The Drunkard

After dropping Rachel-san off at the girls’ dormitory of the school, Caro and I walked the night path hand in hand.

“Walking along a night path like this with you, Kent-san, makes me feel so happy.”

Caro clung to my arm and acted spoiled. I spoke while stroking her head.

“I feel the same way. I’ve never really walked with a cute woman like this before.”

“What about Marie-san?”

Suddenly, Caro brought up Marie-san. Until just the other day, she was like a neighborhood lady who was kind to me, but lately, our relationship had changed rapidly, and I struggled with how to answer.

“With Marie-san… until you came along, Caro-san, it felt like we were just normal neighbors, I guess.”

“Is that so? I thought you two had that kind of relationship for a long time. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not trying to blame you. I’m just a houseguest, and since I recognize that we aren’t officially dating, I can’t speak too strongly about it.”

It was true that I wasn’t officially dating Caro, but I recognized her as someone equivalent to a lover. The same went for Marie-san, of course. However, even though I had formed these kinds of relationships with multiple women, I felt no guilt. In my previous world, I definitely would have thought I had to choose just one person, but in this world, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that there were people here who had multiple wives.

“If you intend to keep many women by your side, Kent-san, you’ll have to work very hard to earn the special privilege. I’ll cooperate too, so let’s do our best.”

Commoners can basically only be with one woman. However, as an exception, there exists a privilege to be with multiple women. The conditions are either to pay over a certain amount in taxes or to acquire noble status. If you satisfy one of these, you become able to welcome multiple women as wives. In the commoner class, those with financial leeway can obtain the privilege, and since they don’t have to worry about lineage as much as nobles do, many have multiple wives; however, in the noble class, due to matters of family standing, many people have only one wife. Supposedly, if a noble does have multiple wives, they make sure to prioritize the primary wife—for example, the primary wife would be from a high-ranking noble family while the others are from commoner or lower-ranking noble backgrounds.

“The hurdle seems pretty high.”

“But if you don’t do that, you’ll have to narrow it down to one person, you know? Although, if you chose only me, I wouldn’t mind that either.”

“It looks like I’ll have to work hard. So, Caro-san, what should we do for dinner? Should we eat somewhere on the way back?”

“Let’s see. Shall we stop by somewhere?”

With that, we decided to finish dinner on the way. That said, the only eateries open at this hour were places serving high-end cuisine or taverns. Since our ages were obscured, I wasn’t sure, but apparently we were at an age where it was okay to drink alcohol. And so, the two of us headed to a tavern.

“Welcome. Oh? That’s rare, are you students?”

The old man running the tavern called out when we entered. Since we were both wearing school uniforms, he seemed to realize immediately that we were students. However, despite the uniforms, we weren’t stopped, and no one seemed to care.

“Call me or the girl over there once you’ve decided on your order.”

The old man said that and went into the shop’s kitchen. The inside of the shop was a bit noisy, but it seemed to be thriving.

“Kent-san. This is my first time in a place like this, so my heart is racing.”

“Actually, it might be my first time too.”

In my previous world, I had been to izakayas that felt similar to this shop, but since coming to this world, I had been living in straight-up poverty and rarely ate out. Because of that, it felt fresh in a way. Caro and I stared at the menu, agonized over what to order.

“I’ll have an ale and the ‘Chef’s Choice’ set, please.”

“I’ll have the same, please.”

I told our order to the woman in charge of the floor, and she hurried to the kitchen to pass it along.

“Thank you for waiting. Here are your orders.”

After a while, the woman in charge of the floor came back with the items we ordered.

“Please, enjoy.”

Saying that, the woman went to take orders from other customers.

What was laid out was ale and a dish centered around fish.

“Well, shall we eat?”

“Yes.”

“Then, cheers!”

“Yes, cheers.”

We clinked our glasses together and began drinking the ale.

“It’s an alcohol that feels similar to beer, I guess.”

“Actuallyyy, for meee… this is my firssst timeee drinking alcoholll, you knowww?”

I was calmly analyzing the taste, but at the point of having one sip, Caro was already in a dangerous state. I thought that letting her drink might have been a mistake.

“Hey, hey, Kent-saaan. Am I not attractiveee? My chest is smallll, and I’m shorttt…”

“No, no, Caro-san, you’re cute and attractive, you know?”

“Oh stop ittt, Kent-san. You’re making me blushhh. I’m getting kind of hottt. I’m taking these off!”

Saying that, Caro began to strip her clothes off in public. The customers nearby looked at Caro in surprise. Since the customers in the shop were almost entirely men, she already stood out as a female customer, so she became even more of a center of attention.

“Oh my~ everyone is looking at meee~ what’s wronggg? Kent-san, look, look. I’m sure everyooone thinks we look good togetherrr.”

Having become buck-naked, Caro clung to me. That’s not the reason, I retorted inwardly.

“Caro-san. If you don’t put your clothes on, you’ll catch a cold.”

Since I also didn’t want to show Caro’s precious naked body to the people around us, I urged her to get dressed.

“I suppose it can’t be helped… if you say so, Kent-saaan, I’ll put them onnn.”

She said that and busily started dressing, while the surrounding customers looked back away, appearing disappointed.

To put it simply, Caro was a very bad drunk. I thought to myself that I should be careful in the future.

“Kent-san… I feel sickkk… urgh… blegh…”

On the way back, while nursing Caro who was crouching by the roadside returning the contents of her stomach, I somehow managed to get back home. I immediately ordered liquid stomach medicine—a pharmaceutical product—from the terminal and made her drink it. I thought to myself that I was lucky that the home improvement store had a pharmacy section.

“This tastes kind of weird…”

“It tastes weird, but it should keep the alcohol from lingering tomorrow, so please bear with it.”

I said that, took off Caro’s clothes, changed her into a tracksuit, and carried her to her room in a princess carry.

“It’s a princess carry… hehe…”

After uttering those happy words, Caro fell fast asleep just like that.

The next morning, I woke up in my own bed. For the past few days, someone had been sleeping beside me, but today I woke up alone. I felt someone’s presence in the kitchen. Curious, I went to check and found Caro preparing breakfast.

“Good morning, Kent-san. Breakfast will be ready soon.”

“Thanks. How are you feeling?”

“Eh? I’m fine. But, I don’t have any memories after dinner yesterday… I wonder why?”

“I’m glad you seem healthy.”

“???”

Watching Caro looking puzzled, I decided to avoid saying anything about yesterday as much as possible, for her own sake.