The knights brandished their swords and spoke up solemnly.
“We are the knights of the Grand Duchy of Lyonne. Present your proof of identification.”
“…I have none.”
If they kept ordering him to produce sothing he didn’t have, Xuan Tian would be in a pretty pickle.
“Then co with us quietly.”
The knights’ hands hovered aningfully over the hilts of their swords.
“…!”
His eyebrows arched at their actions. ‘Impertinent bastards! Do you know who I am?! If you bastards dare lay a finger on , I won’t stand for it!’
Determined, he was about to pull out a long needle from his chest, but soone grabbed his elbow. It was Law.
“Do you really want to blow things out of proportion?”
“Do you imagine I should simply let them lay a finger on ?!”
“Just give yourself up. It makes no difference whether you enter with your own two feet or get hauled inside.”
“What?!”
‘The cheek of this absurd rascal!’
“You think they’ll guide us to heaven if we capitulate? It’s as plain as the nose on your face they’re taking us to prison! I’m fed up with prison now!”
Back in Yu Ga, in the Eastern Continent, he had undergone a period of confinent for rising in revolt against the Emperor’s brutal practices. While he had never endured wretched torture or insults as he was a renowned noble—
‘I can’t drink alcohol in jail!’ Offering alcohol in prison was unheard of!
Law shook his head wordlessly. ‘Could this rascal be angling for that?’
The knights were now glaring daggers at the pair. Xuan Tian, who had his hand in the pocket of his chest, hastily drew out his hands.
“Hold! This personage truly received an inv—!”
But the objections of an illegal immigrant who bore no proof of identification fell on deaf ears.
“ow—”
The two of them headed down to the underground prison all the while suffering pokes dealt by the sharp tips of the knights’ swords.
CLANK—
A desperate Xuan Tian stuck his head between the iron bars.
“W-Wait!”
“Behave.”
Arms crossed, the warden peered down at him.
“L-Look here! This personage shall conduct himself properly in this jail.”
“Right. Stay well-behaved just like that.”
“Very well. Provide liquor at least.”
“…Liquor?”
“Liquor.”
“That liquor people indulge in?”
“The very sa.”
“…”
“…”
The youth’s gaze t the warden’s disdainful one. While the latter hadn’t a clue how Xuan Tian beca an alcoholic at his tender age, he was staring at him as if he was pathetic. Law silently agreed with the warden’s unspoken sentints.
Dang it! Xuan Tian took a gamble and started coughing.
“Ugh, if I don’t wet my whistle… This personage will perish… The Lord’s guest… You’ll get reprimanded big ti…”
“…”
“…Cough.”
The warden pivoted on his heel.
“Look here! Did you not hear ? I’m not kidding! It’s true!”
He shook the iron bars frantically.
“I did get an invitation from the castle’s Lord! Liquor! Give liquor!”
* * *
Two days passed before Kyneia went down to the underground prison to et the alcoholic with tremulous hands and his burly cat-toting companion.
“Here, Young Lady.”
“Liquor… Give liquoooor… Liquoooor…”
The burly man seed perfectly indifferent to the alcoholic when he said to the warden,
“Please give us so food that’s suitable for ow. It’s not good to keep feeding it human food.”
“Liquor… Liquooor…”
Unlike the healthy Law, tremors wracked Xuan Tian Xinghai’s fra, and his face was so sunken he appeared to be on the brink of death.
“Liquoor…”
‘My goodness,’ seeing his horrible state, Kyneia covered her mouth with her hands. ‘Those are the symptoms of alcohol addiction!’
Xuan Tian Xinghai was in perfect physical health; his alcohol addiction stemd from ntal weakness. Such a healthy body was also not free of psychological problems.
“We gave him food and water regularly, but he took a turn for the worse just within a day.”
Kyneia motioned to the warden with a wave of her hand, indicating it was fine. The fault didn’t lie with him. That particular creature couldn’t live off of food and water.
“He might look like this, but please don’t worry as he’s not suffering from a fatal ailnt of so sort.”
Law remarked while caressing the cat. Xuan Tian wasn’t suffering from an affliction. No, quite the opposite—he was in the middle of recuperating. Law was musing to himself that it would be alright for them to remain in prison for several more days when a clear voice cut through his thoughts.
“For now, we need to relocate them to a room.”
Law raised his head and clapped eyes on a young girl partially hidden behind the warden.
‘…!’
His grey eyes quivered when he caught sight of her cuteness. Kyneia then stepped inside the cell and proceeded to slap Xuan Tian’s face, saying in an undertone,
“He’s not returning to his senses…”
‘Is this the person terd as the Young Lady?’
Even the sight of her small, maple leaf-like hand rcilessly slapping his master’s face looked adorable.
‘…Cute!’
“Nanny, call for a stretcher and so people. I think we’ll need to carry him up.”
The words fell from small pretty lips resembling that of a precocious cat.
‘…Fairy!’
Law clutched at his heart as if suffering an attack.
* * *
As soon as the alcoholic who was fast wasting away tasted so liquor, he suddenly returned to the land of the living. Xuan Tian took a swig of the Liquor of God, moistening his mouth, and opened his eyes.
It was the taste he’d been searching for all his life.
He couldn’t stay lying down when that flavour was swirling inside his mouth once again. But when he sat up, he found himself on a bed in a luxuriously done up room with Law and a blonde girl at his bedside watching his antics.
“Have you co to?”
Kyneia asked Xuan Tian, who kept on licking his lips. He was wide awake, but he thought he could still feel sothing on his tongue.
“Excuse , little doll.”
Little doll?!
“Judging by your unusual appearance, you seem to be one of the Castle Lord’s family. Where is the lord currently? I have a most urgent question.”
Her expression overcast, she eyed him as his tongue licked his lip over and over again.
“Is it about the secret of the liquor I sent you?”
“Right. That Liquor of God…!”
His eyes twinkled. He only savoured a trickle earlier, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to describe that taste as the Liquor of God. The initial taste that gently ward the cavern of his mouth, the smooth feel, and the aroma… so lush as if a forest was flourishing within his mouth. When the liquor slid down his throat, it left a sweet aftertaste with a long finish. Even the God of Liquor, Geva, would approve of this. No, this might just be the Liquor of Geva. royals: when neither of us is a somlier but gotta make it sound like we know what we’re talking about/key: oh yes we totally know what we’re talking about
Xuan Tian began drooling again but realized sothing didn’t sound right.
“‘I sent’?”
Kyneia lifted her skirt out from her body and bent at her knees with her left foot gliding behind. Even though he was currently an illegal immigrant, Xuan Tian Xinghai originally hailed from the great nobility in Yu Ga, and here she was greeting him with a curtsy.
“Hmm…”
Xuan Tian studied the girl, his gaze growing slightly calm.
“Unlike so rascals, it seems like you’re very much aware of proper protocol.”
Moreover, the Lady also knew how to pronounce his na clearly as ‘Xuan Tian Xinghai’. Even Law, his faithful shadow, pronounced Xuan as sweng. She bashfully smiled at his small complint.
‘I know she’s cute, but she’s outrageously so.’
Though he ca from a different continent and was unfamiliar with the foreign features of the people here, the Lady’s small and high-bridged nose, beautifully painted lips, and round, kitty-like ocean blue eyes were the image of a typical peerless beauty that kept one riveted.
“So, does the Little Lady want sothing from ?”
Kyneia gave a small nod.
“Sir Xuan Tian is the best alchemist in the Eastern Continent, yes?”
“W-Well, that’s right.”
Xuan Tian held back his shoulders from inching upwards automatically.
T/N: shoulders rising indicate feeling proud/haughty, so here xuan tian is trying to look humble
Only
“Has my reputation spread far and wide even to the Western Continent?”
“Of course.”
“Ha, as expected, talent can’t be hidden.”
Kyneia grinned at his failure to hide his elation.
“That ans the Little Lady requires my alchemy.”
“Yes. I’d like to borrow Sir Xuan Tian’s alchemy, which is head and shoulders above anyone in both the Eastern and Western continents, to heal my people.”
‘Hoo, head and shoulders above, she says.’
Having discovered Kyneia had considerable knowledge of the Eastern Continent’s sayings, his eyes widened in surprise. His small irises were soon blazing in his slender foxy eyes.
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