When he saw the receptionist wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth with an enraptured look on her face, Dece was weirded out. “Are you all right? You’re sure there’re no weird ingredients in that food, right?”
“I’m sure it’s probably fiiiine,” said Julia. “It’s food fit for a king, after all.”
Juno tried asking Little Musashibo, who was underneath her, “You want to come, too, Mr. Kigurumi? You took that quest, too, right?”
“…” (“Oh, no, not me…” he said, sticking his harms out in front of him and shaking his head.)
“What? Come aloooong,” pouted Juno. “If you don’t, I’ll pull you out from inside there.”
“…” (“N-No, stop, please!” he said, flailing his arms and legs around.)
Juno kept manhandling Little Musashibo. In the end, she forced him to promise he would attend the banquet.
And so, on the evening of the banquet.
In the castle, an old wine cellar in the castle that was no longer in use had been remodeled into something like an chain izakaya and given the name Ishizuka’s Place. It was here that the few dozen adventurers who had participated in the escort quest were celebrating.
For this banquet, tables were lined up in the center with large plates of food that everyone was free to take from. It was what would be called a buffet. The adventurers ravenously swarmed around the unusual and delicious-looking dishes. (Especially those using soy sauce and miso.)
It happened just when Juno’s party, with Little Musashibo in tow, had finished getting in line, securing all of the different dishes and alcoholic beverages they might want, and returned to their seats.
Someone walked up to the podium opposite the entrance. It was a young girl who wore a red military uniform and had medium-short hair.
When they saw that girl…
“Wha?! The princess?!” someone exclaimed in surprise.
There was an excited murmur that spread through the room. The one standing at the podium was, without a doubt, Princess Liscia, the daughter of this country’s former king and the one betrothed to the current (provisional) king, Souma Kazuya.
Liscia bowed, then began to speak in a clear voice. “Adventurers, I welcome you to Parnam Castle. I am King Souma’s fiancee, Liscia Elfrieden. I am here to greet all of you today, in place of Souma who is currently indisposed due to his heavy workload. I would like to thank all of you for accepting the recent quest.”
Liscia bowed once again.
Juno looked on, seeming deeply impressed. “That’s a princess for you. She looks about my age, but she feels so ladylike.”
Little Musashibo blatantly averted his eyes when Juno gave that impression. That was because he was hesitant to call the princess ladylike, given that she had, just recently, been leading a massive force on the battlefield.
Liscia picked up a glass of wine. Lifting it up high she said, “Thanks to all of you, many of our people were saved. On behalf of Souma, and all the people you saved, I salute you. Now… Cheers!”
“““Cheers!”””
With that, the banquet began. The adventurers drank much wine, and smacked their lips at tatsuta-age, spaghetti buns, fried seafood skewers, and many other dishes not yet common in this country.
“This tatsuta-age stuff is great! I can’t get enough beer with it!” Augus declared enthusiastically, and Febral nodded in agreement.
“It seems they use the mystic wolves’ soy sauce for it,” said Febral. “It’s very good.”
“The fried octopus skewers are good, too,” said Julia. “Here, Dece. Say ahhh.”
“Wait! Julia?! Are you drunk already?!” Dece exclaimed.
They each enjoyed themselves. Juno, whose eyes were already a little unfocused, was wrapping herself around Little Musashibo. She was pushing a wooden mug full of beer up against his cheek. “Come on, Mr. Kigurumi, you’ve gotta drink toooo.”
“…” (Y-You’re a bad drunk?!” he said, panicking.)
“If you won’t drink, I’ll give it to you mouth-to-mouth,” Juno threatened.
“…” (“It will just stain the cloth, so please don’t! I’ll drink it myself, okay!”)
Then Little Musashibo turned his back to Juno. When she was wondering what was up, looking at him dubiously, suddenly a man’s hand came out of the seam in his back.
“Wuh?!” That shocking scene made Juno throw her head back in surprise. The arm that grew out of Little Musashibo took the mug of beer from the dazed Juno before slipping back inside Little Musashibo’s body. Then, after some gulping sounds from inside, the empty mug was expelled from his back.
“Whaa, what was that just now…?” Juno yelped.
Little Musashibo turned to face her and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “…” (“A fantastical illusion.” he said, nodding his head up and down.)
“Huh? But, just now I saw…”
“…” (“A fantastical illusion.” Got it? He tilted his head to the side.)
All Juno could say at this point was, “Uh, sure.”
From there on, with the occasional interruption for a fantastical illusion, the two drank together.
As they did, Liscia kept peeking over and watching them.
Twenty minutes later.
“…” (Little Musashibo’s body suddenly tilted over and he fell down on his back.)
Juno who was eating and drinking beside him, shouted out in surprise.
“Whoa, are you okay, mister?! Isn’t it a bit early for you to pass out?!”
Juno shook his body, but Little Musashibo couldn’t get up, it seemed. Then, “Pardon me a moment,” said an adult voice.
“Huh?” Juno asked.
When Juno looked up at the voice that suddenly called out to her, the young girl in the military uniform was rushing over to Little Musashibo. It was Princess Liscia. She was so surprised to have the princess suddenly call out to her that her mouth bobbed open and closed in mute shock.
Liscia pressed her ear up against Little Musashibo’s mouth.
“You’re at your limit. Because of the alcohol. That makes sense.” With those words, Liscia sat Little Musashibo up. “I’ll take care of this guy. You handle things here.”
“S-Sure…” Juno replied vacantly.
Liscia stared into Juno’s face.
“Hm?…Um… is there something on my face?” Juno asked.
“No, it’s nothing,” said Liscia. “Anyway, I hope you enjoy yourselves.”
With that said, Liscia took Little Musashibo away.
Juno was at a loss for what to think, only able to watch their backs as they departed.
“Why did you push yourself so far to be able to participate?” Liscia demanded. “Even going so far as to wear a kigurumi suit.”
As they walked down the castle hallway, Little Musashibo borrowing Liscia’s shoulder for support, a male voice came from inside Little Musashibo. “Hey, can you really blame me? Even I’ve got people I have to go out and socialize with.”
“You say that, but they’re not your associates, they’re that doll’s, right? Now hurry up and get out of that thing. Nobody else can see you here.”
When Liscia said that, the doll’s back opened wide and Souma emerged, dripping sweat. In addition to the heat of the kigurumi suit, he had alcohol in him, so his face was pretty red. When he finished crawling out of Little Musashibo, Souma sat down on the floor right there, exhausted.
Normally, Souma controlled Little Musashibo remotely with his ability, Living Poltergeists, but today he’d to eat and drink, so he’d gotten inside it himself.