Chapter 122 – New Golem Maker (4)

Because of Lee Shin-Woo's job on Earth, he had quite the diverse skill set, and his competence was praised by those around him. Even so, that didn't go into producing wine.

The reason he even attempted to make wine was because the winery had kept the technicians' records. In addition, there was someone he could trust...

"Hello, Pleine. I'm here."

"Guten Morgen! Oh my. Now that I think about it, it hasn't been that long since we last met, Mr. Lee Shin-Woo."

Pleine greeted him enthusiastically and waved before coming to a sudden stop, tilting her head at him. Her eyes soon curved into crescent moons, and she laughed with a satisfied expression; she was definitely thinking about something weird.

"Did you make some money in that short period of time? No, there's no way you did. No matter how badly you want to see me, you can't waste your permits to the Secret Shop. Didn't I tell you that each and every permit was like a portion of the goddess’s grace?"

"I have a lot of money, though," Lee Shin-Woo said calmly with his lips curled upwards.

"You don't need to try so hard to lie... Mm."

Pleine stopped probing him and blinked quickly. Is she showing off her eyelashes? Of course, it didn't have much of an effect on Lee Shin-Woo.

Then her eyes shone brightly. Letting go of her own chin, she asked seriously, "This would be unbelievable, but the one who defeated one of the twelve generals..."

"Oh, that was me."

"Oh, Goddess..."

It had been a long time since Pleine had invoked the name of the goddess; it seemed she didn’t really like the goddess that much. She must’ve heard about the general's death from the goddess herself, but hadn’t been told who had done the deed.

"I know you’re growing incredibly quickly, and that you have abilities much greater than your level might suggest, but to think you already defeated a general. What are the other heroes doing?"

"I'd like to ask the same thing."

Lee Shin-Woo sighed, but recognized that it was tough to expect the same things from the other heroes.

To defeat Hansen, he had utilized his karma's unique properties to infiltrate the city, borrow the strength of several undead, and even manipulated the Treasure Eater, which had come at an opportune time.

"That's good news. You see, I heard that someone had killed a general, but I didn't know who exactly did it or how. But it was you! You're free, right? Please tell me all the details."

"If you want to hear about it, you need to help me. There’s something I’d like to ask of you."

"Mmm, alright. So hurry up and tell me all about it."

Lee Shin-Woo wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but Pleine seemed unusually impatient. Nonetheless, he tilted his head and told her a story with what he considered the important details. She looked completely hooked at around the midway point.

"Hansen Von Dorthe... I see, he is indeed someone that you had a chance of defeating. Most were reluctant to face him one-on-one, but you possessed a similar ability to him, Mr. Shin-Woo."

"To be honest, I do find certain parts of his ability strange."

At the final moment of their duel and when experiencing those dense memories by absorbing his bone, Lee Shin-Woo had felt that his swordsmanship was a bit familiar.

He wasn't only talking about Hansen's ability to use lightning. While Hansen had been debuffed, Lee Shin-Woo had dodged the general’s attacks with relative ease because he had been able to predict the trajectories the blade would follow and the power put into it. That meant...

"You're right. The goddess created Bursting Thunder by gathering several skills, including the Lightning Shadow General's swordsmanship."

"As I thought."

Now he understood why he could absorb so many of Hansen's memories. It was because he already knew swordsmanship that was closely related to Hansen's.

Solving the puzzle put a refreshed expression on his face, but then he was confused by the mysterious look Pleine shot at him; he didn't know whether Pleine was looking at him in wonder, or if she was relieved.

"I can understand why the goddess was so excited now. I thought you'd only won after dying several times and attacking the general’s weakness. Of course, that in and of itself would be plenty amazing; that was why the goddess had offered to raise the maximum level of Invisible Heart as a reward..."

Who would’ve thought Lee Shin-Woo could take down a general without losing a single life? In fact, he had increased the maximum number of his lives with Invisible Heart without losing any.

Moreover, whenever he defeated an undead hero and put them to rest, the maximum level of Invisible Heart would increase, so the number could continue to go up.

"What's the point in even stockpiling them?" asked Lee Shin-Woo.

"Please just save them. They'll be really helpful later when you're faced with a lot of danger."

And if he managed to save them to the very end... Lee Shin-Woo let it go and shrugged, pushing aside such thoughts. His abilities were still lacking, and the chance of that happening was quite slim.

"In any case, my goal is to have a quiet and peaceful life no matter what it takes."

"How can a level 6 hero who took down a general say that? Any hero who overheard you would laugh."

"Of course they would. They would say 'what kind of hero is that?'."

In the process of defeating Hansen, Lee Shin-Woo realized that his actions and his plans weren't all that praiseworthy.

Of course, he didn't feel anything like embarrassment. While he never really cared about other people's opinions and was satisfied with the Joker karma, however...

"But you know, you're probably the most hero-like out of all the heroes I've met."

"...That's quite surprising. Did you actually hear my explanation?"

Pleine spoke with such a serious expression that it became a bit embarrassing for him. And thus he decided to just accept the compliment and move on, but Pleine added more.

"Since you can't hide your good-heartedness, no matter how cynical you may act."

"I really hate human drama."

"That's quite a coincidence. I really hate human drama as well. However..."

Pleine smiled mischievously.

"My friend once told me. There is not one person loved by spirits who is a bad person. You're completely covered in marks left by the Dryads, so the act you put up isn’t very convincing."

"..."

As expected, this misunderstanding stemmed from the Dryads! He needed to explain how he got involved with the Dryads, but that would just prove that he was rotten to the core, which felt kind of weird. Thinking back to Sinea’s pure gaze further compounded the feeling, so he decided to let it go.

"Just sell me some stuff."

"Ah, you’re embarrassed."

"I want a wine manufacturer’s bone. Please cooperate like you promised."

"A wine manufacturer!?"

Pleine, whose head had been filled with ways of teasing Lee Shin-Woo, did a one-eighty immediately! She pushed her body across the counter in an instant and tightly grabbed Lee Shin-Woo's bony hand.

"Are you going to create a winery!? Ah, now that I think about it, you did tell me that you cleared out an entire winery... There's a vineyard that's still alive! Are the winery's facilities still intact?"

"Correct."

"But it’s not like you to even consider making wine...!"

"I have some manpower."

"Keuk, Kerr Century's wine... They're renowned for their extremely sweet and delicious wine created through their special ripening process. Ripening them for dozens of years may be impossible, but if you continue to go in that direction...! No, I have to find that bone no matter what, no matter what...!"

Pleine was blabbering a lot more than usual, and eventually, she got lost in her own little world. When Lee Shin-Woo tried to engage her in conversation, Pleine shot to her feet suddenly and yelled.

"I'll find it no matter what!"

"Ooh..."

"I'll give you some books on wine, so please read those while you're waiting! You know how important theory is!"

"Ah, I understand."

Intimidated by Pleine's sudden determination, Lee Shin-Woo meekly sat down and perused the books she'd given him. Before he could work on replicating Kerr Century Winery's technique, he needed to have a basic understanding of wine, so these books, which laid out the basics for him, were incredibly helpful.

He quickly read through a few volumes, and when he thought about buying these books and going home, he looked up at Pleine’s exclamation.

"I found it!"

Pleine's eyes glimmered as she shoved a few bones towards him. There were two level 1 bones, one level 2 bone, and surprisingly, one level 4 elite bone.

"Fortunately, I had these in storage. Why are you so surprised? The reason for the Kerr Century Winery's groundbreaking technique and security was because it was protected by a renowned family of mages for generations."

"I see. Thank you... How much are they?"

"30,000 Perium."

That was a really low price for a bundle including a level 4 elite bone. However, Lee Shin-Woo decided to pay at her asking price.

[Absorbing a Lv4 Skeleton Wizard's skull through Bone Reinforcement. Absorbing a significant amount of memories and experiences.]

[This facility is alive. That is how we made it...in order for it to be in the optimum environment for fermentation and maturation - Unknown Magic Master Craftsman]

Pleine, who had been watching him, snorted once he was done absorbing the bones.

"How is it?” she asked. “Do you know how to do it now?"

"No, the information is too complex, so... It seems like I'll have to learn by doing."

"Do your best...! The revival of the Kerr Century Winery depends on you, Mr. Shin-Woo!"

Pleine grabbed onto his hands tightly and yelled desperately. She seemed to consider reviving the Kerr Century Winery more important than killing a general... Lee Shin-Woo responded with a simple smile.

"Please let go. So I can go and have a try."

Leaving the shop, Lee Shin-Woo returned to a group waiting for him; among them, a Dryads was the first to react. She was one of the Dryads that really liked Lee Shin-Woo and kept following him around.

[I smell another woman's scent on you, Paul Zero.]

"‘You know you can't do that' is third on my personal ranking of lines I want to hear a woman say at least once in my life, so thanks."

"What are you doing over there that makes you always come back so late?" Jin asked.

"That woman seemed quite unpleasant," Kratia commented.

They kept showering him with complaints, and once Lee Shin-Woo checked the time, he realized that four hours had already passed. He told them what he'd talked about with Pleine, and explained that he'd come back late because he had to wait for her to find the bones.

"You’ll understand once you see what I'm about to do."

"Mmmm?"

"Ah, could you call a few of your friends over?” he said to the Dryad. “I feel like I'll need your help to make wine."

[Of course! Just wait a sec. I'll be back with some of them!]

The Dryad rushed over to the vineyard. Lee Shin-Woo gathered all of the Golems, took out a large container, and poured all the grapes out.

"Alright. Shall we start with smashing the grapes? In order to create this year's Kerr Century Nouveau...!"

"Ah, you just said Nouveau!? That's French!"

Lee Shin-Woo completely ignored Jin's comment and started smashing the grapes. The level 4 Golems followed his lead and began working diligently. The Bronze Golems and above had the basic ability of syncing up with each other.

"The fact that you're using this many Golems to do this is..." Jin muttered.

Kratia was appreciative. "Shin-Woo, you're always so surprising and exhilarating..."

"That's not enough! Watch and follow me more closely!"

Lee Shin-Woo was saying something strange again, but Jin and Kratia, who were both used to his eccentricity, didn't say anything in response. No matter what they said, the Golems would just continue to smash the grapes.

The Pauls were searching the Empire for a mine, and Lee Shin-Woo and the Golems were making wine. Work was in full swing.