The Lager Has Arrived

I finally did it. The moment I've been waiting for is almost here. Any second now...

"Bel?"

How many hours left?

"Bel?"

Grrrr... I can't hold back anymore! Robin!

"Bel!!!!"

"Mommy!"

The sudden loud voice right next to my ear yanked me out of my daydream. Was that what they call a trance or something?

"What are you thinking about so hard?"

I looked up in surprise to see one of the kind adventurers who'd helped me out before. Now she was my fellow party member—an elf mage named Coriander.

What? Elves are supposed to be archers, right? That's the rule? Yeah, I thought so too at first. At least until she beat the crap out of me for being racist.

When she demanded how I could say something like that, I improvised and told her I was just a country bumpkin who didn't know any better. She looked flustered, apologized for hitting me, and everything. Of course, I apologized too. After that, we stopped fighting and actually got along pretty well.

Maybe it's because she's a heavy drinker too, but we clicked on a lot of things. Especially when I tried that special elf beer she said she'd gotten from home—I nearly passed out. It was surprisingly good. Still not quite to my taste, though.

"Bel? Spacing out again?"

Whoops. My thoughts had wandered too far.

"Huh? Oh. What did you say?"

"You weren't listening again, were you? I kept telling you the quest is done so we should head back, but you wouldn't answer. Is something wrong?"

Coriander said that and conjured a rock beside me, then plopped down on it. Must be that elf intuition.

"It's... nothing too serious."

"Really?"

"Of course. When have I ever worried you with my problems?"

"Um... that time you told the tavern owner their beer tasted bad and he grabbed you by the collar?"

"Let's make that the exception..."

She really knew how to hit where it hurt.

"Haha. Still, that was pretty funny."

"What was?"

"That place was famous for having the best beer in the city. The whole party said it was delicious, but you were the only one who said it sucked."

"Well... that's true."

I'd drunk way too much beer in my life. This medieval stuff just wasn't cutting it anymore.

"I still remember what you said after we got kicked out."

"What did I say?"

"Hmm..."

Coriander thought for a moment, then smiled like she'd remembered. She opened her mouth.

"'I'm going to make the best beer in the world!' Was that it?"

"Stop doing that voice!"

This girl was way too good at impressions. If someone heard her, they'd think there were two of me.

Coriander listened to my answer, flashed a mischievous grin, and stood up.

"Hehe. Still, I'm kinda looking forward to it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Beer made by someone as picky as you has got to be something special."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?"

"Um... a compliment?"

"Is that some kind of elf way of speaking?"

"Um... no?"

Coriander kept walking down the path like she was only half-listening, then suddenly turned around and said to me,

"It's just my way of speaking!"

She smiled as she said it. I returned a small smile of my own and followed the path she'd taken.

-Ding!

*****

"Whew... Shall we take a look?"

After parting ways with Coriander and returning home, I tried to calm my racing heart as I stared at the notification floating in the corner of my vision. The alert icon was flashing like crazy, practically screaming at me to open it. I reached out and gently tapped the impatient little thing.

I thought it would show the result right away, but it was really dragging this out. It felt like a gacha animation in a game. The only difference was that this was reality.

"Huu..."

I took a deep breath, rubbed my hands together, then steeled myself and pressed the Y button.

-Ding!

"Hell yeah!!!! The lager came through!!!!"

The crisp, cold beer I'd been dying to drink ever since I came to this world. After two whole years of wishing and hoping, the result I'd dreamed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of was finally right in front of me.

"Saturday~ Saturday~... Why Saturday?"

I thought that as I glanced at the calendar.

"Oh, today is Saturday!"

The status window really had zero naming sense.

With that thought, I looked at the keg that had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠somehow appeared in the middle of the room. From the looks of it, it seemed to hold about five liters... That should be enough to live on!

I gently stroked the precious keg like it was a sacred object. In response to my expectations, the keg ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greeted me with a slick texture and a lukewarm temperature... Wait a second. Why is it lukewarm?

I told myself it must be my imagination and placed my hand on the side of the keg instead of the top. But it wasn't my imagination. The keg was still lukewarm.

"I'm screwed."

There was still one more hurdle left. Everyone knows that while ales are fine either way, lagers taste exponentially better the colder they are. Drinking lukewarm lager was basically a silent invitation for Germans to execute you.

"Haa..."

What should I do? Making the lager was great, but the result was lukewarm. Plus, now that I'd calmed down enough to actually read the description, I saw that most of the traits I'd added were gone except for two. Probably because my level was too low. At least I'd gotten the lager I wanted. That was something.

"Haaaa..."

I let out a sigh so heavy it felt like the ground might collapse. Why? Because I had zero talent for magic. When the adventurer guild tested me last time, my mana stat didn't even come out as 1—it was a flat 0. The receptionist even cheered me on. If I could at least use basic ice magic, I could chill this lukewarm beer... but right now, that was impossible for me.

...Wait a minute.

That's right. Why did I have to chill it myself? I had her!

I praised my brain for coming up with such a brilliant idea, picked up the keg with one hand, and energetically threw open the door with the other before stepping outside. Then I ran straight ahead. Where to?

*****

"...Are you being chased by someone?"

The place I'd arrived at, running like my life depended on it, was the inn where Coriander was staying. Maybe because she was a mage, her lodging was much nicer than the one a plain warrior like me could afford.

"Huff... huff..."

I didn't even have time to answer Coriander as I kept gasping for air. Even though my stamina had improved since coming to this world, carrying a five-liter keg and sprinting at full speed had apparently been too much.

"Hey... who told you to run like an idiot carrying that thing? Where did you even come from?"

Coriander said that and reached out toward the keg as if to take it off my hands.

"My... room..."

I handed her the keg handle and spoke with difficulty.

"Whoa! It's heavy!"

Coriander barely managed to hold the keg with both hands, clearly surprised by how heavy it was.

"What the heck is this? Did you go to some dungeon?"

"No... If you knew what this was... you'd be shocked."

"What is it?"

I looked Coriander straight in the eyes and said confidently,

"Beer that I made."

Coriander stared at me with eyes that clearly hadn't expected that answer. And then—

"You stupid bear-brained idiot!"

Her palm slammed into my back.

"Ow! Why'd you hit me!"

"You think making beer is that easy? Where did you buy another weird machine this time! I swear I can't live like this!"

"Ow! Ouch!"

A few minutes passed like that. Once I'd finally calmed Coriander down, I started explaining my skills and the whole situation.

"...You expect me to believe that ridiculous story?"

"I'm telling you it's true!"

Why wouldn't she believe me?

"Why can't you believe me?"

"Did you forget what happened last time?"

"What happened?"

"You barged into a dwarf brewery saying you were going to learn brewing techniques, then went to a barley field and stole barley grains! Do you know how hard it was cleaning up after you?"

"...Did that happen?"

"Yes!"

Come to think of it, that did happen. It was right after I first came to this world. I'd done all sorts of crazy things because I wanted to make the beer I desired. But I hadn't done anything like that since then, right?

"And that's not all! You got scammed by some shady con artist and spent an entire month's worth of gold on a weird beer-brewing machine! Don't you remember how you mooched meals off me for a whole month back then?"

"Ah..."

Now that she mentioned it... it did sound like my fault. But that was then, and this was lager.

"No! This time it's really true! You'll understand if you just drink it!"

I said that and grabbed the hem of Coriander's pants, begging.

"Haa... Fine... It's not like you're the type to lie..."

"So you believe me?"

"Even if you're a bit lacking."

"If you're going to insult me, just insult me. If you're going to compliment me, just compliment me..."

I made a pitiful face as I said that.

*****

"So, what do I need to do?"

I'd barely managed to get into Coriander's room. I set the keg on the desk and listened to her.

"Hehe, it's really simple! Just cast a cooling spell on this keg once! A whole new world will open up!"

"Don't talk like that... Where did you learn such weird speech patterns..."

Coriander grumbled as she reached one hand toward the keg.

"So I just need to cast a cooling spell, right?"

"That's right!"

"How strong should it be?"

"Um... a little less cold than right before ice starts forming...?"

"What a difficult spell!"

Coriander said that as she gathered mana in her hand. As the mana gathered, cold air began to swirl inside the room in response to the spell.

"Still, this is a piece of cake for me!"

The moment Coriander said that, cold air shot from her fingertips and struck the keg perfectly.

-Shwaaaaa...

Along with the feeling of cold air spreading out, what appeared before my eyes was a perfectly chilled lager. Cold droplets of water had formed on its surface. It was exactly the crisp, cool lager I'd only ever seen in my dreams.

"Oh..."

"See? This level of spell is nothing to me!"

"You're amazing."

-Smack!

Her palm slammed into my back again.

"I was complimenting you! Why!!"

"I told you not to call me amazing!"

-Swish.

Coriander raised her hand again as she said that.

"I'm sorry..."

I quickly bowed my head in apology because I didn't want to get hit again.

"Huu... Fine. I've known you were a joker for years. So? Are you satisfied?"

Coriander said that and pointed at the keg.

-Gulp.

I swallowed hard and slowly walked toward the keg.

"Do you have a glass?"

"Huh? Of course I do. Here."

I took the glass from Coriander right away and slowly brought it to the spout at the end of the keg. Luckily, the spout looked like a regular tap, so it was easy to open and close. I slowly placed my hand on the tap, tilted the glass underneath it, and then—

-Glug glug glug glug...

Golden liquid poured out from the tap. At the same time, the scent of barley tickled my nose, along with the subtle aroma of hops and alcohol. I savored the smell of lager that I hadn't experienced in so long as I poured. When the glass was about eighty percent full, I straightened it upright. Instead of more liquid, beautiful white foam now began to elegantly cover the golden beer.

-Hiss.

I waited until the foam was just about to overflow, then closed the tap. What I now held in my hand was golden, peerless lager.

"I am now a heavy drinker, and I have become the god of beer..."

I muttered quietly. Coriander, who'd been listening right beside me, looked at me and said softly,

"You're crazy..."