Identity Story |
| Speaker | Dialogue | |
|---|---|---|
 | ||
 Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Stop, STOP! | |
| The one seated opposite the child shouted indignantly. The child stopped just as she was about to chug the liquor straight from the bottle. | ||
 Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
H-huh? Wherefore hast thou shouted so...? | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
We are no mere peasants, Don Quixote. We do *not* drink straight from a bottle. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
N-no...? | |
| The other child, furious and frustrated, sighed deeply and shut her eyes with exasperation. | ||
| They were members of the Blade Lineage on the run... but as soon as they clear their names, as soon as they can return to S Corp... they will be taking jobs as personal guards of the high-ranking officials. | ||
| And that meant that they would have to know high society etiquette by heart in case they had to join them for a meal. The other child's head began to fill with all kinds of terrible faux pas shenanigans that this child would put herself into. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
One must drink from a cup, not the bottle. That is the proper drinking etiquette. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Once the cup is empty, and only when it is empty do you refill it for another drink. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
... Yet... wherefore? | |
| The child looks back with a genuinely puzzled expression. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
'Tis more work for the same amount of alcohol, is it not? To drink from such a petite bowl... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
... It is to prevent one from getting completely intoxicated while maintaining compo— | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Guugh! Cough, cough! | |
| Whatever the other child said, it didn't register in this one. | ||
| The child began chugging straight from the bottle... | ||
| Perhaps it was the unexpected flavor, perhaps it was the piercing aroma. Or maybe it was just that strong of a liquor. | ||
| ... She immediately expelled the entirety of the bottle's contents like a fountain spray. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
……. | |
| It need not be said that the lecturing child was completely showered in whatever burst forth from the child's mouth. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
I-I...! 'Twas not mine intention to— | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
The flavor was... simply too different from what I'd... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
……. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
... 'Tis made of rice, is it not? I had thought with quite the confidence that its flavor would be no different from that of sikhye or gamju... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
What did I say? What did I just say? | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Eek! | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
I just told you to drink from the cup, little by little. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
If you had listened, this would not have happened. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
I-I mean... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Speak properly! Though we may be of the same rank, at this precise moment I am your instructor and superior! You will do well to address me as one! | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Y-yes ma'am! | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
First! You are wielding your chopsticks in a manner most improper! | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Uh, this was merely to free my other hand for the bottle— | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Behold! This! Is how you properly wield a chopstick! Your sloppy technique is a disgrace... | |
| ... The other child's lecture continued without end. | ||
| At this point, it was starting to sound like she was just unloading all of her frustrations on the child for the sake of unloading them, but... | ||
| ... it *was* the child's fault, no? Actions do have consequences. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
... And I will leave it at that. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Agh... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Have you completed your reconnaissance? I have been waiting many days to hear your reports. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Ahm. I have discovered in my journeys about five different respectable locations in the Backstreets. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Hm, that is good news indeed. Yet I must also inquire you about Kurokumo Clan's— | |
 | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Ahem! Worry not thy heart! I have spied on the Kurokumo Clan curs as they dined! | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
... 'Tis in two days. | |
| The liquor in the other child's cup rippled as her hand twitched ever-so-slightly. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Indeed... A match catches fire when struck. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
Yet we must survive. Persist. And one day... we will find ourselves an opportunity. That is what our mentor has told us. | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
You have done well, Don Quixote. Venturing so deep into enemy territory... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
Heheh, a handful of them did notice my trail... | |
Blade Lineage Salsu Don Quixote |
... But they have all been taken care of. | |
| The child held up her blade and spoke casually. It was spoken with the same casual cadence as though she had just swatted a few specks of dust from her cloak. | ||
| Though they may not have started out as members of a Syndicate wandering the Backstreets, the reason the members of Blade Lineage have no hesitation in cutting people down... | ||
| ... is that they have all each been slayers for a long time. Blade Lineage or not. | ||
| Yet, there is a difference. | ||
Blade Lineage Salsu Outis |
……. | |
| That the blade they used to wield in service of others... is now for no one else but their own. | ||
 World of the Kurokumo Clan and Blade Lineage Identity Stories | |
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