sniffing intensely while saying so.

No! Stop it! I don’t smell that good!

You girls are the ones who smell better than me!!!

(TLN: What is this argument…?)

However, even when I tried to stop her, the intoxicated Sorglos did not seem to cease at all.

Kuh! To think she’s this drunk already…!

“Masteeer! We desire a cuddleee….”

She said so while nestling close to me, hence I had no choice but to let her sit on my lap.

Well, it’s a cute thing to see your child wanting to be spoiled.

…I can’t say she’s still a child in terms of age, though.

“Fuhehehe… I can feel Masteeer’s warmth, yeees….”

She skillfully flipped around on my lap and hugged me tightly.

H-Her chest is touching….

I-Is this normal? I’ve heard that daughters are often antagonistic towards their fathers.

“Masteeer, we would like to have an offspring soon….”

Sorglos looked up at me with enraptured eyes.

Offspring!? And what do you mean by soon!?

Naturally, I had no intention of accepting her demand, so I hurriedly shook my head.

“What’s an offspring, Rieg?”

“Ah, umm… that is….”

Perhaps something tugged at Lucille’s heartstrings because he went to ask a question to the more knowledgeable Rieg.

There was no way Rieg could answer the question, so he was busy trying to cover it up.

He looked at me with a mix of anger and begging for help.

Yeah, sorry.

But you also didn’t help me when I was tangled up with Apollo so we’re even, right?

“……!?”

With my eyes trying to tell him so, Rieg stared at me in despair.

He’s a smart guy, he’ll get through this.

“Haah, haah….”

Meanwhile, Sorglos let out some kind of feverish sigh.

…Hey, hey, what are you doing, wiggling your hips and rubbing them against my leg? You can’t do that.

In order to stop the drunk Sorglos from going out of control, I decided to use my specialty magic.

“Guh….”

As a result, Sorglos began to breathe very soundly in her sleep.

Phew… That was dangerous.

I still have to deal with the rest of the group who were looking at me with an intense look, except for the child, Lucille, and Rieg who was being pursued by him.

It will be a bother if they try to attack Sorglos while still drunk.

I don’t know if I could hold them off, but I might have to fight them with her behind my back.

“Onii-chan?”

“L-Lucica!?”

In such a situation, the door opened slowly and a girl with red hair appeared from the backroom.