ITK C219: Water of Life

After a few months had passed…

“It’s done! The distilled alcohol is finished!”

People naturally gathered around after Bacchus’ announcement.

“The dwarves’ special still was a great success! And thanks to the mana metal, it doesn’t smell at all!”

I was wondering where he went when he disappeared from the farm for a while, but it seems he ordered a still.
He could’ve just asked me to do it, though…

Anyway, we tasted the finished shochu, and it was delicious.

It’s much purer than seishu and has alcohol content so high it almost feels like it’s burning your tongue, but it still retains the distinct taste of Japanese sake.
This makes me want to taste sweet potato shochu, barley shochu, and chestnut shochu too.

As for the rest of our farm residents who tried the shochu…

“Damn! It’s so strong!!!”
“Maybe it’s because the alcohol concentration is high?”
“My tongue is burning! I feel like I can almost breathe fire with this!!!”
“But don’t you always breathe fire, Veil?”

The women seemed to have a hard time getting used to the high alcohol content.
The orcs and goblins, on the other hand…

“Here, have a glass.”
“Thanks.”
“It feels great to share a drink, eh?”
“Though we were born on different days, I hope we die on the same day.”

Their manliness keeps on rising in proportion to their drink’s alcohol content!!!

Still…
As expected from the god of alcohol. He managed to make a brew unknown to him taste so good in one try.

Alcohol brewed by Bacchus is naturally better and tastier than the rest.
I feel like this farm has become more extravagant again with him permanently staying here to make alcohol after wandering the world for so long. Our repertoire of alcoholic beverages even expanded thanks to him.

“But now that we have shochu, I’d also like to try making other things…”
“Huh?!” responds Bacchus to my murmuring.

“No way! You can make something else with shochu?!”

Yep.
Shochu… or rather a type of alcohol that cannot be made without distilled alcohol.

And that is…

“Umeshu!”

You soak the plums in shochu for months to get their extract. The taste of alcohol mixed with the plums is exceptional!

We’re already growing plums in the dungeon orchard. All that’s left is to add rock sugar to it, but…
I don’t know how to make that.
Can we substitute it for regular sugar?
Let’s give it a try.

I asked Poel to make large glass bottles and put varying quantities of sugar in them with the plums and shochu, then stored them in a cool, dark place.

“When can we drink it? Tomorrow?!”
“We have to wait longer than that.”

This demigod really loses all self-control when it comes to alcohol.

At the very least, don’t drink the shochu until it turns plum-colored for three to four months, give or take.
There may be a way to speed up the process, but let’s just take our time here.

“…Wait, I think we can still do something interesting with it.”

Plums aren’t the only fruit you can soak in shochu.

We can also soak other fruits and herbs to make their corresponding fruit and herbal wines.
I think even habushu (snake wine) is similar to umeshu.

“Let’s soak all sorts of fruits in shochu and make more kinds of fruit wine!”
“More fruit wine!!!”

And so, our farm hosted a fruit wine competition.

My capriciousness soon became known throughout the farm, and many people brought fruits they wanted to soak.

---

Ultimately, the elves brought relatively decent ones.
As forest-dwellers, they’re familiar with tasty fruits and what would taste good when soaked in alcohol.

“Lord Saint! I think apples would be good!”
“No, no, it has to be loquats!”
“Lemons!”
“Kiwis!”
“Dragon fruits!!!”

Do we even grow any of those?
No matter.
Just the thought of them does seem like they’ll make delicious fruit wine.

The mermaid team’s idea is also quite fascinating.

“We mermaids also have a way of soaking medicinal herbs in water for our magic. These are the herbs we chose that are good for nourishment.”

I soaked the herbs that Platy gave me in anticipation of herbal wine.

Next comes Letasreit.

“Fava beans! I want to drink alcohol with fava beans!!!”
“You really love your beans, don’t you?”

However, I don’t think they produce any extract when soaked in alcohol.
Besides, aren’t pulses supposed to be staple food like potatoes and grains?

“Just do it! Soak the fava beans in alcohol! I want to drink fava bean wine!!!”
“Fine, fine! I get it!”

And so, I was forced to try brewing fava bean wine as well.
But then I realized later on that her suggestion was still sane.

Next comes Veil.

“Can we make good wine if we add this cake?”
“Rejected.”

That’s cooked food. At least bring me an ingredient or something.

“Aww! Think about it, Master! It’s cake! It’s very sweet, creamy, and fluffy! If you soak it in alcohol, it will turn into a very sweet and delicious beverage!!!”
“No, it won’t. Rejected.”

Veil reluctantly ate the cake she brought then and there and left.

Next comes the earth spirits.

“Butter!”
“We’ll make butter wine with it!!!”

Well, you see…
That would just be wine with melted butter, wouldn’t it?
Even if it seems like it’ll be the most successful attempt, I still think it will have a sad outcome, so just enjoy your butter as is.

Next comes Panu and the other satyrs.

“Please add our milk into the alcohol!”

That would just be milky wine.
It’s not that I don’t think it would be delicious, but, uh…

Last but not least comes Horkosfon.

“Please soak this natto…”
“Stoppp!!!”

So, although most of the ideas were crazy, I accepted the relatively sensible ideas of Platy and the elves and soaked various fruits and herbs.

I’ll store them all together and look forward to their completion.

---

But just when I thought this would be the end of the story…

An outstanding one showed up.

“…Oh, hey, Batemy.”

Come to think of it, I didn’t see her at the fruit wine idea contest earlier.
Not that I mind, though, since it’s non-compulsory.

“What’s up? Did you come up with a good idea too?”

Don’t be shy and speak up.
I welcome good ideas anytime!

“No, Lord Saint, it’s not me…”

Batemy looks somewhat troubled.

“…These little ones said they wanted to help you!”

What was on Batemy’s held-out hands were…

The adamantine silkworms.
They look at me as if they’re dead-set on something.

“Huh? Why the serious looks?”

It’s not that they were completely incomprehensible, but when I stared straight into their faces, I got the feeling that they’re saying something like this:

“You’re looking for ingredients to put in your alcohol, yes?”
“We can give you lots of extracts!!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

I. Screamed.

Sure, habushu may be one kind of pickled alcohol and you fall under the list of utilizable animal protein… But!!!

You guys don’t have to sacrifice yourselves like that!!!

You’ll make me cry with guilt!
And even if alcohol isn’t involved, I still don’t have it in me to take the plunge into entomophagy!!!

“It’s okay, Master!”
“No problemo!”
“If you can stomach the first bite, you should be able to gobble up the rest!!!”

Are what I feel like they’re telling me.

Seriously, how can you guys be so selfless?!

---

i was today years old when I found out that snake wine is a thing.

Donate | Table of Contents | Read 400+ chapters ahead!