Chapter 30: 33. Spirits and War Part 1

It is currently quite late into the night, 4am if Ajax and Shaula were to think of it in Earth time. The way that Omicron handles time is like the currency, something they’ll have to get used to. 150 seconds in a minute, 25 minutes in an hour, 25 hours in a day. They haven’t needed to be aware of the time of day yet, so they simply avoided dealing with it.

The Astrid neighborhood bar they head to is still open around this time. They walk through the open front door of the single story house and downstairs to where the bar is located. It’s unsurprisingly virtually empty. They see two beastkin men sitting at a table in the corner and four people at a round table sitting under a light.

Angelidis is drinking with three people they don’t know.

Shaula wasn’t expecting to meet new people tonight. She would rather avoid them than intrude. She subtly pulls on Ajax’s arm, but he doesn’t notice her.

“Jelli! Hi, how’re you doing?” Shaula is a bit surprised by his straightforward greeting. He normally is just like her, unwilling to be the center of attention.

Angelidis looks at the two of them and waves them over. She has a bright smile on her face. Shaula was hoping that Angelidis would shoo them away. She was hoping that she and Ajax were actually intruding. Now, it looks clear that she’ll have to be around people for a while. Oh well.

“Hey, Ajax, Shaula! Nice to see you again! Six days since I saw you two, I’d hoped you were doing alright. Bring some chairs over.”

Ajax and Shaula grab two chairs from an empty table nearby and sit next to Angelidis. She introduces her friends.

“Ajax, Shaula, these are my friends, Meixi, Olah and Sudirja. Everyone, these are the two who helped me deal with that group of guys a few days back.”

“Oh, those wonderful people!? We really owe you a debt for helping our beautiful Jelli! What rude creeps, trying to rob a lone woman, the nerve!”

The one who speaks in joy is Meixi, a beastkin woman as tall as Angelidis. Her hair is pure yellow rather than blonde, and her eyes are light brown with green flecks. She smiles brightly yet calmly towards Ajax and Shaula. Her dress is light green and its skirt is flowing. She also has a fashionable scarf draping her shoulders. Her hair is untied and extends to her neck.

Her pointy, fox-like ears are raised up in excitement.

Shaula notices that her breasts are being covered up. All of these women including Angelidis seem to be downplaying their curves. Shaula had learned that in this world, most women wrap their breasts up with cloth. It is similar to a common sight in historical anime, sarashi binding. Their dresses also cover their arms and legs.

One of the women at the table looks at Ajax and Shaula with stars in her eyes. She remains silent.

Angelidis called her Sudirja, and she is human. Her skin is pale and her hair is closer to white than blonde, and short. Ajax can tell that she is albino as he has met albino people before. She is about average height with cute freckles around her cheeks and nose, and brown eyes. Her dress is bright orange with wide sleeves. She has a thin white-gold necklace around her neck.

“Well, well, high rollers, you were able to con a meal out of Angelidis, weren’t you? Why’d she have to treat you guys?”

“Hey, Olah, stop being rude!” Angelidis rebuts Olah, a beastkin woman with light orange hair and dark brown eyes. She is the shortest woman of the bunch. Her hair is the longest, extending down her back and unlike the other girls, she doesn’t have bangs. Her dress is crimson and one of her fox ears is down, as if unimpressed.

“Jelli, look at their outfits! You told me they looked homeless! T-They could have bought their own wine and food, you know!”

Jelli notices their clothing and looks surprised. It’s obvious that the two of them have moved up in the world, much faster than even she anticipated. Ajax tries to explain.

“Ah ahaha, you see, we ran into some good luck and managed to get some better clothes. How about I get the next round for the table?”

“Ajax, you don’t need to do that. I didn’t get meals for you and Shaula because you looked poor, I got you one because you two helped me in a tough spot. You don’t–”

“Hey, Jelli, wait, wait! We would be rather delighted to receive your grace and free booze. I was wrong, Jelli, I like this guy a l–” Olah shrinks back after seeing Angelidis’ glare at her shamelessness.

“Olah…”

Ajax laughs a little to himself and goes to the counter for some drinks before Angelidis can stop him. Five cups of wine for everyone except him, a bottle of the strongest drink for himself and Shaula if she wants, and two shot glasses. The bearded beastkin bartender, in his fifties, obliges him with a light snort and pulls out a dusty bottle of something.

He did say he wanted to get a bit drunk. The wine and bottle of liquor, called a Caprit Lush, costs a silver coin in total. He drops the money without a care.

He and Shaula bring the wine to the table. It appears that Angelidis’ group arrived here just a bit before them, they don’t seem too buzzed right now.

“Ajax, thank you, but now I have a debt…” Angelidis looks at him with a slightly sulky face.

“Don’t worry, Jelli, Shaula saved you, this is my money.” Ajax conveniently leaves out the fact that their money is shared by both of them. Ajax returns with his special bottle and shot glasses and looks the bottle over carefully. Meanwhile, Angelidis, Meixi, Olah, Sudirja, and Shaula clink their cups of wine together and drink.

It seems that toast culture exists in the Osvan Federation as well. Shaula isn’t certain if it has the exact same meaning, but it’s always nice to find familiar traditions across worlds.

Ajax removes the cork from his Caprit Lush and pours himself a shot. Sudirja notices the dark gray color of the liquor and points in shock.

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“What is it, Sudirja? Ajax’s liquor? Whoa… Hey, Ajax, what is that you’re drinking? I don’t really like the look of it.”

“Ah, I just asked the bartender for something really strong. I have a special constitution so I need something potent to get me buzzed. I’m guessing that if this doesn’t get me there, nothing will. He told me it’s called ‘Caprit Lush’.”

Olah nearly spits out her drink. She coughs a bit as Meixi slaps her back in concern. Olah sputters in surprise.

“Wh-Why would you get something like that? Are you trying to die!?”

“Huh?”

Ajax and Shaula take another look at the opaque, dark gray liquor in the thin mouth bottle. There seem to be chunks of something in the bottle, but the liquid is too dark for them to tell. He takes a shot.

“A-Are you crazy!?” Olah is shocked by what she can only think is Ajax’s stupidity.

However, to Ajax with his healing factor, the liquor goes down smooth. Shaula takes her own shot glass, pours a shot and drinks. She’s curious how it is. She tastes the alcohol, but it doesn’t burn her throat. The taste is… not bad. Maybe not something she would order regularly but not inedible.

This would go great with some corn chips and salsa, if they have something like that here.

“What’s wrong with it, Olah? Is it really high in alcohol or something?”

“Yeah, it’s like 90% alcohol, but that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s made from soaking some kind of grain alcohol in Caprit eyes.” Olah answers Meixi’s question with a face of genuine concern.

“Huh!? Why would anybody sell something like that?” Angelidis looks at Ajax’s drink puzzled. She knows that the Capris is a type of snake that feeds on Fenulepe (horned rabbit) primarily. However, it does hunt humans in the rare cases when it doesn’t have other food sources available. It’s venomous as well… fatal in nearly 100% of encounters.

“Ajax, Shaula… are you two… ok?”

“Oh, yeah, we’re fine, Jelli. We have pretty sturdy stomachs. This Lush tastes pretty good though doesn’t it, Shaula? I could see myself drinking this with some chips or something.”

Shaula nods in agreement.

The girls are dumbfounded. Of course, it’s not like the venom soaks the entire snake but still, the group is a bit superstitious with Caprit in general.

“Wow, you’re both so cool! You drink it like it’s a cup of tea or something! Amazing!” Meixi praises Ajax and Shaula while clapping her hands. Shaula looks over at the bartender who is watching Ajax in surprise. He notices her gaze and quickly averts his eyes back to wiping down his counter. The drink doesn’t feel like it should kill a normal person either.

However, it all depends on how food standards are enforced in Tritol. Ajax could have inadvertently ordered the equivalent of bathtub moonshine.

Angelidis starts laughing to herself at their nonchalance. But, none of her group including herself ask for a taste of their spirit.

Angelidis and her friends spend some time talking to each other about the clients they were with earlier. Meixi, Olah and Sudirja are also sex workers, streetwalkers like Angelidis. They do look over occasionally at Ajax and Shaula who are finishing off their bottle. They don’t really know what to make of the two of them.

A half hour passes, and unfortunately, neither Ajax nor Shaula get drunk. Not even a buzz.

This feels unfair to Ajax.

It was half what Ajax had expected, but he did want there to be some kind of exception. Just a little buzz of alcohol, just a bit. After all, it wasn’t guaranteed that drugs and alcohol would be prevented from altering their upgraded brains. Should their bodies treat all stimulants as foreign agents and prevent them from working?

But then, if they were hit with sleeping pills or chloroform, what would prevent someone from just knocking them out? In the end, making sure that drugs wouldn’t affect them seems to be good design practice by whatever created their bodies. 

The women finish talking about their nights and sit in silence while enjoying their drinks. At this point, the dark gray liquor is dried up, leaving behind…

“Whoa. You weren’t wrong, Olah…” Angelidis looks at the empty bottle and can see four eyes about the size of human eyes. The irises are olive green and the eyes appear reptilian, pupils like slits. The eyes of the Capris is what Ajax and Shaula were guessing. Snakes exist here too.

Ajax has already seen a lot by now so the Caprit eyes aren’t that crazy to him. Even Earth has rice wine soaked in cobra.

He’s only annoyed he couldn’t feel even a bit drunk tonight.

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