Liscia picked up a glass of wine. Lifting it up high she said, "Thanks to all of you,
many of our people were saved. On behalf of Souma, and all the people you saved, I
salute you. Now... Cheers!"
"""Cheers!"""
With that, the banquet began. The adventurers drank much wine, and smacked
their lips at tatsuta-age, spaghetti buns, fried seafood skewers, and many other
dishes not yet common in this country.
"This tatsuta-age stuff is great! I can't get enough beer with it!" Augus declared
enthusiastically, and Febral nodded in agreement.
"It seems they use the mystic wolves' soy sauce for it," said Febral. "It's very
good."
"The fried octopus skewers are good, too," said Julia. "Here, Dece. Say ahhh."
"Wait! Julia?! Are you drunk already?!" Dece exclaimed.
They each enjoyed themselves. Juno, whose eyes were already a little unfocused,
was wrapping herself around Little Musashibo. She was pushing a wooden mug full
of beer up against his cheek. "Come on, Mr. Kigurumi, you've gotta drink toooo."
"..." (Y-You're a bad drunk?!" he said, panicking.)
"If you won't drink, I'll give it to you mouth-to-mouth," Juno threatened.
"..." ("It will just stain the cloth, so please don't! I'll drink it myself, okay!")
Then Little Musashibo turned his back to Juno. When she was wondering what
was up, looking at him dubiously, suddenly a man's hand came out of the seam in his
back.
"Wuh?!" That shocking scene made Juno throw her head back in surprise. The
arm that grew out of Little Musashibo took the mug of beer from the dazed Juno
before slipping back inside Little Musashibo's body. Then, after some gulping sounds
from inside, the empty mug was expelled from his back.
"Whaa, what was that just now...?" Juno yelped.
Little Musashibo turned to face her and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "..." ("A
fantastical illusion." he said, nodding his head up and down.)
"Huh? But, just now I saw..."
"..." ("A fantastical illusion." Got it? He tilted his head to the side.)
All Juno could say at this point was, "Uh, sure."
From there on, with the occasional interruption for a fantastical illusion, the two
drank together.
As they did, Liscia kept peeking over and watching them.
Twenty minutes later.
"..." (Little Musashibo's body suddenly tilted over and he fell down on his back.)
Juno who was eating and drinking beside him, shouted out in surprise.
"Whoa, are you okay, mister?! Isn't it a bit early for you to pass out?!"
Juno shook his body, but Little Musashibo couldn't get up, it seemed. Then,
"Pardon me a moment," said an adult voice.
"Huh?" Juno asked.
When Juno looked up at the voice that suddenly called out to her, the young girl
in the military uniform was rushing over to Little Musashibo. It was Princess Liscia.
She was so surprised to have the princess suddenly call out to her that her mouth
bobbed open and closed in mute shock.
Liscia pressed her ear up against Little Musashibo's mouth.
"You're at your limit. Because of the alcohol. That makes sense." With those
words, Liscia sat Little Musashibo up. "I'll take care of this guy. You handle things
here."
"S-Sure..." Juno replied vacantly.
Liscia stared into Juno's face.
"Hm? ...Um... is there something on my face?" Juno asked.
"No, it's nothing," said Liscia. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy yourselves."
With that said, Liscia took Little Musashibo away.
Juno was at a loss for what to think, only able to watch their backs as they
departed.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Why did you push yourself so far to be able to participate?" Liscia demanded.
"Even going so far as to wear a kigurumi suit."
As they walked down the castle hallway, Little Musashibo borrowing Liscia's
shoulder for support, a male voice came from inside Little Musashibo. "Hey, can you
really blame me? Even I've got people I have to go out and socialize with."
"You say that, but they're not your associates, they're that doll's, right? Now
hurry up and get out of that thing. Nobody else can see you here."
When Liscia said that, the doll's back opened wide and Souma emerged, dripping
sweat. In addition to the heat of the kigurumi suit, he had alcohol in him, so his face
was pretty red. When he finished crawling out of Little Musashibo, Souma sat down
on the floor right there, exhausted.
Normally, Souma controlled Little Musashibo remotely with his ability, Living
Poltergeists, but today he'd to eat and drink, so he'd gotten inside it himself.
Liscia looked at him with exasperation, lending Souma shoulder to lean on.
"Look, if you're going to rest, don't do it here, do it in your bed in the governmental
affairs office. I'll have someone put away the doll later."
"Ahh, sorry," said Souma. "It'd be a big help if you could do that for me."
Souma leaned on Liscia for support as he walked on shaky legs.
"By the way, that girl, Juno?" Liscia asked as they headed to the governmental
affairs office. "She was pretty cute, huh?"
Souma looked away. "I haven't done anything with her that I should feel bad
about, okay?"
"Oh, I never said anything about that, did I?" Liscia asked.
Liscia was staring, while Souma couldn't meet her gaze.
If anyone had overheard, they might have sounded like an old married couple.