Chapter 10: In a Drunk Mood

"Hey, wasn't that salesgirl pretty?" Easton cackled hysterically, stumbling on his feet "Didn't your heart go 'doki doki'?!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Luke wince in second-hand embarrassment for Easton.

"Kindly don't talk to me." Rei frowned, with obvious bags from dealing with Easton, under his eyes, "Or I'm actually going to throw you out of the marketplace."

"Is he drunk?!" I peered at Easton.

"Nah." Rei scoffed, "This is how stupid he is normally."

"No seriously." I earnestly argued, "I think he's drunk; I can smell liquor from him."

"How did a child like him, manage to get his hands-on alcohol though?" Luke looking momentarily frustrated before forcing his expression back to a relaxed face.

"That's just like Easton though." Rei shrugged, "He just somehow managed to drink a ton of alcohol without us noticing."

"I consider that an enormous feat." I stared at Easton, impressed.

"…Why are guys talking about trivial stuff like this…" Luke glanced at Easton, "We should be worried why he hasn't died of drinking so much alcohol, he is just a kid, after all."

"A cockroach won't die, even if you whack it numerus times." Rei shrugged while smirking.

"…Salty." Luke muttered, before smiling and pretending he never said anything.

"What should we do with him?" I asked as Easton hopped on one spot.

"Dump him at the closest inn." Rei instantly replied, clapping his hands. "After that, he's not our problem anymore."

"…That is a good idea." Luke agreed, deep in thought, "Then we can continue shopping for Christmas presents and Easton can rest."

"Well then-" I dragged an almost-asleep Easton to an inn coincidentally next to us, tossed some coins at the owner and threw Easton into a room. "Let's go!"

"Wow." Rei looked at the clock tower, "That only took a few seconds. Congrats."

"Well, well, well." A voice behind us cackled, "What do we have here?!"

"… I fell like I'm going to lose a lot of patience and strength if I turn around." Rei shivered.

"…Same here." I agreed, "Let's just not turn around."

"Ah…" Luke politely turned around, "It's a pleasure to see you again, Lady Sardonna."

"We're going to lose brain cells if we continue listening to that voice." Rei grimaced.

I nodded. In a silent, mutual agreement, Rei and I started walking as fast as possible, away from Lady Sardonna.

"Excuse me for a bit." Luke stated calmly.

Rei and I started running for our lives before Luke literally teleported next to us and dragged us back.

"…I suddenly feel really jealous of Easton." Rei sighed.

"…What a coincidence… I do too." I sighed, watching Rei and our feet being dragged on the ground.

"Look guys, I know you don't like her very much, but I don't either." Luke sighed, "In fact, I feel like every step I'm taking right now is another step to my doom. But, if you get on her bad side, it's not going to turn out pretty since she's from a powerful family."

"Really…" Sardonna scoffed while flicking her dark blond hair over her shoulder, "There really was no need to run… I know I'm beautiful but running away from my beauty is a little excessive."

"Beauty isn't something you run away from…" Rei stated with a disgusted expression.

"ANYWAY!" Luke cut in, jabbing Rei in the gut, "What are you doing here, Lady Sardonna?"

"Well, the Christmas ball is coming up soon." Sardonna fluttered her eyelashes at Luke, "Since royalty is hosting it, I need to go in a beeeaautiful gown. That reminds me, Lord Luke, can you escort me to the-"

"Well look at the time!" Luke glanced at the imaginary watch on his wrist, "We better be going, kiddos!"

Luke shoved us as we practically bolted away from Sardonna.

"…Ha." Rei smirked at Luke.

"Please-shut-up." Luke blurted out, "We-need-to-run-because-I-really-don't-want-to-be-her-partner."

"Oh wow! You actually said, 'shut up'!" Rei gasped, hiding his smirk behind a gloved hand, "How scared must you be to actually say that?"

"That's a first, this will be forever recorded in history." I nodded seriously, looking away to laugh at Luke.

Eventually, we halted and were left panting for breath.

"Well now that we're safe." I stated, looking around at our surroundings, "What should we do about Easton?"

Just as I was talking, someone randomly bumped into me.

"What do ya think you're doing, little girl." A man with two other men leered at me, their daggers flashing in the daylight.

"…Great another thug." Rei sighed dramatically, gazing in the distance with disinterest, "You would have thought we could've had a break from thugs after Chapter 7-8. But no. Looks like the author loves messing with us."

"Don't you know who we are?!" He continued taking intimidating steps closer to me, "Huuuuh? We easily kill you right now, so show us some respect."

"Exactly!" Another chimed in, "We've killed plenty of people!"

"I see." I looked down at the ground.

"That's right-" One of them cackled.

"All of your mothers abandoned you, didn't they?!" I gasped, backing away from them as quickly as possible.

"…What?" A thug scrunched up his face.

"Just what are you…?" I shaded my eyes, "Or don't tell me, you got surgery to be that ugly?! Are you trying to kill anyone who looks at you?! Don't tell me you put make-up on to be that ugly?!"

"W-what are you talking about-" One of them stared at me with teary eyes.

The rest of the thugs stared at me with widened eyes and gaping mouths.

"Seriously… These days…" I sighed, "Some people have amazing make-up skills… I can't even compare..."

"There, there." Luke patted me on the back. "We should head off, back to Easton."

"You're so mean!" One of the thugs sobbed, tears trailing down his cheeks."

"Inhale and exhale…" Rei patted him on the back, "I understand completely what you're talking about. My deepest sympathies."

"I get it!" I clapped my hands together, "When someone looks at your face, it kills them! Is that how you've been able to climb to the top?! You monster!"

"Well let's go-" Luke smiled, sparkles and glowing stars suddenly behind him.

"You can't really say anything!" One of the thugs interrupting, waving his dagger around, "You're uglier than us, so shut up, girl!"

"Oh?" Rei raised an eyebrow, "Is it a cat-fight now?"

"What did you say?" Luke suddenly appeared in front of the thug's face, while smiling innocently and cracking his knuckles, "You wanna die?"

Screams filled the air as well as flesh hitting flesh. After quite a while, Luke finished.

"Rei, the salt." I nodded at him.

"Oh it!" Rei immediately whipped out a container of salt.

Rei walked towards the thugs as Luke walked back, dusting his hands off and putting his gloves back on.

"Bad things banished." Rei sprinkled salt around the thugs who lay uncomfortably on the ground, "Bad things begone."

(There is a superstition that salt makes bad things disappear.)

"Water… Please give me water…" One of them croaked, his arm trembling in the air.

"I don't have water… but I have salt." Rei sprinkled salt on him.

"Ack! Salty!" He shrieked.

***

"Now that I think about it, won't Ivory's fiancé be at the ball?" Rei glanced at me with his grey eyes.

"That's right, after all, the ball is hosted by royalty." Luke nodded.

"I've done a bit of research on the princes." Rei informed us in a serious tone, "Prince Kyle is an amateur at sword and archery. However, his katana skills are extremely good. He appears to be polite and charming, however, I have calculated that he has an incredible mask, I believe that he's hiding his personality."

"Woaah…" Luke stared at Rei, "You know about all that already? Should I be scared of you?"

"Prince Raven is less popular than his brother, Prince Kyle." Rei continued on, his glasses flashing, "I can't find much information about him since he tends to avoid social parties or socialize but, I believe he practices shuriken often. I believe he's always in his brother's shadow, but he admires him greatly."

"You know… sometimes I find you too smart for your own good. It's creepy." I edged away from Rei.

"Why, thank you." Rei nodded, grinning for the first time.

"…It wasn't a compliment…" I side-eyed him.

We continued walking then the path, occasionally looking at stores, buying things for Christmas.

"…Hello." Someone behind me greeted.

HUH?!

I swung around and whacked them with as much strength as had, hopefully I could knock them out, as I had boosted my strength quite a bit.

"Wait Ivory-!" Luke rushed forward.

Too late.

I whacked Raven with all my strength, my eyes widening as I realized who I hit.

***

Meanwhile…

EASTON:

I woke up in a bed in a simple room with wooden floorboards, the blue curtains flapping from the wind. Birds twittered and a distant sound of people's voices echoed from downstairs.

Did I just get abandoned…?

HUH?!