The room was more luxurious than I had expected, and while I was a little taken aback, it was just me and Illness-san, so there didn’t seem to be much need to act overly formal.

As I was thinking about this, a waiter came in, saying, “Excuse my intrusion” and handed over a wine list. Arehh? I thought the wine options were already listed on the menu earlier…… Does this mean there are wines paired with each course as well as additional wines for the entire meal? I don’t have much experience with course meals at places like this, so I’m not sure.

As I was feeling a bit confused, the waiter kindly provided a brief explanation.

[This is a list of wines we can provide. If you’d like to change the pairing, feel free to let us know.]

[I- I understand.]

[Shall we bring out the first course?]

[Please do.]

As I watched the waiter bow and leave, I started thinking…… Errr, based on what they said, “pairing” must refer to the combination of each dish with a specific wine. And since changes are allowed…… that must mean the restaurant has already chosen wines that match the dishes, but we’re allowed to switch them if we want… Right? Yeah, that must be it.

[……Illness-san, do you have any preferences for changes? I don’t have any particular requests, so if you do, we can go with your choice.]

[Let’s seeeee. I think the selections are generally fine, but considering Kaito-sama’s taaaaaste, the wine for the fish dish could beeeeee……]

Since I don’t really know much about different wines, I decided to follow Illness-san’s lead if she had any preferences. After thinking for a moment, Illness-san reached out and touched a small magic tool on the table.

The door opened, and the waiter from earlier entered the room with a bow. Ah, so you use this magic tool to call the staff…… I didn’t know. Glad I figured that out before embarrassing myself……

[……What yeaaaars do you have for the Fion L’fuur?]

[We have 7-year, 18-year, and 45-year vintages.]

[Theeeeen please change the wine for the fish dish to the 18-year vintaaaaage.]

[Understood.]

Wow, Illness-san is so impressive. The way she selected the wine made her seem really mature and cool. Honestly, I admire that. I’d love to be able to specify a wine’s vintage and order like that someday.

……Well, I’m not particularly fond of wine, and learning about all this seems difficult anyway.

As I thought about that, the waiter left, and I asked Illness-san a question.

[Errr, that Fion L’fuur you just mentioned, what kind of wine is that?]

[It’s a refreshing, white wiiiiine. It seems this restaurant has a good selection of vintageeeeees.]

[Errr, I don’t really understand wine vintages…… How does that work?]

[Generally speakiiiiiiing, wines aged 15 years or more are called “old vintaaaaaage”. This restaurant seems to have a well-balanced selectiooooon.]

[Fumu…… So does that mean older wines are more expensive and tastieeeeer?]

[You can’t say that’s unconditionally the caaaaase. Many wines doooooo mellow and develop complex flavors over tiiiiiime, but wines also have a peak year for optimal taaaaaaste. If they were aged too looooong, their flavor can worseeeeeen. There are also wines that are meant to be enjoyed earlieeeeeer, so it’s not always true that older equals betteeeeeer.]

[I see……]

Yep, it still seems quite complicated. But I think I understand now that the 7-year, 18-year, and 45-year wines the waiter mentioned were a balanced selection of young, vintage, and deeply-aged vintage wines.

[Arehh? But didn’t Illness-san say the wine we drank together before was aged for 3,000 years…… Ah, right, wasn’t it made using some special method?]

[Yeeeees. It was produced using a speciaaaaaal Preservation Magic that allows the wine to age while preventing its flavor from deterioratiiiiiing. This method requiiiiiiires meticulous magical adjustments based on the humidity and temperature of the daaaaaay, which made it a type of wine quite rare and hard to fiiiiiind.]

[There’s a lot to know about them huh…… Hmm, I wanted to be able to order wine as coolly as Illness-san, but it seems pretty difficult.]

[There isn’t really a need for Kaito-sama to force yourself to memorize everythiiiiiiing. Just remember a few brands you liiiiiike, and when they’re available at a restauraaaaaant, you can order theeeeeem. That way, you don’t need to learn any sort of complex knowleeeeedge.]

[I see, that might let me order with confidence too.]

[Kuhihi, indeed sooooo. I think Kaito-sama is already always cool and dreamyyyyyy, but perhaps I’ll get to see an even more charming side of youuuu.]

As Illness-san lightly chuckled, I smiled back. Since we often have the chance to drink wine together…… It might be fun to find a brand that becomes our go-to for when it’s just the two of us.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [The atmosphere doesn’t look good…… This lighthearted flirting atmosphere is really not good……]

Makina : [You mean they should be even more lovey-dovey?]

Serious-senpai : [No, that’s not what I meant!]