Chapter 23
A few days after Roa was recruited by the Tenth Knight Order.
"Hey, look at that. He's doing something weird again."
Derek pointed at Drew, who was squatting facing the wall and muttering something under his breath.
"Well, well, he's not bothering anyone, so let him be." Yold intervened, and Derek fell silent with a sheepish look on his face.
Drew was the sort of oddball people considered a genuine eccentric, and his fellow civil officials often teased him, but Derek had not meant to make fun of him.
Normally, this was where Derek would bring up Roa, who was likewise reputed to be an eccentric, and Roa would protest—the usual ritual.
He had only wanted to banter with Roa, not disparage Drew.
It had only been a few days since Roa left, but Derek had slipped back into their old banter without thinking, and now felt a little awkward.
That was the extent of Derek's relationship with Drew. They occasionally exchanged words over paperwork, but for the most part they were strangers, with no dealings or interest in one another.
So he never dreamed that, several years later, things would turn out as they did.
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Derek and Yold were called in by Roa some time after Roa Stein's wedding.
They had come to the dining room of an inn called Tranza in response to Roa's invitation: "I want to give you two a proper report too, so let's get something to eat."
It was a popular establishment that had recently become the talk of Rudectrad, and reservations were difficult to get.
"Well, that's Roa Stein for you..." Roa probably didn't need a reservation. At Derek's exasperated remark, Yold made a show of wiping the drool from his mouth. "I wonder what kind of food they'll serve. I'm looking forward to it."
The Tranza Inn had become popular because the higher-ups of the Tenth Knight Order used it like their regular haunt.
The place had apparently once separated ordinary customers from the knights with screens, but thanks to its reputation as a favorite of the Tenth Knight Order—and absurd rumors that various royals came there incognito—the inn was packed day after day. It was eventually expanded, and private rooms for dignitaries were built at the same time.
Naturally, Derek and the others were shown into one of those private rooms.
"Ah, there you are. Thanks for coming. Sorry to bother you when you're so busy."
Roa himself was there to greet them.
"Not as busy as you. Sorry to keep you waiting, though."
Roa was already someone far above them in status, but at his own strong insistence, Derek and the others continued to speak to him just as they always had.
It seemed Derek and the others were the last to arrive.
"Suru-chan, could you start preparing the drinks and food?" Lapiria-sama said to the serving girl. Apparently familiar with her, the girl cheerfully replied and left the room.
The people gathered today were civil officials who were close to Roa but had not attended his recent wedding.
Roa said, "It would have been nice if I'd been able to invite you to the wedding," but Derek absolutely would have declined.
Just having his own country's king attend would have been intimidating enough; there was no way he wanted to be thrown into a gathering that included the Empire's Emperor, the Fourth Prince, and other figures whose very mention was enough to make him weary.
Even aside from that, it had not been a wedding Derek and the others could have attended, but Roa seemed to have worried about it, so he arranged this gathering afterward.
Seated at the table were Roa, Lapiria-sama, and Wickhart-sama. There was also Lenny, a young member of the Tenth Knight Order. Lenny did work much like Roa's secretary, so he often interacted with the administrative staff, and Derek knew him well.
Then there were Drew, Judiano, and Hornet from the Weapons Division.
Roa was impressive, but the members of the Weapons Division were probably among those whose status had changed most dramatically in such a short time. To fellow civil officials, the Weapons Division's rapid rise was even more tangible.
Roa's proposed Ten Knights' Bow, the invention of the Ballista, and the design of new ships.
The Weapons Division's achievements were immeasurable. It had begun with just one person; then two newcomers who had failed to fit in anywhere else were thrown in to assist him, making the department something like a dumping ground. Now it had grown into a large department with more than twenty people under its command.
Even so, Drew was as busy as ever with his eccentric antics and never gave his subordinates instructions, so Judiano and Hornet were the ones running the department.
――Man, every last one of them is incredible.――
Derek was simply impressed. How could things have changed this much in just a few years since Roa stopped being at their side?
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
As the serving girl's cheerful voice rang through the room, several other servers entered all at once.
Drinks and food were placed on the table one after another. The mouthwatering aromas hit Derek right in the stomach, and he stopped thinking and turned his gaze toward the food.
"Now then, has everyone got a drink?"
At Roa's cue, everyone raised their cups.
"Um... well, as you all know, I married Lapiria."
Roa looked a little embarrassed, and Lapiria-sama's face was red as well.
Seeing them like that, Derek thought to himself:
After everything that had happened, these two really did have the most incredible wedding of all.