Chapter 68: Expiration Date (2)

"Is this enough?"

"Well done Igor."

Lilith praised the Dairy Farming Association chairman of Whiston.

However, the face of the chairman receiving the praise looked ten years older.

On the chairman's table, there was an official document from the Ministry of Magic titled "Mandatory Expiration Dates."

It was the result of the Dairy Farming Association chairman lobbying the Ministry of Magic.

Thanks to this, the chairman lost all the connections he had built with the Ministry of Magic over the past 30 years.

"I've severed all my connections in the Ministry of Magic."

"Could you not just reconnect it again?"

"Is there a problem?" Lilith blinked with an innocent face, as if she knew nothing.

The guild leader's head throbbed as he looked at the naive vampire.

"I threatened the vice minister, so how can you expect me to continue?"

"Didn't you say that money can buy anything?"

"Of course, money can solve everything, but that requires even more money."

"More money?"

"That's right. With money, you can buy power, friends, and even enemies."

"Even enemies?"

"Indeed."

"Humans are really peculiar."

"That's what a human being is."

Lilith learned that in human society, money is everything.

The person who informed her was none other than the chairman of the Dairy Farming Association standing in front of Lilith.

─Do you know who I'm close with?! I, I drink with the Deputy Minister of Magic, eat meals, go to parties together...!

For 30 years, the Dairy Farming Association chairman, who consistently "donated" money to the Ministry of Magic, was on friendly terms with the deputy minister, drinking, dining, and enjoying parties together.

Lilith highly valued the abilities of the chairman.

─Ugh, fine. Fine, I'll give it a try, so please move that out of the way!

If you threaten to feed him spoiled milk, even impossible things can happen, and that's exactly what the Dairy Farming Association chairman was capable of.

Lilith, who came from the Abyss where the strong are the law, found it difficult to understand the human society where this fat, magic-less man with a protruding belly belonged to the upper class, but she simply understood that 'money' equates to 'strength.'

In that sense, this fat human man was quite a strong individual.

You could tell just by looking at the achievement of this "Expiration Date Legislation."

Since Lilith was strict about rewards and punishments, she also gave a reward to the chairman.

"Rejoice, Igor. Fresh milk just out of the Tundra Farm. I even milked it myself."

"...."

The thick face of the chairman, buried in flesh, was crumpled.

His carefree appearance made it hard to distinguish joy or sorrow, but Lilith concluded that he was happy.

Bianca would be so moved and hugged Lilith tightly whenever she brought fresh milk.

Even the people who had formed families would light up with smiles when fresh milk was placed on the table.

Lilith felt a sense of pride as she watched humans enjoy her milk.

Whether vampire or human, they both liked fresh milk equally.

"The expiration date is not enforced across the entire empire; it is only being implemented as a trial in the east."

"Looks like there wasn't enough on money."

"Indeed."

Lilith smacked her lips in regret but decided to be satisfied.

If it's money, she was supposed to earn a lot from now on.

Lilith looked down at the official document that read "Legalization of Expiration Dates."

*

Lilith first thought about expiration dates shortly after the introduction of the low-temperature pasteurization method.

As the Dairy Farming Association began to rigorously manage the quality of milk, fierce competition erupted in the dairy industry.

Lilith wanted to completely monopolize the milk market, surpassing those competing dairy farmers.

For Lilith, who dreams of the 'revival' of vampires, milk was the most important foundation.

She was pondering how to monopolize the milk business while serving grape juice.

"Lilith, I'm sorry, but could you handle the dinner shift on your own tonight?"

"What's going on? Bianca."

"I guess the milk I drank during the day was a bit spoiled. I'm not feeling well."

"How foolish!"

Lilith, upon discovering that Bianca's health had deteriorated after drinking spoiled milk, used her magic to heal Bianca.

And then started scolding her, asking why she drank spoiled milk.

"The black tea tasted a bit different today; I guess the milk mixed with it was spoiled."

Bianca hadn't realized that the milk had gone bad because she mixed it with black tea.

Bianca often mixed milk with black tea and added spices like honey or sugar, which masked the taste of the spoiled milk.

However, Lilith could not understand Bianca's words.

Lilith, the vampire, could distinguish the freshness of milk even if the taste was masked.

It was such a natural thing for Lilith that she thought humans would feel the same way.

But after hearing Bianca's story, she realized that it wasn't true.

Unlike vampires, humans could not fully distinguish the freshness of milk.

She was curious about why they specifically label milk as fermented in human terms, and now I understand why...

"This, this is it!"

"Lilith?"

The thing that Lilith brought after running was a glass bottle with numbers on it.

"What do you think Bianca?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's the deadline! The milk expiration date!"

The trigger for Lilith to think of expiration dates was when Bianca drank spoiled milk.

*

Milk produced in large quantities was difficult to manage in terms of quality.

It was often impossible to tell which was produced first and which was produced later, leading to them getting mixed up, and in the process, spoiled milk was created.

Vampires could distinguish freshness by smell alone, so it wasn't a problem for them, but humans were different.

To distinguish spoiled milk, a separate label had to be used. However, the dairy industry, which had been deceiving consumers by selling spoiled milk as fermented milk, had no intention of making such distinctions.

To Lilith, who insisted on fresh milk, this was nonsense.

Lilith decided to write the production date on each bottle of milk for quality control.

She insisted the Dairy Farming Association chairman to lobby the Ministry of Magic for expiration dates and commissioned the creation of a magical tool that could print expiration dates in bulk at the Magic Tower.

Before the bill was even passed, Lilith, who had prepared the magical tool for marking expiration dates, began mass-producing expiration dates for milk as soon as the expiration date became law.

However, dairy farmers in the East, who had not heard the news about the legislation on expiration dates, had to stop milk production without a word.

"Expiration date you say!"

"How am I supposed to mark all of this individually!"

While dairy farmers are fretting over how to label expiration dates.

"I'm Lilith, the one selling milk. Nice to meet you."

"This is Lilith Milk. I look forward to working with you."

Lilith diligently promoted her milk every weekend when the juice shop was closed.

She was so diligent that she looked like a candidate running for mayor.

Of course, the effect was minimal, but the very attempt to put expiration dates on milk received a positive response from the citizens of the empire.

"What is this number?" 

"They say they wrote the production date on the milk."

"Oh, so this was made yesterday? That's amazing."

Those who had been hesitant about fermented milk can now purchase it with peace of mind through the expiration date.

Lilith Milk, which introduced expiration dates for the first time, quickly began to dominate the eastern part of the empire, and Lilith achieved a remarkable turnaround to profitability for the first time since starting her dairy business.

"Bonus! Bonus! Bonus!"

"Wow! Long live Lilith!" 

Lilith, feeling good after making money, went around giving generous bonuses to her subordinate vampires and humans.

"Bianca, this is a thank you for all the times you've let me stay over."

For the first time, she showed the concept of "rent" to Bianca, the landlord who had fed and housed her for free.

"...Oh my, Lilith. How much is all this?"

Bianca, who opened the pouch given by Lilith, stared blankly with her mouth agape at the gold coins inside.

Lilith had also just grabbed as many gold coins as she could find, so she didn't know exactly how much was in that pocket.

But seeing Bianca surprised for no reason made her feel good.

"Hmph, it's nothing to worry about."

Lilith, who was turning her head in embarrassment to speak, couldn't finish her sentence.

"Ugh let go of me!"

Bianca suddenly hugged Lilith.

"Thank you, Lilith. I'm so touched."

"Ugh, it's suffocating, let go of me...!"

Flustered, Lilith struggled, but the more she did, the tighter Bianca held her.

Lilith, who had been freed from Bianca's grasp, gasped for breath.

"C-Can't you think about reducing that unnecessarily high body fat percentage in your chest?"

"Yeah, even if I lose weight, this part doesn't slim down."

Bianca, who seemed puzzled herself, tilted her head and asked while looking at the pouch of gold coins.

"You're not making money from bad deeds, are you?"

"Hmph, don't worry about it. It's money I earned legally."

Lilith answered confidently.

Unlike moonshine, milk was a legal business, so Lilith had nothing to fear.

Even those damn dwarves couldn't interfere with Lilith's dairy business.

Of course, the taxes on selling the milk hadn't been paid yet, but Lilith was confident.

Because she learned that taxes are something you postpone as much as possible before paying.

Since she started her business with moonshine, Lilith was not well-versed in the concept of taxes in human society.

*

As 'Lilith's Milk' became a hit, a milk craze swept through the areas where Prohibition was enacted.

The citizens of the empire started their day with a glass of fresh milk, and along with that, the 'Snoopy Milk' from the White Magic Tower began to be distributed in the market, moving beyond the tower.

Due to the low quality of milk and the room temperature distribution system, Snoopy Milk had only been consumed within the Blue Tower.

"This way, it will be easier to launch Milkis too."

"Aria found the right person."

"But you were the one who invested, right?"

"That's true."

It was Aria who introduced Lilith to me.

Of course, I was the one who decided to invest, but it was because I was amazed by the vampire's "freezing magic."

Because the waste of mana stones was severe with human magic, even I couldn't attempt refrigerated distribution.

It was an investment made solely based on the potential of cold magic.

If refrigerated distribution became possible, we could have developed a wider variety of processed foods.

However, Lilith achieved results beyond my expectations.

It's surprising enough that they only distribute it refrigerated, but now they've even applied an expiration date.

This was something I couldn't even have anticipated, so I was secretly surprised.

This was a complete denial of the common knowledge about "fermented milk" that had spread in human society.

And thanks to Lilith's efforts, it has become easier for me to make the next processed food.

The next processed food was closely related to 'milk.'

"I will buy up all the grains."

"All the unsold grains?"

"Yes."

Due to Prohibition, brewers went bankrupt, and I bought up all the grain that farmers couldn't sell and were just stockpiling.

I even went as far as to sign long-term contracts with the farmers.

It wasn't to save the failing farms.

Because grains were absolutely necessary for the next processed food.

"What are you trying to make?"

"A snack that complements with milk."

"Are there any snacks that you can have together with milk?"

Ranya and Aria tilted their heads.

For the two people who could only think of potato chips when it came to snacks, the idea of eating snacks with milk was unfamiliar.

"So what is that supposed to mean?"

"Cereal."

The breakfast of Americans, cereal, developed by James Caleb Jackson and popularized by John Harvey Kellogg. That was the next processed food I was going to make.

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