Blade Lineage Salsu: Don Quixote's Story
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote
Stop, STOP!
The one seated opposite the child shouted indignantly. The child stopped just as she was about to chug the liquor straight from the bottle.
H-huh? Wherefore hast thou shouted so...?
We are no mere peasants, Don Quixote. We do *not* drink straight from a bottle.
N-no...?
The other child, furious and frustrated, sighed deeply and shut her eyes with exasperation.
They were members of the Blade Lineage on the run... but as soon as they clear their names, as soon as they can return to S Corp... they will be taking jobs as personal guards of the high-ranking officials.
And that meant that they would have to know high society etiquette by heart in case they had to join them for a meal. The other child's head began to fill with all kinds of terrible faux pas shenanigans that this child would put herself into.
One must drink from a cup, not the bottle. That is the proper drinking etiquette.
Once the cup is empty, and only when it is empty do you refill it for another drink.
... Yet... wherefore?
The child looks back with a genuinely puzzled expression.
'Tis more work for the same amount of alcohol, is it not? To drink from such a petite bowl...
... It is to prevent one from getting completely intoxicated while maintaining compo -
Guugh! Cough, cough!
Whatever the other child said, it didn't register in this one.
The child began chugging straight from the bottle...
Perhaps it was the unexpected flavor, perhaps it was the piercing aroma. Or maybe it was just that strong of a liquor.
... She immediately expelled the entirety of the bottle's contents like a fountain spray.
…….
It need not be said that the lecturing child was completely showered in whatever burst forth from the child's mouth.
I-I...! 'Twas not mine intention to -
The flavor was... simply too different from what I'd...
…….
... 'Tis made of rice, is it not? I had thought with quite the confidence that its flavor would be no different from that of sikhye or gamju...
What did I say? What did I just say?
Eek!
I just told you to drink from the cup, little by little.
If you had listened, this would not have happened.
I-I mean...
Speak properly! Though we may be of the same rank, at this precise moment I am your instructor and superior! You will do well to address me as one!
Y-yes ma'am!
First! You are wielding your chopsticks in a manner most improper!
Uh, this was merely to free my other hand for the bottle -
Behold! This! Is how you properly wield a chopstick! Your sloppy technique is a disgrace...
... The other child's lecture continued without end.
At this point, it was starting to sound like she was just unloading all of her frustrations on the child for the sake of unloading them, but...
... it *was* the child's fault, no? Actions do have consequences.
... And I will leave it at that.
Agh...
Have you completed your reconnaissance? I have been waiting many days to hear your reports.
Ahm. I have discovered in my journeys about five different respectable locations in the Backstreets.
Hm, that is good news indeed. Yet I must also inquire you about Kurokumo Clan's -
Ahem! Worry not thy heart! I have spied on the Kurokumo Clan curs as they dined!
... 'Tis in two days.
The liquor in the other child's cup rippled as her hand twitched ever-so-slightly.
Indeed... A match catches fire when struck.
Yet we must survive. Persist. And one day... we will find ourselves an opportunity. That is what our mentor has told us.
You have done well, Don Quixote. Venturing so deep into enemy territory...
Heheh, a handful of them did notice my trail...
... But they have all been taken care of.
The child held up her blade and spoke casually. It was spoken with the same casual cadence as though she had just swatted a few specks of dust from her cloak.
Though they may not have started out as members of a Syndicate wandering the Backstreets, the reason the members of Blade Lineage have no hesitation in cutting people down...
... is that they have all each been slayers for a long time. Blade Lineage or not.
Yet, there is a difference.
…….
That the blade they used to wield in service of others... is now for no one else but their own.