Chapter 41

Passion is amazing.

At the age of eight, he started making alcohol, and now at nine, after a year, he has managed to plan the sale of the alcohol.

"Aging! We should definitely extend the aging period to pursue smoothness."

"No, if we're going to mix it, a period for it to settle is enough."

"Shouldn't the underground storage in the factory have been made deeper?"

"It's no good if it's too cold. Since good ventilation is also necessary, that depth is sufficient."

Molly and the three bear cubs were passionately exchanging opinions.

At first, they didn't understand much, but after explaining various principles, they began to teach me the common knowledge of alcohol in return.

And now, almost a year after we met, each of them can voice their opinions.

While exploring the creation of equipment, from selecting the location to making the still, improving the efficiency of distillation, handling residues and impurities, and even creating and ordering containers, it has been a busy year.

"......Passion is amazing."

"The selection of the Dinker personnel worked out well."

Herkov laughed at my thoughts that eventually slipped out.

We are now in a distillery at the edge of the Imperial Commercial District.

It was originally a warehouse, a large and empty space.

We have set up fixed furnaces, pots, and barrels, and arranged distillation apparatus connected to condensers at regular intervals.

The transfer to the distillation apparatus is done manually, but it can produce much more than I could make bit by bit in the Emerald Room.

"I wanted to make it more efficient, but I lost to the passion."

Distillation needs to be done multiple times, and the current distillation apparatus can only do one distillation at a time.

So, I intended to create a system where one distillation apparatus could distill the required number of times.

It was theoretically possible because it had been invented in my previous world.

However, I was pressured by Molly and the three bear cubs, and we ended up settling on a form that could produce a stable amount.

The carpenter Renato made the special barrels, the blacksmith Terent made the special metal fittings to connect the parts, and the glassmaker Elast made the bottles, flasks, and glass tubes for aging and storage.

"Aging takes at least two months, so this is just barely in time for next year's release."

"I was prepared for it to take a few years, me."

"I was too, but... well, I kept hinting at new alcohol recipes to keep them motivated, so I guess Dinker is partly to blame."

I taught each of the four how to make the necessary alchemical items.

Molly would stumble and take a long time, while the three bear cubs, who were not good at deep thinking and relied on intuition, often failed.

To get these four to sit at a desk, I hinted at recipes and whispered that if they could mass-produce, it would be on their dinner tables.

As a result, the direction shifted to kitchen-level mass production.

"We're already running it even though the materials aren't all gathered yet."

"For the mixing, we're starting with high-quality materials, and Molly is working backward from the time needed."

The alcohol production is already being done by people we hired, following the instructions.

To keep the method secret, only Molly and the three bear cubs currently know the alchemical items.

This is a separate building next to the distillery, which was originally a warehouse, with a dedicated room for alchemical equipment.

There is also a room downstairs for finishing the alcohol as cocktails, called the mixing building.

There are also storage rooms and aging rooms, and the rooms are divided based on the number of distillations to manage quality.

"Yeah, I can't tell my father about this."

"He might already know the name, though. Dinker's wine from the Moriham store."

"I wish we had a different name. Like liqueur or aquavit."

"Liqueur has an unclear origin, and there's already a bad-tasting medicinal wine called aquavit."

Liqueur doesn't exist here, and its origin is supposedly Latin, but I couldn't explain it, so it's unclear.

And there's already a named aquavit with a negative image, so it was rejected.

Because of that, my name ended up being used.

Well, it's a pseudonym.

And Dinker was changed a bit because he said it would be awkward to be called by his real name here.

"The finished product for promotion was ultimately made by me in my room, but it ended up being presented to His Majesty."

This is the result of Molly's efforts to focus on promotion after the distillation apparatus was created.

"Supervising the distillery, checking personnel, securing and transporting materials, and promoting it before the sale—it's been busy, but she's amazing."

"That guy turned his hobby into a job. But the promotional items made by Dinker, their effect is also a big part of it."

The promotional item I made was a fake martini.

The method is to first distill beer and find a local liquor that has been flavored with coniferous tree seeds.

This turned out to be a genuine gin, an old distillation made by a monastery as medicine.

Next, prepare vermouth by adding herbs and spices to white wine.

While sweet vermouth is common, there are also spicy ones in some regions, so I used that recipe.

It's called dry vermouth.

"I just mixed them, aside from aging."

Mix the two, and you have the king of cocktails, the martini, easily made.

Just add a note to drink it soon and pour it into a bottle.

Incidentally, I also made sweet vermouth, but the adults preferred the dry version.

Molly is planning to import olives, which are hard to get inland, and sell them as a package deal.

"Is selling ideas a success?"

"A huge success? Calling it the king of drinks was a good promotional line."

"Gin alone is easy to make if you know the steps, and it has a high alcohol content, which can be harmful if overconsumed. I thought it should be a bit harder to get. As the king, maybe people would be more reserved."

"That's counterproductive. Ambitious nobles will jump at it, and if it's praised and actually tastes good, they'll try to impress the king by offering it as a gift."

"Why are you lecturing the noble boys, Uncle?"

Terent, with his yellow ears, came over.

"I'm a bit, well, I don't have much interaction with nobles."

"Hey, I heard Dinker has a complicated background. He's making alcohol here and isn't treated as a noble."

Elast is considerate, but the reality is even more complicated.

If I said I have the right to the imperial succession, they probably wouldn't treat me so normally.

"By the way, don't forget, Uncle is in the palace service, right?"

Renato pointed out something significant as an afterthought.

"That's right."

"Why is Dinker treating it like it's someone else's business?"

Herkov ruffled my hair.

Outside the palace, physical contact is more intense.

"It's spilling, spilling."

"Oops, sorry."

"Oh, what a waste. You said you'd make alcohol to celebrate the distillery's operation."

Molly joined in, and Herkov apologized again.

Actually, I'm making a cocktail now.

While waiting, Molly and the three bear cubs were exchanging opinions.

"The scent is orange and lemon."

"Dinker likes citrus, huh?"

"This is gin, a monastery's medicinal wine."

The three bear cubs looked curiously at my hands.

"If you want to sell this, I'll teach you the recipe later. It's gin, white curaçao, and lemon juice."

Curaçao is an orange liqueur, but what we have here is my makeshift version.

I just added orange peel to the distilled alcohol to flavor it.

I had Terent make a shaker and Molly prepare the ice.

Then, I shook the appropriate amounts and poured it into a glass made by Renato to show the color, completing the drink.

"Here, White Lady. It's sweet, bitter, and a bit sour. Enjoy the flavor of the gin and drink it slowly."

I explained it dramatically to prevent them from gulping it down.

Of course, I chose the cocktail with white hair in mind.

Suddenly, Molly, who was about to drink, stopped, looked at it carefully, and blushed.

"Wow, did you use this trick to propose on the first day you met?"

Herkov seemed to be making some wild guesses, but since it was well-received, I'll let it slide.

Regular update

Next: Attempted Assassination of the Prince 1