Single Spell Sorcerer-Chapter 94: The Wine Hermit’s Shop

The Wine Hermit’s house wasn’t built on an oak tree. Instead, it was built around an oak tree, with a giant courtyard in the middle where the oak tree was.

There was a small shop on the outside, with a waiting line of about four people.

Once Jax and Neeva got there, Neeva stepped up before him so she could be first.

"Sorry," she gave an apologetic look. "But I need to get some wine back to the tavern as soon as I can. Those rowdy men will riot if they don’t get their wine."

Jax chuckled. "That’s alright. I’m in no hurry," he said. "But are you sure you can carry all that wine by yourself? If you wait around for a few minutes, I can help you carry it as well."

"No, that’s fine. It’ll be a small jar anyway."

"Small?" Jax asked. "How small?"

"No, no. The wine we get here is very concentrated. If you were to drink it as it is, you would most likely die. What we do is dilute it with around 15 parts water to 1 part wine, which makes it properly consumable."

"Oh!" Jax said. "So it won’t be much of an issue for you to carry it. How quickly does this much wine get used up?"

"About once a week," Neeva said. "It’s usually consumed the most during the first week or two of the new arrivals. It slows down a lot for the remaining month and a half, and then picks back up when the next ones arrive."

"I see," Jax said. "So, would it be fair to assume that you have to make this small journey 7 to 8 times a month on average?"

"Uhh..." the woman thought and nodded. "Sounds about right. For our tavern at least."

It was honestly surprising just how much wine was consumed by these people. But then, they had nothing else to do during the evening except get drunk and entertain themselves.

It was Neeva’s turn, so she walked up to the large window through which the trade happened. A small cloth screen covered that window as well, and a silhouette moved in the dim light inside.

"Sir Wine, I need a 5-slime jar of wine," Neeva said as she pushed something through the cloth.

"5 slime, you say? Coming right up," a voice came from inside, one which, while different from the Ink Hermit’s voice, was similarly child-like.

The cloth parted and a decently large jar appeared on the table, along with a small metal coin. That had to be what Neeva had pushed in earlier.

"That’s your second 5-slime jar this week. I’ll be adding the 80 stones into your records," the hermit said.

"Thank you!" Neeva said, quickly picking up the jar. She turned around. "I must hurry back. Take your time."

"Of course, go ahead," Jax said and let her be on her way. He turned back around, looking at the cloth screen and wondered for a moment if he had heard that correctly.

That tiny jar had just cost the tavern 80 stones? Sure, they would add water to it, each of which they will sell for a lot. But it was still surprising for such a thing to cost so much. How was it even made?

"What do you want?" the hermit asked. "Don’t make the people wait."

"Oh, sorry," Jax said, quickly stepping forward. "I was told that you would buy monster parts. Is that true?"

"Depends. What have you brought?" the hermit asked.

Jax opened his inventory and listed out the names.

"Venomwing Hawk’s tail feather, Cinder Ant’s mandibles, Treehopper’s eyes, Seven-Crowned Treant’s sap, Starving Vulture’s heart and liver..."

It took Jax a moment to list out all the 34 different items he was here to sell today. After he was done listing it all, he waited for the hermit to speak.

"Next window," the hermit suddenly said, which surprised Jax.

"Huh?"

Someone behind him pointed to another window to the side that hadn’t been open until now. The window opened inward, and here too was the same cloth screen as the other one.

The cloth screen parted and a large rectangular glassware was pushed out. The glassware had rows and columns of tall glass walls, segmenting the entire thing into an 8 by 8 section.

"Place your items here. I’ll be back to check them once you’re done."

Jax nodded, but the hermit had already moved back to the other window where he was busy selling things once again.

Jax did as he was asked, filling each of the empty compartments of the glassware with the things he had brought from the forest. Once done, he let the hermit know, and waited as he was told to.

It took a few minutes for the hermit to be done with the others before he came to deal with his issue. The glassware was pulled in, and Jax heard a soft unintelligible mumbling from past the screen.

It took the hermit a few minutes to go through each of the items. Once done, he spoke up.

"For everything, I can give you 13 stones," he said.

Jax’s eyes widened slightly. "I will take that, thank you."

The screen opened and a few opal stones slid out from behind. Jax grabbed the stones and placed them into his inventory, quite happy to learn that he had earned half of what he made from his hunting today.

This was effectively 40 stones a day. At this rate, it would only take him 50 days to earn enough stones to pay back Carlton.

That was incredible.

And yet, it was half of what the hermit had made in a single transaction with Neeva earlier.

"Do you have anything else to sell or buy?" the hermit asked.

"Not really," Jax said quickly, turning to leave. But, he found himself with a curiosity that he couldn’t get rid of.

"Although... I suppose you won’t be willing to sell your recipe for the wine, will you?"

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