By the way... A-ko said in a bright tone, shaking off her fears.
(So, what's going to be served at the tea party? I've never been to a tea party in my previous life, so I'm really curious! Will there be alcohol?)
There was no way alcohol would be served at a tea party where ten-year-olds were the main guests.
Drinking was prohibited until the age of twenty.
(Oh, that's probably because they're following Japanese laws... since it's a Japanese otome game, I guess?)
A-ko laughed weakly before slumping her shoulders with a sigh. (I really wanted to drink...).
In her first life, Gloria had never drunk alcohol because she was executed before turning twenty. Even the glass she threw at the saintess was filled with grape juice.
In this world, the only alcoholic beverage available was wine, sold by the Church as "the blood of God."
The Church controlled the rights to brew and sell wine, vigilantly ensuring that no other alcohol circulated. Anyone caught brewing alcohol without permission would face a fate similar to the witch hunts A-ko knew of.
This world only had the White Hope Church, and anyone excommunicated from it would be treated like livestock, regardless of their previous noble status.
The production of wine was permitted only in the territories of certain noble factions within the Church, and even royal families couldn't easily interfere with its distribution.
A-ko's memories of alcohol were vast, and while she knew about wine, she couldn't distinguish much else from juice.
(Juice and alcohol are totally different, you know? I especially love sake! Ugh, why is the law Japanese but the food so foreign? I just want rice sometimes... Japanese food! Rice! If we had rice, we could make sake!)
As Gloria shared A-ko's memories of Japanese food, rice, and sake, she made a realization.
Rice—wasn't that the plant often grown as fodder for livestock in the borders of my duchy?
She shared an image of a plant growing like a weed in the duchy's countryside and pigs eating it, sending it to A-ko.
Instantly, Gloria's mind exploded.
The joy of realizing rice existed, followed by the heartbreaking truth that it was considered feed for livestock... A-ko's cry of grief was so loud it could be heard in Gloria's mind.
As A-ko calmed down, Gloria closed the design notebook she had been holding. It would still take a few more months for that matter.
But for now, it was the issue of rice and alcohol that had disturbed A-ko.
"Is this 'sake' something that can be easily made with that livestock feed?"
(It's not livestock feed! It's rice! There were some places in Japan that fed it to pigs, but those were fancy branded pigs! It's nothing like how it's treated in this world!)
Gloria blinked in surprise at A-ko's reverence for rice.
(It's not just reverence... In Japan, there's the belief that seven gods reside in every grain of rice. So, we must be grateful and finish every grain without wasting it.)
What appeared in Gloria's mind were images of A-ko and other Japanese people eating heaping bowls of rice without leaving a single grain behind.
To think that seven gods were said to reside in each grain of rice, and yet it was devoured so casually, chewed, and swallowed... It didn't seem right.
Gloria had once thought of A-ko as a soggy noodle-like ghost, but now she realized she had underestimated this phantom.
In this world, they drink wine as "the blood of God," which has strong religious significance.
(But sake made from rice is called 'sacred sake,' and it's offered to the gods, right?)
Offering alcohol made from the gods to the gods...?
Caught off guard by A-ko's momentum, Gloria, for the first time, thought, "?" in her mind.
Gradually, as A-ko's knowledge about rice and sake flowed into her, Gloria began to understand the religious perspective of the Japanese people.
After a moment, Gloria spoke to her reflection in the mirror.
"I understand now. I will make sake in this world, too."
A-ko was filled with joy, but of course, Gloria wasn't making the alcohol for this ghost.
Brain dysfunction, gonadal dysfunction, liver damage, pancreatic damage, and mental health issues... Sake was far too harmful to be enjoyed as a mere indulgence. All of it would only interfere with her revenge.
Therefore, Gloria had no intention of drinking alcohol until she turned twenty.
A-ko could only taste the sake ten years from now. However, Gloria found it useful for what she was planning.