'Hey!　Al!　It wasn't an unbelievably expensive drink I've got an unbelievably big cork!

　When the racket was finished for four people with earth magic, Irvine and Malt came back with a wine bottle large enough to hold in their hands with glee.

　Then Irvine placed the large wine bottle on the table to show it off.

'Oh!　Red wine from Olga!　That's something you can't get even in a kingdom!

''This time, we have the nobleman Alfried-sama's orders in the name of a great cause. You can feel free to go ahead and take it.
　I have!　Hey, Master Alfried?

　Irvine smirks and turns his gaze towards me as if to confirm it.

　No, no matter how much of a nobleman he is, he's not allowed to do anything. How much is it worth that it's rarely available even in the kingdom?

　I've heard that alcohol is very expensive for high value items........

　Well, if it comes down to it, I'll be stubborn enough to complete the ping-pong and sell it to Tory as a product, and he'll forgive me.

'All right, open it up, Irvine.

Hey!

　I give my permission and Irvine happily pulls the cork out of the wine. The wine bottle is bigger than normal, and the squeaking sound is loud.

　Irvine hands me a large cork.

"And what are you going to do with this cork?

You have to scrape it into a ball.

I'll do it myself, then!

　As I said this, Roomba took a knife out of his pocket in his kagura suit and started grinding the cork.

　He didn't carry a large sword with him, but he had something to protect himself with, at least for a while.

　To be honest, I wasn't very confident in my ability to turn the cork into a clean sphere, so it was a nice offer.

　Maybe they simply thought it was a dangerous thing for me to do.

　Despite its appearance, Roomba is in my hand, dexterously scraping the cork with a knife.

　Perhaps thanks to the fact that he lives as an adventurer, he's good at scraping with a knife like this.

　As they watched Lumumba scraping the cork in a rhythmic manner, Irvine and Malt poured a glass of red wine into the glass they had prepared before they knew it.

　Then they clinked their glasses together in a toast and slowly stirred it up.

'Coo!　That's easy to drink for being so expensive!

Oh, I haven't had a wine this good in years!

Hey, guys. Leave some for me, okay?

　Maybe it was because they were drinking happily, but Roomba said as a reminder.

　I like it. If I were an adult in my body, I would have mixed in the drinking cup.

　As Roomba scraped the cork and Irvine and Malt drank their red wine, we heard the sound of footsteps coming down from upstairs into the lobby.

'Oh no!　Hide the wine!

　The adventurer's ability to sense danger kicked in, and Irvine instantly stood up and hid the wine glass behind the couch.

　Then Malt silently took the wine bottle and hid it behind a stone in the garden.

　And the moment Malt finishes hiding the wine, he screams in despair as he returns to the lobby.

'Hey, I can smell the wine!

What?　We can't do anything about it!　Ventilate!　Fan it, fan it!

　What am I going to do when I don't even have a fan to fan?

'I haven't been drinking and it doesn't matter, okay?

　The rumba that shaves off the cork may have thought that this time they were going to be found out, but they ended up saying something like that.

"Ah!　Mr. Roomba, it's terrible!

'Mr. Alfried!　Can't we do something with magic?

　The two panicked people can't look at me anymore, so I activate my wind magic to evoke the air in the lobby.

''As expected of Alfried's master!

　Don't call me the master. You've been skimming wine from the merchants, and you really feel like a bandit.

　As I'm poking around like that in my mind, a group of men come down from upstairs and creep into the lobby.

　From the way they're carrying towels and a change of clothes, they're all going to take a bath together.

　Tory, who is at the front of the group, seems to have noticed us and shouts out with a wave of his hand.

'Alfried-sama!　Why don't we all take a bath?

No, we're in, we're just going to sit here and relax.

　And we were allowed in as soon as we got back.

　And I don't feel like I can go in there with twenty or thirty guys and take it slow. The picture is going to be so bad that yesterday's pillow-throwing polo is going to be incomparable.

'Is it?　So we'll go in then.

　I said no, and Tory easily disappeared toward the baths with the merchant man in tow.

　Irvine and Malt let out a breath of relief, probably because Tory and his friends didn't react.

　Then they started preparing the wine again. They never learned their lesson.

Okay, we're ready!　Al, is this what you want?

　Rumba finishes grinding and hands me a perfectly round cork.

　Oh, it's a strange feeling when the cork is round.

'Yeah!　Just like this!　We'll just have to try and tweak it as we go along.

Okay.

　After throwing the cork shavings in the trash, I quickly move under the ping-pong table in the yard with the cork ball. Roomba follows along with me, and Irvine and Malt arrive with their glasses. Sanosuke, who is watching us, does the same.

'So, how do we play this?

　Roomba asks me if I'm curious, and Roomba is somewhat squirming.

It's called a racket, and it's a cork ball that you hit into the opponent's court.

Oh?

　As I said this, I hit the cork with my racket to test it out, and the cork went into Roomba's coat and bounced.

　Roomba is surprised by the cork that suddenly bounces and catches it without a second thought.

'No, you can't catch it. You have to hit it back with your racket properly.'

Oh, oh!　So that's it!

　As I said that, Roomba sent the cork ball into my court with a polite swing that didn't match his huge body.

　I did the same thing when the cork ball came bouncing back.

　The same way, Roomba hit back, but this time the ball deflected off without entering my court.

''Ahh....''

Yes, I'm down a rumba. A point for me.

'I see!　So whoever scores more points this way wins!

　I'm not sure if you understand most of what I'm saying, but Roomba says it as if he understood it.

　I've been playing with him a lot, so he has good instincts.

Yes, that's right. The first to score 11 points in a game like this is the winner.

　Irvine, Mort and Sanosuke, who were on the outside, and Sanosuke, who was monitoring, nodded their heads in admiration.

'Heh, sounds like something interesting.'

Well, it's not flashy, but it's good for some light exercise. If you move too hard, it might upset Sanosuke or the landlady.

It's just that you guys are particularly noisy. It's a private party, and as long as you keep your moderation, we won't be too noisy.
　No, sir.

　Sanosuke is absolutely right.

　But with this ping-pong, I don't think it's going to be violently noisy. ........maybe.

　You can enjoy it while keeping a moderation since you only play across the court. At the very least, it shouldn't be as noisy as yesterday.

'Okay then, rumba. Let's try it now, okay?

'Oh!　Come on, anytime!

　I pick up the cork ball on the ground and hit it to Roomba.

　Roomba, perhaps because he was out earlier, slowly and with careful motions, hits the racket and puts it in my court.

　A man as big as Roomba is cute when he swings his racket compactly.

　It's a pity to aim at the course against a beginner, so I hit back gently to continue the rally.
　Soooo.

　Hmm, the cork ball is working fine for now.

　The bouncing sound is a little noisy, but it is not so much as to raise an eyebrow. Sanosuke hasn't said anything to me at the moment either.

　As I was rallying with that in mind, the Roomba hooked the cork ball on the wall instead of the net.

'Oh!　What's going on with the wall!　Isn't this a distraction?

'Haha, that's why it's so funny. Go ahead and hit it so it goes over the wall properly.

　He resumes the rally, quieting the rumba as it tries to take down the wall.

　The cork ball bounced on the platform made of earth magic and made a kon-konk sound.

　As we were rallying like this, the Roomba was gradually getting used to it, and it started hitting the ball with momentum. I felt that he was hitting the ball not only from the front, but also gradually aiming at the course.

　Because of his excellent wild instincts, he's getting the hang of it, isn't he?

　I don't want to be the only one swinging back at him, so I'm going to aim at places where Roomba is difficult to hit back. Specifically, I'm going to aim for the hardest place to hit back.
　This is a course that can only be played with khands.

　The rumba was not able to keep up with the backhand course that I hit early, and after wondering how to swing it, I struck out.

　It is a typical way to get beaten up by a beginner in table tennis.

"Hahaha!　Rumba struck out!

How hard is it to hit a ball back that comes to your left hand side?

　He didn't respond to my challenge, perhaps because he was too occupied with the fact that he had struck out, and Roomba tilted his head.

　Then Roomba looked at me as if he had an idea and hit the ball into my backhound side. In a spur of the moment shot, I backhand the ball back to him.

'....ho...'

　Seeing this, Roomba muttered with a grin.

　This bastard, you used me to learn how to hit a backhand.

　As expected of an adventurer, you'll stop at nothing to win.

　If you're in the mood, I won't stop you.

　I smashed the sweet ball that Lumumba had returned.

　Because of my short stature, it's a bit of a drive, but the cork ball got enough acceleration and went through Roomba's court.

'Dwaaah!　It's going fast all of a sudden!

　Roomba, who couldn't respond to the smash at all, let out a cry of surprise. Perhaps he thought it was just a play for the sake of gently hitting each other with a conk.

　No, no, that's naive. Table tennis is a pretty high speed sport, you know.

'Hey, now I want to hit it too!

Okay.

　I reply and Roomba picks up a cork ball lying far away.

'Hit me a high ball that looks like the one you just hit,'

Okay.

　What an auspicious reply, but I don't trust the Roomba.

　In table tennis, there is nothing more frightening than a beginner's smash. It's so easy to hit the ball with such force that it's dangerous and unbeatable.

　So as soon as I hit the ball into the Roomba, I put up a shield in front of me.

'Oraa!'

　Then Roomba fired a smash that hit me in the head area beautifully, and the shield reflected it and the cork ball hit Roomba in the face.