The Reincarnated Vampire Just Wants to Enjoy Her New Life

Chapter 131: Drinks and…

"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?!"

"""Why Why WHY?!"""

Lead by Orphne, a group of fairies were pulling on my robes complaining. The one tugging at my hood threatening to blind me as she pulled.

"I mean, Elli asked first."

"But, but, that's not fair! You should've come to us instead!"

"I hadn't even thought of it before Elli mentioned it though."

Practically the moment I had gone into my eighth month, realization had hit me that even without my morning sickness hitting me, I was getting to the point where I couldn't beat those lesser dragons in the hundred first floor without Claret's help. She was already my insurance for when my morning sickness hit, despite me being so far beyond when it was supposed to stop.

I couldn't help but worry that in my current state, it was only a matter of time before we made a mistake and something irreversible would happen.

There was no way I could take such a chance with Alicia's life on the line. I could do something on my own, but while Alicia was inside of my belly, she was entirely too helpless.

Once that had been established, I had went to Elli to accept her proposal for moving in. For how long had no idea, but at least until Alicia was born and she was big enough that she wasn't in danger of getting sick out of nowhere or something and I could go back to farming lesser dragons while Claret carried her from a safe distance.

Pretty much immediately after I had moved in, somehow a bunch of the fairies had found out and the moment I stepped out of the dungeon entrance to feed the fluffballs, this group had ambushed me.

"No! But you're supposed to come to our side to make desserts every day!"

"Why would I do that?!"

I mean, I get why they'd want me to. Simply put, there wasn't enough people making desserts in the fairy settlement. Most of the fairies who started didn't exactly have the self control to actually make a lot before they started to consume their own work, so despite the amount of sugar and other ingredients circulating, there was a surprisingly low amount of completed desserts being distributed.

Most of the fairies were forced to settle with either sharing a small pool of available treats or learn to make their own. That said, from the best I could tell, everyone still somehow managed to get some sweets every day. It was just that the fairies wouldn't be satisfied until they were drowning in them.

There was no way I'd help with that though. I wasn't going to dedicate so much time making food for everyone else. I did it because I liked seeing people enjoy the food I made, not because I was some sort of dessert making machine.

"But, but...!"

"Look, I'll look into finding a way to making it easier or faster to make desserts. How about that?"

If it was only some of the steps, then it was possible that I could make some tools to make the process faster and easier, or even mostly automate bits of it. I've been meaning to make some sort of frothier in the first place, and a mixer would be a good idea. Maybe particularly large mixers could be used to mass produce some of the most common parts, making it much easier to make most of the most popular desserts?

"But then you can't play with that doll with us!"

"""Yea! Yea! Play with the doll with us!"""

"Eh?"

Now they were going for that angle?

Sure, not just Orphne, but quite a few of the fairies enjoyed fighting my little doll. In fact, it was to the point that I was adding to it here and there.

"If you lived on this side, we could fight your doll every day!"

"""Yea! Yea!"""

"Well, every day is a bit much, even if I lived on this side..."

It was fun, but that was taking things a bit too far. At least until my worries about any future assassination was behind me, allowing myself to indulge in those sorts of things to that degree wasn't a good idea.

"Anyways, just because I've changed the place I rest at doesn't mean that we can't play here and there."

And it wasn't like I was using the place to sleep after all. I wasn't capable of it.

Instead, the room Elli was lending me was for a place to leave things and a place to return to. Just a little private space for myself, where it was easier to get help if I needed it.

My hand was resting on my belly before I knew it.

(That's right. While Claret can just carry me if something happened, it's 'safer to spend most of my time close to other people. Who knows what'll happen if I end up going into an early labour and nobody but Claret was nearby.)

"But...!"

"You guys can just come by like you usually do to play. It's not like you come during the night anyways."

"That's because we couldn't get to your room at night!"

(Well, that was the nice bit about living inside the dungeon's hundred first fountain room.)

"Anyways..."

*Bang!*

My head shot up at the strange sound, and the fairies all looked around, uneasily searching around.

The sound was distant, but it was clearly the sound of some sort of sharp explosion echoing through the forest.

There weren't any monsters out here which made that sort of sound, so it had to have been a person. It was possible it was just someone from the settlements doing something, but in the off chance that it wasn't...

*Fweeeeet!*

Orphne put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. But it wasn't any normal whistle, as there was some sort of underlying pressure that came with it.

Even with my eyes, some sort of vague ripple radiated out from the fairy.

A few moments later, a few members of Orphne's squad showed up, carrying a bunch of spears. Orphne and her squad members that were just tugging on my robes jumped out and grabbed a spear each before moving into a circle around me with their spears held out. Any fairy that wasn't a part of her squad scattered in panic.

The sight of it brought warmth to my chest, that this was the first thing these fairies chose to do in the face of uncertainty.

*Bang! Bang!*

But my little reverie was quickly shattered with more explosion sounds echoing around the huge trees. This time they sounded a little closer.

"Hmm?"

I tilted my head a bit.

"Do you know what that sound is Scarlet?"

"Hmm..."

I couldn't answer Orphne. It felt a bit familiar, but at the same time, not particularly.

The fact that no other sound aside from the explosions could be heard from where we were strongly suggested that the sounds were coming from quite the distance, and corresponding with that, were quite powerful.

"Claret. Just in case, tell the little ones to gain altitude and stay away from the east side."

"Yes, Master."

With her response, my dear familiar rose up and went to instruct the little fluffballs. While hopefully whatever was making these sounds wasn't anything bad, I didn't want to risk the helpless fluffballs getting hurt.

It looked like even without my instructions, the fairies also got the message from the way we were acting and either holed up indoors or shifted to the western side of the settlement.

There were a few more banging sounds before things went quiet for a while. We all strained our ears but there wasn't any more explosion sounds.

After waiting for quite a few minutes, our group shuffled over to the edge of the settlement and used the massive trees as cover.

Eventually, our caution and patience paid off, and the sound of footsteps entered my ears.

It was rough and a bit uneven, the steps sounding hard like too much strength was being put into each one. And it was armoured. The sound was especially faint, but I could hear the sound of metal sliding on metal.

But at the very least, there was only one set of footsteps. While we couldn't discount the fact that there were more people who were floating above the ground, as our entire group was made of people capable of just that, at the very least the one we could hear most likely primarily walked.

We continued to wait as the sound of footsteps grew louder, and finally, from behind one tree, a dirty figure showed itself.

It was a lone person, clad head to toe in plate armour. While the metal armour was covered in dirt, grime, and old blood, it appeared to be pearl white under all of that. There was a long metal stick in the figure's hands. It was two thirds as long as the person was tall, and the figure held it closer to the rear than the middle.

Or rather than a stick, it looked like a pipe, and the rear end was bent at an angle and appeared to be flayed out.

I couldn't help but have a feeling that this figure was something which I should know, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

At Orphne's loud

Announcement

, the fairy squad rushed and encircled the armoured figure with their spears pointed at them.

The person raised the pipe to their shoulder, pointing the other end at Orphne.

(Wait, is that a...?)

The figure's head shifted a bit to the left and right, but then paused as they stopped in between two of the fairies, right on me.

"Is, is that you Scarlet?"

"Wait. Are you...?!"

I knew that voice. I had only heard it a few times, but that low feminine voice wasn't one I could forget so easily.

The figure threw off her helmet and charged through Orphne's formation, the fairies shocked at the unexpected action and delayed in their movements just long enough that she managed to get through before they started to give chase.

But as the armoured woman, her expression ecstatic, got halfway to me, suddenly black shadows rose up from the ground and entangled her.

"You damn swamp stinking rotweed!"

A shrilling scream came from above, and the figure of Claret racing down with an expression of pure hate approached.

"Wait! Claret! Heel!"

"But, but...!"

"I'm serious! Stop!"

"...Yes, Master."

Swallowing anything she had to say, my overly loyal familiar stopped her next action. That said, she didn't let go of the shadows which held the armoured figure bound to the ground.

"Scarlet!"

"...Sarah huh?"

It took me a few seconds, but I managed to call her by her name. The fact that I had to check my status page to check it under my familiars was a secret.

"Please! Make me some schteev!"

It seemed like this girl hadn't changed a bit.

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