Epic Seven: Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Philophobia

Chapter 5

Walking on the street, Al could see the streets were getting crowded thanks to the upcoming festival. There were many strange faces that he had never seen before. But as long as they did not commit any crimes, then he could freely enjoy the festival. He then started feeling hungry and he was looking for something to eat. Inside a small restaurant, Al was sitting at a table and waiting for his dishes. Suddenly, two Suins came to him. One had a big body, like twice or triple compared to him. He had brown furs and had two curve shields protecting his shoulders. And the one who asked him politely was another Suin who wore sand-color cloths and wielding a green staff, he looked like a mage than a warrior, comparing to his fellow friend.

"Excuse me, can we sit here?" the Suin who wore sand clothes asked Al politely

They were the same race and Al did not mind sitting with them. He gave out his hand and said, "Sure."

When Al looked at the two of them, he was not sure if he did see them before. He asked. "Are you two new here?"

"Yes, we came from Ritania," the big Suin guy responded. He then said, "There will be a festival here and we got invited by our friends. We think it would be nice to share the fun with them."

"We haven't seen many other Suins around here. It is really nice to meet you. My name is Jecht and this big guy is Cartuja," the Suin named Jecth nicely introduced both of them to Al.

Reaching out his hand to them and shaking hands together, the young Suin responded generously. "Al, nice to meet you."

"So Al, where are you from?" After the short introduction, Cartuja asked curiously.

"I'm from Constella. But around 4 years ago, my family moved to Perland. I studied and trained there and now I'm working here in Aakhen," Al answered.

"Oh, so you're quite a traveler," the big Suin joked and the three of them laughed.

"A bit off of topic but... do you know a doctor named Ray?" Jecht then asked.

Al then replied, "Sort of. Are you looking for him?"

"I heard he is a talented doctor, who is born from a noble family. But he gave up his noble identity and comes to Aakhen and treat people without money. I wish to learn medicine from him so I can use what I learn to treat other Suins and everyone else. I heard that he will come here in the next couple of days," Jecht answered with high hope.

It was not like that Al did not know about it. He heard it from Celine and Pavel, and he would come with Elena and her parents as well. Al then answered, "He sure will come. If you don't mind, I will ask him for you."

"Oh, that's great. Thank you," Jecht said.

"Haha, alright, enough with the chit-chat, why don't we go for a drink to memorize our acquaintance? Waiter, bring here three big cups full of beers." Cartuja laughed loudly and shouted.

"Here we go again," Jecht sighed.

"What is "beer"?" curiously, Al asked.

Jecht felt weird when Al knew nothing about this drink.

"It's a drink from Reingar. It is like wine but lighter, however, drink too much and you still get drunk from it," Jecht explained when the waiter brought out three large cups of beer. He was surprised when Al looked at them curiously.

"Ah, I see," Al looked at the menu and he noticed that the restaurant had added the drink on the menu. He did not notice it because it was on the "Alcohol" list and he was not fond of them at all. But he would not mind trying the new drink.

"Cheese, for our new friend Al," Cartuja laughed loudly and drunk the big cup in a few seconds. Jecht also took a slip and Al was hesitating if he should drink or not. After he had tried, Cartuja asked joyfully, "How does it taste? Very good, right?"

"It's.... gross," Al responded without a second thought.

"Your taste has a problem. I don't think there is a single person in Orbis who can say it's gross. Are you so scared of this magnificent drink?" Cartuja stood up and screamed annoyingly, "Come on, I challenge you. We will drink until one is down."

It's clear that Cartuja was not satisfied with Al's response.

"Stop it, Cartu..." Jecht tried to stop Cartuja.

"Like I scare. Bring it on." Al stood up and accepted the challenge.

"A...Al?" Seeing how Al reacted, Jecht lost his words.

Later, the waiter brought many cups of beer, both Cartuja and Al drunk one by one in the cheers from others. The battle attracted more and more people and cheered them both. When the drinking contest ended, Cartuja collapsed on the floor in the surprise of the others, except the winner.

Even they drunk like a dozen cups, Al was able to keep his conscious but he still felt his head was heavy. He looked at Cartuja and asked. "That's all?"

Suddenly, an Elf, who had white hair and tan skin came close to them. He was wielding a staff and wearing a black coat which had some yellow line on it.

Seeing the competition and the winner as well as the loser, the male elf commented joyfully while looking at the young Suin, "It seemed they went overhead of us."

"Basar? So you came," Jecht greeted him.

"Hi, Jecht," a young-looking girl, who had long blonde hair and was also an Elf, greeted Jecht. She wore green clothes and had a bow on her back. Seeing Cartuja was laying on the ground, she was surprised and even poked his nose a few times. She commented, "I didn't think someone could win Cartuja in a drinking battle."

"Oh and this is Al, the winner. Al, this is Basar and Silk," Jecht quickly introduced Al to them.

"What a surprise you made here. My name is Basar," Basar came closer to Al and reached his hand. Then both of them shook hands and greeted each other.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Silk," the young Elf girl greeted Al.

"Pleasure to meet you," Al showed his politeness to her.

"Did Rin come with you?" Jecht looked around and asked Basar.

"No. She is having a trip with the Phantom-CIC," Basar answered. Although he looked calm, his voice was a little sad.

After a few chats, Al felt his head was getting heavy. He stood up and said goodbye to them, "It's already late. Pardon my leave."

"Can you go by yourself?" Jecht asked worryingly.

"I'll be fine," Al responded, "See you around."

After Al had left, Basar commented, "What an interesting young man."

"You mean because he won Cartuja?" Silk wondered.

"It's one reason. When he was drinking, I could see he was very enjoying the fun, but it couldn't help to hide his sadness," Basar answered to the young elf.

Laying down on the bed inside his restroom which was prepared by Cerise, Al wondered what he was doing and why he did that. Easily to accept a challenge from a stranger, it was not like him at all. He asked himself what he was thinking. Nonetheless, he would not lie that he did not have fun, or rather, he had a lot of fun with Cartuja and his company. It had been a while since he had this much fun. It was like he was welcomed even though they just met. After a while, he fell into sleep.