Tavern, dimly lit.
The bartender stood behind the bar smoking a cigarette, which smelled pungent.
In the dim light, he looked down at Ciel sitting outside the bar.
The light illuminated his bald head, dragging a dark shadow under his brow bone, making his expression indistinguishable.
Bang!
A wine glass the size of a fist was thrown in front of Ciel.
The loud noise startled Charles, and the wine in the glass surged, almost splashing on his collar.
In Charles's panicked look, the bartender pushed the wine glass in front of him expressionlessly, bent down, and looked down at him: "Shall we have two drinks?"
Right next to him was the bottle of wine with the label scratched off.
Charles was stunned for a moment, then turned around and looked at the people behind him who were sitting in the corner with their arms in their arms and looking at him coldly. He swallowed and looked upstairs as if asking for help.
But apart from the vague sounds of arguing upstairs, there was nothing.
"how?"
The bartender asked: "Don't like it?"
"Well… "
Ciel forced a smile and was not stupid enough to say that I don't like drinking.
"Don't let people say that the people in our headquarters don't provide good hospitality. Since you are a person close to Mr. Constantine, when you come here, you must have a few drinks with everyone."
The burly bartender twisted his neck, his joints rubbed together, and his voice was clear. When he looked at Charles, his tone became strange: "You won't deny me face, will you?"
Ciel twitched and shook his head vigorously.
"It would be great."
The bartender grinned, showing his sharp teeth. He raised his head and glanced upstairs: "Boss, they need some time to talk about things. Let's get close to each other. Come on, pretty boy, let's drink."
He put the wine glass into Ciel's hand, grabbed his hand, and clinked the glass with himself.
With a bitter look on his face, Charles picked up the wine glass, raised his head, and drank it all in one gulp.
His vision went dark.
…
After being imprisoned for a few days, the revolutionary army seemed to have finally unified their attitude. They changed their previous attitude of disregard and took the initiative to contact Constantine.
The two parties met in this secret bar.
Constantine took Charles with him, but when he arrived, he was only allowed to go up alone. Constantine had no choice but to leave Charles among the group of fierce and strong men who looked like wolves and tigers.
As a result, in less than half an hour, Ciel was put into a trap by these guys who had obviously planned ahead.
A mouthful of pungent and turbid liquor poured down his throat. Ciel took a breath and couldn't help gritting his teeth.
It’s a really familiar recipe and a familiar taste.
In the lower town of Avalon, there is a special kind of moonshine. The craftsmen mixed the bad wine with industrial alcohol, various pigments and flavoring agents, and soaked the bones of lime snakes to make it as a "local specialty".
-kerosene.
This is what the poor dogs of Lower Avalon call this bad wine, and they say that when you drink a glass of wine, you should stay away from candles, because candles will make you want to light yourself up.
In addition to drinking alcohol, it can also be used to sprinkle good combustion accelerants on corpses. After burning, even the best forensic doctors and biological mothers will not be able to identify the dead person.
The glass in Charles's hand now is comparable to kerosene, and it seems to have been added...
"...banned drugs?"
Ciel murmured softly.
In the silence, those in the corner couldn't help laughing, full of malice. The bartender raised his eyebrows: "He's actually a knowledgeable person? I didn't expect that."
He narrowed his eyes, picked up the full bottle of spirits, and grinned:
"Looks like I need to treat you well."
The order from above was for Constantine to retreat without losing his dignity, and it would be better to make a big embarrassment. The people he brought... naturally had to be treated the same, and they couldn't treat one favorably.
The bartender became curious.
How many more drinks can he have before the ingredients in the wine burn out this pretty boy's brain
"Have another drink."
He pushed the overflowing wine glass in front of Ciel. Seeing that Ciel was about to speak, he pulled out his dagger and slashed it on the scarred bar.
"Come, I'll accompany you."
He stared at Ciel's pale face and grinned:
"—Today, you must drink till you enjoy it!"
In silence, Charles stared at the wine glass in his hand for a long time, then nodded slowly:
"OK."
Facing the bartender's astonished look, Ciel raised his head and drank the strong drink in one gulp.
Do not know why.
The bartender was a little flustered.
Perhaps, I made a wrong choice.
…
…
I don’t know how long it took, but the door upstairs opened.
The owner of the bar sent Constantine to the door of the office and said goodbye to him.
"Constantine, I'm sorry to make your trip in vain." The man behind the door stretched out his hand and shook hands with him: "But Mr. Gaius has his own ideas, and there is really nothing I can do about this matter."
"It doesn't matter. As long as everyone is willing to see me and listen to my old fool's nonsense, I will be very happy." Constantine sighed and put on his hat: "Thanks for the hospitality."
"Then I won't send it."
The man behind the door nodded: "Buck, send Mr. back home!"
There was silence downstairs, no one responded.
"Buck! Buck! Where did you die?!"
The person behind the door was stunned for a moment, and then an embarrassed expression appeared: "I'm sorry, Mr. Constantine, those little guys under me don't understand dignity. I don't know who they have been encouraging them to, and they have some misunderstandings and misunderstandings about you." Prejudice. I hope they didn't do anything against your entourage..."
Constantine was stunned for a moment, his expression immediately turned gloomy, and he turned around and quickly went downstairs.
Few people can imagine that an old man like Constantine can move so quickly. When he looks anxious, he steps on the stairs as if he is crushing the old template under his feet.
Before I even got down the stairs, I smelled the pungent smell of alcohol and the foul smell of vomit.
Constantine was stunned for a moment and quickened his pace.
I hope Ciel is still intact and hasn't been torn to pieces by those idiots hanging out in the dirty ditches of the Holy City.
But when he walked down the stairs and turned the corner, he was stunned.
At this moment, there was silence in the hall.
Whether it was the bartender behind the bar, the thugs playing poker on the sofa, or the spectators pretending to play billiards and throw darts, all of them had fallen to the ground at this moment.
Some people gasped while drunk, opened their mouths, and vomited out large pieces of sticky semen, mixed with undigested black beans, and the stench and the pungent smell of low-quality alcohol.
And among that bunch of people, Charles was sitting alone on a chair in front of the bar, playing poker by himself out of boredom.
Looking back, he saw Constantine coming down the stairs and smiled.
"Sir, are you finally done talking?"
He jumped down from the chair: "I've been waiting for a long time, and I was still thinking about whether to pay for a takeaway."
"Uh... um."
Constantine seemed to have no reaction and nodded stiffly: "What... is going on?"
"The revolutionary army in the world is one family, and we are all very enthusiastic people." Charles looked at the people around him, feeling a little embarrassed: "It's a pity that they are afraid that they will not entertain us well, and they will be drunk without a few drinks. "
Constantine was silent for a long time and nodded slowly, seeming to accept this reality.
He looked away, pretending not to see Ciel quietly kicking two bloodshot teeth under the bar.
"We're done talking, let's go," he said.
"Oh, okay, wait for me a moment."
Charles patted his head, got behind the counter, and put two bottles of goodies specially prepared by the bartender into his backpack.
Seemingly unintentionally, he opened the bartender's pocket and fumbled for a small paper bag. After sniffing it for a while, he hesitated for a long time and finally put it into his own pocket.
"Long time you wait, sir."
He clapped his hands and got out of the counter: "Let's go."
…
…
On the carriage ride back, Constantine tiredly took off his hat.
He leaned on the seat of the carriage, as if he was out of energy and wanted to sleep. He was silent, but he couldn't help but sigh softly.
Charles looked at the scenery outside the window and asked, "Sir, aren't you going to visit other people?"
"Let's go home today."
Constantine shook his head, "I'm a little tired. I'll talk about the rest tomorrow."
Ciel was silent.
For a long time, he hesitated to speak: "Sir..."
"Um?"
"Your face..." Ciel pointed to his face.
Constantine touched his face in confusion, couldn't help but smile bitterly, and shook his head:
"really."
At this moment, Constantine looked as if he was extremely sleepy. He knew how ugly he looked without a mirror. What's even worse is that even he himself feels the smell of aging and fatigue...
"As you get older, it seems that you have to start repaying the debts you owed in the past. If there is the slightest disturbance, you will feel restless and tossing and turning. Even if you are talking to someone, you should be as if you are on a battlefield. Concentrate on it and don't dare to Slouch.”
He sighed softly, took out the pills from his pocket, counted four pills, poured them into his mouth, and swallowed them with warm water in the bottle: "If you forget to take the pills for a day or two, you won't be able to hold on."
"Did something happen?" Charles asked.
"It's not too big."
Constantine smiled bitterly: "If I'm not wrong, I'm afraid I will be dragged away for liquidation."
"Um?"
Charles was stunned for a moment, and then his eyesight went dark: "Liquidation? What do you mean?"
"literal meaning."
Constantine said calmly: "I have been the deputy commander for so many years and I have offended many people. Now that I am about to lose power, there will definitely be people who are happy to add insult to injury."
Charles felt that he was in a trance: "Why, why all of a sudden... didn't you just come out?"
"I was too naive."
Constantine pinched the bridge of his nose to cheer up and said softly: "People change, Charles. I have been in there for half a year, but I didn't expect that the situation has completely gotten out of control. The revolutionary army is no longer the revolutionary army before. I can't follow this. Isn’t it natural for the old guy who joins the team to be swept away from the trash heap? I’m afraid Gaius is hesitant because he doesn’t want to see me.”
Ciel felt a splitting headache.
Although he had been aware that something was wrong these days, he thought in his heart that this was just a cautious and confidential measure. But he did not expect that behind the confinement and censorship was the revolutionary army's strong distrust of Constantine.
And this situation seems to be getting worse since Constantine was released from prison.
What has Constantine done these days...
"Ciel, things are different now."
Constantine sighed softly: "To be specific, it has been more than ninety years since the last beastiality outbreak in the dark world. The active period of natural disasters is about to come. The current human world is like walking on a tightrope across an abyss. We can no longer withstand any internal conflicts. Even for the sake of the overall situation, the conflict between the Holy City and the revolutionary army must be resolved."
Charles was stunned. After a long time, he stammered:
"Isn't this great?"
"Gaius may not like my idea."
Constantine shook his head, "He has lost himself."
"What... does he want to do?"
"Do you still have to ask?"
Constantine lit the cigarette and took two deep breaths: "Gaius wants to create a new world, but he will destroy the old ones first... If he finds me standing in front of him, then he will destroy those things. When the time comes, it will be with me and many people who support me.”
He looked at the dull Ciel with a tired expression: "Ciel, no matter what choice I make, many people will die in a few days. Many, many. Either because of me, or because of him. This is my last life. There’s a chance… but I don’t even dare to make up my mind.”
"Gaius... doesn't he want to attack the Holy City?"
Ciel couldn't help but want to ask. Even though such a question was too explicit, he couldn't care less. He could feel that he was very close to the truth, very close, even just one step away!
But he smelled a creepy smell.
The alluring scent of those dirty secrets drew him like a moth to a flame.
"Attack on the Holy City?"
Constantine couldn't help but laugh and sneered: "More than that."
He clenched his palm and crushed the cigarette in his hand. Even though the hot tobacco left scorch marks on his palm, he seemed to feel no pain: "Char, he wants to release natural disasters."
"—He wants to liberate the dragon of disaster that was sealed under the Holy City by three generations of popes!"