Chapter 165
Chapter 165
Anaye Traditional Liquor (2)
We spent a lot of time making alcohol. With the semester starting again, we attended classes, and as soon as they ended, we gathered at the chapel.
“Why the fuck do I have to do this?”
“If The Goddess! Ugh! Wants it, we have to!”
“That’s right.”
Right now, I was making alcohol with Winter. We had made our first infused liquor using the Artifact we received from the Imperial Princess, but it had been a miserable failure.
The problem was that it tasted far too bitter. So Aro decided to use fermented liquor from the Far East instead of ordinary distilled liquor.
As a result, Winter and I were now pounding Mandrake together. Since the damned thing was so hard, Winter was practically using her entire body to press down on the pestle.
“Senior Aro. Can’t we just hit this with something like a hammer?”
“Yes. You can’t. You have to crush it slowly. Otherwise, the extract will leak out and it’ll turn bitter.”
That was the problem. The Mandrake felt hard enough that it could have simply been used as an awl. Of course, with the physical abilities of the average person in this world, hammering it would have been more than enough.
The problem was that we couldn’t do that. Simply put, it was like having to split thick firewood with a knife instead of an axe.
“Hmm.”
I looked at the portal Winter had opened. Beyond it was the Magic Department’s kitchen. The cooks were looking at us curiously.
We had originally planned to do this in the kitchen, but outsiders had difficulty entering due to the nature of the facility, and unless it was for an inspection, there was a time limit.
So I sent Winter over to input the coordinates and ask for permission before opening the portal.
“Student, is it ready?”
“Huh? Ah. Just a moment.”
Aro had even become friendly with the cooks. Since she was amiable and knowledgeable about cooking, she quickly got along with them.
One cook crossed through the portal and approached, looking at the grain Aro was brewing. The Empire’s alcohol was mostly fruit-based, like wine, while alcohol from the Far East primarily used grains.
For cooks like them, the new brewing method from the Far East was a subject of tremendous interest.
“Exactly 3 days pass if you put it in here?”
“Yes, yes. Amazing, isn’t it? I was incredibly surprised at first too.”
The Artifact the Imperial Princess had given us was a large cabinet. If something was placed inside the cabinet and magic was infused into it, time inside accelerated.
According to the Imperial Princess’s explanation, roughly 3 days passed every second. 249,200 seconds.
Aro took the Mandrake I had crushed and put it into a container where rice and nuruk had been mixed. After kneading it a few times, she poured in water and placed it inside the cabinet.
“Ta-da!”
“Oh. That’s fascinating.”
She stopped infusing magic the moment she started. It had been a mere 1 second. Yet a sour smell began to rise from what she took out of the cabinet.
Aro smiled brightly as she removed the cotton cloth and stirred it. Seeing how noticeably it had changed, the cook let out a brief exclamation of admiration.
At that, the other cooks crowded over as well to watch.
“And now, ta-da again!”
She mixed it thoroughly and put it back into the cabinet. This time, it was for about 4 seconds. What came out was a cloudy, milky-white liquor.
There had been several complicated processes before this, but frankly, I wasn’t particularly interested, so I hadn’t watched closely.
Aro moved her hands with incredible skill, so all we had to do was crush the Mandrake.
“Rice? Did you get it?”
If you were wondering why Winter and I were the ones pounding the Mandrake, it was because Worden had taken charge of the most troublesome job, procuring the ingredients.
I gestured toward Worden as he opened the chapel door and entered.
“Is it going? Well?”
“I think so.”
―Ooh! This is alcohol, isn’t it?
―It’s definitely a little different from our fermented liquor.
Aro’s alcohol was receiving enthusiastic praise. As someone utterly ignorant about cooking, I couldn’t understand their excitement.
“Davide! Can you come over for a moment?”
When Aro called me, I got up from my seat. Worden naturally took my place and picked up the pestle.
“Yes. I’m here.”
“Want to try this?”
What Aro handed me was a pure-white liquor in a tea cup resembling a Joseon-era liquor cup. Without thinking much of it, I drank it down.
A subtle, savory aroma wafted up, followed by a sweet taste, then a sharp, fizzy sensation.
It would have ended as a fairly well-made makgeolli, but the Mandrake mixed into it created a distinctive fragrance. The aroma was pleasant, but the bitterness was stronger than I had expected.
“It’s a little bitter?”
“Ah, really?”
At my words, Aro began adding something. It was a clear liquid tinged with pink. After mixing it thoroughly, Aro handed me the cup again.
Frankly, it didn’t look particularly appetizing. Once the liquid was added, the alcohol took on a pale orange color.
I hesitated briefly before drinking the cup straight down. Just like before, after the savory aroma came a sudden burst of fragrant floral scent.
The taste that followed was also sweet, accompanied by its distinctive sharp sensation. I could barely taste any bitterness.
“Oh. This is pretty good.”
The moment I finished speaking, the cooks rushed over. Aro gave each of them the exact same thing she had given me.
“Wow~ You could tell me I was drinking flower tea and I’d believe you.”
“Exactly. It seems much sweeter than something made from fruit. Can flowers really produce sweetness like this?”
“It’s kind of like mead?”
“Ah! You’re right!”
The cooks all exclaimed in admiration and began discussing it among themselves. I called over Worden and Winter, who had been working diligently.
“Here, try it.”
Worden downed it in one gulp like a man, while Winter carefully held a sip in her mouth.
“Oh?”
“Wow.”
Neither of their reactions was bad. Seeing that, Aro gave a satisfied smile.
“This is just a trial batch. Normally, we use what’s left after filtering what we just made. We call that White Liquor. The White Liquor mixed with the flower-infused water from just now is Flower White Liquor. Then we’ll steep the Mandrake in it. After 3 years like that, it’s done.”
After saying that, Aro immediately brought over a cotton cloth and began filtering the alcohol. The clear liquor that came out was considerably reduced in quantity.
Aro put the Mandrake into a long cylindrical container, then immediately poured in the Flower White Liquor. She placed it inside the cabinet and infused magic into it.
When 365 seconds had passed, Aro opened the cabinet. Everyone present stared at it with pounding hearts.
“Ta-da! Finished!”
A clear, reddish liquor was revealed. Aro proudly poured it out and distributed it to everyone.
I took mine and drank it. I held it in my mouth once and slowly savored it.
“……This is it. This works.”
I wanted to sell this.
***
“Phew.”
The High Priest of the Lofty Order sighed. It had been 3 years since he was appointed to the Lofty Order on Museion Island.
Despite spending his days devoutly, they had been boring. Then he received a summons from the bishop in charge of the Lofty Order on Museion Island.
The contents were simple. He was to conduct a tax investigation of the Anaye Order, which had recently been rising in prominence. Since the High Priest happened to be bored, he gladly accepted the assignment.
“Well, there’s nothing much here.”
There was nothing particularly noteworthy in the materials he had received. There was nothing that gave grounds to suspect corruption. There were a few somewhat suspicious points, but the same applied to other Religious Orders.
In the end, the High Priest rose from his seat. A notification was necessary before conducting a tax investigation anyway.
Religious tax investigations were broadly divided into 4 stages. Notification, investigation, announcement of results, and evaluation. The notification could have been sent in writing, but for some reason, he wanted to see the Cult Leader in person.
“A-Archbishop.”
“Oh, you’re here.”
From what he had learned, there was a priest who was close to the Cult Leader of the Anaye Order.
He was merely a low-ranking priest who filled out guestbooks, but the High Priest thought he might be of some help, so he summoned him.
“I hear you’re close to the Cult Leader of the Anaye Order?”
“Pardon? Ah. Um. That’s correct.”
“Excellent. I need to go to the Anaye Order now. Could you perhaps show me the way?”
The frail-looking man nodded. The High Priest chuckled and patted the Guestbook Priest on the shoulder.
The Guestbook Priest guided him while visibly tense.
“Hmm? I smell alcohol.”
“Pardon? Ah. You’re right.”
They entered the Academic Department building where the chapel of the Anaye Order was located. As the High Priest drew closer and closer to the Anaye Order, he noticed the fragrant smell of alcohol filling the corridor.
The Lofty Order did not specifically require abstinence from alcohol, so the High Priest enjoyed wine. For someone like him, the fragrant smell of alcohol was more than enough to pique his interest.
―Knock knock.
―Yes. Who is it?
The Guestbook Priest knocked in front of the chapel door. A beautiful woman’s voice came from beyond it.
When the door opened, what appeared was a petite woman. A woman as white as snow, from her skin to her hair, looked up at the High Priest and the Guestbook Priest.
“…….”
“…….”
The smell of alcohol hit them the instant the door opened. The High Priest enjoyed drinking, but even he didn’t drink this much.
His brow furrowed at that. The High Priest looked around the chapel. A considerable number of people were staring at him.
“A portal?”
On one side of the chapel, he could see a portal connected to what appeared to be a kitchen. The High Priest looked surprised.
A portal, no less. It was a difficult spell said to be challenging even for magicians unless they had the right aptitude. There certainly was a reason the bishop himself had ordered the tax investigation.
“Who are you?”
“Ah. Are you the Cult Leader of the Anaye Order?”
“I’m the Cult Leader.”
“I’m a High Priest of the Lofty Order. I’ve come regarding the tax investigation.”
The atmosphere around them immediately stiffened. Davide guided the High Priest into the chapel.
“I didn’t expect you to come in person. I heard these things were usually handled in writing.”
“Ah. I have an interest in the Anaye Order, so I decided to come personally. Please pay it no mind.”
The surroundings were cleaned up in an instant. The quick-witted cooks grabbed the equipment and items they had been using to make alcohol and swiftly disappeared into the kitchen.
Winter quickly put water on to brew tea, while Worden began helping Aro clean up the surroundings.
“Hmm. Were you making alcohol?”
“Yes. The Goddess missed the alcohol from her homeland, so we had no choice but to make it. I apologize for the discourtesy.”
The High Priest waved his hand dismissively. The rumors surrounding Davide were extraordinary. There were many who had suffered from his countless acts of misconduct, and there was even the incident where he had stabbed a classmate and been excommunicated and suspended.
But the Davide he met in person was a polite young man. His appearance wasn’t exactly neat and refined, but the manners ingrained in his bearing were courteous.
“Not at all. I’m the one at fault for arriving so suddenly.”
The High Priest thought his first impression of Davide was surprisingly decent. He might have looked a little frightening, but compared to the Inquisitors, that was nothing.
“Do you perhaps enjoy alcohol? We happened to get quite a good result.”
“Ah! That’s difficult to refuse.”
Before they even began the real discussion, Davide affably offered him alcohol. Normally, this was something that should have been conducted in a stiff atmosphere.
However, having quietly formed a favorable opinion of Davide, the High Priest did not refuse his offer. He also happened to be rather fond of alcohol.
Aro, who had been watching for the right moment, poured the alcohol into the most beautiful tea cup and brought it over.
“Oh. The color is beautiful. And the aroma is impeccable.”
“It’s the ‘Anaye Traditional Liquor’ we ambitiously prepared. We used ingredients that are good for restoring vitality and healing wounds.”
“I see.”
The alcohol he received gave off an incredible fragrance. The scent of plum blossoms? Alongside a sweet aroma, he could also detect a deep, savory fragrance.
With his heart pounding in anticipation, the High Priest took a sip.
“Hoho.”
The crisp scent of alcohol spread through his mouth, accompanied by a softly resonating floral fragrance. A flavor that went beyond nutty into deeply savory, paired with a unique texture that lightly tingled against his tongue.
On top of that, there was a sweetness that was neither excessive nor lacking, along with the deep flavor of medicinal herbs. It was the finest alcohol he had drunk recently.
“This is remarkable alcohol. It’s the finest I’ve had recently. If it’s alcohol like this, I’m sure The Goddess will be pleased with it as well.”
“You flatter me.”
The High Priest voiced his admiration without reservation. That was just how remarkable the Anaye Traditional Liquor Davide had presented truly was.