NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: Brewing a New Drink
The day after the Harvest Festival, Orina returned to the Elf clan. Sofia had not come to the tavern for a long time.
Alan did not dwell on it. He just thought that the Elf Tavern had been busy.
Soon, it would be the second delivery to the elf clan. When that time came, he would be able to see Sofia. If she did not come to drink before that, he would wait until then to ask her what was wrong.
Today, Alan planned to brew the new drink. Because of Ai Xiaohei, he had to postpone his brewing plan yesterday.
When Alan came to the backyard, Ai Xiaohei was sleeping soundly on the deck chair in the backyard.
He smiled and shook his head. He did not wake her up and quietly entered his distillery.
Yesterday, he promised Orina that he would not hug Ai Xiaohei. Last night, when he went to bed, Alan had to force himself not to hug her to sleep.
Ai Xiaohei saw that no matter how cute she acted, he would not allow her on his bed. So, she angrily slammed the door and left.
Alan was not worried about her leaving at all. He could feel that Abyss seemed to be very interested in him, or rather, interested in his tavern.
Whether it was Abraham or Ai Xiaohei, both of them refused to leave after meeting him.
He ignored Ai Xiaohei who was throwing a tantrum and slept soundly as usual.
When he woke up in the morning, Alan saw that she was not sleeping very well at the bar counter downstairs. He was even more certain of his assumptions.
The Abyss was interested in him or the tavern. Abraham and Ai Xiaohei came to the human world with a mission, so they would not leave until they completed their mission.
As for the fluctuation in the Abyss Passage, that was probably due to the two of them crossing the barrier into the human world.
Orina went back to strengthen the barrier. She would probably soon find that there was no problem at all.
Alan felt that she would be back soon, so he had to prepare the small gift that he promised her as soon as possible.
The new drink that Alan obtained this time, the Burning Knife Soju, was a type of strong liquor from his own country in his previous life.
It was mainly popular in the ancient Liaodong region. It had high alcohol content and its taste was strong. It tasted like fire, hence its name. It was an unseasoned liquor.
It was also a distilled liquor. It was usually made from starch or sugar as raw materials into a fermented mash.
The liquor was usually transparent or slightly yellow. It had a fragrant smell and was sweet and clean when it entered the mouth. The alcohol content was relatively high.
After being stored and aged, it had a compound fragrance with esters as the main body.
It was made from koji and distilled using saccharifying fermenters. Starch and sugar were the raw materials. It was steamed, saccharified, fermented, distilled, aged, and finally brewed.
After reading the brewing instructions and familiarizing himself with the steps, Alan put on his newly earned "Novice Brewmaster" title in the system.
As he began brewing, Alan's expression became serious and focused. He did not even notice when Ai Xiaohei entered through the crack of the door.
This was the first time Ai Xiaohei saw a human brewing liquor. In the Abyss, liquor was a very rare thing. After all, the Abyss did not produce much food, and the raw materials needed for brewing were rare.
She watched as Alan took each step seriously and placed the various materials in different proportions into those strange-looking machines.
As the machines operated, a fragrance gradually wafted out.
Ai Xiaohei was extremely shocked. So this was brewing drinks. It required a lot of food and was very complicated...
The distillery was set up using spatial magic, so the interior was much larger than what one could see from the outside.
So far, Alan had three different brewing machines, but the interior did not seem crowded at all.
Alan finished replenishing the few types of drinks sold, and his work in the distillery came to an end.
When he came out, Ai Xiaohei was awake and was lying on the chair, licking her fur.
Alan wondered if he should prepare some cat supplies?
He was not alone now. When he thought about how he was already a cat owner at such a young age, he could not help but laugh.
This was the life he wanted!
In the afternoon, the tavern was open for business as usual.
Today, the tavern was full again. The popularity of the tavern would not decline in the new future. It might even get better and better.
In the evening, mister Wayne and Abraham came to the tavern. Mister Dorje and the others also came. It had been a while since Alan saw all of them drinking together.
Alan greeted everyone. Mister Dorje and the others saw Ai Xiaohei squatting at a conspicuous spot on the bar counter. Her black and shiny fur was quite eye-catching.
According to Alan's request, Ai Xiaohei had to act as a "lucky cat" during business hours. Only by paying off her debt as soon as possible would she be free again.
"Oh, little Alan has a cat. Your cat is quite beautiful."
Mister Knapp complimented Ai Xiaohei the moment he arrived. Abraham didn't say anything but rolled his eyes under his hood. He was cursing this bunch of backwood bumpkins who had never seen the world and thought that this dumb cat was beautiful.
After Ai Xiaohei heard his praise, she subconsciously straightened her furry chest and raised her neck. The expression on her face became haughty.
Alan saw this and couldn't help but silently laugh. Sure enough, felines were proud creatures, no matter which world they were in.
Perhaps it was because there were more people that night, mister Wayne and the others were very excited.
The customers in the tavern gradually dispersed.
The last ones left were still Wayne and Abraham.
"Drink for your lord!"
After drinking too much, Abraham took off his hood early on and grabbed Ai Xiaohei into his arms to force-fed her whiskey.
Alan could not save her in time. By the time he realized it, Ai Xiaohei already downed several glasses of whiskey.
He snatched Ai Xiaohei from Abraham's arms and placed her on the table. The moment her legs landed on the table, she staggered but quickly steadied herself.
Wayne just laughed loudly at the side, not feeling that Abraham was going overboard at all.
"Abraham, what are you doing? Ai Xiaohei is a girl!"
Alan looked at Ai Xiaohei, who was already shaking left and right, and yelled at Abraham.
"Your lord is the Evil Lord and she is but a mere useless magical pet, even if she is a female. So what if your lord wants her to drink? In the Abyss, she doesn't have the right to drink even if she wants to."
From what Abraham said, it was obvious that he was already drunk.
Before Alan could say anything, Ai Xiaohei, the little traitor, nodded her head excitedly as if that was the case.
Then, she acted as if she was Abraham's friend and started meowing at him.
Initially, Ai Xiaohei acted as if she didn't want to drink with them. After "being forced" to drink a few glasses, she started chatting with Abraham.
Alan did not understand her meows, but he could guess a little from Abraham's actions.
Abraham poured an empty glass of whiskey on the table and pushed it in front of her. The strong aroma of alcohol and wheat made Ai Xiaohei intoxicated.
During the day, when she peeked at Alan while he was brewing she was already craving for a taste. At night, using Abraham's drunken behavior, she finally got to drink. She purposely let Abraham catch her.
"Meow Meow... Meow Meow Meow..."
"Although the human world is good, our Abyss compatriots are still waiting for us to bring good news back."
"Meow Meow Meow..."
"Your lord will complete the mission because your lord is the Demon King's most powerful right-hand man!"
..
Alan and Wayne looked at each other. What was going on with these two Abyss fools? They exposed themselves so easily. Weren't they afraid?
Wayne was also at a loss. He felt that he sobered up quite a bit.
The two of them looked helpless. They couldn't help but sigh. Was the Great War between Gods and Demons a joke? How was such a foolish race able to completely dominate the war even after the eight great races united?
When the meowing Ai Xiaohei finally passed out, Abraham no longer tried to hold on. He fell on the table without any movement.
After mister Wayne carried Abraham away, Alan cleaned up the tavern.
After tidying up Ai Xiaohei, who was snoring loudly, he also went upstairs to sleep.