Zelas's
Mischief
Disclaimer: I don’t
own Slayers, nor do I own any characters therein. Now will you urusai about it!!
Zelas had a marvelous idea. A
wonderful, awful, marvelous idea! Her small smile grew into an enormous grin as
she thought of the wonderful consequences of such a plan. The touch of one of
her wolves’ noses brought her back to reality…slightly.
‘What are you thinking of doing
now?’ the wolf communicated to her. Zelas smiled
again as she explained her plan to him. The wolf’s mental chuckle was
accompanied by something similar vocally as he followed Zelas’s
train of thought.
“After all…” she said aloud, “it
really is a small thing to manipulate, rather like flipping a switch…small
enough that he won’t realize it, and I have more than enough power over him to
get away with it. Really it is a small thing…alcohol tolerance,
that is…”
***
“Ahhhh, that hit the spot.” Lina reclined in her seat, satiated,
for a time. Filia shook her head.
“Your appetite never ceases to amaze me,
Lina. Gourry’s either. If you didn’t make as much
money as you do… I don’t want to think about where you two would be now.”
“Probably not
fighting for justice, that’s for sure.” Xelloss
said, deliberately, and successfully, provoking Amelia to respond.
“Lina-san and Gourry-san would always
fight for the Great Cause of Justice, no matter what! Right, Lina-san?…Lina-san?”
“Oh, right, sure Amelia…” Lina
answered belatedly. “Zelgadis, where are we headed to next?”
“With no new leads, job offers, or
anything of the sort, we have no reason to go anywhere.” Zelgadis sighed.
Lina noticed that there wasn’t anyone
smiling at the table other than Gourry, Xelloss (who,
of course, was always smiling), and herself, and was not very happy about it.
“Come on, folks! Look on the bright
side! We get a day or two at least to sleep, eat, shop, and just generally do
whatever we want to. And what with that last group of bandits we ran into,
we’ve got the funds to do it!” Faces had perked up a little, but Lina decided to
go a bit farther; she couldn’t deal with so many gloomy faces for two days
straight!
“Hey,
know what? Drinks for everyone at this table!”
Everyone, Xelloss included, looked at the very least
a bit shocked at this unprovoked display of generosity from Lina Inverse.
“What??”
Lina asked, noticing both the shocked looks and Filia’s slight blush.
“Ummm….nevermind..”
Filia responded. Xelloss smiled.
“My
my, Filia, whatever could be the matter? Perhaps,” he
slightly opened one eye. “perhaps she is thinking
about the old rumor about Ryouzoku constitutions and
alcohol.” Filia reddened further and turned up her nose.
“You
have it all wrong, Xelloss. In either case, that’s an
old myth and not true at all.”
“Really? Well, then,” Xelloss
smirked. “I suppose I’ll just have to challenge you to a drinking contest,
won’t I? The old battle of monster vs. dragon…”
It
was on Filia’s tongue to decline, but her pride in her race, in herself,
wouldn’t let her. She turned to Xelloss, eyes
blazing.
“You’re
on, Namagomi.”
Lina
waved her hand between the ever-smiling Mazoku and the glaring priestess.
“Hold
on a second, what are you talking about, Xelloss?”
“Just an old rumor that Golden Dragons can’t hold their
alcohol…at all.”
“So
you mean they get drunk pretty quickly?”
“That
is the rumor, yes, but, according to Filia, it isn’t true.”
“Of
course it isn’t true,” Filia scoffed, “something like that could only have been
fabricated by a filthy, namagomi Mazoku.”
Xelloss’s agitated twitch began, “Let’s begin, shall
we? Let the best species win.” Xelloss heard Zelas’s voice whisper in his head.
“Go
get ‘em, dearie.” She
sounded a bit to enthusiastic about this whole ordeal.
As a Mazoku, he could drink Filia under the table with ease, so why was she so
mischievously happy about him challenging Filia? Xelloss
shrugged mentally.
‘She
probably just wants to see Filia humiliated. Makes sense.’
Lina
signaled to the nearest waitress and ordered the first round of drinks.
***
Only Zelas’s
eternal poise that stemmed from being a Dark Lord kept her from jumping up and
down with glee. He had taken the bait! All she had had to do was wait for her opportunity, and Lina Inverse had supplied it!
Oh, the delicious irony!!!
***
Lina had ordered wine, and everyone
was quietly sipping theirs while somewhat nervously watching Xelloss and Filia. Neither of the two competitors seemed to
be in any rush, and so were sipping just as slowly as
everyone else at the table.
“Feeling tipsy, Filia?” Xelloss prodded.
“Not in the least. Is this how you
Mazoku compete, lazily?”
“I’m in no hurry, Filia. Are you in a
hurry to lose?”
Filia fumed silently as she continued
to drink her wine.
***
The second round of drinks had come
and gone, and now that the two opponents were on their third glass each, the
rest of the group had begun to notice a few subtle changes. For instance, both
the general/priest’s and the priestess’s hands were not quite as steady as they
had been, and Zelgadis could have sworn he had seen both Xelloss
and Filia hiccup discretely at least once.
Amelia looked around the room. As her
gaze fell upon the door, it opened and admitted what seemed to be a group of
performers. She watched the group of four men and one woman as they
expeditiously prepared themselves for the evening’s entertainment.
“Good evening ladies and gents.” the
woman began, “we’ll be entertaining you this evening.”
“We’ll start the evening with a bit of
joke-telling,” one of the men joined in.
“And then we’ll finish with music, and
hopefully some dancing.” the woman finished.
By: Nayka Verdandi