Published: September 9, 2025
This is a reposted short story. The new chapter will be available at 6 PM.
Having worked non-stop for nearly half a month, I decided to take the day off today.
I placed a deck chair I made myself in the shade of a tree in the courtyard and indulged in some lazy rest.
Still, with this heat, I really craved something carbonated. I was pretty sure there was some sparkling water left. I asked Lulu to fry some potato chips and began preparing the drinks. I mixed grape juice with sparkling water to create a sparkling wine-like beverage. It felt a little lacking in sweetness, so I added some sugar.
With Liza’s help, I brought potato chips and carbonated grape juice to the place where everyone was learning how to play with the study cards.
“Fizzy-fizzy~?”
“It’s sweet and delicious, yet it fizzes and bursts!”
“Ah~ It’s been so long since I had carbonated drinks~ I wish I could have some Kyoju Pepper~”
The three of them were simply delighted, while the kids froze in surprise. One of them was so startled that they dropped their goblet, but Tama skillfully caught it for them.
“Ooh, it’s all bubbly.”
“?!”
Hic!
Some even got the hiccups that wouldn’t stop; it was quite lively.
“Isn’t this a specialty from the Grape Mountain Range?”
“You know your stuff. I got it from an acquaintance. It’s rare, so I thought everyone could enjoy it together.”
Ms. Mitelna said she had been served this drink by the previous viscount Seemen when she was little and thus was familiar with it. According to her, sparkling water is extremely expensive in Labyrinth City. Since it isn’t produced around here and must be sealed tightly to keep its fizz, the containers often burst from vibrations during transport, so it’s rarely stocked. A single glass apparently costs about one gold coin. The kids stiffened upon hearing this, but Arisa reassured them, saying, “Even if you don’t drink it, after some time it just becomes ordinary water, so go ahead and drink.”
Perhaps because the combination of potato chips and sweet sparkling water was too perfect, the snack plates were emptied in no time. The kids painstakingly scooped up the chip powder with their fingers, and Lulu promised, “I’ll make more for you next time.”
Later, we discovered that carbonation could be easily extracted through Refinement. Once we remembered that ales and other alcoholic drinks were slightly carbonated, the process became clear quite quickly. Of course, local alchemists knew about this, but they hadn’t bothered to separate and extract carbonation since there was no real need.
If we manage to extract carbonation cheaply, it seems like a new specialty product could be born.
Staring at the bubbles fizzing in my glass, I imagined such a future.
It wasn’t until a week later that I learned of a spot in the middle layer of the labyrinth where sparkling water naturally springs forth.
This short story was originally published in the activity report on 2013/10/23.