Chapter 77: Carbonation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 77: Carbonation
The next day.
Even after learning the secret of my semen, Hekaterina didn't skip a single meal. Every day, she savored the dishes containing my semen.
After easily finishing a bowl, there were even times she'd whine that it wasn't enough.
“……More.”
“Huh? Oh, uh—yeah.”
I served Hekaterina another helping as she held out her empty bowl, watching her with fascination. She shot me a glare as if to say, ‘What are you looking at?’ before burying her face in her plate.
She frowned slightly, noticing the taste was a little different, but if anything, it had only gotten better, not worse.
‘She's already had the medicine, so there's no need to add more…’
I always put the magic-nullifying medicine made from my semen in Hekaterina's food. I thought I was only adding a trace amount, but since it was medicine, it was bound to have a taste.
Just by eliminating the distinctively thick and fishy taste of semen, the quality of the food improved by at least two levels. This was especially true when using the seasoning my teacher made.
‘By the way, I wonder what this seasoning is made of…’
I continued my meal with that thought.
Haa, haa— Evangeline emerged from her room, face flushed, and smiled faintly as she looked at the seasoning in her hand.
Just imagining feeding this to her disciple made her feel good. Imagining Yohan feeling good made her feel good in turn.
Before she knew it, her life had become completely colored by Yohan. So much so that if anyone tried to take him from her, she was prepared to risk everything to stop them.
“Ah, Teacher.”
“Eek!? Oh, Yohan… What is it?”
“I have a favor to ask. …Do you have a moment?”
When she nodded, Yohan glanced around before quickly grabbing her arm and pulling her into her room.
I can't go in right now…! Evangeline thought, but she was still pulled helplessly into the room. Her sensitive nose caught the faint scent of herself still lingering in the air.
Fortunately, Yohan didn't seem to notice anything. He just twitched his nose slightly and tilted his head in confusion.
“Wh-what is it that you had to come into the room for…?”
“Teacher, could you breathe out for me?”
“Breathe? Why all of a sudden…?”
“Please don't ask, just do it.”
Though puzzled by the strange request, Evangeline took a deep breath and exhaled with a whoosh. As she breathed out steadily, Yohan immediately held a beaker up to her mouth.
There was water inside. She watched the water displace as she exhaled, continuing until she was out of breath. The moment she stopped, Yohan quickly sealed the beaker.
“Hah! Whoo— …Why did you ask me to do that?”
“Because I want to drink your breath.”
“Wh-whaaat?”
Regardless of her shock at his absurd declaration, Yohan held out the beaker containing her breath.
“Teacher, can you—can you mix this with magic?”
“With magic…? Y-you want to drink it that badly?”
She could have just blown it directly from her mouth to his if he wanted— Unable to control the corners of her mouth from rising at her disciple's shady request, Evangeline let out a few chuckles before carefully reaching out to mix the contents of the beaker in Yohan's hand.
After mixing the contents with magic, Evangeline frowned slightly as she watched the water infused with her breath begin to bubble furiously, like hydrochloric acid or lava.
‘…Huh?’
It looked menacing. As Evangeline tilted her head, wondering if such a thing was even drinkable, Yohan opened the beaker. Tsssss— A very familiar sound hit his ears.
Opening the lid completely, Yohan took a small sip and realized it had turned out exactly as he'd wanted.
“Y-Yohan? What is that…?”
“Carbonated water.”
“Carbonated… water?”
She'd never heard of it. As Evangeline kept asking what it was, Yohan decided that seeing is believing and held the beaker out to her.
Looking at the bubbling contents, she wondered if it was really drinkable, but—realizing Yohan had just casually taken a sip, Evangeline carefully put the carbonated water to her lips.
“Kyaa!?”
Something fizzy and popping spread throughout her mouth. It was an unbelievable texture to have been created from her own breath. Evangeline pulled the beaker away and covered her mouth.
“Wh-what is this!?”
“It's carbon dioxide mixed with water… Anyway, just wait a moment.”
With that, Yohan headed straight for the living room. Evangeline, who had quickly followed him, saw him adding various ingredients to the beaker.
After tossing in fruits, weeds, and the marrow of a monster, Yohan looked at Evangeline and asked her to mix it again.
Even when it was just bubbling, it had looked questionable for human consumption, but now it looked like something a caveman might eat. She frowned but granted his request anyway.
A moment later, the translucent contents of the beaker had transformed into something black.
“Y-Yohan! Don't drink it! It's dirty, dirty!”
“Huh? No, this is delicious.”
“What nonsense are you talking about…? How can that black water be delicious! It's the devil's drink, the devil's drink!”
“Well, you're not wrong about it being the devil's drink…”
Saying that, Yohan casually gulped down the black beverage. After one sip, he paused as if something was off, then spotted the magic seasoning in Evangeline's hand and snatched it away.
“This is a new one, right? I'll just use it for a second.”
“Ah, yes, but…”
After adding the seasoning to the beaker and taking another gulp, Yohan let out a cry of satisfaction and began to shudder.
“Kyahhh… This is it.”
“…Are you okay?”
“I told you, it's delicious. Would you like to try some, Teacher?”
It hadn't been that tasty when she tried it before. The fizziness was just novel. But it became delicious after adding weeds and marrow? That was hard to believe.
But her disciple had drunk it without a problem; as his teacher, she couldn't just cower in fear. Evangeline bravely took a large gulp of the drink, and her eyes shot open.
Gulp— Gulp— Gulp—.
“Hic—.”
She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle an involuntary burp and cautiously glanced at Yohan. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have heard, just beaming at her with a wide smile.
Noticing the beaker was already half-empty, Evangeline handed it back to Yohan.
“W-well… it's not bad.”
“Right?”
Yohan said, finishing off the rest of the cola. Seeing Evangeline let out a sigh of disappointment, he told her not to worry.
“We can just make more. Don't worry.”
“Ah, huh? Wh-when did I say I was worried!?”
Playing innocent, Evangeline made more cola with Yohan. …A lot more. Enough to fill all the oak barrels in the storehouse.
Magic is omnipotent.
I realized that fact while making the cola.
‘I think this tastes even better than Coca-Cola…’
Whether that was true or not, drinking cola for the first time in months definitely brought on a wave of nostalgia. Several foods that would pair well with it came to mind, and I looked up how to make them in the cookbook in my teacher's room.
The cookbook written by Regina. It was made to be incredibly easy to follow. No joke, it was so simple a monkey could do it…
I followed the recipes and served the food to the witches. When they came out to the living room, they tilted their heads at the feast before them—the first in a long time—and the cola, which they had never seen before.
“…Is it some special occasion today?”
“No, I was just in a good mood.”
“Yohan, Yohan. What's this?”
“It's called cola. Drink it carefully.”
After advising Beatrice, who showed interest in the cola, to drink it carefully, I watched as the witches brought it to their lips.
A black beverage. The witches were hesitant to touch this ominous-looking drink they'd never seen before, but when I urged them to try it, they cautiously took a sip.
And before long, the full glasses were empty in an instant.
“What is this!?”
Her eyes wide, Margaret stared down at her empty glass and let out a cry of amazement. To witches who were used to drinking water or unrefined beer, carbonation must have been something truly mystical.
I said to the witches as they sipped their cola.
“How is it? Delicious, right? Since we can make carbonated water, we can do more than just this. We can add carbonation to alcohol and make things like highballs.”
“It's delicious… But how did you make it?”
“…Pardon?”
“I've never had anything like this. Did Regina teach you? Or is it your special recipe, Disciple?”
“…It's my special recipe.”
I cautiously averted my eyes, hiding the manufacturing process. My teacher, whose gaze met mine, also began to subtly watch the other witches' reactions.
It was only natural. I couldn't possibly tell the witches, who were enjoying it so much, that it was made with ‘Teacher's breath and Teacher's seasoning’.
Even I had that much sense.
Church Headquarters.
Here, where the religious leaders gathered, the Pope—hailed as the greatest of them all—let out a low groan as he listened to the investigation team's report.
“According to our investigation, we did not find any witches at the location in this picture, but we did discover traces of them and a monster they left behind. And that monster is currently headed in this direction…”
The Pope groaned again, looking in the direction the investigator was pointing. The direction the monster had fled was toward the Demon Realm—the Forest of Monsters, a place that had been forbidden for a very long time.
The Pope and the high-ranking church officials all knew that witches lived there. However, they had left them alone because the witches never reacted unless provoked. But for the monster's tracks to lead into that forest meant—
‘They weren't just living quietly; they were raising monsters…’
Forced to this conclusion, the Pope made a decision.