Chapter 24

Under the clear winter sky, Sora and Lazette were in the back garden of the mansion, where sunlight streamed in.

Even though the weather was good, it was still winter, and the temperature was cold enough to feel the chill even in thick clothing.

"Did I get carried away?"

Sora peered into the container and said in a carefree tone, devoid of any sense of crisis. Lazette guessed that the initial experiment, for which they had made all the preparations, had not yielded the desired results. While she couldn't understand the situation and thus couldn't predict the consequences of overdoing it, she could tell from Sora's expression that things weren't going to be good.

"Are you drunk just from the air, Master Sora?"

As Lazette pointed out, Sora had a grin on his face, like someone who was drunk. Even a demon would smile more kindly. The experiment Sora had conducted was a method to heat alcohol and increase its alcohol content, in other words, distillation. The smell of alcohol was wafting around, though it was somewhat better because they were outside.

"What should I do? Getting Father drunk and causing acute alcohol poisoning could be fun."

"Don't say such dangerous things, Master Sora."

Sora, sitting on the ground and muttering to himself, was holding the container carefully while shaking it to enjoy the contents. He looked like a child who had just gotten a new toy, wondering how to play with it. Considering Sora's age, if he assassinated the pig lord, a guardian would come, so the plan to dispose of him with acute alcohol poisoning was put on hold.

"Master Sora, what are you going to do with that strong alcohol?"

"Set it on fire. Spectacularly."

Sora answered with a grin, but it didn't really explain anything. Lazette looked into the container from the side, wanting to at least check what had been produced. Inside was alcohol with an alcohol content exceeding seventy percent.

"Well, it's dangerous to experiment here, but what should I do? Should I increase the alcohol content even more?"

Standing up, Sora brought over an empty glass bottle and placed it near the container. It seemed a bit heavy for him, and he shook his arms to relieve the fatigue. The glass bottle had contained the wine served at the pig lord's welcome party last night. There were about ten empty bottles, and a few more would be added tomorrow.

"All we need now is paper. Or maybe cloth would be better."

Sora muttered to himself as he stared at the mouth of the glass bottle. Lazette ignored him, not understanding what he was thinking and not wanting to bother trying to figure it out.

"Paper is expensive, so let's use cloth. Lazette, do we have any leftover cloth?"

Sora was asking about the leftover cloth from the old clothes they had gathered last year. Lazette informed him that there was none left, as they had used it all to make clothes for the homeless children.

"Should we go to the lumberyard or the processing plant and get some oak bark?"

Oak grows in the inland part of the Kleinzelt territory. Like black pine, it is resistant to salt damage, but it is only grown inland, so the supply is naturally limited.

"If I move now, the church will notice, right?"

Lazette pointed to the wall. Since Geist appeared, they had been under constant surveillance, which Lazette found exhausting.

"That's fine. It's frustrating not being able to experiment, but there's no help for it. We need something spectacular, anyway."

"What do you plan to do with this alcohol?"

Lazette was suspicious about what Sora intended to do with such strong alcohol. She could only think of getting the church people drunk.

"Before I explain, let's add one more person to our group."

Before Lazette could question whether it was so convenient to find someone to join them, a certain person came to call Sora.

"Master Sora, lunch is ready."

The cook, known for his inefficiency, called out. Lazette looked at Sora with a worried expression.

"Let's have a little chat before lunch."

Sora called out to the cook in an innocent tone. The cook, who had been curiously looking at the distilled alcohol, replied with a friendly smile.

"What is it? Do you want something to eat? I have some fatty saury. Should I grill it?"

"Oh, saury! Is it from the black-eyed variety?"

"Yes, saury has black eyes."

"Saury is best with black eyes, isn't it?"

"The red-eyed saury we had the other day wasn't very tasty, though."

Lazette, with a look of exasperation, placed her hand on her master's shoulder, who was getting excited about the saury, to remind him of the main topic.

"Oops, let's talk about the saury later. I need a little help from Kor."

Kor, the cook, agreed without even asking what the task was.

"So, what do you need me to do?"

"Let's give the church's foolish bishop a taste of his own medicine."

Kor's smile froze instantly. If they provoked the church, he wouldn't be able to walk around the town normally. The church wouldn't attack him just because he wasn't a believer, but if a church believer was harmed, they would attack.

"Kor isn't a church believer, so there's no problem with him joining us. You can refuse if you want."

"Then I'll decline—"

"Can you make a dish that Father will like?"

Sora asked with a mischievous smile, implying that if he refused, the pig lord wouldn't protect him. Kor, who had hastily swallowed his refusal, choked.

"Don't worry. We're not making the church our enemy. We're just exposing the scoundrels who are exploiting the church's teachings. You won't be unable to walk around the town."

Sora continued, and Kor visibly relaxed. With the pig lord back, upsetting Sora was like cutting the last lifeline. He couldn't refuse Sora's request.

"Then, let me explain the plan."