"Cheers!"
The sound of glass clinking echoed out as I raised my mug in unison with the others, before taking a deep gulp of the ice cold beer in my mug, the bitter taste coating my taste buds.
Its around 10 PM, we got back to the Sanctuary about three hours ago. After reporting the successful completion of the Quest to the Union, I exchanged contact info with the others and headed back home.
I took a short, two hour nap to rest up, and then headed out to the bar, which Elicia had recommended. It was a pretty nice place, and affordable too.
We had just gotten our first round of drinks, I don't plan on getting too drunk myself, but I told the others that they're free to drink as much as they want.
"Ahh, I needed this! Even though we didn't really do much on this raid, we still did a lot of walking, my legs were absolutely killing me by the time we finally got back out," Grinned Will sheepishly, before chugging down his beer.
"That's exactly why you need to work out more. Just because you're a Support Mage doesn't mean you should slack off, it's not an excuse to be unfit," Lector informed him dryly.
"Ah, come on, man, don't lecture me while we're drinking. Just relax, we're here to kick back and chill," He responded with a laugh.
"True, I'll save the lecture for later, then. Better set a reminder so that I don't forget."
"I-I mean, you don't have to..."
"That was definitely the easiest Mid Level raid I've ever participated in, thanks to you, Kai. You were really impressive," Smiled Elicia, batting her eyes at me.
She was seated next to me, and I noticed her subtly shifting her chair closer to mine a bit earlier.
She looks good, she was wearing a dark pink tank top with a low neck, revealing an ample amount of cleavage, and a black skirt that went halfway down her thighs.
"Thanks, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, I held my own better than I thought I would," I replied, as I took a sip of beer before picking up a couple of fries from the portion we'd ordered for the table, dipping them in the sauce that came with it.
Mm, this is good...I think the sauce is a mix of ketchup, mayo and some kind of tangy hot sauce that gave it a nice kick.
"I wonder how much higher your Power Level has gotten now? You were certainly a lot faster and stronger in the Boss Room, even before you used that power-up," Mused Ferna curiously.
"Hey, we shouldn't talk about that in public. It's supposed to be a secret, so we don't want anyone overhearing," Lector reminded her quietly.
"Oh, right...sorry about that, Kai," Ferna smiled apologetically.
"No worries, it's cool, doesn't look like anyone's around to overhear," I replied with a wave of my hand, before glancing at each of them as I channeled a bit of Mana into my eyes...huh, so that's what Auras look like.
After I distributed the points I gained from the Ogre, my Perception stat crossed 500, which means I can perceive Auras now.
All I have to do is channel and focus a tiny bit of Mana into my eyes.
Lector had the most intense Aura, while the other three had relatively similar Auras in terms of intensity.
The color of an Aura depends on the individual's Attribute if they're a Combatant, or their Magic Class if they're a Mage.
Lector's and Elicia's Auras had an electric blue hue to them, since they both had lightning-based abilities, the former possessing the Lightning Attribute and the latter possessing Lightning Magic.
Will's Detection Magic gave him a yellow Aura, and Ferna's Healing Magic gave her a white Aura. I know my Aura's supposed to be purple thanks to Charlotte, but I can't perceive my own Aura. I wonder what it looks like?
Anyway, I continued chatting and drinking with the four of them, relaxing as I maintained a steady buzz, taking it nice and slow with the booze.
I really don't like the feeling of getting wasted, I find it unpleasant...huh, I wonder if my asshole of an alcoholic, abusive father in my previous life has anything to do with my disdain towards excessive alcohol consumption?
Well, whatever, I don't want to think about that guy, fuck him.
Anyway, while I was drinking with relative moderation, most of the others were less conservative.
Will was drinking especially heavily, and Lector and Ferna were going at it pretty hard too.
Elicia was a lot more reserved with her drinking though. She was having a bit more than I was, which was still a hell of a lot less than the others were drinking.
"Not much of a drinker?" I asked her, as she took a small sip of her beer.
"Well, I usually drink a bit more, but I don't feel like get blackout drunk tonight," She replied, before glancing at the others.
Will looked like he was pretty close to passing out, and Lector and Ferna weren't too far behind that point.
"I know I told you guys you can drink as much as you want, but you should probably moderate a bit at this point," I advised them wryly.
"No, I can...keep going...a little more...," Muttered Will, slurring heavily as his eyelids drooped.
"I-I'm done...I feel like I'll hurl...if I take even...another ship...," Slurred Ferna, letting out a hiccup.
"N-No, don't make me...think about puke...," Groaned Lector, gagging as his face turned pale.
Yup, they're done.
"Okay, before you guys pass out, I'm going to order you some cabs to take you home, I get the feeling you guys are going to struggle to do it yourselves," I remarked, before adding, "Here, input your addresses."
I am not taking all of them back to my place like I did with Ariella.
"O-Okay, mine ish...," Muttered Ferna, before shakily tapping on my display and typing her address in.
Once she was done, I ordered a taxi for her, before moving onto Lector, who took a while to type it in, his hand more than a little unsteady.
Will was a lot tougher to deal with, he was totally wasted.
Somehow, I managed to get him to put his address in, letting out a sigh of relief as I booked his ride home.
As the taxis arrives one by one, Elicia and I helped the others out of the bar and into the vehicles, before heading back in once they were set.
"Well, that was exhausting. I'm beat," I sighed, slumping in my seat.
"Yeah, I feel bad for the drivers, there's a pretty high chance that those three will fall asleep in their rides home, it won't be easy to wake them up," Chuckled Elicia wryly.
"What about you? You don't seem like you're that drunk, you gonna keep drinking?" I asked her.
"Nah, I'm good. Though, if you plan on having another round, I don't mind one more drink."
"No, I've had enough for tonight," I shook my head.
"Cool, then we should probably get going, it's pretty late," She replied, as she checked the time.
"Yeah, sounds good. Looks like you don't need any help getting a ride home, so-...," I began.
"Actually, I live pretty close by, my place is about a five minute walk from here. But since it's late, might I trouble you to walk me home?" She smiled suggestively, leaning in towards me slightly.
Is she saying what I think she's saying?
She has been pretty flirty with me this whole time, and I've been responding in kind, but I didn't think it'd go too much past just flirting...or rather, I didn't want to get my hopes up.
But I'm definitely not complaining about this turn of events.
"That wouldn't be any trouble at all, I'd be happy to," I responded with a slight smirk, following suit and leaning towards her a bit.
"How gentlemanly of you, I appreciate it," She replied as she lowered her voice, before adding, "Alright, then, let's get out of here, shall we?"