Chapter 36 - Level 10

"Wait wait wait, so you're… a Bard?" I ask, clumsily taking another large gulp of beer.

"H-hic… That's right, sir! I must have used the Powers of tha Voice to boost ya in your battle! Hic… Ya know, most people only talk about tha six Saints, but… the Bard was like the glue, ya know?"

I laugh with Lynsel, who has a loud, booming cackle that shakes my bones. "So you used this… power of your voice?"

"Ha! I wish. Only THAT Bard has that. While tha Saints pick a single disciple, who then selects their next disciple, tha Bard said music was for all and opened tha College of tha Bards. It's a suuuuuper big college, and it's suuuuper esteemed! Everyone who goes there becomes really successful."

"So that's why you want to join the college?"

He gives me a toothy grin, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. "For money."

A scenario instantly plays in my mind, and I lean back upon a dozing Eniyala with tears in my eyes. "How noble. You're three sisters and four brothers waiting anxiously for you to come home to them—"

"Hic. I have one brother."

"Your parents—"

"Are perfectly fine."

"Why do you need money?"

"To not be poor, durrrr…" With that, Lynsel is also passed out, proving that I, apparently, can hold the most liquor.

More like my mind can handle the process of being drunk a lot better. My body is small now; I can't move remotely how I want to. I had checked a few messages I had received, but swiped them away angrily just as quickly.

[The user is exceedingly drunk. DEX decreased.]
[Due to Klum's Reincarnation, DEX will be decreased automatically to 1.]

"Stupid fucking skill," I mutter, laying my head back onto Eniyala's back. She stirs slightly, but doesn't wake. I relish in the warmth emanating lightly off her, her back raising and lowering like the waves of an ocean.

Then, I startle awake. Our trio laid passed out at a table, and several other tables were in similar fashion, near dogpiles of people stacked on top of one another.

Just like them, our small group is entangled with one another. My head was now laid in Eniyala's lap, which I secretly had no complaints about. Her head rested on my side, with my arm wrapped over her shoulder. My right leg laid in Lynsel's lap, and his arms rested like they were attempting to be reassuring on my shin. My other leg was shoved in between his massive lower legs. Meanwhile, he laid literally facedown on the table, snoring contentedly. It looked like we had played an extremely complicated game of Twister.

I also couldn't move, so I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, listening to the beating of her heart through her small stomach pressed up to my ear before she began to wake as well. I had actually enjoyed the few minutes; it was the first truly peaceful moment I had since I had become Klum. With a small sigh, I look up to meet Eniyala's sharp eyes, which catch the look in mine. Her light hair flows softly down around my hips as she doesn't move her head from the slight curve in my waist.

"My head hurts," she says after a long while.

"Yeah, that happens when you have a lot of alcohol."

"… This won't be the last time, will it?"

"I'm so glad my party leader is so smart."

She just sighs, with clearly no intent to move. I stare at the ceiling, and she closes her eyes again, and the feeling of peace stays that way for a while.

'Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump…'

After what seems like blissful years of a comfortable silence, Lynsel's head flops to the side. "Abaa ni unsway ya?"

I exchange a look with Eniyala, holding back a laugh. "How you doin', buddy?"

He blinks unevenly before sluggishly sitting up. "My head…"

Unsurprisingly, I was the only one without a huge hangover. As such, I direct Lynsel on how to untangle himself with his legs, and scoot up to allow Eniyala to slip out. The second part was much easier said than done, as the curved bench was connected to the circular table, leaving us without a lot of space to operate with. This caused an awkward moment where I was leaning back on my one free arm, holding myself up with the other still around her shoulder to brace myself. Her face comes close to mine as she leans forward over me to pull her legs out. Our positioning reminded me of the classic 'man-holding-a-woman-about-to-kiss' trope, but the roles were reversed.

Finally, and thankfully, she manages to free herself, pushing on my chest to stand up fully. I quickly swing my legs out to stand, and the two of us bore holes into Lynsel as we refuse to look at the other. "Well, I want to reach Level 10. The first rounds get released tomorrow, and 100 of the matches will be conducted the day after that." I begin, looking at their poor states.

"…But I'll buy you guys rooms to rest in for today, and do that alone, I think."

They both nod with serious expressions, feeling too weak to protest. Understandingly, I lead them to the back of the bar, where the owner's son is cleaning up, and buy two rooms on the floor above, handing them both of the keys before heading out.

* * *

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Rough huffs accompany the sounds of heavy footsteps as dark purple eyes lock onto low walls that aren't as tall as the monster, but close. Large metal doors close off the town, but letters sit drawn above the gate: Estraia.

The freshly upgraded minotaur cracks his neck, his tongue hanging out of his long snout as he huffs again. He drags an extremely large tree branch in his hand. It looks more like the trunk of a small tree. His hooves sink a few inches into the soft dirt with each step due to how heavy the densely packed muscles weigh on his body, while his only pieces of armor is a long loincloth nearly reaching his knees, and a harness tightly clipped over his enlarged chest.

The minotaur may not be able to read, but he could smell the foul scent of humans even from atop the hill he stood upon. An overly wide smile appears on his face. Those flames had split his pack in half; half of them remained near the big city nearby, while his half had been driven to the edge of a forest. There, everyone had fallen into a frenzy attempting to kill an Elder Fanged Ogre. Only he had survived, killing the Ogre and even a few other Bulls with his intense bloodlust. He had been a previous miniboss Bull, but by killing those around him, he had leveled all the way up to 21, causing him to evolve. His intelligence had also grown leaps and bounds, and now he could think much more freely.

That's why he knew that it would be better to wait for his injuries to heal before decimating the humans. Turning around, he walks slowly back to the forest, planning to kill some lesser beasts and monsters as he waits.

His time would come. He just needed patience now.

* * *

"Haaah!"

I forcefully exhale, pulling back UnHoly Raze before dashing towards the three injured Bulls. They glare hatefully, bunching together. 'Too easy,' I think as I unleash three erratic and vertical strikes across the beasts. It takes a second before blood bursts from their new cuts, and they drop to the ground lifelessly from the lightning strike-shaped cuts spanning across the three. The usual rewards screens opened, then—

Ding!

[User has Leveled Up!]
[Class Selection is now available.]
[The World's Pickiest Sword Saint is sending a request to interfere with the World Lines.]
[The World Lines denies the request.]
[Please see a 'Priest' to choose a Class.]

The Bulls were starting to become exceedingly easy, and while there were several of them, they seemed to have lost some sense of purpose. It was strange, but I shook my head and refocused on the messages, frowning.

'Alyphia?' I thought, and immediately her presence was there.

'Sorry, my dear disciple,' she sighs in my head. 'It seems I cannot grant you your class now, so you will have to see a Priest to select it. I mean, it is not much selecting, but oh well!' she laughs, but I can now hear her thoughts again. At this point, I am able to discern when she's talking to me and when she forgets our thoughts are connected like this.

'Aargh! Those stupid Lines! How dare they deny me a chance to grace my disciple! Stupid stupid stupid!'

"I can hear you," I tell her monotonously, and her presence promptly disappears again. My blank face melts gradually as I look at the messages again.

"Well, let's go find a Priest," I mutter before marching off.