Chapter 201: Chapter 185: Slip of the tongue?

“Granduncle is a matchless drinker, you see?”

“Ah, so it’s like that, after all.”

Austin-sama whispered me some intel about Lionel-sama.

“Takumi, was it? Say your price. Sell that Nippy Liquor to me!”

Lionel-sama is a considerable drinker, it seems.

No matter how I blow the price up, he appears set on buying it.

“Ah~... it was supposed to be a present anyway, so err... I will give some to you as well, as a sign of acquaintanceship, Lionel-sama.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“That so!”

Lionel-sama was making a face that was saying ‘quickly give it to me’ so I retrieved a cask of cold sake from my Infinite Storage.

I originally fetched a large quantity for Tristan-sama and the knights, so when I obediently and without a problem gave Lionel-sama a cask, he made a really delighted expression.

... This person really likes alcohol, doesn’t he?

“Hooh~ it’s my first time seeing alcohol so transparent in color! —— Tristan, quickly prepare a glass for me!”

“Uncle, it’s still only before noon, you know?”

“What are you saying! Are you telling me to endure with a new drink in front of me! I want to enjoy my short remaining years! —— Ahh, Alfried, Flamesaurus steak sounds good too. Off you go to the kitchen!”

Al-sama muttered “Geezer” under his nose.

“Ohh, sorry about that! I have to pay the errand boy, don’t I? I completely ended up forgetting.”

Lionel-sama treated Al-sama smoothly like a child.

Is this attitude on purpose... I wonder? But you know~ considering Lionel-sama’s age, Al-sama really is like a grandchild to him, so isn’t he only being affectionate to him?

They look like meddling, overprotective grandpa and grandchild who finds him bothersome...

“If Granduncle is drinking then Father won’t be able to endure either, right?”

“Then, is a drinking bout about to start? How about work?”

“N? Ahh, the pressing things have been already settled, so it should be fine for now. Well, there’s a chance that something going to jump in, though.”

If there won’t be problems with work, then I have no problems if they start a drinking bout now. It’s just that we have missed our timing to go home.

“”Hey, is it not lunch time yet~?””

At that moment, Allen and Elena complained about being hungry.

“Ah, right. Can you wait a little longer?”

“”Only a little?””

“Err, that’s...”

“Oh my, Allen-chan, Elena-chan, you guys are hungry?”

We left the dungeon just a little before lunchtime. That’s why I told them that we would eat after we return to the town, but we have missed the lunch because we were taken here.

“Pardon us. We planned on having lunch after sending Al-sama home, so...”

“My, my, that is a serious matter! Allen-chan, Elena-chan, I am sorry that I had not noticed. I will have the food prepared immediately, so wait for a little longer please, okay?”

“”Yup, thank you!””

“Eh? Grace-sama, wait a moment please.”

Grace-sama went to arrange the lunch, so I stopped her in a hurry.

“We cannot have you go to such lengths for us, can we?”

“My, this much is fine. I mean, I still want to hear more from the two~”

... It seems that we can’t return just yet.

If that’s the case, then it would be better to have the lunch arranged. Me aside, it’s not like I can have the children miss a lunch.

“Umm... please do that then.”

“Fufu. Yes, wait a moment. I will have it prepared right away.”

Grace-sama promptly went to arrange the lunch.

At the same time, Lionel-sama asked for a variety of drinking snacks, and did not forget to have the Flamesaurus meat prepared.

“Sorry for having you tag along with me, Takumi.”

At that moment, the exhausted Al-sama came to our side.

“Al-sama, tired~?”

“Al-sama, you okay~?”

Al-sama was making an expression that could be considered haggard, so Allen and Elena looked at him worriedly.

“Yes, I am fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“”Yeah.””

“I know that I am at fault for taking him seriously, but... when Granduncle is my opponent, I can’t stay calm for some reason.”

“Well, isn’t that just fine? It would be a problem if the opponent was a retainer or a person from another country, but Lionel-sama is a family, no?”

“Eh?”

“Rather, if Lionel-sama is treating you like a child, why don’t you approach him like a one and demand more pocket money from him or something along those lines?”

Al-sama seemed to be reflecting on his interaction with Lionel-sama, but I don’t think he’s doing something wrong. Rather, I thought it would be fine to act more defiant, so I conveyed that to Al-sama.

There, I heard “Bufu!” a sound of bursting laughter. The source of the sound seemed to be Tristan-sama and Lionel-sama.

The two were enduring laughter.

Looking carefully, Grace-sama and Austin-sama were holding back too.

“... Pardon my rudeness. That was not something that should have been said in front of the person himself.”

“N, no... I don’t mind.”

When I apologized to Lionel-sama, he replied while trying to hold back laughing.

However, did I say something so laughable?

“Oh dear me, Takumi is quite the person worthy of note, isn’t he?”

“That is only natural. He’s a person who had caught my eyes, after all.”

“I like him too. I would like those malicious guys to follow his example.”

“Takumi is for a better or worse, an honest youth, after all~”

Tristan-sama and Lionel-sama then kept talking about me for a while.

I certainly am bad at scheming while hiding my intentions, and my emotions apparently immediately appear on my face, but... why would you be pleased with that? Is the royalty surrounded by so many malicious people or something? The world really is a scary place, isn’t it~

Also, what am I going to do if I become a target of Lionel-sama’s teasing because he’s pleased with me? No, but, Lionel-sama finds the resistance amusing, so I shouldn’t become his target, no? Yeah, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“Oh, the drinking snacks are here. Shall we start then? Tristan, pour the Nippy Liquor.”

When the lunch Grace-sama had asked for and the drinking appetizers for Lionel-sama and Tristan-sama were carried in, Lionel-sama immediately demanded Tristan-sama to pour the sake.