Chapter 569 – Four Types of Liquor
Zhao Hai followed Billy and Juno into a cave in the mountain. The place looked very ordinary, probably something rarely used. On the cave was a big desk along with several bookshelves at the side.
Not far from the cave was a place for rest, with a set of wooden sofas and some tables.
After arriving at the resting area, Billy looked at Zhao Hai and laughed, "Kid, in just one year, you have made quite great achievements. The Buda Clan is now well known. I want to know what business you'll have with us Dwarves."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "I have some goods from my Buda Clan. I think the Patriarch also knew about my Clan's Milk Wine."
Zhao Hai knew that most of the other races were very direct, much more direct than humans. Therefore, he didn't waste any words and just said what the other party wanted to hear.
Billy looked at Zhao Hai and then smiled. "I've drank your Milk Wine, it's really good. Is it from your cooperation with the Beastmen?"
Zhao Hai nodded, "The Milk Wine that they make is still incomplete, it still needed further processing. Therefore, I struck a deal with the Beastman and had them supply me with Milk Wine. I'll process those and then sell them to the Human territories."
Billy nodded, "Your quite honest, Kid. Tell me, what do you need?"
Zhao Hai smiled, "i have a peculiar hobby, I like strange plants and unique Magic Beasts. As long as it's rare, I'd want it. I can use my Milk Wine to trade with those things with you, naturally it includes iron wares as well. What do you think?"
Billy knit his eyebrows and said, "This is not a problem. But you should know that Magic Beasts like our Iron Armor Beast are unique to our Dwarf Race. It's not like we don't want to give them away to the other races, but if the Iron Beasts were given to others, they would immediately starve themselves and die. At the same time, unique trees and plants in our mountain will not grow elsewhere. Are you fine with this?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I'm merely curious about those things. I've also done the same with the Beastmen, so I'm quite familiar with the implications. In fact, I have some alchemists back at the clan, they also want to see those kinds of things. Therefore, I'm going out of my way to collect them."
Billy didn't say anything. In fact, there were a lot of unique plants and beasts in the hands of both the Dwarves and the Beastmen. It's not like they don't want to give them away, it's just that they don't have any uses. Because of that, they slowly went forgotten.
Billy nodded, "This is not an issue, these things are practically worthless. If you want to, there's no problem in us giving you a few. Right, what price do you want to sell your milk wine?"
Zhao Hai smiled, "Patriarch doesn't need to worry, I'll sell it at a normal price. The price that we sell at the mainland is what the price that I'll be giving you."
Billy stared at Zhao Hai and said, "Really?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "There's no need to doubt me. If you go to the Beastman Prairie and inquire, you will know that our Buda Clan had always been fair in doing business. Compared to other merchants, the grain that we sell in the Prairie is priced much lower. There's no reason for us to sell to the Dwarves at a high price."
Judging by Zhao Hai's expression, Billy can see if Zhao Hai was telling the truth or not. After thinking for a while, Billy nodded and said, "If this is the case, then it would be good for our Dwarf race. We're living in the mountains all year round, the winds in here is very tough. So tough that we needed to drink some liquor after every meal. If you do supply us with this Milk Wine, then you would be doing us a great deed."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "In fact, I don't only have Milk Wine in my hands, I also have other varieties of liquor. I'll have to invite the two elders to have a taste." Then he waved his hand and took out a few bottles of liquor.
The bottles contained several types of liquor. Among them were the ordinary milk wine, high-grade milk wine, white wine, and finally the beer. Zhao Hai didn't bring out some fruit wine because it was obvious that they didn't suit the palates of the Dwarves.
In fact, Zhao Hai already had prior knowledge about the Dwarves' drinking customs. He understood that they really loved to drink, and that the liquor that they were drinking were quite special. Their liquor was a type made from potatoes that was farmed in the Buddha Empire. Although this potato looked much like sweet potatoes, and its liquor was also the same as the liquors back on Earth. Moreover, its flavor was very mellow, and it also had a distinct fermented fragrance. Most Dwarves are even disgusted by it. This liquor simply cannot be compared to Zhao Hai's.
One can say that this potato liquor had a much worse flavor than fruit wine. But since Dwarves don't like drinking fruit wine, they had no other choice but to consume this potato liquor.
Since Zhao Hai was already informed about these matter, therefore he didn't bring some fruit wine out.
Billy and Juno looked at the four bottles on the table. These four bottles looked very common. Three of them had transparent contents while the last one had black liquid inside.
Zhao Hai opened the bottle containing ordinary milk wine and then looked at Billy and Juno, "This is the ordinary milk wine, I think the two of you had already tasted this. But this wine is divided into several types. What we are selling at large in the mainland had the lowest degree. But this bottle has a higher degree compared to the others."
Each Dwarf table always had glasses for liquor in them, this was something that everybody knew. So Zhao Hai took two glasses from the table and then gave the two some of the ordinary milk wine.
Billy and Juno wasn't polite, they immediately took the glass and drank the liquor. They had prior experience with milk wine, and they knew that it was fierce, therefore they only took a small sip.
After the two took a sip, they felt different. They had drunk the milk wines in the mainland. Those wines were very good to drink, but those cannot be compared to what Zhao Hai served them this time.
After they placed their cups down and nodded, Zhao Hai took the high grade milk wine and poured the two another two glasses of liquor.
Juno had already drank this high grade milk wine before, so his expression this time was quite mild. However, Billy hadn't drank this before. Therefore, after he took a sip, his two eyes couldn't help but light up, he felt that the flavor of this wine was very good.
Then Zhao Hai took the bottle of rice wine and then gave them a glass as he introduced it, "Taste this one, it's something we made quite recently. It's not milk wine nor fruit wine, but it's made from bamboo rice."
Juno and Billy stared at the bottle. Naturally, they knew about bamboo rice, but brewing alcohol from it? This was the first time that they had heard such a concept.
They curiously lifted the cup and drank from it. Although the degree of Zhao Hai's rice wine wasn't very high, it didn't have the milky fragrance of milk wine. Instead, it had a purely wine flavor with a little sweet aftertaste. It was a gentle kind of drink.
After they tasted the liquor, the two's eyes couldn't help but light up. They didn't expect that the liquor that was made from bamboo rice would be this good.
After seeing their reactions, Zhao Hai couldn't help but smile. Then he poured them a glass of beer each. When Zhao Hai served them milk wine and rice wine, he only poured them a small amount, enough for a single sip. But this time, Zhao Hai poured the beer until the glass in half full. But even then, the foam at the top of the beer was already quite a lot.
Billy and Juno looked at Zhao Hai in confusion, Zhao Hai slightly knew what was on their minds as he said, "This liquor isn't very strong, it's quite mellow. However, I think you will find its flavor quite interesting. Please have a taste."
Juno and Billy weren't polite, they held their glasses and downed the liquor inside. When the beer entered their mouths, they first felt that it tasted very strange. But then, an indescribable mellow taste overwhelmed their taste buds. After the two drank the beer, they couldn't help but snap their tongues.
While looking at the two, Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "This liquor is made from a rare type of plant grown in the continent. At this point, only our Buda Clan has been cultivating it. However, it's production volume into beer is very great."
Billy looked at the cup and nodded, "This final one is really good. It tastes quite nice. Do you have a lot of these?"
Zhao Hai smiled, "It's current output is not very high. My highest output at this time would be milk wine. If you want the other ones, you may need to wait for some time."
Billy nodded, "Then I want some milk wines, this ordinary ones since we Dwarves consume a lot of liquor. But you have to give me a very fair price."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Alright, that's not a problem. Large purchases always merit price deductions. I can sell them to the Dwarves at wholesale price."
Billy gave a satisfied nod, "Good, good. Kid, when can you send the wine?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Right now. How much do you want? I can deliver them right away."
Billy stared at Zhao Hai and said, "How big is your Space Equipment?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, " Very big. Moreover, since I already planned to do business here, I also brought a large amount of milk wine along. I want to trade some of these wines into ironwares, then I'll go transport them over to the Beastman Prairie."
Billy nodded and said, "It looks like your relationship with the Beastmen is very good. In the past, our Dwarf race also had some dealings with the Beastmen. But after a few years, and the emergence of the Humans, our contact had been cut off. I didn't expect that you would connect the two races with your business."
Chapter 570 – Prophecy
Zhao Hai didn't know that the Dwarves had business dealings with the Beastmen before, so he smiled and said, "It's nothing great, I just have good relationships with the Beastmen. When I went to the Prairie last time, the Beast King invited me over for a meal since he thinks highly of me. During the meal, I told him that I would be visiting here so he asked me to get some ironwares with me when I come back. Therefore, I'll have to give some ironwares to the Beastmen when I return."
Zhao Hai might be speaking calmly , but Juno and Billy heard things in a different tone. The two of them were aware of the relationship between the Humans and the Beastmen. There were a lot of Humans who can visit the Prairie to do business, however, it was rare for them to even get a glance of the Beast King.
Most importantly, from Zhao Hai's words, it seems like the Beast King still invited him over despite the recent war between the two races. This was enough to explain Zhao Hai's standing inside the Beatman Prairie.
Juno looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Little Hai, did you really share a meal with the Beast King?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "I did, I cannot lie about this matter. After some time, Humans would be coming back to the Prairie to do business. They will surely know about this matter. The reason why I was able to cooperate for milk wine with the entire Beastman race was because of the Beast King's help. Thanks to him sending his Beast King's letters, the Beastmen believed me."
Juno and BIlly became surprised as they asked, "Beast King's letters?"
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Yes, I think that's what they called it. What's wrong? I asked the Beast King for help and he didn't say anything else."
Juno and Billy stared at Zhao Hai for some time before Billy opened his mouth and said, "Kid, do you know what the Beast King's letters represent?"
Zhao Hai stared, "Represent? Isn't it just like notices sent by humans?"
Juno smiled bitterly and said, "You really know nothing, no wonder the Beastman Race helped you. The Beast King just couldn't casually use his letters, they were only sent during important matters. Otherwise, the Beastmen wouldn't hold his words in high regard."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I think it's because of my milk wine business, it's quite important to the beastmen. I even needed the help of the Hawk race in order to collect the massive amounts of milk wine. Otherwise, this cooperation would be impossible to progress quickly."
Juno knit his brows and said, "That's not right, why would the Beastmen believe you easily? The Beastmen had always been on guard against the Human race, why would they help you right now?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Besides being a merchant, I'm also a Foreign Prince of the Herculean Bull tribe. Moreover, I also have the friendship flags of the Dog Race and the Black Bear Tribe. Therefore, they immediately trusted me."
Juno didn't understand this, so he was confused and asked, "Friendship flag? What is this friendship flag?"
Compared to Juno, Billy was more shocked than Zhao Hai, "Did you really obtain a Beastman Friendship flag? How is that possible?"
Juno became more puzzled, "What happened? What is a friendship flag?"
Billy forced a smile and said, "Beastman flags are divided into many types. People who do business with the Beastmen will receive that tribe's War Flag, however, that flag has nothing of value. The Friendship Flag is different, as long as someone gets a Friendship Flag, that would mark him as a friend to the Beastmen, a genuine true friend. It represents being a friend worthy of them sacrificing their life for. Now you see how important Friendship Flags are? Also, Foreign Prince of the Herculean Bull Tribe? What's this all about?"
Zhao Hai smiled, "I've managed to help the Herculean Bulls in their time of extreme trouble. Also, the current Patriarch of the Herculean Bulls is my Beheading Blood Oath Brother. Therefore, I've become their tribe's foreign Prince."
Billy forced a smile and said, "Kid, you're really lucky. No wonder the Beast King is willing to see you and even use his letters to help your business. Your milk wine business affects the entire Beastman Race, if they didn't trust you then it might not have gone through."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I've always been fair in trading with the Beastmen. The price that I sell them grain is lower than all of the other Human Merchants. This also explains why my relationship with them is very good."
Billy nodded, "Now I believe you. It seems like you're genuine. I just hope that your business with our Dwarf Race gets to a point similar to your relationship with the Beastmen."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Rest assured, it will."
Billy smiled and said, "I hope. Right, how much milk wine did you bring? I want a lot."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "You want a lot, but I have a lot. I'm afraid you won't want all of them."
Billy laughed and said, "Kid, you shouldn't think too high of yourself. You're underestimating the amount of liquor we Dwarves drink. If you want figures, then I'll be taking 10 million jin."
Zhao Hai bitterly smiled, he didn't think that the Dwarves would want this many, he was indeed overconfident. However, it doesn't matter, he already had 1 million jin of milk wine inside the Space. He looked at Billy and laughed as well, "I didn't think that you would want this many. I only have 1 million jin at this time. I can give the remaining amount in the future, what do you think?"
Billy laughed, "Alright, 1 million jin is enough. Right, you need to wait for a few days to get the things that you want. You stay here first, I also need to reminisce with old Juno. Tomorrow, I'll take you to look around. If you need anything just send word and we'll make sure to take care of it."
Zhao Hai immediately became happy as he said, "That's fantastic, I thank the Patriarch."
Billy waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite. You go rest first while I have some people prepare some food. I'll have someone invite you when the time comes."
Then he turned his head outside and said, "Someone come here!" As his voice fell, a Dwarf came in from outside and bowed to Billy.
Billy nodded and said, "Lead Mister Zhao Hai and his wives to their resting area. Prepare a good room for them, he's our friend, don't neglect him."
The Dwarf complied, then he led Zhao Hai and the others to exit. Seeing Zhao Hai leave, Billy turned to Juno and said, "Old fogy, you've really brought a decent person here this time. The Buddha Empire has been pressing our Dwarf Race in the recent years. If we can do business with Zhao Hai, then we might be able to be unafraid of the Buddha Empire."
Juno smiled bitterly and said, "I actually didn't expect him to hold such high status. It seems like the Buda Clan rising up in one year is not a fluke."
Billy laughed and said, "I must say, you really outdid yourself this time. Right, why would you assist him? Does he have relationship with you? From what I knew, your Hurricane Family and the Buda Clan seems to have no past relations."
Juno chuckled and replied, "Your right, our Hurricane Family and the Buda Clan doesn't have any prior relationship. You might not have known, but Kristen had been the one doing business in the Rosen Empire. But this time, she was attacked by the people of the Radiant Church when she was heading back. If it wasn't for Zhao Hai passing by, Kristen might have been ended."
Billy stared for a moment before his eyes turned cold, "Radiant Church? THE Radiant Church? Why would they dare attack Kristen? No wonder I've been hearing about their churches in the Buddha Empire being picked off. Is it your doing?"
Juno coldly snorted and said, "Our Hurricane Family might have been good, but it doesn't mean that we don't have any temper. If we just let the Radiant Church go, then our family would be shamed in the continent. In the future, we wouldn't be able to hold our heads high in the continent."
Billy laughed at Juno's reply, "Alright, that's good. I have known you for so long, even I became angry with this. No wonder Kristen was not here to pick your goods, you actually sent her to Rosen Empire. That's understandable, that place is not very far.."
Juno smiled bitterly and said, "That's why I sent her there. Fortunately, she didn't succumb to the enemies. If she didn’t, then I don't know what I might do."
Billy coldly snorted, "The Radiant Church is now quite weak, but they still dared to make this move. I should've given them a lesson. They came here in the past wanting to preach, fortunately, we drove them away."
Juno said, "The Radiant Church came to preach here? Why didn't I know that? There's no news about this in the continent."
Billy sneered, "They kidnapped a few Dwarves in the past and wanted them to come back here and preach in secret. But when they went to give respects in the Divine Palace, the hammer of the temple discovered them and they were all killed. It was later discovered that they were people of the Radiant Church."
Juno replied, "There's such a thing? I thought that the hammer in the Great Hall is just an ordinary one. Does the hammer really have special abilities?"
Billy looked at Juno and said, "I already told you before, that hammer is a Divine Artifact, but you didn’t believe me. Hmph"
After BIlly said this, a Dwarf's voice was heard from the outside, "Patriarch, I have something to report."
Billy said, "Come in."
Then the Dwarf guide from before came in and stared at Juno. Billy frowned and said, "Ian, what's wrong? Tell me. Don't worry about Juno, he's our friend, we don't need to hide anything from our friend."
Ian immediately said, "Yes, I've been unfair to Mister Juno." Then he gave a bow to Juno who waved his hand. Then Ian turned his head to Billy and said, "Patriarch, I have something to report about Zhao Hai. When Zhao Hai and Mister Juno went to the Divine Palace to pay respects, Mister Zhao Hai said that he had felt pressure from the Divine Artifact. He says that the Artifact is like a fearful existence surpassing 9th rank."
Juno already heard this from Zhao Hai's own mouth, so he wasn't startled by the report. However, when Billy heard Ian's report, his expression changed immediately, he stood up and looked deeply into Ian's eyes and said, "Really? Did he say this?"
Ian nodded, "Yes, Patriarch. If you don't believe me, then you can ask Mister Juno, he was also present at that time."
Billy turned his head to Juno, Juno didn't understand why Ian's words made Billy tense. But he also knew that this wasn't any small matter, therefore he immediately nodded and said, "Zhao Hai did say that, but I think that he was just cracking a joke. But from what I can see in your expression, it seems like Zhao Hai was telling the truth."
Upon hearing the confirmation, Billy sat back on his chair as he bitterly smiled and said, "So the legend came true, I didn't expect that this day would come."
Juno was confused, he looked at Billy and said, "What's wrong? Aren't those just stories?"
Billy waved his hand, making Ian exit first, then he said, "It isn't that simple, you might have seen Divine Artifacts before, but can you feel their might?"
Juno shook his head and said, "I couldn’t. I can't even tell that it was a Divine Artifact. So what's wrong with Zhao Hai knowing the might of Divine Artifacts?"
Billy nodded and said, "It's because of this, theres a legend in our Dwarf Race related to that Divine Artifact. What you said in the past isn't wrong, other than our Dwarf Race, no other race can feel that the hammer is a Divine Artifact. Actually, the legend of our Dwarf Race is really a prophecy. The prophecy says that when a person that is not a Dwarf discover the existence of the Divine Artifact, the the entire continent will suffer a catastrophe. However, the person who discovered the Artifact would be the one who would save the entire continent. He would be the saviour of all, the King of Kings."
Juno stared at Billy, he really cannot convince himself to believe the old Dwarf's words. Seeing Juno's expression, Billy bitterly smiled and said, "Besides the Dwarves, no other race knows about this. The exact prophecy goes like this, 'Recognition of the Divine Artifact, Wilting of the Tree of Life, Ruling the Five Forbidden Areas, Of which the Day of Catastrophe will arrive. The King of all, Hero of Salvation, he shall arrive. Aid the Hero, and the Continent will be saved.' This meant that when someone other than our Race recognizes the Divine Artifact, and the Elves' Tree of Life starts to wilt, and also when the Five Forbidden Areas gets conquered, a big disaster shall arrive to the Continent. When the King of all appears and saves the continent, our Dwarf Race would have to follow him and help him save all of the races in the continent."
Juno was shocked at Billy's revelation, he said, "Recognizing the Divine Artifact? Drying of the Tree of Life? Conquering the Five Forbidden Areas? Those are related to each other? So you're saying that Zhao Hai is the person from the prophecy? You and the Elves have contact, what is the situation of their Tree of Life right now?"
Billy shook his head and said, "i don't really know. But this prophecy came along with the Divine Artifact when it appeared in our race. Our Dwarf Race's almanac held these words, I don't think that it's written by just anyone."
Juno was speechless. He knew that the Dwarves' history is much longer than his Hurricane Family. Although the Dwarves have moved several times, their solidarity didn't disappear. Therefore, their race's history shouldn't have been falsely written.