odorekijin

chapter eight

[Western Country—Rural Town]

Mister Bacchus must have felt this fondness too: his voice and face grew more cheerful with each bottle sold.

Bacchus: Thank you very much for your purchase, hope to see you soon!

Soon enough, the crowds diminished and the excitement settled down enough for an older customer, glasses pushed onto the bridge of his nose, to pay a visit to our stall.

Customer: I have heard that Bacchus, the man himself in the flesh, would be here... Ah, yes, surely that must be you.

Shylock: Alas, I am not the person you seek: Bacchus is the gentleman over there.

The old man’s eyes slightly rounded behind his glasses, surely taken aback by Mister Bacchus’ youthful appearance.

Nero: Haha, crazy, right? He may look like a kid, but he’s way, way older than you are.

Citizen: Bacchus has been in the wine business way before my grandad was even out here!

Faust: Even before your great-great-great-grandfather, if I had to guess, let alone your grandfather.

Bacchus: So, didja need somethin’ from me, fella?

Customer: No, nothing of the sort, I simply wanted to compliment you.

Bacchus: Compliment me?

Customer: For generations, we have been quite the fans of the “Bacchus Wines,” you see, and my family and I greatly await their yearly release.

Although it’s unfortunate that a new vintage won’t be making it to the stores this year, I look forward to opening one of your bottles again, with my son and grandchildren.

Your wines are one of my few pleasures in life, so I can only thank you for still producing them, even after so many years.

Having said his peace, the old client extended his hand.

Seemingly reflecting on these last words, Mister Bacchus gently returned the grasp of the wrinkled hand held out to him.

Bacchus: …Hm-hm, you’re more than welcome.

⁂

The harvest festival wrapped up on a high note.

Thus, it was time to unveil the results of our competition…

Bradley: 60, 61…

Shylock: 59, 60…

Reviewing the empty cases and jotted-down notes of all the other sold wines, each side counted their respective sales.

On the other hand, we awaited the final verdict with bated breath.

Shylock: …We have sold exactly 400 bottles.

Rutile & Arthur: …

Faust & Nero: …

Bradley: …398 over here.

Bacchus: …It’s our win!

Rutile, Arthur & Akira: We did it!

Their sales were neck and neck until the very end: it was a heated, uphill battle where Shylock managed to claim victory by a scant margin, only securing the lead in the final stretch.

The wizards who had helped Shylock’s cause expressed both joy and relief.

Faust: Phew…

Nero: Man, they really kept us on edge ‘til the end.

Akira: That’s wonderful, Shylock...!

Shylock: That it is, and it is only thanks to Bacchus’ help for supplying us with his wine.

That being said, this wouldn’t have been possible without your support and cooperation as well, so allow me to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. Oz, too: I truly appreciate the help you bestowed as a vendor...

Arthur: You showed splendid and majestic service to the customers, Master Oz!

Oz: …

Akira: (Oz accepting payments from customers and things like that… That sure was a rare sight…)

Shylock: I assume you both have no objection to this result, do you?

Bradley: Heh, what's the point of having a vineyard if we ain’t rakin’ in more than Bacchus' wine? We’ll just hand him back the land.

In return, I'll keep the Calamity’s Wine profits from today.

Nero: That shrewd head of yours is still screwed on tight even after losing, huh.

Bradley: A man’s gotta charge for his piece of the action too, y’know.

Murr: I’ve studied the Calamity Wine all I wanted too, so I don’t need the vineyard anymore! It’s all yours!

And besides, I had plenty of fun competing against the super-real and dead-serious Shylock!

What do you say, Shylock? Did you have fun too?

Shylock: Hmm, I wonder—I shall leave that to the fantasies of your imagination.

Akira: (Haa… Regardless, I’m glad…)

The biting, tense air dissipated, leaving room for a welcomed fatigue and sense of ease to settle in.

Now free of the burden on his shoulders, Mister Bacchus had a lighter spring to his steps as he approached Shylock:

Bacchus: …Shylock, you really saved me today, I can’t thank you enough.

But why… Why goin’ through all that trouble? You didn't hafta go all out ‘n make use of such a precious collection just for the sake of a competition...

Shylock: Because I honestly wanted to win, of course. I simply did my utmost best to be victorious, that is all.

Moreover, I had faith that the Bacchus I knew would eventually rejoin us.

Thus, I should be the one thanking you for coming to our rescue today.

Bacchus: Shylock…

Shylock: Well, for now, let us rejoice and raise our glasses to the end of a quite turbulent day.

Shylock picked up a single bottle of wine and opened it with a practised hand.

Bacchus: That bottle, that’s a Bennett’s…

Shylock: Indeed, it is the wine that you have rescued and protected; you may have a glass, if you so wish to enjoy one.

Bacchus: …

Bacchus’ eyes darted back and forth between Shylock and the glass that was so willingly presented to him, chewing away the edges of his lips.

The deep red shade of Shylock’s eyes looked like it had been poured into the glass—a single, exceptional cup that held the entire history of the Bennet’s estate within.

Bacchus: …Thanks, I’ll take it then.

Mister Bacchus carefully swirled the wine, ascertained its fragrance, before holding a sip in his mouth.

Then, after a quiet gurgle, a sob escaped his pressed lips—a sob that progressively broke into a fit of tears.

Bacchus: …ngh, sniff… It’s so… so delicious…

It’s the most exquisite wine I’ll ever taste, but also the most frustrating…! I’ll surpass that taste one day, for sure, just you wait...

Tears streaming down his flushed cheeks, Bacchus groaned with a painfully shaky voice—these words, full of love, poured from a battered heart.

Eyelashes shading his downcast gaze, Shylock quietly smiled:

Shylock: …I am touched to hear these words from you.

⁂

Murr: We were bound to lose—that much I could tell simply from tasting the Calamity Wine—and I’m pretty sure you caught onto that right from the beginning, didn’t you Brad?

You really like your fine wine, so I don't think you’d honestly put that much hope into the Calamity Wine, and rightfully so, because of the tang it had.

Bradley: Well don’t you got me all figured out.

Wasn’t too hard to figure out: the folks ‘ere would miss Bacchus’ wines, ‘n regret it fer sure if he ever stopped producin’.

Welp, at the end of the day, I just wanted to teach the fool a lesson, good ol’ slap behind the head, y’know. I couldn’t stand his coward-lookin’ ass.

Murr: I see! Winning or losing, it was the same to you, since you got what you wanted anyway!

Hmm, well, I liked the Calamity Wine though! Especially the name! That was awesome!

⁂

[Vineyard]

The day following the competition, we once more visited Mister Bacchus’ vineyard.

Rutile: We managed to return the vineyard to Mister Bacchus without issue, but…

Nero: The real question now is what to do with the contaminated crops, yeah?

Bacchus: I've tried chopping ‘em down, replantin’ ‘em, but no matter how much I try, they grow right back to how they were. At this rate, I won’t be able to make my wine anymore.

And honestly, I’m mortified to ask y’all for favours when I just got my lands back, but…

I’d like to extend a formal request to you all, as the Sage’s Wizards: please, do something—anything—to save my crops.

Arthur: Of course. We’ll do everything in our power for you to reclaim your vineyard in due manner

Faust: But for that, it’s necessary to figure out the power of this strange phenomenon, and the extent of its influence. First, we’ll need to carry out an investigation...

Murr: I got you covered on the investigation already! I carefully poked around every nook and cranny!

Bradley: The chap squiggled ‘round the vineyard day in ‘n out with nothin’ in his stomach, so you can trust ‘im.

Shylock: Well then, Murr, what have you discovered?

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