Because he had completely become a fixture of the tavern,
many customers came one after another just because there was a stray dog of a man in the tavern; for many, their amusement was watching this drunkard drink from morning until night,
to see just how long he could keep going.
This brought quite a bit of business to the tavern,
so the bartender didn't drive the middle-aged man away. Instead, he provided him with good food and drink, sometimes even on the house.
After all, even when drunk, this middle-aged man was very well-behaved, just sitting there quietly, unlike other drunks who would go on rampages once they were wasted.
And this drunkard was, naturally, Chris.
Not having been seen for several months, Chris's hair was a mess, his face was covered in stubble, his eyes were sunken and bloodshot, his gaze was vacant, and his cheeks were perpetually flushed from intoxication.
He wore only a bulky military-green coat,
reeking of alcohol and looking extremely disheveled.
It was impossible to associate him with the once high-spirited legendary hero of the BSAA, Chris Redfield.
As for the crew-cut men sitting nearby, they were members of the BSAA and Chris's subordinates.
If one looked closely,
there was also his second-in-command, Piers, looking worried and helpless, alongside a sullen Jake.
Fearing that Chris might do something suicidal, they came to the tavern every day to drink with him, watching over him the entire day; this had been going on for a full month.
Over the past month,
Chris had been drowning his sorrows in alcohol, getting himself completely wasted every day, attempting to numb himself with booze.
As for the cause of all this,
it naturally began with the mission they carried out in the Edonia Republic a month ago.
Carla set a trap and used the c-virus to infect several of the men Chris was leading; they all turned into bio-organic monsters.
Only Piers and Jake escaped infection.
At the critical moment, Jake stepped forward to buy time for Piers and Chris to escape. Piers carried the unconscious Chris away,
while Jake fought the c-virus monsters. Only after Piers and Chris had safely withdrawn did Jake flee in a hurry, dragging his heavily injured body behind him.
A large pool of blood was left behind in the underground passage,
and that blood happened to be extracted by Carla.
Although she hadn't captured Jake, obtaining the blood sample satisfied Carla's requirements, so she didn't pursue Jake too aggressively.
In the aftermath,
because the Edonia Republic's use of bio-weapons was thoroughly exposed by the BSAA,
the Eastern European powerhouse Russia personally arrived in the Edonia Republic to impose sanctions, with results similar to those in the Eastern Slav Republic.
The internal Revolutionary Rebel Army was completely wiped out,
and the original Government Forces were also completely dismantled. Russia oversaw the election of a new president to manage the Edonia Republic's government, preventing civil war from breaking out again.
Now, the Edonia Republic has regained a long-awaited peace, with everything waiting to be rebuilt; this tavern was also established quite recently.
As for Chris, the moment he woke up,
and learned the news that his entire unit had been wiped out except for himself, Piers, and Jake, he found it impossible to accept, falling into deep self-reproach, guilt, and regret.
This country has been revived,
but the souls of his subordinates and his own soul remained here forever.
Chris could not accept the cruel truth, and could only stay in this small tavern on the border of the Edonia Republic every day, drowning his sorrows.
Besides using alcohol to numb his pain, it was more about atoning to those dead subordinates.
It was all his negligence,
that led to so many deaths.
When he thought about how those subordinates also had loved ones waiting for them,
Chris's heart felt incomparable pain. He was a very incompetent captain, and even less deserving of being called a legendary hero; he was just a piece of trash...
"Another, another..."
"Give me another beer..."
Muttering muddled words, Chris took a crumpled banknote from his pocket and threw it onto the bar, giving instructions to the bartender with vacant eyes.
Even though he was drunk,
he was still a gentlemanly drunkard.
After all, your average drunkard wouldn't pay for their drinks while wasted.
Faced with such a sensible drunkard, the tavern's bartender was very welcoming. He paid and didn't cause trouble, just buried his head in his drink; he wished there were more drunkards like this...!
Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 14 The Stray Dog
Edonia Republic—
Inside a small border tavern,
"Captain, stop drinking...!"
"Have you forgotten those brothers who died? Their bodies aren't even cold yet, and the culprit hasn't been caught. How can you stay here drowning your sorrows?"
"Will drinking more alcohol bring them back to life? Or does this make it so you can act like nothing ever happened?"
"Right now the BSAA is like a dragon without a head. We need your leadership, Chris. Come back, come back and continue leading us on missions to eliminate the bio-virus."
"Those of us who joined the BSAA have been prepared for death from the moment we started. You don't need to worry about our safety. If we die, we die, as long as we can eliminate bioterrorism."
Seeing that Chris still intended to continue his bender,
Piers, his second-in-command who had been watching for a long time, finally couldn't take it anymore.
Initially... Piers just thought Chris was hit too hard by the total loss of his team,
so he needed a good rest for a while.
That was why Piers let Chris drink here; after all, even a legendary hero is human, and any human will inevitably get tired.
But,
it had been a full month.
Piers saw no sign of Chris mending his ways.
He was still drinking day and night, so Piers now understood that there was no chance of Captain Chris changing his ways on his own.
He intended to keep indulging himself like this because he was afraid... afraid of losing more subordinates.
But such a cowardly Chris was not the BSAA legendary hero that Piers, his second-in-command, once knew.
Therefore,
without any hesitation,
Piers intended to personally wake Chris's fighting spirit.
While grabbing Chris's shoulders and shaking him continuously, Piers also took out a PDA from his pocket and showed Chris pictures of their fallen comrades,
attempting to awaken Chris's memories.
On the screen were several newcomers like Finn who had just joined the BSAA, each face beaming with a smile full of hope for the future, along with each member's name and ID number.
"..."
Seeing this scene,
made the already guilty Chris even more pained.
He couldn't even bring himself to look at Piers, instead sitting there dejectedly without saying a word.
He even tried to reach for the glass on the bar to take another swig; besides drinking, Chris couldn't think of anything else he could do.
Watching this,
the surrounding BSAA members also showed expressions of disappointment. Was this really the legendary hero of the BSAA?
Where was the former high spirit and imposing ambition—?
Could a single setback leave him this decadent? People die on the battlefield, not to mention when destroying the plots of bioterrorist organizations.
In fact, just as Piers said,
they had been prepared for death from the moment they joined the BSAA.
So... they didn't want Chris to worry about their lives.
If they died, they died; in eighteen years they'd be heroes again.
What mattered was whether their lives had a purpose. If they could eliminate bioterrorism and contribute to world peace, they would have absolutely no regrets...!
"..."
"Goddamn bastard. Piers, you get the hell out of the way...!"
At this moment,
Jake, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, finally couldn't sit still anymore.
Watching Chris still trying to reach for the glass on the bar for another swig, Jake suddenly stood up from his stool.
He walked toward Chris with a face full of rage.
Pushing Piers aside, the hot-tempered Jake grabbed the drunken Chris by the collar and yanked the heavy man right off his chair.
"Hey, listen up...!"
"I don't care what you G.I. Joes want to do, but you still owe me money. You're their captain, Chris. If you're planning on skipping out on the bill, I won't let you off. Now there are only two paths in front of you,"
"One is to go back to America immediately and give me my three hundred thousand dollar reward, and the other is to snap out of it and go get me some revenge. I've never seen such a cowardly wimp as you."
"Someone killed your men, so go kill them back. What's the use of sighing here? That woman Ada Wong is still out there living it up!"
Gripping Chris's collar tightly,
Jake's bloodshot eyes stared intently at the drunken Chris before him, almost roaring these words.
Yes,
Jake couldn't stand it anymore.
It had been a whole month, a month of nothing but drinking, drinking, drinking.
He had never seen such a cowardly and incompetent fellow. You have to realize that the three hundred thousand dollar reward Chris promised him hadn't been paid out yet.
This made Jake very angry.
Damn it, we had a deal,
and now that your men are dead, you don't plan on paying me? Fat chance. Even if he had to drag Chris, Jake was going to get his three hundred thousand dollars.
And another important point was,
Jake saw his former cowardly and incompetent self in Chris. When his mother died, Jake had been just as decadent as Chris is now,
drowning his sorrows in alcohol all day, doing nothing,
wandering the streets like a stray dog, looking utterly pathetic and infuriating. Therefore, Jake didn't want to see Chris in this embarrassing state.
It reminded him of his past self. He wanted Chris to handle this like a real man—go get revenge!
Once revenge was taken, Chris would regain his fighting spirit,
he would feel better, and Jake himself could follow him back to America to get his three hundred thousand dollars.
BANG—!!!
"Pah, a stray dog... can you do anything besides scrounging for food in trash cans?"
Thinking of this,
Jake felt it wasn't enough.
He clenched his fist and raised it high. Holding Chris's collar with one hand, he swung his other fist hard into Chris's face. With a dull thud, Chris's face was battered, his cheek turning bright red and bleeding.