Wine

“Welcome, Woody-sama.”

The one who greeted me was Keep-san, the man currently attempting winemaking.

He was already sixty years old, but still spry and lively—a cheerful old grandfather.

“How’s the wine-making going?”

“Well, something feels rather strange… I figured it would be quicker if you saw it yourself.”

Keep-san mumbled uncomfortably, so I decided to just follow him and take a look.

Inside the brewery, rows of large barrels stood lined up.

Amazing… were all of these wine?

It looked like they had cleared out everything unnecessary to secure as much open space as possible.

“This is our current wine-barrel cellar. I had Ilia and Hobb—an idle blacksmith apprentice and a carpenter’s apprentice—make them.”

“Hmm, looks pretty well built to me.”

“The joinery’s a little weak.”

“Yes, exactly. Those boys still have a long way to go… ah, but this isn’t the time for complaints.”

“Do you two know how to make alcohol in the first place?” asked Keep-san.

Naturally, Aira and I both shook our heads.

What we knew about brewing amounted to nothing more than the raw ingredients.

In other words—basically nothing!

“Then I’ll teach you a simple method. Oh, and if you’d like, Woody-sama, you can even try it yourself. It won’t take long.”

Keep-san raised a finger, looking quite excited, probably because he finally had a chance to explain his craft.

Alright then… I’ll give it a try.

I also had something I wanted to test.

“First, we prepare the grapes.”

“Got it. Aira, use these.”

“Thank you, Woody-sama… huh!? These are—Water Muscats!?”

“Exactly.”

What I took out were Wind Muscats and Water Muscats.

I had been wondering if Element Muscats could be used to make wine, so I decided to test it here.

Speaking of which, I’d recently discovered a hidden feature of the Harvest Bag.

When taking Element Fruits out, a strange prompt appeared.

I pulled out my Wind Muscat to show it.

That’s right—turns out that when taking fruit back out of the Harvest Bag, it was possible to draw magic from them!

This solved the issue of having to store Element Fruits outside for days at a time.

Though the problem of portability remained.

As for where the extracted magic actually went, I had no idea.

Most likely it was used to sustain the aptitude’s functions… probably.

“Muscats, eh… with the variations, it’s worth trying. First, we crush the grapes. Use this tub and stomp them thoroughly.”

“Huh, you don’t peel them first? I already started peeling and eating some… ow!?”

I smacked Aira lightly on the head—she had been sneakily snacking despite us talking about wine-making!

“Anyway, let’s do as he says.”

We tossed several bunches into the tub and crushed them.

Just as instructed, we mashed them skins and all, but soon I felt something hard.

“Ouch… wait, even the stems stay in?”

“Yes. The skins and stems are what add bitterness to the wine.”

I thought we could just remove them to make sweet wine, but apparently that would eliminate its depth of flavor.

If that’s what the professional said, he was probably right.

So I mixed in the Wind Muscats, stems and all.

The skins and pulp blended together into something grotesque.

Then I ground the stems as well, their green mixing with the pigments from the skins until it became a strange green slurry of liquid and pulp.

It looked pretty gross.

I’d never seen it, but it reminded me of what goblin bodily fluids might look like.

The smell, however, was unmistakably grape.

“Next, we add this powder.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the starter of sorts, containing the necessary yeast for alcohol making.”

We transferred the mash—100% juice, skins, and stems—into small containers.

Keep-san sprinkled in the mysterious brewing powder and stirred it lightly.

Then he nodded with satisfaction.

…Huh?

That’s it?

“Now we just leave it to sit, and it will be done.”

“Ehh…?”

“And the longer it sits, the stronger the alcohol content will be.”

“Ehh…?”

And just like that, my first attempt at winemaking ended in the blink of an eye, before I could even enjoy it…