novelEvan D. Sherden, An Encounter (4)
| ← Ch.270 | Ch.272 → |
Three days before the Dungeon Festival, the Brotherhood Brewery finally completed its first production.
Evan, who had the recipe for all the high-quality liquor in the game, also had alchemy's chemical knowledge. The wine was completed with the help of brewers, and they named the product 'Sherden's Honey Strawberry Wine'!
"From now on, this strawberry wine will be the representative drink of Sherden."
"Now that mid-level explorers, who make up the majority of the dungeon city, have free access to the 20th floor of the Sherden dungeon, the most common fruit available is strawberry."
"It contains honey from black cave bees that live in a wide range of areas from the 15th to the 25th floors. It's going to be a standard product that can be reliably distributed throughout the city."
The completed strawberry wine was 16 percent alcohol content. It was quite high because it was fermented with dungeon honey with high sugar content, not like ordinary wine.
Dungeon strawberries tasted great, but they lacked sugar, so they couldn't extract the proper amount of alcohol by themselves.
Therefore, when mixed with other fruits, it assimilated with its properties and added dungeon honey with mana properties that could increase sugar levels!
"It is a liquor with qualities somewhere between wine and melomel (a honey wine made by adding fruit to honey). Of course, it's weird to categorize it into the same terms as conventional liquor since there is a magical effect on the fermentation process."
Evan designed the bottle himself. The bottleneck, which most modern wine borrows, was a narrow cylindrical one, and the shoulder part from the bottleneck to the body stimulated the desire to drink it with real flexibility.
Evan patted the finished product a few times and smiled contently.
"Okay, let's drink right away."
"I'll pour it for you."
Maybell picked the bottle and poured it into Evan's glass. The color was dark red. It was lighter than wine but more beautiful and provocative.
Evan kept it in his mouth. With the scent of fresh strawberries digging into the nose, it just tasted soft, followed by a sweet taste.
As soon as he tried to feel it more, a refreshing aftertaste spread through his throat. The lingering scent of the delicate strawberry wafted through the mouth, giving both satisfaction and futility.
When Evan became an adult, he took a bottle of expensive wine from the Marquis and drank it. However, this was just as remarkable to him.
"Oh, ohhhh."
"I'll have a sip, too... Whoa, that's great."
Maybell picked up Evan's glass and drank the rest of the drink, and she admired it just like Evan.
"I like it because it has a certain personality. It's a taste and scent that never existed before. It'll soon be able to penetrate the outside market!"
"The external market will not be able to keep up with any internal demand. Maybell, you didn't feel it?"
"What the hell do you feel? The powerful beating of the Master's heart?"
"No, stay away. Not that."
Maybell with alcohol was more 'active' than usual. Evan, who managed to break her off, sighed and explained.
"It's both a drink and a potion. More precisely, it has magical effects. So it's an ultra-efficient combat aid that you can use with your potions or buff magic."
Evan would not have gone this far if he just wanted to make alcohol for enjoyment.
Of course, he couldn't say that he didn't want to make his own variety of alcohol that had appeared throughout the series.
However, the brewing industry's fundamental goals were to brew drinks that allowed for long-term storage, were easy to carry, and even magical drinks with utility since they didn't overlap with the Holy Magic or Potions. It would help with the progression of the dungeon.
"If the Brotherhood Bathhouse plays a role in relieving the fatigue of explorers who have been to the dungeon, promoting growth, and the Brotherhood Pharmacy prevents the explorer from dying vainly in the dungeon, then the Brotherhood Brewery will give the explorers the power to fight against monsters."
be produced in the brewery, starting with honey strawberry wine, will be used for explorers who have come to explore the, now, more difficult Sherden Dungeon. It, in turn, will help them explore the dungeon more enthusiastically to wipe out monsters.
"Oh, come to think of it, my heart is beating much faster than usual. I thought it was because I was with you."
"Sigh."
Maybell, who had already emptied her glass, was drinking a new glass of strawberry wine. Before he knew it, he could see her narrowing the gap with him again.
"You'll get drunk if you do that."
"Come on. I don't want to get drunk on my own, Master. Come on."
"This girl..."
Maybell warned him before he started the Brotherhood Brewery that this might happen. It went as she expected. She was just about ready to knock Evan over!
A little regretful that he should have listened to her seriously, Evan gently pressed Maybell's shoulders and pushed her away.
"I'll hang out with you later. Work now, work."
"...Ma-Master?"
"Work."
"Yes, yes!"
Maybell's mind became complicated at once. 'How could you say that you're going to hang out with me? Did he just give me the 'Yes' signal?!'
Leaving the troubled girl behind, Evan took some bottles of strawberry wine and put them in his inventory pocket. It was enough to take it, drink it, and analyze it.
"There seems to be no problem with the quality right now, so let's start selling right away."
"How do we calculate the price? The supply of raw materials is practically a bargain, and if you apply to labor and land taxes, the cost is less than one silver coin per bottle. It's exponentially more expensive considering the cost of the harnesses you've provided yourself."
"Five silver coins per bottle. Sell mainly to explorers who are planning to enter the dungeon. Prevent mass purchases. If the supply doesn't meet the demand, reselling will be a big problem."
Of course, there were exceptions here. Evan was to supply alcohol directly to Phoenix Guild and Heat Shield Guild, which had been actively helping Evan since a few years ago, as well as the guild of witches, the Bloody Apple, which was under Evan's control.
"But, Master, it's still too cheap."
At that time, Maybell retorted in a slightly surprised voice.
Except for this liquor's buff effects, they knew that it could be priced for gold coins considering the taste and aroma of alcohol or the quality of alcohol. However, Evan didn't even blink his eye.
"It's a drink to help explorers explore dungeons. Of course, we're going to make a high-end line for those of a higher ranking. Results will show when more explorers get access to the deep dungeon."
"I'm looking forward to it because it's made of ingredients from the deep dungeon. Come to think of it, didn't you say you were going to the dungeon this time?"
"After the festival. I'm a little bit late because I'm training new people."
"Rookies...."
Maybell remembered the blonde elf, who was now always next to Evan, and the girl who called Evan her teacher.
"The women. It would be okay to look ugly, but why do they all look so pretty? Oh, my God!"
"I don't think the fact that the newcomers are women matters that much."
"You don't think it matters now, but it does, Master."
Is it just them? The witches from the Bloody Apple Guild were also formidable. What about the other aristocrats who stayed in Sherden?
Did he know that Maybell controlled the traffic in the city so that Evan wouldn't be bothered by so many women? No, he probably didn't know.
"One is an elf who lives forever, and the other is a person who is wary of love itself, but it's rude to conclude that way."
Maybell sighed and shrugged. Evan was moved to tears, but he only knew that it would not be good to refute, so now he decided to shut up and step back.
* * *
That evening, Evan had a real drinking party with Shine and Raihan.
Female members also wanted to join, but they flatly refused this time. There was something you could only talk about when you were with guys.
"Come on, hurry up."
"It's from the Brotherhood Skewers. It smells so good. Did the owner make it himself?"
"Yeah, it's boring just to drink."
Shine set the table. Raihan looked around to see if he was interested in strawberry wine.
"This drink... it looks like wine, Master. I think Serpina will like it."
He was thinking of his lover rather than himself. Evan smiled.
"She likes everything when it comes to alcohol."
"But I can't just drink beer with her."
"Oh, you've gotten a lot better. Women will love you."
"I was forced. I did it by force."
Raihan grumbled as he opened the bottle. Shine, who was picking up the skewers and removing the meat to make it easy to eat, suddenly spoke up.
"I've had a drink at parties before, but I think it's my first time sitting together and drinking."
"It's the first time. We've been busy."
In March this year, when Evan became an adult, Shine, whose birthday was later than that, just started drinking.
However, there was the Kraken, there was the opening of the dungeon, and there had been so many things to pay attention to that he couldn't afford to sit together and share a drink.
But when he thought he had some time to spare, the high elf showed up, and then Louise, the Merdin survivor... There was no way he could drink freely.
"So it's already July. The Dungeon Festival is just around the corner."
"I don't think anything else is going to happen. Now I have a headache just talking about the Dungeon Festival."
That was true of him. During the previous Dungeon Festivals, the cities were attacked by Demons and were still recovering in the aftermath. But Evan snorted back at Shine's words.
"It's our duty to keep the city safe no matter what happens. Do you think I've been playing? Not a rat can enter this city throughout the Dungeon Festival."
"And Bernard and Illoin are back."
"He is. With the current squad, we can take on the Demon King."
"Why do you keep saying bad things all the time? You empty your glass first, you son of a gun."
Shine was the first to be drunk as a punishment. He emptied the wine in a breath, his lips pouting... He soon gave an exclamation of admiration.
"This is so delicious! Are you really going to sell this for five silver coins? There will be a riot!"
"We need to control the dungeons so that explorers can buy them first. I'm not trying to make big money in the first place. As a result, it's a business that we can do to develop Sherden."
"When the dungeon was first opened and left untouched explorers, I thought you might have cut off support for the general explorers, but it wasn't true."
At Evan's words, Raihan replied whilst groaning. He was already holding a glass of wine in his hand. Evan replied with a bitter smile.
"I told you, it was a policy to filter out uncontrollable, greedy people. I'm willing to support any explorer who takes it step by step, not those who are imbued with the one-shots."
"I believe and follow whatever you do. But this time, I have a particularly good feeling. This drink... will also be welcomed by top explorers for its overlapping use with other buffs."
"The dungeon attacks will be faster."
"But they can't catch up with our speed."
Shine giggled and poured wine. He seemed to like the strawberry wine very much. Evan emptied his glass and said to Shine, holding a skewer and biting into it.
"There was something I was going to tell you today."
"What is it?"
"Princess Anastasia is coming to the festival."
"Kkkh! Kkhhhhhh!"
Shine poured out the liquor he was drinking.
"She seemed determined to come. There's a possibility that she won't go back even after the festival, considering that she even got a representative for the landlord there."
"No...."
Shine's lips were quivering. Next to him, Raihan nodded and spoke.
"She must have been nervous. She left the populated city, where all kinds of people come and go, and instead, she was stuck in the countryside."
"I kept my loyalty because she told me to keep it a secret until the end."
Evan talked himself out of the glass. Shine was just shivering when Raihan asked him a question.
"So Shine, how far did you go with the princess?"
"Wow, I didn't expect you to start asking that."
"Hmm, I'm still the oldest here."
While the two had such a conversation, their eyes remained fixed on Shine. He twisted his head around to avoid the gaze, but it was to no avail.
The two men shot Shine with sharp eyes, much like a hawk, even though it was pathetic! He resigned himself and opened his mouth.
"That... kissy touch thing had been going on since a long time ago. I mean... the day Asha became an adult..."
"Oh, dear."
He meant that he went all the way. Evan wondered whether the Ghost Lady had exploded or not. No, perhaps she did.
"Oh, come to think of it, that's when Shine started calling Princess Anastasia 'Asha'."
"And not calling her 'Ms'."
"If you get caught, the Duke will really explode. You really have to keep it a secret."
"I'll take care of the marriage issue somehow, so just pay attention to contraception until then."
"Fertility is important."
Evan and Raihan were nodding their heads with serious facial expressions. Shine had a sulky look on his face... He fired a counterattack without warning.
"But why haven't you spoken, Master? You and Belois like each other."
"Lua... She's still underage."
After a moment of embarrassment at the unexpected counterattack, Evan soon collected his mind and replied. However, it did not work.
"She grew up to be sixteen already."
"It's a good relationship, isn't it okay?"
Evan didn't expect even Raihan to come out like this, let alone Shine. Evan turned his head slightly and refuted.
"Lua said no for now."
"That's just what I'm saying."
"I think I said that out of embarrassment. At first, I insisted on not having a sudden relationship."
"It didn't work."
"It didn't even work."
"Anyway!"
Evan made a little loud noise.
"I hugged her without anyone noticing. Let's end this here."
"You don't have to be shy about it right now."
"Maybe you mean after the death of the Demon King."
"I think that's going to take a while."
'How easily did these people think of the Demon King? I'm sure I've warned them enough...'
But as Evan was about to talk about it, Shine hit under the belt.
"So, what about the other two? Princess Arisha or Princess Serena? One side is already engaged, and the other will be engaged, so you can say that you're getting married. Don't tell me that you're going to refuse the both of them, are you?"
"Nope, that's not it."
Evan also gently nodded at the words. Arisha and Serena were aristocrats who had a duty to inherit blood for future generations. Even though they loved each other, they still had to think of their children afterward.
"They'd be happy to get married and have a baby right away. I know about that."
"Then, why? You must have a sexual desire too, Master."
"...Lua."
"Hmm?"
"Belois?"
Evan regretted immediately after saying Belois' name on impulse, but the eyes of the two were right on his face, so he could not unsay what he just told them.
He finally answered in a small voice with his head slightly lowered his head.
"I wanted to be confident first."
"..."
"..."
As soon as the word came out, there was a strange silence. Evan did not add a word to it but sipped the wine alone.
How many minutes had passed, Shine soon said in a stiff voice.
"Let's keep this a secret."
"Yes."
"We didn't hear this."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Let's move on to Raihan's first experience!"
"You punk!?"
The drinking party continued until Evan emptied all the bottles he had brought.
The next day, the eve of the Dungeon Festival was held.
| ← Ch. 270 | Ch. 272 → |