episode_0151

A considerable amount of time passed, and the brewery took on a worthy appearance. The oak barrels, the still, the grains used for distillation, and the mash bill, which is the ratio of the grains, were all helped by Caela. Her brain is at an unprecedented level, and with her original knowledge of brewing and the intelligence to deduce the process and results based on my thorough explanation, she is equipped with facilities that are comparable to those of distilleries existing on modern Earth.

Of course, the only distillery I saw on Earth was a bourbon whiskey distillery that I toured in my spare time while attending a conference in the United States, but it was not difficult to get a rough idea of the level just by tasting the resulting alcohol. Every time I received help from Kaela, I felt like I was being exploited quite unreasonably on the bed, but after drinking alcohol from an oak barrel for the first time, I thought it was a reasonable transaction.

“I want to bottle it all right now…”

“Huh? Then shouldn’t you just do it?”

Rosé, who was unfamiliar with alcohol, asked next to me. I really wanted to do that, but I couldn’t drink alcohol that wasn’t even fully aged.

“It is not fully ripened… To eat it properly, it needs at least 3 years to be edible, and to get the taste I want, I need 8 years. Kaela also agreed.”

“Huh? So what was that thing you took out to taste last time?”

“It was magically forced to ripen quickly, so I literally just tasted it.”

“Ah, what is it? Then, you can accelerate the maturation of the things in other barrels with magic, right?”

Rube raised his hand. It looked like he was going to use magic at any moment. I quickly stopped her.

“Oh, no! Then you’re in big trouble!”

“Huh? What is it?”

“The angel takes more than 80%…”

As whiskey matures in oak barrels, water and alcohol gradually evaporate, deepening the taste and aroma, and the alcohol that evaporates during this process is said to be the angel’s share. Considering that the amount that evaporates at most is 2-3% per year, the magic maturation method was to throw away 40 years’ worth of alcohol to create an 8-year-old taste.

“If you’re going to waste money like that, it’s better to buy alcohol directly from Kenturk for the time being…”

“That’s right. Because waste is a sin. You know how to be patient, you’re amazing, Eugene.”

“No… I’m not an alcoholic, and it’s kind of nice to be praised for something like this… Still, thank you.”

Among Arjen’s personalities, Luv was the only one who caressed me in this way. In addition to Lube, Viola was taller than me, but she was the kind of person who would put her feet up and not stroke my head.

Before discussing height in the first place, there was a big reason why Luv was the only one who treated me like a subordinate. She is the older sister next door. In a way, it can be seen that he has characteristics that do not overlap with other personalities. Maybe that’s why I was the first to interact with Luv, and even though I’ve been seeing him for quite some time, I still feel a kind of excitement that I can’t get used to.

“But Eugene, can I ask you something?”

“As much as you want.”

“It seems like you’ve been putting a lot of effort into drinking lately. Is there a special reason? He was so absorbed that he lacked motivation simply because he wanted to drink on his own.”

“Oh, that’s a secret.”

“Bimimil?”

At that moment, Rube’s hand stroking my head gained strength. It was an expression that there was something he didn’t like. Well, I don’t think I would feel very good if she told me I had a secret.

“Ah, okay. Let me tell you. That’s because there’s a dwarf I want to become friends with. I heard you like alcohol and ores? It’s hard to find the right ore, so I thought it would be okay if it was a delicious drink I made myself.”

I wanted to keep it a secret, but I had no choice. There is no choice but to tell the truth while appropriately hiding the truth. But for some reason, the power in Rube’s hands showed no signs of abating. No, I actually feel like I’m getting stronger.

“What kind of bitch are you?”

“What, what?”

This time I was truly embarrassed. It was not difficult to understand because it was as if he had explained his misunderstanding very simply and clearly.

It’s just that it’s hard to accept the idea that I have an affair with another female dwarf. Common sense, with a dwarf female? That doesn’t make sense.

Last time I went to the dwarven village, unfortunately, I didn’t see any dwarven women. This means two possibilities. One is the extremely slim chance that no female dwarves came out of their houses while I was walking through the streets of the dwarven village.

And the other thing is that I actually saw a dwarven woman. It is possible that I was simply unable to distinguish between the sexes of those whose faces were decorated with wrinkles and beards. Of course, when approached probabilistically, the latter was more likely to be reality.

“There is no way I like a dwarf woman. People can say loudly that what’s on the inside is more important than what’s on the outside, but that doesn’t mean they don’t look at the face at all!”

“Don’t lie! Rosé is loved properly!”

Well, I guess it’s true that I’ve never seen a female dwarf.

“…Sigh, the dwarf I’m trying to become friends with is a man. He’s young, but he has a bushy beard and wrinkles.”

“…Really?”

Even so, Luv had no doubts that I was bisexual.

“What is your connection with that dwarf?”

“Ah. A while ago, when I went to where I lived for a while and came back, I started near the dwarven village. The person showed me a map and helped me with things like how to get to this place.”

“Hey, you’re a really grateful person.”

“Okay then. He’s a grateful person.”

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to give alcohol as a gift, but I was glad that the misunderstanding was resolved.

“But then gifts will only be given after 8 years? Dwarves have a longer lifespan than humans, but isn’t it too late?”

“Well… if you’ve forgotten me, the picture will turn out strange, so bottle it with what’s left in the magically aged oak barrel. There’s more to try at the distillery, so I’ll tinker with it a bit more and come back in a few weeks.”

Thanks to Kaela, who is so knowledgeable, I was thinking of distilling all kinds of alcohol other than whiskey, which was my original goal. Things like brandy and soju.

However, what I said to Luv was not followed in a slightly different direction. It wasn’t that my departure was late, but I had to leave Rare just a few days later.

So, leaving Arjen at rare.

Surprisingly, the reason why things ended up like this was because I failed to properly stop the elves from entering. No, when something happens to me, most of the causes are elves, so it would be fair to say that it is no longer a surprise.

The incident started when several elf tribes lied about having my blood in order to be allocated a good location in the Green Land, which was leaked out to human civilization.

And, as if to prove that nothing spreads through rumors as quickly as such a scandal, most people who are aware of my existence heard about it.

Of course, I ignored my warning and searched for the elf who was talking again, but there were no elves whose livers were sticking out of their stomachs to that extent. I don’t know if it wasn’t there exactly or if they couldn’t find it, but even with Arzen’s power, they couldn’t find the culprit, so it would be correct to assume that it wasn’t there given the circumstances.

In fact, there was nothing we couldn’t do to dig into more detail, but Arjen and I concluded that the culprit was a ‘spirit’, the only means shared between elves and humans, and decided to put an end to the search. This was because a problem worse than a simple rumor arose.

“Prinia!”

I immediately flew into outer space through meditation and vigorously shouted Prinia’s name to find her.

“Eugene? What’s going on?”

From her point of view, my disregard for procedures could have been considered rude, but she responded to my call without showing any signs of it.

“Something so big has happened right now that I have no idea what happened…? So can you answer my question?”

“Okay, so calm down first. Take a deep breath…”

Even if you take a deep breath, it is meaningless in space without oxygen. After gathering myself, I slowly and clearly opened my mouth.

“Arjen is pregnant.”

“…Huh? I see… It must have been quite a shock. No wonder she cheated…”

Prinia seemed to have misunderstood my words to mean that Arjen had an affair with another dragon. I immediately corrected her misunderstanding.

“No, it’s not like that! Arjen is pregnant with my child!”

“……Heh?”

This time, Prinia rarely managed her facial expressions. It seemed like she couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“There’s no way something like that is possible… Even if you didn’t manifest your abilities, Eugene, you’re a decent god with faith, right? There is no way I can leave a successor with another living being.”

“…I know that too. There’s one thing I’m suspicious of. I’ll give you my guess, so please let me know your opinion.”

“Okay.”

Here’s what I think: In the process of spreading the word that elves have my blood to humans through playful spirits, the content was added, subtracted and changed, and a rumor spread that ‘God Eugene can have children with creatures from the underworld’, and the elves that humans see are lies. Since it is not a talking creature, the humans who sent their faith to me believed it as is.

And that faith was mixed into faith according to the laws of this world and became my real ability. Without even knowing it, I excitedly made love to Arjen and speculated that she might actually be pregnant.

Prinia’s answer to my absurd yet plausible guess was very concise.

“…I guess that’s right?”