Booze And Booties

"Sir sir are you a noble"

"Thankfully not"

"Then are you a mercenary?"

"No"

"Sir what weapon do you use"

"We saw you coming out of the forest alone, you must be really strong!"

"Can you tame beasts?"

"Are you a hidden master"

"Are you married"

"What's your name?"

Being swarmed by children who knew not hold back on their questions Yu couldn't be any more uncomfortable, every topic they brought up was a tricky one, especially the marriage one…

"Alright, you had your fun now stop pestering our guest"

"But mom, we don't get many visitors from the city.."

One boy protested to Willa but only got his ears painfully grabbed in exchange

"You think that's a good reason to annoy the guest?"

"Ow ow stop mom, I'm sorry"

"Go play somewhere else now"

Letting the kid go she watched them finally disperse with a smile on her face

"Its always a hassle to deal with them but they are the ones who bring life to our world, without them this village would be as good as dead"

"I don't know about dead but I sure love silence rather than their constant noise"

"You don't like kids?"

Yu took a second to think about her question, shaking his head after thinking it through

"Too noisy, very demanding, I can't possibly live with one like you do much less a bunch"

"Hmm"

Willa gazed at the now far kids with a thoughtful look of her own, what she was thinking of she did not share as she soon moved on with the tour

"You see that round big tent? That's the marketplace where we trade, or should trade with each other but with only five hundred or so families it turns out one would find it much easier to ask your neighbour for something and then make it up to them, those old folks see it too much of a hassle to walk all the way here and set up stalls so the place turned into a playground for kids when it rains"

"What are those old men doing then"

"They would be in our next stop"

Leading him away from the 'marketplace' she brought him to a very large building, perhaps the largest in the village

"Guess what this place is for?"

"I've no idea to be honest, never been to a village to know what you guys do"

"Heh, it ain't so different from the old folks back at your city"

It was a rough voice that replied from the back, the two glanced back and saw old Ridge walking up to them alongside Rodney

"Since your already here let's talk over a few drinks, I'm sure you've been needing some"

"Father! It's still so early in the morning"

"Bah, don't spoil the fun of us old and young, come, let me welcome you the way men should"

Ridge pulled Yu inside the building leaving the frowning Willa and smiling Rodney

"What are you up to Rodney?"

"What do you mean?"

"You pretended to be my brother in law yesterday, now you made father drink with him, what's with you and the new guest"

Rodney merely shrugged and went into the building causing her frown to deepen as she followed inside to keep an eye on this well-known trouble maker

'A tavern?'

The entire building was one big room housing many tables and a few men sitting or lying asleep, other than that the only other thing in here was the kegs at the back with rough wooden mugs on them

"I thought you didn't have enough money to buy luxury"

Yu questioned, but before Ridge could answer one of the drunkards by the side rebuked

"Luxury? This is a darn necessity! If ya can't drink ya can't live, I'd know cause I almost died last winter when we couldn't drink for three months!"

His words grabbed the attention of the sober men, even woke up some of the ones sleeping,

"It was all your fault! You drank our winter share! If not for you we wouldn't have suffered like that"

"Yah, ya stupid pig almost died cause ya drank so much too, don't go twistin' thin's around"

A fight started brewing cause of Yu's innocent comment, thankfully Ridge was there for the rescue

"Quiet down everyone, we got a guest here from the city today"

The ruckus kept on going as his voice was drowned by the angry drunkards

"Today we gonna welcome him warmly so yall can drink until you drop dead"

The rowdy men instantly stopped arguing and turned to smile widely at Yu with their yellow teeth

"Why didn't ya say so, I might be a good for nothin' but I sure know how to welcome guests from afar"

"Ye ye, the more ya drink the merrier ya are"

Willa came in just in time to hear her father in law declaring this, it made her stare hard at Rodney only to see him rushing to get mugs for everyone

"I'm keeping an eye on him, that guy is definitely planning something"

She muttered to herself, opening her wide eyes to watch him like a hawk for the duration of the party

Morning went by quickly and so did noon, with more and more people entering the tavern after hearing about the all you can drink welcoming feast, soon every man not out on hunting or foraging was in the now packed building drinking his remaining life away

"Man your a devil"

Old Ridge commented, his eyes glazed over from excessive drinking

"You've drunk every man in here under the table, one after the other nonetheless, if yer not a dev' hic!..devil then I don't know what you'd be"

Yu could only smile at the drunk man and gulp down some more beer, he himself didn't know why but beer didn't affect him at all, it was like drinking water, and quite honestly he hated the taste

"Your strong, you're smart, probably, and you can hold your liquor well, you'd have been a better match for Willa than my oaf of a son that's for sure"

He complained, sour was his mood, but it didn't seem like he was complaining about his son as much as he was about Willa

"One hic! One more! Rodney get us one more"

Needing to get his mind off the thought Ridge placed his hand at the side of Rodney and shook the sleeping fellow but to no avail, the guy was as still as a log

"Maybe you've had enough father?"

"No! I'll pour him one myself"

He protested and shakily made his way to the kegs before coming back with a cup for Yu and one for himself

"To a better life!"

"To a better life"

Yu said after the cheery yet sad-looking old man and drained the mug of its content

Thud

Unsurprisingly that was the last bit old Ridge could drink before slumping on the table, what did come as a shock was the wobbly movement of Yu who hadn't so much as flinched during the entire party

"You okay? Want me to take you home?"

Willa asked in concern, he didn't look like he was drunk but rather about to lose conscience

Opening his mouth he was about to answer but a wave of drowsiness almost overwhelmed him, forcing him to concentrate on staying awake and barely nod his head in acknowledgement

She helped him up and leant him her shoulder, walking him all the way home

Once they were in the hall she let him lay down and went out, not for too long though as she soon came back with a cup of water from the well

"Drink this, it should help with the headache"

It didn't seem like he was in a condition to receive it from her, what with the dozing eyes of his, so she poured it down his thought, taking a seat next to him afterwards

"You shouldn't have forced yourself to look fine like that, it would have been better if you didn't actually, guys don't like drinking with men who cant even let themselves go at times of joy"

She spoke with a berating tone

"I understand though, you wanna look tough, seem strong and fearless, I use to be like that before"

Her eyes seemed to reminisce of the past

"I was an orphan you see, my parents died young, such is the fate of mercenaries, their death caused me to roam the city all alone trying to find a place to call my own, heh, back then I used to go around making trouble in the taverns of the city, not caring for any punishment I get, I hanged out with all the bad bunch and acted as tough as I could just so people would respect me more, or that's what I thought they'd do anyway"

He couldn't tell if she was happy recalling the old days or sad about what she went through, but it felt like a mix in between

"My life was full of events, no two days alike, I used to be an adventurer unbound by any group much like yourself, then..."

"You took an arrow to the knee"

His drowsy voice interrupted from the side promoting her to turn to look at him weirdly

"No, did I look like I was limping?"

"No, I just hear that reasoning a lot"

He could finally speak again without feeling sick, it didn't look like she took notice of this though and still thought him to be very drunk, so drunk she could pour her heart out and not have to worry about him remembering it the day after

"Haha, your quite an odd person you know that, but no, I wish it was just an arrow to the knee, instead I had to go and get myself knocked up after a stupid night of drunk flirting"

Her voice contained genuine regret

"I never wanted to quite being an adventurer, but I know what it feels like to lose your parents so young and didn't want my kid to go through that too, so I stopped and settled down in my husband's village, that guy might not be the smartest or strongest of the bunch but he'd at least take responsibility when he has to"

A heavy sigh came out her lips only to soon by swatted away by some light giggling

"You know I actually couldn't sleep from excitement yesterday, I just wanted to be around you so much that I came as soon as the sun rose did"

"?"

He gave her a questioning look

"You must be wondering why right? Well it's so silly you see, so simple too, merely the sense of danger that you give made me want to be near, I'm just sitting next to you and feel on edge as if something big is going to happen any moment, that excitement is what I lack sorely in my boring peaceful life"

Now she looked like the drunk one with the nonsense she was spewing, he was harmless so what feeling of danger could exude from his body

"Haah, but maybe a boring peace is better than a short exciting life"

"...Peace is only an illusion for the weak..."

"?....Deep words for a drunk man"

No reply came from him this time, his silence continued until she eventually got up to leave

"You're not as fun as you are dangerous, though there isn't much to do around here like I said, hmm maybe if I was still in my youth we'd be battling right about now"

"You can't beat me, youth or not"

"In a real battle? No chance, but if its one in bed I'd give you a run for your money"

She swayed her butt and winked at him before exiting the house with a light laugh, like someone who pulled a small prank, leaving Yu so he could finally get some sleep