The moment the young men around Ossan heard his words, their expressions twisted. Whenever this fool got a few shots of alcohol in him, he always forgot about everything else.
They were quite literally in Luxnix territory, all while having lunch in one of their more famous restaurants. This was the worst time to bring up a scandal like this.
As young nobles of their families, they had been trained in etiquette and personal brand and safety since they were old enough to put their clothes on by themselves. Among those lessons was the care they needed to take when out in public, especially when there were so many flies with ears buzzing around.
Who knew how many young masters had had their lives ruined by being overheard by a pretty waitress?
The truth was that they weren't meant to be there to begin with. The moment such rumors started floating around, Ossan's elder brother had strictly banned his young buffoon of a younger brother from coming to planet Luxnix to begin with. However, it was exactly this ban that made Ossan want to come all the more.
The current Ossan was followed by two youths, one of which was from First City but wasn't an Heir Candidate. The second was also from the First City, but was the son of a Vassal. Their names were Mall and Willaith respectively.
The moment the words fell, both Mall and Willaith's necks snapped in a particular direction. But, what they saw allowed them to sigh a breath of relief.
The waitress whose bottom Ossan had just been leering at seemed too far away and also hadn't reacted to the words. This set their hearts at ease.
Mall waved a hand, causing a thin barrier of Force to appear around their table that was nearly completely invisible to the eye. This was part of his ability, but it was slightly different in comparison to other energy shield abilities of the like.
"Ossan, please watch your words."
Ossan snorted. "I can't ask questions?"
He took another chug of his beer, his cheeks already turning rosy. One would have thought that his alcohol tolerance would be far greater with how burly he was. But, a secondary look would tell you that Ossan was far less burly than he was just chubby. He was just quite lucky in the fact that his frame was quite large thanks to his lineage. But, rather than filling it out with muscle, you could probably cut him open for a few pints of beer if you were so inclined.
Mall and Willaith sighed in relief, thinking that Ossan was going to lay the topic to rest. But, when he sat back up from swinging his head back, Ossan's gaze seemed more fiery than ever.
"You two don't remember? Probably not, actually. I don't really remember either, I've just heard my brother talk about her a few times. I've never seen Gradeyr take a liking to anything. You guys know my older brother, he's a stone faced statue. If it wasn't because I've seen him a few times in the bathhouse, I'd think he was stone down there too.
"But when it came to that woman, his eyes always used to light up like two gems. You could say that he's an outright simp, a simp of epic proportions, a simp to end all simps. He's actually pining over a woman that apparently let a country bumpkin put a baby in her – HAHA! I can't stop laughing!"
Mall and Willaith looked toward one another with pale expressions.
Only Ossan would dare to say something like this about Gradeyr. But, luckily, they had the barrier up and Ossan's words were still vague enough that even if it wasn't, people wouldn't necessarily tie the two events together.
Whenever Ossan got like this, they didn't quite dare to stop him, not out of fear of Ossan himself, but rather his elder brother. At the same time, though, they didn't dare to join in either. What a joke, they still wanted their lives. And, Gradeyr always seemed to have a method of finding out things other people didn't want him to figure out.
So, they remained silent.
"HAHA! That big brother of mine has always been so perfect, and yet he made such a mistake! I really can't stop laughing! It's too funny!"
Ossan hiccupped, his awkward breath getting caught somewhere between a gasp, a heave and a burp. It was like the mouth equivalent of not trusting a fart. Only Ossan could accomplish such a great feat, admirable indeed.
In the end, what came out was a bubble of spit before Ossan fell over in his chair. He hadn't even reached the ground before he was suddenly snoring so loudly that Mall and Willaith almost felt the need to cover their ears.
Mall shook his head. Waving his hand again, he dispelled the barrier and called a waitress over. He then used a connected service to book a room in a nearby inn the owner of this restaurant had a stake in.
He had flown in a shuttle with a drunk, bloated and burping Ossan before. He refused to do it again. One such event was enough trauma for a lifetime.
Plus… There was still some business to handle.
**
Hours later, the sun set and Planet Luxnix fell into darkness. With how the three planets rotated around one another, there was always at least one that was experiencing a bright day, this coupled with how frequent and easy travel between them was, there was no such thing as closing time for most establishments.
However, this didn't mean that workers didn't have off shifts. It was right then that a particular young lady with a perky bottom accentuated by her tight, short skirt, waved her goodbyes to her colleagues and boss.
She drifted out of the restaurant, a peculiar light in her eyes glowing bright after being hidden all day. Her steps were about 10% quicker than they usually were and her breathing was also slightly shallower than normal. It was like she had an excitement within that could hardly be contained.
And yet… All of that deflated the instant she chose to take a shortcut through an alleyway. An alarming feeling of danger gripped her as two figures blocked her path forward and back.