He was immediately scolded by Roy. "That's not something you should joke about."
"Hmm, you are right." Julian apologized with a sour face.
"I feel stuffed," Tevenlor said while burping ungracefully and patting the stomach region of his armored self.
Before the meal that Damien had the maids prepare for them, not only was Roy's energy tank was hovering below 1k points, but he was also suffering from mild exhaustion caused by using his soul-herding ability a bit too much.
However, after filling up his stomach, his energy bar was glowing gold, and there was no headache to be felt either.
"Thank you for the meal."
"You are great, Sandra."
Everyone praised the main hand behind all the dishes on the tables. Amelia and Delilah had only helped cook the meat. Sandra did the rest.
She wasn't used to so much attention, so she lowered her head and hid her face in the bowl.
"Well, I learned from the best," she said after a pause.
"So, I think everyone's pretty much finished with the meal." Damien said, "Let's move to the last part of the banquet."
Only 7 minutes were left for it to end.
"Are you about to do something special for us?" Roh asked.
Damien nodded.
"It's time for the main course. Sandra, please bring it here."
After hearing his words, Sandra went out. Soon she returned with a bottle and a tray of wine glasses and said, "Master, I have brought what you asked for."
"Good job," Damien said.
He pulled out the cork, and a sweet scent instantly filled the air.
"What is it?" "Why does it smell so nice?" asked the couple. The sweetness could be tasted just by sticking out your tongue.
"It's Soul Intoxication Wine," Damien replied.
Wanting to find out more about it, Roy inspected it.
At the same time, Julian was surprised to hear Damien's words. He didn't expect he would gain a chance to drink a wine that the imperial would kill to get here of all places!
"Is it something good?" Tevenlor asked.
"It's one of the most treasured delicacies of the world. You can't get it anywhere on this continent. It's the finest product of a chaotic dreamland that no one knows how to enter. It was brought out by a man of unknown origin 120 years ago and attracted everyone's attention because of how good it was. A single drop of this wine is enough to make the air sweet like honey." effused Julian.
"I know a bit about it, too," said Delilah. "The kings, grand knights, and archmages of that time requested to buy it from the man simultaneously. He couldn't decide who to sell it to, so he held a tournament and announced that the winner would get his most treasured wine. All the big shots participated. But it wasn't the kings or archmages who came out on top. The one to win it was a grand knight. He was the former commander of the northern frontier. The soul-intoxication wine was his, but he would be offending all of them, including his king if he kept it all for himself. So he shared it. It didn't betray their expectation. It was as heavenly as they expected, and the five kings jointly agreed that it was the best wine they had ever had. Since then, it has been known as the number 1 wine in the world."
"You don't strike me as the type to know about such things," Sandra said.
Delilah smiled, "It's a famous children's bedtime story, and I am raising quite a lot back home. I have read it to them a few times."
Sandra was a bit surprised to know that, but she didn't show it on her face.
"What happened afterward?" The Female Siren asked with sparkling eyes.
Roy looked at her gently and spoke to satisfy her curiosity, "The archmages are the seeker of knowledge. They tried to reverse-engineer it and succeeded. It is a potent wine that directly affects the soul. Even a man who is cursed to feel nothing would become drunk after having it. But the best part about it is that it can improve the quality of one's soul. It's beneficial for everyone and no different than a gift from heaven for soul herders. Sadly, it is made from a species of plant that is extinct on our continent. So it couldn't be brewed."
In the book, the main character had a fortuitous encounter. He dropped into the chaotic dreamland mentioned by Julian by chance. It wasn't a dreamland. But it was given that name as only one man was able to experience it, and the detailed description he gave about it was chaotic, to say the least. The MC experienced it firsthand.
It was made up of many islands.
It was impossible to go from one island to another as there were countless spatial fluctuations in between. If one were unfortunate enough to encounter while flying or riding a ship, they would be ripped to shreds.
The only way to travel to and fro from the islands was through the warp portal gates. They could be found at the edges of each island, but they teleported people at random.
The MC, favored by heaven and backed by plot armor, found himself trapped on one such island. No matter which warp portal gates he discovered and used, he would eventually return back to it. He eventually gave up. He ran out of rations and water. In order to survive, he ate the herbs and plants that were growing on the island. He didn't know whether they were poison. But what choice did he have? He could either try his luck or starve to death.
As a result, the strength of his soul increased exponentially, and his soul-herding ability awakened a third time, allowing him to escape the mysterious chaotic dreamland.
Yes, as one might have already guessed, it's related to the soul intoxication wine.
The plants that the protagonist ate were its ingredients.
Basically, these ingredients could help an ex-rank soul herder awaken!
