Chapter 1120
The Shrine’s Basement
“It’s so big!” Isabel exclaimed, unable to help herself after coming down. “This is almost half the size of the Silver and Tin Hall!”
Unlike ordinary churches, the Ram champagne chapel had a surprisingly large basement. Of course, it couldn’t compare to the scale of a castle like the Vendome family’s. However, the Silver and Tin Hall was less than one-sixth the size of the Lionheart Hall. Eivass recalled it being about the size of three floors cut from a five-star hotel. Besides the extremely large Round Table Hall and Banquet Hall, there were only small rooms like bedrooms, studies, and storage rooms.
“The reason for this is that the shrine itself was converted from a champagne factory’s warehouse,” Sherlock explained. This shrine’s basement was once a giant wine cellar. “Because the champagne brewing process requires secondary fermentation to produce bubbles, maintaining the right temperature and humidity is necessary during the sparkling stage. Thus, a considerable cellar is needed. After successful sparkling, it needs to be aged with lees—that is, aged directly in the bottle with yeast that reproduced inside, waiting for them to die and decompose to produce new aromas.
“This process usually takes at least a year, and it’s the key to champagne’s unique fragrance. The basement of the Ram champagne chapel has a soft, dense chalky limestone shell, which is very suitable for this process,” Sherlock said, his voice trailing off. He didn’t stop walking, his cane tapping the ground rhythmically. He carefully probed for any hidden traps or mechanisms. Their lanterns cast a dim light, and even with everyone’s night vision, they couldn’t afford to relax just because they could see. The tricks employed by the Ram Company were as simple to Sherlock as being exposed to daylight.
“The fact that they were willing to transfer this wine cellar to the church, in my opinion… isn’t entirely about whitewashing. Just as Arsen just said, they used industrial flavorings. As far as I know, they hired a Star Antimony Alchemist to directly imitate the aroma by precisely blending flavorings after the secondary fermentation was complete.” Sherlock glanced at Eivass. “Just like… Master Nobel. Alchemists who couldn’t tolerate the atmosphere of the Royal Alchemical Association and were kicked out. But… heh. The knowledge in their heads is a treasure to other countries.”
“That’s right,” Eivass nodded and said softly. “It was after this group of alchemists proved their abilities that the Star Antimony spies began assassinating alchemists who tried to escape Star Antimony. Before that, the Star Antimony people didn’t realize the talent of these alchemists who weren’t top-tier in their own country because they had too many alchemists… even if they selected the best, all those chosen were talents anyway.”
“I learned about wine brewing when I was reading books,” Sherlock interjected, not addressing Eivass directly. “Secondary fermentation only takes two months, while aging with lees takes at least a year. If this step is skipped through alchemy, they can produce enough goods in a short time to seize the low-price market. They also considered the reasons for handing over the wine cellar to the church. If they gave it to anyone else, its quality might lead to it being resold at a high price to Saint Lero Champagne or other champagne manufacturers. It might even be used as evidence of ‘Ram brand using industrial flavorings’ and cause public outcry. Only the church is different—as long as the church is built on this land, they will never move it or sell the land to others.” This was only natural. If a bishop of any church sold a shrine because someone offered a higher price, it would be a major incident that would alarm the entire country. They would never stoop to such a level of disgrace!
“And as sponsors, they can continue to use the wine cellar to age a batch of high-quality Ram brand champagne to open up the high-end market. From this perspective, the church again becomes their doorman and security guard—few people would dare to sneak into the church to steal or poison. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be their problem, but the church’s. They could also ask church personnel to help purify it… it would just be another sponsorship fee. The Iris people’s church, unlike Avalon, is not funded by the country or the royal family; they have to be self-sufficient. In my opinion… they could even launch a new brand, say ‘Consecrated Brand Champagne,’ to sell this batch of high-end champagne that has been purified by holy light for a long time, possibly with some additional effects.” Sherlock let out a cold laugh. “But I wonder if they have any intelligent people.”
“Hmm?” Isabel looked confused. “But wouldn’t that be useless?” Although she had only been an Extraordinary for half a year, Isabel was no longer the ignorant novice she was six months ago. It was simple reasoning—if the shrine’s purification could fundamentally change the wine, then churches all over the land would already be storing wine, earning funds by selling it. Or it could be used as gifts to gain favor with those in power.
“It is indeed useless,” Eivass, as the most authoritative person present, gave a definitive answer. “Just by keeping it in the church basement, this level of purification has no lasting effect on the wine—let alone in the basement, even putting it in the chapel would be useless. If a consecration ritual is used to bless it—like on the Candlemaster’s Holy Day, the effect usually lasts no more than three days, similar to the shelf life of holy water. Forget aging, even if the wine is bottled and sold, the blessing effect would likely wear off before it even reaches local distributors.”
“I’m talking about the psychological effect, Fox,” Sherlock shook his head. “Not everyone is intimately familiar with your Consecration process. Most rich people are fools outside their areas of expertise. Business is not part of the Path of Wisdom. Merchants need a bit of everything… intuition, luck, management, rules, courage… but at the same time, none of these are indispensable. Even if one is lacking, it can be compensated for in other areas.”
“After all, business also belongs to the domain of balance,” Isabel nodded.
“—Wait a moment.” Suddenly, Arsen’s face changed, and he exclaimed loudly. The others immediately stopped and looked at him. Sherlock tightened his grip on his scepter, igniting the blue eyes of the Spell of Emptiness, ready to cast different spells in an instant for emergencies. Eivass also clutched Don Quixote’s card and cautiously asked, “What’s wrong, Arsen? Did you sense something?”
Although Arsen was a “Phantom Thief,” he lacked the level of Path Adaptation. But every person’s opinion and feelings were important, and Eivass was by no means the type to underestimate a teammate’s clear premonition of ill omen. Arsen stared intently at the wall and slowly walked forward. He actually disliked this topic. Just as he always enjoyed making things difficult for corrupt merchants, he was too lazy to analyze their plans, arrangements, or thoughts. Even more so for merchants who dared to use Consecrators… so he hadn’t spoken up until now. Because of this, he focused his attention on his surroundings. When Sherlock mentioned the wine cellar’s “soft, dense chalky limestone shell,” he had a mischievous urge to grab a handful and crush it with his fingers—it felt like putty or dried paint. It felt good to crush, so after crushing it, he grabbed another handful casually. This time, he felt something unusual… As he crushed the chalky limestone shell, he found a thin, hollow tube. Although he was a High-Tier Extraordinary and could see in the dark, he couldn’t distinguish colors well, but the tactile sensation felt somewhat ominous.
“Eivass,” Arsen said softly, “could you trouble yourself to shine a light?”
“Be careful, you’ll need to adapt,” Eivass warned everyone. He didn’t even bother to reach out, but a faint light bloomed from the antlers on his head. It wasn’t dazzling, but like the brightness and color temperature of a reading lamp on a desk. Under the light, the undecorated gray-white wall looked like a bare concrete room with no finishing. Arsen stepped forward and dug out a piece of chalky limestone with force. It revealed dense tubes underneath. Perhaps because they encountered light, or perhaps because they were exposed, like tooth nerves… they even seemed to contract and writhe inward for a moment, like living things. Crimson, dark red, intertwined, lurking beneath the earthen shell like electrical wires.
“…They’re blood vessels,” Sherlock’s face changed, and he blurted out, “These are all human blood vessels!” As soon as he finished speaking, the blood vessels suddenly convulsed!
(End of Chapter)
