Chapter 16: 16 – Yui Becomes Guild Leader

We get back home hoping to find Kain there, and sure enough he's sitting on the couch with a serious expression on his face. At the back of the room, two maids who survived my purging from the first day watch him with worry.

"What's eating him?" I ask them.

A porcelain-skinned elf bows as we enter the room. "Ah, Lady Micchi. Welcome home. Prince Kain returned an hour ago appearing depressed. We tried to speak to him and offer him tea, but he won't respond to us."

Yui waves a hand in Kain's face and comes back giggling. "I think he's done for, Anego."

"Can't have that. He's my gofer." An idea comes to me, and I ask Loraine for a favor. "Can you get our pipe from upstairs?"

Loraine gives me a confused look, almost as though she wants to protest, but decides against it. She heads upstairs and returns a minute later with the pipe full of chukashca.

"Light this for me, babe." I ask her. 

Loraine blows gently on the bulb, igniting the contents within.

"Ooh, what's that?" Yui tiptoes to see.

"Uh. Probably best not to let you have any." I say.

Yui groans in disappointment as I head over to the prince. "Kain."

He snaps to his feet as soon as I call his name. "Y-Yes, Lady Micchi?"

I smack him hard on the back, jolting him to his senses. "You're stiff. Take a drag of this."

"Huh? What is it?" He takes the pipe and sniffs the contents. "Where have I smelled this before?"

"Don't sweat where it came from. I got it from the bazaar, it'll take a load off ya." I tell him, knowing full well what it is while he's none the wiser. He pulls deep from it, but coughs violently from inhaling too much. "It's got a kick, right?"

He takes another drag and then hands it back to me. "I suppose it does. Have you already registered Lady Yui to the guild?"

"Uh, yeah. About that. I'm taking the offer to become guild leader."

"Truly? This is wonderful news! We can get that sorted right away at the guild hall." Kain is about to leave, but I grab his arm to keep him from darting out.

"No need, I got the form. You just need to sign it." I guide him to Loraine who has the paperwork Frey gave us.

"Oh, in that case sure—" He stares at the form with a blank expression, hesitating to put his name on it. "Wait a minute. Why the sudden change of heart?"

I should have known he would be suspicious. I'll just play it off by reminding him how shit the adventurers are. "What do you mean why? Did you see how useless the guild was today? They need someone to kick 'em into gear. Who do you think is fit for that job?"

"You're… you're right. If they won't listen to reason, perhaps a heavy hand is necessary." Kain signs the paper and hands it to me.

"Thanks." I hand the paper over to Yui.

She yelps with joy and punches the air victoriously. "Yay! I'm the guild leader now!" 

"You... What did you make me do?!" Kain still hasn't full grasped what just happened. 

He snatches the form from Yui's hand and stares at the fine print.  What was originally my name on the other line was just an illusion cast by Loraine, concealing Yui's name underneath. 

"I didn't do anything. You transferred guild leadership over to Yui," I answer.

"I did?! This can't be happening. I can't believe I did that! Th-There's got to be something I can do to reverse this decision…father is going to be disappointed if he hears what I did. What has my life come to...? You know, this is fine. Yes, perfectly fine." Kain goes through the five stages of grief in a matter of seconds.

"Snap out of it," I say, patting his cheek. "Sit down, smoke some more, and get it out of your system."

Kain puts the pipe in his mouth and sinks back into the couch. "Father has put me in charge of a rather rowdy platoon of soldiers recently graduated from our military academy. They've graduated with high marks, top of the class, but it seems those merits have gotten to their heads."

"What's wrong with letting them bask in a little glory?" I ask.

"That sort of thinking at such a young age will get them killed. Reality is, the world isn't forgiving. Last week, a few of them drank themselves silly and went out to hunt a cockatrice. They would have died had Mildred not chance upon them. I fear they may perish before they reach their full potential.

Color me surprised. This whole time I thought Kain was a stuck up rich boy with a title. But when it comes to responsibilities, he takes it seriously.

You are reading story Micchi Versus the New World at novel35.com

I hold a clenched fist in front of him. "What you gotta do is show 'em who's boss. Nothing screams 'you're weak' than beating them to the ground yourself."

"I feel like we've had this discussion before, but if I struck my unit for anything other than insubordination, that would make me a tyrant." He says, taken aback by my suggestion of violence.

"How the fuck did you become prince with that pansy shit line of thinking?" I ask.

"What…?" His head cocks to one side.

"Whaddya mean, what— Oh." Then it occurs to me by the dilated pupils and glazed look in his eyes. "Quick, how many of us do you see?"

Kain squeezes his eyes shut, and then opens them again. "Why are there three of each of you?"

"Pfft… That shit hit you fast." I can't keep myself from laughing anymore.

"What's happening? Why am I like this? What did you do to me?" He asks, panicking.

Loraine and I point to the pipe in his hands.

"What is…" He takes a sniff, then a second, and finally realizes. "You fed me chukasha?!"

I clear my throat. "It's actually called chukashca"

"This is contraband! Why have you done this to me?" He asks, clinging to my coat. His eyes are spinning, and despite his panic, there is a goofy smile on his face.

"Alright, get him to his room." I order the maids and they immediately come to help him upstairs. "Wait, where'd the pipe go?"

Loraine isn't sure either. "I thought you took it from Kain?"

I glance around the room and find Yui huddled behind the couch, smoke billowing past her head.

"Oh, shit. Yui—!"

***

In the end, we had to bring a cleric from the city church to purge chukashca from their system. Good news is we avoided a disaster, because I know how crazy Yui can get under the influence. Bad news is they confiscated my chukashca.

"Mind telling me where you acquired the— need I remind you— highly illegal substance?" Kain asks, arms crossed and in no mood argue.

"You ain't getting anything out of me. I don't sell out my contacts," I say, standing my ground.

 He sighs. "Okay, fine. Just no more chukasha—"

"Chukashca."

"You know what I'm talking about! There are other alternatives that are not outlawed by the kingdom. Please seek them out instead."

Kain sees the cleric back to the church and has to bribe them to keep quiet about our drug.

I decide to join Loraine and Yui in the baths. Whoever Lord Renner was had good tastes. A large bath spacious enough for a party of people to soak in reminds me of the public baths in Japan. I could never go into one because of the tattoo on my back.

Loraine wades through the water to my side. "I've noticed you and Yui have similar tattoos. Is there a meaning behind them?"

"They're two halves of a whole piece. Anego's is an ocean and mine is a storm," Yui says, swimming over to my other side.

"We got 'em as part of our senpai's gang in junior high. She has the full tattoo, ours' is just an imitation." I add.

"Someone you two admired?" Loraine asks.

Yui's nostalgic smile fades away. Loraine doesn't realize she's tread into a touchy subject. It might have been true at one point, but not anymore.

"Someone who turned her back on us." I splash some water on my face and hop out of the bath. "Night's still young. What say we introduce the guild to their new guild leader?"