Chapter 163
Chapter 163
The Fox’s Specialty (2)
“You’re back. How’s the Blood Mist?”
“I think it turned out well.”
As soon as I entered the chapel, Winter greeted me. After giving a vague answer to her question, I headed toward the rocking chair.
“Winter.”
“Yes?”
“Come here. Everyone else too.”
Aro, who had been drooping over Winter’s shoulder, and Worden, who had been curled up asleep in a corner of the chapel, raised their heads as well.
Canis had left for her territory, so everyone here was the entirety of the Religious Order now.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Looks like they’re going to conduct a tax audit.”
Aro asked upon seeing my serious expression. I answered with a sigh. At the mention of taxes, Winter’s face stiffened considerably.
“Why, why? We still have a long way to go…….”
Winter looked as though she couldn’t understand it at all. I shrugged and carefully chose my words.
“First of all, it seems I’m going to inherit the Floating Island.”
“Hmm? The Floating Island?”
Aro asked back at my words. Even though Aro didn’t know much about the Empire’s culture, she had heard of the Floating Island.
She also knew very well just how difficult it was to inherit such an incredible territory.
“Did you scam them or something?”
“……They were the ones who proposed it first. I said I’d do it if they allowed me to establish a Religious Order base on the Floating Island. I think they’ll probably agree.”
Aro looked at Winter. Her gaze seemed to ask if that even made sense. Winter tilted her head as well.
“That’s strange. They don’t have much connection to religion. If anything, I heard they’re the type who don’t particularly like it.”
“The Floating Island?”
“Yes. From what I know, I heard the family that manages the Floating Island is like that.”
I recalled Berrot’s reaction. I hadn’t particularly seen any attitude of rejecting religion from him.
Maybe it was simply nothing more than a rumor.
“Well, anyway, that’s how things turned out, but I haven’t gotten an answer yet. The funny thing is, rumors about it are already spreading around the academy.”
“Rumors?”
“Yeah. That I’ve become the successor to the Floating Island, to the Oppenheimer Family.”
Only then did Winter let out a low exclamation.
“You’ve drawn the Lofty Order’s attention.”
“Yeah. They realized there’s something going on.”
“Hmm. That’s troublesome.”
As Winter and I grew serious, even Aro, who didn’t really understand, made the same expression.
“Here?”
“Ah. Thanks.”
I accepted the herbal water Worden poured for me. Worden had no talent for brewing tea, so all he could do was pour the herbal water Winter had prepared in advance like this.
I thanked him and took some into my mouth. I rinsed my mouth with its lukewarm, bitter taste.
“Then their standards will probably be somewhat rigid.”
“I suppose so. But shouldn’t religious taxes be handled by the Imperial House, not the Lofty Order?”
I asked about what had been bothering me. I knew the Lofty Order was the most influential Religious Order. But I didn’t think it had enough authority to conduct tax audits.
“Ah, that was agreed upon with the Imperial House. There are two major advantages to becoming the state religion of the Empire. One is that the amount of tax paid to the Imperial House is greatly reduced, and the other is that they’re entrusted by the Imperial House to manage taxes on its behalf.”
“They manage taxes on their behalf? That’s way too much power.”
I looked at Winter with a sullen expression. The Lofty Order held even more power than I had thought.
Having control over religious taxation itself was enough power to call them the ‘king’ of the Empire’s religions.
“It’s not entirely like that, though. The Imperial House restricts the appointment of Paladins for the state religion.”
“Paladins?”
“Yes. Most of the Lofty Order is made up of healing priests. It’s not like they don’t have any Paladins at all, but they only have enough to form Guard Units for important figures. That makes them weaker than other major Religious Orders, but the Imperial House makes up for that.”
Complicated. I sank into the rocking chair. I stroked Aro’s fur as she subtly settled herself on my thigh.
“Then the only means of enforcement the Lofty Order has are troops provided by the Imperial House?”
“That’s probably the best way to see it. You can think of them as…… dispatched soldiers?”
“Then couldn’t we contact the Imperial House and avoid the tax audit?”
At my words, Winter fell deep into thought. We waited for her answer.
“I think that’d be a little difficult. Since these troops aren’t completely subordinate to the Imperial House, they’re not really like the Imperial Knight Order. If anything, they’d probably feel a stronger sense of affinity toward the Lofty Order.”
“……Then aren’t they effectively the Lofty Order’s troops?”
“Ah, their families are in the Imperial Capital. Wouldn’t that keep them under control?”
That was the extent of Winter’s knowledge. I thought I should ask the Vice-Commander. Anyway, the conclusion was that it would probably be difficult to get out of this with the Imperial House’s help.
Still, although this was annoying, there were ways to deal with it. It would be best to handle things as conveniently as possible, but if that didn’t work, it couldn’t be helped.
“Well, I can take care of that. More importantly, does anyone here know how to make alcohol?”
“?”
Everyone’s expressions turned strange. We had been having a fairly serious conversation, and suddenly I was asking about alcohol.
“Me! I can make yakju, a traditional liquor from my hometown!”
“Oh, really?”
Unexpectedly, Aro spoke with confidence. Delighted, I listened closely to what she had to say.
“It’s simple to make too. Sweet fruit is good. We use flowers. We ferment flowers and rice together, then distill the resulting liquor one more time. It comes out clear and gives off a gentle floral fragrance. We call it Clear Flower Wine, and it’s a precious liquor that we used to present as tribute to the Mountain Lords of our region.”
She knew the production method in considerable detail. This seemed feasible enough, but the problem was whether Anaye would like it.
No matter how I looked at it, liquor made by fermenting rice from the Far East probably had nothing in common with the liquor from Anaye’s homeland. Come to think of it, wouldn’t any delicious alcohol that simply evoked nostalgia be good enough?
“But why alcohol?”
“No, The Goddess said she wanted to drink alcohol from her homeland.”
I gave a simple answer to Aro’s question. Winter’s jaw dropped in surprise.
“An oracle? My goodness.”
Winter’s words made my expression go cold. Hearing the voice of a god technically was an oracle, but its contents had just been her whining about wanting alcohol.
Come to think of it, every one of these religious quests could probably be considered an oracle.
“Well, I guess that’s what you’d call it. This.”
I pulled out the Stern Mandrake Seed I had stashed away. A small human-shaped root, a single fresh green leaf, and even a small red fruit.
“What’s this?”
“It’s something called a ‘Stern Mandrake Seed.’ When I offered this as tribute, I received the oracle. Apparently, this was originally an ingredient in the alcohol The Goddess drank back in her homeland.”
Aro examined the mandrake with a fascinated expression.
“Huh? Huh? This.”
At that moment, Worden, who had remained quiet until now, approached in surprise. He reached toward the mandrake extremely carefully.
Startled by his intensity, Aro blankly let him take the mandrake from her.
“Why? What is it?”
“This? It’s a precious medicinal ingredient. A medicinal ingredient filled with vitality. If you eat this, it helps you build muscle too?”
Worden, who was both a hunter and an alchemist, was also well versed in medicinal ingredients. I tilted my head.
In the game, this mandrake was the main ingredient for the highest-quality potions, but when eaten on its own, the only description it had was that it warmed the body.
“It’s really that valuable?”
“Yes. It grows in extremely high mountain regions? I read that if you eat it, your body becomes warm and wounds heal at an incredible speed. It said it has a human-shaped root with only a single leaf and fruit.”
I looked at Aro. Aro’s homeland, the Far East, was technically a place that blended China, Korea, and Japan together.
Judging from her name, Aro was from the Korean side. Since mountainous regions had many herb gatherers, Aro had also developed quite an interest in things like this without even realizing it.
Aro examined the mandrake with the serious gaze of someone appraising a jewel.
“With a medicinal ingredient of this quality, wouldn’t infused liquor be better?”
“But that takes a long time.”
“That’s true. It needs at least two years.”
Two years was a bit much. The Random Skill Enhancement Ticket given as the reward for this Faith Quest was the same reward you got for clearing the Imperial Princess’s roguelike nightmare.
In other words, all that goddamn suffering could be replaced by simply making alcohol.
“It’d be nice if we could make time pass faster.”
“That…….”
I chuckled at Winter’s cute grumbling. Make time pass faster? What was she…… Wait, that works!
“Ah! Right! We can do that.”
“Eh? Huh?”
When I actually took her offhand comment seriously, Winter was the one who became flustered.
This world of magic-supremacy had all sorts of bizarre items. Among them was an Artifact capable of accelerating time.
Its area of effect and activation conditions were so restrictive that it was completely useless in combat, but I knew where that item was.
“Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess has an Artifact that accelerates time.”
The reason I knew about it was because there were countless ways it could be utilized. In particular, I had thought it might be useful for raising the stats of this goddamn Davide.
Accelerating time meant making its passage faster. I had obtained this Artifact in the game as well, but because it couldn’t be used on anything possessing an ego, it had ended up being nothing more than a white elephant.
“Um. Sorry, but. Can you just take something belonging to Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess whenever you want?”
Aro asked cautiously. I thought about it for a moment. We had grown somewhat closer, but not enough for me to tell her to hand over her belongings.
“I’ll have to make a trade. With something Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess would be interested in.”
If I only intended to use it once, it wouldn’t be that difficult. But greedy for money as I was, I wanted to keep making and selling this alcohol.
That meant I needed to obtain the Artifact itself. The best option was to trade it for something the Imperial Princess would be interested in.
But as far as Artifacts I owned went, I only had the Aroma Band, which had now become my navigation device, and the Laurel Crown of Victory.
“It’s a little iffy, though.”
I was making good use of the Aroma Band myself, and the Imperial Princess probably wouldn’t be interested in it, but the Laurel Crown had some potential.
However, items related to stamina were precious to me, so I was reluctant to hand it over.
That meant the only useful card I had left was information. It was information I would have preferred not to reveal yet, but considering the Skill Enhancement Ticket, it wasn’t a bad trade.
“I’ll handle this. Winter, take care of everything related to the tax audit, and Senior Aro and Worden, please research the mandrake and prepare to make the alcohol.”
I assigned each of them a task. When it came to paperwork, Winter’s abilities were truly unbeatable. Aro and Worden had been the driving force behind creating the Blood Mist.
“You can ask Dike about it too.”
“Ah. Yes!”
At the mention of Dike, Winter brightened. He had looks that could sway a woman’s heart, but Winter was more interested in his knowledge of religion than his appearance.
If I had sent Aro, who had a weakness for handsome faces, she probably would’ve gotten completely sidetracked.
“Hmm~ Another collaboration?”
“Me? Sounds good?”
“I’m in too!”
Worden and Aro readily agreed with each other. Perhaps because they had spent quite a long time together working on the Blood Mist, the two worked well together.
“Before that, how about we eat?”
To meet the Imperial Princess, I first needed to meet the Vice-Commander. I had already met her today, so it felt burdensome to meet her again.
I decided to put the matter of the Imperial Princess off until tomorrow and focus more on the alcohol today.
“How about putting garlic in the alcohol?”
“Absolutely not! No!”
The moment I brought up spicy alcohol and garlic, Winter shouted as if having a fit. Facing such vehement rejection hurt my feelings.
“What do you think?”
“Uh……. That’s a bit much. The garlic aroma might remain after the process, but all the spiciness and stuff would probably disappear?”
“Ah, then never mind.”
Aro’s gaze grew distant. Her expression seemed to ask what kind of life I had lived to end up with tastes like that.