About five days had passed since Lucius had started his new venture of winemaking. He had made significant progress and had come to the conclusion that his choice of using Caron fruits for making wine was correct.

These five days were enough for him to see some initial success, and he had obtained the very first batch of crude wine. He had made about six batches, all with different types of yeast that he had gathered.

Some of them were used for making dough, some were natural yeasts found on the fruits, while some were the brewer's yeast that the other wine makers used. He had done this on a whim, but his broad test had given him surprising results.

Instead of the brewer's yeast which was made for wine, Lucius got better results with the baker's yeast. Though he realized that this could have been due to the high starch content of the Caron fruit, which went well with the baker's yeast.

But this was not enough and was only the start. Lucius had tasted the crude wine that had been made and it was safe to say it was… disgusting.

The bitter taste of Caron fruits, along with the added bitterness of the alcohol, only made it vile. The first time Lucius had tasted it, he had almost vomited. Thus he had begun the first refinement process and had filtered it as much he could.

~drip~drip~drip~

Drops of wine finally stopped coming out of the long vertical filter that Lucius had made and filled the cup to the brim.

"Try and tell me what it feels like," Lucius said to Kiana.

"You sure this is fine? It's not gonna poison me, right?" Kiana asked, with hesitation.

She had tasted the previous concoction, and it was definitely repulsive to her.

"While it is not perfect, it will be better than before." Lucius lied casually.

He himself had no idea of how it would taste and hence Kiana was the best test subject for him right now. At least he was sure the alcohol in the wine was ethanol and not methanol which would have probably made Kiana blind.

Taking hold of the cup, Kiana carefully brought it to her lips before taking a sip. At first, she raised her brows in surprise and then a frown appeared on her face, which soon turned to a face of disgust.

Still, she forcefully swallowed the wine and did not drink the rest of it. Placing the cup back down on the table, she took deep breaths.

~huu~

"That is… still bad. Though it is less bad than before." Kiana stated.

Lucius nodded his head and then picked up the cup before taking a sip himself. Now that his test subject was safe, he was gonna try and see it himself. After all, he had to judge it by his standards.

~sip~

The sour and bitter taste of the wine spread in his mouth, which soon turned to a faint burning sensation. Lucius swallowed it quickly and felt the warmth traveling down his throat and finally into his belly.

"Oh? The alcohol content is actually higher than normal wine… not to mention it got ready much faster than normal wine." Lucius muttered to himself in realization.

This discovery managed to almost suppress the disgust he felt from the wine.

"Now I know where to improve… the early filtration should help reduce the feel of the wine and maybe heating the pulp before starting the fermentation should help reduce the bitterness that is naturally present in it." Lucius murmured, much to Kiana's amazement.

She had no idea where Asher was getting all these ideas, and she could only attribute it all to him spending all his time in books and learning.

"You should head to the dining hall, it's almost time for dinner." Kiana said.

"Mmm… I'll just finish a few minor adjustments," Lucius said before getting to work again.

About fifteen minutes later, he was done and went to the dining hall. In there, he saw Lita already sitting at the table. Though Count Gabriel was still missing. Taking his regular seat, Lucius looked at Lita.

"Is father not coming today?" Lucius questioned.

"No," Lita shook her head. "We have gotten reports of bandits appearing in the territory today and your father has gone to the army barracks to check up." She answered.

Lucius raised his brows upon hearing this and asked, "Bandits? In which location?"

"North-Eastern part of the territory. About two hundred kilometers from here." Lita answered.

"That distance… Viscount Drew's territory?" Lucius recognized.

"No… well it's a buffer zone where our personal territory and Viscount Drew's territory meet. Though officially his territory doesn't start for fifty kilometers more from there." Lita stated.

"Isn't this a rather strange time for the bandits to appear? We are undergoing a territorial change and the guard patrols have increased in that part as well. Why would they do such activities now?" Lucius asked.

"We have no idea. That is the reason why your father has gone to see if there is more information about it." Lita spoke.

Lucius nodded his head but noted this fact in his mind. The food was soon brought to them and they quickly ate dinner before Lucius returned to his Lab-cum-brewery. He did a little more work on them before feeling satisfied and then returned to his daily search for the perfect coordinates with which he could make the hell imprint.

~huu~

Lucius took a deep breath and appeared in the empty space where his soul was. Looking at his soul, one could see that there was a minor difference. Right where his heart was supposed to be, a faint crimson dot was present.

Lucius focused for a bit, and a wisp of energy surrounded his body. This energy had come from that crimson dot that was on the left side of his chest and floated around his soul.

"It worked for this one, but it's useless…" Lucius muttered to himself.

That crimson dot was actually a hell imprint that Lucius had managed to create somehow. Yet, it was not a proper hell imprint and probably belonged to some collapsed and deteriorated hell dimension.

The wisp of demonic energy came to float over the palm of Lucius's palm and hovered. He clenched his hand, and the demonic energy was sucked into his soul.