Act 4: Chapter 16: Raigan's House
We were invited to come to Raigan's house in the Peach Dragon village.
Honestly, I was really surprised since Raigan seems to treat us like parasites.
「Inviting a guest is common sense for the one who standing guard on the village's gate. It's also a way to prevent the humans of humble origin from doing whatever they want in this beautiful peach dragon village. Not that we can ignore you, who are the benefactor of dragon either.」
Said Raigan with a gloomy face.
Ramiel said to not mention her name and only told us to say that we were told about this village by the dragon we saved.
「Thank you…」
Smiling wryly, I thanked Raigan.
Raigan had also smiled upon seeing me thanking him.
「Since I invited you lots, I can't treat you coldly in my home either. But, our village has a certain custom. Are you willing to learn our customs? This is something that both of you, the attendant of that little girl can participate too.」
「… So?」I've got a bad feeling about this.
Raigan seems to want to do something to us by making us learn the peach dragon village's customs.
「At a glance, this place is far away from a human living place, that's why it's better to not make a mess while you're in this place. You must be hungry right? Oi, bring in the meal… And don't forget to bring the dragon liquor too.」
Said Raigan loudly.
Two female dragonfolks-which seems like his employee- then appeared from the inner part of the mansion with prepared meals.
Just as Ramiel had said, most of the dishes didn't seem to be cooked in the correct way.
The dishes were just grilled fish or chicken meat and a huge pile of salad for the veggies.
The salad wasn't even cut properly and only focused on volume.
Though I've heard firsthand from Ramiel that their food culture was far behind the human, my only worries were whether we could finish all the dishes or not, not about whether it was edible or not.
Alas, this was the first time I heard about dragon liquor.
「Let's start with liquor.」
Said Raigan as he poured the content of a jar with dragon relief engraved on it into the cup.
「This is dragon liquor… Low-level folks who drank this will feel like their body was on fire. Alas, things will be difficult for visitors from outside if they can't even drink a mouthful of this. This is also part of the custom in the peach dragon village that respects the strong.」
Said Raigan politely as he smiled at us.
I see now… No wonder.
He might thought that us-Who were treated as Philia's attendants- Had a low level.
「It's something that even I, can't drink carelessly like water… But, try to drink a mouthful for now. Not that I expect you can handle this with your weak, human body.」
Right after he said so, another employee-like dragonfolk brought in something like a tub.
「Use this water to clean your palate if you feel that you can't drink dragon liquor. Though it sounds rude, this much water is needed for your weak, human body.」
… Meaning that if our level was low, we would be embarrassed if we had to dip our head into the tub of water.
「… Philia-chan is a child so, can you spare her from drinking liquor?」
「That can't be helped. But, she will be regarded as lower than dragonfolk's kid in Peach Dragon village you know? In that situation, her qualification to participate in the 《Dragon's Trial》 is…」
At that moment, a huge mouth appeared on the desk and swallowed the jar along with some dishes at once.
The mouth shut and then vanished.
When I turned around to see Philia, I saw her mouth was chewing something.
「Philia wants to eat sweets…」
And grumbled like that.
The next moment, a fragment of porcelain dropped from her mouth.
「Even I can't drink many cups…」
After he mumbled so, Raigen looked at the innermost part of his house again.
「B-BRING IN ANOTHER JAR OF DRAGON LIQUOR, NOW!」
His employee brought in a new jar of dragon liquor.
Raigan poured the new dragon liquor into another cup and gave it to me.
I could see white steam floating above the surface, it was warm liquor.
After I sniffed the aroma from the steam, I took a mouthful of dragon liquor into my mouth.
It was bizarrely spicy on top of being hot. There was this tanginess that numbed my tongue.
Since the degree of alcohol seems to be quite high, maybe it was made by dumping alcohol into lumps of various herbs.
「I'm not an avid fan of liquor…」
I rolled the liquor in my mouth before swallowing it and saw Raigan chewing his lips.
「… Tch, false bravado. Next is you, Pomera.」
「P… Pomera too?」
Pomera stuttered when Raigan told her to drink too.
At that moment, I felt as if a bucket of cold water dumped onto my head.
I completely forgot about Pomera's drunken frenzy.
「U-Uhm, Raigan-san, can you spare Pomera-san if I drank her share? I know that this sounds like breaking your custom but, please make an exception…」
Raigan furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before his face formed a smile.
It seems he thought that he just found our weakness.
「That won't do. She's not a child to the point of backing down from this. She has to try it at least. Otherwise, that will be the same as looking down on us. That's why buckle up and drink.」
「D-Don't worry, Kanata-san… Pomera will do it! No problem, Pomera's level has risen too!」
「No, Pomera-san, in your case this will spell a trouble…」
「The person herself has accepted the challenge. You can't just dismiss her, right? Now then, take it, Pomera.」
Raigan poured the dragon liquor into the cup to the brim and gave it to Pomera.
Pomera took the cup nervously and brought it to her lips.
「Uhm, Pomera-san! Just take a sip of that… Don't drink it at o—」
Thirty minutes later.
Raigan who was forced by the drunken Pomera to drink more dragon liquor was blowing bubbles while he thrusting his head into the water tub.
The Pomera in question had already drunk straight from the dragon liquor jar with a flushed red face.
「Ka~nata~sha~n! This liquor is yummy~!」
「… No thank you, I won't drink.」
My shoulders slumped down as if I were in the middle of the funeral service of my parent.
「Shall I feed you mouth-to-mouth? Mouth-to-mouth!」
「Thank you but no…」
「Oh my~, the embarassed Kanata-shan is so cu~te!」
Here we come, Pomera's drunken mode.
I felt like sitting on top of burning hot charcoal right now.
Philia was being patted non-stop by Pomera as the latter rubbed her face against the former.
「Excuse me~! Raigan-sha~n, bring me another jar of dragon liquor pwease~! Raigan-sha~n!」
Said Pomera as she waved to the inner part of the house.
That Raigan had already passed out.
I could only massage my temple, and heaved a really deep sigh as I endured this hell.
===
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Journey of The Childhood Friend Who Got Betrayed by Sword Saint
The Protagonist of Isekaied Story With Cheat And Harem Has No Idea That All Of The Heroines Has Already Been Stolen By Me~Urgh, My Stomach Is Killing Me~
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