The dragon's harem

Chapter 904: Black Blood Wine

Arad approached an open pub at the side of the village’s inner garden and sat in it, letting his two daughters run into the grass and play as he sat there and watched.

“Master, what should I bring you?” The bartender who sat inside combing his massive mane looked at Arad, “You’re that guest of our Queen Hati. I doubt I have drinks suitable for humans, but would you like to try some of ours?” He pointed at the massive shelves behind him filled with different bottles.

All of the bottles had the price carved into the wooden shelves beneath them with their name, those prices don’t seem to have changed in years. “Are those prices accurate?” Arad asked.

“This is the land of eternity; nothing gets cheaper or pricier. By our queen’s grace, we now know exactly how much money we’ll need for anything, just like how we know that we’ll need to sleep a third of our days.” The bartender replied, “Shall I present you with a sample?”

Arad looked at the bottle, he didn’t recognize any of the names, and some of them were even weird. One white cloudy bottle was called Death Claw, and another red one akin to wine was called Blood Wine, there was one clear small bottle called clear river spirit.

“What do recommend? Since I never tried any of them, I can’t choose.” Arad looked at the bartender with a smile on his face, slightly tilting his head.

“Try this one here.” The bartender pulled two silver coins wooden bottle. “This one is cheap and widely available in the beast lands, it’s nothing fancy, but to us, it’s like the beer of humans.” He poured a large mug for Arad, “The day still has some life in it, people usually drink at night, but you seem like you handle yourself quite well.”

The bottle had the name Three-horn Reserve of the fifth pull. Arad looked at the white and lightly cloudy liquid inside his massive mug, lifted it up, and sniffed it. It was slightly moldy but had a sweet hint of something tastily, like the taste of meat. “What is this?”

“There is this monster we call the Three Horns. It’s a massive creature with three massive horns coming from its shield-like head. We take those horns and hollow them up, then ferment the blackberry of the jungle in it. The blackberry is the Three Horn’s favorite food.” The bartender poured a small cup for himself, “The fifth pull means that this is the fifth batch fermented in the same horn. The more the horn is used, the less aggressive the alcohol comes.”

“How many pulls does a single horn yield?” Arad asked as he took a sip.

“Usually seven pulls, so the one I gave you is the sweet spot for common people. The sixth pull would only cost about one silver coin, and the seventh pull is forty copper coins. For someone like you, I suggest this.” He drank his cup.

As Arad sat drinking his large mug, he looked back at Serin and Ignis running around and playing. Today was an eventful day, he finished the training with Kayden and even faced a warlock patron. He’s exhausted, and nothing beats a drink after a hard day.

TAP! A hand landed on Arad’s shoulder, Zara was there and he looked at him with a smile. “I’ve heard about it. You saved Matilda once again.” He pulled a chair and sat down, looking at the bartender, “Give me something strong.”

“Look who’s there, I know I smelled some strong people.” Serba walked into the pub and looked at Arad and Zara, “It’s been a while since we got the chance to drink together, my old friend.” He said beside Zara.

Serba’s eyes shifted toward Arad, looking at what he was drinking. His gaze slowly shifted into a frown, turning to glare at the bartender with a tilted head, “Are you trying to insult him? I can barely smell that three-horn, it’s not even a second pull.”

The bartender looked at Serba with a smile, “I do not. I merely introduced him to our drink through a safe bet, it’s neither strong nor expensive, and is quite palatable to humans.”

“He’s no ordinary human, you can tell by the size.” Serba pointed at the shelves, “Bring the ones you keep in the back, black blood wine. It’s my treat, and the only thing that befits such a mighty hunter.”

The bartender giggled, looking at Serba, “And who’s paying? You know how expensive those things are.”

“Three bottles and I’ll pay.” He pulled a black fang and laid it on the table. Even when the usual coins are the common currency of the world, some kingdoms also have their own coins to use besides those. What Serba pulled was a black fang, a rare one pulled from the jaws of a Death Jaw, only one is found amongst a hundred Death Jaws hunted.

“This fang, it’s quite the rare gem, not many of them are around. The whole village only has ten, and I own two.” He looked at the bartender, “What do you say?”

The bartender smiled and pulled a handful of gold coins from his desk.

A black fang is worth almost two platinum coins, a whole 193 gold coins to be exact. One black blood wine bottle is 50 gold coins so the bartender gave Serba his change of 43 gold coins.

The bartender brought the large black bottles and laid them before his three guests, putting several tools on the large counter. “Use whatever you like, those were sealed for almost a decade now and won’t open easily.”

Zara looked at Arad, “It’s the mark of a hunter, which tool do you use to open the bottle, will it spill or not, show us what you can do.”

“I suggest the corkscrew, it’ll require quite a bit of arm strength, but as long as you don’t shake the bottle too much, you won’t spill any.” Serba pointed out.

“Don’t give him pointers, let him try it on his own,” Zara growled at the excited Serba.

Arad lifted his mug and finished what last drink he had there with a gentle smile on his face, looking at the several tools laid on the counter. “Those countless tools, they are like weapons. This is a test of both intellect as well as skill, it’s quite interesting.” Arad lifted his arm, the muscles on his arm fighting.

With a single swing using his whole torso, Arad cleanly slashed the neck of the bottle using his index finger. The bottle didn’t even move, the severed tip smacked into the wall and bounced back to the floor. The three stared at Arad with stunned faces and gaping mouths. Arad lifted the bottle and gulped it down in a single sip, “These tastes nice, I’ll buy ten for me and my wives if you have them at hand.” He waved his hand on the table, dropping five shiny platinum coins in front of the bartender.

Arad was the same hunter who killed the Death Jaw barehanded, he needed to a weapon, nor a tool to open his wine. His honed body is the greatest weapon in his arsenal, a refined hunk of draconic muscles and pride. Hearing the bartender describe the black blood wine price of fifty gold coins as too expensive for Arad had rubbed him the wrong way, by no mean would a dragon accept being called poor, it’s a direct insult to his pride, and thus he had to flaunt his wealth, pulling a sliver of his massive hoard.

But sadly, Arad lacked one thing. He didn’t have a single black fang in his hoard. That looked rare, like a piece of black diamond. He wanted to go hunt for food tonight, and it seemed he had found his target. The poor Death Jaws, Arad was coming to look for one with a black fang. Zara looked at his own hand, and then at Arad’s hands, unable to comprehend how Arad slashed the bottle. He didn’t have claws, and even if he had claws, it was nearly impossible to slash glass without it shattering. He had come looking for Arad to thank him for saving Matilda once again, but now he had another thing to worry about. How can someone get so strong?

Zara opened his bottle using a large hook to pull the stopper open. Serba on the other hand used a strange cutter to gently slice the stopper in half using sharp gem blades. Albeit both of the methods required extreme skill and were considered the best, none of them could feel that they stood close to what Arad had just done before them. This man was on a whole another level, far beyond anyone could expect or understand.

Serin came slowly walking toward Arad, calling to him. He looked back at her, “Did you finish playing?” He looked back and even Ignis had approached. While Ignis seemed fine, Serin had

started to get tired.

“Sorry.” Arad stood, “Please do get my bottle out. I must get back home, my daughter is quite

exhausted.”