Chapter 1604: Alex, Long Time No See
“Boss, the fried rice is burning.” Miya’s voice pulled Mag back from his thoughts.
He quickly tossed the rice in the wok, and heaved a sigh of relief as he glanced at the color of the fried rice that had changed a little. He almost wasted food.
Mag started focusing on his work to cope with the busy hours as he tossed the roasted pig’s eyes and pig’s eyes sashimi to the back of his mind for a while.
“Boss, what were you thinking of that made you so distracted?” Miya looked at Mag curiously. Mag had always been very serious and focused when cooking. He had never been distracted while cooking fried rice before.
“Serve the food. I got too carried away thinking about something,” Mag replied with a smile as he plated the fried rice.
“Mm-hmm.” Miya nodded as she served the dishes to the customer with a smile.
“Grandpa should have come earlier if he had known that selling alcohol in Chaos City is so profitable,” Hannah muttered as she placed her head on the counter, and watched the drinkers drink the rum that cost 1,000 copper coins per glass.
All these years, she had been brewing wine for the chief and nobles at the Falk Tribe without earning much. Her years of savings were gone after making just a few brewing machines.
However, at Chaos City, a small pint of beer could fetch 1,000 copper coins! That barrel of 15-year-old rum could fill more than 1200 pints, and that meant that she could earn 1,220,000 copper coins!
After calculating the costs seriously, Hannah suddenly regretted selling the rum to the new chief at a low price. The wine cellar had hundreds of barrels of old wine. There were even tens of barrels of wine even older than 15 years. If she could bring all of them to Chaos City…
But she actually sold all of them for 500,000 copper coins.
“No, I have to continue drawing now so that my brewing machine can be made. That way, after another 15 years, I can lie on countless wine barrels!” Hannah jumped up from her seat and ran upstairs, closing herself in the study as she continued drawing.
The process of turning a messy and rough draft of a brewing machine into a concise design with specific measurements required many repeated processes of confirmation and calculation. Thankfully, other than teaching her how to draw, Mag also taught her how decimals and calculators worked.
After the busy hours, Mag watched the drunk customers board their horse-drawn carriages, and then went up to check on Hannah, who was rushing out her design in the study.
Compared to yesterday, when she could not even hold a pencil and draw a straight line, Hannah appeared like a professional today. She had already redrawn her draft, and the orthographic projection of the different parts was presented on a piece of paper accurately.
Mag did consider getting Hannah a professional designing computer to let her learn CAD and Pro/E. However, he dismissed the idea ultimately after considering the current industrial level of this world. Anyway, the system might not be able to procure the computer.
The scientists of the past also came up with the atomic bomb with paper and a pen, so a brewing machine without many technical aspects wouldn’t require so much of a hassle.
After taking a glance at Hannah, Mag closed the door quietly and walked away. It was obvious that Hannah was much more professional when it came to brewing alcohol.
He might have a more efficient plan, but when it came to wine, the profit came from its unique and strong flavor, not the quantity.
An ordinary rum could only sell for 10 copper coins per glass, but Old Sim’s could fetch 1000 copper coins for a glass. This showed the value of branding.
Mag changed, put his face-altering mask on, and took his Tian Du sword before leaving the restaurant for the city lord’s castle with Irina.
“Alex, long time no see.” Michael looked at Mag, and reached his right hand out.
“Sir Michael.” Mag only nodded slightly, and did not shake his hand.
“Our dragon slayer hasn’t changed at all.” Michael retracted his hand with a smile without showing any displeasure.
Mag glanced at Michael. This city lord might appear rough and boorish, but he was a pretty good actor.
“Alright, let’s talk about the black fog and evil god,” Irina interrupted their hypocritical moment.
“Alright. This concerns the Norland Continent’s future. We should have a proper discussion,” Michael said solemnly.
Everyone sat down at the round table in the secret chamber, and the atmosphere started turning tense.
“The first person I met who was engulfed by the black fog, or should I say controlled by the devil, was Borg. After he was controlled, his power increased significantly. Maybe that was the reason he sold his soul to the devil. Moreover, during that period of time, the evil aura attempted to engulf the Tree of Life, and that was a huge threat to the latter. However, it was finally stopped by a certain force.
“And during the fight at the goblins’ borders, I used the Holy Light to get rid of the black fog on Borg and killed him. It proved that the Holy Light has a significant restrictive effect on the black fog,” Irina said.
“So Borg was controlled by the devil, and even tried to engulf the Tree of Life.” Michael and Rolan were shocked. They had not received any information about this.
“If the devil uses power as a bait, I’m afraid there won’t be many who can withstand such a temptation,” Rolan said seriously.
Mag added, “At the Boundless Sea Realm, we discovered an island covered in black fog, and Alfred was on the island, accepting powers from the devil. There, we found an eerie stone statue. I was pulled into a strange realm spiritually after meeting eyes with it. It was a gigantic stone temple, and at the other end of the stone temple was a skeleton man sitting on a throne. The first thing he said was: ‘Young man, do you desire power?’”
The atmosphere in the secret chamber became even tenser. Power was something every race was after in this world. If there weren’t any changes to the current world where the powerful called the shots, there would probably be no one who would reject such strong powers.
“I shattered the stone statue and dispelled the black fog with the Holy Light as well. Normal magic would have no effect on the black fog,” Irina supplemented.
“If the black fog can only be dispelled by the Holy Light, that is not good news,” Rolan said with a frown. “Light-type magic casters are few to begin with, and there are even fewer who could master the Holy Light. If the black fog starts consuming the world, there might not be anything we can do to get rid of it.”
“We have to find the source of the black fog quickly, and get rid of it or find a better alternative for clearing the black fog. If we’re just going to sit and watch, the situation will only get worse. Those fellows can live eternally, but we don’t have so much time,” Mag said solemnly.
“Luckily, we still have a lead. Ferdinand is still in our hands.” Irina sounded more relaxed.