Pop!
When the wine barrel cork was pried open, a rich aroma of anise liquor wafted through the crowd.
These Bastia fans, already flushed red with excitement, breathed in the fragrance greedily through their skin.
Bertrand was also immersed in this rich bouquet.
One barrel certainly wouldn't be enough, so Bertrand had brought plenty of distilled spirits for mixing.
Traditional anise liqueur was simply anise oil mixed with distilled spirits.
Old Bell's brewing method differed from traditional techniques, but now there was too little concentrate and too much demand.
He had no choice but to dilute it.
Soon enough.
With the fans' help, Bertrand began continuously pouring the mixed anise liqueur into disposable paper cups.
Nearby fans flocked over to taste it.
As the clamor inside Césari Stadium reached its crescendo—
Pop!Pop pop!!
Fireworks erupted at Césari Stadium.
Brilliant lights illuminated the entire area around Césari.
"Pour Bastia! Pour Julien!"
Under the fireworks, Bertrand raised his glass and roared, "Santé!"
Many fans holding paper cups joined in the chorus.
"For Bastia! For De Rocca!"
"Cheers!!"
Everyone's gaze focused on the sky, where fireworks transformed into scattered starlight in the dense night, falling into each person's eyes and into their wine cups.
Mixed with the taste of victory, it carved itself into the memories of Bastia fans on this night.
The clamor at Césari didn't fade until deep into the night.
Throughout all of Bastia, alcohol, cheers, and fireworks filled the entire night.
There were always drunken fans muttering "champion... De Rocca" in some unknown patch of grass—the two words shouted most often tonight.
Police came and went, busy all night long.
Until the first ray of sunlight rose from the horizon, and a new day began.
French media competed to report on Bastia clinching the championship four rounds early and returning to Ligue 1.
Naturally, there was no shortage of coverage about De Rocca.
Inquiry sheets about De Rocca also appeared punctually on Châtaigner's desk.
Châtaigner didn't even look at them, tossing them all aside.
Hadzibegic had completely forgotten about last night, concentrating intently on watching clips from Lyon's typical matches this season, pondering where the winning edge might lie in the French Cup final.
The training ground was empty.
Bastia had given everyone the day off to rest properly—last night's celebration had been too wild.
And some people couldn't sleep all night.
After De Rocca got up, he found Pierre and the others in the hotel lounge—they had stayed at the hotel last night.
Julien had always lived in the team's single dormitory in Bastia.
Naturally, there was no place for his family to stay, so they had to use a hotel.
After greeting his family, Julien went to see Kanté.
Signing Kanté was something he had always wanted to accomplish. In his previous life, he had learned about Kanté's story.
He knew how heartbroken Kanté had been over agent problems, with a bunch of people latching onto him like parasites.
Kanté's kindness had been exploited by those with black hearts.
The situation was very complex—you couldn't understand the Black community using your own perspectives if you are not from the Black community.
In Julien's view, Kanté was an outstanding player not just in skill, but also as a person.
He possessed a sense of conviction that ran through his entire life, and would never have any scandals or do anything out of line.
It seemed football and charity defined his entire existence.
On the pitch, even after being fouled by opponents, he wouldn't stay down to waste time but would get up quickly. He preferred to use his endless running to defend against opponents and wear them down.
This was what you'd call "a lovable player."
In the team, he was willing to do the hardest work and was also the player who ran the most, covering the largest area.
So why was he called "the Kanté you can't get past"?
All those top-level interception and defensive statistics later came from his tireless running.
No one would want to miss out on a player like this.
Julien had signed Kanté under his father Pierre's name, spending about 100,000 euros to deal with those "vampires."
Actually, Julien had never been clear about where Kanté was playing.
Until he saw the squad list for the March 2nd match, he had missed, when Bastia played away against Boulogne.
He saw the name N'Golo Kanté.
Currently, Kanté played for Boulogne. He hadn't yet appeared for Boulogne's first team, only making the squad twice without getting playing time.
He was still with Boulogne's reserve team.
This season, Boulogne was already confirmed for relegation from Ligue 2.
This was the perfect opportunity to take Kanté at a low price!
With such an opportunity, Julien certainly wouldn't let it pass.
He couldn't be like some people from his previous life's internet forums, could he?
In 2015, when Kanté was playing for Caen, a United fan on the Reddit Fan forum recommended Manchester United to sign Kanté, listing various statistics showing how strong this fan thought Kanté was.
The result? All the comments below were teasing and mocking that fan saying that Kante was "too short."
Thump, thump thump.
After Julien knocked on the door, it opened.
Kanté, a head shorter than him, seemed a bit uncomfortable seeing Julien. "Hello, Julien."
"Are you settling in well here?" Julien walked into the room.
Last night, he and Kanté had only exchanged brief greetings without much conversation—he had simply been too busy.
There was no time at all.
"Pretty well," Kanté responded.
Julien understood and knew about Kanté and his personality, but Kanté didn't yet understand Julien that well.
Plus, Kanté had a quiet, reserved personality.
The atmosphere was slightly awkward.
Julien wasn't in a hurry for now. They would become familiar eventually. Kanté had this kind of sensitive personality—you couldn't rush it.
The more eager you were to build a good relationship, the more distant it would become.
Being able to sign Kanté this time was thanks to promising he could join a Ligue 1 team.
Naturally, that would be Bastia.
Born in 1991, Kanté was three years older than Julien, but when they were together, it always felt like Kanté was younger than Julien.
When Châtaigner and Hadzibegic saw Kanté, they had the same doubts as most people: "This build for a defensive midfielder?"
"I believe in his ability. I watched him play at the amateur club Suresnes in Paris before. He has great coverage, excellent tackling and interception abilities, and he's very willing to run. We can try him in joint training."
Julien naturally had complete faith in Kanté's abilities.
Even later at Chelsea, despite achieving so much, he was definitely still underestimated.
Châtaigner shook his head. "No need to train. Of course I'm willing to sign him, unconditionally."
Châtaigner's gaze were fixed directly on Julien.
The expectation in his eyes was very obvious.
Julien had actually been thinking about his future choices during this period.
The conclusion was simple: he wasn't good enough for top-level leagues yet.
Not that he couldn't play, but that he wouldn't have the same tactical importance as he did at Bastia.
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