Chapter 3: Chapter 2: A Bartender has to be good at her job

"Can't you see that you're being a nuisance, bug?" I watched as the girl, Viola said in an exasperated tone, the muzzle of her revolver still has smoke coming out of it.

It's one thing to hear a girl confidently say she can go toe to toe with a Satan-class monster, it's another thing to witness said girl in action, going about it like a normal Tuesday stroll. As the monster is still rearing from the impact of the first bullet, Viola, a self-proclaimed bartender, slowly walks forward with her gun trained on the former Youkai. Each step she makes is accompanied by a shot from her revolver, hitting what she deemed to be vulnerable areas like the eyes, mouth, and joints of the abomination. For whatever reason, Viola seems to fixate on calling it a bug when it's clearly triple the girl's size and walks on two legs.

Regardless, the sheer calmness the bartender seems to exude is clearly not normal, the girl has experienced fighting something like this. 

"Watch out!" Yasaka who is next to me, warned the girl as the abomination roared lividly before charging the purple-haired girl. The bullet seems to be enhanced for it does cause the monster to bleed, yet, it regenerates as fast as it was injured.

Acting nonplussed by the fact that something the size of a building is rushing at her. Viola calmly reloads her silver revolver, one bullet at a time, while still walking towards the charging menace. I am just about to intervene, dreading the fact that the interesting human will lose her life when Viola nonchalantly sidesteps the approaching fist that leaves behind a minor explosion. Faster than the monster can react, Viola raises her revolver right between the monster's eyebrows and pulls the trigger. The impact from the bullet, once again, causes the abomination's head to rear backward as it stumbles on its legs. This time, however, Viola follows up by jabbing out her left fist at her opponent's neck and from her white wrist gauntlets, a wired dagger is launched at extreme velocity and digs deep into the monster's neck, spurting corrosive black blood. It's hard to notice but the dagger seems to unfold into a bladed hook when it penetrated the tough hide of the monster. Not missing a beat, Viola surprised both of me and Yasaka by grasping the wire attached to the dagger with her left hand and pulling. Her shocking strength causes the rearing monster to fall forward face first, and before it comes crashing, Viola jumps over the abomination's shoulder, having disconnected the wired dagger prior. Now midair, Viola aims her revolver straight down and unleashes all of her ammo in a split second, hitting squarely on the back of the abomination's head and making it explodes in a burst of gore, brain matter, and corrosive blood. Dear Satan, how can she handle the recoil with the same body stature as me?

Landing beautifully on her feet, Viola calmly opens the chamber, and if I see it correctly, there are no empty casings that are expelled from the revolving chamber. Now I am not a bonafide weapon geek but I have lived long enough to know that bullet tends to leave empty casings behind when fired. So what changed here?

Despite my minor confusion, I decided to stop thinking and just watch on, seeing that Viola can handle herself just fine. Stepping toward the still-alive and regenerating abomination, albeit severely disabled, Viola talks to the seemingly mindless beast.

"Many years ago, I witnessed my mother walk to her death. And the bastards that made bugs like you a reality, just fucking watched." Loading the last bullet into the chamber, Viola closes the chamber with a sleigh of hand, her voice now taking an impassive tone. "Where you're going next, there will be no shortage of monsters, no shortage of lowlives that tried to cheat the system."

Placing a heavy foot on the body of the beast, stopping the monster from struggling, Viola points her revolver at the center of it. "It is, after all, a fitting punishment and ending for a bug like you. I know you understand." Then, Viola pulls the trigger once, two, or three, and soon after all of her bullets as they decimate the core of the monster. Its screams of defiance are cut away mid-struggle as the abomination's life is ended by a purple-haired executioner.

I can notice that Yasaka is being very comfortable with the sight, after all, that thing used to be a Youkai. So, I place a comforting hand on her shoulder, she turns to look at me and I shake my head. Understanding the meaning of my action the beautiful fox Youkai can only heave a sigh, ultimately accepting that an end to its existence is the best relief the former Youkai could ask for.

Yet, it seems like things aren't stopping there for Viola then proceeds to step away and opens some sort of dark portal. My and Yasaka's senses go haywire as a... thing, a thing that isn't supposed to exist peers into the living world through the portal. Its many eyes scan Viola and the bleeding corpse of the abomination before many tentacles shoot out from the black mass that is its body. The tentacles then proceed to wrap up the corpse and pull it through the dark portal. Before closing it, Viola tosses over a small pack she pulled from Satan knows where saying.

"Here's the usual payment of cosmic cookies. Thanks for the hard work, Nicolae." Viola gave a friendly wave at the unknown entity. 

I kid you not, somehow, the entity returns the gesture by making a thumbs up with its tentacles and smiling using its eyes... How?

... I am too confused and the splitting headache caused by just standing before the entity is not helping whatsoever. Yasaka is much of the same so whatever the entity is, it's suppressing us without even trying. Thankfully, it's not hostile as Viola seems to be on friendly terms with it as she nonchalantly gave it cosmic cookies... Seriously? Today is just getting freakier by the second.

After saying goodbye to the entity and closing the portal, Viola turns to take stock of the situation around her, commenting.

"Ok, maybe summoning Camelot here wasn't the brightest of ideas. Dealing with the bug proved to be much easier than I expected when it stupidly charged toward me instead of utilizing long-range bombardment. Meh, at least it can conceal what will happen next." 

Viola's words, understandably, made both me and Yasaka sweatdropped and confused. Before we can say anything, however, Viola places another bullet into her revolver before pointing it straight at the ground. 

"Samarecarm." She said a name, a spell maybe, before pulling the trigger. The usual gunshot sound is heard but this time it's accompanied by the sound of glass breaking as a whirl of blueish motes of energy surrounds Viola.

I am shocked because the energy that radiates from that pool is Holy in nature, yet, it's not burning me nor Yasaka, rather, it's alleviating any fatigue we have. Yasaka, in particular, has recovered from all of her injuries and if I read this correctly, her energy pool is fully restored. It's all the more shocking when the whirl of energy expands outward in a flash of golden light and if the shocking expression of Yasaka is to go by, the aftermath of the spell has caused her brain to short-circuit.

I am not sure about this but I think Viola just performed a Miracle, one that hasn't been seen ever since Heaven's true leader died. The proof of that is the sudden appearance and revival of the many Youkai that died in combat with the abomination from before.

Seeing up to here and noticing the apparent ease Viola is showing by strolling around the unconscious Youkai, I can only dryly laugh at the absurdity of it all. 

"Just what sort of character have we come across again?" I asked the million-dollar question that Yasaka sure as Hell doesn't have an answer to.

This is getting freakier by the second indeed.

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"I'm back!" Announced Viola as she stepped inside her bar. "And I've brought guests."

Pointing at the new arrivals that are the curious Serafall and Yasaka, Viola introduces them to Shena with a friendly smile.

"Shena, meet Serafall and Yasaka, the new friends I made during the short business trip." 

Shena, with a seductive beauty that rivaled both Serafall and Yasaka, waves at them with a welcoming grin. "Welcome, welcome to perhaps the most interesting bar you will ever come across."

Stopping for a bit, Shena takes in their mental state with her ability before smirking. "It seems like the storm that is Viola didn't fail to sweep you up in it."

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Understanding the meaning behind Shena's words, Serafall and Yasaka can only smile wryly. "That would be an understatement, we have received enough surprises to last a lifetime."

Chuckling at Yasaka's complaint, Shena adds. "Oh, believe me, Viola won't stop at that."

This cause Serafall and Yasaka to groan before taking their spots at the bar counter. Viola, who has switched back to her bartender attire, pouts before saying. "I'm not that bad, aren't I?"

Shena, however, is not having any of that and deadpans at Viola. "Yes, yes you are."

With her eyes twitching, Viola sighs before proceeding to ask the pair of Devil and Youkai. "So, what will you two have?"

Yasaka ponders for a bit before answering. "I will just have some sake, preferably one with a clear taste."

Viola nods, before procuring a sake cup for Yasaka. "Then you will be loving this one." Viola proceeds to pull out a chilled blue bottle.

"Brewed with by using water from a pure spring, hidden between an ever-snowing mountain range. This sake will no doubt alleviate your mental fatigue, just try and keep the dosage moderate." Viola helpfully explained as she expertly served the sake cup to Yasaka. 

The rice-cake aroma with subtle, balanced flavors of vanilla and wild herbs resolves in a refreshing finish that intrigued the golden fox lady to no end. Hence, she slowly picks up the cup and savors the taste of the sake Viola served. 

"Um~!" Yasaka is impressed thoroughly by the taste and the feeling the sake gives her. As advertised, the sake does alleviate her mental strains after a grueling day. She feels lucky that Serafall has dragged her to accept Viola's offer in coming to her bar. Otherwise, she would be missing out on this fine establishment.

Seeing the content expression on her friend's face, Serafall can't help but jump in and say. "Heya bartender! Surprise me!"

Usually, it's a very hard request for a normal bartender to fulfill, but Viola is not a run-of-the-mill one. Hence, she accepts the challenge gladly, starting with piling ingredients for Serafall to see.

Shena chuckles, telling Serafall this. "Take a careful look at Viola's mixing, it will be a shame to miss out on her art."

Hearing that, Serafall nods as she and Yasaka show a vested interest in watching Viola performs her magic.

Having done the business for ages, Viola doesn't need a measuring cup and pours exactly 15 ml of vodka into the shaker. This is followed by 30 ml of Peach Liqueur, 15 ml of Blue Curacao, 30 ml of sweet and sour mix, 15 ml of fresh lime juice, 75 ml of apple juice, and a few cubes of ice. Once the mixture is ready, Yuki slaps the cocktail shaker shut before proceeding to shake it for fifteen seconds. Once done, she then places a glass filled with ice cubes in front of Serafall before pouring the content of the shaker into it. As the cyan-colored liquid is filling up the glass, Serafall can't contain an anticipating glint from her eyes. Every single step Viola has made is accompanied by the right amount of flourishing that attracted the viewers. She can't wait to taste the nightly colored drink, it even has a cute little heart-shaped spoon as a bonus.

Pushing the glass towards Serafall, Viola says with a small smile. "Here it is, a sweet and happy cocktail for a sweet and happy girl."

"Aw~! You're such a doll!" Serafall cooed as her hand embraces the glass. Taking a sip from it, Serafall can't help but show a gleeful expression, it's the best cocktail for her, just like Viola advertised. It really is sweet and happy, if the latter is a flavor.

"I am truly and wonderfully impressed! You really are a bartender that can do her magic, Viola!" Serafall complimented, the fact that Yasaka in agreement with Viola seems to be a bartender that knows her stuff well.

"Thanks for the heartfelt compliment." Viola nodded with a smile, accepting the words from Serafall as she is happy when her customer is happy.

Shena interjects on the side, having watched the entire process. "See, told you that it would be a shame to miss out on Viola's work."

"Right, right!" Serafall nods quickly a few times in agreement. "By the way, I am awfully curious about the name of the drink."

With a chuckle, Viola explains. as she cleans the shaker. 

"It was originally called Pretty Woman, but too many people complained there should be a Piano Woman if there was a Piano Man. So, here we are with you enjoying a Piano Woman."

"I see, I see. It's a fitting name considering its flavor and color." Serafall commented before taking another sip. She then goes on to say. "Though it was a fun and interesting experience, one that I will no doubt return for more, I think it's high time we move on to the more pressing matters."

This cause Yasaka to return to her serious behavior, though her fingers still nursing the rim of her sake cup. Viola and Shena, on the other hand, are acting like this are just a normal Tuesday for them.

The time has come for Q&A that will no doubt become very interesting.

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