Chapter 31: A Promise Between Girls

[Skill Unlocked: Poison Resistance F—A]

[Skill Unlocked: Fire Resistance F—A]

[Adrenaline F]

[When HP falls below 50%, all mental status ailments are nullified. Power, Speed, and Intelligence increase based on the percentage of missing HP, while the Faith attribute is nullified. This state lasts for 10 minutes. Upon expiration, all attributes are halved for 24 hours, and the user enters a Weakened state.]

[*When HP drops to Zero, there is a 5% chance to lock at 1 HP.]

CLANG! The Twisted Greatsword sank into the rocky floor. Blaze gripped the hilt, barely managing to stay on his feet. As the effect of the [Adrenaline] Skill wore off, dizziness and exhaustion threatened to swallow him whole.

Hade rushed forward to support him.

"Did... did it work?" Blaze could no longer open his eyes; his voice was little more than a groan.

"Yeah, it worked. Though rather than extracting a memory, it’s more like it was reborn with a new memory," Hade said, propping Blaze up. He gazed in awe at the Twisted Greatsword towering before them, radiating waves of heat like a Wild Beast.

[Twisted Evil God’s Name / Greatsword]

[As if declaring that the Knight is no longer the Knight of the past, this Greatsword was the first to change its form. Feeding on the soul of the Eight-headed Evil God, it was reborn as the fangs of a Wild Beast. It swears an oath: from this moment on, it shall twist the names of all Evil Gods.]

[Attacks are imbued with Eight Fire Curse Poison. When performing a Slash or Pierce, there is a chance to trigger seven Additional Attacks. These Additional Attacks are also imbued with Eight Fire Curse Poison.]

"...Kid?" Blaze suddenly went limp, and Hade tensed on instinct.

"He’s just too tired and fell asleep." As a Singer, Audrey had been closely monitoring Blaze’s breathing, which was now reassuringly steady. "Besides, the Blessed can resurrect even if they die. Aren’t you a Blessed One too?"

"Of course I know that! I’ve died who-knows-how-many times while forging," Hade replied, his old face flushing red. He waved his hands at Audrey and Herbie, shooing them away. "Hurry up and take the kid away. We still need to clean up the mess left behind by this damn snake. Everything else can wait until he wakes up."

"Tch, we really took a massive loss this time." After weighing the situation against her own merchant standards, Herbie grumbled indignantly and reached out to catch Blaze.

"Eh? Wait! Ah! I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!"

CRASH! Blaze’s heavy frame toppled over, crushing the petite Herbie. His Heavy Armor acted like a hydraulic press, squashing her until her face turned bright red.

Flailing like she was at death’s door, Herbie reached a hand out toward Audrey.

"Audrey—"

"Herbie, I think your personality is a bit twisted sometimes."

"You’re lecturing me at a time like this?!"

In the end, it was the Guard Team from earlier who came over and carried Blaze back to the Dionysus Tavern. However, watching a dozen men red-faced and straining just to haul him away looked less like a guard escort and more like a masterful pantomime performance.

"It’s been quite a grueling day, my beautiful lady."

Audrey, who was sitting alone at the Dionysus Tavern’s bar counter, blinked in surprise. The juice in her glass rippled slightly. At some point, Herbie had slipped behind the counter opposite her and was currently shaking a cocktail shaker—SHK SHK SHK.

"It really has," Audrey replied with a fond smile. Her friend was occasionally very passionate about roleplaying, and this time, she was playing the bartender.

"Then allow me to offer the lady a complimentary drink." Herbie popped open the shaker and poured the sweet, fragrant liquor into two elegant goblets.

"This wine..." Audrey sniffed her glass and raised a graceful eyebrow. More than roleplaying, her friend was adept at bluffing and making the fake seem completely real. "Isn’t this just ready-made Dionysus Wine?"

"Of course it is! Look." Herbie rolled her sleeves up to her shoulders, revealing her slender arms. "Do these look like the arms of a working bartender?"

"That reminds me of the first time we met. You actually had the guts to bottle ordinary well water and sell it to nobles as dew from Tree of Life Leaves."

"Hmm... Now, who was that noble Lady who couldn’t stand singing for six hours a day and actually believed some little scammer’s claim that ’drinking dew from Tree of Life Leaves will instantly grant you the Singer Profession’?"

Audrey chuckled softly and clinked her glass against Herbie’s.

"Even though we suffered today, suffering isn’t necessarily a bad thing," Herbie said, leaning against the counter and looking up with a pointed gaze. "Today, I sang."

"You did. You sang with such devotion, just like you used to."

Audrey didn’t reply to that. Understanding her silence, Herbie proactively tapped her glass against Audrey’s.

CLINK.

The crisp, silver-bell-like chime echoed through the tavern.

"It’s okay, Audrey. No matter what choice you make, I’ll support you." Herbie took a sip of her wine, a sweet smile blooming on her flushed little face. "You brought me out of your territory, and I guide you in search of freedom and dreams. That was our promise."

"But in the end... I was the one who broke the promise first."

"No, Audrey." Herbie, seemingly drunk, leaned heavily against Audrey. With the innocent sleeping face of a child, she babbled softly in her sleep. "Becoming an excellent... Lady is also your... *zzzz*... dream..."

Herbie couldn’t handle her liquor. She always hid her true self behind the mask of a Merchant, but she never wore that mask in front of Audrey.

Audrey gently wrapped her arms around Herbie, burying her face in the girl’s slightly milky-scented short hair. "Thank you for being here, my friend," she whispered.

The day after Hermes’ Travel Hat booked out the entirety of the Dionysus Tavern, quite a few Foreigners began to protest. They wanted to drink the Dionysus Tavern’s alcohol.

The Dionysus Tavern’s Divine Wine series was incredibly popular among the Foreigners. It was said that this alcohol could grant adult Foreigners statuses such as [Tipsy], [Drunk], and [Wasted], leaving absolutely no lingering effects once they logged out of this world.

Nursing a hangover, Herbie gave her subordinates a few instructions before stumbling right back into bed.

The gist of her instructions could be summarized as: "Weren’t you curious about what kind of cargo we got robbed of? What a coincidence, it was the supply run for the Dionysus Tavern! We originally didn’t want to make a fuss about this and intended for Hermes’ Travel Hat to bear all the losses. But since you asked, we have no choice but to tell you."

Upon hearing this, a portion of the Foreigners instantly roared, "I’ve been working overtime for so long, this was my only mental solace!" as they charged out of Balkan City on a warpath.

One could only silently draw a cross in Prayer for the Goblins.

Today, the Dionysus Tavern remained peaceful.

Blaze slowly opened his eyes.

"An unfamiliar ceiling."

"Yo! You’re awake, Human!"

"A familiar chicken."