Chapter 137: A Gentleman’s Elegant Game
We were able to return to the ryokan around the time when the city of Kagura has been dyed with the color of the reddening sky.
On the way, due to the swaying of the ship, there was a dangerous scene where Aleutia and Ilya were about to vomit, but they somehow managed to endure it.
They’re heading to their own room right now, probably to untie the obi of their yukata first.
I can picture Aleutia and Ilya’s figures lying on the tatami after hurriedly taking off their yukata.
I also head to my room and did the same to relieve the fatigue from walking around, I rolled around on the tatami mats.
After that, I absent-mindedly lied on the tatami until dinner time, then I took a bath, and finish the dinner.
We ate seafood with tamari soy sauce for dinner, Irvine put some inago tsukudani on the other members’ bowl, and he was screaming when Irvine was forced to eat a stacked tsukudani as revenge.
It was in that kind of mood where I just have to go to sleep after all of that, but for some reason, something doesn’t feel right.
It’s the feeling like the day is about to end without doing something that has become a daily routine………there’s that kind of frustration.
Perhaps everyone also has the same mood, more than thirty men are hanging out in the ryokan’s lobby.
It’s almost all the men who stay at this ryokan. It's really sordid.
「………everyone, even if you hang out in the lobby like that I will still not allow you to have a pillow fight, alright? 」
「「Eeehhー?」」
With the cruel words from the proprietress, more than thirty deep male voices overlap with each other.
It’s as if I’m being in a boy’s school.
「Ehー? It’s not ‘ehー?’! You’re being a bother if you’re making noises like that. The women also couldn’t go to sleep because of the noise, you know?」
「Then, we’ll do it quietly today」
「It’s not something like it will be fine if you do it quietly! Pillow fight is banned because it will damage both the pillows and futon!」
The proprietress bluntly said to flatly deny Gunther’s child-like reasoning.
Some pillows and futons were torn yesterday. So it seems like the proprietress is angry that she had to repair it.
She’s unusually bullish today.
「Ah! That’s right! It’s fine if we use the slime pillow Al used at the roadside that time, right? That thing has such a nice elasticity, and even if it hit the futon or the wall it worn get damaged, don’t you think?」
「「That’s it!」」
Voices of optimism are raised after the men hear Roomba’s good idea.
Indeed, certainly, if you treated the slime as a bullet of sorts then not only the pillows, it also won’t damage the wall and futons.
We fell into such as simple thought, then tried to head outside noisily to catch some slimes.
「You obviously can not do that. Bringing in a monster into the town is considered a crime, you know. It’s also the same even back in the Kingdom, right?」
「「Guuh!」」
Certainly, she might be right.
The treatment of monsters in this world is awfully strict, maybe because there are monsters that attack humans. Even if you bring harmless monsters such as slimes into a town will require permission from some big-shots and a reasonable reason.
Though if it’s a rural village like Koryatt village, then the rules will be laxer around the village.
I’m already tired of seeing a scene like people poking slimes or playing with them at the roadside.
「In any case pillow fight is prohibited. If you break this rule - even if it’s Toriela’s Firm - then I’m afraid I have to ask you to vacate your room.」
The proprietress flatly announced, and she went out of our sight as she heads to the back of the hallway.
The only people left in the lobby are more than thirty men who were stricken with grief since their nightly party was prohibited, only Sannosuke glares at us.
They will ask us to leave if we still have a pillow fight, it’s no use.
Meanwhile, Irvine approaches Sannosuke with a Kagura’s sake bottle in his hand.
「Hey, Sannosuke. Do you want to drink some sake with us?」
「You’re planned to get me drunk and ask me to allow you to have a pillow fight, right? I’m not going to fall for your trick. Go to sleep」
He left Irvine truly helpless. And he didn’t even use honorifics this time.
The Firm’s members started to go upstairs while raising discouraged voices 「Aーah」, after being glared at and told that by Sannosuke.
The only people left in the lobby are me, Roomba, Irvine, and Mort.
Even though it’s just the four of us, Sannosuke’s gaze toward us has become even sterner.
What now. Of all things, his gaze seems to imply that we’re the most problematic children or something. Setting Roomba, Irvine, and Mort aside, I’m only a seven years old boy, y’know?
「And why are you not returning to your room?」
「It’s fine, isn’t it? I want to drink sake here. I was just drinking after the proprietress also recommended it to me yesterday」
It would make him look like a shoddy drunkard, but spending the time at night by drinking in the lobby should be fine as long as you do it in moderation and abide by the rules. And today the ryokan is reserved anyway.
Irvine and Mort sat down on the sofa, drinking the Kagura sake sulkily while Roomba is at a loss of what to do, so he seems to have decided to join them.
A small party is held at the ryokan’s lobby.
While they poured Roomba’s sake cup to the brim, I’m wondering if there are some activities where people can spend the time at night.
Speaking of activities that can be done in a ryokan without people moving intensely………table tennis, I guess?
When it comes to table tennis it is said that originally, England nobles are using champagne cork as a ball to play at the table after a meal.
…………hmm, isn’t that a perfect activity for me - who is a noble in this world? I mean, I AM a noble.
As I can make the racket and table with Earth magic, why don’t I try to use a wine cork as a substitute for the ping-pong ball by shaving them?
There is no rubber put on the racket and the ping-pong ball is heavy, but I think that we could probably still play pseudo-table tennis.
Thinking like that, I immediately put on a zori at the entrance and head out to the garden.
「Oi, Al you going somewhereー?」
「Nah, I’m just going to the gardenー」
I casually replied to Roomba and the other’s worry and head to the garden - a place that can still be seen from the lobby.
Hmm, I guess it’s wide because there are frequent passing of people through this place. It was not completely filled with gravel, making it easy for people to move around.
I judged that it wouldn’t be a problem even if a table tennis table were to be placed here, so I cast Earth magic to make the table.
If I remember correctly, it’s around 76 centimeters tall and 152 centimeters wide, and it should be 274 centimeters long. I remember it since my previous life’s coworker who likes table tennis was telling me such details.
I thought that the knowledge about nobles who played table tennis after a meal using champagne cork was not important, but it became useful in such an unexpected place.
While I was privately thanking my coworker, I imagined the table and completed it.
Unfortunately, it’s not the folding type table, but it’s made using Earth magic anyway. If it bothers people then it’s fine if you just destroy it.
After checking whether the legs have been situated properly, I raised a wall - in place of the net - with Earth magic to divide the center of the table.
It’s a simple thing, it should be fine if it serves as a rough estimate and the dividing line for the ball to pass. This should be enough I guess.
「What are you making? At a glance, it doesn’t look like a long bench or a chair, yeah?」
Just when I was nodding in satisfaction at the fine table I made, the men from the lobby came to see it.
As expected from such an easy-to-wear geta and zori, they made such light footwork.
「I just thought of trying a new kind of game」
「………ooh? Did you come up with something interesting again?」
Roomba and I smiled at each other.
Roomba saved me the trouble of explaining since he understood it quickly as he also lives in Koryatt village.
「……but we can’t make such a loud noise like the pillow fight before, you know?」
「It’s fine. This is a game played by nobles. It’s the so-called elegant game for gentlemen. It won’t make loud noises like a pillow fight.」
I flatly answered Sannosuke, who warns me with a grouchy expression on his face.
That’s right, table tennis is a gentleman’s game. It’s not a game where indecent things or such are flashed all around.
Sannosuke - can’t form a concrete image of such ‘nobles game’ - closed his mouth, maybe he’s waiting to see how things turn out for the time being.
「Hey, Irvine, Mort. Do you have a wine cork? I would like it if it’s a bigger one if possible 」
「We only have small ones in our room, but there are a lot of large sake bottles among the Firm’s luggage, y’know」
「Wine will last for a long time even on a journey after all.」
The two who were curiously observing at the table flatly answered.
I knew it, they have a firm grasp of the things they like.
「Then, get a wine with a big cork on it from Tori. I’m gonna use it to play」
「「What about the contents?」」
「I’m not gonna use it, so why don’t you guys drink it?」
As long as I have a big cork as a substitute for the ping pong ball, then I don’t care about the contents.
I actually want to drink it, though it’s hopeless with my current undeveloped body.
「Yossha! I’m gonna get you as much good wine as I can!」
「Anything is fine as long as the cork is big」
While Irvine and Mort happily left, I told them that as if to emphasize it.
It’s those two, after all, they’re going to get expensive wines with me as a pretext.
I made the rackets with Earth magic while thinking about such things.
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