kscans

Chapter 278 - Buying Catalysts 3. At the Liquor Store (Part 2)

He arranged for all the liquor he bought to be delivered to Adon's mansion. The quantity was so large that using his Magic Bag was, officially, difficult.

And while he was at it, he didn't forget to pick out some delicious-looking liquor. After all, this time he had the grand justification of verifying whether they could be used as catalysts. In reality, he had the help of Professor [Appraisal], but since he couldn't reveal that, trial and error was unavoidable. It was a lot of work to check each one, but if it was for the sake of his [Enchanting] training, then ah, it couldn't be helped, it couldn't be helped.

Yuri’s grinning face made his true intentions perfectly clear to those around him, but this time his pretext was so well-fortified that even Dona and the others could only advise him to "keep it in moderation." Well, Yuri himself had no intention of drinking to the point of ruining his health. He had been forced into an unwilling hospital stay in his past life. To ruin his health in this life would be the height of folly, and above all, it would be rude to the goddess Anatea, who had reincarnated him. Alcohol should remain "the best of all medicines," and he had no intention of letting it degenerate into "a plane that shaves away life."

Such was Yuri, who continued his cheerful conversation with the shopkeeper, both of them in high spirits, when the topic somehow turned to the Snake Wine he had bought at the Great Market. According to the shopkeeper,

"Ah, there are all sorts of things steeped in liquor, but what's steeped is usually plant matter."

"I see, that makes sense."

Even when compared to the knowledge of his past life, there were various kinds of so-called medicinal liquors, but as the word "fruit wine" suggests, it was mostly fruit that was steeped. He felt that examples of animal matter being steeped were, again, probably limited to things like Snake Wine.

(...Wait? I think I heard that Seal Scrotum or something was used as a medicine... Hmm? Was I wrong...?)

Well, the seal matter aside, he had a feeling that medicinal liquors made by steeping animal matter were few... or rather, not very popular. At least, there weren't many examples sold commercially.

(There was the Squid Sake Bottle and Iwana Bone Sake, but... those are ways of drinking, not types of liquor.)

It was probably the same here in the Forea World. He was thinking along those lines when,

"...and you know, we actually have one here. A ‘treasured leftover.’"

"A ‘treasured leftover’?"

Leaving behind a line that was hard to judge, the owner disappeared into the back for a moment and returned, saying, "This is it."

"...Scorpion wine...?"

"You bet. It’s pretty old, so I’d hesitate to drink it, but I figured it might be usable as a catalyst for enchanting. ...Don’t you dare drink it, you hear?"

Having languished in the back for many long years, he couldn’t take responsibility for its quality or safety if consumed, so he said he hadn’t even shown it to his favorite regular customer, Adon. Just in case, he secretly used [Appraisal] and found that it was a rather extreme medicinal liquor with some medicinal effects but also side effects. It seemed it could be used for enchanting, so he decided to buy this as well. However, the shopkeeper warned him repeatedly not to show it to Adon. Still, this shopkeeper seemed to know about using medicinal liquor as a catalyst for enchanting.

"Ah, well, this is a business, after all. In fact, about half the customers who buy medicinal liquor are enchanters."

"Is that so?"

Yuri was surprised by this unexpected fact. This was a customer base that hadn’t existed in his past life.

"Well, whatever they use it for, they’re still customers to the shop. The makers probably know that much as well."

"I see..."

"Different places, different customs." Yuri was reminded of that proverb once again.