17-5 The Deal

After that, the dwarf great king apparently tried experimenting with the eight beer cans as material, three that I had emptied and five that he had emptied himself, and learned firsthand how difficult aluminum processing was.

Also, surprisingly, he seemed to like beer too, and told me to bring out more.

I did not really mind that, but at least listen when people talk.

“The world is deep indeed. To think there was still a metal like this.”

Naive, dwarf old man.

There is still an outrageous thing called Besmagil in this world, you know.

Though I really cannot bring that out.

“By the way, do you have any intention of listening to my story?”

“Hmm? Ah, it was something about letting the Silas army pass through secretly from the Empire, was it?”

“You bastard, you were listening to Michael’s story properly after all!”

“What, I only remembered it just now. His story was boring. You seem a little interesting.”

“Thanks for that.”

Since it could not be helped, this time I poured him some aged awamori.

When I mischievously raised the degree of aging little by little, he made a rather incredible face.

“What is this liquor? Is all of this really the same drink?”

The guy asked while peering at the packaging.

Kukuku, you won’t know just by looking.

The bottles and labels are all the same.

After all, the liquor had originally been copied from the same thing.

I had merely forcibly aged it using the power of the item box.

Though he would probably know if he appraised it.

On Earth, apparently there was also a method called ultrasonic aging, but I preferred pyramid power.

That was simple and required no equipment costs, yet it made liquor absurdly delicious.

While at it, it made snacks taste better too.

Somehow, red sausages and the like placed on top of a handmade pyramid generator became all wrinkled.

That was probably the same principle as smoking.

Instead of smoking them, it felt like the pyramid power drove out the moisture.

In that case, of course the flavor would become more concentrated.

They were mummified snacks.

Why did a cardboard pyramid generator made from such simple craftwork make snacks taste better?

That really was mysterious.

Maybe next time, I should do a pyramid-power activity in kindergarten class.

Mainly with hearty snacks, perhaps.

Anyway, it did not really matter, but when I was with this dwarf old man, all we did was drink.

Lately, I had mostly been dealing with children, so a situation that would have been ordinary for the old me—drinking constantly with an old man—now felt rare.

“How much of this liquor do you have? If you give me enough to satisfy me, I’ll do as you say.”

It was not a bad proposal, but the amount needed to satisfy dwarves who were such heavy drinkers… just how much would that be?

Even the king alone seemed like he would drink an enormous amount, and it felt like I would need portions for the others too.

Maybe I should calculate it using the eight-headed serpent formula, in barrel units.

Still, he decided immediately.

That was fine, but did he not care about relations with the Empire?

He was probably all muscle-brain.

I felt like thinking about that area would be losing.

As long as the liquor was good, these guys probably did not care what happened afterward.

“Understood. I’ll somehow meet those expectations.”

Then the king smiled and slapped my back with all his might, again and again.

If an ordinary person had that done to them, it would be rather rough.

For someone scrawny like me, normally I would probably be lightly blown away in one hit.

It felt like being hit by a vise, or rather, a large anvil used in blacksmithing.

I was grateful for the defensive power of eight million HP.

Normally, his hand should have been the one that hurt, but saying that would be tasteless.

While bringing out a large amount of the promised liquor, I had him properly put the earlier matter into writing.

When I put the letter, written in powerfully bold and elegant handwriting, into my item box, the guy said to me with a broad smile.

“Now, we drink.”

Old man, that smile is far too scary.

But I had already understood without logic that this was normal for him, or rather, that it expressed a merciless joy beyond normal.

What a waste of the Seventh Sense.

Was this not the highest-level waste so far?

Good grief.

Since I had no choice, I decided to join the drinking party.

I tried having the king drink my deadly pseudo-tequila.

Because of its absurdly high alcohol content, the dwarf king, who was a demon of drinking, sprayed the tequila-like liquor with all his might.

Heheh, the rainbow is dazzling.

It felt wonderful, as though I had won a match.

But he drank it again, and this time, he properly enjoyed it.

I also brought out vodka, aquavit, and even sake, and we enjoyed a wild mixed-liquor banquet.

I also brought out Japanese wine for him.

In addition, I lined up food I had made in this world, as well as the fish cakes I had just stocked up on, as snacks.

Of course, there was cheese fish sausage too, and I also lined up high-grade canned goods and ham I had brought with me.

Since there was no end to it, I pretended to go to the toilet and temporarily returned to Prince Michael, then handed over the letter I had received.

However, because I smelled far too strongly of alcohol, he grimaced.

It was still only sixteen hundred in the evening, so honestly, this was quite a problem.

For the time being, Michael apparently still would not send the request to Silas.

The Silas army would probably wait at the border once their preparations were ready.

If they tried something like that in peacetime, the Kingdom of Eldoa would likely not stay silent, but since I had spoken to the king, it would be fine.

Given the disgraceful state of the border guards, they might not even notice, but if the troops crossed the border without permission, it would become a huge dispute later.

It seemed they would also cooperate in procuring supplies for the march.

The fine adjustments were the civil officials’ job.

Once things began, the soldiers would apparently go ahead on horseback.

Thanks to healing magic and recovery medicine, they could advance at considerable speed.

The Kingdom of Eldoa and the Albatross Kingdom would handle logistics.

Other supplies would be transported by wagon from the home country.

Also, if there were skills or items with item box functions, the logistics personnel could go out on horseback together with the vanguard.

If soldiers crossed the border before the war began, the Empire would complain.

Not only about the deployment from Silas, but also about crossing the border via the Kingdom of Eldoa.

And that would give the Empire a legitimate cause for invasion.

After that, I immediately returned to the Kingdom of Eldoa and entered the evening banquet.

Apparently, I was the guest of honor, so as expected, I could not run away.

Well, they had properly listened to my request.

If it had come to this, I might as well go all the way with them.

In any case, drink.

First, drink.

That was the dwarf way of life, their style.

Once it reached this point, I could even sense something like a kind of aesthetic.

Just once, I would like to meet a dwarf who could not hold his liquor.

Well, I did not think even one such person existed.

After all, when it came to these guys, they were “not human.”

Rather than demi-humans, they apparently belonged to what was called the spirit races.

Their metabolic functions were probably different from humans to begin with.

And the banquet continued until morning.

These people were either working or drinking, weren’t they?

Then, after returning in the morning, this old man was told by everyone that he stank of alcohol, and they grimaced at him.

Even if I thought that it could not be helped because it had been entertaining clients, the children did not come near me.

The only one who came near me was Fal, who needed her mana recharged.

But as I slept and the alcohol apparently left my body, the children eventually started climbing on top of me.

Please, let me sleep just a little longer.

But perhaps because it was rare for me to be sleeping in the middle of the day, the children kept pestering me.

I gave up and got up.

In the large hall, the cat people children were absorbed in decorating their personal cardboard boxes.

They decorated the exteriors of their boxes with markers and crayons, spread all sorts of things inside, and adorned them with rich individuality.

The children from the sewing group were also fired up, receiving all kinds of orders from them for inner linings.

I had piled up a large amount of colorful materials for them too.

On the little cat girl’s box, Fal, the old man, Ars, Aoi-chan, and others were drawn.

With this child’s drawings, I could immediately tell who was who.

Incidentally, Aoi-chan was playing the role of a horse.

Even after Remi switched to the new horse, Ars-go, it seemed her beloved horse, Aoi-go, had not yet been discarded.

When I went to the royal palace bath for the first time in a while to refresh myself, to my surprise, His Highness the Crown Prince was there in the middle of the day.

With pitch-black shadows under his eyes.

Apparently, his attendants had forcibly thrown him into the bath.

He must have been terribly busy with preparations for war.

I cast Refresh Heal on him and pressed his foot pressure points a little.

So war was finally about to begin.

I wished they would think a little more about timing.

The school play was coming up, too.

Well, even up until now, things had been rough because garden events kept overlapping.

At least we had it better because we did not have to deal with parents.

When I searched online for kindergarten school plays, there were dangerous things written that made my face go pale without thinking.

I did not think I could serve as a principal at a Japanese kindergarten.

After that, I next checked the satellites for launch.

Now I just had to go see how the astronauts were coming along.