Road to the Crown 161 Poisoned?

"Just like I said, the only way to get this beer ever since I started producing it, is directly from the breweries managed by my econom, Matsu. If even a single barrel appeared outside of my lands, then you will have to deal with the merchants spreading it, rather than with me."

Shrugging my arms with a smug smile on my face, I looked at Peter, waiting for his come back. According to my brewing rights, I could produce as much beer or any other alcohol I wanted, as long as I kept it to my laws. As for selling it outside, since I wasn't the one responsible for it, he couldn't tax me even a single silver on it!

"Oh? Then I'm worried we will have a problem. Ah, to make things straight, I found that beer quite awesome, to the point where I always try to have one barrel nearby…"

With a reach of his hand, Peter brought a small, wooden barrel on top of the table, along with three cups. After knocking the stopper out of the container, he allowed the golden liquid to flow down to each of the cups, before pushing them in our direction and reaching for his own cup only to bring it closer to his mouth and take a generous sip.

"... but the King just can't have your beer moving through the entire country without any tax on it. I hope you will understand where I'm coming from."

I couldn't hear better news! Taking over one of the cup and passing it to Elia, I repeated the same thing with the second one and Governor, only to take the last one for myself and raise it to my mouth in the same manner that Peter did.

But to my surprise, this was nothing but a poor excuse for my beer!

Almost spitting out the drink on the floor, I thought I could mask this hiccup, only to see Elia openly twist her face in disgust. Raising my eyes towards the man behind the desk, I noticed that he was keenly observing our reactions as if he really wanted the three of us to drink what he poured us!

At this point, I also realised that rather than drinking from the same barrel that he poured the drinks for us, he only drank from the cup that was already standing on the side!

"YOU!"

Instantly spitting the content back to the cup, with a swift swing of both of my hands I pushed the mugs away from the lips of my two companions, but it was too late!

Due to how I initially wanted to mask my reaction, Elia already forced herself to swallow a few gulps! While it was good that Governor has yet to poison himself with this bastard drink if anything were to happen to my wife…

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

Instantly shouting from the bottom of my lungs, I openly rested my hand on the handle of my sabre, with my mind filled with the images of my beloved wife twitching in pain on the floor as the toxins would decompose her body from the inside.

But only when I saw the dumbfounded look on Peter's face, I realised that I most likely came to a wrong realisation!

"Sir, is this EXACTLY the same drink you always drink?"

While I had my doubts whether my reaction was proper, I still had to make sure that Peter wasn't simply stalling for the time in order to get the poison to work!

But hearing my question, a light of enlightenment shone in his eyes, he instantly grabbed the entire barrel, raised it above his mouth and allowed the drink to flow down to his mouth, drinking it right in front of my eyes.

"Yes, that's the drink I'm getting from a merchant importing it from your lands."

Seeing that it was just a misunderstanding caused by something that I simply failed to foresee, I lifted my hand from the sabre and lowered my head to the royal advisor.

"I'm sorry for suspecting you, but as this is not the beer I'm producing but just some kind of cheated and watered-down version, added with how this entire meeting started and how you Sir, have a separate cup prepared in advance, I came to the wrong conclusions. Once again, I do formally apologise."

Keeping my head lowered, I could feel a hot flowing to my cheek, allowing everyone in the room to admire an embarrassed look on my face.

"Wait, did you say this beer is cheated?!"

Suddenly realising the meaning behind my words, Peter flared up to the point where he stood up himself, staring at me as if I just announced that I killed the satan and saved everyone sinning from the eternal punishment.

"Yes, while this is just a guess, I would say only about a third of its content came from my breweries, with the rest filled half-to-half with water and some cheap beer that one can find at the outskirts of any town."

As I clarified the matter, the look on Peter's face was truly incredible. With his anger steeming from being cheated by said merchant and the curiosity coming most likely from his urge to try the original itself, it proved to be really challenging to not start giggling at how incredible expression he made!

"But while this situation is quite… messy, it serves as a good reminder for me. As soon as I will get back to my lands, I will make sure that all the barrels sold will bear the seal of my lands so that no one will be able to fake the content!"

While I said something about the seal, I didn't mean the one that any noble would use to mark their letters and orders, but something akin to a small rope that had to be cut in order to open the barrel and that was impossible to be replaced afterwards. 

"But for now, let's return for the topic of taxes for a moment. I think I have the way for both parties to be satisfied, that could additionally increase its popularity and bring a new source of taxes and traders directly to the country!"

Chapter end