-Grumble
That sound came while I was sitting in the prayer room after finishing confession, trying to endure my embarrassment.
It wasn't my stomach. It must have come from Mace's stomach next to me.
"Ain, you must be hungry."
"I think the sound came from you, Sister."
Mace had returned to her cheerful demeanor.
As soon as I came out, she was grinning as usual, as if nothing had happened.
"I'm not hungry, but if you really insist, I could eat with you."
"I've been rude enough. Goodbye."
As I tried to leave the prayer room, Mace started pouring out that long spiel from behind me.
"Aah... I'm not hungry at all, but still, I wanted Ain to sleep well, so I offered my lap, sang songs, wrote my first leave request since coming to the Academy, and even heard your confession..."
"I'll buy you a meal. Let's go together."
"Yay! Let's hurry. You're begging me so much I have no choice but to go, right?"
Taking the noisy, bouncy Mace with me, I left the Academy and headed for the streets.
.
.
.
"Is it that delicious?"
"Delicious..."
What Mace was eating was ordinary stew you could order at any restaurant in the Empire.
It barely had any meat, was full of wilted vegetables, and the broth was watery.
I wouldn't eat it even if they gave it to me for free, but Mace was savoring it like a delicacy, her eyes sparkling.
"Getting so worked up over stew from a shabby tavern like this..."
The tavern owner standing in front of the table heard my words and started crying while wiping a plate.
I felt a bit sorry. But it really was a shabby place.
It was still too early for drunkards to be running wild, so Mace and I were the only customers.
The restaurant I'd gone to with Iris was closed.
I had no choice but to pick the best place I knew.
But I don't visit restaurants except when drinking.
So the place I ended up selecting was this crumbling tavern, slightly better than ruins.
The floor creaked with every step, and the chairs and tables were yellowed with age.
Mace didn't care what the place looked like on the outside—she was completely absorbed in eating her stew.
"I told you, you can order something more expensive."
Mace shook her head side to side with food in her cheeks.
She must get paid by the Academy, so she probably wasn't starving.
Maybe she lived frugally like a proper clergy member.
As always, I ended up just sipping alcohol.
I wasn't even hungry to begin with.
I was just indulging Mace's stubbornness as a way to thank her.
Even though Mace had brushed it off with a light attitude, I was genuinely grateful.
She didn't even notice food on her lips, so I gently wiped it off with a napkin.
"What have you been eating normally?"
"Rationed bread with a texture similar to paper?"
Mace answered as she put down her spoon.
She finished it already?
She'd cleaned the bowl so thoroughly her face reflected off the bottom.
"...How do you know what paper tastes like?"
"I used to tear up and eat books sometimes at the monastery!"
"Good grief..."
'Do they call orphanages monasteries where you lived, Sister?'
I swallowed the question that came to mind, unable to voice it.
"What about your salary from the Academy?"
Mace pulled out a few silver coins from her pocket and showed them to me.
"This is this month's pay."
"You're joking, right? That's not even enough to eat properly."
The garbage stew she just ate cost one silver coin.
This was one consequence of the Empire's steep postwar inflation.
She obviously couldn't afford to buy anything from the Academy cafeteria.
"The rationed bread is enough."
The Academy really was keeping Mace around reluctantly.
They treated her worse than a dog.
The management costs for the purebred dogs raised at the Academy kennels might actually be more than Mace's salary.
I was starting to feel a kinship with her on a visceral level.
Mace herself seemed just happy to have eaten her fill for once, swinging her feet as she sat in her chair.
"I'm going to drink more, so head back first. Should I walk you back?"
"Mm-mm. I want to stay with Ain longer. I even wrote a leave request for once."
"...I'm really sorry about that."
Instead of answering, Mace just smiled.
As if to ease my discomfort, she pointed at the glass I was holding and asked.
"You're not eating. Do you like alcohol that much?"
"It's the light of my life, the flame of my existence."
Today's meal was Blackhand Cognac.
The grape aroma spreading sweetly in my mouth and the warm sensation going down my throat were exquisite.
Even in a shabby tavern like this, you could order any mass-produced alcohol as long as you had money.
What a nice world to live in. Not that I particularly want to live in it.
Maybe because it was my first drink in half a day, I was already getting slightly tipsy.
Even so, without alcohol, my stiffly frozen tongue just loosened up a bit.
"It smells like grapes. But the color is different from wine."
"Want to try? It might be too strong for a girl—no, a nun."
At my provocation, Mace glared and puffed out her cheeks.
Soon she raised her finger toward the owner, mimicking what I'd done.
"Same thing for me!"
"My goodness. Is it okay for a nun to drink in broad daylight?"
"I got curious watching you drink, and I'm annoyed that someone is treating me like an idiot."
Mace said that while glaring at me.
So this is how she reacts when openly teased.
Fucking hilarious. I should tease her every chance I get.
...Wait, no matter how I look at her build and appearance, she doesn't seem old enough to drink.
"Sister, how old are you..."
"That's rude. You don't ask a lady her age!"
Even as Mace said that, she folded and unfolded her fingers to express her age.
"...You're a year older than me?"
"Ahem. So this is what having a younger sibling feels like! Ain, is there anything you want to say to your Noona?"
She really was deceiving with her appearance. She seemed so sweet and gentle I wanted to lean on her.
The only Noona I actually have just pretends to be normal in front of others but is a stuttering mess who's no help when I need it.
"Have you ever had alcohol before?"
"I've had a sip of wine during worship!"
Brandy and wine only smell similar—they're quite different.
Anyway, the long-awaited glass of alcohol finally appeared before Sister Noona.
All spirits are like this, but brandy especially has a deceptively high alcohol content despite its sweet fruit aroma.
Even I, who lives on alcohol, usually take it one sip at a time, holding it in my mouth and letting it trickle down my throat bit by bit.
Unless I'm in a situation where I want to lose my mind immediately, like yesterday.
So Mace, who was now gulping down alcohol like water right in front of me, would in about 3 seconds either spit out something mixed with alcohol, or be coughing and sputtering with tears and snot running down her face.
-Thunk
"Delicious!"
"......?"
I heard the sound of the glass being set down, and Mace licked the remaining alcohol from her lips with her tongue.
The glass was completely empty. Like Mace's stew bowl after she finished it.
Fuck, did they water down the alcohol?
I'm pretty sure she asked for the same thing as mine.
Just in case, I looked at the tavern owner, who was staring at Mace with a shock similar to mine on his face.
'What the hell. This is scary.'
"...Are you okay?"
"Hm? It's like sweet juice. Delicious!"
Has life been that hard on you?
Or do you have a serious problem with your taste buds?
Your tongue must be broken, like people who pour sauce on sweet and sour pork.
"Are you dizzy—I mean, feeling lightheaded?"
"Everything's spinning!"
At least her brain seemed more intact than her tongue.
As soon as she spoke, Mace started bobbing her head back and forth.
I ordered a glass of water and forced it into Mace's mouth as she struggled, refusing to drink.
After making her drink water, her frantic movements subsided a bit.
Instead, her eyes became drowsy like mine when I haven't slept, and her speech became strangely calm.
Her already rosy cheeks turned red like ripe apples.
"Ain, I can say it now. I'm dizzy."
"You look it, Sister. Let me pay and we'll head back to the Academy."
"There's a sour taste in my mouth. What does that mean?"
"It means you're screwed. Tell me if you're going to throw up. So I can run away."
As I stood up from my chair and searched my pockets, Mace gripped my sleeve tightly.
Her tiny hand was about half the size of mine.
"It's okay that I wrote a leave request. It's fine to go back late."
"Sister, how many of these do you see?"
I waved two fingers in front of Mace's eyes.
"Eleven?"
"You're completely wasted..."
But I couldn't stop Mace from struggling with both hands to sit me back down in the chair.
Nothing is more useless than fighting a drunk.
I didn't want to exert myself and end up seeing unspeakable things pour out of every orifice in Mace's body.
"Ain, come to think of it, we introduced ourselves."
"Owner, the check please. How much is it?"
"So why don't you call me by my name instead of Sister, Sister all the time?"
"I call a nun Sister. You're even a teacher."
Mace grabbed my collar and started shaking me.
The grape aroma filled with warmth touched my face every time Mace's mouth opened.
"Call me by my name. Quickly. Ahhh. Hurry up."
"Let's go back to the Academy, Mace. Is that good enough?"
As soon as she heard the name I reluctantly called her, Mace's hands slowly released from my collar.
Looking at Mace, she had her head quietly bowed, muttering something.
"....Core."
"Pardon?"
Mace grabbed my sleeve with much weaker force than before and said again.
"My name, encore..."
Mace's cheeks were deeply colored with a rose tint rather than apple red.
"...Thank you for today, Mace."
"...Heh."
Mace seemed happy to be called by her name, grinning as she obediently followed me out of the shop.
Her steps staggered just like mine this morning, so I lightly held her hand.
As we stepped outside, the somewhat cool air brushed refreshingly against our bodies.
Every time Mace touched me, I felt it—her body temperature was the complete opposite of Giselle's.
The warmth that made my palm sweat didn't seem to be just from the alcohol.
Even on my way home alone after dropping Mace off at the prayer room, my hand in my pocket remained warm.