The Wrong Hero

Chapter 50 - Varying Outcomes

The next morning, Dante sat in the one of the castle's dining halls. Sadeena, Dio, and JoJo were with him, along with Khana and her party. The castle staff had prepared a large breakfast for the heroes and their parties. The king didn't attend, as he had been up late for the festivities. That wouldn't have made much of a difference, since apparently the king didn't usually get up until quite a while past sunrise.

"Good morning, Miss Dante!" Atla called as she entered with the rest of his party.

"Nngh...Please, not so loud..." Dante held a hand to his head.

"What's wrong?" She asked, quieter.

"Headache." Dante responded, earning a loud and annoying laugh from Khana.

"Is that what you call it?" The Hammer Hero asked. "Martin, what about you?"

"Miss Khana, please..." The mage held his head in his hands.

After they had their fun, the three of them returned to the festivities. It wouldn't be a party without drinking, and there was plenty available. Being encouraged by Sadeena and Khana, Dante had more than his fair share of wine.

There were two important details in regards to drinking for Dante, one he knew and one he didn't. While mostly immune to poison, alcohol wasn't entirely considered as such. It still took a while to even get a buzz, but it was possible to get drunk. This detail he knew. What he didn't consider was the fact that he could still get hungover. Under the circumstances, that too was entirely possible. He boasted about his poison resistance and, being curious what would happen, ate a rucolu fruit that Khana had jokingly offered him. He felt perfectly fine...

Until he tried to stand and fell to the ground. Outside of the disorientation, he was able to make it through the rest of the night. That led to this moment.

"Have a little more bread, little Dante." Sadeena held a loaf in front of his face. "Drink some water, too~."

Dante bit into the offered food. "I'm never doing that again. I don't care how much MP and SP they restore." He'd always made sure to drink enough water to avoid hangovers, but he got complacent with his poison resistance.

"Well, you better get well soon, little woman." Khana gave him a nudge. "Weren't you going to take us to your village today?"

"That sounds like something I offered." Dante thought back.

He remembered offering to take the other heroes to the village he started up. Khana and Lloyd were interested, but Conrad refused. He'd mentioned something about not liking Siltvelt. Dante had noticed Conrad didn't have any demi-humans in his party, but he wasn't that bothered by it.

"Just let me get my head on straight and I'll take you two there." Dante said, downing his mug of water. At least one of them would save the location and bring them all right back, given how they were both able to open up new save spots after powering up their skills.

"Mind if I go back with you?" Reiko asked. "I really don't want to be here when the king wakes up."

"Uh, yeah, me too." Keel added in.

Both of them had the displeasure of meeting the king in person when Dante had to see him before. He couldn't blame them for being nervous. Dante still had to come back tonight and make an appearance for all the knights and adventurers that fought in the wave. Before that, the king was also going to discuss rewards. Dante wasn't looking forward to any of that.

"Yeah, sure." Dante nodded, wolfing down his food. The other members of the hero parties trickled in and ate breakfast.

"Oh, Raphtalia~." Khana sang out to the tanuki woman as she started on her food.