I stopped by a bar for the first time in a while.
To give myself a gift for my hard work, I strode briskly to the store that held my short memories.
A bar on the outskirts of the capital.
Grape Tavern
The 'Grape Bar', which serves delicious draft beer and dried snacks, is a restaurant run by a young female owner and appears in the novel as a favorite restaurant of Yuria.
-Ding
"Welcome~ to the Grape Bar. Oh my!"
The female owner in the kitchen let out a "Wow" at the sight of a regular customer she hadn't seen in a long time. The owner greeted her warmly, saying it had been a while. I nodded and gave her a small wave.
"Long time no see, boss."
"It's been so long. I thought you were dead."
"You thought I was dead, a young man with such a bright future ahead of him. Apologize."
"Hohoho, that means I'm happy."
I said, taking the boss's joke with a light laugh.
"I had some business in the capital, so I came here for a bit. Do you have any seats available?"
"Yes, I do. If you don't have any, I'll make it and give it to you."
The owner smiled brightly and answered me. She was unusually kind, and had been a good person who had provided me with a lot of service since she had kicked out a certain customer in the past.
As we were talking about each other's recent activities with bright smiles, the female owner glanced at a corner of the restaurant and spoke to me.
“But, didn’t you come with a friend?”
"Are you a friend?"
"Yes. You two used to come here sometimes. You came first and sat down."
Friend... who are you?
I wondered bitterly whether I had ever had a friend during my difficult, friendless academy days. I turned my head, following the owner's gaze, and saw a pink-haired woman sipping a beer alone in the corner of the bar.
I let out a small laugh at the familiar sight of him taking a sip of beer, frowning, and saying, "Ugh... uh..."
The manager asked cautiously at my ambiguous expression.
"Would you like me to prepare it separately?"
I shook my head and politely declined the boss's offer.
"No. I'll sit over there."
I walked with light steps to the corner of the restaurant where Yuria was sitting.
There were plenty of good seats, but Yuria's choice to choose a corner made me laugh. And it was funny to see someone who dislikes alcohol act like that. I couldn't stop smiling.
*
"Why are you drinking alone? Like an unfortunate heroine."
Yuria looked at me with bewildered eyes. Her eyes, half-lidded from drunkenness, were filled with confusion.
"Ricardo...? How did you get here?!"
"Why would the most handsome and perfect man in the world come to a bar? He came to drink."
“What did you say…?”
Embarrassed, Yuria snickered and responded to my words. I meant it sincerely, but I found myself laughing along with her, seeing her dismiss it as a joke.
Knock knock. I carefully pulled out the chair and sat down facing Yuria.
I felt lonely because I thought I would drink alone, but I felt good because I had a companion.
I asked Yuria, who was smiling bitterly.
"Can I sit down?"
"You're already seated."
"If you say no, I'll run away."
Yuria chuckled again and said something positive.
"Sit down."
"Thank you. I almost drank alone, so that's a relief."
“What about you, Princess…?”
Yuria glanced behind me and asked, but I shrugged and answered, "The young lady is sleeping."
I ordered beer and dried squid from the clerk and looked into Yuria's eyes.
Moist, wet eyes.
A gloomy looking expression.
Looking at Yuria's gloomy expression, which seemed to have been crying until just a moment ago, the thought occurred to me, 'The female protagonist always cries.'
Although depressing descriptions often appear in novels, seeing it in person made me feel uneasy.
It's a bright and hopeful romantic fantasy novel that female readers enjoy reading, but it's a story that only applies to the male protagonists.
The male protagonist is physically strong, but each has their own shortcomings.
Yuria is physically weak, but she is a being that fills in the mental deficiency.
The fun of the novel is in this relationship, but it may not be very pleasant for Yuria, the person involved.
This wasn't to say Yuria was weak. She possessed a talent for healing magic unmatched by her peers, and her knowledge of sacred magic was also profound.
It's not that Mikhail, Ruin, and the other supporting male leads excelled in every way. It's not that Yuria was lacking.
Because the fields of talent were different.
Hans' work is the same.
I cautiously assumed that he might be feeling skeptical about his own reality, where he only receives help every time.
But I get compliments from people around me.
Because there was nothing he could actually do.
The novel once described Yuria's feelings about the present moment: a period of wandering, lost in the complexities of interpersonal relationships, about her own usefulness.
I was bullied since first grade.
Hans is corrupt.
This was the time when I was feeling disillusioned with my own incompetence, having only received help from the male protagonists when a crisis arose.
So I could somewhat anticipate the worries Yuria had.
Maybe not, but you know.
I cautiously brought up the subject to Yuria, who had a gloomy expression on her face.
"Is it really hard?"
"Huh? What is it…?"
"I thought it would be hard, both studying and academy life. It's because I didn't throw away my grades like I did."
"...It's worth doing."
Yuria answered with a bitter expression.
Although she spoke in a firm voice as if telling me not to worry, I could see the stress she was feeling about her studies in her gloomy expression.
I said with an unlucky expression, hoping that Yuria would smile.
"Live by trusting your face like me. It's thrilling."
Yuria replied with a snicker.
"Do you know that you are extremely unlucky?"
"I said it to mean bad luck."
"Phew! What the heck is that, really..."
I thought Yuria had helped ease my suffering, but it seems she didn't help much.
I smiled bitterly at Yuria's gloomy expression and asked her about light-hearted daily life instead of heavy topics.
"Did you enjoy your tteokbokki today? It was a special order, so I worked hard to make it."
Yuria answered, gulping down her beer.
"It was so delicious."
Yuria, who is weak to alcohol, frowned and muttered her honest feelings, "Ugh... wow."
'It's not good to eat too much.'
Since the novel describes her getting drunk on three glasses of beer, I smiled slightly, worried about Yuria's excessive drinking.
"I'm glad it was delicious. I worked hard on it. I'm not used to cooking in a kitchen, so I put in salt instead of sugar, but whatever. I'm glad it was delicious."
"...What is that?"
"It means it was made deliciously."
"..."
Yuria lowered her head at the plain words without any crosstalk.
Yuria asked me cautiously in a small, trembling voice.
"Do you do that to just anyone?"
Yuria's ears were flushed red as she lowered her head. Perhaps it was because she had drunk more beer than she could handle, but seeing her ears flushed bright red, I shook my head.
"I don't give the tteokbokki I put my heart and soul into to just anyone."
"Then why did you give it to me?"
"Because we're precious friends?"
"..."
Yuria's ears turned even redder.
'I don't think I can feed you any more.'
Haha, I was looking forward to a drinking party, but if things continued like this, I felt like a tragedy would occur where I would have to endure Yuria's drunkenness.
Taking advantage of the moment when Yuria lowered her head, I carefully moved the beer glass next to her to the corner.
-Tick tock.
Yuria stares intently at my hand as I slowly hide the glass in the corner of the table.
Yuria, who was looking at me with a sullen expression, resting her chin on the table, blew air into her cheek and spoke to me.
"Why are you hiding it?"
"...I didn't do anything."
"lie."
I smiled awkwardly and placed the beer glass back next to Yuria.
Yuria, who had blown air into her cheeks, looked at the beer mug that was returned to her and smiled faintly before gulping down the remaining beer.
Yuria wipes the foam from her mouth and frowns, saying, "Ugh... Yeah."
I shook my head at Yuria's appearance and said.
"It's admirable to see someone who's weak to alcohol down a shot."
"why."
"It's just like that."
-Tick tock.
Yuria, who was scratched by the alcohol, stared at me again.
“Who am I doing this for…?”
I responded with a small smile to Yuriah's cheeky tone, which ended with a raised voice.
“By any chance… did you know I got ripped off today? I did get 10 gold more though.”
"?"
Yuria looks at me with bewildered eyes.
"...isn't it?"
"yes."
"uh..."
I scratched my forehead and smiled brightly, having accidentally embroidered myself.
"I'm going to get captured by the imperial army."
"..."
"I'll tell the boss to serve you."
I was speechless at Yuria's cold expression.
An awkward atmosphere flows.
Yuria and I drank our drinks in the bar that was gradually becoming more crowded.
A glass.
Two glasses.
While feeling anxious at the sight of Yuriah's eyes gradually losing focus.
"ha..."
Yuria let out a heavy sigh and opened her mouth.
"Ricardo."
Not polite.
Yuria speaks informally.
I smiled at her sloppy appearance and answered.
"Why are you calling me?"
"that is..."
Yuria hesitated for a while, then opened her mouth.
"You don't hate me?"