Chapter 170: Nord-tousan and Table Tennis
Chapter 170: Nord-tousan and Table Tennis
As we spent our time leisurely talking about Kagura in the dining room, Tori’s company came to bring my luggage.
When I floated with Psychic and came out to the courtyard, the company’s carriages are already lining up in a row. This might be the first time that there are this many carriages entered our family’s courtyard, isn’t it?
Bartolo - the one in charge of receiving the foodstuff - look surprised when he saw the lined-up carriages.
「Oi oi, kid. Those carriages lined up until the outside of the mansion y’know」
「That’s cause I bought rice in hundreds of kilos」
「If it’s about rice then we sure can eat them all, or like, we can somehow manage it by sending them to the village’s cafeteria, but I’m worried about the other things」
「It’s fine. I mainly bought things that can be stored for a long time, and even the seasonings should be well-received by the villagers」
「I hope you’re right」
Bartolo muttered while having a distant look on his face when he saw the items being unloaded one by one.
All of these things had to be checked by Bartolo and a few maids.
He’s probably going to be busy check-ing and sorting those things.
「But as a chef, you’re excited when you got your hands on new seasonings and ingredients, right?」
「Indeed! I’m itching to put my skill as a chef to use them! Help me with making Kagura dishes, okay?」
「Naturally!」
After answering Bartolo as he proudly smile while rolling up his sleeves, I quietly tried to leave.
Then, Bartolo’s large and rough arm stretches and grabbed my futon.
「……what are you doing Bartolo」
「Kid, you know a magic that allows you to move all kinds of inanimate objects, right? With this amount of luggage, it won’t be finished even after the sun has gone down. Give me a hand, will ya」
「No way. I’m gonna spend the whole day idling about today. Let go」
I don’t know whether it's Elna-kaasan or Tori who had taught him about it, but don’t you think that you’ve been treating me like a handyman?
I still haven’t gotten rid of the exhaustion from the journey and sore muscles.
The thing that I have to do now is to sleep, not help others.
「Otherwise, I’m gonna peel this futon from you and poke around your body, that fine with you, right? You’re now having muscular pains, right kid?」
「Tha, that’s cowardly!」
Kuh! Maybe because Bartolo is grabbing the futon tightly right now that I can’t move it even when I try to move it forcibly by using the Psychic’s psychokinesis.
In the end, I was threatened by Bartolo and forced to bring all the luggage to the food storage using Psychic.
I already knew about it, but the efficiency of carrying something one by one using human hands and using magic is completely different.
In the blink of an eye, the large amount of luggage carried in by Tori’s company is no more.
And as the maid and Bartolo immediately went to check the items that had been stored, my job is now done.
「Al! Do you have a moment?」
And just when I was thinking of returning to my room to take a nap, I heard Nord-tousan calling me as he approached and brought Tori along with him.
Nord-tousan and Tori should have been discussing table tennis together, but I wonder if there is something wrong?
「What is it?」
「Well, I was explaining about table tennis, it’s hard for me to explain it if there is no table tennis to explain them, I’m sorry but can you make table tennis for me?」
I’m convinced after hearing what Tori had said.
Certainly, even if you said that you played it by rallying the ball on top of the table, it would be hard for Nord-tousan to understand any of it since he doesn’t really know anything at all about table tennis.
There’s the matter with me arbitrarily using too much money in Kagura, so in any case, I’ve decided to just leave all the decision-making to Nord-tousan midway through. I guess a hands-on experience is needed to take part in it.
「Sure, I’ll make one now」
「That’d be great! Aah, I brought the cork ball and rackets with me so we’re fine with just the table!」
So he was going to convince Nord-tousan by showing him the real thing from the start, huh. What a great preparation.
I move using Psychic toward the mansion’s entrance while thinking along those lines.
「You’re not going to make it here?」
「That’s because this is a game where you play it indoors. If you want to actually play it, then it’s better to do it inside」
We’re going to play table tennis anyway. It’s better to play it inside rather than outside. The cork ball will get dirty if it dropped on the ground after all.
Back at the ryokan, I acted in moderation and made it in the garden due to the proprietress and Sannosuke, but in the future, I’m going to make it indoors.
「For now, I’m going to the vacant room here」
「Yeah, there’s nothing in there so it’s fine」
There are quite a lot of vacant rooms on the first floor. So I’m going to use one of them to build one this time.
With Nord-tousan’s permission, I open the door using Psychic and enter the room.
There is no difference between the interior of this room with the waiting room. In exchange, there are no decorative objects like furniture inside, but maybe it’s because those unrefined maids were thoroughly cleaning the room that it was perfectly clean.
Nord-tousan also appears to be convinced by the maid’s job after looking around the room.
He nodded, looking satisfied.
While giving a sidelong glance to that Nord-tousan, I open the window using Psychic to replace the air inside the room.
「Still, Alfried-sama is really skillful in using magic, aren't you? You can’t find people who can use magic with such a delicate control in their life easily, ‘fter all」
「If you made more practical use of magic then I think you will have peace of mind in the future……」
Magic is used to make your own life richer after all. I don’t want to use it to take over some troublesome jobs for other people.
Or rather, I wonder how does everyone else uses magic? Despite there being a lot of uses for magic near themselves, I heard that other people can’t use magic like this. I can’t help but wonder how strange that is.
Oh well, I use it my way, they use it with their own way, I guess.
It should be enough if it’s this wide, so I immediately cast Earth magic inside.
Using the same image as the one I used to make the table back in Kagura, I create a table for table tennis.
When I finished creating that, Nord-tousan looks really interested in it as he approaches and start to touch the table.
「So you’re exchanging the ball on top of this table?」
「That’s right! And you use these rackets!」
Given a racket and urged by Tori, Nord-tousan took up a position.
Hmm, looking at Nord-tousan holding a racket, it gives me a slight feeling of there being something out of place.
Tori is also holding a racket, taking up a position while looking to be in high spirit.
「Now then, I’m going to hit this cork ball here, and Nord-sama will hit it back with that racket, alright?」
「U, un, I understand」
Tori gently hit the ball when Nord-tousan answered.
Looking at the cork ball heading to his own position, Nord-tousan hit it with the racket while looking bewildered.
But, because the racket’s surface was facing outward, the cork ball fell down from the table without entering Tori’s court.
「Achaー, that was a fail. With that, I’m going to get one point」
「I, I see. So the one who manages to hit the ball without a miss score a point, huh……」
Nord-tousan muttered, appearing to understand what Tori said.
Ooh, it looks like Nord-tousan’s response is not that bad, eh.
「Want to do it once more?」
「Aah, please」
When Tori said that, Nord-tousan’s expression turns serious - different from his expression at the beginning.
His posture is not upright, he appears to be observing Tori’s movement while leaning forward.
Then Tori hit the first ball again.
Then, the ball that got hit by Nord-tousan this time didn’t fly to the outside, as he was able to accurately send the ball back toward Tori’s position.
While he was surprised by that, Tori gently returned the ball again. And Nord-tousan also readily returned the ball.
Hm, as expected from someone with good reflexes. It appears that he can already return a ball with the simple forehand course.
And as one would expect, it looks like he didn’t get confused, but the rally steadily continues.
「As expected from Nord-sama! Then, what about this backhand?」
「Uuh!」
Still, even for Nord-tousan, a backhand seemed to be difficult for him as the best he could do was to only hit the ball.
The cork ball hit by the racket flew diagonally upward and rolled on the room’s floor.
If Nord-tousan is holding a sword then he could probably react to every trajectory and object, but he’s currently holding a racket with different usability so it would be hard for him.
「That, how did it end up going that way?」
Nord-tousan asks while looking alternately at the cork ball rolling on the floor and the racket in his hand.
「You change the way you hold your racket, or you hold it like you’re pinching the racket and hit the ball! 」
「I see! So if we can make it, there’s no problem even if we turn our racket around and hit the ball right?」
「That’s right! Looking at the enemy’s movement is also important」
Nord-tousan seems to be unusually happy after hearing Tori’s explanation.
He’s by far more interested in this than the time with the Reversi, he looks happy.
So rather than playing a board game where you just sit in place, Nord-tousan might prefer games where you have to move your body, huh.
「Yosh, then do it one more time!」
「Sure! The one who makes the first eleven points is the winner! I’m not going easy on you even if you’re a noble-sama, all right?」
「No need to hold back. I’m going to be able to comprehend how this game works soon!」
Even while I was thinking about that kind of thing, Tori picked up the cork ball, and Nord-tousan threw off the coat that he was wearing.
Apparently, he’s going all-out to play table tennis now.
This feeling, it’s similar to the time when Elna-kaasan and Eleonora-neesan are playing Reversi.
It seems like Nord-tousan is going to start playing seriously, I don’t think I will be needed anymore, right?
「Nord-tousan, can I go back to my room now?」
「Aah, it’s fine」
When I ask Nord-tousan, he replies like that without even looking at me.
Whether that was a proper answer or not doesn’t matter, as I took that as permission to leave and so I leave the room.
When I moved down the hallway and went to the second floor, Mina and Elna-kaasan came out from the kitchen - perhaps they were checking the food.
「………eh? Isn’t there a knocking sound coming from the vacant room?」
「Now that you mention it, it is indeed. I wonder what are they doing? Let’s find out」
That said, Mina and Elna-kaasan are heading to the table tennis room.
Ah, I think everyone will probably get addicted to playing table tennis, just like the time with Reversi back then.
It would be hard on Bartolo - who is checking on the food - since the number of people helping him has decreased.
I went back to my room with a little smile on my face when I think about it.