After having dinner and getting a change of clothes from Aranea Andrew decided to go outside and get some fresh air. Hagurd joins him while carrying two glasses that have ice in them with one hand and a bottle of liquor with the other.
The middle-aged man gestures Drew with a head turn to go with him to the picnic table, and because Andrew did want to talk to him about something that's been on his mind that he follows the middle-aged man to the table.
Drew's the first to take a seat as Hagurd pours a drink for himself and for Drew. Hagurd then sits down next to Drew and while wafting the rich scent of brandy with his glass he holds out the second glass for Drew.
"I'm underage you know," Drew said wanting to turn him down on his offer.
"Wait, really? I could've sworn you're an adult already. How old are you?" Hagurd drinks a bit from his glass as he puts the second glass on the table behind them.
"I'm seventeen, turning eighteen in a few months," Drew says as he looks away from Hagurd to stare at the night sky. 'There are a lot of stars tonight' he thinks while marveling at the bright lights hanging in the sky.
"Seventeen? You're the same age as Aranea then," Hagurd suddenly opened up as he continued to drink, already halfway with his first glass.
"You seem to know a lot of about Aranea, don't you. Not just that, but I can see that you wanna take good care of her." Drew took out the shopping list Hagurd gave him that he somehow still has in his pocket and showed it to him. "Because why else would you go so far for a witch?"
Hagurd leaned his back against the picnic table and rest his arm on it as he finishes his 1st glass. His stern and narrow eyes appeared as though they were looking at the future.
"Witch, huh. What's wrong with treating them with a bit of kindness?" Hagurd posed a question to Drew, one that Drew knows the answer to.
"I believe that some of them are misunderstood and-"
"Don't give me that. I don't want to hear what people have agreed on to be the reason why I'm asking you as an individual." Hagurd was about to reach for the 2nd glass that was supposed to be for Drew but instead the teen grabbed it before he could.
"I thought you were underage."
"I never said no, did I?" Drew retorted as he took the glass to his mouth and drank a bit of the brandy. It's strong because of how badly it burned Drew's throat on the way down as well as how bitter it was for him.
"Fine, suit yourself."
Hagurd grabs the bottle from the table and poured his empty glass back to full. He swished the brandy in his glass before taking a sip.
"My reason, right? For me, I do believe that witches are treated unfairly." Hagurd squints at that as he's heard it before from witch-sympathizers. "Because I treated a witch unfairly and I'm now trying to atone for that after a friend of mine gave me an earful. If she hadn't, I wouldn't have come to this decision."
The stars that Drew stared up at reminded him of the last night he spent in Mires thinking of what he can do apologize to Erize for disappointing her and to Melissa for taking away what was dear to her.
"T, -That's not really an answer, is it?" Drew turned to Hagurd with an embarrassed grin while he rubbed the back of his head. "I started to think that a witch deserves a second chance, that's what I felt at least."
"You sounded like a witch-sympathizer at first," Hagurd commented which made Andrew wince and shudder from embarrassment. "But, in the end, you sounded like a decent man."
With a small smile on his face, Hagurd finished his second glass, satisfied with Drew's answer.
Out the blue Drew reached out his now empty glass at Hagurd, shaking it to gesture that he wants another. The middle-aged man chuckled and poured Drew, his drinking buddy, another glass.
"I��m going to get in trouble for letting you drink past your bedtime," Hagurd scoffs with a cheeky grin on his face.
"You're the one who offered me the drink. You'll get in trouble for instigating this," Drew replied as he started drinking his 2nd glass.
A peaceful silence came over the two as they watch the night sky together, drinking and coming to understand one another through small talk. On his 5th drink Hagurd was more open with Drew, but even so Drew knew that Hagurd wouldn't say anything incriminating for himself despite clearly being wasted out of his mind. It made Drew curious as to what this knight captain is hiding.
"She's my daughter," Hagurd says vaguely as he finishes his 5th glass. The bottle was nearly empty at this point.
Drew was left dumbfounded, he had a suspicion that Aranea and Hagurd had some kind of relationship but he didn't expect it to be like this, much less be told in a manner so nonchalant that it made Drew doubt that this was the thing Hagurd kept quiet about.
"Aranea?" He asked just to be sure.
"Who else do you think I'm referring to? Basil?" Hagurd slumped his head and snickered.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Didn't you ask? I wish I could do more for her, but life isn't that sweet, unfortunately." Hagurd's snickering came to an abrupt stop and he stared longingly on the ground. "I don't know if I just slipped or what, but I want to trust you. Something about you reminded me of myself. Give them a chance, right?"
Hagurd sniffled, blaming it on the cold and his weakening resistance to it, but in reality, he couldn't help but think about Aranea and how much she's grown over the years -how much she's changed, how much she's beginning to look like her mother, and how much he's worried about her future.
He believed -no, Hagurd knew that he could've made a better decision earlier in his life than having to compromise with Aspen and Aranea. If he had chosen one over the other then he wouldn't be unsatisfied with his life. He sees himself in Andrew, the Hagurd that made the hard decision.
Drew wanted to comfort Hagurd, but as he was about to reach his hand out the girls in the house came out and called out to him.
"Hey! I want you to see Melissa's naked back for a second!" Lucifia shouted as she gestures Drew with her thumb to go back inside the house.
"Hah?! Why do you need me to do that!?" Andrew shouted back confused and a bit alarmed.
He turns around to check on Hagurd, ignoring Lucifia's ranting.
"Just get in here and do what I say or are you too much of a virgin to look at a girl's back!?"
"Go on, your wife needs you. I'm fine by myself here," Hagurd says as he shoos Andrew away by waving his hand at him.
"Next time, let's drink something else besides brandy." Drew sets down his empty glass beside the equally empty bottle and went back inside the house with Lucifia.