Touken Ranbu Fanfiction: The Night of Parting, Returning from the Dead

I'm a tavern owner, and I don't like drinking.

I think a tavern owner who doesn't drink, or at least doesn't like drinking, has the professional integrity the job demands. It's like how a brothel keeper shouldn't be lecherous. Otherwise, when the establishment buys a new girl, before any customer gets a chance, you're already eyeing her. The madam has to guard against fire, thieves, and suicide, and now she has to worry about you, the pimp, sneaking into her room too. Then, once the girl has mastered music, chess, calligraphy, and painting and is put on display for business, she resigns herself to her fate, powders her face, and dresses up to entertain the guests. Meanwhile, you stand there glaring with jealousy, as if your own wife has cheated on you. The client gets so scared he runs half a street away. How are you supposed to run a business like that?

Of course, not liking alcohol doesn't mean you can't drink, much less that you can't tell good wine from bad. For a tavern owner, knowing your wine and having good drinking manners are essential skills. If you know your wine, the merchants can't cheat you and make your silver go to waste. And if you hold your liquor well, when circumstances force you to drink with customers, you can stay on your feet and be the last one sober. That way, you can make sure to get customers who are too drunk to stand or think safely back to their homes, and stop anyone from skipping the bill while you're drunk.

So I set myself the goal of being a tavern owner who can drink, knows her wine, holds her liquor, and doesn't love alcohol. So far, I think I've done pretty well.

As for why I opened a tavern, it came from a secret interest that's not easy to admit: listening to stories.