"No way, you cannot keep doing this. You have to answer at least a couple of my questions too."
Seeing the pretty girl with flushed cheeks pout and wheedle at him in that sweet voice, Kabe could not hold the line at all. He snapped to attention and raised a hand like a soldier surrendering.
"Okay, okay, my fault. Next time I will not dodge with drinking. Happy now?"
"Hehe, that is more like it."
Jenny giggled and started dealing the cards again.
She never expected that the very next round would be where Kabe's luck turned.
Two kings. Instant win.
"Eh, how can this happen…"
Jenny's little face fell like a collapsing pudding. Then she lifted her eyes and looked at Kabe pitifully, begging in a soft voice.
"Kabe, you are not allowed to ask anything too embarrassing, okay?"
"It is too late to try to wriggle out of it now."
Kabe was not buying it at all. He lifted a finger and wagged it slowly, eyes gleaming as he thought of a "good" question.
"Then… tell me your three sizes, little Jenny."
"Wha… Kabe, you big pervert!"
Jenny slapped both hands over her face. A faint blush climbed from her neck all the way up to the tips of her ears.
Just when Kabe was smirking to himself, thinking she was going to refuse and mentally planning what punishment to use instead, Jenny peeked through her fingers.
She stole a glance at his annoyingly handsome face.
Then, with a voice as quiet as a mosquito, she answered anyway.
"Eighty two, sixty, eighty."
"You…"
Kabe was actually stunned for a second.
Then, after his gaze swept over Jenny's figure for a quick "verification", he laughed and teased openly.
"Very nice. At your age you will definitely fill out even more in the future."
"Ah, stop it, Kabe, that is so embarrassing!"
Jenny squealed and started hammering his shoulder with tiny fists.
Kabe put on a show of begging for mercy, but the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth would not go away.
Aries: !!!
Watching the two of them laughing and fooling around, the pure little white sheep was so shocked that steam practically gushed from the top of her head.
So, so bold. How can they say things like that so casually?
No, I cannot. There is no way I can say something like that.
And of course, the more you dread something, the faster it arrives.
Once he was done playing with Jenny, Kabe obviously did not forget the soft little lamb beside him. He turned to her with a bright, wicked grin.
"Your turn, Aries."
"Eek. No, I really cannot say it."
Panicking, she suddenly grabbed one of the unopened bottles on the table.
"I am sorry. Take this as my punishment. I will just drink the whole bottle."
Kabe saw which bottle she had picked up and felt his heart lurch. He quickly reached out to stop her.
"Wait. That one is…"
But it was as if Aries was afraid he would stop her.
She hugged the bottle and gulped down mouthful after mouthful.
By the time Kabe managed to pry it out of her hands, the inside was already as clean as if it had been licked.
On the label, the big characters were impossible to miss.
Sixty degrees.
That kind of strength would knock out most veteran hostesses.
There was no way two true beginners could handle it.
Reality, of course, did not disappoint him.
As soon as the liquor hit her stomach, Aries realized something was wrong.
A burning heat rolled out from her belly, and the world began to spin around her.
Almost without warning, her body flopped backwards onto the sofa. Her eyes started turning in dizzy little circles.
"H hic… K Karen… I am… sorry. The mission… I will… go first…"
She managed to mumble that much, then her head lolled to the side and soft little snores began to fill the booth.
Kabe: …
Jenny: …
At the same time, back at home, Karen was curled under her blanket making up for sleep.
She shivered out of nowhere.
"Mmm, no more, I really cannot eat another bite…"
She mumbled in her sleep, then rolled over and drifted right back into deep slumber.
She had no idea what kind of harsh punishment was quietly queuing up for her in the near future.
Time slipped by.
In the blink of an eye five days passed.
On that day, newspapers and magazines all over the continent ran the same explosive headline.
The ninth and tenth members of the Council had announced their resignations.
During their term they had failed to supervise properly, which resulted in the remains of the demon Deliora, that had once ravaged the northern continent, being stolen.
After discussion between the Chairman and multiple councillors, the two men publicly declared that they would take responsibility and step down from all posts connected to the Council.
The news landed like a bomb.
It blasted the magic world of the Ishgar continent into an uproar.
All sorts of well known mages voiced their fury through every channel they could find, loudly condemning the Council for its incompetence.
In the north, groups of mages joined together and sent formal letters of censure to the Council.
They cursed out the Council leadership from top to bottom and demanded that everyone involved in this failure be thrown into prison.
The two councillors, who had already been unhappy with "just" resigning, took one look at that rising tide of rage.
That same night they packed their bags and slipped out of the Council headquarters, terrified that some extreme mage would storm the building and hack them into pieces.
While public opinion was tearing the Council apart, the regional guild conference that Makarov had called was convened at the same time.
The incident was too urgent.
There was no way to gather everyone physically in such a short period.
So for this meeting they used linked communication lacrima, a large scale remote conference.
"I am sorry to have to call everyone together so suddenly."
Inside a special meeting room that Blue Pegasus had cleared out, Makarov sat in the middle.
Bob sat on one side.
Kabe sat on the other.
In front of them, a huge curtain of light was divided into hundreds of identical panels.
Each panel showed the projection of a different guild master from Fiore and neighboring countries.
Everyone present was a leader of a magic guild, no matter how big or small.
Their numbers already far exceeded the original membership of the local guild alliance that had once been limited to Fiore alone.
Makarov swept his gaze across the sea of faces once more and then spoke.
"If everyone is here, I will officially declare this meeting open."