Unexpected visitor

"Little Tarkuazi? Well, I'll be damned! You're the last person this King expected to see in a tavern!"

Ace raised his brows and gasped at the sight of the light-blue-eyed, brown-haired girl and her massive ribbon seating herself by Lazurii's side and pushing into him, almost getting into his lap, until he gave up and shimmied to the side.

"I'm like the rest of the student body. I came here to relax and enjoy a warm drink after the exams."

Tarkuazi shrugged her shoulders lightly and said while glancing at the grumpy Lazurii from the corner of her eye.

"Is that so?! Even my class's little genius thought the exams were hard?! Oh dear, this King might be in trouble then!"

"Pffft! Not like that, Ace! I meant the bulk of the stress and pressure is gone!"

The green-haired young man gasped and swooned theatrically, making the dark-brown-haired girl laugh as she reached out for the tankards.

"Oh, which one is yours?"

Ace perked up and leaned forward, eager to help out the younger girl, but he hesitated, unable to see the difference between the two tankards.

"It doesn't matter. I also ordered the heated mead with nutmeg~"

"...huh…?"

The girl giggled, shaking her head and taking the closer tankard, making the green-haired young man let out a confused gasp and immediately turn towards his grumpy friend.

"..."

"HEY!"

As Tarkuazi slid the tankard close, she began to lift it to her mouth, but right then, a large hand covered the container, sealing off the beverage inside and causing the shocked girl to let out an angry voice.

"Someone forgot that mead is an adults' drink, young lady. What do you think you are trying to pull off here?"

"...!"

Without taking his hand away, Lazurii growled in a low voice while turning his face to the embarrassed girl whose face got flushed with shame.

"Dad… I mean, father allowed me to take a few sips of the mulled wine last winter, and I was all right! I see no reason why I shouldn't have some mead…!"

The girl fidgeted for a moment, thinking about a response, before opening her mouth and muttering without looking the blue-haired young man in the eyes.

"You could taste the mulled wine because you were in your own home, surrounded by your loved ones and trustworthy people. Do not compare it with drinking enhanced mead in a tavern full of strangers."

"...ngh…!"

Lazur pointed out Tarkuazi's tankard his way while she frowned and bit her lips, looking for a good counterargument.

"Barmaid, this one is too young for this! I'll have it, so she will have the non-alcoholic version! Replace the mead with honey and spirit with tea, but if you don't have any, then milk is fine, too!"

"Lazurii! What are you doing?!"

The blue-haired young man raised his other hand and called out with enough power to make good few people jump while also making the dark-brown-haired girl cling to his arm and call in a hushed voice, simmering in the embarrassment burning her face.

"As a student of the Brylant Academy, you have an image to keep up on top of being a noble. Underage drinking goes against that."

"True, but no one here knew I wasn't an adult until you announced it!"

Lazurii shrugged his shoulders and changed his grip on the tankard to take the first sip while Tarkuazi tugged angrily on his sleeve.

"Then your actions were twice as wrong, making the staff of this place unknowingly participate in something inappropriate."

"Uuuuuugh! How come you can't stick to the rules for the life of you, but when it comes to me, you are acting like some saint?! And you, Ace, don't laugh!"

"Pffffffffft!"

Lazurii wasn't bothered in the slightest and even doubled down, making Tarkuazi stomp her feet under the table and scoff at the chuckling Ace, making him snort in his drink, unable to hold back.

"Adults are unfair like that."

Lazurii shrugged his shoulders, drinking more of the mead and making a bitter face.

"Laz is right. Not to mention, the older you are, the more disillusioned you get."

Ace nodded and nodded to him before taking a sip out of his own drink.

"...hmph… I will be an adult in six months…"

"..."

The girl grumbled and Ace seemed to want to say something but he glanced over at Lazurii beforehand, and the blue-haired young man shook his head in silence making his friend change his mind.

Not long after, the barmaid brought Tarkuazi the beverage that Lazurii ordered for her.

She glared at it sulkily for a bit before taking it and deciding to try it out.

"...mm? Mmm~!"

Tarkuazi's eyes widened, and she let out this cute, happy sound when it turned out that the warm milk with honey and spices was rather delicious and right up her alley.

"...~"

Before he realized what he was doing, Lazurii smiled in the most gentle way possible, looking at the happy girl as if the sight of her was melting his heart, and reached out his hand - ending up patting Tarkuazi's head, which had an immediate effect on her.

"~!"

Tarkuazi perked up, straightening her back while still lowering her head to the large tankard filled with the steaming spiced milk with honey, literally beaming with happiness under Lazuriis touch as if the brief contact between the two of them recharged all of her batteries that were about to die out.

"...!"

From the other side of the table, Ace silently observed as his friend flinched, realizing that he had forgotten himself.

"..."

He hurriedly took back his hand, looking the other way, picking up his tankard and drinking out of it to hide his regretful expression.

Seeing Lazurii slip up like that was neigh impossible, but it happened nonetheless, and Ace was aware it was his responsibility to mediate the situation before the blue-haired young man would escalate it in the opposite way in an attempt to cover it up.

"Little Miss Genius. It feels a bit rude to ask about it in the classroom, but I am curious about your whole deal. How come someone under fifteen would enter the Brylant Academy? I understand that in the field of academics, you are ahead of me, for example, but I was under the impression that gaining that sort of knowledge isn't the only purpose of the facility."

"...huuuu..."

The green-haired young man spoke up, almost immediately causing Lazurii to relax his shoulder.

"That's a very good question! In fact, I also wonder about it… According to teachers, I am supposedly smarter when compared to people my age, but the amount of engaged couples and people looking for marriage candidates definitely outnumbers people pursuing higher education…"

Tarkuazi didn't try to deflect the question in the slightest and answered it honestly, with a slightly troubled expression as if it was indeed something weighing down on her.

"You might not be that smart after all. Think about people in the same year as you. How many of them are the children of the families neighboring your territory?"

Lazurii offered his opinion on the matter as he scoffed while taking another sip, finishing three-quarters of his mead.

"Hey! I'm…! Oh…? Ohhh...! I think I get your point…"

At first, the feisty girl seemed keen to pick a fight over Lazurii's words, but she quickly realized that he did have a point and wasn't just mean for the sake of it.