Drew's Forgotten Item

"Ah, Nelfia told you? I see."

A few days later, I asked Sazaby the same question in my room and got an extremely casual reply.

"Either way, what I have to do won't change," he said lightly.

Sazaby had a point, but still. Oh, well.

"Oh, by the way, is Nelfia a noble?"

I'd forgotten to ask Nelfia the other day, so I decided to ask Sazaby now.

"No, not exactly. The king granted Nelfia noble status, so Nelfia has a family name. Same as Rays-sama."

I see.

"Can you tell me one more thing?"

"What is it?"

"As members of the Eighth Knight Order, can I ask Nelfia or you to do something?"

"Ah, I see. You can hear a request out, sure. But normally, you need the king's permission before taking action. Still, if we think it serves the country's interests, we may act on our own judgment, like we did with Zetta."

"So during the Zetta incident, you acted on your own judgment as a member of the Eighth Knight Order?"

"That's right."

Just then, Dick came by, so we left the conversation there. There was a rule against spreading word about the Eighth Knight Order, after all.

Dick had come to give me a simple work report. When it was over, Sazaby said he'd help out, too, and the two of them left the room.

Once I was alone, I suddenly had nothing to do. What should I do?

I considered helping with food supplies, but lately they hadn't been letting me get involved much.

We had a new recruit named Lenny now, and Lufa, Dick, and Wickhart had all gotten the hang of things. Sazaby and Nelfia helped out sometimes, too, and when we needed more hands, members of Ryuzel's or Frain's squad pitched in.

Now that we had a new recruit, Ryuzel and Frain had gently hinted that they'd like me to stay put and act like a proper squad leader. It felt as though food management had passed out of my hands.

Wickhart still had another day or two before he'd be back from his visit home...

Then I found myself wondering what Drew was up to.

I might get to see something interesting again. Should I go take a look? Oh, right—I could bring the sweets I'd bought in Geadland the other day. Judyano and Hornet might like them, too.

So I ambled through the castle. Come to think of it, it had been a while since I'd walked around the castle alone. Wickhart or someone else was usually with me.

No one stopped me, and I soon reached Drew's room. I gave the door a light knock.

"Drew, are you there?"

At my call, I heard Judyano reply, "Y-yes, y-yes!" and invite me inside. Drew seemed to have just woken up and was sitting there dazed, with his bedhead in full force.

"Huh? Just you and Drew, Judyano? Where's Hornet?"

"Hornet went to the workshop where they're making the Ten-Knight Bow."

"Oh, I see. Well, here's a souvenir from Geadland. Share it with everyone."

"Th-thank you very much!"

Judyano had gotten a lot more comfortable around me, but she was still like this. I worried about whether she'd be able to give instructions to the craftspeople, but apparently she was fine as long as they weren't important people. She got nervous whenever someone important was around.

...But I'm not important, am I? Maybe it's because I do have the title of squad leader...

Anyway.

They opened the souvenir right away and served it to us with the tea Judyano had made.

They were simple baked sweets made to keep for a long time, but the hint of salt brought out their sweetness. They tasted pretty good with tea.

I chatted with Drew and Judyano for a while... or rather, since Drew still hadn't booted up and was only going "ob, ob," I mostly had a halting conversation with Judyano.

Production of the Ten-Knight Bow was going well. They were almost ready to supply units in the Tenth Knight Order other than the Roa Squad.

"So you've been busy with the Ten-Knight Bow lately, then?"

"Y-yes. Drew-san seems to be trying to improve the Ten-Knight Bow even further, too..."

"Huh? Even more than it already is?"

"Well, it doesn't seem to be going very well..."

I figured. It already seemed pretty much finished. I couldn't imagine it getting dramatically better from here, though it was hard not to think, "But if it's Drew..."

Right after that conversation...

"Oh, right."

Drew, who'd been slowly munching on the baked sweets until then, suddenly turned to look at me.

"I made something interesting, you know?"

"You did?"

"I forgot to show it to you."

Apparently, the crossbow had already been finished when Rays-sama and the others gathered to decide on a name for the Ten-Knight Bow, but Drew had forgotten to show it to us.

"It's over there."

Where Drew pointed, I saw a rather large object covered with a white cloth.

"Can I take the cloth off?"

"Yes~"

With permission, I pulled off the cloth, and there was...

"...Is this a giant crossbow?"

It was a huge iron crossbow mounted on a base. There was no way one person could wield it. Judging by its stand, it was meant to be fixed in place somewhere. Somewhere like... a fortress, for example.

"Does it have a bolt, too?"

"Beside it."

That was huge, too. It was about as thick as my arm.

"Can this... actually be fired?"

"In theory."

So they hadn't test-fired it yet.

But this could be useful. Against the First Knight Order.

"Hey, Drew, can you make a few of these?"

"I can't make a lot. They take up space, too."

"I'll figure out where to put them. Just make as many as you can."

"If I can tinker with it some more first..."

"Of course. Do whatever you like."

"Then that's settled. I'll make them."

"All right, then I'll go get permission from Rays-sama! See you later!"

Leaving the two of them staring blankly after me, I hurried off to Rays-sama's office.