Chapter 76
The plan to build a horse-racing facility was conveyed to the king by Prince Zelando, as planned.
The prince's explanation was persuasive because he had actually seen a successful example, and approval was granted far more easily than expected.
"And I'm being dragged along to inspect the facility in Golbel... What kind of lineup is this?"
The king suggested that it would be best to see Golbel's facility in person before construction began, so Sazaby was apparently selected for the hastily assembled delegation as well.
Sazaby came to my office and complained. But I wasn't the one who chose the delegation, so there wasn't much I could say.
Besides Sazaby, the delegation traveling to Golbel consisted of the twins, Frein, Hornet from the Weapons Development Department, a young soldier named Fuman from the Sixth Knight Order, and Rivote.
...I understood what Sazaby was getting at. It was hard to deny that this was a rather eccentric group.
However, there were perfectly sound reasons for each of these choices.
To begin with, the twins were the two who had originally started horse racing. They would probably notice many things by seeing the facility for themselves. They had also strongly requested to come along. Well, they were the usual combination.
Frein was an obvious choice as well. He and Ruzel had argued a little over which of them would go on the inspection, but Frein ultimately won the right.
Frein was just as busy as I was, so I hoped this would provide him with a pleasant change of pace.
As for Hornet, the prince suggested that if any sort of structure needed to be built, it would be better to have someone in the development department who had seen the actual facility.
Drew was currently staying in Northern Rudek, so Hornet was chosen in his place.
Fuman was dispatched from the Sixth Knight Order, which handled civil engineering work. He was quite a character as well, preferring civil engineering to fighting. Fogado-san had recommended him.
I wasn't sure about Rivote, but perhaps Rivote thought it would somehow benefit the Empire. In any case, Rudek had no place interfering in matters concerning Rivote.
"Come now. Nelfia's joining us later too, right? Then it should be fine, shouldn't it?"
"Well, that's true."
The mention of Nelfia improved Sazaby's mood somewhat. As usual, Nelfia had been showing off her workaholic tendencies, so the king had issued her an order to take forced leave.
Recently, either Sazaby or Nelfia had usually been somewhere nearby, so having both of them absent was a little unusual.
"If anything comes up while I'm away, please leave word with Civi."
Civi, whom Nelfia introduced, was a peculiar woman: bright and fond of conversation, yet somehow difficult to remember.
"You can leave everything to me. By the way, I'd be delighted if you could tell me how Roa-sama and Rapilia-sama first met," she said, coming on strong from the very beginning.
"...Well, she can get a little noisy, so just humor her as needed," Nelfia advised me.
Wickhart stood in Civi's way and declared, "If you have any business, I will handle it in Roa-dono's place," after which the two of them stared each other down for a while.
This somehow led to a strange standoff, with the two of them smiling defiantly at each other.
...For now, I decided to leave Civi to Wickhart.
In any case, Nelfia was to join Sazaby and the others in Golbel as soon as she finished the work she had in hand.
"Rivote can be left to the twins, and Frein will be there too, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"
"You make it sound easy, Roa-dono. Why don't you just come with us?"
"I'd love to go, but with Frein going away for such a long time, I can't exactly go along too."
Frein always kept the Tenth Knight Order firmly under control while I wandered around here and there, so I needed to be responsible once in a while.
After finishing his complaints, Sazaby seemed satisfied for the time being, and a few days later he departed the royal capital with the others.
As for Ruzel, who was staying behind this time, he was busy with preparations of his own.
Ruzel had been entrusted with the entire training of the Tenth Knight Order's recruits, and he was using that role as a pretext to busy himself with foundation work under the guise of training.
It was quite an abuse of his authority, but the facility had the king's approval. Besides, I had done something similar in Tutu myself before, so I couldn't complain.
Even so, he was properly training the recruits, just as one would expect of Ruzel. I occasionally went with the prince and Rufa to check on things, and the construction appeared to be progressing smoothly.
I stayed busy day after day, and before long it was time for Sazaby and the others to return.
When Sazaby returned, the first thing out of his mouth was,
"Roa-dono's a liar! It was incredibly hard!"
Apparently, it had been another delightful journey, which was good to hear.
Judging from everyone's reports, Golbel's horse-racing facility seemed to be quite something.
If I recall correctly, the King of Golbel said that a nobleman so passionate about horse racing had invested his own fortune in it.
"Darby-sama, right?"
"Ah, yes, that was his name."
"Golbel is establishing a horse-racing association, and Darby-sama is apparently going to be appointed its first chairman."
"They've taken it quite seriously, haven't they?"
"Yes, I was surprised too. But, looking ahead, Rudek might want to establish some sort of governing organization as well."
"That's true. Perhaps Frein or Ruzel could take the lead."
"I think so too."
Thus began construction of the horse-racing facility. Frein and Ruzel's labor of love took nearly a year to complete.
Once it was finished, Frein became the first president of the Rudek Horse Racing Association, with Ruzel as vice president.
Their names were inscribed in history as the fathers of horse racing's development.