CH 269

My mother, Karl, and Dorte are having a blast drinking. Dorte will get off tomorrow, so it might be fine, but Mother and Karl have to go back to Cien on another boat trip tomorrow, so I don’t know if they’ll get seasick.

“Speaking of which, Ms. Dorte, you said that you’ve never drunk this alcohol before, but have you ever had the alcohol from Demon Country?” I asked.

Our local alcohol is an imitation Japanese sake made thanks to Mikoto. The recipe and yeast were originally made by imitating the Demon Country’s methods. Of course, there are some strokes of ingenuity and differences, but basically, they are similar.

Well, even Japanese sake and our locally made sake change in an infinite variety of ways, depending on the land, water, rice, yeast, and how you process it. In a word, sake and imitation sake are completely different things. If you say that our sake and the sake of the Demon Country are different, then they should be completely different things.

But Dorte said that she never drank it without saying that it was similar to the alcohol of the Demon Country. Does that mean she’s never drunk alcohol from the Demon Country? Considering the connection between the Kingdom of Del and the Demon Country, it seems likely that she would have drank alcohol if you were in a position similar to Dorte’s…

“There’s no way a mere sailor like me can get something like that from the Demon Country! How much do you think it would cost!?” a red-faced and drunk Dorte says as she raises her glass.

Apparently, there is an economic disparity between the Demon Country and the Kamaal Alliance, or the difference in prices and the movement of goods may be a more significant problem than I thought.

Dorte and Bengt should be in a reasonably good position in the army. At the very least, they should have the ranks of a frontline commander. But it’s far too much for a person of such a position to be unable to drink alcohol from the Demon Country.

“Is that so…?” Dorte said. “So this is the sake of the Demon Country, huh~? No wonder it’s good!”

“It would be nice if you liked it, but unfortunately it is alcohol made in our territory and not the alcohol of the Demon Country,” I said. “The manufacturing process and other factors are very similar, so I suppose you could say it originated from the Demon Country…”

I don’t want to brag about it, but I need to correct her properly. Intellectual property rights and patent rights are not well defined in this era. Even if we imitate the sake of the Demon Country, no one will complain.

That’s why it’s not a legal problem, but if you drink our sake and think you drank the Demon Country’s sake, there’s a possibility that we’ll have various problems. If Dorte told the people around her that she drank sake from the Demon Country, and it turned out that it was actually our sake, it might lead to some avoidable misunderstandings. 1

“Hou… is your hometown under the protection of the Demon Country?” Dorte asked.

Something about Dorte makes me feel sad when she gets drunk… she had a scary and intimidating expression, but she was a beautiful woman… when she’s drunk and talking like this… she’s kind of rough… or she’s not feminine… I feel so sorry for her. I’m sure it’s the type that everyone thinks you’re pretty at first at a joint party, but once you get drunk, you lose your appeal.

“My hometown is certainly in contact with the Demon Country, but it has nothing to do with it,” I said. “Rather, it’s a relationship that had us cross spears with each other many times.”

I don’t know directly. I have never heard that there was open warfare with the Demon Country since I was born. Perhaps, when I was young, I didn’t talk about such things at home, and there might have been a conflict somewhere. But I have never heard that there was a war or conflict openly and clearly while I was alive.

“What was that?! Outrageous! Where is your hometown!? I will crush them!”

Wow…. Dorte’s attractiveness as a woman is steadily declining… I don’t think she’s my enemy or that I don’t like her, but… I wonder if this is what a disappointing beauty feels like…

“Oh my? Are you challenging me?” Mother said, quickly standing up with a slightly cold smile. “Then shall I be the one to deal with you?” she says as she walks briskly…

“Hold! Hold a moment, Mother! Don’t let that thing out!” I said.

My mother is trying to bring out her stowed spear. I panicked and stopped her. It’s no secret that Dorte is harassing Mother, but if Mother goes on a rampage on the ship, this thing will sink. We just have to avoid it.

“Hou! It will be a wonderful sight to see the spear handling of Maria von Carruthers, the Bloody Maria!”

Hey! Karl! Don’t provoke her! My mother is easy to get along with! If you say such a thing, she might just get serious!

“Wait, that spear! Gungnir! And “Bloody Maria’?!” Dorte yelled. “You’re not saying… this is Maria von Carruthers?!”

Eh… is this spear called Gungnir? What do they mean? It’s unnecessarily cool, but… or is it a spear of some god? 2

“No. This child is Gae Bolg. 3 It’s not Gungnir.”

Huh, is that so? Is not the thing to say here! It’s weird either way! Why does my mother have such a legendary spear? I mean, does Dorte know about “Bloody Maria” too…? How famous is my mother…?

“I’m sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t know,” Dorte said.

And Dorte was now kneeling on the ground. Did it happen to be a pose like prostrating herself? Is there a kowtow here too? Maybe it came from the Demon Country.

Anyway, I have to manage this chaotic drinking party, somehow.

Somehow I managed to calm down my mother and Dorte and have them take their seats. If my mother starts acting violently, even I won’t be able to stop her.

“Even I was scared… a huge ship approached us with unknown affiliation… I thought it was the start of a war…” Dorte whimpered.

“That’s… well… I can only say it was bad for me too…” I said.

For some reason, I’m comforting Dorte, who is now crying and crying. Dorte seems to be in a fairly senior position, but she doesn’t seem to have any actual combat experience. She has only heard about Bloody Maria as a legend but has never seen her in action.

Although she looks like an elite, she’s never been in a battle, and usually only does coast guard patrols and inspections. It seems that it was nothing but scary for her, the incident earlier.

Was it wrong to trust Mikoto because she said it would be fine if we had the flag up…? Normally, it would be foreshadowing for trouble, but this time I approached taking her word at its face, thinking that it would be okay. Domestically, it was fine, but it was bad for the foreigners.

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Thanks to that, the Kingdom of Del hardened its attitude and sent out warships to surround us. Furthermore, that we weren’t invited to the royal palace and only Mikoto was invited was probably due to her position. If we were enemies, we wouldn’t be able to easily enter the royal palace. It’s only natural for them to keep an eye on us at the port and try to talk to Mikoto only.

“U~iih. I’m back,” someone slurred.

“Schwartz…”

And when I was soothing my mother here and comforting Dorte, Schwartz came back drunk. He’s visibly staggering. And it was Bengt who was also drunk and supporting Schwartz on his shoulders.

“Ouh! Schwartz! Walk straight!”

“Aah?!” Schwartz growled. “You must be staggering, too, Bengt!”

“”Ahahaha!””

What’s so funny? The two of them are laughing with their shoulders shaking. It’s nice to open up, but let’s keep it in moderation, right?

“This is all happened to me because you didn’t get your affairs in order, Bengt!” Dorte whined as she shakily walked over to him.

“Oh?” Bengt asked before Dorte pushes him.

The drunken Bengt staggers and then collapses.

“Ahahaha! What are you doing!? Stand firm!” Schwartz yelled.

“Uhahaha!” Dorte roared. “Ouh! What’s the matter? Can’t stand up, can you?”

“”Wahahaha!””

No, what’s wrong here…? I can’t handle it anymore. I can’t deal with drunk people.

“Haah… Shall we go back to our room?” I asked.

“Yes, Miss Flora,” Katharina said.

We leave the room with the wives. We don’t drink alcohol, so it’s just troublesome to deal with drunk people here.

It’s not that you can’t drink alcohol or you shouldn’t drink alcohol. Sometimes we drink things like wine and beer at parties. However, my wives and I don’t like drinking so much, so the truth is that we’d rather go back to our room than stay here.

Come to think of it, it’s not like I didn’t particularly dislike drinking parties or alcohol in my previous life, but I don’t drink much in this life. Well, maybe it’s because I’m still a minor on Earth. I don’t care about the rules and laws of the earth anymore, but I wonder if there’s something like that psychologically.

With that in mind, we decided to go back to our cabins and rest.

The next morning, at the breakfast table, my mother was looking refreshed, but Karl looked dull. This is definitely a hangover. Even though it’s a sea voyage from now on, if you still have a hangover, I wonder if it’s going to be a big deal when combined with seasickness. Well, it’s his fault and I don’t have a hangover cure. There’s nothing that can be done about it, so he’ll have to put up with it.

And although we weren’t at the same dining table, when I met with Schwartz, I was also flabbergasted to see him fine. I thought Dorte and Bengt were pretty drunk too, but they seem fine too.

No… Dorte doesn’t seem to be okay in a different sense… Maybe because we met face to face, she remembered yesterday’s stupidity. She made a clearly strange expression and averted her gaze. Does she feel like she’s done it now?

“Schwartz, come again. I’ll welcome you back myself,” Bengt said.

“Oh! Let’s drink again!” Schwartz replied.

Bengt and Schwartz are getting along nicely. After all, if pirates drink together, will they become closer? That’s why they have to be strong drinkers.

“Who are you calling pirates?”

“Huh? Did I talk out loud?” I said.

“Yeah, I heard you say we were pirates and hard drinkers.”

Hmmm… there are times when people unconsciously say unnecessary things. Well, it’s fine, but… There’s nothing wrong with telling Schwartz or Bengt the truth. I’m afraid if mother asked me that, but…

No progress has been made in relations with the Kingdom of Del, but it seems that Bengt and Schwartz have become close. It’s not a bad thing for our Admiral to become friends with the Commander of the Kingdom of Del. It would be a problem if I added some trickery when war broke out because of that relationship, but there is also the possibility that it can be a bridge to avoid that war.

“I’m going to pretend that last night didn’t happen…” Dorte said.

“Ah, right,” I said. “We went to bed early last night, so we didn’t hear anything.”

“Oh, I see… I’m sorry.”

At times like this, it’s best not to say anything unnecessary and just let it pass. Dorte didn’t say anything more about last night.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting!” Mikoto said. “It really is a country with a small heart, isn’t it, the Kingdom of Del!?”

“Welcome home Mikoto.”

Mikoto returned before noon, accompanied by yesterday’s old man, Johan. It seems that Mikoto is angry with the country’s response. It seems that she complained a lot even at the royal palace.

I don’t think Del’s response was a mistake. Normally, if a ship of unknown affiliation approaches the port, it’s natural to be on guard. And there’s no way I’d let them meet the king that day.

However, even though Mikoto was here, I think that the attitude of the other party was quite stubborn. Perhaps there were other thoughts and conveniences.

If we were to stay for a few more days, there might have been a possibility of being invited to the royal palace, but unfortunately, we have already left the port. I’m not going to change my plans to go back to Cien today.

“So long then, Johan,” Mikoto said.

“Yes. Be careful, Princess Mikoto.”

The old man gets off, and Dorte and Bengt get off the ship. Come to think of it, those two ended up staying on this ship last night. I do not care……. it would be a problem if they were manipulating us, but I don’t think the crew on this ship is that stupid.

“Farewell, Kingdom of Del!” Mikoto said.

“I didn’t have a very good memory, but…”

Finally, we can see Cobenhaven from the upper deck. After seeing off the town as it shrank and shrank in our vision, we headed for Cien.

By the way, today, as expected, Karl was seasick on top of a hangover, and was constantly trembling.