Chapter 79
“There aren't many British dishes, are there?”
Fortunately, the dishes Frost had someone bring over weren't the kind of British food I'd seen in the media.
At most, fish and chips?
This was basically just fried fish, after all.
In response to my question, Frost smiled and shrugged.
“Haha, there's a saying: if you want to eat British food in Britain, have Indian food.”
There were Indian dishes like tandoori chicken and curry.
Well, Britain had colonized that place once, too...
“Ah, there were so many reporters out front that I couldn't bring much food.”
“... What?”
No, this was already an incredible amount.
I wondered who had managed to get through that crowd and bring over so much food.
As a Korean, one of the people of the delivery nation, my pride was a little wounded.
“Then, let's eat.”
We filled each other's glasses and drained them.
Frost wore exactly the same expression I did.
“... It's enough to wound my pride.”
“Pardon?”
“Honestly, I didn't think it'd be this good. I figured it might be something like Yeonsu Ko's whiskey... But compared to this, Scotch whisky is little more than child's play.”
Ah, that's right. This guy was British.
Like how Koreans, the nation of delivery, are surprised by delivery.
It was like someone from whiskey's homeland being amazed by liquor from another country.
After emptying his glass, Frost reached into the air instead of reaching for another glass.
To my surprise, the moisture in the air condensed and formed an ice glass.
When he poured the real Cheonsang into it, it began to freeze in an instant.
Not enough to freeze solid, just enough for a thin layer of ice crystals to form.
He took a sip, then Frost nodded.
“Whew, just as I thought.”
“... Wh-what did you do?”
“There was a slight off note. I wondered why, and... this was the problem.”
He'd found... a problem with this liquor?
Even the experts...
No, even the more expert they were, the more they simply admired it as they drank?
What was with this guy?
Was he nitpicking?
If so, he was taking it far too seriously.
“... When you say it has an off note...”
“Ah, you don't have to worry about it. It's just how I drink it...”
“No, I'd like you to tell me.”
If there was room for improvement, I should improve it.
“Tsk, I'm worried I might be making you fret over nothing.”
“Please.”
“... I hope this nonsense proves useful.”
After fiddling with the ice glass for a moment, Frost asked me,
“Do you happen to know about chill filtering?”
“Yes, I do.”
I'd studied so hard because I wanted to make liquor.
“Isn't it a technique where you chill fatty acids at a low temperature and filter them out to keep them from floating around?”
If you left the fatty acids in during long aging, they'd float around and make the liquor look cloudy, so they filtered them out.
“Yes, it's mainly used for distilled spirits. And you know the problem with it, I assume?”
“... Yes. I heard it makes the flavor more uniform, which is a drawback. That's why non-chill filtering is in fashion these days...”
“That's the case with distilled spirits. As I understand it, this is the first high-proof fermented liquor to overcome the limitations of fermentation using dungeon technology. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
“Fermented liquor generally has much more ester and fatty acid content than distilled spirits, right?”
“That's right.”
“It feels a little excessive. Of course, it's such an excellent liquor that you can barely notice it. But after filtering some of it out, it's much better.”
Looking at the ice glass he handed me, I saw white fatty acids congealed against the cold glass.
When I drank the liquor after filtering some of them out...
[Your brewing has drawn closer to the greatness of God.]
[The skill proficiency of Understanding Brewing (Unique) has increased to SS.]
[Understanding Brewing (Unique)]
Description: A perfect creation is host to a god. The experience of a legendary brewer who reached the realm of the gods and ultimately became a god in their own right is infused within this. (SS Proficiency Effect: 0.5% Nectar is infused into perfectly brewed liquor.)
... Good grief,
“How is it?”
Honestly, the taste? I couldn't really tell.
It definitely tasted better, but I didn't have a palate as sensitive as his.
I couldn't say exactly what had improved, or in what way.
But what I could clearly see was...
The Nectar production rate had risen from 0.1% to 0.5%.
What was with this guy...
He'd given me an insane relic-grade ring, and now a pro tip that multiplied Nectar production by five.
Was this what people meant by a benefactor?
Perhaps embarrassed by me staring at him in a daze, he scratched his head.
“I knew I shouldn't have said anything...”
“Not at all.”
Did he know?
Just how much he'd helped me with that one comment?
**
The greater the advantages, the harder it was to see the disadvantages.
Cheonsang was like that.
Despite its obvious drawbacks, various factors made them hard to notice.
First, the experts were all so fixated on the new type of liquor, infused with an ingredient called Nectar that no one had ever heard of before.
Second, the amount of liquor the experts could drink during the tasting was very limited.
Third...
It turned out that Frost was the eldest son of the family that owned Scotland's largest distillery, as well as a master blender—an expert among experts.
─It tastes much better after a single round of chill filtering! How did I not realize this?
I couldn't help smiling wryly at the SG Brewery president's astonished words coming through the phone.
“You were trapped by conventional wisdom. The thinking was that liquor this good shouldn't be chill-filtered. That had become the accepted wisdom.”
Generally, the accepted wisdom was not to use filtering that standardized the flavor on liquor this expensive...
I was only now realizing another piece of conventional wisdom: too much of a good thing could be worse than too little.
“I owe Frost more than one favor.”
I should at least repay him a little.
I knew that, as Britain's strongest Hunter, Frost owned quite a lot of DDF shares in London, the capital.
He also owned a dungeon development company.
Its value had been scraping the bottom lately due to Britain's decline... but it had rebounded since I'd come to the UK.
If I could turn that into the pacification of London, the stock would rise even further.
Actually, London's unexplored Gate, the ‘City of Plague,’ was somewhere I absolutely had to enter anyway.
By now, all but a few patient reporters had gone home, right?
It was about time to stop playing sick and resting.
“One day of rest is plenty.”
I stood up and changed out of the patient clothes I'd put on for appearances.
Though changing just meant putting on a robe from my inventory.
[Elemental Guardian's Robe of Strict Balance]
[Grade]: Legendary-grade armor
[Description]: A symbol of balance, crafted by the legendary Elemental Guardian, said to protect all the elements.
[Details]: All elemental resistances are equalized to the highest elemental resistance value.
The robe was still legendary-grade, since I hadn't found a suitable relic-grade one, even while nearly everything else had been upgraded to relic-grade.
Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever properly used this effect.
I remember it being incredibly difficult to get, even with Russia's help.
I finished equipping the robe, the headband-like circlet, my rings, and my staff, and was just about to head outside when...
A hospital staff member came rushing over.
“H-Hunter Kim! Hah... hah... Something terrible has happened!”
You're about to pass out.
No, why did something keep going wrong in this country?
As I looked at him as if to ask, what the hell now?...
“H-Hunters... They're pouring in...”
“... What?”
Were they here to get me?
No, that couldn't be it.
“I-I think you should come out and see...”
Before he could finish, I heard it too.
The voices chanting Kim Segyun's name.
“What on earth is going on?”
It seemed I wasn't the only one who heard them, because Frost came out after me, fully geared up.
After glancing at the crowd of Hunters outside the window, Frost tilted his head.
“They don't look like active Hunters.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they all look retired.”
That made even less sense.
Why were retired Hunters coming to see me?
“Huh? Gasp!”
“... Don't startle yourself like that.”
“Ah, it's... I know one of those people... That's a Recovered Hunter.”
“Huh? A Recovered Hunter...”
Someone like that Blood Mage guy?
“Yes, I was checking just in case... Oh, that person is a Recovered Hunter, too... And that one...!”
They were called recovered, but they weren't... recovered at all, were they?
That Blood Mage was also being treated for the aftereffects of brain damage.
Fortunately, the aftereffects weren't too severe, so they probably wouldn't interfere with daily life, but his brain had been rummaged through...
So I'd planned to gather the Recovered Hunters and retrieve all the Pride left in their brains, but they'd all come here without even being called?
“It does look like they're here for me.”
“Are you planning to go out? It could be dangerous...”
Frost shuddered, apparently remembering the carnage from a few days ago.
“Well, if they were going to attack me, they would've done it already.”
The reason I wasn't particularly unsettled was...
I finally had an idea why they'd come.
I walked slowly and appeared in the hospital lobby.
Then...
Something incredible happened.
An immense crowd, so vast it was hard to even estimate the number...
went down on one knee.
Then they shouted at me.
─O great master! Lead us down the path to rest!
Even from a rough count, there seemed to be ten thousand of them, all shouting the same thing at me.
At the same time, everyone's eyes turned toward me.
“Wh-why are those people...”
No, that suspicious look...
Ah, I admit it.
Even I could see how suspicious this looked.
But that wasn't what was happening.
It seemed... the thought wave I'd sent out to gather the Pride had been quite powerful.
Strong enough to reach everyone across the UK carrying Pride.
“Phew...”
I couldn't help sighing. What else could I do?
I'd made this mess, so I had to clean it up.
First, I brought out the Pride and sent a thought wave to the individuals not under my control.
“Come to me one at a time, in an orderly line.”
With their brains having been perfectly controlled for decades or more, the nearly ten thousand Hunters pronounced ‘cured’ lined up in an instant.
A perfect display of order, without the slightest hesitation or disorder.
As Frost stared at me in shock...
I placed a hand on the head of the middle-aged man who had approached me first and murmured inwardly.
‘Undead Rise.’
All the Pride in his head came under my control, and light returned to the middle-aged man's glassy eyes.
“Hah, hah...! The voice in my head! I can't hear it anymore! I can't hear it!”
Then, one by one.
“I-I'm alive! Thank you!”
One by one.
“Thank you so much!”
As I watched them begin to come to their senses...
I heard someone nearby murmur softly in my ear.
“The Messiah...”
No! That's not it!!