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Episode 244.2

I also felt much more comfortable at a place like this. There was no need to stand on ceremony and relax; assuming no one picked a fight. 

“Hello.”

At that moment, a burly man with a grim face approached me. For a second, I thought he was an ogre, but despite his intimidating, scarred, one-eyed face, he was human.

Was he looking for trouble?

Just as I was thinking that, the man smiled and said. 

“Long time no see, Noonim. Have you been having fun? Here to sell some goods?”

“No, I’m a customer today. Give me the usual.”

“Hehe, leave it to me.”

So, he’s the owner.

He served grilled pork trotters and an iced drink. It smelled like green grapes, with a very slight but bitter alcohol scent.

“That guy has always made a killer highball. Give it a try.”

“Sorry, but I don’t drink.”

“Really? That’s a shame. It’s delicious.”

“I get drunk just from the smell.”

“From the smell?”

There’s a certain rhythm to conversations, especially at a drinking table where the flow of conversation is quite important.

However, whenever I mention that I don’t drink, it often disrupts this rhythm. 

Decent people usually respond with, “Ah, that’s okay,” and move on. But with Stella, I was a bit nervous she might insist on me drinking.

Surprisingly, she accepted it without any fuss.

“I knew someone like that. Couldn’t handle alcohol at all. The funny guy would get drunk just from the smell—.”

Stella’s expression seemed to drift into a moment of reminisce.

* * *

The food was simply delicious. Honestly, meat dipped in sauce is good no matter how you eat it.

“It’s tasty.”

“If it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”

We had a casual chat as we ate. Surprisingly, it flowed quite naturally.

“So the hypothesis that dinosaurs had feathers is gradually being dismissed. Now, what’s capturing the scholars’ attention are bioluminescent dinosaurs.”

“I see.”

As I listened to her talk about dinosaurs, I was surprised that the conversation was actually interesting.

Perhaps it was because Stella Bellhawk was still a ‘professor,’ or because she was a long-lived elf with a wealth of random knowledge. The range of our conversation was broad. 

It had been a while since I experienced such effortless dialogue, making it easy for me to bring up any topic.

It’s more ordinary than I expected.

I wonder if this is how it feels when an ordinary man and woman meet and have a conversation. Putting aside the noble families and arranged marriages, Stella was a good conversationalist.

“Theo-kun, I’ll have another drink.”

“But you’ve already had four glasses. You’ll be too drunk if you have more.”

“Four glasses already? Me?”

“Yes.”

Stella’s amber eyes were slightly dazed. As I mentioned, she had been drinking continuously and was already quite tipsy.

Looking at the empty glasses in front of her, Stella laughed softly.

“It seems so. When did I drink so much? It’s been a while since someone listened to me this well. I guess I drank without realizing it. Even ten glasses of this wasn’t a problem back then.”

How many years ago was it?

“Ah, I hate this. When I get drunk, I end up talking about the past. Like, ‘Back in my day…’ and stuff. Kids these days don’t like that.”

“It will be different for each person, but most probably don’t.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Still, there used to be a lot of fun and exciting things. This place was smaller back then, a time when the only customers are me and my seniors….”

Stella’s eyes sparkled like starlight. Unlike her usual dull and hazy eyes, the drunk Stella looked rather intelligent.

I’d heard that alcohol reveals a person’s nature. 

Maybe the keen intellect Stella had when she was competing with her brother, Opal, was now surfacing like water from a seemingly dry well.

I asked tentatively.

“By seniors—do you mean from the adventure club during your school days?” 

“Yeah. It was fun. Reinhardt, and even Alistair, who’s no longer with us—they were all young and full of ambition. Everyone had dreams. We all had dreams.”

After that, Stella started recounting their adventures—discovering various spells and ancient ruins—without me even asking.

“We once discovered a giant tree growing under a cave. Its height and thickness were beyond imagination…!”

Her stories sounded fantastical, lacking a sense of reality. Whether they were exaggerated or not, the idea of freely adventuring was hopeful, even enviable.

However, such reminiscing about the past usually ends with a vague sentiment like, “Those were the days.”

Compared to her glittering past, Stella’s present was relatively lackluster. Her gaze looked lost as she idly twirled her ice-filled glass.

“Did the adventures end because Isaiah Gaspel went missing?”

I listened to her long lament all the way to ask one question. Upon hearing the name I mentioned, Stella’s half-closed eyelids lightly said. 

“Yeah. He was quite unruly. Then he suddenly disappeared….”

“But I heard that Professor Stella went into the Witch Forest with him.”

“……”

Her hand, which was turning the ice-filled glass, suddenly stopped.

“Where did you hear that?”

“I have a reliable source. From your reaction, it seems true. Professor Stella, could you elaborate on that story?”

“Some stories are hidden for a reason. Unfortunately, Theo-kun, I have no obligation to tell you that story.”

“What if I have the qualification to hear it?”

I am the most qualified.