Sacrifice: Time of Mine
Chapter 23: The Deciding Factor

"HAHAHA!" the women laughed loudly.

Receiving the laughter, Van puffed his chest and sat down with them.

They then heard, "Cool! He's so funny since he's so wasted, hahaha!"

Van smiled at whoever said that in the midst of the women's laughter.

Jhin also heard this and frowned. He then raised his glass of wine and said, "Give me three glasses of your strongest beer!" he wouldn't want to lose.

"Be right there!" the man behind the counter answered.

The women then sighed in relief after their laughter. They didn't know who said that earlier but they were glad that Jhin was about to properly drink. They don't think they can laugh at his sober jokes anymore.

"What? Hahaha!" Van sarcastically remarked, "Only three glasses? Cute, I just had one whole jug." he then coolly placed a finger under his nose as he looked at Jhin from eye to eye.

"Ehem!" Jhin glared at Van, "I'm sorry, I meant one jug with an additional glass." both his eyebrows were raised as if he had already won.

"Alright, you said it!" the man behind the counter answered. He was also the owner of the bar. When the Idiotic Rivals entered the bar, he knew today's business would be good. Beer and especially wine were not cheap at all.

"Hmph!" Jhin flamboyantly harrumphed. Although he just bought it and had yet to proved that he can drink it all, Van was already frowning.

Van then raised his hand, "Me too, a jug!"

"Coming right up!"

"Tsk!'

Jhin and Van glared at each other.

Now it was getting entertaining. The Idiotic Rivals got into their competitive mode again and things were about to get messy. Together with alcohol, this time, it would be messier.

When the two jugs were placed in front of them, Jhin gulped while Van noticed this and he assumed the victory with a smile.

After a few glasses, Jhin's mind was already hazy while Van still had the jug on his mouth. His bulging belly could be seen.

"I think women are not getting any fun if they just drink, don't they?" somebody then spoke.

The two obviously heard it. Jhin who was losing took this opportunity. The battle was about who will get the most fun, or at least, who looked like who was getting the most fun.

So alcohol isn't necessary!

After all, he was already intoxicated after a few glasses. He didn't want to admit it but he was weak with alcohol. Maybe that was why Van targeted the alcohol first but it was not the case since Van himself was surprised.

So when Jhin heard that, he looked at the women beside him and began to "entertain" them. Being cornered, the women didn't have the choice but to laugh again.

They fell into despair but they didn't want to ignore him since he was still a noble. They might have an eye to eye that night but during the day, the men and women there were just lowly commoners while some are from branches that still couldn't be called a noble.

On the other hand, Van had his belly hurting while he wanted to puke. He should stop drinking for now. They ordered the strongest beer after all. Although he was better at handling alcohol than Jhin, he wasn't the best. It's just that Jhin was weak!

So when the flow of the challenge changed, Van tried talking to the women beside him too.

The women beside him sighed in relief since they were not beside Jhin to hear his lame jokes. From there, they could hear the other sides' forced laugh so they happily received Van with a smile.

Looking at the women beside him, although not as gorgeous as the other female nobles, they still made him nervous.

Acting confident, Van greeted with a smile, "H-hello..."

"Hi~" the women openly greeted back.

"..." but there was no follow-up and there was only silence. After he stuttered at the very beginning, Van became too embarrassed to speak up. He silently went back to drinking again, ignoring the responses of the women.

'Oh, he's just a little shy.' the women thought as they led the conversation. Although women are more attracted to confident men, Van who was shy was better than Jhin who was so confident that he doesn't realize that his jokes weren't funny!

Having to endure boring jokes while having to force a laugh, the women were internally having a grudge towards Jhin.

"Your name is Van, right?" one girl initiated the conversation again.

"Uh, y-yeah..." Van wanted to disappear at that moment when he stuttered again. If Jhin couldn't handle beer, then Van couldn't handle women. He was too shy, that was why he was dancing earlier with closed eyes.

He wanted to look like he was having too much fun to talk to.

Being too embarrassed for stuttering the second time, Van went silent again.

But different women tried to initiate the talk with general questions as if they had already experienced this:

"You are still young. You should have fun."

"Yeah."

"How old are you, Van?"

"18"

"What is your hobby?"

"Elemental practice"

"What element are you?

"Water."

"Are you from Rianzares?"

"Yes"

"What makes you think you are fit for this job?"

"...."

"...."

"Oh, sorry, I work as an interviewer for the farmers, it just happened."

"Uh, okay. Wait, an interviewer for the farmers?" Van was so surprised that he asked.

Seeing that he finally continued the conversation, that woman who was mistaken earlier happily replied;

"Yes! You know about it?"

"Ah... no..."

"...."

"...."

"....." the suffocating silence came back again.

The women were now getting annoyed by Van's passiveness. With spiky hair, while having a rival who was easy with women, they thought that Van would be one of those "bad boys"

On the other side, there were forced waves of laughter, while on the other were an awkward silence and that was when a voice could be heard;

"I wonder who is really better at women."

"You mean from those two?"

"Yep, I mean, you know. Who's better at pleasing women. Hehe..." Kalin was talking to a man beside him after the woman he brought left.

"Oh, I see what you mean. But they can't just compete here in public, you know. No one will see who's the winner."

"But isn't there one measurable thing that pleasures woman?"