CH 211

I Asked About Using Heat To Turn It Into a Different Liquor

“Thank you. Well, what do you want to ask me about then?”

“In a few days…about five days, I think, a large quantity of wine barrels will be delivered to this mansion.”

“Wine… And why is that?”

“You know how Range village is famous for its wine?”

“Yes.”

Now that she knew that we weren’t there to launch some complaints, Ms. Helena looked quite relieved as she listened to what we had to say.

Range village’s wine was quite famous, which was no surprise to anyone who tasted it.

And since she was a cook, Ms. Helena knew this as well.

“But a great deal of their wine is no longer drinkable.”

“Indeed… I hope everything is alright with them?”

“As for the village, things are fine… The reason for it was removed. So any future wine will be unaffected.”

Ms. Helena was concerned about the village, but Sebastian assured her that there was no problem now.

The glass sphere was no longer there, so there was nothing to affect the wine.

Besides, I doubt Mr. Hannes would allow anything like that to happen again.

He was also busy thinking about the village’s future. 

If there was anything that I could do to help, I would gladly do it.

“Regardless, all of the wine that will arrive will be undrinkable.”

“Undrinkable wine… Why would you bring that here?”

“As for that…”

“I will explain. …While this wine is undrinkable…I thought it would be a waste to throw all of it out… And so I bought it from them.”

“Mr. Takumi…”

As I was the one who bought it, I thought that I best explain my reasons.

Sebastian agreed, as he stopped talking and turned to me.

While I said that I thought it would be a waste, my real motive had been to lessen the losses for the village.

“I’m sure you know just how good their wine is, Ms. Helena.”

“Yes. There is something about that wonderful taste that sets it apart from other wines. Though, Lady Claire does not drink very much, and so we do not buy it…”

Ms. Helena knew that wine from Range village was especially delicious.

Perhaps she had looked into it to use for her cooking.

“While Sebastian said that it is undrinkable…it can be drunk safely again by adding heat.”

“Heat… You are going to boil it?”

“Yes. That way, you can remove what is making it undrinkable.”

“…But, if you boil it…”

“Of course, it will no longer be alcoholic.”

Ms. Helena scowled at this.

“Well, I suppose it will be a good enough juice…”

“Ah… Yes. Lady Tilura will be able to drink it.”

“Yes. But I was wondering if there might be another way…”

“Another way to…drink the undrinkable wine…?”

Ms. Helena also agreed that Tilura would appreciate some grape juice.

When the wine was that good, it would still be delicious after boiling it.

Still, Ms. Helena folded her arms and tried to think of a different solution.

The other cooks, who had been listening, also looked like they were deep in thought.

“So, adding heat removes the illness? …Is there no other way to remove it?”

“Well, the circumstances are rather special. But normally, that would be the only way.”

“…I see… It will be quite difficult then…”

Even though Ms. Helena was a brilliant cook, she could not easily think of an alternative method to doing it.

“…I might have an idea?”

As we pondered on this, one of the cooks suddenly spoke up.

“Really? What idea?”

“Well… I don’t know if it will actually work… But I’ve heard that there are ways of adding heat to wine and turning it into a different kind of alcoholic drink.”

“Indeed…?”

After Sebastian’s encouragement, the cook spoke, but with little confidence.

Adding heat to create a new drink… That did sound familiar…

“I have heard about that as well. …It was a drink that they made in a far away place. Uhh, I think that they distill it to separate the components and then cool it off to make it liquid again…”

Ms. Helena had heard of it as well, and spoke as if remembering the method.

“Hmm? I’ve heard…”

“What is it, Mr. Takumi?”

“No, it’s just that this method sounds familiar…”

While I tried to remember where I had heard about it before, Sebastian asked me what I was talking about.

I answered, while searching through my memories.

“…Uh…heat…distill…liquid… Ah!”

“Did you remember something?”

As I thought of different things, it finally came to me, and I shouted loudly.

Now, they were all looking at me with hopeful expressions.

“Ummm, yes, the method of distillation. Boiling and evaporating. Something about separating things with different boiling points… I don’t know the details…”

I remember conducting experiments as a child.

Uh…we distilled wine to make another drink…

“It was…brandy.”

“Brandy…”

“That’s what it is?”

“Yes. At least, that was what it was called where I am from. It might have a different name here…”

“…I’ve never heard of it…”

Perhaps it wasn’t called brandy in this world.

According to Ms. Helena and the others, they did distill wine, so they would at least have something similar to brandy.