Chapter 680 - This is Absolute Sacrilege to Wine!

Ian’s love for wine began when he was a young child. His father was a leather shoe craftsman, who, following the conclusion of the war among species, established a small shop for himself in Chaos City, where he would make custom-made leather shoes. At the end of every month, he would buy a bottle of wine and place it on the high windowsill, drinking only a small glass before bed every night.

As a young child, Ian was extremely curious about the reddish-purple liquid in the bottle. Finally, when his father was out running an errand one day, he carefully clambered onto the windowsill and drank half a glass of wine for himself.

The wine was sold at several dozens of copper coins per bottle, and the flavor was slightly sour and bitter. There were still traces of unfiltered grapes in there, and it was a very mediocre wine brewed by a small winery.

However, at the time, Ian felt as if that was the best thing that he had ever drunk. It was as if a whole new world had been opened up to him.

The young Ian had a very low alcohol tolerance, and fell asleep on the ground after drinking just half a glass of wine. After his father got home, he gave Ian a thorough beating.

However, that didn’t discourage Ian from his pursuit of wine.

Ever since then, he had played a game of hide and seek with his father over his bottles of wine spanning many years. This continued all the way until he was able to purchase a bottle of wine for himself and share it with his father without having to hide anything.

As such, when people asked why he had founded Buffett Banks, his reply would always be: because I wanted to be able to buy wine for myself.

It was this simple, almost childish wish that gave rise to a colossal business empire.

After the bank had begun raking in significant profits, he dedicated a proportion of those earnings to building a winery.

He had always been of the opinion that there was still potential for wine to improve, so the Buffett Winery was born.

This was an investment that had drawn much ridicule from countless people. It only became a profitable business in its 20th year, yet by its 30th year, it had already become one of the most renowned wineries on the entire Norland Continent.

The wine produced by the Buffett Winery was referred to as liquid gold, and it was still immensely popular despite its lofty prices. Even the imperial family of the Roth Empire would spend vast amounts of money to purchase a batch of wine from the Buffett Winery every single year.

Ian was very serious about wine.

Only three barrels of the V-grade premium wine were produced by the Buffett Winery every year. One of them would go to Scheer, while the remaining two were sent to Ian.

This was the best wine in the world, with no other wine able to compete with it.

Even the king of the Roth Empire and the queen of the elven race had never tasted wine of such premium quality.

However, as Ian turned his attention to the steak before him and took a whiff of the rich aroma wafting toward him, his eyes immediately widened with surprise.

The aroma of the wine is extremely rich and complex! And this is only after the beef has been cooked, so a lot of the wine’s fragrance would’ve already evaporated. It’s incredible that the fragrance could still be so potent!

Ian wore an incredulous look on his face. During the construction of the winery, he would visit it almost every day, guiding it toward greater heights as there was no one in this world who knew more about wine than he did.

No, if it’s just this much, then it’s still not enough. Ian shook his head slightly. He was still very confident in the wine from his own winery. This was wine that had been brewed through the combined efforts of countless top-level master winemakers. How could it be inferior to wine brewed by a restaurant owner?

“You can slice into the beef with your knife, then consume it using your fork,” Yabemiya instructed in a gentle and thoughtful manner.

“Thank you.” Ian nodded as he picked up his silverware and gently sliced into the beef.

The tender beef was easily sliced open, and vibrant red wine gushed forth along with meat juices. The aroma of the beef and the wine diffused in the air, wafting directly toward him.

This flavor! How is this possible?!

Ian was completely dumbstruck. The aroma of the wine had seemed a little lacking to him before, but that was only because it had been masked by the beef. Now that the steak had been sliced open, he was no longer able to continue deceiving himself.

“What wine is this? Which winery was this produced by?”

Ian suddenly raised his head as he turned to Yabemiya with an intense expression just as she was about to walk away to serve the next customer.

“I beg your pardon?” Yabemiya turned to Ian with a perplexed look, unable to understand why this benevolent-looking customer was suddenly so angry.

All of the surrounding customers also turned their attention toward Ian.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Old Man Ian? I didn’t think you’d be visiting Mamy Restaurant as well.”

“Indeed. Ever since Young Mistress Scheer took over as the leader of the Buffett Family, Old Man Ian rarely ever makes public appearances anymore.”

“What’s going on now, though? Could it be Old Man Ian isn’t a fan of the dish?”

Some of the customers had managed to identify Ian, and a stir swept through the entire restaurant.

Mag, who was cooking in the kitchen, also looked out into the restaurant upon hearing the commotion. He, too, was rather surprised to hear that Ian had come to visit his restaurant for a meal.

However, when he thought about it, that did make sense. After all, the steam engine was an important matter, and perhaps Scheer was unable to make a decision on her own, so her grandfather was coming here clarify the situation. However, it appeared that he was dissatisfied with his food.

Ian also realized that he had let his emotions get the better of himself, and he lowered his voice by a few octaves as he repeated, “I was asking what kind of wine is being used in this steak and which winery it was produced in.”

“I… I don’t know what kind of wine Boss is using, either,” Yabemiya replied as she turned to the kitchen with a helpless expression.

Mag emerged from the kitchen and looked at Ian with a smile, and said, “This is wine that I brewed on my own, not sourced from any winery. Are you dissatisfied ith the wine or the steak?”

“You brewed it yourself?” Ian looked around at the restaurant before shaking his head as he said, “There’s no way such exceptional wine can be brewed in a place like this.”

“I only use the wine I brewed myself in my steaks,” Mag reaffirmed with a smile. This old man was indeed a wine expert. Brewing high-quality wine required many procedures, and just the equipment involved would take up a lot of space. The restaurant wasn’t even large enough to act as a cellar, let alone a complete wine-brewing facility.

“Alright, let’s set aside who brewed this wine for now.” Ian waved a hand as he looked at Mag with a slightly angry expression as he said, “But how could you use such premium quality wine to cook your dishes?”

“I think that only the best ingredients can be used to make the best dishes. This wine is just right for my black pepper steak.” Mag shook his head with a smile.

“Just right? This is absolute sacrilege to wine! Do you know how difficult it is to come by such exceptional wine? Even the best winemakers wouldn’t be able to guarantee replicating wine of this caliber next time, yet you’re using it for cooking!”

Ian glowered at Mag, and even his hands were trembling slightly with rage.