The Response to my Drunken Proposal was Surprisingly Good

Note –

Hello Everyone!

This is the Creator, the TL from SacredTextTLs. I have moved over from that blog website of mine to here since many of you had complaints about text size, dark mode and many others. And I believe it will help me with my growth too.

Welcome y’all. I hope you will keep supporting me here as well.

——-xxxx———

Tok tok tok—

That day began in clamor from the start.

Tok tok tok—

At perhaps dawn, some snowy white bird was pecking insistently at my window, bathed in the brilliantly pouring sunlight.

“Nngh…”

How much did I drink last night? I couldn’t quite remember.

Well, if I can’t remember, then I must have drunk a lot.

Tok tok tok—

Tok tok tok—

The bird continued to tap on the window. Even if I ignored it, it never stopped its actions. As if determined to reach me no matter what.

Thwack.

Still slumped on the sofa, I flicked my fingers to open the window. For a mage, such a telekinetic feat was child’s play.

The bird chirped merrily and landed on my thigh. It then tilted its head, staring up at me as if trying to identify my face.

After a staring contest, I eventually narrowed my eyes at it.

“A letter?”

Clutched in its beak was a neatly folded letter. Even at a glance, it exuded an unmistakable air of elegance befitting high-quality stationery.

Before I could ponder whose letter it might be, the bird spread its wings wide. As it took flight back out the window, all that remained were the letter and myself.

With a sense of curiosity, I picked up the letter by its edges. It had been ages since I last held a letter in my hands, as such a medium had long been absent from my life.

Shurrrrk—

Then the letter unfolded on its own accord.

Setting the letter down, I folded my arms and pondered. No matter how many times I turned it over in my mind, I kept arriving at the same conclusion.

“…An assassin again?”

Ice magic, the great deed of sealing the portal to the demon realm, serving as a mentor to the princesses in the royal court, the backroom work for the royal family… It was all true, but it was all top secret. It was not information that anyone would know.

The problem, however, was that I had no recollection of proposing to anyone.

“Seems a rather skilled one is behind this.”

I let out a little laugh and threw on my outer robe. It was time to grab a hangover cure.

As if some measly assassin mattered? However, the hangover did.

* * * * *

The neighborhood was unnaturally bustling.

On my usual path to the general goods store, there were far more people out than normal. It was understandable since the weather was so nice, but that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was their expressions and murmurs. These were not the faces of people out enjoying a pleasant day.

On the contrary, they looked more like they were worried about something big.

Developed sensory perception also applies to hearing. Even without consciously trying, I began to hear snippets of their murmured conversations.

“So you’re saying someone sent a communique to the royal palace?”

“That’s a huge deal. Why would anyone dare do something so reckless?”

“Considering the current emperor’s temperament, this could mean serious trouble for the whole village. Serious trouble.”

My head snapped around at the surprising news. The people who met my gaze flinched their shoulders.

“You there.”

“Y-Yes, Ezekiel? What is it?”

“This story you were just discussing, is it true?”

“Y-Yes, someone apparently sent word to the royal palace. That’s why everyone is so concerned. You know the reason well, don’t you?”

Of course I know. How could I not know?

“…I don’t know who it is, but they’re not in their right mind.”

The Imperial Palace. The most exalted place under the heavens.

A few years ago, the empire instituted a policy of ‘mandatory review’ for all communications addressed to the palace. Everyone was well aware of this notorious decree.

Was it to ensure they attentively listened to each message? Not a chance.

It means that they will punish you mercilessly if you send nonsense. It means that you shouldn’t even send it unless it’s something important. In fact, after changing the way things are done, all correspondences to the palace were mostly cut off.

No, it may be more accurate to say they vanished altogether.

As I continued walking, an unusual number of people kept glancing my way.

Some even approached me directly.

“Say, Ezekiel, you didn’t happen to send anything to the palace, did you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“My apologies if not. But of everyone I know, you’re the last person I’d expect something like this from. No one else even comes to mind.”

“I see.”

By the time I arrived at the general store, my eyes were drawn to the familiar sight —

A woman with fiery red hair in an apron, vigorously dusting as she cleaned. The grocery  store’s owner, Apple.

“Apple.”

Hearing her name, she turned to face me.

“Give me a hangover cure. The one that works the best.”

“………….”

Time seemed to freeze as Apple stared at me for a long moment.

“…………!”

Then her eyes abruptly went wide as saucers.

What followed was a flurry of bafflingly swift motion. She dashed away, then —

BANG

— slammed the store’s door shut so hard it rattled. After locking it, she double and triple checked it was secure.

She immediately looked up at me and asked, “Ezekiel, what happened?”

“As you can see, I’m suffering from a hangover. My head is pounding.”

“No? Not that! What I mean is…”

She scurried around, her face drained of color.

To my throbbing head, her behavior was just vexing.

“I’m in no mood for jokes.”

“Jokes? Do I look like I’m joking?”

She seemed utterly aghast beyond words.

“Why are you acting this way?”

“Why am I acting this way? Don’t you remember last night?”

“Last night?”

“Seriously, you really…don’t remember?”

Apple grabbed a fistful of her own hair.

“I knew this would happen! I should have stopped you by any means! What were you thinking? This is bigger than just a hangover!”

She pointed her dusting rod at me like a sword.

“Last night when you were drunk, you wrote letters! Said you were sending them to the imperial princesses! I tried to stop you over and over but you wouldn’t listen!”

“I did?”

A chilling joke indeed.

No, not a joke, was it?

For a moment, memories were flashing through my head in a jumble.

“……….”

Yes, I think that’s what happened.

I was resentful that I was dying, resentful that I had given all my time to the royal family, and I wanted to be compensated for something, so I got drunk and proposed to them in a fit of pique. And not to an ordinary woman, but to the imperial princesses.

I pressed my palm against my throbbing forehead.

“Wait a minute, then the letter that came this morning…”

“A letter? A letter came? What did it say? Did they threaten to kill us?”

Apple leapt in alarm.

“Tell me! Did they say they’ll wipe out our whole village? Oh no! Writing the princesses a prank letter! Because of you, everyone here is doomed!”

I could not respond rashly.

Because there was an even more pressing matter.

“Apple. What did you just mutter under your breath?”

“You want to pick a fight now? Is that what this situation calls for, you drunkard?”

“Not that. You said I sent letters to ‘the princesses’, plural?”

My expression must have turned grave.

The color slowly drained from Apple’s face as our eyes met.

“Uh…now that you mention it, you did write five letters…”

She turned ghostly pale as she asked me:

“The…the reply…what did it say…?”

No, the contents of the reply were not the critical issue here.

“………….”

I gulped down my dry throat.

Out of those five…which one accepted my drunken proposal?

A life that was never smooth to begin with was now facing a tidal wave of chaos.

— END —