Chapter 73 – The Scoundrel’s Invitation
“Oh, Bro’s as good as ever.”
“Well, I guess. But that kid…… he was really strong, right.”
“To go toe to toe with Bro. You sure got us beat.”
The baguette heads were walking in front of me, talking like that.
Weird. A few minutes after being smeared with blood and clashing into each other, why are we already rubbing shoulders?
Besides, I was taken to a bar for the first time in my life.
“Hold, just…… hey, wait! The bar is a hangout for punks and old men! I’m not going!”
Well, a long time ago, Sadiz raised it as one of the ‘places off limits due to its bad influence’.
“Huh… you look like a badass kid, haven’t you been to a bar before?”
“That’s why I really won’t come in!”
“Kakka, well, just think of this as an educational tour and enjoy it, yeh.”
Saying that, Bro took me to a bar in town.
It is completely different from the stylish ones found in the Imperial City.
A tattered sign, a broken door. Some places were cracked, the walls were peeling off, the pillars were about to break, and it’s a dirty bar that is about to collapse at any moment.
It’s not only the appearance but also the contents were the same.
“Uh, uh…”
The moment I entered the store, I suddenly held my mouth down.
The moment we entered, there were empty bottles rolling on the floor, red-faced delinquents lying drunk on tables or the floor, men laughing with women sitting beside them, and women with scant clothing making a scene.
In addition, the smell was mixed with the stench of alcohol, tobacco, and vomit, wasn’t it?
I’ve never seen such a stinky, filthy space before.
“Is that? Bro~, who’s the kid.”
“Heh~, he looks cheeky, but he’s pretty cute, isn’t he?”
“Now that you mentioned it, weren’t you going to fight the Kamikaze Gang Three-Prong star~?”
The moment we entered the store, everyone was talking as they came up to me, laughing and raising their voices as if they were all Bro’s friends.
And, of course, the glances were directed at me, who was shoulder to shoulder with Bro.
“Oh, this is the kid who was scammed by Date…. He knocked down the Three-Prong Star, and, well, he fought with me, too. I liked him and brought him along, yeh.”
“Yes, he broke our jet stream attack,”
“You had a good fight, did you?”
“Hey, come on in, buddy. Don’t be nervous.”
Bro and the other gave a rough explanation about me. However, even that overly loose explanation wasn’t unusual to these folk who know the man called Bro, as everyone nodded with a smile without any particular retort.
“Oh, you mean, a promising newcomer? Still, isn’t he young?”
“Hey, nice to meet you. If you have any problems, can you count on me? That’s our rule.”
“Hmm~, it’s just like Date~…. Ah, maybe Big Sis will learn something good from this~.”
“Hey Hey, don’t you wanna eat?”
Even though we had a fight, he didn’t care about it and readily accepted me.
Somehow, is every one of these guys always broad and don’t care about minor details?
And at the same time, I realized something.
“Which reminds me, the streets of the town are full of merchants …. and I thought this was a merchant town to begin with and there weren’t many young people here, but…”
Yes, most of the shoppers and street vendors were adults and geezers
However, there were dozens of young people in their teens and twenties gathered in this bar now.
“Oh, during the day. We young’uns laze about and drink at home or in a bar during the day. At night, it’s a completely different town.”
“At night…… Then?”
“Ah. It’s a sleepless night for us, the hoodlums, devouring the legacy left by the adults who ruled this town.”
“…What town?”
“Kakkaka, you see for yourself later, yeh.”
Saying that, while implying something different, Bro pushed his way through the store and naturally sat at the counter seat facing the tavern master.
“Here you are, you sit down, too. It’s my treat today.”
Saying that, Bro invited me to the counter.
To be honest, I sat down as I was told, even though I was puzzled.
“…… I can’t drink alcohol, so orange juice please.”
“””Noーーーー!”””
“Kakkaka, hey. Barkeep, you have my bottle, don’t you? Give it here.”
“Aiyo”
And are they really going to make me drink!?
No, but it’s against the law…. However, Bro, laughing heartily, took out his cigarette and lit it.
“…… Fuh~.”
“Hey, don’t smoke next to me!”
” Eh? Oh, my bad. Want a cigarette? Do you smoke?”
“Cigarettes and booze! I’m still 15!”
Far from drinking, he even offered me a cigarette.
I yelled out that it was “wrong”, too.
“Oh, he’s such a surprisingly good kid. Brother…… well, are you a young lord?”
“Nu!?”
“Raised without any inconvenience, but in the rebellious phase, did you go against your parents and ran from home? Is that the mark?”
“Nu, no….. not”
It’s so accurate, I’m at a loss for words.
“So it’s nothing to do… with you, anyway “
“Ah. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care, people have their own reasons for being down in the dumps. Including everyone here.”
“Shut up… It’s not that simple…”
“Huh…… that right. Well, I’m not going to ask that much, yeh.”
I was annoyed and tried to put up a wall, but Bro didn’t push it much or ask me about it.
“Rebelled against their parents, got wild due to a poverty stricken home, defied the teachers and took the easy way when they couldn’t keep up with the school. The influence of others. And so on. Every one of them can easily turn someone into a delinquent…. it’s no use worrying about it all, yeh.”
When I heard that, I was surprised.
Me running from home is not unusual, for these guys because they’re delinquent.
That’s why these guys are laughing so happily, and Bro…?
“And often the reason for becoming a delinquent is just a little curiosity. They say that kids are not allowed to drink or smoke or get sensual.”
With that, Bro offered me the cigarette that he had just lit.
However, I refused to smoke that.
“So, smoking would be bad for the body it seems. Alcohol, too.”
I’m sure you need to be 18 for cigarettes? I’ve heard that if you smoke, your physical strength will drop, or your lungs will get polluted, and that’s not going to do you any good at all.
“How, You’ve never even smoked, but you have decided it’s bad for you?”
“…Eh?”
“Fifteen or eighteen are not much different, are they? Or was it published in a paper that if you smoked at 15, your body will definitely get worse?”
“Well, that’s…”
“In the first place, the age limits for smoking and drinking are the standards arbitrarily set by old men who have nothing to do with teens. Why don’t you try it yourself to see if it’s bad for your health, yeh?”
Well, if you look at it that way… That’s not the point!
“I mean, I’m not gonna fall for a scoundrel’s invitation!”
“Oops.”
“I, already went through a bitter experience in this town because of that woman! That’s why I won’t smoke or drink!”
I refuse to fall for some “why not” smooth talk invitation to a bad pastime.
I’ve learned my lesson properly after being tricked by that woman.
『Um, right. Tis good, child. You can easily smoke and drink, but once you get hooked on it, you cannot refuse easily. Tis a detriment to your health.』
And, Tre’ainar nodded “Uh-hun” with his arms crossed.
『Even though, for this Bro to say as much… getting overly-familiar wi-…. ahem, to recommend something that will inhibit the growth of my disciple. Oi, the child is not yet tainted, is he?』
Or rather, Tre’ainar is somewhat ‘exasperated’, but……
“Kakkaka, so cold. As your senior in life… shouldn’t you listen to this bad pastime master?”
『Who is the master! I am the master! What is this halfwit you just met today saying?』
Quit it, this Tre’ainar? Stop getting angry and jumping over me. Or rather, Bro can’t hear you. Also, I’m kind of embarrassed…
“But, well, if you don’t feel like going delinquent, it’s not too late for you yet. That’s good.”
And, Bro patted my head while holding the cigarette that he offered in his mouth.
“People can easily go bad. Step out a little…. No, just step off. But there is no path ahead. Just a downward spiral. That’s why…. it’s hard to go from being a delinquent to a normal person.”
Thereupon, Bro warned me…
“I don’t know why you’re such a dazzling fighter, but you’re not a worthless piece of shit in the eyes of others, unlike us. You can still be anything you want to be. If you have a place to go back to, why don’t you go home?”
“Nu…… Wh, at?”
“Or else… Someday, even if you want to go back, you won’t be able to anymore…. and you may end up regretting it forever… Then, even if you want to go back to your original normal, it’ll be too late, yeh?”
It’s like an adult trying to talk a runaway kid out of it…. no, it’s “exactly” what it is, but……
“Oh, it’s none of your business. I can be anything? I know. That’s why I left home, to be something.”
“Hoho~…”
“There’s no reason for a hoodlum to meddle.”
Even so, I won’t join up with some delinquents, so I pushed past him.
“I’m going to leave home, leave the empire, and become a big man!!”
“So dazzling, aren’t you… Well…… You think about it a little more. For now, may we give a toast to the big man of the future?”
“Tch, you asshole.”
With that being said, while clicking my tongue, I vigorously drank the water in the glass I’ve been offered…. eh?
“Ge…… aah!”
“Ah…”
『Hold on, child!? Wh-, h, hey, what are you doing?』
I just drank it…… ah, it was all over my head and I had a strange smell in the back of my nose, no, it was hot! Somehow, I feel so hot! I mean, is it hot in here?
“~Tsupeh, just wha-… What the hell was that?”
“Oh, my bad, actually, I’d given up drinking… now, water…”
“Shit, seriously! My throat, gaggling, is that water, I’ll have that.”
“Ah, wait, wait. That’s not water!”
Ah, the water tastes awful and the ice is stale. Hot. I see, it’s hot, isn’t it? These clothes are a nuisance, you know.
“Ah, hey wait a minute, with one cup… aah~, hey, don’t take your clothes off, ah~”
“…… gulp…… the clothes came off…… my Lord, I may die now…… better tidy up.”
“Huh? Hey you? Miss….. I’ve seen you before.”
“Errr, I just became a waitress at this store, I’m Shino…… uh, nuh huh…… Kagerou.”
“Huh, is that right?”
“Then, let’s have these clothes washed… that’s right that’s right…… Hau ~♡”
“Ah, hey, what’s wrong with sis? She looks incredibly happy, but…”
Hmm? I can hear a woman’s voice that sounds vaguely familiar, but no, I’m lightheaded and thirsty….
『Oi, child! Return your sanity! Put down the glass you are holding and spit out what you drank! Also, the shinobi woman has infiltrated! Oi, child!』
What? What is it? You know, Tre’ainar’s split into three? That’s great, he’s my master, awesome!
Author’s Note
This story is fiction. It’s a fantasy world. Drinking and smoking by under-aged people, even further recommending and coercing, offering customers without checking their age, stealing the clothes of people who are drunk and took them off, are all illegal. A good child should never imitate these.
* As you pointed out, I made a quick correction because I was misinterpreted about my age.
Translator’s Note
Seriously kids! DO NOT DRINK, SMOKE OR PARTAKE IN SUBSTANCE ABUSE. You’ll have plenty of time to ruin your li-… ah, I mean, indulge in such vices once you LEGALLY become adults. Watch out for peer pressure and (okay now I’m just preaching….)
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