The Rare Winemaker

"Sir, are you looking to buy some wine?" The wine shop owner, Gandor, noticed Corvinus lingering in front of his store for quite some time and stepped out to ask proactively.

This question pulled Corvinus out of his reverie.

Corvinus looked at the wine shop owner, who was a fox-person. He wasn't particularly surprised, as most of the wine shops he had visited—over twenty in total—were run by fox-people. This was likely due to their intelligence, as they were known as the strategists among orcs, with most fox-people being very clever. This intelligence made them a significant portion of orcish merchants. You could see werewolves, rabbit-headed people, cat-people, tiger-people, lion-people, even kobolds and minotaurs acting as merchants, but never boar people, centaurs, jackalmen, or lizardmen.

In many cases, an orc's destiny was determined from the moment of their birth.

"Hello, sir. How many types of wine do you have here?" Corvinus asked, looking at the numerous large wine jars inside the store.

Gandor gave Corvinus a somewhat puzzled look. As a wine shop owner, he was well aware that all the wine shops in the canyon city only had these three types of wine. Anyone who drank regularly wouldn't ask such an ignorant question.

"There are three types: Dragon-Tongue Rice Wine, High Mountain Wheat Wine, and Blue Fruit Wine," Gandor replied with a smile, despite finding the question odd.

Corvinus nodded. Indeed, it was still these three types of wine. Dragon-Tongue Wine was the most expensive and was said to have been brought over from the human world. High Mountain Wheat Wine was a dwarven wine, much stronger than Dragon-Tongue Wine. He guessed that the High Mountain Wheat Wine available for sale must have been aged for a long time. Fermented wines had a very low alcohol content, and the only way to increase it was through time—older wines were much stronger. As for Blue Fruit Wine, it was clearly a fruit wine made from a fruit called Blue Fruit.

Legend had it that Blue Fruit Wine was invented by orcs and was considered their traditional wine.

"Would you like to taste some? I have a two-year-old High Mountain Wheat Wine here. It has a rich aroma and is quite rare," Gandor said. He had only managed to get these two-year-old wines after much persuasion with the wine merchant who sold them to him.

"That wine is too strong. Give me half a pound of Blue Fruit Wine!" Corvinus said with a smile. Among the three types of wine, only the fruit wine was somewhat palatable.

"Sure, sir!"

Soon, Gandor handed Corvinus a wooden wine flask containing half a pound of fruit wine.

"That will be one hundred and twenty-five copper coins."

"I'll pay with my payment card," Corvinus said, taking out his payment card after receiving the wine flask.

"Alright, that makes it one hundred and twelve points."

Corvinus wrote "one hundred and twelve" on his payment card, then tapped it against the boss's payment card to complete the transaction.

Instead of leaving, Corvinus took a sip from the wine flask. The fruit wine had a low alcohol content, similar to fermented rice wine.

"Boss, I heard that all the wine is transported here from other places. Is there no place in the city that makes wine?" Corvinus asked.

He had bought the wine specifically to ask the owner this question.

"Make wine in the city?" Gandor looked at Corvinus strangely.

Another odd and ignorant question?

Gandor didn't mock him. After observing for a while, he realized that Corvinus was probably quite young and didn't know much. Plus, since Corvinus had made a purchase, he didn't refuse to answer.

"All the wine is transported here from the human world, the dwarves, or other orcish nations."

"As for why there's no place in the city that makes wine, it's because no winemakers have come here," Gandor explained.

"Winemakers?" Corvinus knew they were the craftsmen who made wine.

"Yes, winemakers are rare. Even in the human world, there aren't many winemakers. Many of them are very famous merchants in the human world. Who would come to this small city in the wilderness to make wine?" Gandor glanced at Corvinus and smiled.

Although it was just a short conversation, Corvinus understood and realized how naive his question had been. This world wasn't like the modern world he had lived in before, and even in the ancient times of his past life, there probably weren't many winemakers either. After all, in a society where intellectual property rights were weak and class distinctions were pronounced, knowledge was even more valuable.

Clearly, winemakers were those who had made their fortune through knowledge.

"Thank you, boss. I was just curious. Goodbye," Corvinus said.

...

In the afternoon, Corvinus returned to Casa Restaurant, carrying two bags of items.

Why was the door closed during the daytime? Corvinus was puzzled. What were Cadia and the others up to?

However, as soon as he pushed open the door, a strong smell of wine that could knock him out hit him in the face.

The restaurant hall left him dumbfounded. There were leftovers on more than ten tables, and on the floor lay snoring werewolves or boar men. Behind the door, there were nearly a dozen twenty-pound wooden wine barrels.

What was going on?

Cadia and the others were having a party.

Looking at these guys lying on the floor, Corvinus threw the two bags of items on his shoulders to the ground and kicked the nearest werewolf in anger.

Bang...!!

Instantly, the werewolf, who had been snoring, woke up in a start. Seeing it was Corvinus, the werewolf's drunkenness seemed to vanish in an instant.

"Chie... Chief..." The werewolf quickly stood up straight.

"You idiot, get everyone up now!" Corvinus roared.

"Yes, yes...!!"

Soon, not only the werewolves and boar men lying on the first floor, but also the drunken werewolves and boar men from the second and third floors all gathered on the first floor. Seeing Corvinus's face as dark as coal, no one dared to make a sound.

With a stern expression, Corvinus coldly scanned the room, his gaze finally settling on Tyton, Cadia, and Gava standing in front of him, reeking of alcohol.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"There's not even a single guard on duty. This is far too lax. Do you have any military discipline at all?"

"Speak!"

Eventually, it was Tyton who reluctantly explained, "It's the former owner of Casa Restaurant. She came to find you, but since you weren't here, she waited here."

"These drinks and food were all bought by her. Everyone couldn't resist the temptation and had a little to eat and drink..."

"Is this what you call 'a little'? Everyone is dead drunk, completely out of order. What kind of example are you setting, especially you two as leaders? I'm very disappointed."

"By the way, where is that woman?" Corvinus frowned.

What did this woman want?

He wondered, with so much wine and food, it must have cost at least a dozen gold coins. Why would that woman spend so much?

Could there be some kind of scheme?

"Forget it, clean this place up. I won't say much this time, but don't let it happen again," Corvinus thought. The woman had treated everyone for free, and it would be a waste not to take advantage of it. Besides, these guys rarely ate meat in the tribe, let alone drank wine. If someone was offering, why not enjoy it?

Thinking this, Corvinus's anger dissipated by half.

"Take these two bags to the kitchen. Also, prepare some food and bring it to the fifth floor!"

"Yes, sir!"