An hour of savoring the alcohol with appropriate snacks.
The drinking session, which I thought would be enough with just one bottle, continued until empty bottles piled up on the table.
It was truly a luxurious after-party.
The innkeeper, who had been grumbling that wine shouldn’t be drunk like that, even brought out unsolicited fried meat as service, asking if we needed anything else.
I was just planning to have a drink or two and wrap it up, but not only Amy, but even Friede seemed to like alcohol more than I expected.
Is it that adventurers are adventurers even if they look young and innocent?
“Phew… yes, this is the taste. I don’t know how long it’s been since I had such good alcohol.”
“Y-You’ve had it before, I see?”
“Magicians have many ways to make money here and there. The problem is there’s nothing left after buying spellbooks and reagents.”
“If you don’t have, um, money left over, can’t you just not drink?”
“That’s just a saying, you don’t think I’m really penniless, do you?”
“Oh, you weren’t…?”
“…5 silver for a bottle of wine is expensive, but it’s not so much that I can’t even consider it. Just the reward from this request is enough to buy this and have some left over.”
“Th-That’s good. Then, you can buy the next bottle.”
“How did the conversation turn out like that…? Well, I guess I could afford it if you’re buying one too.”
“Hmm… sure, why not.”
They exchanged words that I couldn’t tell if they were jokes or sarcasm, and even filled my glass with a new drink every time I emptied it, perhaps feeling burdened by drinking so much themselves.
“I’ll buy this round. So, come on, one more glass. Cheers, cheers.”
“Hehe… This is delicious… Here, Ms. Hilde, you should try some too.”
When I said I didn’t particularly like ale, they even ordered additional drinks that were somewhat drinkable, though not at the level of Riesling.
“Uh… okay. Alright, I got it.”
As they urged me so naturally, I couldn’t refuse and kept gulping it down, to the point where even with Brunhilde’s body, I was starting to feel quite tipsy.
No, was Brunhilde strong with alcohol to begin with?
…I don’t know. In the original novel, Brunhilde wasn’t a character who drank heavily to the point of getting drunk, she would just sip one or two glasses.
“Phew…”
There was only one thing certain.
If I kept drinking like this, it was more than enough to get completely drunk at some point.
“Hmm, this is good too. Here, here. You drink some too, Hilde.”
“Ah, Ms. Hilde! Your glass is empty! I’ll fill it for you!”
…That moment didn’t seem far off.
* * *
I think I probably drank like that for about two more hours.
What do I mean by ‘I think I probably drank’?
Well, that’s because―
“Ugh… my head hurts…”
I’m pretty sure I was just drinking some sweet and sour green alcohol, but when I came to my senses, I was already lying on the bed in my room.
Morning sunlight seeping through the cracks of the tightly closed window. The chirping of birds pierces my eardrums and echoes in my head.
‘What time is it now…?’
The inside of the blanket was damp and hot, probably from sweating all night, and my limp body felt both heavy and light at the same time.
A body condition that’s hard to say is good even as a white lie.
Like a b-boy who got circular alopecia after an inhuman headspin, I felt like the contents of my skull were spinning round and round.
‘Morning, it seems to be morning… Did I really drink all night…?’
I pressed my dizzy forehead hard with my hand and raised my upper body that had been covered by the blanket, sitting up with my back against the pillow.
“Haaah…”
A sigh mixed with sweet fruit scent and strong alcohol smell.
When I rubbed my closed eyelids with my index finger and lifted them, a blurry world with shapes and colors blended hazily revealed itself.
A shirt soaked in sweat, and exposed skin. Hair sticking to it.
Through the gap in the blanket that had fallen down to my waist, light lemon-colored body hair was softly visible like grass.
“…Huh?”
A sight that automatically made my head go blank.
I blinked my eyes repeatedly and rubbed them hard, then looked down at my appearance again with a much clearer gaze.
‘I’m not wearing anything…?’
It was the same even when I looked again.
As if I had thrown off not just my armor but even my quilted clothes, my body that had woken up from sleep had only a white shirt with all its buttons undone, casually draped over like a coat.
Swish.
‘Here too… I’m not wearing anything.’
When I slightly lifted the blanket to check, I saw that I wasn’t wearing anything at all on my lower body, my bare white skin completely exposed.
What is this?
If the people I had been drinking with were men instead of Amy and Friede, I could have been certain that something terrible had happened during the night.
No, I wouldn’t have drunk together with men in the first place…
Anyway, it was a situation where my dizzy head suddenly went blank and heat rushed to my cheeks.
“What on earth…”
What happened?
I clearly remember drinking with the three of us as an after-party for successfully completing the request… but I had no memory after that.
What on earth happened after that for me to be lying on my bed in my room in this state, half-naked and drenched in sweat?
…I don’t know.
Whether my memory was cut off due to excessive drinking, or my brain paralyzed by the hangover was refusing to think, no matter how much I racked my brains, I couldn’t recall the previous night’s memories.
But well… there’s no need to be alarmed and make a fuss.
It’s not like my crotch was sore or there was blood on the blanket, and seeing that I was neatly lying on the bed in my room, I probably didn’t suffer anything bad.
Maybe, after the drinking party ended, I came up and went to sleep, and then took off my nightwear and underwear due to the heat from the alcohol…?
Yes, that must be it.
It was quite plausible. One of my friends from the previous world used to strip off his clothes whenever he got drunk.
Though I never imagined I would do such a thing.
“Haaah…”
I let out a sigh filled with a resolution to refrain from alcohol in the future, and completely pulled aside the blanket covering my lower body.
Whatever happened during the night, I could just ask my party members.
My body was sticky from being soaked in sweat, so I planned to wash off the sweat in the bathroom first and then put on something to wear.
…That was certainly my plan.
“Mmmm…”
“Huu…”
Until I encountered the uninvited guests in the blanket that I hadn’t noticed due to my dizzy head, and froze again.
“…Huh?”
It was a sight that made me doubt my eyes.
Amy in a see-through purple negligee, and Friede wearing nothing but a single piece of underwear on her lower body.
My party members, in a state of near-nakedness just like me, were sound asleep curled up like shrimp on either side of my legs.
“…”
…What is this?
No, really, really, what is this?
Why are they sleeping here?
It was beyond confusing, it was shocking.
The day after drinking enough alcohol to black out, to be lying naked together on an inn bed.
Doesn’t this look like we made a mistake together under the influence of alcohol?
It’s fortunate that I’m in a woman’s body now, if it had been my original body from the previous world, I would have been screaming and writhing like an elementary school student on the first day of school.
Amy, who is an adult by this world’s standards but a minor by Earth standards.
Friede, who says she’s twenty but looks four or five years younger than that.
To have touched such kids while drunk?
If this were Earth, it wouldn’t be strange if heavily armed men burst in shouting ‘FBI, open up!’ while breaking down the door and pointing guns.
Of course, I was innocent.
Definitely. It wasn’t even worth considering the possibility. Am I crazy to touch such kids?
There’s a limit to making mistakes while drunk, even if I were high on drugs instead of alcohol, I wouldn’t commit such a crazy act.
No, I don’t even have the means to touch them in the first place.
Hadn’t my third leg already passed away long ago? It disappeared without even being used properly once. Poor thing.
So I should be able to rest easy about that part.
Probably.
“Huuu…”
“Mnyaaa…”
“…”
…So they, well… that is… ah yes, they must have been like me, just like me.
They must have been so drunk that they didn’t even have the presence of mind to find their own lodgings.
Their state of wearing only underwear must also be because they took off their clothes due to feeling hot, just like me.
…Right? That must be it?
It had to be.
No, it definitely must be so. I stake my honor and conscience on it.
* * *
After barely getting my confused mind under control, I carefully got off the bed so as not to wake the two of them and headed to the bathroom.
Being careful not to step on the clothes strewn all over the floor.
That’s my underwear… and is that Friede’s pants? The one hanging on the chair looks like Amy’s robe.
The armor was at least neatly arranged in one corner, but the other clothes were carelessly thrown all around and mixed up.
Anyone who saw this would think we had a clothes fight or something, really.
Splash!
“Huuuu…”
As I filled the bathtub with water and immersed myself, my shoulders shivered slightly as the piercing cold penetrated my entire body.
Perhaps because it was morning, they hadn’t bothered to heat the water. The bathwater that flowed through the pump was as cold as a winter lake.
Thanks to that, I did become wide awake though.
I sank deeply into the cold bathtub and carefully washed my sweat-soaked hair and body.
Resolving to ask what on earth had happened the previous night as soon as Amy and Friede woke up.
…Honestly, I’m a bit scared to ask, but I still have to.
I can confidently say that ‘that kind of thing’ definitely didn’t happen, but there’s always that slim possibility, isn’t there?
Surely not, definitely not, it shouldn’t be… but the possibility that drunk me was crazier than I expected wasn’t zero.
…What if I really did do it?
Just thinking about it made me feel like I would faint with my vision going dark, so I stopped thinking any further.