Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 342: Drinking with a Friend
And so, amidst all the tension and pressure, the war council finally ended.
The participants dispersed, and except for a handful of nobles, most left the royal palace.
“It’s been a while, Clover.”
“We just saw each other at the party the other day. Hardly a long time, Lubase.”
In a certain tavern in the capital.
After the council, Rest sat at a table with a comrade-in-arms.
It was a round table—much smaller than the round table used in the council chamber. Sitting there with Rest was the young Sword Saint, Wilhelm Lubase.
In fact, Lubase had also attended the war council. He had been seated right next to Rest.
He too had been chosen to join the vanguard in the coming subjugation of the foreign tribes. Since they weren’t strangers, they naturally went drinking together after the council.
For the record, only Rest and Lubase were in the private room of the tavern.
Rest’s father-in-law, Marquis Rosemary, had been summoned to meet the king after the council and had stayed behind at the palace, leaving earlier.
“Just when I was finally starting to get into governing my lands, they call me to the front. Being a noble sure is busy work.”
“No kidding…”
Rest wholeheartedly agreed with Lubase’s words.
He poured some wine into his glass, raised it for a toast, and drank.
“Mm, this is just fine. Goes down smooth.”
He would still be underage in Japan, but this country had no drinking age.
The fruit wine wasn’t very strong and had a pleasant, easy taste.
(Compared to that distilled liquor, it’s a world of difference… Well, that stuff was probably way more expensive, though.)
Rest recalled the time he drank with Celestine.
Unlike that high-proof distilled liquor, this fermented fruit wine was much easier to drink.
It seemed Rest wasn’t all that strong with alcohol. Seeing Celestine’s iron-liver drinking ability had made him realize that all the more.
(Especially that… I never want to touch Spiritus again. If only I could reinforce my liver with magic.)
“To be honest, I don’t need any more achievements… I already have status, land, and a fiancée.”
Rest sighed as he emptied half his glass.
With the credit for defeating Sabnock and quelling the rebellion, he had already been rewarded more than enough.
He had been hoping to settle down with his fiancées and develop his territory in peace—but then came the call to war.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Fighting is the duty of a warrior. When the homeland is threatened, we can’t just sit idly by.”
Lubase sipped slowly at his glass as he spoke.
“The time has simply come to repay the grace the royal family has shown us. All we need do is fulfill our duty.”
“…You make it sound so simple. I envy that.”
Rest sighed again.
He couldn’t detach himself like Lubase could. Probably because he had two adorable fiancées waiting for him.
After the recent party, his bonds with Viola and Primula had deepened further.
And now, he had to leave them behind and march to war. Of course he’d have complaints.
(When this war’s over, I’ll marry them… No, wait—that sounds like a death flag.)
“Lubase, don’t you have a lover or fiancée?”
“Nguh—!”
Lubase spat out a bit of his drink.
“What’s with that out-of-the-blue question?”
“Well, you’re a viscount too, right? Don’t you need an heir?”
“…If it comes down to it, I’ll just adopt from among my relatives.”
He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and snapped the words out bluntly.
The young Sword Saint, Wilhelm Lubase, a peerless swordsman—his one glaring weakness was women.
“So the ‘woman-hating Sword Saint’ is the same as ever… Haven’t your parents tried arranging matches for you?”
“…My parents and uncle have pushed a few at me. But I’m not interested.”
“Huh. Personally, I don’t think marriage is so bad.”
“…Easy for you to say. Coming from a man with multiple fiancées. Damn philanderer.”
Lubase clicked his tongue loudly in disgust, then took another slow sip of wine.
“In any case, women have no place on the path of the sword. To master one way, you must abandon others. Only by casting aside everything can you reach the peak.”
“Huh, I see…”
“Dripping water hollows stone; waste not a single moment of time… A human life is too long to waste doing nothing, yet too short to master any art. If you would perfect one skill, you must sometimes cut away what is unnecessary!”
“Right, right, and then?”
“Thus, my abstinence from women is because I have devoted my entire life to the sword. Absolutely not—absolutely not because I’m afraid of women! Yes, if one of those women came strutting around with those useless, bouncing breasts, flaunting them shamelessly—I’d ask, have you no shame! And so the sword becomes like a mountain, you see—”
“…”
“And so, for the peace of the realm, I shall devote body and soul, letting myself flow like a river and climb mountains until the great horse of destiny appears—”
“…Wait. Are you… drunk?”
Lubase’s words started slurring, his speech becoming nonsensical.
Rest looked at the bottle curiously. It was the same fruit wine they’d both been drinking—not strong at all.
“…Don’t tell me, you’re weaker at drinking than I am? You didn’t seem like this at the party…”
Come to think of it, Rest couldn’t recall seeing Lubase drink at the party.
He had been handed a cocktail as a welcome drink, but had he even touched it?
Maybe he avoided alcohol when surrounded by lots of people.
“Yes, thusss! We must exterminate all the bar-barianshh for the sake of the kinggg! It’s all about repayyyin’ the royal favooorr!”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right, Lubase. Exactly right.”
“That’sh rightt! I ain’t wrong about nuttin’!”
What an unexpected turn.
Seeing this unfamiliar side of his comrade, Rest could only sit there, at a total loss.
“Celestine’s drunkenness was one thing, but… this is another problem altogether.”
After about thirty minutes of incoherent rambling, Lubase suddenly passed out like a dead battery.
Rest had to haul him to an inn, and there he realized firsthand: the terror of alcohol had nothing to do with its proof.