CH 23

When I entered the guild the next morning, I was welcomed very warmly.

“Please tell me the recipe for the liquor you gave me!”

“Indra! That food was a dream. Thanks a lot!”

The guild master begged me while I was being hugged by the receptionist lady.

“Ah man, you folks are so damn noisy. ――Also, we’ve got somethin’ to discuss with you.”

We headed over to the guild master’s room.

“Rent us one of the warehouses run by the guild. Or have the guild manage a warehouse I’d buy.”

“…Now listen, I’m not a convenient troubleshooter”

“Look, I’d be troubled if someone sneaked in on an off chance ‘n stole things from there.”

The guild master scratched his head, looking rather bothered by this, “…Would it be an issue to go with a merchant’s warehouse?”

“I’m lookin’ for a place to store liquor. If the merchant found out, they’d give me an ear full, no?”

“Alright, I got it. I’ll arrange everything.”

…Just what did you get?

“If you had a dark and quiet place at hand, you’d be able to brew alcohol, right?”

“Pretty much. But, the cook and the servants had been faithfully cleaning and checking the quality regularly, you know?”

“I’ll handle that part.”

Somehow the guild master is full on board with this all of a sudden?

“…It sounds like I’m quite the clean-freak, but yet they kept it so clean that I couldn’t find a single fault with it.”

I told them, just in case.

“It’s alright, leave it to me.” The guild master drummed on his own chest.

“…Oh well, whatever. It’s just about the alcohol you people are going to drink anyway. If it fails, we just need to make it anew.”

“We won’t get anywhere if we assume it’ll fail. We’ll make this town our base. Even if we were to go on a journey, things will be fine as long as we come back several times a year to check, right?”

“…The tools available in this world are pretty sloppy in their making. Just look at the barrels. When we gathered them, we had to trash 80% because they were leaking, don’t you remember? Succeeding on a first attempt would be close to a miracle under these circumstances. It’d be much safer to beg the cook and the servants, and buy their wine for a big amount of money.”

“I’ve already taken measures on that end.”

“Hah?”

Did that guy strike a bargain with them or something? Moreover, he totally looks as if he let something slip he didn’t want me to know.

“…Hey, if you don’t want me to unveil the great spell that will destroy everything on this planet right here and now, spit out everything.”

The guild master slapped the back of Sword’s head, “For heaven’s sake, you’re always such a goddamn troublemaker!”

＊

…This sneaky bugger apparently got all chummy with the cook and the servants behind my back. Isn’t he awfully sociable considering he’s got no friends whatsoever? No, I guess it’s his resourcefulness rearing its head when it comes to things that are of advantage to him.

Anyway, it looks like he brought up the idea with them to continue the alcohol brewing and sell the products since he’d finance them after I was gone. Apparently he went even as far as declaring that they’d suffer no losses since he’d buy up everything they couldn’t sell. Almost everyone, with the cook in the lead, agreed to his proposal.

However.

“All of this depends on Lady Indra giving her approval.”

So said the cook.

“Hoh, so you’re saying I’ll be able to buy that liquor if I go to the brewery involved with Sword?”

“Ah, sorry. I don’t think they’ll sell you the liquor I gave you, guild master.”

I robbed him of any false hope early on.

“Why not!?!”

“You can’t make that liquor without magic. I won’t say it’s completely impossible if you create the appropriate magic tools or utilities, but even though I know the underlying principle, I wouldn’t know how to go about actually making the necessary tools. I’m sure it’d be a series of trials and errors at the start. Then again, you should know that it took me quite a number of failures when I created the liquor I gave you at first.”

“…That’s because you were aimin’ for perfection, no? When I asked the cook n’ the others, they seemed to be confused as to why you’d label your trial products as failures.”

They sure don’t get it, do they? If I say it’s a failure, then it’s just that.

“T-Then, please let me have a taste of the liquor they’re selling. Just to sample it.”

So early in the day?

Oh well…if it’s just sampling, it should be okay, I suppose.

I took out wine from the cooling magic bag.

“That’s…”

“Ah, I won’t give you all of it. Just a cup for testing.”

“Eeeehhh!?”

“Me too!”

……

With a sigh, I filled their cups.

“Such a tiny amount!?”

“You don’t drink wine so early in the day. A component called alcohol is included in it.”

“Gotcha, just taste testin’, okay?”

Sword chugged the whole thing down in a breath.

“The taste is really different when it’s cooled.”

“It loses some of its aroma, I think. Well, I’ve opened this wine several times for cooking, so this also plays a role.”

“Awesoooooooome!!!”

I got super startled when the guild master shouted all of a sudden. Dude, you made me jump up from my chair!

“This is great stuff! It’s easy to drink since it’s cooled, and this aroma! It’s marvelous! This is wine, right!? How is it so different from the stuff available for sale on the markets!?”

“I’d say because they’re sloppy in their brewing procedures. Wine is alive.”

It’s just that they haven’t realized that fact. Or to go even further, they aren’t even aware of the living beings contained in the air or water. You people should really try using your brain why things are rotting, sheesh.

“I see… It’s alive, huh…? So you’re saying it becomes so lovely, if you raise it dearly…?”

Ah, the personification of alcohol has started.

＊

I got suddenly promoted to D-Rank. It’s said that the guild masters can promote people to D-Rank on their own authority.

Since you must take an exam to move up to C-Rank, I was told to keep my eyes open for the next chance, and take it then.

Given that I was in a party with Sword, I’d be able to take S-Rank work as well, but because it was rare for such work to come around, it’d apparently get moved to the rankless, pending cases handled directly by the guild.

＊

While checking the request board, I said, “Somehow I’ve started to feel like being an adventurer isn’t suited for me.”

“At long last?” is what I got in response.

“I don’t get the meaning behind killing monsters. Isn’t it actually the humans of this world that attack them? To me it seems like it’d be better for the life-forms other than humans to kill the monster-like humans.”

“Don’t babble stuff the demon king would say. They might have left you alone, but other humans are gettin’ attacked by monsters. …Rather, why are the monsters leavin’ you alone anyway? That’s the really mystery here.”

They did attack me every once in a while though.

…Still.

“So a demon king does exist?”

“Hmm? …Ah, I s’pose it’s impossible for you to know. Yep, he exists.”

“Do heroes or similar possibly exist as well then?”

“Yep.”

“What’s the difference between an S-Rank adventurer and a hero?”

“…A big one. Rather, they can’t be compared. A hero is chosen by the Kingdom as its representative with the goal to invade the demon king’s country. S-Rank signifies an adventurer who had 『their actual abilities and achievements』 approved by the adventurer guild.”

Oh, somehow he’s talking about it as if it contains some hidden implications.

“S-Rank adventurers occasionally fend off monsters which would destroy a country. Heroes go to someone else’s country and try to destroy it. Does that summarize it in a nutshell.”

“Oh, that’s a great way of describin’ it.” He praised me while ruffling my head. “Stay away from heroes as much as possible. The folks chosen as heroes are fairly strong in martial arts and magic, as might be expected from ’em havin’ been chosen by the country, but when unknown commoners suddenly get promoted to such a high rank, many of ’em act as they please, knowin’ that the country got their back, and since they’re gettin’ pampered, their elitism demeanor is much worse than that of nobles. They’re nothin’ but trouble if you get involved with ’em.”

“That’s the perfect way to raise a flag, really.”

“Huh? No, I think it’ll be alright. The current generation’s hero hasn’t appeared yet. And even if he does, you ain’t goin’ to meet him if you stay clear of the royal capital until he departs to the front.”

…Well, for the time being, this place will be my base. After all, I have to brew alcohol.

…Mmh? In that case…

“Couldn’t we call over the cook and the servants? In that case we could leave everything to them, and only come back here every now and then to handle the parts requiring magic, no?” I voiced my thoughts.

Sword scrutinized me closely. “Your a really smart girl.”

“…Though I expect them to say that it’s impossible and that they’ll do it over there. I’d prefer having them make the liquor here, but I don’t know how much we can rely…on that guild master when push comes to shove. Can he actually be trusted? I mean I don’t know what kind of uproar it’s going to trigger in that town when that man finds out. Isn’t it highly likely that he’d seize the liquor, the profits, and the knowledge at the very least? And if he discovers my involvement, I’m sure he’d destroy all the barrels and falsely charge them for something so that they wouldn’t be allowed to ever make liquor again, don’t you think?”

“I’ll contact ’em right away and try to have ’em come here.”

An immediate reply!

But, transport, huh? If it comes to this world with its crappy means of transportation for liquor…

“The liquor will likely get spoiled, I think…”

When I mumbled that, he got totally startled.

“W-Why?”

“They’re going to move with carriages, right? The liquor will be exposed to the carriages’ strong vibrations over a long time. Moreover, it’ll be stowed away on the load-carry tray, so no one knows how hot it’s going to get up there. I told you, didn’t I? Alcoholic beverages turn into poison if they aren’t allowed an environment where they can 『rest peacefully in a dark and cool place』. If things go totally south, the barrels could even explode.”

“…Alright, you and me are goin’ to carry ’em. In the worst case, I’ll drink up everythin’.”

I thought he’d say that.

＊

Sword quickly advanced the preparations for us to head over to the place of the cook and the servants. As for me, I worked together with the guild master to select a good place, and performed analysis and development on magic tools.

Somehow I’ve totally stopped doing anything adventury, haven’t I? At least I don’t feel like the other adventurers are doing what I am.

Then again, I still don’t get what adventurers are doing anyway…

Suddenly I recalled that I had said it’d get spoiled when transported as load on a carriage.

“…Honestly speaking, it’d have been fine even without becoming so neurotic about it, wouldn’t it?”

In the other world transport by plane or boat was available, but in the past they used carriages as well, didn’t they? Leaving aside liquor, distilled liquor seems to be quite resilient to its environment.

Even if the taste degraded a bit, the heavy drinkers around here would still drink it without any problem, I’m sure.

But, using that method despite knowing that the taste is going to suffer from it spells a failure as a craftswoman, doesn’t it? After all, I’m the maker and not a merchant. I do have some ideas for carriages suited for transport, but I’ve got no idea whether they’d work in this world.

As I was pondering about all this, I got contacted by Sword.