Chapter 43 Tavern
On the land of the right house, if you were coming from the palace, near the teleportation formation, stood a wooden tavern like building.
It was one of the five which existed on the same piece of land, the house itself not included!
The entire property, like the others was enclosed in a brown wall with vines creeping along it.
The tavern was an entirely wooden construct. It was even complete with a medieval looking sign. No technology was inside, not even a refrigerator and lights.
Damien was currently seated on a high stool at the counter absentmindedly staring into the eternal candle's yellow flames.
He was occasionally taking a sip from his wine glass.
"Are you drowning your sorrows in wine?" A voice asked from behind him.
"Why are you still here?" He asked without turning back. His index finger tracing the rim of his glass.
"I was personally invited by the god queen. If she hasn't chased me away, who are you to?" The owner of the voice taunted as she took the seat right of him.
It was Heart. All the other guests had ran away in fear living the the original occupants around with the addition of Pearl and Heart.
Silver, Dark, Itetia and Lino were sharing a table somewhere behind him.
He had also been on it, but once Silver arrived, he went to the counter.
"Why is there no bartender?" Heart asked as a wine bottle flew from the shelf to her hand.
"I asked for a female demigod but apparently they still haven't found one."
"For a guy claiming to have no emotions... You have a tendency to want women around you! Why is that?" She asked as she swirled the wine in her glass.
All the wines, beers, whiskeys and whatnot on the shelf were personally brewed by gods or made with ingredients made by gods at the minimum!
Her curious eyes moved away from the swirling wine and stared at his side profile waiting for an answer.
"Which man would like to be near other men! Even I prefer to have something pleasing to the eyes in my view." He nonchalantly answered.
"Oh!" That was all she said before raising the glass to her lips.
Her intoxicated state revealed she was a wine lover. She was savouring every drop in her mouth.
"Good wine!" She praised.
"Oh! I thought you didn't feel anything! A robot! But now I take that back!" It was Damien's turn to be surprised.
"Wine is one if the few things I enjoy." She commented while lightly licking her lips.
The conversation entered a temporary lull. Both of them became engrossed in the silence. It was calming.
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"Wha...hic...do....you like...aaaabout...." Itetia, whose speech was slurring asked as she pointed towards Damien enjoying his wine at the counter.
"Why...are...there...hic...two..?" Her eyes were swimming around in her sockets.
The others could see that she was drunk.
From where Itetia was sitting, she was directly facing the counter. Lino and Dark were to her right and left opposite each other while Silver was opposite her with her back to the counter.
Lino and Dark had also chosen wine and were occasionally shifting their gazes towards Damien's back.
Silver looked like someone drowning her sorrows as she drunk glass after glass of beer. She had been quiet ever since she came in.
It seemed like Itetia was someone who aired her thoughts when drunk.
"Why...did...(hic)...I cooomeee to Pantheeeion cityyyy..? To...see...the...(hic)...world!"
Dark's face had started to gain a gloomy countenance. Just a sip, and Itetia had blushed all the way to her ears...just a sip and she had become drunk...just a sip and she hadn't stopped talking!
"Shut up!!!" Lino's voice reveberated in the entire bar as she shouted. It caused even the two at the counter to turn their attentions to them.
"Aaaaaaaah!...(hic*sniffle)...mmmmmmm.." Itetia had been shocked and tears had started falling out of her eyes as she cried.
Even Silver, whose head had lowered raised it and looked at the crying Itetia curiously.
Itetia dropped to the table and squished her mounds into various shapes on the table. One of her straps had even lowered down her arm. It exposed her bra but in her drunken and crying state, she didn't notice.
The door sprang open at this time!
All their gazes were involuntarily attracted to the two beauties who made their way through them.
Pearl in her, high slitted silver dress and Phoenix in her short golden mini dress. As always, she was barefoot.
They directly ignored the quad of women and moved towards the counter.
Pearl hurriedly chose the seat to Damien's left and gave Phoenix, whose eyes had narrowed a victorious look.
"Hmph! Heart! You are in my seat!" She snorted and casually said to Heart.
"Ya! Okay okay okay..." She repeated the words as she stood up.
Her feet got caught under the chair and she leaned towards Damien.
He simply raised his hand and blocked but, something soft and squishy was all he felt.
He turned his faze towards his hand only to see that one of her mounds was in his palm.
"You can continue to feel." Heart said calmly.
"Too soft...too malleable." Damien squeezed it into various shapes over her dress as such comments leaked out if his mouth.
Don't be mistaken! Damien wasn't aroused! So was Heart! They were the only two weird people here!
The others had simply become shocked at their interaction that they had lost any words.
"Now that's done." Damien simply said before letting go. Heart simply staggered over to a nearby table, wineglass in hand. It was amazing how after all that that she managed to keep the wine from spilling!
Phoenix and Pearl followed her with their eyes until she plopped down before they snapped themselves out of it.
Phoenix took the previous seat and the two god queens made one bottle of a drink fly into their hands each.
Pearl chose whiskey while Phoenix chose wine. Glasses also flew towards their outstretched hands and they proceeded to pour some into them.
"The opening ceremony ended on a good note, didn't it?" Pearl chose to start the conversation. The question was directed towards Damien.
"Well most of us did lose consciousness at the last stages due to a certain organism...but all is well that ends well!" During the pause, he had looked between the two ladies who chose to avoid his eyes.
"By the way, the design of this place is great!" Phoenix looked around as she said.
"It is based on some fantasy stories I read as a child." He answered without moving his gaze away from the swirling red liquid he was bringing to his mouth.
"Oh! Tell...us....more!" For some reason, Itetia had arrived at the table directly behind them. The looked back to see all the others were occupying the two tables behind them.
Damien rotated around on the stool and leaned his back on the counter. The two women by his sides simply turned sideways to face him.
It must have been that he was drunk but, he decided to explain what brought on that inspiration.
"In those novels, there exist a breed of humans called adventurers..." During the pause, he took a sup from his glass. All of them were waiting for him to continue, even Silver.
"They live by hunting monsters...they can be dragons, orcs, goblins and others..."
"I know dragons, but what are orcs? Goblins?" Heart asked. There was a shimmer in her eyes.
"Orcs are short and have pig heads, they are also muscular, natural born warriors. For the goblins, they are short, scrawny, green skinned and have pointed ears. They abduct human women and rape them to produce offspring." The last one made all the women frown.
"Now don't interrupt me!" He said.
"Adventurers kill such beasts and take a part of them to claim the reward from the the adventurer's guild, a place where other humans issue missions to get adventurers to solve their troubles... After getting their reward, they go to a tavern, order beer or ale, drink and tell tales of their adventures to the others."
"That seems like a colorful life!" Phoenix said in a daze. It seemed she was imagining what that would be like.
"That's what I want this place to become! I want lifeforms from this universe to be able to meet here and regale the patrons here with their adventures!" Damien said as he drunk all the wine in one fell swoop.
"But I know that won't happen! Most people won't be able to afford this place, so they won't be coming here!" He said after placing the glass on his lap.
Phoenix took the initiative to refill his glass.
"Thanks!" His red eyes stared into hers causing a faint blush.
'Why did I choose whiskey?' Pearl lamented.
"We can make it so! We can just make this place open at a lower price to all. Well except the residences, but we can allow the people to come and enjoy the entertainment establishments in this compound at a discounted price!" Phoenix brought such an idea.
All the others nodded their heads in agreement.
"We shall!" He agreed.
They proceeded to enjoy the night as all of them proposed drinking games. It was a place where bonds were forged. Damien even had fun, though that was probably the influence of the wine.
[End Of Volume One: Demigod/Pantheon City]