CHAPTER 62 - LET’S GET WASTED! (3)

Alex POV

“...Should I have just trained instead?”

Alex glanced around the room and let out a quiet sigh.

Everyone was completely out.

It hadn’t even been that long since they started drinking, and now… chaos.

‘What do I even do…?’

Usually, he would have slipped away back to the dorms, but that was impossible with his current predicament.

“Hehe… Alex…”

Olivia mumbled his name in her sleep, nestled on his lap with her arms loosely wrapped around him.

If it had been anyone else, Alex would have shoved them off without a second thought, but this was Olivia; he couldn’t bring himself to.

Instead, he patted her back gently, his eyes drifting over the nearby wreckage.

Esper and Felix were face down on the table, mugs and glasses strewn about all around them.

‘Then there’s those three…’

“Ren…”

“Grrrrr…”

“Heh.”

Soren had somehow ended up flat on the floor.

Lilliana was curled against his chest, using him like a pillow; meanwhile, Amelia was sprawled across his lap, growling whenever Soren shifted in his sleep.

“Seriously… what a mess.”

Alex rubbed his forehead.

Being the last one standing meant only one thing: babysitting duty.

He lifted his mug and drained it, the liquid burning down his throat.

Flicker

As the alcohol flowed through his system, his eyes shone gold momentarily; the tipsy haze vanished instantly.

‘Why’s alcohol even considered poison…’

Thanks to his [Divinity], any poison that enters his system would be instantly dissolved.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

Ting-♪

A sharp chime rang out, and Alex turned his head.

A translucent golden window, different in colour from Soren’s, hovered in the air.

Words appeared.

.

[I’m sorry (╥﹏╥)]

[I forgot how much humans enjoy alcohol…]

.

Alex chuckled under his breath.

‘A god apologising to a human, who would believe it if I told them?’

The identity of the person behind the gold window was none other than Goddess Aryn, the goddess of time, and the one who gave Alex [Divinity].

The fact that she was communicating with a single human would send shockwaves throughout the world if he were to reveal it.

It was the reason why he hadn’t told a soul since the day he awakened back when he was 15.

.

[Are you having fun?]

.

Alex’s gaze swept the room, lingering on Olivia curled up against him, then on the chaos sprawled around the table.

“I don’t know… Feels like I should’ve just trained instead.”

.

[Too much training is bad for you •`_´•]

.

A faint smile tugged at his lips.

“I know. I just… can’t help it.” His thumb traced the rim of his cup.

.

[There is plenty of time.]

.

Alex’s eyes slid toward the white-haired boy snoring on the floor.

“...I need to get stronger.”

.

[You can rely on my ability. You carry too much alone.]

.

Alex fell silent.

The warmth in her words brushed against him like a mother’s embrace, yet it only deepened the tightness in his chest.

‘I don’t want to… It’s not my own strength.’

Every time Alex was forced to rely on [Divinity], it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He whispered under his breath.

“「Quests」”

.

▶ Main Quest: Act 1 ◀

[Details: Successfully complete the final exam of the first semester.]

[Difficulty: B+]

[Penalty: Death.]

.

‘There’s less than two weeks left…’

.

[I told you, you will be fine.]

[Look at those around you.]

[They’re strong.]

[All except that girlish boy.]

.

Alex’s mouth twitched.

‘I almost lost to that girlish boy, so what does that make me…?’

“Aria…” Soren mumbled in his sleep, dragging Alex’s thoughts back to earlier that night.

He remembered the awkward weight when Soren had spilt his heart out.

They weren’t close, far from it.

Their only real interaction had been that duel, and Soren’s hostility at the end was unforgettable.

‘So why did he invite me?’

According to Olivia, Soren had been avoiding her ever since, and yet tonight he had suddenly asked her, and by extension Alex, to come out.

‘He’s strange.’

Even when Soren clearly wanted to avoid him, he still reached out.

.

[What are you thinking about?]

.

“How strange ‘that girlish boy’ is…”

.

[He is strange…]

[So very weak, and yet surrounded by the strong.]

[It doesn’t add up.]

[It’s different from my calculations.]

.

Alex smirked faintly.

‘Strange enough to interest a god, huh?’

He tilted another bottle back, finishing it in one go, then stroked Olivia’s hair as sleep pulled at his eyes.

.

[Rest well, my child.]

* ••✦ ♡ ✦•••

Soren Arden POV

Sunlight streamed directly onto Soren’s face, dragging him from his drunken haze.

“Ugh… someone close the blinds…” he muttered, trying to roll over, but his body refused to move.

‘Why is it so heavy?’

His mind was fogged; last night was a blur.

He cracked his eyes open and froze.

“...What the hell is this?”

Both Lilliana and Amelia were sprawled across him.

It was an inexplicable situation that he could not understand.

“Grrawrr…”

Responding to his movements, Amelia growled and burrowed closer, clearly unwilling to let her “pillow” escape.

But he couldn’t comply with that demand.

“Shit—I’m gonna hurl!”

A sudden wave of nausea hit Soren as he pushed the two off of him with all of his might, only barely making it to the sink in time.

“Blerrgghhhh–!”

‘I’m lucky there’s an ensuite connected.’

If there hadn’t been a bathroom connected to the private room they were in, he likely would have spewed vomit in the middle of the hallway while trying to find a toilet, but fortunately, the place they were in was extra bougie.

‘I should thank Essy later…’

Pshhhh…

He turned on the faucet in the ensuite and rinsed his mouth and face before lightly dabbing it with a towel and returning to the room.

There, he was finally able to take in the outcome of their drinking.

“Holy shit…”

The table was covered entirely in empty bottles and mugs, to the extent that it was impossible to see the table itself underneath them.

Besides that, there were the conditions of the people who had come with him.

Both Felix and Esper were face down on the table, fast asleep.

Amelia and Lilliana were sleeping on the floor where Soren had left them, both wearing expressions of discomfort, as if annoyed that their comfortable pillow had disappeared.

Meanwhile, Alex and Olivia…

“...Wow, when did that happen?”

He was amazed by the sight before his eyes.

Alex and Olivia were lying on the floor, cuddling.

“I wish I could take pictures…”

If he could have, he would have already taken hundreds as the number one Alivia shipper.

‘I’m jealous.’

That thought briefly appeared in his mind before he quickly shook it off, instead trying to decide what he should do.

“Should I wake everyone up…?” He hesitated.

It felt rude after how hard they had gone last night, but how long could they actually stay here?

‘I should go ask the staff.’

Soren slid open the door and made his way to the counter, marvelling at the posh decoration that he hadn’t noticed the night before.

“Hello?”

“Good morning, sir. How may I help you?”

“I was just wondering, how long are we allowed to stay for? It’s just that my friends are still asleep.”

“I see you had quite the night. Don’t worry, you may stay as long as you wish, it will be added to the bill.”

“That makes sense. By any chance, could I ask someone to come by and clean up the drinks soon?”

“I shall send someone through shortly. Is there anything else?”

“Could I have some water? Enough for seven people.”

“Of course, sir.”

Soren returned to the room after speaking to the staff member and couldn’t help but chuckle as he once again took in the mess before his eyes.

‘Seriously, how did it end up like this?’

He had expected people to get wasted with how excited they were to drink, but not even he could have guessed that everyone would completely black out.

“Well, at least it was fun.” He said as he sat down in between Lilliana and Amelia.

For the first time in ages, drinking hadn’t felt empty.

‘I’m glad I told them.’

It had been slightly embarrassing to spill his heart like that, but he didn’t regret it; instead, he felt better because of it.

Ever since Aria’s death, he had been completely closed off, not talking to anyone, not making any friends.

Because of that, he had never been able to share anything, but last night he had told all his friends, and not a single one had blamed him.

Sure, some were slightly awkward for a little while, but it was evident that they cared for him.

‘Seriously, what am I gonna do?’

Every time he resolved to fix the story, something would appear and make that resolve fragile; it was an infinite cycle that he felt was increasingly impossible to escape.

‘But I can’t give up…’ He thought as his eyes lingered on the people who had accepted him.

He couldn’t let them suffer.

“Ren…?”

————「❤︎」————