Drink It All Down!!!

"Do you really want to go?"

Arthur turned his head. Shaya stood behind him, wearing a dark red coat and a pair of boots.

"It's not like we can't go," he said.

Arthur's eyes widened slightly at that, anticipation appearing on his face.

"Really?"

"There are a lot of people in town right now. With so many people around, it'll be easier to fish in troubled waters," Shaya said.

Joining in the excitement was a racial instinct ingrained in his blood. How could he possibly miss a festival like this?

Ding-a-ling.

Accompanied by the chime of the four-colored roulette, the door opened, and Alicia walked in from the Imperial Capital's doorway carrying some vegetables and meat.

She complained, "Prices in the Imperial Capital are way too high."

"Alicia!" Arthur said excitedly. "Shaya said we can go to the God of Wine Festival!"

Alicia looked at Shaya in confusion. "But what about the Wilderness Witch?"

"So we'll disguise ourselves." Shaya raised a hand and patted his clothes. Under the gazes of the other two, his appearance began to change.

His hair grew longer and was simply tied behind his head with a band. A neatly groomed mustache appeared on his face, making him look like a middle-aged gentleman in his thirties.

Shaya raised his hand and tapped Alicia with magic. Her clothes rapidly changed as well, becoming a gray dress.

Her hair turned black, and the wrinkles on her face faded considerably. She became a woman around forty, still retaining her charm.

Looking at the two of them, completely transformed, Arthur cried out excitedly.

"What about me? What about me?"

"The Wilderness Witch doesn't know you. Why would you need to change?" Shaya said.

"Ah..."

Arthur slumped over, lowering his neck as he replied dejectedly.

"It's not a Bal Masqué. What would you dress up for?" Alicia said with a laugh.

Shaya smiled and turned the doorknob. The roar of the crowded streets drifted in from outside.

"Let's go."

"You're leaving me, a demon, home alone again." Cassifa sounded rather unhappy.

"It's not like we can take you with us, right?" Alicia said. "Don't worry, Cassifa. We'll be back soon."

Cassifa grunted twice and did not respond.

They could not join the float parade. There was no way they could squeeze into that surging crowd. But they could still take part in the revelry.

Fortunately, they had been here for several days already, so they were fairly familiar with the roads. They could bypass the crowds and head straight to the marshlands.

They moved through the alleyways. The float parade had taken place in the afternoon, and night had already fallen by then.

They continued onward, crossing the streets as the brightly lit town gradually fell behind them.

The night deepened. The marshlands were cold and damp, carrying the scent of earth and salt.

Beneath the moonlight and the Milky Way, the seawater gleamed in flickering light, retreating with a soft rustling sound.

An endless plain stretched out before them. Shaya could not see it clearly; he sensed it more than he saw it.

He saw pale white mist and faint pale glimmers over the pools. Puddles connected one after another in the distance, forming a shallow horizon.

They were enveloped by a vast, expansive sky. The Milky Way resembled a mist rising from the marshlands, with stars glittering within it.

Though it was called the marshlands, the area near the town was still safe. The truly man-swallowing swamps were some distance away.

On a huge open patch of land not far away, the area was brightly lit. Many torches had been planted around the edges, and long sheets of cloth covered the ground, piled with all kinds of food, mostly meat.

A banquet meant a feast where people sat on the ground.

In the open space at the center, piles of wood had been assembled into a small tower.

Crate after crate of fine wine was carried into the venue. Shaya even spotted Mr. Foster, whom he had seen yesterday.

As Mr. Foster moved barrels to their designated places, he chatted with an old man resting on the cloth nearby.

"Uncle Foster!"

Hearing the voice from behind him, Foster turned around and saw Arthur.

"Oh, Arthur. Where's your family?"

"They didn't come," Arthur said.

"You came to the God of Wine Festival alone?" Foster frowned. "This isn't somewhere a child should come by himself."

"I came with them." Arthur pointed at Shaya and Alicia. "They're my relatives. They came specifically for the God of Wine Festival."

Foster nodded to Shaya and Alicia. "Hello, I'm Foster."

"I'm Allen," Shaya said.

"I'm Sia," Alicia said.

Shaya glanced at the mountain of wine barrels behind him. "You've been working hard. I saw you carrying them yesterday too."

"The winery owners here pay us for the work." Foster smiled honestly. "Besides, I'm about to have a child. I have to earn more money for them."

"Speaking of children..." Foster pointed at the old man beside him. "His name is Hank. You're from the Imperial Capital, right? Old Hank's son studies at the Natural Academy in the Imperial Capital too."

"The Natural Academy?" Alicia raised her eyes in surprise. "That's a school second only to the noble academies."

Hank did not speak. He merely chuckled happily, clearly proud of his son.

He looked to be around sixty. His hair was black, and he wore a worn white shirt. Sweat covered his body, and his face was darkened by the sun. His yellow, sparse teeth showed through his broad grin, and his smile was simple and honest.

"But studying in the Imperial Capital isn't cheap, is it?" Alicia said.

"Yeah," Foster said. "Look at Old Hank. He's only in his fifties this year, but he looks like he's in his sixties. He gets up at six every morning to work and doesn't go home until midnight.

"He won't even eat well or buy new clothes. Whenever he has money, he asks someone to send it to his son."

After a pause, he added, "But his son will be coming back this year. Once he graduates from the Natural Academy, even at worst he can work for the church. He won't have to worry about food or clothes after that."

Alicia nodded. "His hardships have finally paid off."

"It's not bad," Old Hank said, raising his brows.

"Look at you, all smug." Foster laughed and scolded him. "My son or daughter will definitely get into the Natural Academy someday too."

"Then you'd better start saving early," Hank said. "They won't have to work as hard as I did."

As they chatted, a white-haired old man carrying a torch passed by them toward the center. He was Rogeret, the town mayor. The woman beside him was his wife.

She was quite old as well and severely overweight.

Or, to put it in a more cruel comparison, even a grown pig might not have weighed as much as she did.

Shaya felt that Dionysus probably would not want to marry her.

Holding the torch, Rogeret tossed it into the wooden tower at the center. The structure had been doused with oil beforehand.

In that instant, a massive pillar of flame shot into the sky.

The firelight illuminated the marshlands and the faces of the people arriving from town.

The once-empty plain became crowded. The government had chosen this place for the banquet out of necessity; there were simply too many people.

As the bonfire was lit, it signaled that the revelry had begun.

Foster quickly led them to the spot he had claimed in advance and sat them down. The cloth was large and anyone could sit anywhere, but there were even more people. If they did not want to sit in the marsh mud and dirty their bottoms, claiming a spot early was the best option.

Foster warmly took several large wooden cups from one side, filled them with wine from barrels placed at intervals, and handed them to Alicia and Shaya.

Mrs. Foster had clearly not come. She had just become pregnant and was not suited for a place like this.

The banquet was still quiet at first, with people enjoying the food and drinks provided by the town.

Then pleasant music drifted in from all around. The ensemble that had been on the float earlier had arrived here, with the Scottish pipes and Irish whistles especially prominent.

The men and women who had ridden the float earlier, dressed like Spartan warriors and woodland nymphs, emerged amid the crowd's cheers and began singing this year's hymn to Dionysus.

The rhythm was extremely lively. They sang and danced their way into the crowd, waving their hands to urge the people around them to sing along.

The people had already drunk quite a bit. Spurred on by the alcohol, they began dancing and singing as well.

As the fragrance of wine gradually filled the air, the banquet grew increasingly restless.

"Let us drink ourselves senseless, like Dionysus,

A wine cup in one hand, a thyrsus in the other.

Within the clear crystal wine cup, the shimmering water is art.

Art is wine; drink it and fall drunk.

There must never be a sound of spitting it out in one gulp.

Until the sun rises!

Until sleepiness comes!"

Sing again.

Drink again.

We are reborn!"

The joyous singing and the increasingly heated banquet infected Arthur and Alicia.

They began to grow excited too, singing and bouncing along with the crowd.

The song reached its climax.

The singers shouted with excitement and passion.

"The pain of life!"

The townsfolk raised their wine cups in perfect unison and shouted together.

"Drink it all down!"

Then they drank the wine in their cups.

The singers continued to shout.

"The sorrow of parting!"

This time, even the outsiders had learned. They raised their wine cups and shouted excitedly.

"Drink it all down!"

"All suffering!"

Everyone raised their wine cups. Amid the cheers, they shouted together with fervent excitement.

"Drink it all down!!!"

Shaya quietly watched it all. The banquet had reached its climax. The music went on without end, and people twisted their bodies freely, using whatever dance steps they knew best to vent their emotions to their hearts' content.

Cheers rose and fell, even drowning out the music several times. Still, he liked this feeling of finding quiet amid chaos.

He had originally thought the God of Wine Festival was merely an ordinary celebratory feast. But listening to the cheers around him and the lyrics of the song—

Shaya felt that the God of Wine Festival held some special spiritual significance for the people of this town.

"You don't quite fit in with the others."

Hearing this, Shaya turned his head. The speaker was a thin, unfamiliar old man in his sixties or seventies. His clothes were even more ragged than those of Hank, the porter, and he looked like a beggar.

He sat beside Shaya, lazily leaning against a large wine barrel. His face was slightly flushed, and he seemed pleasantly drunk, but his eyes were bright.

"I prefer peace and quiet," Shaya said.

But the old man shook his head. "No. Your heart is emptier than that."

Through Shaya's Eagle Eye, everyone around him appeared dim. Only the old man before him shone with incomparably brilliant gold.

Profound streams of light flowed around him, like stars fallen to earth.

Shaya had seen a similar golden radiance on another being before. His name was Thanatos.

A faint glimmer passed through Shaya's eyes, but he said nothing...