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Volume 11 Chapter 4 Part 8

「Th-Then, do you want to try it?」

I ask while handing it to Sherry. You rejected it in the reference room because you were afraid of it influencing your work, right? Just how much did you plan on drinking?

「Is it alright? Isn’t it an expensive liquor?」

「Just make sure you drink it in one gulp.」

「Then, I will accept it with gratitude.」

Sherry removes the cork from the jar and swills the liquor down her throat directly from it. As if I quenching her thirst with water, she chugs it down just like that, as if that was the most obvious thing to do in this situation.

「Ooh!」

Everyone present, including the Emperor, became greatly surprised at that sight.

In front of the Emperor, Sherry easily downs a jar of Dwarf Killer like it was water. So daring. But my question here is: is she still sober though?

Just how strong of a liquor Dwarf Killer really is?

「Are you alright, Sherry?」

「Yes, this quantity isn’t much for me.」

Because it’s a small jar, the quantity of the alcohol itself can’t be much either for sure.

Still, she really drank it like she was drinking a glass of water. Was it actually water, perhaps? Thinking like that, I receive the jar from Sherry; however, when I smelled it, it was genuinely alcohol.

「It was great.」

「Yes, that is genuinely a great liquor. Is it 30-year-old Russo? If it weren’t that aged, it wouldn’t make you this mellow though.」

「As expected of Lady Sherry. This lodge does have 30-year-old Brightest Russo available in it, I’ll allow myself to add.」

Sebastian approves Sherry’s capabilities as an alcohol taster.

Does strong liquor make you mellow?

「Wonderful. Would you like to taste Ours, too?」

The Emperor shows her a jar.

「「Ours」?」

「This right here.」

While Sherry had her head tilted, the Emperor personally offers the jar to her. Because I didn’t say anything myself, is that why I didn’t receive it myself yet? Should I have received it at least once? And more importantly, is it fine for Sherry to receive a drink personally from the Emperor himself? Well, it should be fine, since she does not know that this man is actually the Emperor.

Sherry receives a famous brand of alcohol from the Emperor. To a person looking at it from the side, this scene must be looking pretty grand. I wonder if the person concerned, Sherry, realizes it, too.

「Still, if I drink this much, I may get a little bit drunk.」

That’s why you should have declined the offer in the first place.

「There’s no problem with getting drunk a little. Go ahead.」

I hurriedly pushed the jar into Sherry’s hand. You can’t not drink his alcohol. If he asked you to do it, then it has to be done.

「….Okay.」

After glancing at Sebastian, Sherry uncorks the jar. Is Sebastian’s opinion more important to her than mine? That might be, since it is reasonable that in crucial times of doubt, you seek help from the wise and elderly.

Unfortunately for her though, the other party is thoroughly on the Emperor’s side.

Sherry drinks the Emperor’s liquor with ease.

「Ooh. Can you still go on? Carlos.」

「Yes.」

The bodyguard presents a jar to the Emperor which he, once again, bequeaths to Sherry through me.
I don’t think he’s intentionally exaggerating anything. This is just how he is.

Sherry simply goes and downs the third jar just like the other two before it.

「Is it alright for you to drink this much?」

「I’m feeling good a bit. I’ve gotten a little drunk, I think.」

Upon the Emperor’s enquiry, Sherry replies soberly, but a drunk would never admit that they are actually drunk.

But still, even now, sherry still remained as cool-headed as she was until the very end, so maybe she is becoming more intellectual whenever she is getting drunk?

「Still, it took you three rounds to get a little drunk. Marvelous. If you are ever going to be troubled with anything, do not hesitate to visit Us so that we could work on the solution together.

「Okay. Thank you very much?」

She answers with a question mark at the end.

Or rather, I must say that even if we do end up visiting the Emperor, you’ll just turn us away. Literally.

「Well then, although it’s regrettable, we do need to get back to Our official business.」

「I guess so.」

The Emperor gets up from his seat, followed closely by his bodyguard.

Even though we are in such a place and such a situation, Sherry won’t actually step on the Emperor, right? God, I really do hope that she’s not going to do it.

On the other side of the table, the three nobles stand up as well.

「Well then, Michio, we will be going, too.」

「See you again tomorrow.」

「I have nothing else to include as well, aside from the fact that you should bear in mind that you are not a perfect being, so I expect you to work hard as a member of the Empire Liberation Society.」

The three speak their parting words to me.

The Earl in particular sounded as if he was harboring ill intentions towards me.

Will these three nobles be returning with the Emperor now? Well, they did come together, so it shouldn’t be that surprising.

「Well then.」

「Alright then, my senior member, until we meet again sometime in the future.」

Nope, I don’t want to be meeting with you anytime soon, thank you very much.

The Emperor’s group then leaves the room. Should Sherry and I have seen them off, too?

「Lord Gaius, thank you for your visit here today. Please bestow this place with the visit of your royal presence again.」

Sebastian accompanies them to the end and offers valediction before sending them off. As you would expect, all the staff members of the lodge are together with him.

「「Bestow this place with the visit of your royal presence again?」」

「It just means he is looking forward to seeing him again.」

Fortunately, it’s a word which Sherry doesn’t understand. What’s more concerning though is the fact that all the staff members are bowing to him.

「As expected of Master. Your knowledge of the Brahim language is truly superb.」

She’s definitely drunk, isn’t she? Because there’s no way for Sherry to be sounding this similar to how Roxanne speaks otherwise.

「I see.」

「But that gate surely is odd, you know?」

While I was thinking so, Sherry points at the gate and says that. Is it because she’s drunk from all the alcohol? Or maybe because the gate is a Japanese-style gate?

「Well, it does look unusual.」

「A gate normally opens inward. If not, it wouldn’t be of use for the defensive purposes. The reason being, if a door opens inward, it can be blocked by something, making it difficult to be forced open immediately from outside.」

「Is that so?」

Is that the reason as to why front gates in this world all open inward?

Then, the reason as to why Japanese gates open outward must be because they were all build in times of peace.

However, even in Japan, a temple gate opens inward. That’s because in Sengoku period, the temples were part of the military installations. Then, why does a modern Japanese gates open outwards? That’s simple: because it is more convenient that way.

Imagine the main gate of your house. If it opened inside, shoes would immediately get in your way, and it would eventually turn into a rabbit hutch.

「If you think about it, it must be important to have it open outwards rather than inwards.」

Sherry continues to contemplate the issue of the way the gate opens.

I see. The Emperor did walk into the Lodge from the outside, so the lodge must be located somewhere the Emperor can walk to without attracting suspicion.

The library is close by the Emperor’s imperial residence, too. In other words, it’s important to have it open outward.

This must be the reason as to why the location of the lodge is being kept strictly confidential.

「Is the other side the reason as to why the lodge isn’t invaded?」

「But how important is this other side then?」

It would be bad if it went on any further, so let us drop that subject.

「It was my bad to have you called over.」

「Noo, I was happy that Master called me.」

「Oh really?」