2
“So anyway, behold—the treasure I found beneath the trapdoor!”
With a formal bow, Subaru reverently set a wooden box atop the desk before him. In the pursuit of the storage room cleaning—which had promptly been forgotten—he had unearthed an unexpected treasure.
Subaru’s grand announcement was directed at Roswaal, who was seated at the desk in his study. Despite his eccentric way of presenting himself, by day, the master of the house was busy with administrative work.
But when Subaru rudely barged into his study, he was not upset—on the contrary, he was full of amused smiles.
“Ooooh, how very interesting. Yes, I do recall hearing quite long ago about a secret stash of spirits somewhere in the villa. Under the floor of the west wing…so that’s where it was hiding.”
The wooden box on the desk was filled with wood chips. Beneath were some very expensive-looking liquor bottles. The trapdoor Subaru found in the storage room revealed a secret room filled with a large supply of liquor—one might call it a wine cellar.
But it wasn’t the word spirits that had caught Subaru’s ear. It was the villa that made Subaru crane his neck in curiosity.
“Hm? Did you just say ‘villa’? But we found this liquor beneath this mansion.”
“Ah yes, I can explain. I am merely using this mansion as a headquarters for Emilia’s preparations for the royal selection—my true home is elsewhere. The primary Mathers residence is muuuuch farther east. Then again, wherever I reside is the Mathers residence, so the distinction is negligible.”
“A mansion this big is your second home? Then your main home must be—nope, never mind. I’m too scared to find out. Anyway, since you seemed clueless about it, I guess that liquor stash isn’t really to the taste of the master of the house?”
“Well, though I am the current master of the house, this was my father’s and grandfather’s house before me. I suspect that the underground liquor stash was a little prank by my grandfather or grandmother. I heard they were heeeeavy drinkers.”
As Roswaal’s purple lips turned upward into a soft smile, Subaru lowered his eyebrows in suspicion. Why was everything about his grandparents hearsay?
Noticing Subaru’s skepticism, Roswaal winked and said, “My family members have generally not been blessed with long lives, so I’ve never met my grandfather personally. And I haven’t spent muuuuch time with my father and mother, either.”
“Ack, sorry, I didn’t want to pry…but I guess that sort of thing happens.”
It was easy for Subaru to forget all the work he had to do, but this was another world. The average lifespan in Subaru’s world was probably quite different. And the long-living species and the existence of magic weren’t exactly things that could be easily compared to modern science.
“So—I just brought this box as a sample, but what do you want to do with the rest of your grandfather’s collection? There’s still a lot buried under this house.”
“Hum. That’s a good question. We could just keep it beneath the floor, and I could have you reinforce the trapdoor, but that seems such a waste—by the way, Subaru, how do you feel about alcohol? Can you hold your liquor? Or does the mere smell of it make you turn red in the face and mumble I don’t want to go home alone tonight…? Which one aaaare you?”
“So the infamous question people get asked at mixers exists in this world, too…” Subaru’s brow wrinkled as he answered the marquis’s question. “Well, I haven’t actually drunk that much before. You can’t drink until age twenty where I’m from.”
“Age twenty? Well, well, how very patient your people must be.”
Subaru was not actually being dishonest. In his world, he was still underage, so he had no real reason to reach for a bottle of booze. (Also, for the record, he never once attended a mixer.)
Subaru Natsuki lived his days utterly devoid of booze, blunts, and babes.
“Oh dear, oh dear, what a surprise. From your personality, I just assumed you would absolutely snatch at a luxury item with eager bravado.”
“I kinda see what you built me up to be in your mind, but sorry, that’s not even slightly me—well, not exactly. I did grab a puff of my dad’s cigarette once when he wasn’t looking. But…”
“But?”
“The moment I got it in my mouth, my dad came back and gave me a good thrashing. Then, to make it worse, my mom told me in a spurt of misplaced tough love that I’d stunted my growth…Anyway, cigarettes and the like are very triggering for me.”
If he had bad friends, Subaru might have had a bigger connection to alcohol and cigarettes, but luckily, he didn’t have bad friends—or good friends, either. So the opportunity did not arise.
“A guy can’t stray off the straight and narrow if he can’t even find it to begin with…heh. What a joke,” Subaru muttered to himself.
“Sorry to interrupt your little moment, but I suppose this liquor wouldn’t suffice to reward you?”
“Yeah, I guess not. I actually did drink once—this big old guy coaxed me to drink some, and I thought my throat, stomach, and head would burn off. That’s about it.”
Since Roswaal seemed eager to gift Subaru the alcohol, he pointed at the box and said, “Is it legal for a guy my age to drink around here? As I said earlier, I’m less than twenty, so I’m underage. I can’t even access NSFW sites without a guardian’s consent.”
“I don’t quite understand what you just said, but I get the sense that’s something you shouldn’t look at even with a guardian’s consent…Anyway, back to the liquor—the drinking age in Lugunica is fifteen, so you’re cool.”
“Ooh, you’re catching on…”
After successfully using a word he’d picked up from Subaru in a sentence, Roswaal continued, “There’s kingdom law, of course, but each fiefdom has its own laws set by their rulers. In other words, the law of this land is made by none other than meeee.”
“Yikes, talk about a dictatorship. So as long as I’m living here, I can legally drink—wait, I’m over fifteen, so I can drink legally by kingdom law anyway, huh.”
Even though he was protected by law, Subaru still wasn’t too pleased about receiving a gift of liquor. This was only natural, as he have the taste or appreciation for it. But it would be rude to turn down the liquor as an expensive item and a reward from Roswaal.
“Maybe I could tie it with a ribbon and display it in the corner of my room? Then, when I turn twenty, I can pop open a bottle and revel in my first steps into the future.”
“That’s a long-winded plan. You already have plenty of opportunities to drink—after a bath, after work, in between meals… If you ask meeee, it’s nothing worth savoring.”
“Um, it’s kinda wack to force somebody to drink if he doesn’t want to. Unless you want a lawsuit on your hands, I’d advise against it. Besides, aren’t you being a bit hypocritical? You don’t drink much.”
“I used to drink like most people, but I have cut down quite a bit over the past few years. Though I do have a drink when there’s a party, I still try to drink in moooooderation.”
Roswaal shrugged. His posture implied he wasn’t much of a drinker, but he exuded the overpowering aura of a boozehound. Subaru didn’t even wish to imagine what he might be like drunk.
“But I am kinda curious to see if I can hold my liquor…”
Drinking was never something that interested Subaru. It wasn’t until alcohol came up in conversation that he suddenly was curious about his tolerance. It was a similar sensation to caring about the results of your grip test in PE class.
And then his curiosity migrated to Emilia and the others—how high was their alcohol tolerance?
But without an occasion to drink, there really wasn’t any way of testing—
“That’s it—a party! Rozchi, you said that you drink at parties, right?”
“Hum? Well, yessss. I did say that. I’ll joyfully overindulge when it’s a special occasion until I’m tipsy. I am only human.”
“I thought so! Nobody can complain about a little drinking if it’s a joyous occasion.”
Roswaal chuckled seductively. “My goodness—why do you want to get me drunk, my boy?”
“Eew, no. It’s not you I’m after, Rozchi, got it?!”
Subaru clapped his hands together after leaping in to shut down the coy-eyed Roswaal. The look on his face was sinister—rather, the look in his eye was sinister, but it was not the look of a sinister man overall.
However, that was the face Subaru made when he was about to propose something out of the blue. Upon seeing that look, Roswaal’s odd eyes filled with excitement.
Subaru wasn’t sure he would live up to Roswaal’s expectations, but he proudly declared that his proposal was the same.
“If I plan a party for us, I can bring the liquor up from the cellar, right?”
“Aha—well, it was a secret stash anyway. So I might as well let you figure out how to use it up. But I must hand it to you…”
“Hand what to me?”
“Using a party as a pretense to see Lady Emilia and Rem at their most vulnerable…that’s quite the amorous scheme you’ve concocted there, eh, Subaru?”
“That wasn’t my intention, but now you’re making it seem like it was, so please stop?!”
“Now, now, now, I don’t hate the idea.”
“It’s not what you think!”
And while not his original intention, the bud of an ulterior motive took root in Subaru’s heart as he began to plan the party.
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