I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 51

Chapter 51

“If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to call us.”

The two maids who had escorted me here, flanking me on either side, bowed simultaneously and then moved to the edge of the banquet hall, standing at attention with their hands clasped in front of their lower abdomens.

Left alone, I looked around.

On one side of the wall, a five-member band was leisurely playing music with uniquely shaped instruments. Although I had never seen instruments like those before, the sounds they produced were similar to a piano or violin.

‘Even here, that damn air conditioner is present.’

No wonder it was much cooler inside than outside. Beyond the banquet hall’s chandelier, I could see the air conditioner diligently doing its job on the ceiling. There were five of them, perhaps because the space was so vast.

It wasn’t that I disliked the existence of such modern appliances. They certainly made life more comfortable. It was just that the sense of incongruity was so profound that I still couldn’t get used to it.

In the middle of the banquet hall, three large tables were lined up in a row. They were about the same size as, or perhaps slightly larger than, the ridiculously long table in the Knights’ underground dining hall.

The tables were laden with food. There was something that resembled a whole roasted turkey, a cake piled high, almost as tall as a person, and an incredibly thick fish.

An enormous amount of food, the kind one would expect at a banquet or party, was spread out.

‘I think I’d be full just by tasting a bite or two of each dish.’

It’s better to have too much food than not enough. However, the sheer quantity of food before my eyes made me wonder if the five of us could even consume a tenth of it.

From what I’d observed, the Knight Commanders, except for Rize, were all light eaters, and even Rize wasn’t the type to intentionally eat a lot.

‘There’s even that.’

A fountain in the very center of the table was spouting a transparent liquid. Curious about what it was, I approached it, and a maid instantly appeared beside me.

“Would you like to try some?”

“Before that, could you tell me what kind of alcohol this isㅡ”

“Please wait a moment.”

Perhaps interpreting my non-refusal as acceptance, the maid swiftly picked up a glass with her white-gloved hand and turned on a faucet next to the fountain.

The transparent liquid inside gushed out, and when the glass was about half full, she turned off the faucet and presented it to me.

“Here you are.”

“…”

Dumbfounded, I accepted the glass, having been unexpectedly offered a taste test. The maid bowed politely and glided back to the wall, resuming her attentive stance.

Absentmindedly, I sipped the contents of the glass.

‘It’s fruit wine.’

As soon as I took a sip, the scent of alcohol and fruit filled my nostrils. I couldn’t tell what kind of fruit it was, but it was definitely fruit wine.

“Ta-da, newbie! We’re here!”

Just as I had almost finished the glass, the banquet hall doors burst open, and Rize entered. Her attire was still eye-catching, and her chest, imbued with mana, was captivating.

The other Knight Commanders followed in a line. Erika, Iris, Claudia, and lastly, Aurora.

“What were you doing?”

“What do you think we were doing?”

“How would I know?”

Taken aback by Rize’s response to my question with another question, I stared at her in disbelief. Rize met my gaze calmly and walked over to the table, picking up a piece of pastry.

Her tongue, seductively extended between her lips, licked the pastry crumbs from her fingers.

“You’ll find out later.”

“That makes me even more anxious. How will I find out?”

“Come on, come on! There’s no need to overthink things now that we’re here. Let’s just relax and enjoy ourselves!”

Claudia, who had appeared out of nowhere, slung her arm around my shoulder. The smell of wine was strong on her.

“Then you could just tell me what you were doing outside so I don’t have to overthink it, right?”

“Oh, newbie. There are some things in life that are less fun if you know them beforehand.”

“No, seriously, what did you do that even the Knight Commander is acting like thisㅡ”

“Just drink! You can think after you drink!”

Claudia grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the table and popped the cork with just her thumb. The distinctive, cheerful sound of the cork popping out echoed.

‘She pulled out the cork with her bare hand.’

I slipped away from Claudia, who started chugging straight from the bottle. Erika and Iris were watching us with curious eyes from nearby.

“You’re not going to tell me either, are you?”

“Unfortunately, newbie.”

“As Rize and Claudia said, you’ll find out later, so don’t worry. Just remember that there’s no need to rush.”

‘What are you all up to?’

At this point, I was getting curious about what they had been talking about, even if it was just out of spite.

But Erika and Iris walked away towards the other two with their hip-emphasizing gait, leaving only Aurora standing there with a smug smile, as if daring me to ask her.

Her expression clearly showed her determination not to tell me anything.

“Aren’t you going to ask me?”

After a while of just staring at each other, Aurora grumbled softly.

“You’re not going to tell me anyway. There’s no need to waste my energy.”

“There’s such a thing as manners, you know. It’s not polite to ask all the Knight Commanders but not me, the lord of this place, don’t you know?”

“As if that’s true.”

Aurora covered her mouth with her fan and chuckled. Then, she approached me with a graceful gait. Her black high heels clicked on the red carpet.

“Well, never mind that. So, what do you think?”

“Huh?”

“About this dress, I mean. I put quite a bit of effort into choosing it. You know, inside this, there’s a female body that countless men have tried all sorts of tricks to sleep with. I’ve even wrapped it up nicely and presented it to you, so you should at least offer a compliment, shouldn’t you?”

“Would it kill you to choose your words more carefully?”

Aurora, who had come right up to me, tapped my lips with her fan. There was a faint lipstick mark where it touched, as if it had just been applied.

It was the same color as Aurora’s lipstick.

“I’m not the type to be careful with my words. Why don’t you just give me your thoughts?”

“Yes, yes. You look beautiful. It suits you very well. Happy?”

“That’s not sincere enough, you fail.”

Tap, this time the fan touched my head.

“What happens if I fail?”

“You’ll be punished.”

Her eyelids, framing her golden eyes, curved slightly. A smile, like a graceful curve, appeared on her face.

“Enjoy yourself here to your heart’s content. That’s your punishment. If you don’t enjoy it properly, then I won’t let you off the hook, okay?”

Aurora finished speaking, grinned, and walked away, swaying her hips just like the other Knight Commanders. As the main participants of the banquet gathered, the band’s music became even more lively.

A maid, dressed in a very rare style here, with her entire body covered and no skin exposed, approached with a silver tray of glasses.

A purplish liquid inside was bubbling slightly. It looked like some kind of alcohol, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Aurora picked up a glass and stepped onto a slightly raised platform.

Iris, Rize, and Erika each took one as well. Claudia was already happily chugging from a bottle, so she was excluded. Empty glass bottles rolled around on the floor.

The maid approached me and offered the silver tray. I took the last remaining glass. Aurora, who had been glancing at me, raised her arm after confirming that I had joined.

“Now, I won’t talk for long since we’re all busy enjoying ourselves. You’ve all worked hard under that f*cking bastard, you’ve all worked hard listening to that f*cking bastard, and you’ve all worked hard protecting your purity under that f*cking bastard.”

Cough, cough, I choked on Aurora’s sudden outburst. What the h*ll was that crazy woman talking about?

Judging by the way she was grinning at me, it was definitely intentional. She deliberately said those things to see how I would react. The other Knight Commanders were looking at me with similar expressions, so it couldn’t be anything else.

“We’re gathered here today to celebrate that. Enjoy yourselves as much as you’ve suffered, no, even more than that. Soㅡ”

Aurora drained her glass in one gulp. She tossed the empty glass carelessly to the side and grinned at us, making eye contact with each of us in turn.

“ㅡHave fun. That’s an order from your lord.”

The banquet continued for quite a while. At some point, I could no longer hear the band’s music. I looked around with blurry eyes, and the surroundings were already empty.

During that time, we had consumed a truly enormous amount of alcohol. Aurora, surprisingly, had a very high tolerance, and so did the Knight Commanders.

Claudia, in particular, was on a whole other level. Later, she even started drinking directly from a wine barrel. A barrel that weighed 50kg empty and nearly 300kg when filled with wine.

‘…Wow. I’m going to die, seriously.’

And so was I.

I couldn’t just sip moderately or refuse the alcohol they offered me, pretending to control my intake, while the Knight Commanders and even Aurora were laughing and chatting.

Even if I had refused, Claudia and Rize would have grabbed me and made me drink anyway. There’s no way those two would just stand by and watch me back down.

Because of these circumstances, I ended up drinking so much that I couldn’t even remember how many glasses I had, and…

‘I’m glad I don’t feel like throwing up.’

I was almost completely drunk, sitting in a chair in a corner of the banquet hall with my head bowed.

The world was spinning. Even though I was sitting still, the sweet scent of fruit wine kept rising up my nose and into my mouth, and I could barely control my limbs. Just staying in the chair was all I could manage.

My mood kept getting elevated, making it hard to control my actions. My body kept reacting to physical contact that I would have normally brushed off.

That’s why I was huddled in a corner. This was literally the last bit of reason I had left. If Rize tried to seduce me now, I felt like I would pounce on her.

“Newbie, what are you doing?”

‘How is this possible?’

A familiar voice reached my ears. It was Rize. Why did she appear right after I thought I wouldn’t be able to resist if she tried to seduce me?

“…Just, resting a bit. I drank too much.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Rize brought a chair from nearby and plopped down right next to me. The sweet smell of fruit wine wafted over, mixed with Rize’s own scent.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but all my senses were heightened.

“How drunk are you?”

“…A little, a lot?”

“Hmmmmm, I see…”

Rize’s voice trailed off. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Newbie.”

“…Why?”

“You said you were curious about why we came back late from outside, right?”

“…I did. So?”

“I told you you’d find out later, didn’t I? Do you remember that too?”

Nod, I nodded. Immediately, a shadow fell over my head. Wondering what it was, I looked up. The Knight Commanders and Aurora were standing around me.

They looked completely sober. They definitely smelled of alcohol, but unlike me, they looked no different from when the banquet started.

Rize smirked.

“Now is that later.”