Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 313: The Seaside Sake Brewery
“Oh! It’s Rest-sama!”
“The lord has arrived! Everyone, prepare to welcome him!”
As Rest and Celestine arrived at the seaside village, the villagers immediately broke into a commotion.
Because Rest had once defeated a sea dragon that attacked the village, he was treated like a hero here. The moment he showed his face, the entire village erupted into a festival atmosphere. Villagers gathered around them, encircling Rest and Celestine.
“Rest-sama! Rest-sama!”
“We’re so glad you’ve come! Tonight, we feast!”
“Thank you, thank you…”
Some villagers even clasped their hands together and prayed to him in reverence.
At this point, it was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Even good intentions, when excessive, can have the opposite effect.
“What brings you here today, Lord Rest?”
“I came to check on the brewery. I heard a new sake has been completed.”
“Ah, I see! I’ll guide you right away!”
The village representative cheerfully led Rest and Celestine to a building deeper inside the village.
“This is the brewery…?”
The building had a distinct traditional Japanese aesthetic.
Like the other buildings, it was wooden, but its roof was tiled with what seemed like makeshift, uneven clay tiles. They were clearly handmade and a bit rough in shape.
“This roof?”
“Ah, that was something Lady Sanada instructed us to make. She said rainwater must not get inside.”
“Ah, I see.”
Rest nodded at the villager’s explanation.
He didn’t know much about sake-making, but surely rainwater mixing in would be a bad thing. That was likely why they had gone to the trouble of making a proper tiled roof.
“Please, come in.”
“Whoa!”
As they stepped inside, the first thing that caught the eye was the sight of large wooden barrels.
“Is this… distilled liquor?”
“No, that’s the base alcohol used to make the distilled liquor. I had it purchased and transported here through a merchant I hired.”
The one who answered was not a villager, but Celestine, who had followed them into the building.
“According to the method Sanada-sama left behind… distilled liquor is made by heating fermented alcohol, like wine, and then cooling the vapor. To find out which types make the best distilled liquor, I ordered various kinds of alcohol.”
“Wow… it’s more complex than I thought.”
Rest responded vaguely, half-understanding.
In his previous life, Rest had only been a high school student. He had no real experience with alcohol. Honestly, he didn’t even know the difference between brewed and distilled liquor.
“We pour the alcohol into this dedicated device and heat it. Since firewood is scarce in this village, we use a magic heating item instead.”
Celestine guided them to the back room.
There stood a metal apparatus. A large bottle-like container was topped with a pipe, which passed through a water tank and led to another container.
“Before we got involved, these machines were smaller and made with cheaper bronze. Now we use larger devices made from magic alloys.”
“This water… is it seawater?”
“Yes. We need a large volume of water to cool the vapor. So we draw it from the sea. We’ve also commissioned craftsmen to create new brewing devices, so in the future, we’ll be able to produce higher quality alcohol in greater quantities.”
“I see…”
Celestine’s explanation left Rest awed.
(They’ve built such a complete sake-making environment… Well, of course they would if they were serious about it…)
The fact that such a sophisticated setup was created in a short time was a testament to Celestine’s capabilities.
Even Sanada Shouko, who had dedicated herself to creating sake before her death, hadn’t completed it. But Celestine had brought it to fruition.
(It’s amazing… truly amazing…)
He often felt the same way about Viola, Primula, and Yuri — but once again he thought: was someone like him really worthy of being engaged to a woman like Celestine?
Surely someone more distinguished would suit her better.
That thought weighed on Rest, filling him with a genuine sense of inferiority.
“…I’ll do my best — in everything.”
So that he wouldn’t be left behind.
So that he wouldn’t disappoint anyone.
Rest silently resolved to work harder than ever before.