Is there any other news that needs to be tabled?"
Looking through the group, I confirmed that nobody seemed to have anything to say.
"Then, we confirm that this month's leadership meeting is to a close."
As usual, Frigg, the demon elder, took charge and cleared up the air. Just like every month, the meetings were a bit charged with so many different groups with so many different priorities. The only thing we could readily agree on was the desire for prosperity, but in what for that took, everyone had a different opinion.
If one good thing could be said about these meetings, was that our little leadership council did adopt paper quite readily. The moment I brought some over a few months back and distributed them, they were quickly used by all the leaders. Even if Aurae and the other fairy elders mostly just doodled on them.
Well, there was another good thing, but that was just a given. All the leaders made sure to show up every month for the meeting, even if a third of us were often late for it and made the rest of us wait.
Then again, there were no clocks in this nation, so it wasn't exactly easy to accurately gauge the time. It was difficult to figure out how many of us were early for that matter. Especially for me, as the only form of effective timekeeping was by using the sun, looking at it to estimate the time was simply impossible.
(I really should look into making a clock. Maybe something big everyone can use? Something like big Ben then? Ah, but if that's the case, then maybe something easier to make should come first? Maybe a sundial?)
"Ah, that took so long!"
"Just attending these meetings makes my shoulders stiff."
"I know! And we barely agreed on anything in the end too!"
I could only give a wry smile to those comments. It was fundamentally impossible for us not to clash. At least while the commonwealth was still new. With our differing interests, clashes were impossible to avoid.
While the total number of things we could agree on during this month's discussions wasn't many, the ones we did manage to settle were important. Things like the direction of development for the settlements, investments to pour efforts into, and how to prioritize the resources of the dungeon. Of the things which were brought up, at least the most critical things were settled before the end of the month's meeting. Anything else could be dealt with on an individual basis.
Hopefully.
"Ah! Before returning, how about we enjoy a nice meal together? Putting aside business, perhaps we can spend some time at that new eatery that was just made?"
Frigg jumped up and made her little proposal just as she finished cramming her papers into her bag.
Frankly speaking, while I couldn't actually enjoy any of the food and drink at the place, the idea sounded good to me. It was worth joining in if we could get enough numbers, and I had just the thing for that.
"If that's the case, while it's a bit rude to the people there, I did just finish something recently, and I was wondering if I could have some people try it out."
"Is it a new dessert!"
"Food! Food!"
"Yay!"
The fairy elders swarmed me all at once, and the very mention turned several other heads.
"Sorry, it's not food. But it's not that far off. It's a drink. Hey Harja, how about you join us?"
"Hrmph. Do what you want, but I'll have nothing to do with it."
Shit.
That woman's been a tough nut to crack this entire time. Not only was she the one who resisted most of the proposals for joint projects, but it was clear she didn't like me on virtually any level. At best, she only tolerated my attendance during these meetings.
I've been trying various things, and even though it did seem to work pretty well on her subordinates, the food I've been making hadn't done a very good job of drawing her in. She ate them, but as a bribe it seemed to be totally inadequate.
Due to that, and thanks to gaining [Dimension Magic 10], I've been working on something these last few weeks.
"Now now. Don't be like that. You've been refusing all of the invitations so far."
"I see no reason why I should."
It figured she wouldn't.
"Actually, I was thinking that maybe you guys could try out a drink for me?"
"No thanks. You've already had me try a drink."
(Huh? I did?)
The last few months, I couldn't really think of any instance where she drank anything I had made. For the matter, she barely ate anything I made, aside from the fried chicken, I mean, fried cockatrice the first time. She seemed to enjoy that, but also because she enjoyed it, other people have been making it as well once I distributed the recipe. There was no way something which she could easily get without me could be used as effective bargaining material.
(Wait a sec.)
Back when I gave her the fried cockatrice, she also drank some of the tea I had made. That was way back during the big meeting to establish the country.
(Did she hold a grudge against me for what she ended up drinking?)
Probably not. She probably just didn't feel like looking like she actually wanted anything I had to serve and settled with whatever, regardless of what she felt about it.
It was quite annoying dealing with someone who was adamant to continue disliking you. But considering our positions, letting her mood towards me continue being foul wasn't good in the long run. Even in the short term it sucked.
So I developed a few secret weapons to remedy that.
"..."
"Well, how about a sample? I've been working on a few varieties and I thought you'd be interested."
A sealed barrel appeared beside me.
Uncorking it, I levitated a small amount of the clear brown liquid and poured it into a clay cup before handing it to Harja.
"Pretty stingy, aren't you?"
"Well, some people called it fire wine, in part due to the fact that it can set an unprepared drinker on fire, so until you get used to it, less is more."
It was a given she'd complain about only receiving half a cup, but what the barrel contained was brandy. Aged a good ten years thanks to [Dimension Magic] over the course of the last week. Together with a bunch of other distilled liqueurs, I thought maybe this could be the one that finally cracked this hard assed woman's defences.
After all, historians say the reason why humans started agriculture was either for their love of bread or beer.
"..."
"What? You don't have the guts to drink something called fire wine? Admittedly, the amount I gave you is as strong as a three cups of any other wine. I suppose you don't want to embarrass yourself in public being unable to handle my drink."
Whether she realized it or not, she glared at me from the obvious provocation and immediately took a giant swig of the brandy.
Cough! Cough!
As expected, she choked on it as the high alcohol concentration burned her throat, but despite that, she held out her cup while tears accumulated at the corners of her eyes.
"M...more!"
Despite the furious and pained look on her face, Harja managed to choke those words out.
I've experienced the exact same thing back when I first started to drink back in my previous life, though only with a single shot of vodka, so I knew how difficult it was to speak while under that condition. Honestly, I was pretty impressed, even if she was only doing that due to her pride.
"S, sure."
I poured more brandy into her cup, and the dragonkin chieftain quickly swallowed the amber liquid. This time, instead of choking, the chieftain held her pose for a few moments before letting out a hefty breath.
"Another!"
This time Harja yelled at me with more force for her refill. She was clearly getting used to the burn already.
"Th, this is for everyone to share. How about you wait until we all sit down with some food?"
"...Fine."
And with the consent of the dragonkin chieftain, all of us, the elders, chieftains, and all of our assistants came together to have a meal at what was currently the first and only indoor restaurant in our entire nation.
Now, if only I actually had an assistant of my own, that statement wouldn't make me feel a bit lonely.
"Ahahahahaha! You've been holding back some real good stuff, haven't you?"
"Umm, well, glad you like it so much."
"Hahaha! Of course! Who doesn't love a good drink?"
I didn't. I couldn't drink any of this stuff even if I did like it. Back as a human, it was just okay at best, but I did enjoy drinking it more than the tasteless beer that most places usually served. Strong and kinda tasty was way better than lightly flavoured water after all.
Slap! Slap!
"Umm, well, sure. Don't we all?"
I looked down at my lap. The fresh blood that was in my cup had found its way where it didn't belong. If I was human, the sight would make me worry that I had unexpectedly had quite an accident, but as a vampire, I was more remorseful at the waste of a good drink.
"Right! Right! Ahahahaha!"
Slap! Slap!
Just as I was trying to shift a glob of blood from a jar into my cup, my back was slapped again, causing my face to impact the crimson orb floating in mid air.
"Haha! Your face! Scarlet! Your face is the reddest of all of us all the sudden!"
"Ahaha..."
I could only wryly smile at the words of the upside down fairy as she pointed and laughed at me, her own face so red that I wouldn't be surprised if a blood vessel might pop soon.
"But to think! You actually made the chief drink herself under the table! Ahahaha!"
Slap! Slap!
"Yea, thanks."
The next table over, Harja had curled up into a ball under her table as she slept. Her face redder than anyone else's in the room. Aside from my own at this moment at least.
Just looking at her made a shiver run up my spine. That woman, despite everything, managed to down a full cup of each of the drinks I brought, and even had three more of the vodka.
Full cups.
Of distilled liqueur.
After the brandy back in the council meeting room, she sampled the vodka, whisky, rum, and gin before deciding that her favourite was vodka and got more refills of that.
Her cup wasn't huge by any means, but it was big enough that most people would be forced to stop drinking after three of them. Most with good sense would stop after the first, I would think.
Sure, the dragonkin had bigger bodies than most, but at most that would only allow them to drink an extra half as much. Not two or three times as much as it would probably take for a human to be knocked unconscious.
And now, this guy, Harja's assistant, was sitting beside me making an uproar while slapping my back, preventing me from doing much of anything, much less enjoy my own meal.
If I had to say, while our group was quite rowdy on the way in to the restaurant, at this point the private room we got had turned into a disaster zone. Half of our members had fallen into a drunken sleep, two chairs were broken, and there was food and drinks spilt all over the place.
One person had even vomited in the corner, causing the room to stink up despite the window being open all the way.
Sigh
Things were rough, but at least it looked like this gamble of mine was a bit of a success.
Though I suppose that there was a second plus to this disaster area. There was no chance that I'd be suffering a hangover tomorrow morning.
This was it.
I was surrounded, and had no way out.
It was only now that I realized how much of a mistake it was, but it was far too late for mere regrets.
"Mmmrph! Why?! Why Why WHY?!"
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