Team Bottling: Let's Have a Wrap-Up Party!

"Suul-chan! More mead and wine over here, please!"

Suul-chan took Sazaby's order with a beaming smile. There were two handsome men here tonight, so she was delighted. One was, of course, Sazaby. The other was Wickhart—not me...

Wickhart apparently rarely visited eateries in town, and he looked around with great interest. Come to think of it, he had reacted the same way at the eatery in Gederland's port.

"Since this place also doubles as a tavern, it has a rather different atmosphere from the eatery the other day," he said, looking pleased. That was all that mattered.

Like Frein, Wickhart also came from a good family. I was a little taken aback when I heard that he had had a private tutor for archery since childhood.

The people gathered at the inn in Tranza tonight were me, Sazaby, Wickhart, Nerphia, Dick, and Rufa—in other words, the members of Team Bottling, with Wickhart added.

Today was Team Bottling's wrap-up party. Since bottling was being taken over as a national enterprise, we'd gathered to celebrate our hard work, at least for now.

The expenses for this occasion could apparently be billed to the king through Nerphia, so the party was being held with an unlimited budget.

That said, even if we ate and drank our fill at this establishment, the bill would hardly amount to much.

Incidentally, only Nerphia, Sazaby, and I knew that the king was paying.

It all started when Nerphia and I happened to discuss having a wrap-up party on our way to Drew's room. The king heard about it by chance during Nerphia's report, and that was how this came about.

I wondered how Dick—who had been ordering his way through the menu from the top and single-mindedly devouring everything—would react if I told him that the king was treating us tonight. The thought amused me.

"You know, Wickhart-san! Roa-san is awful! He's trying to leave me out!"

Sazaby's alcohol was already beginning to take effect, and he was pestering Wickhart.

"No, that's not it. I was sure Nerphia would tell you!"

When I said that, Nerphia...

"Oh, surely you should ask about important matters yourself, shouldn't you, Sazaby?" she said, calmly sipping her wine with a cool expression.

What Sazaby was talking about concerned his future position.

As we'd discussed beforehand, Nerphia would also serve as one of my subordinates. Being both the king's servant and my subordinate sounded rather nonsensical when you put it into words.

Needless to say, Wickhart would remain as well. As for Rufa, even without the bottling work, she and I would continue managing the regular food stores and armory, so she would stay on.

As for Dick, after consulting with Rays-sama, he had officially come under my command. From now on, he would help Rufa and me manage the inventory while also accompanying us to the battlefield.

That left only Sazaby, but I had assumed all along that Nerphia had already told him.

Since Sazaby had said nothing until today, I had assumed he would return to his original job as the king's scribe. Sazaby, for his part, apparently thought that Nerphia would return to her original job as well.

Today, Sazaby learned that Nerphia would continue working as my subordinate too, and sulked, saying, "Why didn't you invite me!?" That was how this whole thing had come about.

I told him, as I'd told Nerphia, that I felt bad asking him to look after me when he was already busy. But he insisted on staying, saying, "Do you really think I could let go of such an interesting workplace, where I never know what you're going to do next?"

Sazaby and Nerphia were both highly capable, so I was grateful—but why did I feel somewhat uneasy about their assessment of me?

"Sazaby, you've had too much to drink." After Rufa warned him, Sazaby said, "But come on, Rufa-chaan," and tried to pester Rufa next, to her genuine annoyance.

Rufa had grown quite accustomed to everyone over the past few months, so she was probably genuinely happy to learn that they would be staying.

"By the way, Roa-sama, what are your plans from here on out?" Nerphia asked, showing no sign of drunkenness whatsoever.

"My plans? For now, I intend to take part in the discussions about the highway, but..."

"Aren't you hiding something else?" Nerphia's words were probing. I was hiding plenty of things, but I had no plans to tell her about them for the time being.

Speaking of plans, from now until Ludeck's destruction, the Tenth Knight Order was supposed to take part in two major battles: one this year, and another after the new year, shortly before Ludeck's destruction.

There would be minor skirmishes and missions as well, but at the very least, I wanted to firmly establish Rays-sama's trust in me by the time of the second battle. At that point, asking for his cooperation would be the best strategy I could currently envision against Lucifer=Belas.

"Roa-sama?"

My thoughts had nearly flown into the future again, but Nerphia pulled me back.

"Oh, sorry, sorry. Come to think of it, Rays-sama told me to take part in the new recruits' mock battle."

"Ah, yes, that's coming up soon. This year, the Tenth Knight Order and the Sixth Knight Order are apparently going to conduct new-recruit training."

Every year, this period shortly before the snow began to fall was a season of new encounters and farewells.

Some soldiers had grown too old for military service, while others had been injured and could no longer continue. Still others had made a silent return from the battlefield. The reasons varied, but departures from the knight orders were all processed around this time of year.

In their place, new recruits joined all at once.

By the time they joined, these recruits had already received a full course of training and been accepted into the knight orders. This exercise would be their first battle.

Whether you called it a baptism into the knight orders or a welcoming ceremony, it was a traditional event in which they were sent to the front line for their first large-scale battle, even if it was only a mock battle.

Most of the recruits were thoroughly trounced by the veteran soldiers before setting off for their respective knight orders.

Every year, the Tenth Knight Order and whichever other order had personnel to spare would command the recruits. This year, however, the opposing side would be the Sixth Knight Order, which was engaged in expanding the highway.

It was an annual event that drew spectators and had become a seasonal tradition of the royal capital. I had looked forward to it back when I was a civil official.

Who would have thought I'd end up participating rather than watching...?

With mixed feelings, I watched Sazaby repeatedly try to pester Rufa, only to receive a solid punch from her.