Chapter 16

Barley and Wheat

Thrush and I poured the winter birch sap into the fifteen and a half gallon barrel. I plugged the bunghole. I immediately received all the rewards for the winter birch quest objective. A massive fifteen and a half gallon barrel, two small brewer’s loot chests, and one common brewer’s loot chest.

The large barrel had simply popped into existence. I was startled, whereas Thrush was not. The brewer’s chests popped into existence as well and I laughed when Thrush’s eyes widened when he saw them.

“What are these?” Thrush said. He turned one of the smaller loot chests in his hands.

“Loot chests,” I said. “They’re my rewards for completing a quest objective.”

He shook the chest. Items rattled inside and Thrush’s ears switched forward.

“What’s inside?” He said.

“Let’s find out, shall we?”

I poured each of us some wild ginger and sassafras root tea I had prepared. Thrush was delighted with the ginger part of it. The blend was spicy, sweet, and rooty. I let Thrush have the chair, and I sat on one of the smaller barrels.

“I’ve got two more chests,” I said and brought them out from my system inventory. Those two were slightly larger than the common chest.

I opened them one at a time and laid everything on the table. Three different piles of hops that were old and dried, two different piles of malt grains, two small handfuls of brewer’s yeast, a brewer’s skill book, and a steel firkin.

The firkin was the nicest item, which came from the basic loot chest. The other ingredients were all loose, so Thrush helped me empty out some jars to store everything in. This meant we had to put the sage and hemlock needles together, as well as the wild ginger and sassafras, and then the chicory and dandelion roots.

As soon as I put each jar into my system inventory, another quest prompt popped up.

[New Quest Objective: Brew your first beer.]

Reward: Two small brewer’s loot chests. One uncommon brewer’s loot chests.]

[Accept quest objective: Y/N?]

I eagerly accepted the new quest.

There were a few things I wanted to do before working on my quest. Thrush accompanied me while I chopped more wood from the old oak. He even helped carry some back and forth. We hardly spoke to each other. Then I taught Thrush everything I knew about smoking meat. I left him to tend to the stove and smoke the rest of the deep sea coral fish.

Then I lay back in bed and absorbed the brewer’s skill book. It was a level 1 skill book, just like the gourd blower book. Absorbing the skill book zapped at my strength. I rose with the beginning of a headache and downed some fresh water. Then I went for a walk while Thrush stayed behind to observe his fish. He was proud of himself for learning to cook and I didn’t want to pull him away from that.

I was refreshed by the winter chill. Snow fell in my woods. A gentle wind dodged me and I made my way down to the sea. I went over everything I’d learned from the skill book along the way.

I’ve got all the ingredients. I know the basics. I’ve got to sit down and take the time to brew beer. I guarantee my first beer won’t be as good as the ale from the Vale of Ara, but I’ve got to start somewhere, right?

The harsh wind from the sea refreshed me. My headache had subsided by the time I returned home. Thrush was still watching the stove. His feet dangled from the chair and swung back and forth in small movements.

“Having fun?” I said.

“Yes. Fun. This is my favorite thing to do right now. I understand why you need so much wood. We’ll need to get much more wood if we want to smoke fish everyday.”

“The wood is mostly for warmth. Only a small amount of the wood is used for smoking meats.” Thrush nodded and continued to watch the stove. His eyes throbbed out of sync. I regarded him for a moment before something he said clicked in my mind. “Thrush. You said you want to smoke fish everyday? Do you plan on staying for the winter?” Thrush was silent. His feet stopped swinging. “I mean, I’d love to have you around. I think we’ve grown to become friends in our short time together. I’d love to be in your company.”

“Friends,” he said. “We’ll need a bigger stove I think. This one is too small.”

“That’s going to be hard. I can’t get my hands on iron or steel around here. Not even copper or brick. We’d have to trade in the city. It’s probably better to build a smoker than to replace the stove though.”

“Trade?”

“Yea. We could trade something we have with something we want. Though I’m not sure how humans would react if you showed up wanting to barter and trade. Not to mention the fact that the nearest city is Lunstad and it is months away by horse.”

“So, no bigger stove?”

“Not unless we have brick or metal we can work.”

Thrush continued to ask questions about smoking meat. He wanted to smoke a lot at once. Every time I told him something was currently impossible to do, he tried to find another way around. By the end of it all, I think he was a bit frustrated.

Well I’d better get started on brewing my first beer.

I set a pot of winter birch sap on the stove to boil. Once it came to a boil, I added a handful of one of the grains I had. I didn’t know what they were. It was only after the fact that I dropped them in the water to steep that I thought to ask for Thrush’s help. I’d forgotten he could eat something and identify it.

“Here try this,” I said and gave him a single grain from the one I’d put to mash. Thrush had trouble picking it up with his bear-ish paws. He ate it and his eyes throbbed and pulsed.

“Barley,” Thrush said. “No origin.”

“You can tell what origin things come from?”

“Sometimes. Depends on the food.”

I gave him a grain from the second batch I had. “What about this one?” I said.

“Wheat.”

Alright. Luckily I put the barley grain to mash. I’ve got no idea how to use the wheat grains for brewing. Maybe it’s the same thing. Maybe it’s not.

Level 1 skill books were rudimentary. They were foundational. Otherwise, absorbing a skill book with complex information could prove dangerous to the body and mind. Although I had a basic grasp on how to brew beer, it was really on the very basics.

I had no idea how long to wait for the barley grains to steep. I knew from making tea that the longer I steeped an ingredient, the more flavor I got. I thought that brewing beer would be the same thing so I added some more winter birch sap when the level got too low, and let it boil for a few hours.

The aroma of smoked fish and malted syrup filled the cabin. Thrush fell asleep in front of the stove and purred aloud. I poured myself a cup of the monk’s ale and visited Dellia among honeysuckle bushes while I waited.