CH 115

“Hmm? There is no wine.” (Barkeeper)

“Eh?”

When I ordered a bottle of wine at the inn’s bar, the unexpected words came back to me and I couldn’t help but shout out.

No wine?　I’ve been to a lot of bars in my life, but I’ve never seen one that didn’t have wine.

“…Well, what’s here then?”

“Hey, hey, there’s ale, more ale! If you’re a man, shut up and get ale!” (Barkeeper)

When I looked around after listening words of the dwarven barkeeper who just laughed at me, it was true that all the customers in the bar were downing ale with their large wooden mug.

…So that’s it. It might be that kind of thing… Right? …Well, I’ve never heard about it, and it might be a custom only in this town? I wonder what it is.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out. If men are ale, what should women be drinking?”

When I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw a foxy lady with upturned ears sitting a little farther away, slamming her empty mug on the counter table.

Her cheeks were red and she was obviously drunk.

“Don’t get angry, Jorina. The woman also get ale! Once you drink ale the women of Ruda become beautiful! Here, another cup!” (Barkeeper)

While saying that, the barkeeper put a mug in front of the miss and said, “If she drinks it, you can do it too, as a man!” And laughed while giving a thumbs up.

“Then, one ale.”

“Here! Two copper coins!” (Barkeeper)

The barkeeper was too busy catching the fox lady’s fist with his face, so I ordered from the boy next to him.

After a while, the boy said, “Here you go!” I took the ale he brought and smelled it while checking the inside.

It was a light amber color. There was hardly any foam, and the carbonation seemed to be almost gone.  The smell is… a rich grain scent.

I tipped the mug and took a sip, tasting it lightly as I rolled it around on my tongue, then swallowed.

“……I see.”

In my mouth, the rich aroma of grains penetrated my nose, and the bitterness and aroma flowed down my throat with a smooth texture.

No wonder everyone drinks ale. This is… delicious!

As if rushed by the mug in my hand, I gulped it down.

I had drunk ale several times before in other towns. I’d had a few ales in other towns before, but I hadn’t found them to be very good.

Some of the ales smelled of ammonia, and others were too muddy. Some ales had a strong herbal or grassy flavor. Compared to that, the ales here are clean, and I feel that the grains play a big role. There’s almost no extraneous flavor.

Oh yeah. There’s water.

Grape wine is made with juice from the grapes, so the quality of the water doesn’t matter much, but ale requires a lot of water in the production process. In other words, if the water is bad, the ale is bad.

This town—the Town of Ruda – is near a mountain, and the spring water that flows from the mountain becomes a river that runs through the town. The ale must be good because it is made from that spring water.

Surely, this would make a good ale, wouldn’t it?

“Here you go!” (Barkeeper Boy)

The boy from earlier brought out two plates from the counter.

One was some soup with some vegetables floating in it, and the other was a grilled fish about 30 centimeters long, similar to a rockfish!

I knew from the smell and from looking at the other tables that seafood would be served, but when it was actually served in front of me like this, my mouth started to salivate.

Well, how do you eat it?

I’m curious about what other people are doing and look around.

A human woman sitting at a table against the wall was peeling off the meat by inserting a knife between the meat and the bone. At the counter table in front of her, I saw a large beastman grabbing a fish and crunching its head off.

“…”

I thought for a moment, took out a knife from the magic bag in my robe, and while holding the head of the fish with my left hand, I advanced the knife along the spine. The well-cooked flesh accepted the knife blade without resistance, and the white flesh fell cleanly to the tail.

I held it in my hand and threw it into my mouth.

“…this is really delicious.”

The texture of the skin was crispy and well cooked. The salt sprinkled on the skin felt good on my tongue. The oils spread in my mouth. The white flesh is light and free of any unnecessary flavors. The faint flavor of the sea. It’s simple, but everything is perfect. Simply delicious.

Originally, I didn’t like fish that much, but after a few months of meat, bread, and stew, something might have changed.

I washed my mouth out with ale and looked at the remaining fish. There was still half of the body left in the fish.

I take the fish in my hands and bite into it with gusto this time. And ale. Salted and grilled again. And more ale.

Before I knew it, my mug was empty, so I put it on the table and called the boy from earlier.

“One more ale! And another grilled fish!”

“Yes! One more grilled fish?” (Barkeeper Boy)

“Yeah!”

I sipped my soup as I watched a dwarf with red, swollen cheeks prepare the fish.

And the night went on.

Both fields on both sides of the road looked like a green carpet as I walked along.

The long, thin leaves rubbing against each other in the gentle breeze made a rustling sound, which was combined with the babbling of the river.

Is this wheat? Is it barley, wheat, or something else? I’m not sure what this plant is, as it doesn’t seem to be fully grown yet. But I have a vague feeling that it’s barley.

Barley, the raw material for ale. That’s what I thought.

“It was a good town.”

A small town with a small sea. The fish is good. Delicious ale. Cheerful dwarves. If I hadn’t been in such a state, I would have stayed a little longer and solved the mystery of the high concentration of dwarves.

I’m almost forgetting it myself, but I’m still on the run. Now I need to head to a neighboring country.

If I had more time, I would have liked to see a little more of the ocean or something, though.

With my back to the town, I took the road towards the mountains.

The road gradually became narrower and narrower, and the fields on either side of us were cut off and replaced by grasslands.

Then I looked up at the mountain in front of me.

But maybe this kind of encounter and parting is one of the best parts of traveling.