Chapter 142: Effects of Elven Ales
Devon’s historian let him know about Ken and what he had done with Lensa, including what he had said in the end. Lensa’s young uncle was incensed after knowing her niece’s heart was broken cruelly by this wretched human.
The fact that he was under the booze’s effect didn’t lessen Ken’s involvement and responsibility in the situation. Devon would make sure to punish the guy who had forced his lovely niece to cut her connection from the rest of the world in such an extreme manner.
Devon left out the part of Lensa caging herself in the block of ice using the magic of unknown origin and told everything else to Almera and Eren. The fact that such a reclusive expert had called to preserve that ice from getting destroyed hinted to Devon that he should keep the spell-generated ice block a secret for now.
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The Unscented Wind Empty Mind ale was famous for giving people controlled amnesia when they were under the ale’s effect. It was also renowned for changing their personalities into someone that only sought to fulfil their wishes if drunk in sufficient quant.i.ties.
The ale would first make its users feel drunk and give them a good high. But if drunk in sufficient quant.i.ties, the effects of this booze won’t stop there as another phase of the effect would get unlocked.
In the next phase, the users would then be kicked out from their drunken stupor all of a sudden. They would get to experience the absolute clarity of what they wanted to do the most in their lives. The absolute clarity also implied that they would be aware of their current state of being drunk on the ale at the time of facing their desires.
In this state, the users would seek to fulfil their desires without any bias on the pre-established opinions. That’s why it was considered as one of the most hilarious or dangerous elf liqueurs depending on who drank it.
The city administration was split in half between retaining the ale on the shelves of the bar and banning it entirely. The drunkards of this booze had created many messes in the city after they were put in the state of Empty Mind after all. They had disrupted public order and caused public property damage.
But the city generated a hefty revenue from the selling of this booze. Some of its regular customers would place orders in bulk no matter how many times the city administration raised the tax on it.
So there were members of the city administration that didn’t want to close this channel of hefty revenue by banning the drink. They forced the ones who wanted to do so to come to a compromise. A compromise in which they would instruct the tavern owners inside the city to control the quant.i.ty of the Unscented Wind Empty Mind per person.
As per the instruction, the tavern owners would have to stop selling the booze to a customer who was getting dangerously close to experiencing the ale’s Empty Mind phase. Otherwise, they would be questioned or even may be held responsible if and when one of their patrons does something radical while under the ale’s effect.
But that didn’t stop most booze owners from selling the stuff like what they had been doing previously. And they would always get away by paying the right person in city administration when one of their patrons was caught in a controversial case.
What’s more? The ale didn’t have the usual odour of alcohol. It didn’t make the user exude the smell of being drunk.
The ale meant the unscented part in its name. It was as if the concoctioner of the ale wanted people to experience clarity of mind without them feeling like they are just drunk.
The Unscented Wind was less like booze and more like a debuff potion with an additional effect or two.
All the famous elf liqueurs were like this. That’s why Marla was so crazy about them. The Frostfoam ale that she had demanded from Arizihana was something the Agnoth family was famous for making.
The Frostfoam would make the user feel the most intense chill and produce frost on their skin after drinking. Soon that frost would turn into a foam before disappearing into thin air. In a way, the names of elven ales were a dead giveaway for the effects they would produce.
The ale’s effect was the reason Eren had chosen the Unscented Wind Empty Mind for Ken to get drunk on. He had already bribed the tavern owner. That too using Ken’s money. And made the guy pay for both of them using “additional charges”.
Why should scrooge waste his wealth to get the guy drunk even when it was for his plans? The best part about this plan was that Ken wouldn’t be able to deny the charges he was slapped with.
The ale was known to make changes in the user’s normal personality. They would be extremely focused on getting the things they want at any cost. And they would do everything in their power to achieve that goal.
Plus, they would be aware that their clear and extremely logical state of mind was due to the ale’s effect. This effect would just magnify the feelings and emotions users already had in their minds. It wouldn’t alter their personality.
That’s why Eren couldn’t completely be rude to Lensa. Because the Ken people knew wasn’t a rude or misbehaving person.
That’s why Eren had selected his dialogues specifically so that they would give away that the guy was under the ale’s effect. The dark knight had set the close to perfection trap for Ken to fall in. And now he was antic.i.p.ating his efforts to become fruitful.
Eren made people a.s.sume that he stopped drinking before the ale’s effects kicked in while Ken went overboard and kept on drinking. And since the ale’s effect was potent, it changed his personality and turned him into a horndog that only wanted to fu*ck at any cost without worrying about his partner’s feelings.
Almera could only sigh in disappointment after hearing Devon’s explanation. She knew that it wasn’t completely Ken’s fault. But she also felt that he should face consequences for his actions, even when they were done under the ale’s effects.
Almera retired to her room after the explanation ended, looking at Ken with pity. The guy was too stunned to process what he had done while staying aware of his surroundings. He was trying hard to jog his memory of last night. So he didn’t notice Almera’s departure.
The Ace ranker from Eren’s team had given her silent permission to Devon. He could do whatever he wanted with him now as long as it didn’t involve something extreme.
And so it finally happened. Eren watched in glee as his arch-nemesis was getting pounded hard by the enemies he didn’t make. His only regret at that moment was that he didn’t have popcorn to watch this awesome show.