Road to the Crown

Step by step, my silly relationship with Elia was turning into something even if not serious yet, then at least real. With how there was no hurry for us to get to the Pilzno, instead of riding in the uncomfortable saddle, we were simply relaxing at the back of the carriage, with two barrels of my beer used as the wall on which two bags of already prepared cement served as a pillow.

"I really can't believe you did this…"

With her head resting on my arm, Elia snuggled a bit closer to me, making sure that no heat would escape from under the bear's fur serving as a blanket. With the march only starting to roll out, the weather was still rather cold, only occasionally raising towards the positive degrees (above 30degrees F), making our way of travelling all the more comfortable especially when we could giggle at the faces of my retainers travelling properly as our guards.

"It's not like I really had any choice. We don't have bricks just laying around!"

Running my hands through her hair, I smiled at the memory. Just after we returned from our 'stroll' I sent Elia to rest while taking a knife out of the kitchen and going on a rampage.

Out of the most essential materials for creating the cement that we were resting our heads against now, was powdered brick… Or rather, powdered, burned clay. While I was not even close to being capable of explaining why did system require it to make this special blend of the cement with its ultra-quick binding and durability nice enough to prevent normal people without tools from shattering it.

"I would love to see his face when he realised it was you!"

Just when I was busy dissecting the wall of the bakery, which was one of the rare buildings actually made out of brick instead of stone and mortar, the very owner of the building came out, and most likely mistook me for some unruly page or servant, trying to annoying him for laughs. While everything ended up with me just losing a single red golden to shut his mouth about the incident, I had to admit that when he jumped at me with his baking shovel my heart genuinely stopped for a moment!

"Fancy a drink?"

With this one anecdote done, I reached out to the side of the cart and picked up a huge mug poached from the palace kitchen this time. I found myself unable to adapt to various everyday aspects of the noble life, looking for better alternatives whenever I had the chance. And just like drinking wine from an expensive, glass cup adorned with small gems all over, sharing a cup of beer with a lively girl seemed like a much greater idea for me, especially how we were travelling on the infamous Polish roads, known to be the greatest tool against invasion, as they existed only on the maps and in travellers imagination.

Pulling myself upward, I rested my back against the barrels, while reaching towards the tap of the barrel. While the previous kind of container made it impossible to mount the tap on it, after pouring out the previous content of a proper beer barrel down to the ramparts, I used the system to turn the leftover liquid into a paste, before scrubbing it away and pouring the proper beer inside.

With how it was only for my private use, this time we could enjoy the absolutely best possible craft that the system could offer. Not only it was way stronger than even the previous drinks, reaching the borderline between beer and liquor, but its taste was also actually closer to that of fruity meads (drinkable honey, didn't know it had specific English name) rather than an ordinary hop drink.

"Surely I do!"

Raising herself just like I did, Elia rested her back against my chest, forcing my free hand to rest on her shoulder. Rubbing herself against me for a bit in order to find the most comfortable position, she rudely slammer her hair right into my nose before finally settling in.

"What about you guys?"

Even with how strong this drink was, nothing would happen to my retainers if they were to drink a cup or two. Thinking about this, with how cold it was and how I was the only one having a girl snuggling into me for the sake of keeping ourselves warm, a proper drink could actually do them some good, even if I perfectly knew it was just a placebo.

"Sure do, sir!"

As expected, Al was the first one to react, instantly hurrying his horse to level himself with the carriage. Passing him the cup I just poured, I had to stop myself from screaming in angst when I saw him pouring the entire content of his mug inside his mouth.

What a lack of appreciation for how insane this drink was!

"That's a nice mead!"

Passing the cup back to me, Al commented once again making me all tense up from the rage.

"Calm down, dear. Don't expect simpletons to recognise the value of this drink!"

Holding the only other cup that we had on the carriage, Elia took a sip before raising the mug towards my lips and letting me take a drink as I was busy with refiling the other one. At least, both Elemo and Jan Bezerian - her main guard - took their time while drinking this delicacy, showing the minimal amount of respect that the class of this liquor required.

Swallowing the mouthful of the drink, I couldn't help but let myself drown in the pleasure it provided. As the warmth spread from my lungs to my entire body, my mind was already slowing down to a comfortable speed, creating some weird ideas in my head.

Recalling the times when my life was filled with cramming for university exams and wild parties with my colleagues, I saw a single action in front of my eyes. While I didn't have any cigarettes or hand, nor any of my retainers had anything that could resemble it, the beer could be a good replacement for it!

Using my free, left arm, I grabbed Elia's hands cupped around the mug, and prompted them upwards. I didn't even need to direct it right to my mouth, as this small gesture alone was enough for her to bring the brim of the container right to my lips and tilt it just enough for its content to flow to my mouth, without risking that first bump on the road would result in this precious drink spilling on our blanket.

With my mouth filled with the beverage, I waited for Elia to drop her hands only to grab her chin, and raise it a bit, angling her face towards my own. Looking right into her curious eyes, I lowered my head, still holding her head in this exact position. With my lips smashing against hers, I dragged her chin down a bit to open her mouth, before allowing the beer to flow right from my mouth into hers.

While she initially flinched in surprise, Elia obediently accepted the drink, allowing it to flow down her throat. By the time she already swallowed all the beer, our lips remained connected, with my tongue invading insides of her mouth as if it turned into an inspector looking for any trace of illegal alcohol in the hideout of her tongue.

After a thorough body search of the convicted, my tongue finally left her mouth, even forced to struggle about her own as if the inspected body wasn't sure whether it wanted to remain in captivity.

With our lips finally separating, I could once again look at her face, only to notice a strange light in her eyes. After a moment of tranquillity when we were just watching into each other's eyes, Elia twitched and raised her body from my chest, With her leg looming over my hips, she sat on top of my lap raising the mug to her own mouth. For a moment, I could watch her throat move as she swallowed a mouthful of the beer, before putting the empty cup aside and lowering her head over mine.

Without a single word spoken, the alcohol buzzing in my bloodstream made me unable to refuse such invitation, eagerly accepting the touch of her lips, as this time she took the initiative to pour the alcohol directly into my mouth, lips to lips.

Once again entering a moment of pleasure as we immersed ourselves in the deep kiss, all I could think about was the warmth of her body, tightly pressed against mine. Placing my hands on her waist, I continued to enjoy the softness of her mouth, only for this insane feeling to stop just as my body started to react to it in a proper way.

As Elia distanced herself a bit from me, we once again gazed into the depths of our souls through the window of our eyes, before bursting with hearty laughter right after. With her giggle continuing, Elia relaxed her body, hiding her face in the corner between my shoulder and my neck.

Grabbing her body into a proper hug under the blanket, I couldn't stop myself from both laughing lightly and smiling at the same time. This moment was something completely incomparable to all the wild events that were taking place during the college parties I took part in. Maybe because of how relatively light the whole action of ours was, or maybe because neither of us could ever enjoy the wild nature of the stuff that used to happen at the parties I mentioned, just sharing a moment like that filled both of our hearts - as far as I could tell from her reaction to it at least - with joy.

"Ekhm!"

Before our simple hug could develop into anything else, a sudden snort right beside us served as a wake-up call for the both of us. After all, we were in the middle of the crappy road, surrounded by over fifty riders from literally all sides! Thinking about this, if we were to be unlucky enough for a bump to appear on the road as we enjoyed ourselves, instead of a pleasant moment, we could end up with broken teeth!