The Female Knight of Doom - TFKOD 09: Dionysian Night

In the middle of the city, there were two relatively considerable taverns.

One was next to the city gate and the barracks and mainly served the soldiers who maintained the city.

The other was next to Dark River Street, Artisan Street, and the Mercenary Union, and that was the one Alice was in. Because of its location, the customers at this tavern always seemed a bit stranger than those at the other tavern.

Those who looked dubious would never go to a tavern filled with city soldiers; they would come here instead. That’s why it was common to see half-drunken mercenaries or obscure out-of-town wizards there.

Some even looked like fugitives with official bounties on them.

Working in such a place was perilous, but it was popular that Lina was not someone to mess with. There hadn’t been any notable incidents, and Lina quickly took care of the occasional minor issue.

Alice was scared at first, but after some time, she wasn’t anymore. Since she was the youngest waitress, most of the troublemaking mercenaries only saw her as a child and didn’t pay her much attention.

Alice had worked there for most of the year. Perhaps because she ate full meals, she grew quite tall, loosened the pins on her chest, and looked more like a grown girl.

Sometimes she received uncomfortable stares. She’d try to avoid them for the most part, but if she couldn’t, she’d leave it to Lina.

The days working at the tavern had been too peaceful, and she had almost forgotten her experience in the temple a year ago. That advice of a slumbering god was long behind her.

In fact, she thought it might not be bad to keep working there.

Just like that, Alice ushered in the tavern’s most significant festival of the year: Bacchus Night.

It was the end of the year when she first arrived, so this was her first Bacchus Night.

Before that, she had never heard of it, but Hewlett had explained it to her briefly, “It’s only natural that you haven’t heard of it. It’s a festival to honor Bacchus, the God of Wine. During the grape harvest season, there would be a lot of people celebrating it in the countryside, but the city is mainly the land of the Gods of Light, so it would just be a small event in the taverns. There’s not much preparation ahead of time; most of the work Lina can do alone. Still, you’ll have to come early and help us move the new wines. It’s going to be an all-nighter, so be set for some hard work.”

“God of Wine?”

This was the first time Alice had heard Hewlett mention a god, and, since he never talked about them, she was more than a little interested.

“Is Bacchus your patron saint?”

“We followers of Darkness are not accustomed to using the term ‘patron saint,’ and we don’t usually praise the gods. So, if someone asks where my heart is, I’ll just say Bacchus.”

Hewlett spat out rhyming sentences under his breath, and she wondered if this was the common way of saying it or if he had made it up and assumed it sounded good.

While on Dark River Street, she had never known anyone who believed in the gods belonging to the Origin of Darkness.

Now, she learned that Hewlett believed in Bacchus, which was more or less a novelty. She knew that followers of the gods of Origin of Darkness normally made sacrifices in their homes, though she had never seen an altar to Bacchus, the God of Wine, in a tavern.

When she asked, Lina smiled wickedly, “The altar of Bacchus in Hewlett’s bed chamber is a giant bull’s head. They say that placing Bacchus’ altar at the foot of the bed makes a man more heroic in the bed chamber, but I don’t think it has any effect.”

Huh? What did Lina mean by that?

Before Alice could react, she saw a faint glow Hewlett’s always dull countenance.

“Lina!”

“What? This can’t be said? I didn’t imagine you were such a curmudgeon.”

“I’m only reminding you that there are little kids here.”

“Ah, sorry.” Lina smirked and added, “Alice has grown taller recently. I forgot that she’s only a year older.”

Opposed to Lina, Alice was still a child, and teasing her didn’t matter.

However, she hadn’t understood what they had said before, so she simply skipped over it and asked Lina about it, “Do you also believe in Bacchus?”

The smirk on Lina’s face froze for a while, “No, mine is Arne, the God of Love and Lust. But Arne is not my own decision. It’s a long story.”

Lina’s expression displayed that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

To switch the subject, she whipped to Alice, “Speaking of which, you believe in the God of Light, don’t you? I remember you saying once that you’ve been to the temple.”

Alice didn’t wish to lie to these friends, so she simply shook her head, “I don’t have a patron saint.”

People who didn’t believe in gods were rare in the city, but not completely nonexistent. Alice had seen some of them in the tavern, and they were forever peculiar from everyone else.

Without asking her, Lina guessed that something had occurred to her during the ceremony.

Lina glanced at Hewlett before turning back to Alice, “The gods on the Light side are dull and shallow. There’s nothing to lose by not being their followers. If you ever find yourself interested in Bacchus, Hewlett can perform the ceremony for you.”

There was something comforting about her tone.

Alice felt her heart soften as she felt the heavy kindness, “Thank you, but I don’t need it yet.”

“It’s also correct that you are still young. It’s not too late to make a decision at seventeen. Most Darkness followers are that age before they decide to join. After all, becoming a Darkness follower comes at a price, unlike becoming a Light follower, where the threshold is so low that not everyone is willing to do so.” At the end of her sentence, Lina’s timbre lowered again as if she were thinking of something abhorrent.

Alice was tempted to ask her what the price was to become a Darkness follower but clearly, this was not an appropriate time, so she kept her mouth shut.

The following day was Bacchus Night, and they spent all afternoon carrying the newly delivered wine and cutting the confetti Hewlett had bought into small pieces with shears.

Lina papier-mâchéed a massive red bull’s head to hang on the wall opposite the front door and put a wreath around its neck. This odd artifact gave the bare and humble tavern an air of grotesque insanity.

On this night, Lina donned a revealing attire instead of her usual uniform. With heavy makeup, she dressed as a Dionysian maniac, making people jump at her sight. Even Hewlett, who always donned a bartender’s uniform, put on a bull’s horn ornament on his head that day. The decoration, paired with his distant expression, created a considerable contrast.

Alice suspected that Lina had instructed him to dress like that.

By the time everything was set up, the atmosphere was quite festive. After the crowd finished transporting the wine, Hewlett opened a bottle and poured everyone a glass.

“That will do. Tonight is Bacchus Night. Every guest must toast to Bacchus. All the gods must make way for the God of Wine. Bacchus is king of the world!”

Everyone working at the tavern was given a large glass of the new wine. They cheered and lifted their glasses in celebration.

Alice was not yet of age, so Lina had arranged a glass of grape juice for her, letting her to toast with everyone else.

After raising their glasses in celebration, the crowd spread out to perfect the setup. They tried to make everything as good as possible.

Alice sat in the corner cutting confetti. It was tedious work, but someone had to do it. Hewlett came over and handed her a small glass of wine.

“Don’t let Lina know.” He gestured at the nape of his neck with his index finger, “She’s going to kill me if she finds out I let little kids drink.”

It was her first time drinking. She drank fast and furious, pouring the wine down her throat in one go, afraid Lina would find out. The wine tasted nothing like grape juice. She thought it tasted a little strange but quite tasty.

Her face turned scarlet as she drank it. Lina might have noticed, but she didn’t say anything.

It was an extraordinarily crowded night.

Everyone who paraded into the tavern took off their hats, bowed to the large bull’s head hanging above the door, and took a swig of wine from Hewlett.

Meanwhile, Alice was in charge of sprinkling confetti on the customers and encouraging cheers from everyone in the tavern. Although the confetti might stain their attires, they were never tolerated to get mad.

They also had to double Alice’s tip. If anyone was less than generous, Lina, in her guise as Dionysus, would kick them out of the tavern and poke a hole in their hat.

Everyone knew that it was forbidden to disrespect tradition and upset Dionysus on Bacchus Night. Otherwise, there would be nothing to grumble about, even if they were torn to shreds.

The revelry extended until midnight, leaving everyone a bit exhausted.

There were no more new customers by now, and Alice’s apron pockets were packed of coins, which were spilling down heavily and distressingly. The wine she had downed earlier left her drowsy than usual.

She began to wander off, heedless that another guest had arrived until she heard roaring. She frantically grabbed a handful of confetti and tossed it in that direction.

The newcomer obviously didn’t know much about Bacchus Night traditions and had stumbled in by accident. Suddenly, he was stuck with a glass of wine in his hand and a faceful of confetti.

He froze.

The tavern customers yelled while rhythmically banging their tables, “Tip her! Tip her!”

The man heeded the onlookers’ request and took two coins out of his pocket, placing them in Alice’s hand. She found these coins exceptionally weighty and large.

When she looked down, she recognized they were gold.