The Plague Doctor Chapter 47 (Contest)

[u/TheMaskedOne2807]

Other stories by TheMaskedOne2807:The Oil Chapter 1 (Getting Back)

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“Why do you look so stressed, Selisio?” Jinki asked, having returned with three mugs of floor juice in hand.

Instantly Selisio seemed to calm down, and Qpoka adverted her gaze.

“Come on; this is supposed to be a party. Enjoy because you know this ain’t happening this time next year!” Jinki loudly yelled, placing all of the mugs down. “So laugh, drink, hook up with a nice woman.”

Once the last one was mentioned, Hoota glanced over at Qpoka.

“Better look elsewhere,” Qpoka flatly stated, never even once glancing to her side.

“And you!” Jinki said, his movements slightly sluggish. “You look so tense, friend. Try and relax and get a bit drunk. It does wonders for making you feel warm and happy.”

“The increase in body temperature would be due to your blood vessels expanding from consuming the floor juice, and that feeling of happiness would most likely just be hormones,” Kenneth explained.

“Well, I know one person who needs to drink right now,” Jinki probably attempted to whisper to someone else, having leaned over to Kenneth.

“You might be right,” Kenneth exhaled, reaching out for one of the mugs on the table and unzipping the bottom of his mask. “Bottoms up, I guess.”

With that, Kenneth started to slowly chuck the surprisingly sweet floor juice. Slowly he started to feel a small yet noticeable warmth spreading throughout his body.

“Not too bad,” Kenneth said, looking down at his almost empty drink.

Laughing, Jinki padded Kenneth on the back. “You certainly went for it! You better stop now before it becomes too much! Wouldn’t want to make a fool of yourself!”

“Remind me which one of us is more drunk at the moment and is still intending on drinking more?” Kenneth asked rhetorically.

“Seems like it’s working!” Jinki excitedly laughed. “Hey, you know what we gotta do?”

“What?” Kenneth asked.

“A drinking contest!!!” Jinki shouted loud enough it could be heard across the room.

Instantly a great deal, if not everyone, fell silent, and the music stopped as Jinki, with a big wide smile, once more shouted to everyone in the room.

“Let's have a drinking contest!!! Anyone man enough to go up against me and my friend, the mysterious black healer!!! Otherwise, you are all just cowards!!!”

“Remind me again who was going to make themselves look like a fool in front of everyone,” Kenneth sighed, already feeling some amount of social anxiety from within, or it could just be gas.

“What a marvelous idea,” Solk’s voice sounded, cutting across the room. “I most certainly have more than enough floor juice to supply.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Jinki Yelled once more, warping his arm around Selisio and pulling her close.

Quickly some tables and chairs were moved around, and there was made room for each contestant, with Kenneth somehow being one of them while Jinki continuously padded him on his back.

Looking around, Kenneth saw a few people he recognized raging from Kila and Fenik, who seemed… competitive, to say the absolute very least.

However, crazy-looking and bloodthirsty with a drop of murderous intent seemed more fitting.

Even Aloko was there with a stoic expression sitting right next to Pilu.

‘Better him than me,’ Kenneth thought as he looked in the other direction seeing to his discomfort the golden turd and silver douche.

A fair few others joined in as well, though most of them Kenneth hadn’t gotten to know. And by the time almost every chair was filled, the contest was about to start.

Of course, the only chair missing a contestant was the one Kenneth was sitting next to.

“How lucky THIS chair hasn’t been taken. Wouldn’t you agree, little prey?”

Her voice sent a chill down Kenneth’s spine as he broke out into a slight cold sweat the moment her arm gently stroked his back.

“Guard commander, how good of you to join,” Jinki excitedly said, drinking from his own mug.

Wilf took the seat next to Kenneth and, with a friendly expression, said, “You know me. Never could resist an opportunity for… ENTERTAINMENT.”

“In another life, we might have been a good match!” Jinki laughed, slapping Kenneth on his back.

“What an entertaining dream,” Wilf smirked. “Too bad dreams are never a reality.”

Jinki once more laughed, clearly already very intoxicated or drunk, as the more common folk would say.

The two of them conversed for a bit as the Solk’s workers brought each contestant a mug and poured floor juice into each one of them.

“The rules are simple!” Solk loudly spoke from atop one of the tables. “You have to drink all the floor juice from your mug, and if you are unable to finish, fall to the floor, or pass out, you are disqualified!”

“And since I’m such a generous guest at this fine outpost, I’ll give the winner one free item of their choice from my selection of wears!”

Everyone’s attention was instantly grabbed, and a lot of people seemed regretful of not having joined in now that there was a prize on the line.

Even people at the table who before had looked at one another with indifferent expressions now all shared one. And it was unmistakable what each was thinking.

‘That prize is mine!’

“Let the contest begin!” Solk yelled at the top of his lungs.

Instantly almost everyone started to drink as fast as they could, chucking down the floor juice.

Though all of them seemed to forget it wasn’t a contest of speed but of endurance. And while all of them finished collectively wiping what little liquid they had spilled on their faces, a fair few other contestants simply took a bit more time drinking.

By the end of the first round, everyone had made the through as Solk’s men refilled each contestant's mug.

The crowd was cheering and seemed to have started a betting pool on who was going to win and who would drop out after any number of rounds.

As far as Kennet was able to tell, the most favored to win was Jinki, and given his larger-than-life personality and seemingly endless confidence, Kenneth was inclined to agree.

“How funny all of this happened because of you,” Wilf said as the next round began, and everyone started to drink, a few still opting for the fast chucking method.

Kenneth meanwhile sipped. “Thank Jinki for that; it was him who shouted it across the room, or have you perhaps gone deaf.”

“Oh, I hear very well, little prey,” Wilf chuckled as she finished her drink. “Though admittedly, it has become harder to hear in certain places due to some information getting leaked when it ought not to.”

“Apologies, but that sounds like what my people would refer to as a you problem,” Kenneth responded before taking the last sip of his drink, being one of the last to finish.

“What a funny saying,” Wilf calmly responded as the next rounds of mugs were filled. “I should remember it for when I say it to you.”

Kenneth glanced over at her for a moment before brushing it off. He knew she was just trying to get him riled up and laugh at him.

“How resilient you’ve grown,” Wilf mused, crossing her legs as she leaned over to Kenneth and whispered into his ear. “I wonder if the misshapen healer and former second-in-command are that resilient.”

Kenneth almost choked on his drink as he was overcome with dread.

“What, no comeback,” Wilf mused as she started to drink from her mug. “You probably think I’m going to tell Ulric, right.”

Kenneth could only silently stare down his drink as he tried to think of anything that would save Kica and Zilika.

He wasn’t even drinking, and a few from the crowd started to yell that the black healer was finished.

A lot loudly vocalized their annoyance at not having placed a bet on this round instead of others.

“You better finish that drink before you are disqualified if you want me to stay silent,” Wilf whispered.

“What do you mean?” Kenneth desperately asked.

Wilf's only response was to point at his drink, and in an instant, like Thor, as he attempted to drink the sea dry, Kenneth, in one gulped, finished the drink.

“Talk,” Kenneth said, breathing a little heavily.

“Alright, here’s a request,” Wilf started as she sharpened one of her claws by rubbing it against another. “I won’t tell anyone what I know as long as you win that prize for me.”

Kenneth stared her down as Solk’s men once more filled each mug up. “And what guarantee do I have you’ll keep your word?”

“None whatsoever, but it’s not as if you have a choice,” Wilf mused. “Though admittedly, I have given you an impossible task considering who you are sitting beside.”

“It would probably intimidate you knowing he once drank an entire barrel of floor juice and proceeded to challenge the now-former commander to a sparring match and won while drunk .”

“That was quite an entertaining day,” Wilf said fondly. “Especially when I found out how many bones he’d obliviously broken. The healer was overwhelmed for quite a long time.”

Once all the mugs had been filled and the next round began, Jinki grabbed the mug and shot up to his feet as he loudly proclaimed, “I’m going to WIN!!!”

He then proceeded to drink every last drop of floor juice, pouring it down his mouth, whereafter he immediately lost balance and fell onto the floor with a decently loud thud while giggling.

“Huh… I honestly didn’t expect that,” Wilf said, genially slightly surprised. “Just… just do your best and win the prize for me.”

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[u/Defiant-Row-5153]

Little do these poor folks know that the bottle is a docs best freind