Chapter 17: Brewing Sake
■■■■■■■■■■
“Ughhh…”
Father finally emerged.
His face looked terrible—clearly suffering from a hangover.
“You drank way too much.”
“Every now and then it’s fine… ow, my head…”
He held his head and sat down at the table.
“No breakfast for me today. Just bring me a hair of the dog.”
“Master, that’s not a good idea. At least have some soup.”
“I don’t have any appetite.”
“Then no ‘hair of the dog’ for you either.”
“Come on, just a little.”
Father slumped over the table with his hands clasped together, practically begging.
“Oh, honestly…”
Mother looked exasperated but ended up bringing him a drink.
“By the way, yesterday’s bag had pepper in it, right? That’s a luxury spice—where’d you get it?”
“I had some from when I lived at the previous house.”
“I see. Thank you, it made the meat taste even better.”
Father smiled genuinely, savoring the memory, but a moment later, he clutched his mouth and dashed out of the dining room.
It was going to be a rough day for him, but hang in there, Father.
Today, I was strolling around the village.
“Master Toma, out for a walk?”
“Yes, I’m just exploring the village.”
“Walking around the village is fine, but don’t go beyond its borders. There are monsters out there.”
“Okay.”
Thanks to Ben using me as an excuse to get priority at the meat festival, quite a few villagers now knew my face.
Even though I’m not particularly outgoing, I can talk if people speak to me first. The friendly greetings help.
As I walked around, I noticed a rocky area with several holes in it.
“What’s that?”
“That’s the old mine,”
“Whoa!” I jumped as Ben’s voice came from behind.
“How long have you been following me?”
“Since around the carpenter Byrd’s house.”
Thirty minutes ago!? The village may be small, but when you walk around, it covers a fair distance.
Ben must be some kind of ninja!
“I didn’t notice you at all.”
“Ha! I always keep a low profile when I’m up to mischief.”
“Why are you so good at sneaking around if it’s just for pranks?”
“Don’t underestimate pranks! I take them seriously!”
Not exactly something to brag about…
“So, that used to be a mine?”
“Yeah, they used to get iron and stuff from there.”
“Interesting.”
“Come on, I’ll show you inside.”
Ben grabbed my hand and led me along.
He was a bit forceful, but there was no malice in it.
“Right through here.”
We slipped through a broken part of a wooden fence.
“Ben, you’re late!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
There were eight kids gathered, waiting at the entrance. This place must be their playground.
“Alright, everyone, today we’re exploring the mine!”
“Yeah!” they cheered.
At some point, Ben had picked up a wooden stick, which he held high like a banner.
“Here it is.”
A worn sign labeled it the Third Tunnel.
“Hey, Sharmi, we need some light!”
“Got it.”
A girl, about eight years old, with pink-gold hair and indigo eyes, stepped forward and began to cast a spell.
“I offer a prayer to the Light God, Lightride. Light.”
A ball of light appeared, illuminating the tunnel.
Sharmi’s blessing is from the Light Mage class, which grants her light magic. “Light” is one of the spells.
Incidentally, Ben’s blessing is “Flame Warrior,” ranked C, with the fire attribute.
The names of the Twelve Gods are as follows:
Chief Deity, God of Harvest (Earth God): Nirgneed
Light God: Lightride
Dark God: Darkran
Fire God: Freyas
Water God: Aqualire
Wind God: Windia
War God: Nomas
Magic God: Magi’kul
Time God: Crocus
And then, those jerks—Space God: Tilraia, Thunder God: Doras, and Craft God: Shylie.
With Sharmi leading, all ten of us entered the Third Tunnel.
The temperature inside the tunnel was slightly warmer than outside. The outside air was around ten degrees, while inside it was about fifteen.
“Hey, Ben, what’s in here?”
One of the other kids asked.
“Well, it’s a mine, so maybe there’s some iron lying around?”
Wait, he doesn’t know?
“How many times have you been in this mine, Ben?”
“Today’s the first time.”
From how confident he looked, I assumed he’d been here many times.
“It’s just rocks! Boring!”
After about ten minutes of walking, complaints started to arise.
“Alright, expedition over!”
That was fast! Giving up already?
Afterward, we played tag and hide-and-seek with the other kids. It felt like a nostalgic return to childhood.
Today, after my morning sword practice, I decided to try something new with my Transformation skill.
I gathered my trusty supply of horse barley. This time, I aimed to make sake!
Father had returned late at night after the meat festival and seemed to enjoy drinking every night. Given his love for alcohol, I thought it would make a great gift.
But… I couldn’t do it.
Apparently, creating sake directly wasn’t possible with Transformation.
“That’s disappointing…”
But I still wanted to make sake for Father.
What should I do…?
“Wait, I know!”
If I can’t make sake directly, maybe I could create a sake starter with Transformation?
I tried it out, and it worked!
Horse barley (1 kilogram) transformed into sake starter for horse barley (100 grams): Mana cost, 50 points.
The starter I created should be able to ferment horse barley into tasty sake.
I don’t know much about brewing, so I set it up so that if you sprinkle the starter over steamed horse barley and leave it for a while, it should turn into sake.
Given these conditions, the starter should work.
First, I needed barrels!
I asked the carpenter Byrd to make three barrels, each large enough to hold around seventy-two liters—big enough to fit me inside!
Next, I gathered the village kids to help me collect horse barley.
“Hey, what do you need all this stuff for?”
“I’ve got a plan.”
The reward was candy, which the kids gladly accepted.
To remove the husks from the horse barley, we put it in hemp sacks and beat it with sticks. We had to be careful not to crush it too much, though; it was a delicate balance.
“Well, since we got some tasty candy, let’s put in the work, right, everyone?”
“Yeah!”
I had the kids hooked with candy. It was actually water candy I’d made with Transformation.
Horse barley (1 kilogram) transformed into water candy (500 grams): Mana cost, 500 points.