I Became a Food Developer in Another World

Chapter 37: Beer (2)

Building ships required specialized knowledge, lots of money, and a lot of time.

Dwarves, however, were the craftsmen of the century, a race with deep pockets and a long life span.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that most of the ship plans in human society right now came from dwarves.

It didn’t take long for the dwarves to organize themselves into shipbuilding groups and form the Beer Fleet.

Then, the navies of countries neighboring the dwarves were in an uproar.

“The Dwarves are building sailing ships!”

“What kind of ships are they building? Leave them alone. They must have outsourced it.”

At first, navies made light of the news that dwarves were building ships.

Dwarves, a race of earthlings, did not go to sea.

“That’s……the number of ships exceeds thirty.”

“What, thirty ships?”

“Yes, a new type of sailing ship, the likes of which they had never seen.”

With the news of thirty sailing ships being built, the Navy belatedly realized the gravity of the situation.

If that many sailing ships were to fall into the hands of an enemy nation…

“Find out which country outsourced them, now!”

“What kind of assholes ordered thirty ships?”

The navies of the nations, frightened by the unthinkable, began to investigate the source of the ships.

But

“They say the dwarves are building them for themselves!”

“What nonsense is that? Why would earth-dogs ride in a ship?”

“They say it’s to carry beer……!”

“No, those crazy bastards!”

Building a beer fleet with sailing ships that are not even fit for military use?

‘…Maybe the dwarves could do it, no way!’

The insanity of building ships to carry beer with a short shelf life of five weeks was too much for even the dwarves.

So no nation believed the dwarves.

“The dwarves are finally trying to establish a kingdom.”

“Oh my god, a dwarven kingdom……!”

The sight of dozens of ships rising to the sea was a sight to behold.

The navies of the nations flocked to the sea to keep the dwarves at bay, and then they saw something unbelievable.

“What are those things?”

“Sue, I think they’re barrels!”

“……really carrying barrels?”

The sailors spied the dwarves’ ships through their telescopes and were dismayed.

The deck of the longship with the dragon’s head on the mast was piled high with barrels.

“Hum.”

“Faster, faster…!”

The longships of the dwarves, rowing at a terrifying speed, glided by.

“I’m going to ask for directions!”

“Ma, speak!”

The muscular dwarves, carrying only oak barrels, but wielding double axes and horned helmets, posed a formidable threat to the navy.

No navy had the courage to fight them but despite their fearsome appearance, the dwarves were very friendly.

“Which way should we go to get to Kiiu?”

“You can just keep going in the direction you were going, but this area ahead is the territory of the sea monsters, so you have to turn around and go!”

“See, you land dogs, I told you we can go straight ahead. Thank you!”

The dwarves, who had only asked for directions, continued on past the marines.

“……?”

“I thought you said that was the territory of the sea beasts?”

Despite being told to turn around and go back, the dwarves continued forward.

“It’s dangerous there!”

“Turn back now!”

The naval warnings didn’t stop the dwarves.

The navies of the nations could only watch helplessly from behind.

And then.

Keeeeeeeeee!

“Hahahaha, die!”

“Become a sacrifice to Guinness!”

“My God.”

“Cross the waters of death?”

“What ignorant bastards!”

Longships were slaughtering sea beasts with their giant battle axes as they crossed the ‘Sea of Death’.

As if the word ‘retreat’ didn’t exist, their behavior was both brave and somehow ignorant.

And so began the legend of the sea warriors who risked their lives to carry beer.

And that’s what the navies called them.

‘Vikings.’

*

With the rise of the sea dwarves and Vikings, humans naturally became curious about the beer they carried.

“What kind of beer is this……?”

What kind of beer is so great that they’d cross deadly waters to get it?

Their curiosity grew, but they couldn’t bring themselves to ask the dwarves.

The unwritten rule among navies was to never cross paths with the Vikings.

But it’s human psychology that the more you don’t do something, the more you want to do it.

Such was the case with Captain Ossel, the colonel in charge of the Empire’s ships and a famous drinker.

As he watched the Vikings crossing the deadly waters day after day, he couldn’t help but say.

“Guinness! Here comes Guinness!”

“Drink and die!”

When he woke up, he had accompanied them across the Sea of Death to the village of the Red Anvil tribe.

Ossel was so curious about the beer they were carrying that he volunteered to be their guide.

‘I’ll finally get to taste it…!’

The dwarves swarmed like berserkers toward the thousands of oak barrels being unloaded on the shore.

Ossel was both terrified and unfamiliar with the sight.

He knew the dwarves were beer-loving people, but they were also a picky bunch.

Dwarves were such devoted drinkers that even their own brews, if they tasted even slightly off, they would deride them as ‘orc piss’.

All the dwarves were raving about the beer in the oak barrels.

‘How delicious……’

Gulp.

Ossel’s fantasies about beer were growing stronger.

-Boom!

A muscular dwarf set down a huge oak barrel in front of Ossel and his crew.

“This is for all your help on the voyage!”

“Thank you, Dorian.”

“You are most welcome, without you we would have been three days late in reaching the village.”

Three days was quick, considering the dwarves’ skill at sailing, which consisted of nothing but power rowing.

“Open it.”

The oak barrel was opened and the aroma of roasted barley wafted out.

“Ohhh, this is……!”

“Yum.”

The sailors, who had been admiring the aroma of roasted barley, gasped at the beer that was now exposed.

“What is this?”

“Black beer?”

The opened oak barrel was filled with a black liquid they had never seen before.

The black color of Guinness was unfamiliar to the humans, who were used to drinking only Grunt beer.

It looked almost like a poison, and it was normal to be reluctant.

“So the dwarves are different!”

“Alas, is this the ‘dwarven system’?”

The sailors cheered at the black color of Guinness.

Humans had a perception that dwarven culture was unconditionally good.

There were even nobles who would pay a high price for stones picked up by dwarves on the road.

And dwarven craft beer?

“I can’t stand this.”

Faced with such a rare brew, the sailors brought their cups and drank it down.

“Kiya, this is good!”

“Kya, is this a dwarven brew?”

The sailors exclaimed in admiration at the creamy, smooth finish and bitter flavor lingering in their mouths.

Indeed, the dwarven brew tasted amazing.

“There, come and drink with me!”

“Hahahahaha!”

The sailors mingled with the dwarves, laughing and talking, tearing off sausages and drinking dark ale.

After a night of drinking and merriment, Ossel and his crew staggered out the next day and set sail for the Empire.

“I tell you, the dwarves and……!”

“The dwarves drink so well!”

Upon their return, the sailors traveled from port to port across the Empire, spreading the word of their adventures.

And

Vikings, Warriors of the Sea, Carriers of ‘Black Beer’: In Search of its Mysterious Flavor

The anecdotes of Ossel and his crew’s adventures were published as a book.

*

The dwarves, who were very skilled with their hands, were like ‘magic wands’ that could make anything.

Dwarves were such excellent craftsmen and renowned artists that it was said that even a stone could become a jewel if they made it.

To the people of the Empire, the word ‘dwarf’ was used interchangeably with ‘artisan’.

If there was one fantasy that the people had for the dwarves, it was beer.

As far as dwarves go, they were a clan that took their beer seriously.

However, the short shelf life of beer made it nearly impossible for the people of the Empire to taste dwarven beer.

Then along came a group of men who returned from drinking the impossible dwarven beer.

“My God, you mean there are dwarves who go to sea?”

“Sea dwarves, that’s amazing!”

The sailors unpacked the story of the sea dwarves, the Vikings, and their favorite drink, black beer,

[Vikings, Warriors of the Sea, Carriers of ‘Black Beer’: In Search of Its Mysterious Flavor]

A book of their anecdotes quickly became a “best seller”.

“They say that Vikings are brave sea warriors who know no retreat.”

“That’s great, they don’t know how to back down!”

The romance of Vikings that touched the hearts of men naturally led to the black beer they carried, ‘Guinness.’

“What do you mean, black beer, like black pearl?”

“Alas, I’m so envious of you sailors, when I join the navy, will I be able to taste the beer of the Vikings?”

The people of the country had fallen into a fantasy about Guinness, the black beer that only Vikings could drink.

“…If I drink Guinness, am I a Viking?”

“Guinness must be the drink of Valhalla.”

And so the people’s fantasies about Guinness were amplified and glorified into legend.

Then one day.

[The secret ingredient of Guinness, the ‘hops’ that Vikings drink, is now in circulation……!]

News of the secret ingredient of the black beer Guinness being released to the market swept the empire.

And the source of the rumor is…….

“The White Tower!”

“Huh!”

A thought flashed through the minds of the people.