Chapter 293 - Cola

"Cola?" Mia heard an unfamiliar word.

"Please pass me a glass." Kisuke requested.

Without a word, Mia gave him an empty glass and Kisuke proceeded to pour the contents of the bottle into the glass, "A black... beer?"

One of the waitresses, who is free in the meantime, approached Kisuke from behind when she heard the boss of the pub saying something, "Black beer? What's that?"

Kisuke turned his head and saw a waitress with bluish-gray hair that she keeps tied with a small knot in a ponytail style. Her eyes are the same color as her hair and she has a light peachy colored smooth skin, "What to try some?"

The waitress looked at him and answered apologetically, "I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to drink any alcoholic drink while I'm on work."

Kisuke then turned to the proprietress and said, "Miss~! Two more glasses please~!"

Mia already knew that the beverage that Kisuke poured doesn't have any alcohol content from the smell, and since it's just a drink and Syr, the waitress who is talking with Kisuke just now, is relatively free, she took out two more glasses and Kisuke happily poured Cola on it.

"Mia?" Sry asked in confusion.

"It's fine. I'm also a bit curious." Mia replied as she took one of the glasses.

After getting permission, Sry took the other glass without hesitation. Kisuke started drinking his cola while the two only took a sip.

"!?" When Sry tasted it, she proceeded to drink a mouthful of it. However, this is the first time she had a carbonated drink aside from beer and the carbon dioxide content in Kisuke's cola is a lot higher than naturally carbonated beer in this world,

"Kuha... Kah, Kah... This is...?" Sry was surprised by the fuzziness of the drink and ended up coughing until some tears appeared in the corner of her eyes.

"Well, if you're not used to it and suddenly gulped it down, that will happen~." Kisuke grinned at her.

"You should have warned me!" Sry protested. However, she took another sip of the cola, "But it's sweet and delicious! What is this flavor? What fruit did you ferment to achieve this? And where is the alcohol that came from fermentation?"

"Trade secret, miss~." Kisuke smiled and started eating his food, "Oh, and by the way, this drink is a lot better if it's ice cold."

"Really? I'll go get some ice!" Sry didn't mind Kisuke answer as this is a normal response and ran towards the kitchen.

Kisuke then puts his attention to Mia who is quietly drinking her cola, "How is it?"

"It's good. Those who can't drink alcohol would like this. Did you make this?"

"Yep~!"

"Then how about supplying this to our pub? Since I haven't heard a drink like this, you probably haven't supplied anyone with this. We can discuss the terms in a later time."

Kisuke stopped eating for a moment and pretended to think hard about it before replying, "I don't have a base of operation yet so maybe after that."

Mia smiled and patted his shoulder happily, "Hahaha, that's fine! Some of my loyal costumers are looking for a new addition on our menu and this drink will save us from all the troubles!"

Before long, Sry returned with a bowl of ice and put it in front of Kisuke and Mia, "Why do you look disheveled?" Mia asked after noticing Syr's crumpled clothes.

"I let Anya drink it... It was fun..." Syr replied with only that and Mia could only sigh after hearing that.

With some chunks of ice, they were able to enjoy the cola better. After some time, Kisuke finished his food and passed his payment to Mia, "And here are some more of that cola. Share it with everyone and some of your good customers." Kisuke took out another three bottles of cola from his robe.

Mia stopped for a moment before smiling wryly, "So it's your goal from the start to strike a deal with me... However, it's truly a good drink so I'll be taking it." Mia thought that is his original goal as he readily pulled out more bottles of cola.

Kisuke only smiled at her and left the premise.

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Near closing time, the patrons of the Hostess of Fertility started leaving and just as everyone is starting to clean up, a group entered the establishment, "Mia! Don't close the pub yet!"

Mia looked towards the newcomers as she wipes the glasses clean, "Loki, it's near closing time."

With Loki are the top executives of her Familia, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, and Ais, "Sorry about that. We just finished our meeting and we're hungry. No one would cook this late at night. And Ais-tan here just got out of the Dungeon too. We'll treat everyone in the back too so please extend your time for a bit."

Mia sighed and looked towards one of the waitresses which is an Elf, "Tell May to start the fire again." The Elf nodded and went to the kitchen.

"Thanks~!"

The Loki Familia's food arrived after just a half-hour of waiting. Mia also instructed the waitresses to close the entrance to prevent others from coming in.

And since it's the Loki Familia's treat, The waitresses also gathered on the table nearby to enjoy their dinner. In the middle of it, Syr suddenly said something that caught everyone's attention, "Mia, please bring that out!"

The waitress with brown hair, eyes, cat ears and a tail of the same color instantly reacted, "The black beer, nya!? No way, nya!"

"Hmm? Black beer? Do you have new liquor, Mia?" Loki became interested.

Mia took out the bottles that Kisuke left and set one on each table, "It's not liquor. It's just a strange fruit drink that I got hold today."

Loki and Gareth suddenly lost interest when they heard it's just a fruit drink while Riveria and Ais became interested. However, all of them are still curious about why would Mia call this a strange fruit drink.

Syr, on the other hand, went to the kitchen to get some ice for everyone, while the Elf waitress took the empty glasses from Mia's counter and gave it to everyone.

Syr returned with two bowls of ice, "It's best served on ice." She then popped the cork of the bottle on their table after putting some ice in her glass and pour its contents in it. The small sizzling sound and bubbling appearance immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Now I see why you would call this black beer... But are you sure it's a fruit drink? It looks bitter..." Loki commented.

"That's not the case at all, Loki-sama. It is, in fact, very sweet." Syr then took a mouthful and carefully gulped it down.

"H-how can you drink something like that, nya? My throat hurts every time I remembered when let me drink that, nya!" The cat person muttered.

"Anya... Syr is just messing around with you... If you're not used to it and just suddenly drink it, it'll hurt your throat... It also happened to Syr when the guy who brought it earlier didn't warn her. Now that I think about it, that guy has a similar personality as Syr." Mia spoke as she continues cleaning the glasses that she needs to store.

"Mia... You didn't have to say that..." Syr pouted but still continued sipping on her cola and eat her free dinner.

"Hurts your throat? And you're still drinking it?" Loki asked, but she's not expecting for an answer as she did the same as Syr, pouring some of the cola on glasses with ice. Seeing the bubbling drink once again, Loki commented, "It really looks like beer minus its color." She then didn't follow Syr's example of drinking slowly and gulped it straight down.

Mia knew that she would do this and smiled as she watches Loki tried her best to swallow her drink before coughing, "Hack! Ka! Ka! What the hell!?"

"Are you okay?" Riveria passed her a glass of water. She and the rest of her companions didn't expect Loki to react like that as they knew that she's used to strong drinks.

Loki took the glass of water and replied, "I'm fine... I was just caught off guard."