Chapter 66: Two Schemes (7)

He grabbed the bottle of wine however he wanted and poured the wine. Barbatos’ eyes grew wider.

“Hey, hey!”

“Alcohol is meant to be enjoyed, so why should you bother with the method of holding and pouring it out? Life will only become dry if you worry about those sorts of things.”

“This is why menfolk aren’t good! Everything requires rules so that you can enjoy them properly!”

“Yeah yeah.”

Dantalian responded appropriately. Barbatos stuck her lips out as she obediently received the alcohol he poured. It couldn’t be helped. There was a chance that a single droplet of the wine that was more precious than gold would spill if she moved right now, after all. Dantalian also poured himself some of the wine in his cup.

“Cheers.”

“C-Cheers.”

Clink, the crystal cups made a clear sound as they collided. Compared to how Dantalian tilted his glass in a single movement and drank down the wine, Barbatos didn’t budge an inch. She simply stared at Dantalian who didn’t even appreciate the fragrance properly and gulped down the Baler wine as if it were beer.

“Haah.”

“Is……it good?”

“It’s good. It’s really good. Hmmm, I personally don’t like wine that much, but this stuff is amazing.”

Her golden eyes sparkled.

“What does it taste like? Huh? I’m asking you how it tastes. Explain it to me with as much detail as possible.”

“……You can just drink it yourself.”

“R-Right.”

Barbatos took some deep breaths. Hoo, hoo. She started to give herself autosuggestions. This is nothing more than red alcohol, this is nothing more than a red liquid, this is……. Her muttering must have been effective as Barbatos managed to calm herself down. Although Dantalian was looking at her as if she were a crazy person.

Finally.

The glass tilted, the wine flowed, and the tip of her tongue and lips touched the liquid.

“……!?”

At that moment, Barbatos felt as if she hadn’t been a living being till now. She fully accepted the fact that, up to this point, she had been locked inside a small room known as her skull. Not only was that place dark, but she could only see while relying on the faint rays of light that entered through her eye holes. But what’s this? Barbatos muttered from a distant and faint region of her consciousness. No, a certain God was whispering to her from afar. What’s this? Is this not light itself? Behold, is light not being emitted from beyond there? How surprising, the light is becoming even brighter!

‘Aah, aaaaah.’

Barbatos witnessed a fantasy. She had become a nomad and was running. She was a true nomad. She mounted a running horse without any hesitation, sped through the terrain swiftly, felt the vibration of the earth that would regularly get transferred upward, spurred the nonexistent horse, held the nonexistent reins tightly and by doing so followed the smooth plains that spread out before her, and, as the nape of the horse disappeared along with its head, only a single strand of its mane fluttered…….

“Hk, uuu. Hkk.”

Salvation. True salvation was here.

Dantalian freaked out.

“W-What’s wrong? Are you actually crying?”

“I’m glad I stayed alive, uuuu. Every day was difficult and the past two thousand years were arduous, uuu, but I’m glad I stayed alive.”

She shed hot tears as she continued to drink her wine. It almost felt like she was trying to replenish the water that was coming out of her eyes with alcohol. As this was happening, she took in the fragrance, rolled her tongue in the alcohol, felt the sensation of the liquid go down her throat. She made sure to go through every formal procedure necessary to enjoy the wine with every sip she took. Barbatos spoke as tears continued to pour out from her eyes endlessly. Dantalian was taken aback by how excessively postmodern this sight appeared.

“Hand it over.”

After emptying her glass of wine in a blink of an eye, Barbatos snatched away the bottle of wine. She placed her right thumb on the groove on the base of the bottle. Like this, she fixed the bottle in position with one hand and poured the alcohol in the cup she was holding in her left hand. After pouring the wind, she turned the bottle elegantly so that a single drop of alcohol wouldn’t be wasted by any possible chance. She had a drinking etiquette that was nothing short of paranoia. This scene repeated itself.

Cry, pour, and drink.

“Hkk, hkk.”

Pour.

“Uuhuhu, it’s good, it’s really good, fuck.”

Pour.

Dantalian forgot to even drink his wine. The sight of a girl who looked like a 12-year-old on the outside pouring herself alcohol while crying was, to put it nicely, surreal, and to put it badly, a little crazy. Dantalian knew that Demon Lord Barbatos was a renowned alcohol enthusiast through the game. However, the current scene before him went beyond his imagination.

He carefully opened his mouth.

“I have a question. Why are you saying fuck all the time when you’re saying it’s good?”

“Sniff. It’s this good, but each time I drink it, that much also disappear from the bottle. That is truly, truly a fucking travesty. Kuh. Referentially, they say that you shouldn’t discuss things with someone who hasn’t had Baler wine mixed with tears.”

The source of that quote was dubious, but Dantalian decided that he should start speaking now for the sake of his goal. A fair amount of time had already passed because teasing Barbatos turned out to be unexpectedly fun.

“Is that so? I cannot discuss anything with you?”

Dantalian muttered to himself as if he were troubled.

“How troubling.”

“Uhuhu. What’s troubling, you brat?”

“I came here to talk to you about the symbol you had left on Riff’s corpse. You said that I can’t talk to you since I’ve never had Baler wine with tears before, so of course this would be troubling for me.”

At that moment.

The fact that Barbatos didn’t drop the glass that was in her hand wasn’t because she was unexpectedly composed or trying to pretend as if this didn’t impact her. She couldn’t react even in the slightest. That was it. Her body had frozen completely as she was just about to tip her glass up to pour its content into her mouth.

“……Uhuh.”

She immediately grasped the situation. The habits and intuition that she had forged and trimmed for the past two thousand years told her. She had been dealt a blow with helplessness. This was a perfect surprise attack. Was this not impressive?

The tipsiness in her golden eyes disappeared and the gaze of a lioness replaced it. It took Barbatos only a mere few seconds to change from an alcohol fanatic to the high-ranking Rank 8 Demon Lord.

After she was freed from her paralysis, she rotated her wine glass.

“So that’s why you brought this Year 505 Baler Wine.”

A sentence without any context.

The man before her completely understood the meaning behind this abrupt sentence.

“Correct. Your Highness is a Demon Lord of the 8th rank, after all. I have to pay this much of a price if it means I can lower your guard.”

“I’m slowly starting to get it. You started laying down your groundwork the moment you tossed the Baler wine in the air. You forced me to focus solely on that high-handed action of yours.”

She looked back at what had happened. Was it not strange? What sort of individual would offer a bribe by throwing it in the air? Especially when the item they’re using to bribe the other party with is something the other party values more than anything else. They erase the goodwill that could have potentially been gained by intentionally throwing the treasure they had gone through all sorts of difficulties to obtain. Was this not an incomprehensible act of violence?

“Adding to that, you spoke in a way that made it sound like you were looking down on alcohol. Therefore, you gave me this impression. Ah, this son of a bitch, Dantalian, doesn’t know anything about alcohol.”

Barbatos chuckled. She felt so refreshed that she couldn’t hold it back.

“It doesn’t make sense if you think about it. You’re the one who procured this bottle of wine. You should obviously know very well how valuable this item is. Despite this, you muttered that this was just alcohol while treating me like an alcoholic. So this was all a scheme to make me lower my guard. huh…… Hmm. You’re quite the impressive schemer.”

Dantalian shrugged.

“I won’t deny it.”

“It’s fine for you to boast about it. You managed to make me of all people lower their guard, kid. Me, Barbatos, the lord of black magic, monarch of a hundred thousand souls, and slayer of humankind. In the end, when you abruptly brought up Riff’s corpse, I wound up freezing in place for a moment. I’ve acknowledged that that is something I had implicitly done.”

Her golden eyes glanced towards Dantalian for a moment. Her gaze was similar to that of a predatory animal that was glaring at its rival. Her eyes were filled with caution.

“Dantalian, the Rank 71 Demon Lord who is known to be weak, how much effort and acting did you have to do for the sake of that single moment? Was the way you spoke to me informally from the moment we met also an act?”

Her caution made a bitter smile appear on Dantalian’s lips.

“Referentially, beauty is something that is destined to make all sorts of pretense and formalities pointless in a matter of seconds.”

Those were the words that were said when they first met earlier.

“Hey, Barbatos. Isn’t the wine that is pressed against your lips right now truly beautiful?”

“Hoh. So you’re saying that this wine has enough value to steal a single moment from me.”

Barbatos was in awe.

“You are right. Even if I know this, I can’t help but let it happen. Hah, not only did you make me accept my defeat, but you made me accept my defeat happily. All right. I shall purely celebrate this moment. It was a perfect performance.”

She held out her crystal cup.

“I, Barbatos, offer you a toast, Dantalian. To Dantalian.”

“To Dantalian.”

Cling.

A clear sound resonated.

Barbatos swallowed the wine down in one gulp. She then smiled wryly. The taste was simply too fantastic. If the alcohol is this good, then there’s nothing bad about getting tricked at least once.

She thought to herself, even if he had brought a different high-quality wine, Dantalian might have still been able to trick her. However, she would have been displeased with Dantalian after finding out that everything was simply a ploy. She would have felt that her consideration of allowing him to speak informally, her encouragement to not worry about Paimon, and the welcoming attitude she had shown despite his abrupt arrival were all betrayed and used.

Dantalian treated her with the most precious alcohol in the world. This could only mean one thing.

‘This much value is required in order to deceive you.’

Was this not the greatest consideration imaginable? Was this not the greatest encouragement and kindness?

Thus, she was able to drink her wine happily even after having been deceived.

She despised flattery because, most of the time, flattery was nothing but lies. Nonetheless, Dantalian was standing across from her and gazing at her boldly. He accomplished his goal and lifted her up. This wasn’t some flattery that would happen between tainted people. This was like when a swordsman would acknowledge their opponent after having earnestly fought a fierce battle against one another. A kinship that would only form between warriors.

Not only did Dantalian achieve victory, but he obtained his opponent’s goodwill as well. It was a true victory.

Barbatos smiled.

“How did you figure out it was me?”

“It’s fine for you to focus on enjoying the wine right now, you know?”

“Brat, I’m someone who can’t bear it when there’s something I want to know. If you don’t tell me, then I’ll end up thinking about how you had figured it out even while drinking this great Baler Wine.”

Dantalian chuckled.

“All right. How troubling. It would be bad if my friend is unable to properly enjoy the gift I had gone through great pains to obtain.”

“If you already know that, then, sheesh. Whatever. Hurry up and flap that smart mouth of yours.”

“After I finish this.”

Dantalian took another sip of his wine. He was intentionally teasing the other party. Barbatos got upset by this shrewd tactic but remained silent as she waited. As the loser, she couldn’t say anything and had to go along with the winner.

“Aah. Delicious.”

“Brat.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you.”

Dantalian laughed.

“For starters, everyone that participated in Walpurgis Night became suspects. Considering the timing, it would have been impossible for anyone that didn’t participate in the hearing to have been able to support Riff’s party.”

“Fuck, all right. I get that as well.”

Creases appeared on Barbatos’ pale forehead.

“But 32 Demon Lords participated in that Walpurgis Night. How’d you pick me out of all of them?”

“It’s simple.”

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry, but now I’m smack in the middle of 3 exams, so I’m really busy now. Nothing much else to say, but I’ll be busy this week.