Chapter 137
Crunch.
After cracking the ice with the pick, I Strike the pick with a hammer.
BANG!
The outer part of the large Block of Ice falls off.
Repeating this a few times creates a Block of Ice about half its previous size.
It was a slightly dangerous act.
If I were a Master Craftsman of Ice Carving, it might be different, but otherwise, striking it roughly with a hammer inevitably damages and wastes more material than necessary.
The loud noise provides enough entertainment for the customers' eyes and ears, but if the result is subpar, it’s all for nothing.
That’s why I used a Trick.
It was the Three-Dimensional Ice Printing Technology, something I couldn’t have even dreamed of if this weren’t the 22nd century Dusk City.
When the structure of the ice is designed from the freezing stage, the outer parts that are Fine to break are made weak, while the inner parts that must not break are made solid.
It artificially creates empty spaces inside the ice to prepare a canvas resembling the faces of the Mayoral Election candidates in advance.
Thanks to this, in the customers' eyes, it looks as though the Bartender possesses incredible carving skills, hammering away without hesitation and chipping with a pick and knife to create a work of art in an instant.
In reality, the guidelines were already printed inside the ice.
I’d have nothing to say if someone called it a Trick. To some extent, it was true.
However, our bar could be considered quite conscientious.
Other bars are so accustomed to this new Technology that there are plenty of Bartenders who can’t even do the most basic block-shaped or sphere-shaped Ice Carving on their own.
On the other hand, at our bar, even an Apprentice like me has become able to flawlessly perform block-shaped, sphere-shaped, and diamond-shaped Ice Carving through relentless practice, not to mention the official Bartenders.
We only use ice printing for cases that inevitably require special “ice crafts,” like this Mayoral Election Campaign Cocktail. And even then, we keep its degree quite low.
Otherwise, a beginner like me wouldn’t be able to create an Ice Glass shaped like a human face at all, and even an Ice Carving Master like Tony would take a long time, making the customers wait.
Even though I used a shortcut, it was by no means easy.
“Phew.”
After taking a Deep Breath, I wrap the ice in a cloth and hold it with one hand, gripping the Ice Pick with the other.
This is where the difficult part begins.
Tak-kak-kak-kak-tak-kak-kak-kak-tak-tak-tak -
The aesthetics of Ice Carving come from speed.
The sight of turning the ice edge by edge and striking it relentlessly with the pick, the pieces flying off noisily, and the ice transforming in an instant provides satisfaction to the viewer.
However, it’s important to note. The viewer should feel that way, but the person doing it must not.
If the Bartender gets intoxicated by the fast speed and bold image, losing their delicacy and applying too much Force, not only will the shape be ruined, but they could also injure their hand.
But if they do it too weakly and cautiously, it won’t produce a Powerful Performance that can satisfy the audience.
The key is to maintain the middle Ground between strong and weak, and as always, hitting the middle is the hardest part.
‘It’s going well so far.’
As I chipped away all the bubble-filled exterior, an inner layer of ice emerged, looking so transparent that it was almost completely see-through.
Not only did it roughly have the shape of a glass, but it also strangely resembled the face of the Mayoral Candidate.
From here on, it’s real carving.
Thanks to the guidelines, it would be easier than making it completely from scratch, but a single slip would turn it into a completely different person’s face.
“Maybe not a completely different person, but a face with a lot of blemishes.”
A Mayoral Candidate who got a bit too much jaw surgery, or a Mayoral Candidate whose nose was crushed like Voldemort due to excessive plastic surgery…
Something like that would pop out.
That was absolutely unacceptable for a surgery performed by me.
I had to slow down a bit from here.
I carefully broke the hard ice with the pick, and for the softer parts that needed to be chipped away for the shape, I used a knife to gradually reduce the surface area.
Eventually, after I had touched up the Fine Details following the example image stored in my head and the guidelines inside the ice, it was finally complete.
It took about five minutes to Finish the two glasses that way.
Personally, I was satisfied. It took a bit long, but it couldn’t be helped for the sake of a flashy Performance.
More than anything, I liked the result.
They weren’t as good as what Tony or Sey would make, but they were still two face-shaped glasses that anyone could tell were the Mayoral Candidate Edition.
The customers' reactions were lukewarm, but at least they didn’t voice complaints.
It meant I had at least at least avoided provoking the Old Man’s hasty temper.
Now, since I made the glasses, it was time for the cocktails…
Ironically, the main drink itself wasn’t that difficult.
As cool and sweet drinks fitting for the gradually warming weather and the Election Festival Season, they didn’t require a deep flavor, and since I had made them so many times, all the ingredients were already prepared.
After coating the rims of the two glasses with salt to look like fallen snow, I picked up the shaker.
I mixed the pre-Ground Freeze-Dried Strawberry Pulp with ice, tequila, and mixed liquor by Shaking, and poured it over the open top of Mr. D.D. McMillan’s head.
Likewise, I mixed the Blue Synthetic Liquor, tequila, and Lime Juice by Shaking, and painted El Valentine’s lips blue with the cocktail.
I handed the summer drinks in the Cold, refreshing ice glasses to the heated political fanatics.
“Here are the Frozen Strawberry Margarita - McMillan Edition and the Blue Margarita - Valentine Edition.”
* * *
Of course, drinking a refreshing beverage didn’t cool them down or anything like that.
“Oh, this is delicious.”
“Mine is terrible. The strawberries are all dead. Let me try yours.”
“The Strawberry is Fine, though?”
“Fine my ass, El Valentine is way more delicious. The Bartender was a Valentine lackey! I knew this would happen.”
“Come on, stop being so unreasonable.”
“Unreasonable?! See, he can’t even speak! Say Valentine bastards! I dare you! If you’re innocent, you should be able to say it!”
“Oops, he passed out.”
“Zzzzz…”
“In the end, paying the bill is all on me again. Phew.”
…Well, that was how it went.
The Old Man and the young man distracted me noisily for a long while before leaving.
Still, I endured it.
Tony, who sneakily returned as soon as they left, was truly a thick-skinned person.
It was incredibly annoying how he shamelessly claimed that my skills had improved by leaps and bounds thanks to him, and that it was all his doing.
Still, nothing much happened after that.
There were no terrorists trying to cause an Explosion in the bar, no Ronin or gangsters getting into fights every other day, and no debaters arguing with veins popping in their necks.
The rest were all polite and quiet customers, just drinking and sharing stories about their lives.
This was during the relaxed and leisurely early morning hours of the bar, right around the time my shift was ending, and my eyes kept drifting to my Cyberwatch.
A Customer belonging to that ordinary category came in.
Not quite a Regular Customer, just a Customer I’ve been seeing often lately.
A pot-bellied mister in a suit who frequently visits at this hour, though I don’t know what line of work he’s in.
He comes in every day, orders a cocktail, sits for about an hour, and leaves right around Closing Time.
His face looked completely ordinary. He had a bit of a beard, a large nose, and wrinkles.
He looked like he might have chased women around in his youth, but now he was just a good-natured ajje from the Western Sphere, with accumulated fat and age.
If there was one slightly unique thing about him, it was that he didn’t talk about himself much.
Usually, when drinking in front of Bartenders, people tend to spill their own stories, but this ajje preferred to drink silently and listen rather than speak.
Thanks to that, he mostly hung out with Tony, who talked endlessly like a chatterbox.
Because if the ajje asked a single question like, “How is business lately?”, Tony was the kind of man who could blabber on about that topic for an hour without stopping.
Oh, and also.
He seemed to dislike Political Talk, as I observed today.
He glanced at the Political Current Affairs Broadcast airing all day on the hologram Channel, and a few minutes later, he called me over to ask if I could change the channel.
It wouldn’t have been possible during peak hours with many customers, but since everyone had left and this ajje was the only one sitting at the bar, I readily nodded.
I was already sick and tired of the political fanatics anyway, so I was actually grateful.
“…Even so, isn’t an Anime Channel for 10-Year-Old Girls a bit much?”
“Well, this is the only channel not showing Political Talk at this hour. Plus, our boss is subscribed to the Lowest-Tier Paid Channel. The selection is a bit limited.”
“Well, it can’t be helped then.”
It was a little touching how meekly he accepted it.
If it had been that hot-tempered grandpa from earlier, he would have immediately spewed anger, asking if I saw him as a girl.
This Customer was a very generous person who didn’t have a single Complaint even when the show airing on the Magical Girl Anime Channel for 10-Year-Old Girls,
“Twinkle Twinkle Star Power! ~The Second Coming of Magic Princess Juliana~”
popped up on the screen.
“Hmm, it actually seems kind of fun the more I Watch it.”
Or maybe he was just someone with mental issues.