172-Chapter 11-6 Intrigue

There were many things that happened, but after we cleaned up our stains from the Wyvern battle, we were able to eat dinner safely... It didn't mean that we hadn't gotten a call from the innkeepers and guests, who had heard Chris's scream at the time and rushed over to us, demanding an explanation. But fortunately, the landlady, who knew she was related to the next lord (Leon), persuaded everyone, so we didn't have to deal with anything. But she said some kind of apology was necessary, so I asked the landlady to offer some kind of service to the guests at dinner time.

''But Grandpa you knew Amur was going to break in, didn't you?

At that time, while we were in a big hurry, only Grandpa was drinking without a care in the world. Even if he was a quintessentially old man with a lot of life experience, it was impossible for him not to show any reaction to a girl of his age breaking into the bath dressed as she might be naked. I suppose I would have at least taken a glance at it, but now that I think about it, it's strange that I didn't say anything to Amour at that time, but on the contrary, I felt strange about paying attention to us.

To tell the truth, Amur wanted to surprise Tenma, so he asked me to break into the bathroom. It looked interesting, so we gave our permission on the condition that it was not naked.

I was quite annoyed with my grandpa, who was laughing at me, saying things like. But Grandpa was drunk or maybe he didn't notice my anger, he turned his back to me and was looking for a snack to drink. So.........

No more muffins.

I decided to play a little prank back.

Well, I'll just have a few more drinks until Chris finishes his sermon.

When Grandpa heard Chris's voice, which could be heard all the way to our room, he put a plate of nibbles in front of him and tried to grab a mortuary with a bottle of sake in it, but

'Grandpa, hypothetically, Amour is a baroness. What were you going to do if Albert and Cain made a mistake?

I said, casually grabbing the virtue bottle first and pouring the sake into Grandpa's boiler.

'Hey, Temma!'

'You're not Leon, I wouldn't do that!

You don't say you're going to make a mistake...

Grandpa tsked at me and paid attention to the two noisy people, so he didn't notice anything unusual about the alcohol that had been poured for him. And then he took a gulp of it and....

Uh-huh!　Haha!　Yikes!

I struggled. To tell the truth, I had stuck a number of dried chili peppers into the sake bottle I had just poured. Moreover, I had made it spicy and hot enough to drink it all at once.

''To poison Master Merlin...''

'Temma what a horrible child...'

Tenma, I'm sorry I'm sorry and I'll get you some water...　

I heard that water doesn't work, so I guess I'll take milk instead.

Ignoring their shocked expressions, I handed the milk to my grandpa, who asked for help. Grandpa seemed to have an idea why I had been peppered (poisoned). When I handed him the milk, he apologized again and started to sip it down.

Hoho!　This could kill you in shock if you have a weak heart!

Cain, who had taken a lick of the chili-infused liquor that he had given his grandfather to drink, has an evil look on his face while saying such things. Just by looking at that face, we understood that he was thinking about something stupid.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm sorry I'm late. Did you eat?

At that time, Rion came back from the discussion at the right time. The minds of all the men, except for Cain at this time, were probably united. ''Rion, it's over....

Not yet. We're having a bit of a problem, and we're waiting for the ladies to arrive. We're going to have a drink and wait until the ladies are ready.

Saying that, Cain poured the liquor with chili peppers from earlier into a cup and handed it to Rion. Before he knew it, he had a cup of water in his opposite hand for himself, and the moment Rion received the liquor, he said "Cheers" and brought the cup closer to him.

In the sequence of events, Rion was swept away and lightly placed his own cup against Cain's cup and agitated it at once. And then.

Phew!　Phew!　Phew!　Hoho!

The same thing happened to my grandfather. Cain must have been laughing so hard when he saw that........

'My eyes, my eyes, my eyes!

He was rolling around on the floor after receiving a direct hit from the pepper wine that Rion had sprayed on him.

By the way, Rion's spray reached Albert, who was a short distance away from Cain, and Albert was rolling around on the floor just like Cain.

'Temma you must not manufacture or use pepper wine in the future it's too much.

Yeah. I'll try to refrain from manufacturing and using it as much as possible from now on.

I only agreed with the second half of my grandfather's words, while he said, "At least don't use it on me," but I dared to pretend not to hear him. Now I would refrain from going along with Amur's pranks in the future.

''Sorry for making you wait~...............................What happened!　Besides, my eyes are kind of stinging!

Chris, who had apparently finished his sermon to Amur, was surprised to see the three of them squirming on the floor, and also complained of an oddity in his eyes, wondering if the ingredients of Leon's spray of chili wine were still in the air.

'Well, it's the result of the three of us flirting, as usual. And Chris, I think your eyes are better washed with oil or milk than water.

Albert dealt with Chris and Cain by washing his eyes with milk, and Leon was sipping milk just like his grandfather.

After Chris's recovery, the three of them were questioned by me about why it happened, and I found out that it was because of the chili wine I had made.

'Ugh, my eyes are still twitching,'

Albert's still in a good place. I've had my mouth and throat damaged and my eyes damaged as well.

But looking at it this way, it's a rare sight to see Cain being the only one who's angry with Chris-san. It's usually just Rion alone, or all three of us together.

Temma really does talk about things that don't belong to him...

Because it's somebody else's problem. For example, just because someone is killed by a knife, doesn't mean the craftsman who made it can't be punished as well.

''Temma, it's about time........why is Cain-sama angry this time?''

Maybe it was because Chris was too late to call us, but this time Jeanne came to the room. Apparently, Chris-san had called us and was planning to go straight to dinner. The reason why Aura and Amur didn't show up was because Amur's leg, which had been angered by Chris-san's sitting on his back, seemed to be very numb, and he was late because Aura was moving on his back.

'So what's going on at the border now, you say?

After Chris-san's sermon to Cain, we moved to the cafeteria and decided to order and immediately ask Leon what the discussion was about.

It seems that the two sides are holding each other in check at the moment, and there is no movement. But since our side's reinforcements are gradually increasing, it's hard to say that they won't force their way through.

So you want to make a move that will scare them off?

But if we attack them too soon, we'll give them a reason to attack us and that's a problem.

At my words, Grandpa brought up the problem, and Chris and the rest of the noble group (excluding Amur) nodded in response.

It's a good idea to have a few of them in the back of the room, but if you do that, it could have the opposite effect. Let's just say 'there's nothing we can do' and go home now, shall we?

'Yes!　I'm going to go home and mope around.

''I'd like to agree with Amur, but since I've been able to request it, I have to show up at the site and come to a conclusion, and I have to meet with the frontier count to discuss the wyvern in the first place, right?　It's a bad idea to go home like this.

At Chris's point, Jeanne and Aura hurriedly lowered the hand they had been about to raise.

'Come to think of it, it was. It can't be helped, let's just go there. Leon, you've been given the terrain of the place where we're staring at each other, right?　We'll use that as the basis for our strategy.

Ooh, right away!　 I'm starving for quicksand.

I noticed the proprietress bringing the food we ordered to our table with a sideways glance, Rion.

There was no one to oppose the words of "I'm not going to be able to do anything about it," and we went straight into a lively dinner party. In the middle of the meal, grandpa offered everyone a drink, so we were not in a place to discuss strategy afterwards, but I heard Aura mutter, "If you're eating good food in a place where your opponent can't fight back, it's going to be a huge harassment," and depending on how you use it, it can be quite effective. I got what I thought might be a hint that it might be

'Ugh I think I'm going to puke...'

'Hey, Leon, if you're going to throw up, go outside and away!

What makes Leon, on the client's side, have the worst hangover of all?

'It's because it's Leon. Besides, he's most efficient when he's just standing there, doing nothing, saying nothing, just standing there.

There was more of a sting in his voice than usual, as if Cain and Albert were a little pissed off. Well, I suppose that's just the way it is. After all, Leon, who was supposed to be working the hardest, was useless due to the fact that he'd had too much to drink at yesterday's dinner party. More than anything else, if they keep saying "I'm going to vomit" near them, they can't help but get upset.

Chris, Cain and Albert all seem to have some of yesterday's liquor left in them, but it's enough to not interfere with their movements, so it's within the acceptable range.

Incidentally, Amur is also in a pretty bad state of hangover, but since Amur's position is different from Leon's, he only needs a warning from everyone that he's drinking too much.

'You two, I'll stop the carriage for a moment, go get comfortable away from it. In the meantime, I'll get you some medicine.

After saying that, they stopped the carriage and ran into the bushes at once, spitting out the stuff in their stomachs in a grand manner.

Chris and the others in the carriage didn't seem to hear the sounds they made, but I, who was playing the role of an official, heard them perfectly.

'I'm going to make you drink something really bitter.

I was the one waiting for the two of them, looking somewhat paler than I was going, as I prepared the bitterest of the hangover pills I had brought for my grandfather.

'It was a terrible experience...'

Temma is an ogre.

Stop complaining. Good medicine is bad for the soul. The medicine worked, didn't it?

They complained about the taste of the hangover medicine, but the effect seemed to be immediate, and they seemed to have more energy to complain about it.

The plan is for the Frontier Count army to be in sight by now, right?　Someone will be coming to verify our identity, so be ready to prove your identity at all times, Rion. We're not going to do anything like that town, for sure.

I know, I know.

As he said that, Rion took out a board from his pocket with the family crest of the Haust Frontier Count family engraved on it.

Chris-senpai, please prepare something that identifies you as a kinsman just in case. We'll prepare our own family crests, too.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a safe bet.

The three of us begin to prepare something that can prove our identities, with Rion at our side, who can't say anything due to the precedent, even if we wanted to. I also prepared a letter of request from the Count of the Frontier and the family crest of the Otori family, just in case.

A few minutes after each of the preparations were completed, several knights appeared on horseback, as expected. I'm sure you'll be able to find a good deal more information on this topic.

It's time for you to go.

Okay, I'm on it!

Rion is eager to avenge his past reputation, but behind him...

A thousand G's for not recognizing Leon.

'Then I'm a thousand G's to 'I don't know' as well as Chris senior.

Sufficient!　Me too!　A thousand Gs!

Hmmm........then I'm two thousand Gs!

I'll ride. Five hundred Gs!

A knight like you should be able to recognize the face of the next lord... 5,000 G

"Well, let's see, I'll give you five hundred g's for Master Merlin.

And the betting was going on. Hearing this, Rion was getting angry, "Don't be ridiculous," he said in a voice so small that everyone behind him couldn't hear him. Maybe he wasn't so sure about it either, around not getting angry in a loud voice there.

''That carriage there........Rion-sama!　I'm sorry!

The knight in the lead was about to stop our carriage as soon as he approached, but he noticed Rion right beside me and dismounted.

'Yup!　I want to see it!

It should have been obvious, but Rion exploded with joy and barked at the five people behind him who bet on 'I don't know'.

The dismounted knight who was watching the situation was puzzled, but for the time being, in order to proceed, he showed them the request form, proved my identity, and told them that I had come to reinforce them.

Incidentally, there were five knights who came to greet us (to warn us). Among them, three of them seemed to have noticed Rion's identity right away, while the other two seemed to have lost their way for a moment and made a move on the other three. Well, there was no need to tell Rion. It's just a cute little thing to do.

''This is the operations room. The supreme commander this time is the Deputy Commander of the Haust Frontier Count Knights, Lord Lila Agrissa.

Saying that, the guiding knight opened the entrance to the tent that served as the operations room and let us in. He said it would be better to greet the person in charge of this battlefield first, so in addition to me and Rion, Chris-san, Cain and Albert were to go with us. When I asked him if he wanted to go, he said, "It's a bother, so I'll just stay here and have a cup of tea. I'm worried about Jeanne and the others," he said.

In front of the entrance was a supreme commander by the name of Laila. It's a large, muscular.......woman.

It's been a long time, Leon-sama. Good to see you, Master Rion, and Master Cain and Albert. And thank you for the reinforcements, Mister Otori and Mister Chris.

It seems that the deputy commander is also acquainted with Cain and Albert. Although the three of them returned the greetings normally, I was a little late in reacting to the term 'Otori-dono', which I'm not usually used to hearing, and my reaction was delayed. When the deputy commander saw this, he said.....

''No, an apology came first, rather than a greeting. In the incident in Kukri village, it was completely our knight's (...) fault. I am truly sorry.

I bowed my head and uttered an apology. As far as casually saying 'of the Order' instead of 'of the Haust Frontier Count', he may have intended to do so without looking at my reaction from the beginning. It's probably a performance of some sort, but it looked like he was sincerely apologizing, and since he received an apology through Rion for that story in the first place, it would be easier to act in the future if he didn't point it out and acted in accordance with the deputy commander.

'I accept your apology. I'd be lying if I said I didn't care, but we're past that. Well then, now that we've met face to face, I'll step back once I've done so. I'm not prepared for this, as I just arrived. Also, if you see my family members, please notify them not to attack me. I'm not sure what they will do if attacked, since they are violent demons by nature.

As I deliberately sounded spiky, a sour mood began to drift from the knights who were waiting around the Vice Commander, but I ignored them, shook hands with the Vice Commander and left the tent. When I looked back for a moment as I left the tent, the deputy commander was calming the knights around him with his hand clenched in mine.　

'Hey, Temma-kun. What's going on?

I'm not doing anything wrong. I didn't come here to get acquainted with you, so that's pretty good.

As soon as we arrived, we were called to the tent in the operations room, or perhaps it bothered them that we were called to the operations room's tent, and as we passed through the soldiers of the frontier county family, hired mercenaries, and adventurers who had come with a request, we aimed for the carriage at a speed fast enough to leave a surprised-looking Chris-san behind.

By the way, Chris was the only one who came out of the tent with me, and the other three had to stay behind because they couldn't leave with me due to their positions. Probably because of me, the air in the tent is probably close to the worst, but I hope they will bear with me, even if it's something that they have to experience as nobles.

''Grandpa, do you have a place we can use?''

Ooh, I'm making sure we can use the tent at a distance from the other tents and in the middle of nowhere, just as Temma instructed.

So, let's get moving.

Grandpa chose a spot where the nearest tent was nearly fifty meters away with no obstructed view around it, so it was easy to see if anyone approached here.

'As soon as possible, though, let's get ready to make camp. Jeanne and the others asked them to build a fire at a distance from the carriage. Amur was on the lookout for anyone who might come close to us. Grandpa, go build a fence to prevent anyone from setting up a tent in the immediate area. I want at least twenty meters from the carriage.

I instructed the four of them to set up a toilet for the people who would be standing guard outside... but...

Hey, Temma!　What was up with that whole "pick a fight" thing earlier?　Maybe when you actually see each other in person, you remember the old days?

Chris was so worried about me that he wouldn't leave my side, so I thought I'd have a little chat with him...

'Temma!　What the hell is wrong with you?

'Leon was confused by the way he was acting all of a sudden.

Albert and Cain are back. They said Leon was late because he had other things to talk about and was confused about coming back to me.

'Welcome back, both of you. By the way, how did the knights react after I left?

What?　No, well, it was roughly two ways, wasn't it?

It was.

How did the deputy commander react?

'That didn't seem to bother him too much. He seemed surprised at first, but he was soon placating the knights who seemed to be antagonistic.

I couldn't help but smile as I thought the first step of the operation was a success after listening to the two of them.

''Wow ... you look like a bad Temma.

You mean, that was a deliberate act, right?

'What?　

Well, that's the thing. It's not really something to talk about out there, but actually, you know.