6kv Chapter 195 Wine for the Gods
Chapter 195 Wine for the Gods
Chapter 195 Wine for the Gods
"Dulin, I'm here!"
Gebu waved to the dwarf across the crowd.
"Who? Who called me?" The bearded dwarf looked around, but couldn't see the little guy hidden by the crowd. "What little brat is playing tricks on me?"
"—It's your father!" Gebu cursed using a telepathic spell.
"So it's Brother Gebu."
The dwarf Dulin greeted Geb and the swordswoman with his signature warm smile, as they had been separated for less than three weeks. The weather was getting cooler, and the dwarf, dressed in a thick sheepskin robe, gave each of them a furry hug.
"Be gentle—" Gebu freed himself from the dwarf's arm. "You look great. In such a good mood?"
""
"I was worried about you two," Du Lin said frankly, without any hesitation. "After receiving your message, I was still concerned. I only felt relieved after seeing you in person. I'm so glad you two are alright!"
The dwarf's straightforward concern made Geb a little embarrassed. The halfling scratched his head.
"It went fairly smoothly. Let's find a safe place later, and I'll explain the whole story to you—we have a great business opportunity, and I wonder how much you know about the herbal medicine trade—"
Dove nudged Geb's nerve: "All you think about is business. You've finally reunited with your partners, you should celebrate first."
"When did you become so nosy?" Geshi flinched and glared at Dao'an. Doffin ignored him and asked the dwarf, "How is little Tani?"
"Good, very good," the dwarf laughed. "The Chamber of Commerce has its headquarters in the harbor area, where the caravan's employees rest and recuperate."
Let's go together, that little girl talks about you two every day.
After saying that, the three of them walked towards the harbor area, chatting and laughing. The weather was sunny and they were in good spirits, so they didn't rent a carriage. Instead, they chose to stroll slowly along the seaside towards the headquarters of the Salt and Iron Merchants' Guild, chatting and enjoying the sea view.
On the way, Gebu asked about the caravan's situation during his absence.
With Geb and the Swordswoman away on business, the cocktail business was temporarily left to Dulin to manage alone. This dwarf was very business-minded; following Geb's previous promotional ideas, he cultivated good relationships with local churches along the way, promoting "wine for worship" to the clergy as gifts to them free of charge.
Dulin found a young, modern priest who, inspired by the story of "Doffin the Rose Knight," created a whole set of rituals for drinking the wine offered to God.
"Bathe, change clothes, burn incense, recite the prayer from the Gospel of the Rose, then dip an unopened rose branch in the wine, flick it three times toward the northern Holy King City, offering the nectar to the supreme god Oubac, then flick it once toward the southern Rose King City, offering the nectar to the Rose Saintess. Only after doing this can you drink the wine offered to the gods in one gulp."
The church in the New Kingdom was more open than in the Old Kingdom, and the residents of the New Kingdom, especially the middle class in the towns, were very sensitive to trends. This set of rituals spread with the adventures of the Rose Knights and the footsteps of the caravans, even faster than the salt and iron caravans.
When Geb heard the rumor in Matiana's tavern that "the Rose Knight drank three bowls of holy wine and then killed the three-headed magical dragon with a stick," he nearly choked on his mead.
"So be it—although we didn't make much profit, our cocktails have gained a good reputation," Dulin said to Geb.
"Well done, dwarf. At this rate, we won't have to do anything, and the gold will come to us on its own soon."
The halfling patted the dwarf on the shoulder with satisfaction.
"However, there's something I need to tell you first," the dwarf said, changing the subject. "The farther we get from the dwarven kingdom, the harder it becomes to obtain dwarven spirits. This spirit isn't originally intended for sale; it's carried in the caravan for the dwarves within the group to use themselves. We've already bought up all the caravan's stock—we can still sell the current stock for a while, but once we reach Shanhaiguan, I'm afraid the supply will be a problem."
Gebu had considered this matter long ago. However, the name of this "wine for worshipping the gods" was only valid within kingdoms that adhered to the Holy Church of Obak. Once they reached the border and entered the empire, the trade in this spirit would certainly have to change its appearance.
The kingdom is famous for its wine; perhaps the next step is to package it and sell it to the empire.
This is not an easy matter. Wine holds special religious significance for the Holy See, and it is used in many ceremonies. Within the New Kingdom, only monks in monasteries are legally permitted to produce wine.
To obtain the right to sell the wine, one must cultivate a good relationship with the nuns/priests in charge of the monastery.
Hmm—could the swordswoman be of any help?
Gebu glanced at the female mercenary furtively. Normally, Gebu would have asked her directly.
"Hey, Knife Girl, can your old acquaintance get us some wine?"
However, judging from the woman's hesitant and subtle reactions, Gebu felt that he shouldn't have spoken so abruptly. He didn't want to casually touch on the woman's past—she had hidden her wounds so well, she certainly didn't want anyone to casually reopen them.
What do you call this feeling? Gebu thought for a moment:
So affected. Utterly affected.
The more I learn magic, the more human-like I become—the more affected I get.
Oh dear, human emotions are such a hassle.
Gebu felt a headache coming on and stopped thinking about all that nonsense. He looked up and saw the Salt and Iron Merchants' sign right in front of him.
Entering the Chamber of Commerce's cargo yard, the convoy members were sorting goods, packing up their tents, and moving their personal belongings to the surrounding buildings. The place was bustling with activity.
Geb's belongings were placed in a spacious room in the corner, with a sign on the door that read "Geb Company". Several rooms next to it were also rented, and Dulin also rented a warehouse to store the goods.
A flag with a rose pattern hung at the entrance of the house, which at first glance looked quite impressive.
Looking at his assets, the halfling stood with his hands on his hips and nodded with some pride.
"This room is yours, Geb." Dulin pointed to the largest room, then to a room to the side: "This one is yours, Doffin."
The woman nodded, bid farewell to Gebu, and went to settle into her room. Gebu then inspected the warehouse, checked the ledgers, and only after confirming that everything was in order did he return to his room and push open the door to go inside.
"twitter."
With his hand on the door, Gebu heard a shrill voice coming from inside the room.
hostage?
Gebu, being cautious, pressed his ear against the door to listen to the sounds inside the room.
"Quick, put the collar on! Gebu's coming back. If he finds out, he'll kill you!"
"Meow—ha!!!"
"Just go along with it, you stinky cat!"
"ha!!!"
Gebu pushed open the door and entered. Inside the room, the little girl and the catwoman were wrestling on the floor. The little girl was holding an iron collar, trying to put it around the cat's neck, while the catwoman was baring her teeth and hissing at the girl, looking uncooperative.
As soon as the halfling entered the house, the catwoman's pupils instantly contracted to slits, and she pounced towards Gebu with a leap!
"Fina!" the little girl called out anxiously.
Before anyone could react, the beastman rushed in front of Geb in an instant. The goblin wizard calmly raised his hand and uttered only two words.
"Tenere Persona".
"6
As soon as the words were spoken, the cat's outstretched paw froze in mid-air, and it fell flat on the ground as if it had suddenly become paralyzed.
"Meow----"
Catwoman wanted to speak, but her tongue wouldn't move, and she could only manage a half-groan from her throat.
Geb calmly squatted down in front of the catwoman, pinching his index finger and thumb together and placing them on her forehead.
Then I flicked her forehead hard.
Catwoman was frozen in place by the second-circle spell [Human Freeze] that Geb had just learned, unable to react, only a tear of pain welled up in the corner of her eye.
The little hostage rushed over, about to speak, when Gebu stopped her with a finger, took the chained iron collar from the little girl's hand, put it around the catwoman's neck, tugged at it a couple of times to make sure it was secure, then turned to the little girl and said, "Did you untie her?"
"Fina has been behaving very well, she doesn't poop or pee anywhere—she doesn't eat much, and she's very docile—Gebu, please don't kill her."
Gebu didn't say anything, but just told the hostage to roll up her sleeves and check her forearm—there were several old scratches on it, quite deep, and it looked painful.
"This is—this is the old one, Fina hasn't scratched anyone for days!" the little girl swore to the window.
Gebu chuckled and exasperated, "You idiot, little hostage, do you think this is just a stray cat? This guy almost killed Dulin!"
"Ha—" Fina breathed weakly at Gebu while paralyzed.
Hey, you little bastard, I'm going to kill you today!