Soda!
Just hearing that name makes your mouth feel refreshed and tingling.
While preparing for college entrance exams and studying until dawn every day,
I used to quench my thirst and relieve fatigue with soda instead of water, and those memories come flooding back.
The method of making it is very simple.
Carbonated water + lemon juice + sugar.
You can also add other fruit juices if you want.
I learned this during a home economics class in elementary school, but who would’ve thought it would come in handy in another world.
Knowledge is truly power!
Thus, soda was chosen as the fifth Labor’s new beverage.
Even the Twelve Great Gods, once they taste it, will never be able to stop drinking it.
Good. Very good.
However, just knowing the carbonated spring and combination doesn’t mean the problem is completely solved.
The final hurdle of formulation still remains.
So, on the day I discovered the carbonated spring, I immediately rented a large hut in the shantytown.
No,
It would be more accurate to say I rented the entire shantytown.
I paid the shanty dwellers, who haven’t bathed in a while, to go to Luna for two nights and three days, emptying my savings account.
By now, they’re probably enjoying the baths and resting on the soft beds of the inn.
Knock, knock.
While conducting soda formulation experiments in the basement of one of the living huts, someone knocked on the door.
“Hey, it’s me. Sinclair.”
“Huh? Sinclair?”
Why is she here?
I clearly saw her go to Luna with the shanty dwellers yesterday…
Confused as to why she’s here, I tilted my head in puzzlement,
when my mouth had already welcomed her in even before my brain caught up.
Creak…
Sinclair carefully opened the door and stepped in.
Seeing the countless measuring cups scattered on the floor, she widened her eyes in surprise.
“Whoa… what is all this? Did you spend the whole day here?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You really are a strange priest.”
Sinclair carefully navigated through the maze of measuring cups scattered on the floor and finally approached me.
Curious as to what she was doing, I set down the carbonated water I held in my hand and looked at Sinclair as she approached.
The moment I did, my eyelids, which had been drooping with fatigue, snapped open.
The reason was the strikingly beautiful woman standing before me, a world apart from the ragged appearance she had yesterday.
The silhouette of the flowing, wavy dress resembled a stream,
with a soft ribbon accentuating her waist instead of a stiff corset, indirectly revealing her graceful curves.
As I looked up at her face,
angled eyelids and a slightly plump lower lip caught my eye.
Even someone like me, who doesn’t know the first thing about fortune-telling, could tell she had the face of a drama queen.
Her naturally frowning face, brimming with discontent, was the only imperfection.
Without even trying, she possessed an aura that naturally captivated men.
“What, why are you staring at me like that?”
“The dress suits you.”
“Want to die?”
“It’s a compliment. I thought the generous travel expenses I gave you would last at least a while, but here you are, returning to the shantytown after spending it all in just one day.”
“It’s not bad. It’s just something I’ve never worn before.”
“You did good.”
“Hmph!”
Sinclair, who showed no gratitude towards me who covered her travel expenses, sniffed and turned away.
Then, she roughly placed a plate filled with cookies next to me.
“Here, eat.”
“What’s this? Why the cookies?”
“Nothing much… I bought some cookies with the leftover money. I figured someone like you probably lives a life far removed from cookies.”
“Wow, you sure know how to make me look good using my own money. You’re shameless.”
“IIIEK! If you don’t want to eat, don’t eat then!”
“Ahaha! Greedy for sure!”
The highly irritated Sinclair turned red and attempted to take back the cookies,
but I quickly moved the plate to the other side and successfully secured the cookies.
Upon which Sinclair turned up her nose again with a huff.
And then, without causing further disruption to me, she retreated to the corner of the room and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest.
Seeing that she wasn’t trying anything suspicious, I resumed my experiment.
I picked up the wooden measuring cup marked ‘399’ on the side.
I quickly drank its contents and slowly savor the taste.
“Delicious. Similar to the soda I usually drink, but with a very clean aftertaste.”
I marked a circle on the 399 wooden cup.
Right now, the experiment I’m conducting is a research process to find the best formulation.
Based on 100ml of carbonated water, how much sugar and lemon juice should be added,
and I’ve even experimented with adding apple juice or honey.
While the method and ingredients for making soda are very simple, the correct formulation suitable for the people of this world needs to be found and adjusted.
Only then can mass production truly begin.
Thanks to this, I’ve researched and conducted nearly 400 experiments, locked away in this warehouse for two whole days.
Fortunately, I’ve gathered significant results and found six satisfying formulations that I like.
My academic zeal has been reignited after a long time.
As such, my stomach is already full of soda.
“Alright, let’s end with experiment 400. And then we’ll choose one from the successful ones.”
I poured the ingredients into the 400th measuring cup, mixed them well, and slowly savor the taste.
Similarly, marked an O on the cup, and
carefully stood up and looked fondly at the countless measuring cups scattered on the floor.
I have no doubt that these will soon become my powerful weapon.
When I decided to leave the basement and turned my back,
Sinclair quickly got up.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah. Now we just need to pick the best one from the successful batches.”
“What is it? It seemed like a beverage of some sort.”
“Yes, it’s a beverage.”
“But beverages usually have fixed prices. What are you planning to do with this?”
Sinclair followed closely behind me like a curious child towards a gift box brought by their mother.
And that tail named Sinclair stretched all the way to the neighboring living hut.
“Are you that curious?”
“Isn’t it obvious? After all, our lives are connected to this thing.”
Her curiosity stemmed from anxiety.
Of course, it’s understandable.
The day before yesterday when I discovered the carbonated spring,
I attempted a negotiation of sorts with Artemis.
I proposed to save the lives of the shanty dwellers and as part of that plan, promised to make Luna, the intermediate city of Artemis, into a metropolis using the carbonated spring.
There are various criteria for a metropolis,
but one of the most common ones is a population of tens of millions!
Luna has a population of around seven million right now,
but I firmly believe that with this soda alone, I can turn three million citizens into followers of Artemis.
And today is the day for Artemis’ final inspection.
So it’s not surprising that Sinclair came looking out of anxiety.
“The shanty dwellers helped discover the carbonated spring. You’ll have to repay that in another way.”
“…”
“Don’t worry. This is bound to succeed.”
“Hey, can’t I go to the temple too?”
“Huh?”
Sinclair, feeling some sort of anxiety, demanded to follow along with her lips pouted.
Going along to the Temple of Artemis despite being on a suspended sentence…
Of course, we wouldn’t look well if we saw each other face to face.
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to fight with the Goddess. I just… want to hear the result right away.”
When Sinclair noticed I wasn’t fond of the idea, she promised not to provoke Artemis in any way.
Judging by her gaze, if I refused, she’d probably follow secretly anyway,
so I sighed and reluctantly nodded.
“Haa. Fine. Come along.”
“Really? Thank you!”
“But before that, I have one question.”
“What is it? Oh… should we prepare some kind of token of tribute before going to the temple?”
“No, it’s not that. Sinclair, are you a virgin?”
At that moment,
Sinclair, who had been joyfully smiling until just a moment ago,
froze like stone as if she had just seen Medusa’s eyes.
Her lifted lips returned to their original position, and her eyes looked hollow as she stared at me angrily.
“…What?”
“Are you physically intact? Do you have sexual experience?”
WHOOSH…
In the hut where all the windows were closed,
an unknown cold wind from the north rushed in, starting to freeze my body.
Sinclair approached with a shadow over her face.
“Hey, is that even a question?”
“Yeah, why? So you’re… KYAAAH!@#$%^^&*”
PUNK!
The moment tears brimmed in her eyes, she lifted her right leg and savagely kicked me between the legs.
Unable to express the pain in words, the world darkened for me as I collapsed onto the floor, writhing around.
Sinclair, looking at me in pain with fiery eyes, crossed her arms.
“Psycho! This is sexual harassment! How dare you think you can just do anything to me even after saving my life? Only my future husband can see my body!”
“UGHHHHHHH!!! Me, I’m dying! My descendants are dyingggggggg!!!”
“Just die already! The enemy of women! No, my enemy!”
……
And that’s how I spent about 10 minutes thrashing on the floor.
Before she could launch another fatal blow, I hastily explained to her why I had asked about her virginity.
“Only people of chastity and virgins are allowed inside the Temple of Artemis…”
“……”
“How are you going to take responsibility for this?”
“I, If you had said that earlier, would this have happened?”
Still aware of her own fault, her voice became tiny as if she had ducked into a mousehole.
“You don’t live in the city, but you’re still a citizen of Luna, aren’t you? How could you forget the characteristics of your own faith’s temple?”
“Mi… Sorry.”
Even in this case, she had nothing to say and muttered a quiet apology out of embarrassment.
I wanted to reprimand her severely for her almost treacherous act and imprint it in her mind,
but the sight of the setting sun outside caught my attention.
“Haa… Forget it. I’m going.”
“Ah! I’ll come too. I, uh… I also deserve to enter the temple.”
“You’ll get a hole punched through your forehead if you’re caught lying.”
“It’s not a lie!”
“Alright.”
I gathered the successfully formulated soda recipes and headed to the Temple of Artemis with Sinclair.
