Chapter 176

What’s On Tap?

Brewer’s Reputation: 74

The tavern was empty. Dream Cutters’ voices drifted through the gardens but arrived at hushed volumes. They were deep in the gardens, and I had given them Soil Landmark ales to expand the grounds. They were surely drifting further and further from the globe bar.

The bar was made of osage orange burl. The only things on it were a couple of stuffed folders, and two small bottles of beer. The stools at the globe bar were each made from a different tree. The one I sat upon was made of dotted hawthorn wood, and it had the color like pale cherries. Abigail scooted over a stool made of wildgoose plum wood. The dark rings in the light wood made it look like some kind of cinnamon roll.

That’s how Abigail’s ice billy goat beer tasted—like a cinnamon roll with double milk cream cheese icing. It tasted like she had added three different cinnamons from around the world. The rice and buckwheat lent the beer a baked pastry malt. The earthy hops brought out a perfume of raisins mashed in brown sugar. It was one of those beers that you couldn’t help but quaff too much down and then choke on. Then I found myself stomping a foot and shaking my head. What an astounding diamond rank beer. It had to be the first beer we served on tap!

“Am I weird for feeling kinda proud about the tavern?” I said.

“If that’s the case, I’m just as weird as you are,” said Abigail.

“We’ll have to serve dungeon beers.”

“And some Anti-gravity ale as homage to Thrush.”

“Then we’ve gotta have Goblin Spuck for the goblins too. And warm-warm root beer for Boggo and Ella.”

Abigail smacked her lips of beer. “What if we use some of the wreckage for the finishing details? Maybe construct a fountain with it in the beer garden to commemorate the goblins that lost their lives during the battle?”

“We can put up a plaque that tells of the battle.”

“How about we grow flowers everywhere? Not just in the garden. If we used Aggravated Wild Growth, this could become a place of absolute wonder and magic.”

“Speaking of magic. The fireflies…”

“It’s kept me up at night. I can’t help but watch them light up the woods. If Corylus were here, I’m sure he’d try to nab one for Hiccup.”

“You know, I think I’ll want to brew some special beers for the grand opening. How about…”

[Billy gush ale.]

[gold rank.09/100 Chimeric.]

[Brewery Hawkin.]

[Brewed using dark malts of billy goat style beers and saltier malts of the gush style beers. The beer is the color of suede. Condensation on the glass gives it a matte appearance. The aroma carries the oceanic fragrance of sea beans. The malt is slightly briny, with a beet sugar caramel that seduces the tongue. The foam is Crumble Cloud. Careful if you sneeze, crumbs of the foam might blow away.]

“It’s been too long since I’ve enjoyed a gush ale!” said Abigail. “Gush mixed with billy goat is wild.”

“Increased my quality tier a few points,” I noted.

“I wonder if it would have gone higher if you’d brewed in one style.”

Hmm. “Let’s see.”

[Coffin Dark.]

[Gold rank. 24/100 Chimeric.]

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

[Brewery Hawkin.]

[Fantastic! Dark peringle malts were roasted until the edge of dark chocolate in aroma and color. The hops offer birch and maple resin which lend a sugared cream to an already thick beer. The foam is Black Greater Classic, which lattices like architecture over the rim and provides a pleasant charcoal nose. The beer is black from foam to malt. Don’t put it down in the dark.]

“I knew it!” said Abigail with a clap. “I could taste something in your beers today.”

“How I love brewing with you,” I said.

Abigail smiled from her heart. “You know, this’ll be my first tavern.”

“Have you wanted to open a tavern?”

“I think all Brewers…” she began. She looked at me then with half of a smile. “Well, I think most Brewers sort of daydream about it. And ours is going to be highly sought after for years to come. That’s my bet.”

I eyed the stuffed folders. “It’s a good thing Hiccup will be managing it. I’m happy to leave all those applicants in his hands. I don’t know what I would look for in a bartender.”

“This tavern will change things for you. More so than anything else has.”

“I’m doing my best to use it as a base building tactic, so hopefully we’ll be shielded from anything too earth shattering.”

“If you distribute the beer to this plane, Brewers from around the world could come here. You wouldn’t have to be the one doing the traveling…” She slid the bottles of beer out of her way and she reached for my hand. “And you could make connections which would help you reach diamond…if you ever wanted to try to fulfill those kinds of quests.”

When she looked at me the way she did now, I felt heartbreak. It was so palpable that I wouldn’t have been surprised if her irises split in half.

I wouldn’t have to travel so much. I could work with people beyond the young man I intended to work with every weekend or so. I didn’t like that I’d also grown more comfortable around visitors.

Oh, Abigail… I couldn’t promise her something that might not happen. What if I gave it my all but still didn’t reach diamond rank in time? She would be so disappointed. I would be crushed and disappointed as well. If I spent that time throwing myself into the attempt to reach diamond rank, would we miss out on everyday tender moments? Our time together was so precious to me. I also didn’t want to fill our days with constant worry over reaching diamond. How could I promise her this?

“Few people ever make it to diamond rank, regardless of how hard they try,” I said.

“Hawkin, what better position could you be in? If your reputation hits number one, you’ll be recognized as the best Brewer in the world. But it won’t last long. Others will surpass you and take that spot. You might linger there for a while, but you’ll eventually see your reputation drop.”

“You’re about two thousand levels ahead of me. And I’ve got the Planes Cutter and Brewer paths to grind.”

“It will be very hard to come upon an opportunity like this again. What a stepping stone this could be for you.”

“The chances of reaching diamond for someone who doesn’t want to travel…”

“You may not have to. At least not at first. Adventurers of all sorts will travel to you if you distribute the ethereal beer to major markets. Hiccup can help with that. Erik too. We could ask Thrush for help. Hawkin, I want to be with you. Not just for now. For always.”

“I want to be with you too,” I said.

“There might not be much time to act on such an opportunity. Please think about it. I can help you. I can help you while there’s still time. Centuries, Hawkin. We would have a few more centuries together. And if we reached fable rank…”

I leaned back and drank. I smiled and tried to steer our conversation. “So we’d live as long as the besties? The goblins might start calling us sloop rats.”

“I want to age with you. I want to watch you age alongside me. What I don’t want to do is watch you age and pass away while I’m only on the first third of this new lifespan.”

In her eyes was that earnest heartbreak. I gulped down my own emotion of this all.

“Please consider it,” she said.

“Of course, my love. It’s all I think about.”

We refreshed ourselves with a few more sips of beer. Ah, what a drink to share deep conversations over!

Abigail patted her lap as if a matter had been solved. “I have something very exciting to show you. The beer that I shared with you earlier completed my Thewwy’s Puncheon Tap quest.”

She withdrew from her personal inventory a floating spigot. It was the size of Boggo. A big circular handle opened the pipe. When she let go of the spigot, it floated in midair.

I embraced her. “Congratulations, my love!”

“It’s connected to a puncheon barrel in my inventory. The puncheon barrel is on the heavier side, but anything within it is weightless.”

“What are you going to brew for it? How are you going to use it?”

I followed her lead when she returned to the coast where our trail saw its destination. She placed the spigot in the middle of the clearing we had made and left it to float there.

“Could you wrap it with your ethereal label skill?” she said.

I employed my Forge Ethereal Label skill and chewed my tongue while I wrapped it around the spigot and wrapped it around the handle. The spigot threw spectral colors onto the sand. Its reflection was a starburst of weird colors on the waves of the sea.

“How’s that?” I said.

“Try moving it.”

With all my strength, I could not move the spigot from its suspended position. I even hung from it like I was dangling from the branch of a tree. Abigail, however, repositioned it with ease.

“Only I can move it,” she said, “but anyone can fill a pour from it. I’d like to keep it here and fill the puncheon barrel with your Hermit Tavern ale.’

“It would be perfect here. No one would miss it.”