I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 792

An endless barrage of biting, harsh vitriol.

Not only Gareth, who was on the receiving end of it, but even Asella, who was merely watching, could only stammer in dumbfounded shock.

Up until now, even if a contestant didn’t pass, the guardian would point out good qualities; launching such harsh criticism like this was unprecedented.

Besides, just how angry was he for his blue body to gradually turn beet-red, as if being cooked alive?

Even a complete stranger could tell how serious it was, so the victim himself must be even more bewildered.

[Speak truthfully. You secretly hid your finest alcohol, didn’t you? Otherwise, there is no way you could have crafted something so half-assed.]

"I-It is a misunderstanding! I brewed this with all my heart and soul!"

Even Gareth, who was usually laid-back and carefree, protested with deep grievance in his voice.

It was liquor he had brewed as soon as the National Brewing Competition began, and he had been aging it ever since.

That was why he had been so confident, and he couldn’t understand for the life of him why he was receiving such an abysmal review.

-Hey. Wasn’t that liquor insanely delicious?

-Right? Is something wrong with our tongues?

The other dwarves felt the exact same way.

Before being competitors, the participants were dwarves after all.

They had all savored each other’s prepared brews long ago and passed their own evaluations.

Out of all of them, Gareth’s brew had been undeniably superior, so they couldn’t comprehend why it was receiving such harsh treatment.

[Heart and soul, you say... Then that must mean your skills are utterly trash. Like casting pearls before swine.]

"..."

The giant frog leveled a scathing insult.

In Republic of Korea terms, it was no different from saying, ’Your family’s kimchi tastes fucking terrible.’

Though the other dwarves would offer him comfort, a deep wound in his heart was inevitable.

An ordinary person would have fallen into despair and panic, but...

’Sigh. Oh well. I should just brush it off as one of those things. Honestly, it’s thanks to that bastard Grylls that I even got this far anyway.’

Gareth was flustered and felt wronged, but he did not fall into despair.

He simply let it slide, thinking that living long enough meant suffering humiliations like this every now and then.

In fact, this might actually be more comfortable. It was better than gaining unwanted fame and attracting annoying pests.

He could just return home, drink with his friends like usual, and go back to his ordinary life.

[Ggul-ggeok. Ggul-ggeok. Kkeu-eok. So, you’re saying you don’t have anything else besides this?]

Said the giant frog after chugging the entire massive barrel whole.

It sounded as if he were offering another chance, but Gareth didn’t care.

After all, he would still be able to tour the brewery thanks to Asella’s help, and right now, all he wanted was to go home and rest.

"Yes. That is all."

[Hmm. I don’t think so.]

The giant frog, whose beet-red skin had returned to blue before anyone realized.

The frog remarked pointedly, looking at the water canteen—no, the liquor bottle—slung at Gareth’s waist.

At that, Gareth protected the liquor bottle with his life as if this was the one thing he couldn’t yield, and spoke up.

"T-This is off-limits! I need to drink this on my way back!"

[Which is precisely why I must drink it. Hand it over, quick.]

"Ah, I really can’t..."

"Hey, hey. A creation of Lucas-nim is asking so nicely, so give him at least a sip."

As Gareth hesitated, his close friend Wagner urged him on.

Gareth glared at Wagner with resentful eyes, but he had already been singled out.

As a compromise, instead of giving him the entire bottle, Gareth poured a serving into a drinking cup he had brought along and handed it over.

Given the giant frog’s immense size, a single cup was practically a single drop of dew to him, but he didn’t mind in the slightest.

[Mmm... I smell a rich aroma of ginseng. And it seems you used a fully matured ginseng.]

Spot on. The true identity of the liquor inside the bottle was mandrake liquor.

It was the very first ingredient he had received from Grylls, and it was currently in the middle of deep aging.

[Where on earth did you obtain an ingredient like this?]

"It was a gift from a friend."

"You had friends other than me?"

Wagner teased him from the side, but Gareth casually ignored him.

As mentioned before, Wagner had also roughly guessed the origin of the ingredient.

He simply kept his mouth shut tight so Gareth wouldn’t get into trouble, and furthermore, so that such delicious liquor could be shared exclusively among those in the know.

[Even if I offer you a fine brew, will you still not speak?]

"Huk!"

"The Guardian-nim himself offering alcohol...!"

Did such an attitude spark his curiosity?

The giant frog lowered his head slightly and made a sly proposition.

At that proposition, the other dwarves gasped in astonishment. And small wonder—it was an offer directly from Lucas’s creation.

For him to serve alcohol personally was virtually no different from serving the brew of the gods itself.

It meant having the honor of drinking ’Nectar’, the drink of the gods, with one’s own lips.

"I will decline. I will not spill where I got it even if I die, so please keep that in mind."

[Is that so? But once more alcohol goes down, the story might change.]

Saying so, the giant frog reached out his hand toward empty air.

Astonishingly, his hand vanished into thin air, only to pull out an oak barrel a moment later.Enjoying the story? Read on at novеlping.com.

Kung!

And then he placed it right between himself and Gareth.

Just as Gareth was standing there completely dumbfounded by this bizarre situation, the giant frog spoke up.

[This is the liquor my master favored. It should suit your palate.]

"Uh..."

[I shall give you this, so hand over the liquor in that bottle of yours in return.]

Gareth deliberated briefly, but only for a second.

"Sure. Well..."

He immediately accepted. His instincts as a dwarf won over his reason.

And thus, a drinking session unfolded quite unexpectedly.

Of course, given the massive difference in scale, Gareth’s liquor bottle looked hopelessly pathetic.

Ssuuuuk-

"U-Uh?"

"H-His size is shrinking?!"

So what did he do?

The giant frog simply shrunk his own body.

As a result, the giant frog took on a stature similar to that of a dwarf.

No, he became so ordinary that the modifier ’giant’ could no longer be applied.

[Come on, come on. Let’s exchange a glass each without hesitation.]

The frog drank Gareth’s brew, and Gareth drank the frog’s brew.

He had no idea what kind of situation this was, but Gareth casually accepted and drank the alcohol.

[Is it delicious?]

"The subtle fizzy kick inside is exquisite."

[So, can you tell me now who gave you the ingredients for this liquor?]

"That, I cannot do."

What followed after was truly nothing special.

Gareth talked about what he usually did, what kind of life he led, what he planned to do in the future, and so forth.

Gareth answered those questions with utmost sincerity while doing his best to avoid any mention of Grylls.

[As for me, you see... those times I shared conversations with my master were so enjoyable. I am in this state now, but I hope to meet him again someday.]

"Ugh... But why am I feeling so drunk..."

[When you drink alcohol, it’s only natural to get drunk.]

What was even more surprising was that Gareth, who rarely got drunk, was beginning to feel tipsy.

While he felt a brief sense of satisfaction from the long-lost buzz, Gareth soon worried whether he might slip up and make a mistake.

[When drunk, true feelings naturally pour out from deep within. My master desired that as well.]

"Oh... Is that so?"

[So, what do you want to say?]

"I wanna go home and ’ave a drink, y’know?"

His tongue was already half-slurred. The frog chuckled softly and knocked back the bottle refreshingly.

After drinking every last drop remaining in the bottle, he even stood up from his spot.

[Good. It is a liquor to my liking. You pass.]

"Yes... well... got it."

"...Didn’t you spew sharp insults earlier?"

Asella, who had been watching the drinking session just in case, asked cautiously.

At this, the frog shrugged his shoulders and looked at Gareth.

Gareth was currently being dragged away by Wagner and the other dwarves, and the sight was quite hilarious.

It looked just like taking home a dead-drunk friend—a thoroughly ordinary sight.

[I told you to bring a liquor to my liking, I never told you to bring an exquisite liquor.]

"If it’s a liquor to your liking..."

[It is a liquor that can lead a conversation. Banter is essential for a drinking session, isn’t it?]

"..."

That was true.

Since ancient times, whenever a drinking bout began, all sorts of talk would naturally flow.

However, what the dwarves had been doing was seeking an ’evaluation,’ without offering any ’conversation’ at all.

’Truly a riddle fitting for the God of Wine.’

At any rate, since he had passed, Asella decided to enter the brewery.

The other dwarves said they would enter as soon as Gareth regained his senses.

"Ah. Come to think of it, what is Guardian-nim’s name?"

Before going inside, Asella asked the frog his name.

Currently, the frog was back in his true form—that is, gigantic once more—and was chugging from a barrel.

[My name? It’s ’Jinro’, but why do you ask?]

"Isn’t it only natural to ask the name of a noble entity?"

[Noble, my foot. My master always loved ordinary drinking sessions. Ggul-ggeok. Ggul-ggeok.]

The giant frog, Jinro, waved his hand dismissively while drinking without pause.This chapter is updated first at novelрing.com.

Seeing this, Aris chuckled softly, thinking ’like master, like creation’.

His scale was massive, but his behavior was unmistakably that of someone who simply loved alcohol.

At any rate, now that Jinro’s test had been passed, Asella moved her feet forward.

Passing through the brewery entrance that Jinro was guarding, she looked around the fully revealed interior.

"Wow..."

The moment she surveyed the interior, an exclamation of admiration escaped her lips naturally.

In the Holy Kingdom of Avalon as well, there was a place where brewing took place, and she had visited a few times.

It wasn’t to drink alcohol, but because it was the busiest place during every festival.

That was why she roughly knew what the structure of a brewery looked like and how alcohol was produced.

’I can feel a sense of strictness that refuses to allow even a hair’s breadth of error. That’s why the craftsmanship shines through even more.’

Unlike ordinary breweries that relied heavily on human hands, Lucas’s Brewery was filled with machinery.

’Could this be a measuring gauge? Just how much advanced technology was used to brew a single drink?’

The more she looked around, along with admiration, a wave of absurdity washed over her.

To invest this level of technological prowess just to craft mere alcohol was thoroughly like Lucas.

Of course, since drinking was an inseparable culture for humanity, it wasn’t impossible to understand.

It was just that Asella, who didn’t drink much alcohol, felt it was a bit excessive.

’However, it seems a long time has passed without it operating.’

The stills were not rusted or anything, but there were many areas covered in dust.

Come to think of it, having slept for nearly several thousand years, it was practically a miracle that it was only covered in dust.

’Or... maybe the switch is simply flipped off.’

Asella thoroughly surveyed the brewery, searching for an activation button.

However, as it was her first time visiting, grasping the layout proved difficult, so she decided to seek Jinro’s assistance.

It would take time for the dwarves to arrive, and thanks to the Holy Sword, she had already gained quite a bit of his favor.

When she stepped outside for a moment, she encountered a familiar face.

"Hm? Ash-nim?"

"Ah. Hero-nim. You were already inside before me."

The representative of the Messiah Empire, Ash Menethil.

A now-familiar face, and also her romantic rival.

Though a murky emotion flared up within Asella for a brief second, she welcomed her with a gentle smile.

"Given the urgency of the matter, I had no choice. I hope you know I had no intention of committing any offense against the Messiah Empire."

"Well... I’m representative in name only; I just came here alone, so you don’t need to speak so formally."

Having said that, Ash turned her head and met Jinro face to face.

Jinro was still gulping down his own liquor, paying Ash no mind whatsoever.

At that, Asella let out a bitter smile and lowered her gaze.

In Ash’s hand was liquor crafted directly in the Messiah Empire.

"Is that liquor from the Messiah Empire?"

"Yes. That’s right. Though it seems unnecessary right now."

[Hm? You have more liquor? Hand it over here.]

Of course, to a liquor lover, alcohol is always necessary.

Jinro lightly chugged down the Messiah Empire liquor prepared by Ash.

Though the situation took a strange turn for a moment, Asella quickly brought things back on track.

[How do you turn it on? Try activating it with that Holy Sword of yours.]

"I don’t know how to do that."

[Is that so? Then hold on. I’ll do it for you.]

Activating the brewery.

Thanks to the Holy Sword acting as a master key, operating it wasn’t difficult either.

Before long, Jinro activated the brewery himself.

Giiiiiing!

Along with the humming noise of machinery, the brewery vigorously sprang into operation.

Of course, since there were no required ’ingredients’, brewing itself did not take place.

’...Several thousand years must have easily passed, yet it actually works?’

The problem was what came next.

Despite having been asleep for nearly several millennia, it operated perfectly fine.

Since both of them had regularly watched Grylls’s broadcasts, they instantly sensed that something was extraordinary.

"We had better go to the power room for a moment."

Right on cue, Ash must have felt the anomaly as well, speaking in an urgent voice.

At that, Asella nodded and strode forward with long strides.

She had no particular interest in the stills functioning; the power room was far more important.

Thus, they navigated through the brewery, which was extraordinarily vast for something said to be hastily assembled, searching for the power room.

"...My goodness."

"This is... going to be quite a headache, isn’t it?"

In the power room, they came face to face with the ’World Tree’, standing tall and erect.