By Zephyria 
The news that Hero had retrieved the Holy Sword spread so quickly that even the children in the streets were chattering about it.
“For the Hero!”
The drunks, having found a delightful piece of news after a long time, clinked their glasses raucously in a toast.
Even if they weren’t drunks, most of the guests who visited Eddie’s Inn were talking about the story.
About the Hero who won the hunting contest, and Marquis Rodrigo who helped the Hero retrieve the Holy Sword.
But despite hearing such ridiculous stories, Ketron didn’t react to them.
It was absurd because the real Holy Sword was in his hands, and more precisely, he didn’t have the mind to care about Arthur or anyone else.
Because after Ebon visited, after taking out the gift Ebon brought, Eddie had locked himself in his room.
As far as Ketron knew, Eddie was the type to react more strongly than anyone to joyful events and share that joy with everyone, but he tended to internalize sadness or things that required a lot of thought.
Rather than chattering to someone, he endured it alone, holding his breath until the wound no longer hurt. It was because he disliked causing trouble to others.
Ketron, having unintentionally experienced Eddie’s tendencies several times, also knew that he didn’t have much talent for comforting, and he tried his best to respect Eddie, who was more rigid than ever before, revealing his desire not to be touched.
However, as time passed, he became more and more anxious. He was desperately worried about Eddie.
He didn’t want to leave him alone. He wanted Eddie to complain and cry all day long, but in his arms.
The process of realizing that he was a human who could be distressed by the mere fact that someone was suffering, even if it wasn’t his own problem, was not pleasant at all.
Eddie would come out from time to time, but only when he had to work, and he would silently do what he had to do with a sunken face, not trying to talk to anyone.
Ketron had already had a big fight with Ebon over the issue. What the hell did you give him?
“What’s it to you!”
Even as he said that, Ebon had a look on his face that showed he was worried to death. It was obvious to anyone that it was because of the gift he had brought.
A gift brought with good intentions had become poison. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, but that was the result.
“…”
Ketron had been waiting for Eddie to stand up on his own for several days, but when it continued for over a week, his patience finally reached its limit. Not because of Eddie, but because of himself.
Having made up his mind, Ketron headed out of the inn, something he rarely did alone. His destination was a liquor and cheese shop not far away.
“Oh, the inn fellow?”
The shop owner recognized Ketron right away and spoke to him.
Everyone knew that the strangely unknown celebrity of Eddie’s Inn was often called ‘Ket’ by the inn owner, but no one called him that because it was too embarrassing for others to say.
So there wasn’t much opportunity to call him that, but the titles people used to call Ketron were ‘hey you’, ‘excuse me’, ‘over there’, or ‘that fellow’.
The inn fellow nodded lightly in greeting and spoke directly to the owner.
“I came to buy alcohol.”
“Uh-huh? Well, I guess so.”
That was the only thing you could buy at a liquor store. However, the owner, who had answered casually, soon realized why Ketron had hesitated.
“I don’t know much about alcohol.”
It was rare, but it happened at liquor stores. A customer like this. Someone who had been asked by someone else, or who was buying alcohol as a gift, or to commemorate a special day. Of course, these customers usually didn’t know much about alcohol.
The owner glanced over Ketron.
He didn’t know because of his unique atmosphere, but when he looked closely, he had a soft face. He looked young enough not to know much about alcohol.
“What kind of alcohol do you need?”
“I need something that anyone can enjoy without difficulty. Something that will make them feel good.”
“Hmm.”
The shop owner, who had been scrutinizing Ketron from every angle, nodded in understanding. No matter how you looked at him, he was stiff as a wooden doll, and he didn’t give the impression of being skilled in romance, even though he had a face that everyone would like.
Anyone with a little bit of sense could tell who was going to drink that alcohol. It was probably the inn owner who was dating that man.
Today, that couple was going to write a seriously steamy story!
“Wait a moment!”
He would recommend a sweet and delicious alcohol that would make the atmosphere sticky. The shop owner, having made up his mind, began to rummage through the store’s items with a passionate attitude.
Then, he took out a bottle of alcohol that glowed pink from the inside, with pretty packaging. The bottle was quite large.
“Here, this. There’s nothing better than this for couples to enjoy while creating a moderate atmosphere. The taste is sweet and fruity, and the alcohol content isn’t strong, but it’s not so weak that it’s disappointing.”
“…”
Ketron paused for a moment at the words ‘for couples’, but soon nodded as if it were nothing.
The price wasn’t cheap, but he didn’t care. The shop owner, seeing Ketron nodding without any particular reaction to the subtle words ‘alcohol for couples’, thought, ‘That’s right, as expected!’ and tried hard to hold back the twitching of his lips, confirming that the rumors were true.
Thanks to that, he was in a good mood, and because he always took good care of his neighbors, he even packed a lot of cheese as a snack, so Ketron returned to the inn with his hands full of things, unlike when he came.
As soon as he returned, Ketron went straight to Eddie’s room without stopping anywhere else, and after taking a deep breath before knocking, he opened Eddie’s door as it was.
Eddie, who was sitting on the bed with a dazed face, widened his eyes and looked at Ketron, who had invaded his room without knocking.
“Eddie, if you have time, would you like to have a drink with me?”
Ketron didn’t know how to turn back. True to his always straightforward personality, rather than waiting for Eddie to slowly rise from the sea of depression, he chose to pull him out of it directly.
His attitude was so forceful that Eddie, who would usually refuse most suggestions and lock himself away, nodded in a daze.
***
Eddie, or rather, Lee Jeong-hoon, had a low tolerance for alcohol.
He seemed to have drunk a lot when he was a college student, being called out to drinking parties here and there, but he endured it back then because he was still young enough to chew on rocks, but by the time he finished his military service and graduated, his liver had become quite pure.
He just wasn’t the type to handle alcohol well in the first place. His face would turn bright red after just one glass of beer.
After being possessed as Eddie, he didn’t have the opportunity to drink, so even though he ran a bar, he didn’t really put alcohol to his lips, so Eddie didn’t know how friendly ‘Eddie’s’ body was to alcohol.
But he felt like he knew even without knowing. For some reason, Eddie’s body seemed to have a weak ability to detoxify alcohol, just like Lee Jeong-hoon.
Some people said that drinking alcohol when you’re depressed makes you feel better, but Eddie, who didn’t really enjoy alcohol, didn’t really relate to that story, so he would usually refuse.
But he couldn’t refuse the situation where Ketron, of all people, suddenly opened the door and proposed a drinking session.
How could a butler refuse the touch of a black cat who secretly offered a bottle of alcohol through the crack in the door while watching the owner’s mood?
…Seeing me thinking like this even at times like this, maybe I still have some leeway.
Ketron’s hands were clumsy as he set up the table for drinks.
The man, who had no memory of comforting anyone or having a drinking session, was setting up the snacks and pouring the drinks with awkward hands.
There wasn’t really a place to drink together in Eddie’s room, so they were setting up the table on the first floor, where the guests had left.
Fortunately, Gerold, Ebon, and Sebastian were nowhere to be seen, so it seemed like it would be a relatively intimate time.
He didn’t know if there were many etiquette rules for drinking sessions here, but since neither Ketron nor Eddie knew about them anyway, they poured the drinks and emptied their glasses as they pleased once the table was somewhat set.
The alcohol was sweet.
Not because life was bitter, but because it was physically sweet.
“Delicious.”
The alcohol content didn’t seem weak, but even so, the sweetness was strong, so it suited Eddie’s taste, who wasn’t good at drinking alcohol.
When the glass was empty, Ketron would immediately pour more alcohol, and Eddie would down it in one shot, and then he would pour again, and then he would down it again.
As that was repeated three or four times, the rather large bottle was soon emptied.
Ketron frowned as soon as he took a sip of the alcohol and immediately put it down, so Eddie ended up emptying almost the entire bottle by himself.
“Hehe.”
Eddie became instantly insensible after emptying the bottle of alcohol, which wasn’t weak, all by himself.
Eddie smiled pleasantly. It was definitely good to drink alcohol. The things that had been bothering Eddie for days were instantly vaporized from his head, leaving only a pounding heart and a feeling of being flushed.
“Eddie, do you feel a little better?”
“Uh-huh, good.”
Eddie reached out and popped a piece of cheese that Ketron had brought with him into his mouth. It was quite delicious too.
Ketron quietly opened his mouth, gently pushing the cheese towards Eddie.
“Eddie.”
“Hmm~?”
“What’s making you so hard?”
Eddie, who had been blinking for a moment, smiled. Eddie wasn’t very perceptive, but Ketron was even more clumsy than Eddie’s lack of perception.
But that clumsy comfort made him feel even better, so Eddie smiled broadly.
“What, if there’s something that’s making me hard, Ket will get rid of it all~?”
“If you want.”
Ketron’s answer came quickly and calmly.
“I will get rid of whatever it is.”
Ketron really intended to destroy and eliminate whatever it was. He even had the ability to actually do it.
The fact that he had decided to eliminate the Demon King even though he was no longer the Hero was all for Eddie’s sake. Eddie didn’t know that fact, though.
“…”
Eddie stared at Ketron for a while, shaking his glass slowly.
It wasn’t a joke. Ketron didn’t know how to make jokes. So that must be his complete sincerity.
The problem was that if those words were sincere, it would be a huge problem in their relationship.
That level of statement couldn’t be packaged as friendship at all.
Eddie, who felt like he couldn’t eat any more of the cheese that had been going down so well, asked, rolling the round cheese between his fingers.
“Why are you doing so much for me?”
“…”
Ketron stared at Eddie.
With a look that seemed to say, ‘Do you really not know why?’