Volume 2, Chapter 22 – Let’s Make Distilled Liquor!

Leaving Mary, who insisted on cleaning, behind, Yisi took Camilla to the tavern’s first floor. Before opening for business, she needed to make thorough preparations, and the most important task at hand was producing distilled liquor.

The principle behind making distilled liquor wasn’t complicated. It simply involved heating fermented liquor—the raw material—to a temperature between the boiling points of alcohol and water, then collecting the evaporated alcohol. In essence, it was a process of purifying fermented liquor.

However, just like the glassmaking she had mentioned earlier, knowing the theory didn’t mean it would be easy to execute. Maintaining a stable flame, constructing a distillation apparatus, and determining which fermented liquor would yield the best-tasting distillate—all of these required hands-on experimentation.

The first two problems weren’t difficult for Yisi to solve. If ordinary firewood or charcoal were used as the heat source, controlling the flame size would indeed be challenging. Not only would it take time to accumulate experience, but someone would also need to constantly tend to the fire. But with magical flames, control became effortless. The size of the flame could be adjusted with just a thought, and as long as there was sufficient magic power, the flame could maintain a consistent state indefinitely, without fluctuating.

As for the distillation apparatus, Yisi had to resort to an old-fashioned method.

Which was exactly what she was doing now.

For the sake of secrecy, Yisi didn’t choose to conduct the distillation experiments in the open backyard of the mansion. Instead, she and Camilla worked in the kitchen. Thanks to Camilla’s cleaning, the kitchen—less than two meters in height—was now spotless. The originally cramped space now felt somewhat empty, with only a cupboard and a brick-and-clay stove remaining.

“Camilla, bring out the iron pot we used when we were camping.”

“Yes.”

Raising her magic staff and softly chanting an incantation, Camilla retrieved a roughly 30-centimeter-diameter iron pot from a black void. Unlike the wok-shaped pots used for stir-frying, this one had straight, vertical walls—perfect for boiling porridge.

It was precisely this feature that had prompted Yisi to ask for it.

After handing the pot to Yisi, Camilla tilted her head in confusion.

“Onee-sama, isn’t this pot a bit too small? It probably won’t fit on the stove.”

The brick stove was designed to accommodate pots with diameters of at least half a meter.

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Yisi wasn’t concerned.

“Today is just an experiment to see if this method works. If it does, we can buy larger, more suitable containers for mass production later.”

After all, this was a world different from Earth. Though the physical laws seemed identical so far, the existence of magic meant things couldn’t be taken for granted.

Retrieving a few standard-issue beginner spears from Ragnarøk’s inventory, Yisi arranged them in a grid over the stove. After ensuring they wouldn’t slide, she pointed her hand at the stove’s opening.

“[Solidify].”

Solidify was a spell that could tightly fuse two objects together, turning them into a single entity. By arranging the spears in a grid, Yisi intended to create a platform for the iron pot.

A white glow emanated from Yisi’s hand, enveloping the spears. Soon, they merged seamlessly, as if welded together. Yisi lifted the grid and shook it—it held firm.

“Alright, next step.”

“Onee-sama… isn’t this a bit wasteful?”

“Hm?”

“Spears made entirely of wrought iron are valuable weapons. Ordinary soldiers only get spears with iron tips embedded in wooden shafts…”

“Ah, you mean that. Don’t worry, we can separate them later with magic. Besides, these weren’t bought with money anyway.”

They were just beginner weapons from Ragnarøk.

On another note, Yisi had recently realized that her current abilities weren’t limited to a single class. Instead, it seemed as though she had merged the skills of all the classes she had played in the game. For example, her level 427 corresponded to her magic caster class, yet she could also use warrior skills like [Fortitude] and [Charge].

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The reason was simple: she remembered how it felt to use those skills in the game. She hadn’t just created one character—aside from her magic caster, she had also played as an archer, beast tamer, mystic, swordsman, lancer, assassin, shield bearer, and more. There were also non-human races, which functioned like special classes, such as dragons, slimes, deep-sea demons, and mechanoids.

While she could freely use the skills of the humanoid classes, she hadn’t yet succeeded in activating those of the non-humanoid ones. Yisi speculated that she might need to assume a non-human form to use those skills, as the sensations involved were fundamentally different.

For instance, a human couldn’t split their body into multiple parts like a slime could. That kind of experience was impossible to replicate in a human form, making the corresponding skills inaccessible.

Shaking off the thought, Yisi refocused on the stove.

“Next, we just need to ignite the fire with magic… Hmm, rather than manually tending to the distillation, using a tool would be better.”

Right now, it was just an experiment, so standing by to maintain the fire wasn’t a big deal. But if they scaled up production and had to spend hours on this daily, it would become a major hassle. If the work ended up restricting her freedom, she might as well spend more money on better-tasking fermented liquor to sell directly to customers.

Though Yisi usually gave off a diligent impression, she was, in truth, something of a hedonist. If there was a lazy way to do something, she’d never choose the hardworking path.

Rummaging quickly through the storage, she soon found a palm-sized, fiery-red spherical item—a stable heat source that could be adjusted at will.

[Eye of Dusk]

“Though its intended use is as a core for high-level magic traps, providing a stable fire element for magic circles, we don’t exactly have cheaper alternatives right now…”

Not that Yisi thought Eye of Dusk would be useful elsewhere. In the game, it was indeed a high-tier material, but its sole purpose was as a magic circle core. Since high-level monsters rarely walked into player-laid traps, she’d never actually used one before.

Yisi placed the crimson crystal into the stove’s firebox, then gently set the iron pot on the spear-grid platform.

“With the fuel problem solved, the rest is easy.”

As she said, the subsequent steps were straightforward. First, she poured the pre-purchased fermented liquor into the pot—ideally, they should’ve started from scratch, but that would’ve taken days. Then, she placed an empty bowl in the center of the liquid, ensuring it floated without tipping over. Next, she covered the pot with a flat iron plate. To improve condensation efficiency, she softened the plate with fire magic and shaped it into a concave cone.

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This way, the high-proof liquor condensing on the inner surface of the lid would drip along the slope into the bowl below. The simplest distillation apparatus was now complete.

After activating the [Eye of Dusk] with magic, flames engulfed it, emitting a bright glow. Without a thermometer, Yisi had to rely on intuition, using a low flame to gently bring the liquid to a boil. A slow fire yielded a smoother, more aromatic distillate compared to a fierce one.

Now, they just had to wait for the bowl to fill.

Yisi took a step back from the stove.

“The efficiency is low, but we can scale it up with larger containers later.”

That said, if the distilled liquor became popular, demand might outstrip supply. Simply enlarging the containers without improving the apparatus would eventually hit a limit.

“Well, I never intended for it to become a household name. If it gets too popular, it’ll just be a headache. Maybe limiting supply could even increase its value.”

Unlike perishable fermented liquor, distilled liquor had a long shelf life, its flavor improving with age. Freshly made liquor, in contrast, tasted bitter and harsh.

The thought of limited editions turning the liquor into a luxury collectible gave Yisi a strangely ironic feeling.

“Onee-sama, I think you’re scheming something bad again.”

Camilla tilted her head, peering up at Yisi’s face.

Yisi waved her hands dismissively.

“No, no, I was just thinking that what we’re making now might become a luxury item like gemstones in a decade or two. It feels a little odd.”

“Could you tell me what we’re making? It looks like you’re just heating wine, but wouldn’t that ruin the taste?”

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“This is called distillation—a process to increase the alcohol content.”

“Distillation… al-co-hol?”

Camilla’s beautiful face clouded with confusion. These were clearly unfamiliar terms.

“Distillation is a method to separate two different substances. Alcohol is what intoxicates people. You’ve had wine before, right?”

Having attended noble banquets, Camilla had certainly drunk alcohol—though vampire wines were mostly low-proof fruit wines.

“Yes, but it didn’t taste very good.”

“Regardless of taste, the reason wine makes people drunk is because of the alcohol inside. Extracting the most concentrated part of it is what distillation does.”

Yisi explained as simply and slowly as she could.

Camilla frowned slightly, her ruby-like eyes flickering with thought. For someone without scientific knowledge, this was likely hard to grasp.

Yisi clapped her hands.

“It’s fine if you don’t understand. I’ll teach you the basics of natural science later—it might even help with your magic studies.”

After nearly two months, Yisi had all but given up on her own magical training. Sensing and controlling mana wasn’t the issue—the hardest part was the rhythm of spell incantations. At first, Yisi had assumed chanting was like singing, something that could be imitated. But in practice, it required multitasking at a level impossible without extensive practice.

So, Yisi could only delegate the task of exploring the relationship between science and magic to Camilla.

There might not even be a connection, but trying was better than not trying at all.