Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Medicinal Liquor
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Using the Yin-Yang Liquor as a starting point, we'd received lists of special items from the other races and were deciding on trade goods.
"Hmm... There's a ton of random junk here."
Wooden pegs, shoes woven from grass...
What the hell was I supposed to do with stuff like this?
As I scanned the list packed with all sorts of items, something suddenly caught my eye.
"Contraception... scroll?"
Did something like this actually exist?!
Lately, every time I hooked up with Luna, contraception had been weighing heavily on my mind.
If a kid popped out right now, it'd be a nightmare in every way.
"Does a contraception scroll really exist?"
I asked the elf envoy, and he nodded.
"Of course. Without it, us elves would have been in real trouble."
Well... a race that lives for centuries... If they bred like humans...
I'd always thought it was just their physiology. Turns out it was magic?
"How do you use the scroll?"
"The man tears it and casts it on himself for a full month's contraception effect. Usually, they time it with the woman's menstrual cycle."
Timing it with her period made sense? But it was the guy using it?
"Why tie it to her period? You said it's the man who uses the scroll."
He gave me an awkward smile.
"That way, you won't forget."
"Ah..."
Yeah, that would definitely prevent forgetting.
I'd need to grab around thirty of these.
"Sounds good. So what do the elves need?"
At my words, the elves pulled out their own list.
"Honestly, we need grains. We've got plenty of fruit and vegetables, but grains? We just can't grow them."
Yeah, living deep in the forest, farming grains would be tough.
"Flour, barley, beer, and dairy products would do it."
"That's easy enough. We can nail down quantities at our next meeting... Now, the dwarves..."
To be honest, dwarf-made goods sold at insane prices.
Superior performance and beauty justified it.
But the issue was...
"Isn't this a bit too expensive?"
"Hmph. These are crafted by master artisans. Of course they're pricey."
"And you want metals and gems? You're just gonna process them and sell them back to us, right?"
I clicked my tongue at this classic colonial exploitation tactic and eyed the dwarf representative suspiciously. He bared his teeth.
"How many of our mines have you humans snatched? Is it wrong for us to buy from you to replace what we've lost? And it's not just minerals—dairy products too. If you don't like our stuff, don't buy it."
He snorted as he spoke, and I let out a sigh.
"Sigh... Aren't we negotiating here precisely so we can all live in peace? This attitude makes things difficult for me too."
"Hmph."
Why did that bearded dwarf's hmph rub me the wrong way so much?
"Anyway, these prices make negotiation impossible. Cut them by thirty percent. We need some profit margin too, right? Keep pushing, and we'll hike liquor and dairy prices by over thirty percent."
We were currently working to link the markets of the elves, dwarves, orcs, and us humans into one.
Well, "link markets" was a loose way to put it. Strictly speaking, we planned to supply each other through the Heyron Grand Duchy.
The emperor wasn't exactly favorable toward us yet. Forming secret pacts with other races could spark unnecessary misunderstandings.
"Thirty percent is too steep! You'd have us slaving away for scraps?!"
The furious dwarf bellowed.
"Urgh... Fine, how about this: thirty percent off weapons and armor, full price on artwork and luxuries."
"Hmm... That's unexpected. I'll need to consult my kin."
"Take your time."
I flipped to the next page. Orc goods.
"Let's see..."
Hmm... Honestly... nothing useful except the Yin-Yang Liquor?
Orc underwear, double-bladed axes they used...
No real need for that stuff.
Orcs weren't exactly more dexterous than humans, after all.
And the following page...
"Huh? You want food, dairy, and fruit?"
"That's right. We don't know farming like humans, or orchards like elves."
From what I'd heard here, orcs got their food through hunting.
Hunting monsters and beasts alike, I fell into thought watching them.
Wait—they must have a ton of hides, right?
"I've heard orcs mainly hunt... Any chance we could buy hides?"
The orc representative nodded at my question.
"We've got hides in abundance. If you want them, we can sell."
"Hmm..."
Hides, huh...
The north was freezing, so demand for leather was sky-high.
This seemed worth buying.
"Then let's trade hides for food and dairy."
After hours of intense haggling, we finalized provisional trade items. I headed to Luna's office to report.
*knock knock*
"Come in."
Luna, who was usually too busy panting in my arms, spoke in a stern voice.
It felt strangely off.
*creak*
I opened the door and stepped in. Luna was frowning at some documents.
"Don't frown like that. You'll get wrinkles."
Only then did she look up.
She beamed at me.
"Aiden? How'd it go?"
"Yeah, here... Provisional trade items. We can tweak prices or items as we go."
I submitted the agreements with the other races in report form...
"Oh? I'll look at that later."
Luna stood from her seat and asked,
"You free tonight?"
"Huh? Time?"
She came to my bedroom every night, and now she's asking if I had time? What was this about?
"Yeah, there's somewhere we can go together."
"Where?"
She scratched her cheek.
"Patrol Vain City."
Ah... I recalled how, in the original story, her incognito tours of Vain City had been a simple joy for her.
Should I tag along?
The novel described her happily wandering incognito, buying tasty food and cheap trinkets.
"I'll come too. Might as well check on my house while I'm at it."
I lived at the Grand Duke's residence every day, but I was still a homeowner.
I'd neglected it lately and was curious how it was holding up.
Time to sell it anyway.
Recent changes to building permit laws had skyrocketed my property value.
Heh heh... It'd been a total money pit until now. Who knew it'd turn around like this?
When I first got the place, I'd been shocked by the taxes and tried selling it, but even at rock-bottom prices, no takers. Now the tables had turned.
So I planned to cash in big.
Now I was rich!
As I smirked to myself,
"Aiden's house? I wanna see it too."
I looked at Luna's bright smile and thought,
When was the last time I cleaned?
Oh... crap.
"My... house?"
Even months ago, on my last visit, it had been a disaster.
Food trash, clothes everywhere...
I knew I had to dissuade her, but...
"Yeah! I wanna see Aiden's house. I bought it for you, didn't I? You'll show me, right?"
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. I was flustered.
Showing her that mess would be mortifying.
"Uh... I haven't cleaned. Probably not great for today."
I gazed at her pleadingly, but...
Luna smiled radiantly.
"No way. I'm going to your house today. Anyway, meet me at the training grounds when you're done."
I despaired at her resolute expression.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "This can't be..."
The emperor was plunged into despair.
He'd failed with the empress last night.
"I'd gotten it up again... I can't let it slip away like this."
In that moment, Leopold felt betrayed by the gods.
Having granted him the virility of his twenties only to snatch it back amplified his sense of loss.
"What should I do? How..."
He tore at his hair, lost in thought.
'I can't stand being mocked like this. There has to be a way.'
But imperial medicine had no cure for erectile dysfunction.
Leopold knew that harsh reality all too well.
A single hot tear streamed from his eye.
"Urgh..."
The emperor felt every soul in the palace mocking him as a man.
It wasn't entirely true, but they did gossip behind his back about him being a eunuch.
*bang bang!*
Leopold pounded the desk to vent his rage.
He rose from the desk, wiped his tears with his sleeve, and headed to the display case filled with liquor bottles.
*creak*
His gaze swept over the exorbitantly priced bottles.
Among the ornate glass bottles with elegant labels, one plain glass bottle without any label stood out.
That was when a memory flashed in his mind.
'Wait... Yin-Yang Liquor?'
The medicinal wine said to boost vitality.
'After drinking this... I got hard, didn't I?'
The emperor retrieved the liquor from the case, placed it on the desk, and stared intently.
Amber liquid inside a clear glass bottle.
'Could this be the reason?'
He considered it, then shook his head.
Erectile dysfunction wasn't the sort of ailment treatable by medicinal wine.
But...
Clutching at straws, he thought to himself,
'If it gets me hard, great. If not, nothing lost.'
With that, Leopold uncorked the bottle and poured a glass.
*gulp!*
After downing the grassy-tasting liquor, he checked his body but saw no change. He sighed deeply.
"Sigh... Figures... This junk wouldn't fix it."
Feeling hollow, he pulled out his favorite brandy and sipped away.
How much time passed?
As the tipsy Leopold rose from his chair to shake off his gloom,
His member brushed against his clothing, stimulated...
*pop!*
"Th-this?!"
It was erect.
"N-no way..."
The emperor hurriedly eyed the medicinal liquor.
His eyes brimmed with hope.