"Drink."
Rain jumped at the sound of glass beside him. He looked up and saw Hornet's bitter face. His eyes opened wide. What was she doing there?
Then, he turned to the side. There was an opened bottle of wine emitting a sweet scent.
"Drink. Make 'ya feel better,"
Without explaining herself, she sat down beside him and uncorked her gourd. Soon, the sickly-bitter scent of strong alcohol permeated through the night air, completely overpowering the more mellow smell of the wine beside him.
What was happening? To say that Rain was surprised was putting it lightly. After having a disappointing meeting with Snow, Hornet suddenly appeared and started shoving food and beverage to his face. She was the last person he expected to meet. Moreover, he had the impression that she was simply an eccentric alcoholic.
"There're nuts, too. Real good with booze."
A large bag was then placed before him. There were nuts, like she said, as well as some sugar cane and beans.
… Wait. Strange. According to passing gossip, the lord should be allergic to beans.
Acting purely on his instincts, Rain started to dig through the bag until he found something that caught his eye. It was hay. Just as he thought. There was no way a lord would store his food on something like that. He then recalled where they were. The village storeroom was just a few meters away from them.
"Did you… steal this?"
The words kind of just came out. He couldn't find any better words for it. Of course, he was afraid of offending the other party. Fortunately, it didn't seem like Hornet was bothered by it. She simply shrugged and nodded.
"It's jus' a bit. They won' notice a thing."
Just like that, she nonchalantly dismissed theft as something trivial.
Ah, she belched.
Pressured by her apathetic reaction, Rain apprehensively stared at the bottle beside him. He couldn't read the label clearly, but it seemed like some fruit wine. Did she steal that, too? Perhaps not. He remembered seeing similar ones inside that scandalous cell inside the lord's dungeon.
… Wouldn't that make him an accomplice for theft if he drank it?
He opened his mouth to protest but quickly decided against it. The sight of her chugging multiple mouthfuls of strong alcohol without pause made him squirm. How could she function like that? Or rather, how much booze did that gourd contain, anyway?
"I told ya' to drink, yeah?" she replied before she took another swig.
It didn't seem like she was in any mood to talk. Out of any immediate options, Rain sighed and grasped the wine bottle tentatively. With the bottle at a better angle, he could finally read the label on it with the help of moonlight. It was blue wine, a product of his country made from a mixture of different fermented fruits.
It was also Snow's favorite wine.
Rain felt his chest clench. The events from earlier gripped him again.
He shook the thoughts out of his head. And then, he took a swig. It was sweet. It was just like how he remembered the wine tasted.
"She really likes this taste," he mumbled, primarily to himself. "When we were kids, she would sneak into the neighbor's barn to steal a cup of this stuff every day. She was tied to a tree for half a day when she got caught. That girl threatened to kick the man's ass once she got free, so she was kept there for six more hours."
Hornet kept her silence as he continued to reminisce about the past. Whether or not she was listening was anybody's guess. But at least she stopped telling him an abridged version of "shut up."
When the aftertaste had left his tongue, Rain took another mouthful. The liquid was thick and difficult to swallow, but he understood its appeal. But personally, he didn't like it. He never had much of a sweet tooth. The bitter taste of ale suited him much better. Plus, ale was cheaper. Because they were always in need of money, Snow had to abstain from many things she liked.
One thing was for sure, though; that wine was quite strong.
"You know how much a bottle of this stuff costs where I live? Twenty rons. That's enough money for ten meals."
At some point, he just kept talking about anything that came to mind. The alcohol definitely helped in loosening his mouth. Additionally, Hornet's lack of reaction almost made him forget that she was there in the first place.
"She wasn't always obsessed with money. She used to spend everything as it came. Now, all she thinks about is how to earn as much money as quickly as possible and save up. Oh, the stink-eye she gives me whenever I "waste money" on new equipment."
Rain realized that the silence had only grown more oppressive. It wasn't that Hornet even stopped breathing. She had just stopped fishing through her bag of food. She was still drinking, of course.
He didn't think nuts and beans made that much noise until then.
"I wonder if… I should just sell the stone?"
That was, after all, her wish. Clouded by the earlier event, the idea suddenly became appealing to him. He wasn't even sure if it would work. But that was the only thing he could think of. He had already tried so many different things, from rare plants to strange meat. But no shaman, druid, or witch concoction could do it.
Snow herself had already given up. Instead, she was thinking of the near future, wanting to enjoy life as much as possible.
"She'll die in a few years."
They were cursed children. Long ago, when they were frolicking about in the forest, they came across a hole in the ground and ventured inside it. It led to a series of strangely immaculate passages as if they had been regularly maintained. At the very end of it was a door. Of course, as kids, they were naturally drawn to it. But that was when his memory of the event ended. As they pushed the door open, darkness consumed their consciousness, and they found themselves back at the surface. The hole was gone, and it seemed like a simple case of a shared dream.
A month after that, Snow suffered her first attack.
During that time, they were playing in the forest as usual. Suddenly, Snow started coughing violently before collapsing into a fit of convulsions. Thankfully, they weren't that far from their village, so he could carry her back to her house. At first, he thought she may have just eaten a bad mushroom. But then it happened again.
For a second time, and a third time, and a fourth…
Back then, it took over a year before her second attack happened. He then thought that the third occurring even earlier was merely a coincidence. However, the third, fourth, and fifth attacks made it clear to him that those episodes became more frequent as time passed. And without any reliable conclusions from the magicians and priests, he and her family became distraught.
Also, he suffered from an attack himself. However, it was apparent that his condition's progression was far, far slower than hers.
That was when a wandering mercenary came by their village. They met him as he was cleaning his equipment by the river. The traveler gave them a passing glance, and… smiled in amusement.
"Oh? Cursed children, huh.
How unfortunate. You angered some arrogant being.
Unlucky!
Fortunately for you, I have a solution.
And it's free. No need for thanks.
Look for the myth of wishes. It's in stories sung by cheap, drunk bards. Then, go on and live. That's enough of a revenge. Don't you think?
Especially to them."
That was it. Soon after saying that, the traveler left the village. Those words caused him to chase after a legend and, eventually, to that place.
"Thank god it exists," Rain spat. He raised the bottle to his mouth, only to find it empty.
Maybe he could make some poetic connection between the bottle and his life, but by that point, he was too exhausted to even make an effort.
"Here."
In a deja vu moment, Hornet shoved something in front of his face again. It was a deep, white plate that was small enough to fit on his palm. On it was a liquid, more transparent than even water. But it wasn't water. A potent stench of alcohol assailed his nose, which caused him to recoil slightly.
Where did she pull that plate out from? And more importantly, was this what she was drinking all that time?
"Drink some more," she urged. It didn't look like she would take "no" for an answer, even though what she offered didn't seem any different from poison.
By then, Rain's judgment had already clouded to the point where it didn't take much for him to accept. Or maybe it was because he was also curious about the booze a hero like her preferred.
And what an experience it was. When Rain took a small sip of the stuff, he was immediately overwhelmed by the burning sensation it caused in his throat. If someone had called the stuff "liquid fire," he would agree. For a moment, he even doubted if what he drank was alcohol. But when that horrible feeling subsided, he was treated to a splendid bouquet of flavors, complex and delightful. The sensation caused him to hum in satisfaction.
Alcohol like that must have been insanely expensive, he thought.
"Good?"
"Yeah. It's wonderful."
Hornet smiled from ear to ear before diving into the bag of stolen rations once again.
They stayed like that in silence for a long while. They would drink, eat, and Hornet refilled his cup every time it ran out. No words were exchanged. Though they couldn't understand each other, a strange kind of harmony achieved with alcohol had formed.
Eventually, Rain felt lightheaded. He felt his stomach bloat from all the liquid he had consumed.
But beyond that, he felt a bit of relief. Talking at length to someone, even if it was a complete stranger, about his problem did wonders. So, he thought it was only right to thank Hornet for it. She didn't seem the type to care, so the effect was even more significant than expected.
"Nah. Dun' care. Didn' listen."
Shock.
"Jus' saw ya 'ere bein' all pitiful. Reminded me o' some moron back then."
Rain was speechless. So he really was talking to himself all that time?
"So… why did you come here, then?"
"Mm. Sometimes, y'jus need to drink it all away. Yeah? Felt good, right?"
********************
Morning came with a massive headache. The bright morning light seared Rain's eyes even though it was partially blocked by the curtains on his window. Though he had a good night's sleep, he still felt exhausted upon regaining consciousness.
He was woken up by a persistent feeling of bother on his shoulder. He released a grumble and turned around as if escaping a death blow by mere inches.
"Wake up! Hey!"
"Later… Give me an hour…"
"We don't have an hour, stupid!"
Through his muddled thoughts, he realized that the voice came from Snow. Mysteriously, she was in quite a panic over something. What happened, though? Was the village lord out to get her for stealing from his coffers?
"Wake up, already! We need to go!"
"Why…? We haven't had breakfast yet…."
"It rained last night! Rustfall! We're surrounded by corroded!"
Upon hearing those words, Rain barfed a little.