Our Family Has Fallen

Lance spoke nicely, but in reality, he wasn’t paying much attention to her and instead was always managing her.

”My bad, I’ve been a bit busy these past few days.” Lance could only smile helplessly when he saw her like this. ”Come on, let’s head back.”

”Go back for what?” Although that’s what Boudica said, she still stood up.

”I promised you before, once you recover, I’ll let you drink to your heart’s content.”

”Really!” Hearing this, Boudica’s previous gloom disappeared instantly, and she visibly perked up.

”When have I ever lied to you? And there’s something even more exciting than beer.”

”Yay!”

The cheer was loud enough to even wake the wolves.

However, they just glanced and then continued to lie down.

What’s that dog barking about? Can’t a wolf get some sleep?

Boudica was easy to cheer up. Lance led her home, and with just a few simple words, she forgot about feeling ignored.

Lance knew her drinking capacity was average and was already prepared for her to get drunk, so he took her straight back to the room to avoid embarrassment.

”This is craft beer, and this is a new fruit-flavored brew, and this is distilled liquor.”

Lance took out the alcohol, sparking Boudica’s curiosity.

”Why is there only one bottle of this?”

”You’ll know once you try it.”

Lance smiled without saying more, and Boudica, unafraid, reached out to grab it but was stopped by Lance’s hand.

”It’s all yours, but taste the other two first, or else you won’t taste the flavor later.”

This only fueled Boudica’s curiosity more instead of quelling it.

She didn’t waste any words, grabbed a bottle of beer, and the moment she popped the cap, the sound of bubbles alone relieved her inexplicably, not to mention the strong aroma several times more intense than usual hitting her nose.

Having abstained from alcohol for a month had already created an obsession, and she couldn’t resist any longer, gulping directly from the bottle without waiting to pour it into a glass.

”Refreshing!” Boudica shouted up at the ceiling after downing a large gulp, followed by a loud belch ”Ugh~!”

”How does it taste?” Lance asked.

This question stumped her; she really didn’t taste anything with that first gulp.

”I didn’t catch the flavor, let me try again.”

With that, she took another sip, smacked her lips, said nothing, then took another gulp, polishing off half the bottle before finally answering Lance’s question.

”It’s pretty good.”

Lance did have the intention of having her taste test, but seeing her gulp it down like that, he could only smile helplessly.

She didn’t seem to truly enjoy alcohol, perhaps she just craved that hit, as the drunken feeling allowed her to escape some negative emotions.

”It’s called craft because it’s unfiltered beer, which is what you usually drink diluted to make regular beer. That’s why it has a thicker foam that lasts longer, resulting in a much more robust body with more intense malt flavors and a lasting taste, with even a touch of bitterness due to the high concentration.

Of course, it’s also made from old grains, so the aroma is a bit off, but it’s freshly brewed, which makes up for some of its shortcomings.”

”Ah~ right, right! That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”

Lance explained to himself, not really understanding. He learned a bit of this from mingling with the brewers.

He was pretty much bluffing Boudica, who couldn’t quite get it.

And Boudica nodded along, not forgetting to keep drinking.

A regular chilled beer is just one copper coin per bottle, but this one sells for five at the tavern, not something ordinary people can afford; it’s for those with cash to spare, like Dismas, Balistan, Tadiff, and Geralt. They have quite a bit of money and not many expenses.

Lance managed to get them spending more on entertainment; otherwise, having money in hand was pointless.

After fighting monsters all their lives, shouldn’t they at least enjoy themselves a bit?

”Bang!” On the other side, the sound of Boudica habitually slamming the bottle on the table brought Lance back to reality.

They weren’t those nobles sipping slowly from goblets, Boudica’s style was bold.

But Lance felt distressed watching her, worried she might smash the bottle.

”You better use a glass, it’s more refreshing that way.”

Seeing this, Lance quickly replaced it with a glass and poured it full.

Hamlet currently doesn’t even have the technology to produce glass bottles; these bottles have to be bought from Totnes, then filled and labeled.

The cost plus shipping makes the bottles themselves worth a copper coin, and the chilled beer bottles are all recycled.

No matter how the market responds to this batch, Lance needed to set up a glass-blowing workshop in Hamlet.

This stuff can be used for a lot of things, bottles are just one of them.

However, this is considered a skill in this era and requires professional craftsmen to establish, so relying on random draws would be difficult.

Random draws are foolish, odds are not transparent, and even if they were, it’s useless; this world’s full of trickery.

He’d have to spend money, think about getting some people from Totnes over to build the framework first to resolve the issue of availability.

Damn it, how come it’s so easy for novel protagonists to climb the tech tree, but I can barely establish a glass factory?

Thinking of this, Lance felt some frustration, while over there, Boudica had already finished one bottle and wasn’t showing signs of drunkenness but had become excited.

Without waiting for Lance to say anything else, she opened a bottle of [Maiden’s Dream].

Just from smelling it, her expression turned quirky.

”Why does it smell a bit like tribal liquor?”

”Because it uses fermented berries as the base, with added essence and alcohol in the mix, implementing some brewing techniques from the Mountains.”

The Mountains don’t farm, so they don’t have grains, but they have plenty of fruit, so their brewing techniques are more like making fruit wine.

Lance learned some skills after consulting Grendel, the Mountains’ encyclopedia, as a supplement.

Boudica was not someone who needed to wait for Lance to speak before drinking; she already poured herself a glass.

Lance would at least swirl it around for show; she just downed it in one gulp.

But immediately, her face looked strange, even frowning, and upon swallowing, she criticized right away.

”What is this? Is it really alcohol? Why is it so sweet?”

”This is basically a fruit-flavored alcoholic beverage,” Lance straightforwardly revealed. It was indeed a mix, and the taste being off-putting to Boudica was normal.

”Our tribe doesn’t have such weird drinks,” Boudica shook her head, looking somewhat disdainfully at the drink.

”Since you don’t like it, try this instead.” Lance said, with an even bigger smile, taking up the crystal-clear distilled liquor like it was water.

However, he didn’t hand over the whole bottle, but rather poured a small shot glass for her.

”Stingy,” Boudica complained, seeing the shot glass barely bigger than a thumb. ”I bet it’s not even a mouthful.”

”Try it first, this one’s meant to be sipped slowly,” Lance didn’t even bother explaining, just watched her with a smile.

If it were anyone else, they might be suspicious, as the Lord’s smile usually meant trouble for someone.

But Boudica paid no mind, downing the shot in one gulp.

Being used to light alcohol, Boudica couldn’t stand this strong forty to fifty percent spirit, especially unprepared, causing her face to flush red as she started coughing.

”Cough, cough, cough!”

”Is it good~” Lance laughed gleefully at her reaction. He didn’t like alcohol himself, not seeing what was so great about it, but enjoyed a good laugh.

But Lance clearly underestimated Boudica’s love for alcohol; instead of backing off, she quickly adapted.

The returning alcohol fumes made Boudica sway, with the thick texture and spiciness providing a different kind of stimulation from beer.

”It’s really something!”