Chapter 51

Nothing Gained, Nothing Lost.

The walls of the brewery went up without any problems. The structure ended up looking like a large barn. We moved the wood piles inside, which was nice to finally have them covered. Dry wood burned without much smoke and protest.

Then Thrush put together the mash tun, lauter tuns, and a giant kettle. That took an entire night to put together and Thrush ended up bartering one of my 15.5 gallon beers for a goblin’s aid in welding enough parts together so that all three tuns were leak proof. Adding valves to spigots had cost me another 15.5 gallon barrel.

All tuns were placed lower than the previous so they could be gravity fed.

Even though construction had taken all night, I couldn’t sleep or nap for two reasons. I needed to brew beer, and I was too excited about using our new equipment. Especially since I’d just received a quest to brew my first large batch. So instead, I went to work.

I brewed my first 50 gallon batch of goblin spit beer. It was enough to fill three 15.5 gallon barrels, and one 5 gallon barrel. Even though I could only use Mash Master successfully on batches up to 15.5 gallons, I tried anyways, hoping it would help bring everything to a boil more quickly than with just fire.

When it came to flash cooling the barrels, we had to roll them outside the barn. Sufficiently cooled, we then pitched them with yeast and rolled them back inside and set them against a wall. All my personal brews would go in my cellar. Anything for production would stay in the barn.

For the rest of the week, I brewed some mana beers alongside my daily production run. When I woke up to find the first 50 gallon batch had finished fermenting, I completed my quest.

[Quest: Brew one 50 gallon batch of beer. Complete!]

[Reward: 10 Brewer skill books, 1 Brewer’s Chill skill book, 2 Cooper skill books, 1 legendary brewer’s loot chest, 4 rare brewer’s loot chest. Twenty common brewer’s loot chests.]

[New Quest: Of a Higher Quality.

[Brew a beer which breaks your quality barrier.]

[Current quality: Greater Workman’s Ale.]

[Minimum quality to complete quest: Tavern Ale.]

[Tavern Ale is the next quality above Greater Workman’s Ale.]

[Reward: 1 Silver ranked common Brewer’s loot chest. 50 Bronze ranked common Brewer’s loot chests. 1 Planes Cutter shard.]

[Y/N?]

Yes, I thought without hesitation.

All my loot chests so far had been bronze ranked, with the exception of legendary loot chests which had a chance to include items from all ranks. The silver common Brewer’s loot chest, and the Planes Cutter shard had piqued my curiosity.

What a nice way to start the day, I thought as I threw on my oversized sweater and began preparing breakfast. Thrush was gone—fishing, probably. BarnacleEyes was probably sleeping. Since I no longer had to rush to brew beers, I took the morning to absorb all my skill books which contributed to bringing my Brewer’s path to level 112, and my Cooper skill to level 24.

Now for the last skill book.

I chugged a bunch of water and then withdrew the Brewer’s Chill skill book from my inventory. I absorbed it and my mind filled with new knowledge.

[Brewer’s Chill.]

[This Brewer’s skill can be used to flash cool quantities of liquid.]

[Level up this skill to flash cool greater quantities at once.]

[This skill uses moderate mana. Leveling up this skill results in lower mana cost.]

Absorbing all the skill books was taxing, and I was left gasping from the strain that my mind endured when learning the technique. I was left exhausted and felt a headache coming on. Learning new skills was almost always worse than leveling up a current skill when it came to side effects.

A brief nap was all it took to sort myself out. Then the first thing I did was check on the mana beer I’d brewed for Thrush before starting another day of brewing in the barn.

∞

Thrush

“These are for you,” Hawkin said, handing me six waterskins filled with mana beer. “They’re Greater Workman’s Mana beers. Nothing too special, but I hope it helps you out.”

“Six,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll need that many.”

“You’ve got the inventory space now, right? Better to be prepared.”

Because it was dark, we heard the goblins' carts before we saw them. Their wooden axles screeched with every rotation. The wheels crushed the ice.

For another shipment of beer, I was paid in silver, and my system rewards deposited an equal amount of shards in my inventory at the same time. Before leaving with the goblins, I waved to Hawkin and BarnacleEyes. Then I made my way through the tunnel which echoed with goblin conversations, the sounds of rickety carts, and sloshing beer.

We emptied out onto the coast where even more trees had been logged. Enough that made me gulp, knowing Hawkin would be disturbed by the sight.

When we crossed the ice and arrived at GloomGlower’s frozen ship, the goblins began hoisting barrels aboard while I climbed up the rope ladder. I was then escorted into the deckhouse.

GloomGlower was already waiting for me. His legs were propped up on the metal bowl which held a smaller amount of embers than last time. StubToes worked furiously at preparing a beer and grounds for me.

“The Thrush monster has arrived!” GloomGlower said with a grin that gleamed yellow.

There was a barrel of warm-spit beer beside him that had been stabbed with a makeshift spigot. GloomGlower’s eyes were half open and his speech was slurred.

I let him bumble about for a few minutes while we exchanged pleasantries. When silences fell between us, and it became too much for the king to bear, we began talking business.

“You’ve fulfilled your debt to me,” GloomGlower said. “Consider your payment for the Fable Stone complete.

“Yes,” I said.

“So let’s discuss things going forward. I still want both spit beer and warm-spit beer, and you still want to sell me your beer.”

“Yes.”

“Have you been able to double production?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Good. So let’s cut to the chase. You’re going to want to raise your price. I’m going to decline, and I’m going to continue to pay you half a silver per 5 gallon barrel. Do we have a deal?”

GloomGlower offered his hand to shake.

[You have entered negotiations.]

[Merchant options:]

[Shake GloomGlower’s hand and take the new deal.]

[Argue that GloomGlower is offering half as much as before.]

[Bluff disinterest in doing business.]

[Propose a new deal.]

“Let’s talk a bit more,” I said.

GloomGlower growled and dropped his hand. He settled himself back onto his couch and glared.

“Ok,” he said. “What do you want?”

“It’s a new deal now. We can double our production, but I need something else from you.”

“No, no, no. I don’t like where this is going. I don’t have more coin to give.”

“Not coin. I want your goblins to stop logging.”

GloomGlower chuckled. He laughed. He guffawed until his sides hurt.

“Those trees have value to you?” GloomGlower said at last.

“Yes,” I said.

“Well then I’ll pay you half a silver per 5 gallons, and I’ll do my darndest, to try my best, to remember to tell FlyBooger to tell my goblins not to lumber the coast. When FlyBooger returns from his very short expedition, of course.”

[Accept the new deal.]

[Turn down the deal.]

[Raise the price.]

[You’re out of mana. End of Merchant Options.]

“Let me think about it,” I said.

“I don’t have all day!” GloomGlower said.

“Let’s just enjoy another beer. I brought something refreshing,” I said.

I withdrew a waterskin of mana beer and poured the blue ale into my mug. I offered some to GloomGlower but his visage spoke to his distrust in the blue ale.

“I’ll stick with beer and grounds,” the king said.

StubToes obliged and delivered another beer to him.

My mana refilled on my first mug. As soon as I smacked my lips and wiped the foam from my mouth, my Merchant options continued.

[Tell GloomGlower his deal is suspicious and ask the goblins to stop logging indefinitely.]

[Argue that half a silver is half as much as before.]

[Bluff disinterest in doing business.]

[Threaten King GloomGlower.]

“You want to pay me half a silver per 5 gallons,” I said, “but that’s half as much as before.”

“Is it?” GloomGlower said. “I was paying you a whole silver before?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, yes! I remember now. It was a mighty generous offer on my behalf. We’d gotten along quite well and I wanted to pay you handsomely. How could that have slipped my mind? I suppose I should honor that price and at least continue to pay a whole, generous silver per barrel, right?”

“Per 5 gallon barrel.”

“Yes. That’s what I meant—of course.”

“What about the logging?”

“Come now, Thrush monster. You’re asking a bit much. We need to keep warm. You aren’t providing me near as much warm-spit beer as we need. Thus, we need to keep logging.”

[Raise the price in lieu of a logging ban.]

[Charge GloomGlower for logging.]

[Ask what it would take to stop the logging.]

[You’re out of Mana. End of Merchant Options.]

I’d like to ask different questions, but perhaps I should follow the prompts.

“What would it take to stop your goblins from logging?”

“A fight,” GloomGlower said without hesitation. “After FlyBooger defeated you, how can you and your hawkman stand a chance against my entire fleet?”

“You know very well that FlyBooger was defeated quite easily,” I said.

“One silver per 5 gallon barrel,” GloomGlower said, attempting to close our negotiations.

I poured myself another mug of mana beer and downed the whole thing in one glug.

[Your perseverance has earned you enough experience to level up.]

[Congratulations. You have achieved Merchant level 10.]

[New merchant skills are now available to you.]

[Merchant’s Bribe. Level 1.]

[Merchant’s Threat. Level 1.]

[Merchant’s Coax. Level 1.]

[Merchant’s Reason. Level 1.]

[Merchant’s Bluff. Level 1.]

[Appraisal. Level 1.]

The sudden influx of skill information swarmed through my mind. The feeling was similar to eating something that changed me. Just like the mana beer was filling my eyes with blue, the new skills were filling my conscience with information.

I didn’t think bribing or threatening would be such a good thing with GloomGlower, so I opted instead to try and coax him. I followed the prompts, which had GloomGlower often nodding. After twenty minutes of coaxing, and the rest of one mana beer, GloomGlower put his foot down and closed negotiations. My level 1 Merchant’s Coax skill failed.

We shook on 1 silver per 5 gallons of beer. Nothing gained. Nothing lost.