Chapter 37

"Ooh... Ooh! ... Ooh!"

"This, this, this is...!"

"What, what, what, what, what is it?"

In the dark, sparsely populated depths of the warehouse, the uncles grunted.

"This can definitely bring wealth if we sell it."

"Wait, we should limit the quantity and see how high we can drive the price."

"No, we must keep the production method secret to generate wealth."

This is not a suspicious meeting.

It's just a tasting session.

"As I mentioned earlier, we haven't established mass production yet. But I am certain it will sell. That's why we need to create a solid plan before we start selling."

Molly stepped forward to explain, while I hid.

We are making alcohol.

The timing is late because it's convenient for me to slip out, and Helcof can't leave me alone, so he's here to see this suspicious presentation.

Molly began to explain her plan to sell the alcohol.

This is a tasting session to attract investors.

"The previous batch was too small and didn't behave as expected."

"Is that a reflection? Hmm, but if the quantity increases, won't our advantage decrease?"

"Still, it will take the appropriate time and money to set things up."

The potential investors chosen are wealthy people who can appreciate the taste of alcohol, as Molly knows.

They include a baron who hit it big in the guild, a viscount from a wealthy earl's family, and someone who is a baron in the empire but an earl in his home country.

These are also the people Helcof initially sold the alcohol to.

Apparently, Molly tried to drive up the price, but they paid a lot and insisted on more sales.

That's why Helcof clung to them.

"Hehe, this is just the beginning. This one is more refined in quality, taste, and ingredients."

"Give it to us!"

"How much is it?"

"We won't hesitate!"

Fast, fast.

The moment Molly tried to present the high-end alcohol, the three of them interrupted each other.

"It's not even fully aged yet."

"Did you, Dinker, come up with a way to make even better alcohol?"

Helcof, who was hiding behind the screen with me, asked timidly.

Distilled spirits should take a few years to age into whiskey or vodka.

Mine is just a cocktail made by adding flavor and aroma to a tasteless alcohol.

If they really want to spend money, I wish they would make the real thing.

"It takes a few years to manage, so I'm not doing it."

"A few years... longer than wine, won't it turn sour?"

In this world, it seems that wine turns into vinegar if left for too long.

Vinegar is made from wine, after all.

It's probably a matter of management.

I also think that in some monastery or something, good alcohol might be secretly produced.

In my previous life, a bartender mentioned something like this.

I'm not an expert in making alcohol, so I plan to sell these ideas once a distillery is set up.

"I don't think it will turn into vinegar, but if the management fails, the alcohol will still taste bad. I'm just extracting the common components of alcohol."

"Being able to do that is what makes Dinker great, but alchemy can be done by anyone, right?"

If you know how.

I also vaguely understood why alchemy had declined over a few hundred years in this world.

As the alcohol lovers mentioned, special techniques are kept secret.

When they are exposed, inferior products flood the market, and when they become widespread, they are dismissed as unimportant, including the original alchemy.

It seems that this is why distilled spirits are unknown or forgotten.

However, some traditions of good alcohol remain.

And like the small lightning lamp, only the real thing has survived to the next generation, and even the fact that it was made by alchemy has been forgotten.

"A bit sad, isn't it?"

"No, even greedy adults don't usually act that disgracefully. Dinker, don't lose hope in the world yet."

Helcof misunderstood and tried to comfort me.

But indeed, the sight after they had a drink was terrible.

They clung to Molly, negotiating the price, and when she refused, they negotiated for more.

Molly also refused, saying she would drink the rest herself.

The result was three alcohol lovers lamenting their fate.

"Did I make something with a hallucinogenic effect?"

"Even if I ask you, I don't know..."

I'm starting to feel uneasy.

I was supposed to make a fake Kahlúa.

Coffee is treated as a luxury here, but it exists.

And I also found a type of alcohol made from sugarcane.

The alcohol from sugarcane is a byproduct of sugar production and is treated as a local liquor.

Molly, using her merchant connections, brought it for me.

I mixed coffee and sugarcane alcohol, experimenting and trying to improve it.

Later, I realized it needed to be aged to blend properly.

However, alchemy has an alchemical furnace that can speed up the process.

Using this, I completed what would take two months in just two days.

Yeah, alchemy is amazing.

However, the alchemical furnace is too complex to be made in a large size.

Making alcohol is probably best done the traditional way.

"I'm not addicted to coffee, right?"

"Yeah, some people get irritable if they don't drink coffee occasionally."

"Maybe it's the vanilla used as a flavoring? No, the smell shouldn't be harmful."

"Well, the reason people act strangely is due to their personal preferences, so it's not something Dinker needs to worry about."

While we were talking, Molly was gently persuading them.

"If you want to drink good alcohol, we need to build a factory to make it possible. If you're willing to spend whatever it takes, there's no reason to hesitate to invest in the factory. The wealth and happiness the factory will generate are clear. I'm asking for your cooperation in setting it up. Of course, we will not be stingy in promising the right to regular purchases, recognizing your contributions."

"Count me in!"

"Of course!"

"How soon can we start!?"

Fast, fast.

They're jumping the gun.

"If this gets out to the Werelel people, I'll be scolded for showing you something inappropriate."

"I doubt the investors will let this situation leak out."

If I don't say anything, neither will Helcof.

So it won't get out.

Thus, the investment talks proceeded smoothly.

We gave them a bottle of alcohol as a thank you and a souvenir before they left.

"By the way, which alcohol did you give them as a souvenir?"

Helcof, who is basically my taster for the alcohol I make, knows what I've made because Molly and I have been working together to find suitable local alcohols to distill and use in cocktails.

"The alcohol from the dragon people. They called it steamed alcohol, I think."

From my perspective, distilling it probably turned it into something like tequila.

It's a local liquor made by steaming a spherical stem in a hole, then crushing it and fermenting the juice.

According to Molly, who is half-dragon, it's made by a large group of people during the New Year or other family gatherings and consumed the following year.

After distilling to increase the alcohol content, it became one of Molly's favorites.

It's a cocktail flavored with various citrus fruits like lemons, which would be very refreshing to drink in a hot place.

However, Helcof wanted to have it as an aperitif, and Molly wanted to drink it as a palate cleanser during meals.

It shouldn't be that easy to drink, though.

"Hehehe! How about it, Dinker!"

"Well, when you ask me that, I was just about to talk about the negative impact on my education here."

"Exactly. If you were going to bring someone like that, you should have said so. You need time to calm down, and I'm taking you home today."

Helcof is also exasperated, but Molly's negotiation was a clear win, and the investment is secured.

"Well, this would be a toast with the adults, but please bear with me for a moment."

Just when I thought we had made progress, it seems Helcof is taking me somewhere.

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