Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 112

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Chapter 42: Making alcohol

Today is cooking day.
It’s mainly because I’ve been relying on Fricka for so long, but… It also seems that Zephyr gets full faster with the food I made. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that high-rank food items recover a large amount of SP.
But… To prefer cooked meat to than raw meat… As a dragon it’s that really fine…? Is it like preparing pet food for dogs and cats? Where did his wild instinct go? Let’s see if I can make something like a pet treats… No, It doesn’t matter how small he is, it won’t be funny to have a dragon jump on me with his full might, so I’ll stop here.
In any case, it’s not like there’s any food shortage at the moment, so I cooked manly to raise my skill level.
Eh? “Wouldn’t you have done this even if Zephyr wasn’t here?” Hahaha, isn’t that obvious, Uru-san?

I’m glad that my repertoire has expanded since I received various cooking ingredients and recipes from Bartle Village, as well as a set of livestock as promised.
Due to the small number of livestock, we won’t be able to produce meat for a while, so I’d like to increase the number of livestock…. But if there are too many, wouldn’t it be hard for Fin, who is in charge of livestock?
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a dog since I came to Asteria. I want to train one to act like a sheepdog.
… Well, the cows and chickens that have been around since the beginning have grown enough guts to the point where they don’t fear Uru anymore, so wonder if they even will run if chased by a dog now…? Well, it’s a story for the future, so let’s think about that slowly.

“Ah…Rion. Aren’t you going to make any alcohol…?”

It seems like she wasn’t dissatisfied with the food I cooked, but one day after eating, the Earth God grumbled about it… You’re not an alcoholic, right?

“I won’t make it or rather, I can’t make it. I don’t know how to make it.”

“… Because, you don’t know, you say?”

The earth god made a shocked face as if the world was ending…. Wait, are you really an alcoholic?
There were no recipes for it in the game, and when I lived in Japan, I was barely an adult and had never drank alcohol, and incidentally, I had no interest in it, so I never looked into how to make it. Roughly speaking, I only know that it can be made from wheat, rice, potatoes, grapes, and other things. I haven’t drunk any since I came to Asteria.

“Huh… It can’t be helped.”

I was wondering if she would give up on that, but.
The earth god looked at her hand, moved it twice or thrice, and then… She placed her hand on my head.

Gently.

Something like heat, clearly not caused only by her hands, permeated through me.
Although it didn’t felt like a foreign object, I couldn’t react to that unfamiliar sensation, so the earth god explained what it was to me.

“Actually, I was planning to give it to you after I got better, but there’s no other way. It’s originally part of my divine protection….”

“…… Eh?”

“I gave you information about all plants in this world. If you have that information, you should be able to make it.”

… Don’t tell me that this god just gave a divine protection to satisfy her own desires……! ?
I’m grateful, I’m really grateful… But you really wanted to drink alcohol that much…?!
I suddenly wanted to hold my head, but the fact that I’m grateful for it didn’t change, so I just swallowed it and let out a deep sigh.

Speaking of the divine protection of the Earth God, I remember it being something like increasing defense power (physical resistance) in addition to the recipes for plant and ore type items and bonuses for creating related items. Is it the same here?
When I asked about, It’s almost all the same for the first part, but… It seems like the former is a little different in nature. Rather than a recipe, it seems that you can get knowledge about the ingredients themselves.
Explaining what that does mean, it covers not only how to make items with plants, but also the detailed characteristics, habitats, and how to raise them.
For example, I used Balm Herb to make the LP Potion, but there are other plants with the same properties, and I can also use them to make the LP Potion. By collecting the entire plant, I can grow it at the base, I can understand how to grow it to turn it into high-quality material, and how to process it into high-quality items. How to grow it is information you can’t get just by knowing the recipe.
This… Makes a lot of progress in making things, right…? Ufufufufufu….

A word came from Uru, who witnessed the entire exchange.

“I feel like the earth god is also influenced by Rion when she says to “make it” instead of “obtain it”…”

Just because I have the knowledge, of course I don’t know how it will taste. The earth god says, “Any alcohol is fine.” Is that the withdrawal talking…? Well since she started saying things like this, I’m at a loss as to what I should make.
After some thought, I decided to try making simple wine from grapes. It looks like the only materials needed are grapes and wood for the container.

With Fricka as my assistant, we began by selecting and picking grapes from the orchard. We’ve a lot more than just grapes. After all we don’t have to worry about the climate being suitable for raising any crops. It’s all thanks to power of the creator god.
By the way, the orchard was built behind the altar, and at the moment it has a small quantity of holy attributes. Flowers gained holy attribute, so maybe fruit trees also have the potential…? I tried doing it on a whim, but the holy attribute was properly added. Unlike flowers, the tree itself remains even if the fruit is collected, so I hope that the attribute value will increase even more as time passes.
… Come to think of it, alcohol is used for disinfection, so is it you can also make alcoholic beverages for purification purposes…?

“Creation, [Red wine]”

Even though I have acquired the knowledge, it is difficult to make alcohol by hand, so I will use my creation skill.
When the light subsided, a barrel of wine was there…. Phew, I didn’t feel like I was going to fail, but I’m glad that I was able to do it properly.
Of course, the earth god will do the tasting. I don’t really want to drink that much, so the important is to be able to create a flavor that the Earth God likes.

“… Hmm, well, isn’t it good enough for your first time? Please try harder next time.”

Gununu… Apparently, she didn’t really like it.

“I’d like to have a drink too, okay?”

“Can I have some too?”

“Oh, me too!”

Uru, Fricka, and Fin, who were watching, also wanted some. Since we’re all here, let’s try it together.
By the way, there are no restrictions on the drinking age in Asteria, so it’s okay for Fin to drink it, but I feel like it will hinder her growth, so let’s hope she doesn’t get addicted to alcohol from young age.
… Earth God, I’m still making, so please don’t make that face while saying ”My share…”, please?

“… Isn’t this too normal for something made by Rion-sama?”

“Hmm… I don’t really know.”

Fricka and Fin’s reactions are subtle. Rather than saying that it doesn’t suit elves’ tastes, it’s probably just that the quality of the wine is low.

“Hmm… What I should say?”

I take a sip as well. The sweetness of the grapes and the alcohol spread in my mouth, but when asked if it was delicious, I had no choice but to say it was average. The quality of the grapes should be fairly good, but… I wonder if something deteriorates when it’s turned into alcohol?
While I was thinking about this and that in my head, I suddenly heard a loud ‘Bang!’ sound from behind. When I hurriedly turned towards the source, I saw Uru lying face down, after hitting her forehead on the table.

“Wait!? Was it that bad!?”

I tried asking, but there was no response. Eh? What do you mean…? What’s happening……!?

“… She is, sleeping.”

“What?

Fricka looked into Uru’s face and said that…. Is she sleeping?… Did she get drunk…? With only that amount???
When I looked in, I saw that although her face was somewhat red, she was breathing normally, and it certainly looked like she was just sleeping.
As I tilted my head, the earth god answered while drinking another small glass of wine (I wonder how many glasses she already drank).

“Ah… Scaled races are weak against alcohol. I think that’s why.”

“… Even if that’s the case, isn’t she too weak…?”

Come to think of it, I once heard a story in Japanese mythology where Yamata-no-Orochi got drunk, fell asleep and was killed by Susanoo. Of course there are differences between snakes and lizards, but they both have scales, so I wonder if they’re related.

“Are Fricka and Fin okay?”

“My cheeks are a little warm.”

“I don’t have a problem either. If I had gotten drunk, I might have been able to use it as an excuse to do all sorts of things to Rion-sama.”

“What are you talking about?!”

I’m glad she didn’t cause any problems…!
No, it may be that her intake was simply too low. Let’s be careful.
… Anyway, as long as Uru is just sleeping, there’s no problem. Let’s start making alcohol again.

I continued to make more and more, but the quality didn’t change that much.
I asked Regulus and Liese, who came to visit me the next day, to try it too, and they both said, ‘Juice is better.’ In response, the earth god just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Children don’t understand this taste…” but I wish the alcoholics could just keep quiet.
There was no point in keeping the prototypes that I had made in large quantities at that time, so I went to distribute them to each village. Among them, Ryza-san and Tigar-san, the adult beast group, were very happy. Red wine seems to go well with meat, I remembered that it might be good to use it as a cooking wine, so I made it into steak sauce and Uru and Fin became very happy.

“Hmm… Is it the same as potions that the quality improves if you put more MP? I guess I have to increase the work process…?”

The results so far have shown that if you consciously pour a large amount of MP into the food, it will taste better. However, it was only ‘a little’ and not enough to satisfy the Earth God.
Currently, I’m doing all with skills, but apparently there are steps involved in making wine, such as crushing, fermentation, racking, and aging. … Does it taste better if you store it for a while instead of drinking it right away? Let’s keep some barrels in the storage room (which I purposely created a new one).
But… What should I do about the other processes? Before I make a dedicated device… I’d like to try it out a few things.

“Creation, [Crushed Grapes]”

Then… As I expected, the result was not the wine itself, but crushed grapes.
Okay! I take a guts pose in my heart.
Yes, that’s right.

If you can’t put enough MP in the finished product, you just need to create ‘intermediate steps’ to increase the number of MP you can pour into it.

… Well, I’m sure I can put more MP if I do everything by hand, but I guess it’s a bit troublesome to do it that far… Even though I like making things, I don’t think I want to master the art of making alcohol… I’ll entrust it to a dwarf when I meet one someday.
Anyway, as an alternative, I recall the wine production process and proceed with the creation process while dividing it up into small parts.
Then, with a nervous look on my face, I hand the finished red wine to the earth god and watches her drink it.

“… It’s delicious. You did a good job, Rion.”

The earth god grumbled with great satisfaction, and I took a deep breath, feeling like I had accomplished a huge task.
Ah, that’s good… It was the best I could do right now…
Beyond this, I would have no choice but to increase the rank of the materials by raising my cooking and perhaps the alchemy skill level. The only way to do that was to dedicate a long time, the Earth God nodded, saying, “Hmm, I’m looking forward to the future.”
… But…

“Then, Rion, next time I’ll ask you for a different kind of alcohol.”

“–W H A T?”

I think it can’t be helped that I yelled at the Earth God, who was smiling and laughing “Please hold back for a little while!”.
This alcoholic…!