* * *
Strength: 14
Stamina: 12
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 35
Mana: 20
Luck: 6
***
“What is this?”
“It’s a tea developed by my student. Please help us distribute this.”
The baron seriously looked around at the bottle.
“It’s not a normal tea for you to ask me to distribute it, so it must be something that the aristocrats want.”
“Yes.”
It’s good that he knows it even if I didn’t talk about it.
“Then it’s some kind of luxury. It’s hard to sell an unknown tea to nobles. Does that mean I have to go out and promote it myself?”
No matter how much money an aristocrat has, they don’t waste money on unnecessary things.
In conclusion, someone should come forward and appeal to the aristocracy.
The baron’s piercing eyes pressured Gordon to take out the tea set.
“Please try it first and rate it.”
Gordon said with a confident attitude.
“It looks like a junkie. If you weren’t a private acquaintance, I would have kicked you out right away.” The baron said while putting the glass jar on the desk without even opening it.
Gordon wiped his cold sweat and a forced smile at his words.
He then boiled the tea himself, and I made milk tea and iced tea using the tea I had been brewing next to me, and handed the baron a set of the three black tea sets, as I had given Gordon the other day.
“Hmm.”
The aroma of black tea filled the room.
A black-colored drink that stimulates vision welcomes the baron.
His facial expression, which had remained calm, also changed due to this unusual scent.
I heard Baron Randy Christopher was a picky man for teas.
However, seeing his expression, which turned out to be pleased with the scent of black tea, foretold my success.
-Slurp.
The baron with the original black tea in his mouth opens his eyes.
“What….”
He then sniffed, chomped with black tea in his mouth, and felt the aroma of black tea.
-Tak.
Before I knew it, the black tea which filled teacups revealed the bottom and the baron put down the teacup, tasted the iced tea and milk tea.
“…….”
He drank all the tea.
The baron, who had been silent for a long time, asked with a serious look.
“Really, you invented this?”
“Yes.”
Actually, someone who lives on Earth invented it, but I answered brazenly.
“He’s more extraordinary than I imagined.”
And the baron took a big, drug-like breath, opening the lid of a brown bottle that he had not been interested in so far.
“How can the leaves smell like this?”
It wasn’t an answer, it was an admiration monologue.
He wetted and unfolded the beautifully dried black tea leaves, and was greatly surprised to find out that they were tea leaves.
“Yes, black tea is made by processing tea leaves. Did you marinate the tea leaves in something else and then dry them?”
His study of black tea was as serious as if he had fallen into a new study of magic.
But he didn’t even think about fermenting tea leaves, so he asked for an answer, and Gordon sneaked a look at me.
I don’t think it’s a problem to let the baron know if Gordon believes in him.
It wasn’t something that could be kept by the power of the common people anyway.
“It’s fermented tea leaves.”
“The fermentation like when you make cheese?”
“It’s a little different. It’s a late effect by external action, and black tea is fermented by oxidizing its own ingredients.”
“Well….”
Now, a wizard, who can be called a scientist in this world, can’t be unaware of what oxidation is.
However, he had a complex look on his face, wondering if it was understood that the scent of tea leaves would change significantly by oxidizing the internal ingredients.
“Additional 50 points.”
“What?”
I had no choice but to express my wonder at the unexpected grading from him.
“Your evaluation by my standard. You started at 50 out of 100 and dropped to 30 points, but it quickly rose to 80 points, similar to my pupil.”
What the hell is he talking about?
It was absurd, but I hid my expression on the outside and bowed my head, saying, “Thank you for your generous assessment.”
He is a private of my teacher, but he is not a close friend, so I can’t help it.
There’s a request Gordon made in the past and the aristocracy needs to be careful.
“How’s it going, sir?”
When asked by Gordon for an assessment, Baron Christopher replied seriously.
“I don’t know what it’s like for people who don’t enjoy tea. It’s gold, at least for someone like me.”
I expected it, but I couldn’t help but be excited by the generous assessment.
“By the way.”
“What?”
“Why don’t you crush these black tea leaves and sell them?”
“To maintain security?”
“Yes, you understand what I’m saying. If the recipe is not complicated, someone will quickly imitate it.”
There is no concept of “intellectual property rights” in the Mu continent.
Well, pirated books have been circulating in Korea not too long ago, and China has been loose in piracy until recently, so how can the Mu continent be any different?
Although Baron Christopher has a good background, it was difficult to respond if he made and sold black tea in a higher rank aristocrat or other countries.
“It doesn’t matter. The leaf shape keeps the scent longer and gives it a natural taste, but the shredded tea has its own advantages.”
Crushing tea leaves makes the scent stronger and can be boiled quickly.
Therefore, Earth uses mostly crushed leaves to make ice tea with milk tea or fruit added.
It’s not a big problem.
“Then shall we try to grinder it?”
While the iron was hot, Baron crushed the black tea leaves on the spot, while Gordon picked up and brewed them.
“This is good, too.”
“I think it’s better. The smell is a lot thicker.”
I think is still better off in leaf shape, but both were satisfied with the shredded tea leaves.
“All right, I’ll step up. There’s no shame in pushing anyone with this.” Baron Randy Christopher said with a big smile.
“Thank you!”
“Instead, would you please let me in on the business?”
“…….”
If black tea was successful, the distribution would have a significant margin, but it was a baron who wanted to participate in the stake.
Frankly, I don’t want to, but I expected this situation to happen if I could elicit a successful response.
I was forced to nod my head.
The baron patted me on the shoulder with such kindness.
“Additional 20 points.”
Within an hour of the meeting, I scored 100 points on my own.
Didn’t his student around 80?
“See you again.”
“Yeah, come visit me anytime.”
Afterward, as a result of dividing the stake in the profit distribution, I decided to divide it into five and two people into 2.5.
Thanks to this, when I left the tower, the branch manager himself came out and waved at me, and I returned to the village of Karas with Gordon, receiving the eyes of the people from the tower.
I don’t know why I yelled and weighed myself in the first place if I was going to laugh like this.
To me, Baron Christopher was remembered as a geek, tea-loving, money-grubbing old man.
Still, it was a great achievement to have a strong ally of nobility.
***
[Quest completed successfully]
[A proper balance between Mana and Aura was achieved. Strength and Mana increases by 1.]
[Feeling is learned as a reward]
“Hey, it’s only a day or two a week, but hunting with Jihoon is always fun. I can’t believe we’re handling trolls so easily.”
Bartran’s party rubs their hands hard and flatters themselves.
I slaughtered the enemy Troll who fought in the fog, waving my hand that I didn’t need any rhetoric.
“Even if you say so, it’s going to be hard to raise our pace now. My teacher barely gave me the green light.”
The last of the eight days to stay in the Mu continent.
For me, that is the last day to complete the quest.
“Oh, how can I be more greedy. That’s enough.”
The three of them looked at the knight’s arm crossing behind me.
As the article itself was a noble given, I felt quite uncomfortable even if I couldn’t express it.
“Let’s go back to town.”
He magically gathered the blood of the trolls together and put it in a wooden bin, and put it into a subspace bracelet he borrowed from Gordon with leather.
This quest was to hunt 10 trolls.
It would have been difficult if there were mercenaries fighting only with spears and their own skills, but with magic and Aura added, it was easier and faster to complete than the Ors Village quest.
“Mr. Pierson.”
The knight waiting behind my call followed side by side, arm in arm.
“You’re also a very capable fighter. You’re not the one who cares for nothing.”
“Thank you for your kind consideration.”
The knight was Pierson, a martial arts teacher and escort knight sent by Baron Christopher.
The situation became ridiculous as the knight followed the mercenary’s back as an escort.
Bartran’s party would be particularly distressed, but I didn’t find this situation so bad.
I was able to fight back to the fact that there was an article that supported me.
“It’s not empty talk. I think Jihoon has a better talent for martial arts than magic. You’re smart with the four basic moves you learned from the guard.”
When Baron Christopher hears it, it’s hard to believe.
He was secretly hoping I’d choose the martial arts path.
However, if I did it, I will lose all the connections I built upon the Mu continent.
I can’t do that.
I’m pretty happy with the way things are.
I’m spending eight days very well without wasting time.
I’m learning magic, learning Aura, performing quests, and even making black tea and cigars.
Most of this time is spent on magic training, but these days every day has been very busy.
Baron Christopher said he would send slaves to make black tea, so I think I will have some time to spare when they arrive.
It was uncomfortable to enslave the same human being, but now I couldn’t refuse the baron’s offer because I couldn’t afford it.
After arriving in the village, I returned to Gordon’s mansion, where I dealt with by-products and distributed income asset.
“How would you like to train today?”
“I’m sleepy, so I need to get some sleep.”
“I see. I’ll talk to you when you wake up.”
And when I came into the room, I opened up a 2nd class magic book from Gordon.
These days, when I complete the quest normally, I have to lie in bed to fall asleep.
Of course, I’ll be kicked out again if I stayed awake, but the system gives me time to wash up and lie down after returning to the safety zone.
I decided to take advantage of that brief spell to get acquainted with the last magic of 2nd class.
If I master a class of magic, I wake up treating it like I completed a quest, but I don’t want to spend the day without proper compensation.
So I deliberately postponed the 2nd class mastery, leaving only the easiest part to complete at once, such as the quest.
Then, when I memorized the short final formula, I felt drowsy.
[2nd class magic mastered]
[Mana Increases by 2.]
[Intelligence increases by 2.]
***
Even though I have spent busy days on the Mu continent, I can feel refreshed by relieving all my mental and physical fatigue as soon as I return to Earth.
[Intermediate Rewards]
A reward card for completing the quest.
It was an item that made me feel good as soon as I held it in my hand.
Standing in the middle of a messy studio apartment to prepare for the move, I raised my reward card and said.
“Intermediate Rewards Released.”
Paw!
It’s always a brilliant reward effect.
The dazzling light stimulates vision, but nothing else appeared this time.
This reward was not in kind.
[Active Skill Magic Exploration has been acquired]
The more skills, the better.
It’s a quick way to be strong right now.
Although the “feeling” and “Magic exploration” skills gained from this reward do not seem to be related to combat, there was no need to be sorry as the seemingly insignificant auxiliary skills were also being used.
It is impossible to immediately check how the passive skill is applied, but since Magic exploration is an active skill, it can be checked immediately.
“Magic exploration.”
I immediately used the Magic Exploration skill.
A small amount of mana was consumed and a small mana field-like sound waves spread all over the place.
[No Navigation Results]
That’s how it feels.
The area where the Magic Exploration has been scanned is drawn in my head.
But I couldn’t find any abnormalities, and it seems to allow me to feel the presence of other magical powers except me.
And then I put the light magic a little far away and use the Magic Exploration.
[Left 35 Degree / Distance 4.1 m]
[No other navigation results]
As expected, I have explored the magical location of Wright.
I think it’s useful if I do well, but it’s a little vague for a skill from an intermediate reward card.
“Ah.”
But then.
Suddenly, useful use of Magic Exploration came to mind.
What I’ve always wondered about going back and forth to the Mu continent.
It’s the question of ‘Is there anyone else in the same boat as me?’
However, I felt that I could solve the question by using this magic exploration.
The magic exploration has a range of about 300 meters.
What if we use this to travel around densely populated areas and use magic exploration?
“Certainly…”
It looks like it’s worth trying.
* * *
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