Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Reina's Cola Revelation
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The deep brown heart image that Reina encountered.
It was an imagery brimming with an indescribable thrill. An imagery that refreshingly cleared the stuffiness within.
The heart images gathered to form a single world.
Reina swam through the sky of a completely new world, unlike any she had seen before.
Cool— that was the first sensation she felt. This place was "cool." Both physically and emotionally.
Zing... Pop!
Something piled up overflowed like a dam bursting.
She had experienced a similar heart image once before.
The thrilling sensation of something bursting forth. It wasn't her first time.
But... there was no heaviness in this explosion. The opposite— lightness. A definitive lightness, as if she could fly away, as if wings had sprouted.
'Feels good...!'
For some reason, Reina felt an impulse to throw herself into this intensely vivid deep brown world.
No. It wasn't about throwing her body in.
I want to put... this into my body. Gulp it down. Chug it...!!!
Reina hurled herself into the brown world. As if swimming.
She advanced forward, flying yet as if swimming through water, and what entered her eyes was—
* * *
"...Ah!!"
Only after opening her eyes did she realize.
That for a moment, she hadn't existed in this world— the real world.
And at the same time, looking ahead...
"Uh...?"
The holy water Erin had brought had turned a deep brown.
"Sa-Saintess? The holy water... it's kind of different now?"
"Yes. Reina-nim changed it like this."
"I did...?"
I didn't do anything?
I just closed my eyes and sensed the Plain Fact, and then...
—Grab
"Sa-Saintess...?!'
Suddenly, Erin's hand rested on hers, leaving her slightly flustered—
But Erin, as if understanding even that, wore an exceedingly benevolent smile and said,
"Reina-nim, it seems you had a spiritual experience."
"A spiritual experience...?"
"It's simple. Reina-nim is the one chosen to be used as God's tool to save many people. From the moment you opened your eyes to the Plain Fact, it's not strange at all that you could glimpse God's heart image, even if just a little...!"
On any other day, she might have felt a chill at Erin's unusually flushed cheeks and the hard-to-follow mutterings—
But for some reason.
Having experienced that mysterious world that could only be described as "God's heart image," her words sounded incredibly plausible.
"Th-Then...?"
"Yes. This is precisely God's response to Reina-nim's wandering...!"
"God's response, you say..."
"I think Reina-nim knows better than I do!"
Reina looked down at the holy water that had turned brown.
Only then did she notice bubbles rising fizzily, like beer.
I know better?
The saintess was certainly right. After all, Reina felt like she knew what this was!
"Cola...?"
"Yes! It's cola!"
What?
Then... all those heart images I experienced.
The thing I desperately craved to pair with chicken... was booze?
'That's weird...?'
Reina didn't enjoy alcohol.
She liked it or not, her body just couldn't handle it.
Even after becoming Tower Master, she desperately avoided drinking parties whenever they arose.
Even if the Plain Fact had synchronized "God's heart image" to her, wasn't it strange for someone who never enjoyed alcohol to feel such intense pull?
"This... was cola? It was just a type of booze?"
"One thing's for sure."
Erin slowly rose from her seat.
"You won't know until you try it!"
She had clearly come as a guest, yet for some reason, she adeptly fetched two glass cups from the kitchen.
Then, placing the two glasses side by side on the table... she uncorked the glass bottle containing the holy water.
—Pop!
"...!!"
Smoke wafted from the bottle's mouth, like incense.
Erin unhesitatingly gripped its waist and poured the contents over the glasses.
Glug, glug, glug—
As the cola filled the glasses, foam rose with a hiss.
It looked like a black knight donning a white crown— enough to captivate even alcohol lovers.
Yes. Booze.
Its striking resemblance to beer left Reina puzzled once more.
'No matter how I look at it, it's just beer...'
As she hesitated, Erin's voice rang out again.
"Reina-nim. Trust only what you've seen with your own eyes."
"What I've seen myself..."
...Right.
If it really were booze, she wouldn't crave it this badly.
Even in the heart image she glimpsed, what she felt was refreshment. No aversion to alcohol whatsoever.
"Then..."
Reina cautiously reached out and grasped the glass.
...Cold!
The glass, chilled icy from the cola alone, stimulated her fingertips.
And lifting it—
She carefully sniffed its aroma.
...A scent she'd never smelled before.
One thing was certain: it wasn't beer.
The lack of alcohol stench eased her aversion a bit.
'...Let's drink.'
Reina slowly let the cola slide down her throat.
—Gulp, gulp.
"!!!"
Her throat tingled sharply, much like her first beer—
But what filled her mind wasn't the usual boozy haze, but an intensely refreshing flavor found nowhere in nature.
Though it was her first time, it felt like something she'd always drunk— her body and mind fully surrendered to the cola, dropping all mental barriers.
'Wow...!'
Zing!
Soaked in the lightning-like thrill assaulting her mouth and the head-clearing coolness, after draining it to the last drop—
What escaped her lips was an exclamation.
An exclamation disguised as a divine name!
"—Kya! This is it!"
Only then did Reina understand the heart image world she'd seen.
This thrill! This refreshment!
A liquid god descended like a blessing to save humanity from stuffiness!
Cola!
God's love, God's gift, God's blessing, God itself— by then, she was convinced no words could define this perfect liquid.
"This is it!"
Thud!
Slamming the empty glass on the table like that, she noticed Erin had emptied hers too.
"This is the love God wanted to convey to us through Reina-nim... cola...!"
"Saintess! This cola... cola is insanely good?! It's not booze?!"
"I told you! Trust only what you see!"
"It's real! Wow... how can something taste this good?"
"I get why you said it'd go great with chicken...!"
"Totally!"
Giggling like teenage girls in small talk about cola, the two soon cautiously regained their composure and said,
"So... this is 'God's will'—"
"Yes. God wants Reina-nim to spread cola throughout this world...!"
"But this..."
Reina gently caressed the empty holy water bottle.
The amount of Plain Fact she used to turn this holy water into cola just now...
"Wasn't the Plain Fact needed to make this much cola a bit excessive... Is that okay?"
"How much was it?"
"Hard to believe, but... more than making fertilizer."
Hearing that, Erin pondered seriously—
"You're right. God's Plain Fact isn't infinite, after all..."
Unlike Erin, who grasped it conceptually from the start as a saintess, Reina could directly sense the Plain Fact floating in the air, so she surely knew it wasn't unlimited.
"How about this?"
"Go on."
"Implement something similar to cola using a small amount of Plain Fact! Like your new 'Air Fertilizer'!"
"...Ah!"
Creating exact cola, which required reaching into God's domain, was far harder than mimicking it with a bit of Plain Fact.
Cola was delicious, no doubt... but using all existing Plain Fact on cola production was inefficient.
Above all, her identity as a mage wouldn't allow it. The potential uses for this power were endless!
"I think Reina-nim can do it! Since God chose you! What do you say? Pretty please...!"
Anyway—
Since the saintess requested it as "God's word," there was no choice but to comply.
"Leave it to me, Saintess. I will definitely spread cola—"
—The thrill I felt, to everyone.
"To everyone, this supreme pleasure!"
"Missing this taste in life is too great a loss!"
Reina's eyes sparkled just like Ares's during those subversive plotting days.
Different directions, but alike in their resolve to enlighten their fellow humans.
* * *
'Wow...'
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly and replayed the cola scene.
Just cola, yet... they put this much effort into the artwork?
How do they make you crave cola just from the drawings??
I just finished a can of zero cola, and I limited myself to two a day, so no more today...
'Screw it.'
I immediately grabbed another zero cola from the fridge.
Click!
The refreshing fizz tickled my eardrums pleasantly.
Chugging it down— I became the third comrade to Erin and Reina in the manga.
"Kya! This is it!"
[ Igugwoden : You're really into real cola, huh, author? ]
[ Igugwoden : Same with chicken— you'd kill it doing a cooking manga next. ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Glad you like it. ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Truth be told, it was a moment where I had to boldly enter the 'God's domain' I dare not interfere with, ]
[ Please Give Me Money : so I worried a ton about whether the development would suit your taste... ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Thrilled it matches your palate. ]
The manga itself was fun without filler.
I was hooked on the isekai cultural diffusion plot too.
Just one thing nagging me—
Lately, the author had been oddly deferential.
Early on, they didn't even ask my input, just hit me with wild twists to captivate.
Guess my comment on fertilizer's impact stuck with them.
With me as their only reader, they'd naturally care...
'If I meddle too much, even fun works lose their spark.'
Everyone has opinions, but as a commercial author, ignoring readers is a no-go.
That said, fully kowtowing to them constrains the plot.
Unless going for extreme drift.
Maybe loosen up a bit?
[ Igugwoden : While we're at it, ]
[ Igugwoden : No need to watch my reactions so much, it's fine. ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Pardon...? ]
[ Please Give Me Money : What do you mean... ]
[ Igugwoden : Feels like you're seeking my approval too much for developments lately? ]
[ Igugwoden : Might be my imagination, but it could mean passing up better directions. ]
[ Igugwoden : I'm easy to please mostly, so go bolder, it's cool. ]
[ Igugwoden : Think of it as God wanting to see his divine power apply naturally, got it? ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Not sure exactly what you mean, but... ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Can I take it as giving more freedom to 'the world's response'? ]
[ Igugwoden : Spot onㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ ]
[ Igugwoden : If it's really off, I'll cut it, no worries. ]
That should do.
[ Igugwoden : Anyway, proceed as discussed lol ]
[ Igugwoden : Show the characters developing 'cola' on their own. ]
[ Igugwoden : No need for realism, just magic it up for fun. ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Got it. ]
[ Please Give Me Money : Not sure if mimicking 'God's domain' is possible, but... I'll try. ]
After the chat, I picked up the cola can—
"...Huh?"
Already empty?
Tossing the third empty can in the trash...
'...Three or four, same difference?'
Succumbing easily to the devil's whisper again, I headed to the fridge.
* * *
Amid the quiet forest, cheers erupted.
"Success!"
"Great work, everyone!"
—Today marked the successful end of the first remodeling project for the crumbling green tower— the Wood Magic Tower.