226. S + man




 I took down the flaming footman with the pendant on to try it out.
 Beer and edamame, both dropped.

 This time, he removed the pendant and shot another flaming footman.
 Only the beer dropped and was smashed to the ground.

'......'
What's going on?
Hey, you got that bottle you were looking for?
Is that it?

 Tale takes out a bottle of liquor.
 The bottle has a similar effect to a shipping carton, which is delivered the moment the liquor is dropped from the monster.

'Yeah, just give me a hold of it,'
Okay.

 Tale nodded his head slightly, but handed me all the bottles he was holding as he was told.

 Three in all, well, it would be enough.

 With that, I hung up the pendant and took down the next monster.

 The edamame fell to the ground and the beer fit completely inside the bottle.
 Defeat it with yet another bottle, and the beer fits again.

 The third one, when I removed the pendant, it didn't fit in the bottle, and it burst.

 I knew it.
 When I was wearing the pendant, I thought the amount of edamame might be slightly less than the amount of edamame, and apparently I was right.
 When I'm wearing the pendant, it's just enough to fit in the jar, and when I'm not wearing the pendant, it's so large that it bursts.

 I then asked Terre to get some more bottles for me, and the amount definitely changed with and without the pendant.

 This pendant promises to produce vintage wine, and with it, we should easily be able to produce the promised amount.

     ☆

 It took me a while because of the pendant, but the performance check on it was successfully completed, so Tale led me to Filin's Dungeon Association.

 The president's office, which was brought to me by someone from the association, and when I opened the door--.

''Ugh.''

 The room was so boozy that I couldn't help but moan.
 As if he was used to that, the man who showed me around entered the room without hesitation.

'Mr. Chairman, Lyota Sato is here to see you.
Come in.

 When I walked in, craning my neck to hear a surprisingly juvenile voice, I found a young girl inside, just like her voice.
 She has a childish face, undeveloped limbs, and two-tied hair as tall as she is.
 No matter how you look at it, the girl is in the single digits of age.

''I'm going to wait.''

 The girl said, then opened the bottle of liquor and sniffed it.
 After sniffing it, she said to the guy who led us to it.

'It's a bit thin, add 10 percent of the B-grade stuff.'
Yes, like that.
There's tomato juice in my beer, so I'm scrapping the tar.
The person in charge is to be disciplined.

 They opened bottle after bottle of liquor, sniffed it, said it was thin or thick, and gave us instructions.
 After that was all done, the association officials left, leaving me, Terre, and the girls.

 They came over to the couch where we were waiting and sat down on the couch across from us.
 It was a bit comforting to see her young body climb up onto the couch as she climbed up.

'It's nice to meet you, Mao is the head of the Filin Dungeon Association, Mao Mee.
Ryota Sato. ......, nice to meet you.

 I was unsure for a moment what kind of language to use.
 He may look young, but he's the head of the Dungeon Association.
 I wasn't sure for a moment if I should use respectful language.

''Don't push it, Mao is as old as he looks, so you can do whatever you want with your language.''

 About the same time she said that, the door opened and another staff member came in with a glass on a tray.
 A high legged glass, burgundy liquid, and put it in front of us.

'Very...... very...... very...... very......'
If you're as old as you look, you can't drink.
Puh-leeze. It's okay, it's just juice.
Juice?
Oh, this grape juice tastes so good.

 Terre is impressed as she sips her glass.
 'And that's grape juice?

Confusing: ......
Are you sure you prefer barley tea?
No, I like barley tea with barley tea: ......

 That's not the problem with .......
 I had a feeling that if I went into it, it was going to turn into a yabbering snake somewhere, and I had a feeling it was going to turn into a compliance issue, so I decided to digress.

'What was that all about?'
Was that it?
I could smell it.
That's Mao's job. It's the quality control of the sake we produce in Filin.
Quality control?
Every adventurer has a different quality of alcoholic beverage that they drop.
Of course you do: ......

 It's not just alcohol, but all the products produced in this world.
 The quality varies greatly depending on the adventurer's drop status.

''Filin's liquor is shipped in a mixture of very good and very bad, minus the very bad stuff.
'Maybe that's why you've been ranking them since they dropped, to keep track of them?
That's correct. And it's my job as head of the Filin Institute to control the quality of the mixture.
'I see. ...... stinks it up!
Mao is a child. He's not allowed to drink.
No, no,

 I thought that wasn't the point: .......

?

 Mao said, "Then what do you mean? I was nodding my head with a look on my face.
 I didn't mean to tell him that kids shouldn't drink, I meant that it's amazing how much you can tell just by smelling it.
 Mao didn't get it and scowled.

 She's a child, but as expected of the head of the Dungeon Association, she's an amazing girl.

By the way, there's a great beer smell in the air.
'What? Oh this.

 I pulled out a bottle, the beer I'd dropped in the lantern earlier to test it.
 I put it on the table and Mao stared at it.

'What's the matter ......?'

 Mao took the bottle, silently opened the lid and sniffed it.
 Ignoring my surprise, he opened all the bottles I brought and sniffed them.

'Is this after you've mixed it?'
'What? No, it's not.
It was sealed.

 Tale said from the side.
 It was sealed.
 I wouldn't have been able to tell before I got here, but now I can.

 This bottle has a trick in the mouth of the bottle so that you can tell if it's been opened.
 For quality control purposes, they can tell if it's been opened to make sure they know what quality to mix and how much to mix.

 The beer I brought was unopened .......

That's funny.
What do you mean?
All the beers smell the same.
Same?
...... Could it be that you're Max from A?
Max?

 One thing after another I don't understand.

'There are minor differences in the status of the same drop.
Yeah. ...... Exactly.

 It's not a drop status, but I'm using Nihonium to boost my abilities with seeds.
 Because of that, I can see that the same A or the same F, but I can't see the fine numbers.

 Probably means the drop is the same.

Yours is .......

 Mao looked at the letters 'Rank A' on the beer bottle.

'I think it's Max with an A.' So they're all the same quality.
It's too expensive, so you're sticking to the top.
He's an amazing person, just the kind of person Uncle Eric asks for.

 Mao looked at me with eyes that were almost longing.
 Innocent eyes, eyes that genuinely felt amazing.

 It was just a little tantalizing.
 Because she was half right and half wrong.

 Because Max is Max, but I'm not an A, I'm an S Max.

"It's so f*cking awesome,