On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 38
Chapter 38: Puzznic[edit]
–History and the world are complexly intertwined.
●
Dinner in the club building was an exciting time.
The dining hall was open, but this was separate from that. Anne was from the astronomy club and knew the hiking club, so she had managed to borrow some camping cookware and they had set up a few stations similar to food stands.
They grilled and stewed. Frying would have required more preparation, so they avoided that. But…
“We can get power from the outlet next to the vending machines, so we can use our microwave.”
“Oh, we have one too. The breaker can probably barely handle two though.”
“Actually, where does this power come from?”
<There is a transformer substation on the school grounds, so I am generating it for you there. I wanted to avoid a power outage.>
“Were you afraid of a breakdown in public order?”
<No, because this flooding was not my doing. This world is technically under my control, so, as a clever AI, I honestly don’t like the idea of a power outage I didn’t approve.>
“Eh!? Then we can use your power as much as we want!? Then can I plug in a washer and a stove to dry our stuff off!?”
“Izumi? That would only heat them, which is not the same as drying.”
And by using their authorities to cover the sky above the courtyard, the rain couldn’t get in either.
At 7 that evening, the art club and architecture club for some reason set up food stands made with Doric order and Egyptian construction and the forestry club set up a camouflaged stand.
“Hey! These columns are for a stand only a bit over 2m tall, so if you have them narrow as they go up, they won’t be sturdy enough!”
“Well, how about you stop carving eyeball reliefs into the tops of the columns! It looks like a lazy Famicom game background!”
There was some arguing like that, but then everyone suddenly quieted down.
Kuwajiri had stepped out into the center of the courtyard.
●
Kuwajiri opened her can of beer with practiced ease.
She chugged it. It only took her a few seconds. Then she sighed.
…Oh, yeah.
It felt like she was pouring the beer straight down her throat into her veins. Yes, today had not been a good day. In the morning, she had to evacuate with her Note 98 and other valuables, the idiot had died, and more.
But she could say one thing, so she faced the silent crowd.
“Great work, everyone. Cheers.”
“You’re not supposed to drink it first!!”
●
Shifu looked to the stands and cookware set up in front of each club’s door.
“Looks like the yakitori is most popular at the moment.”
“Chicken is allowed by most every mythology. And it provides an opening for conversation by discussing which part is your favorite.”
Raidou commented while taking a sip of beer and Shifu smiled.
“I wasn’t asking for that.”
After a pause, he realized what he had said.
“My bad. …Yakitori is so good when you eat it outside, isn’t it?”
“Have you picked up a habit of analyzing everything lately?”
“I should really just let Kuwajiri do all of that.”
“Sorry I’m not good enough to do it all. …Oh, this beer is great. Thanks for the offering.”
“What are you drinking?”
“I’ve lately been drinking Asahi Super Dry. It’s great for forgetting the unpleasantness of life. And it goes well with frozen foods.”
“Shifu-san, what are you and Raidou-san drinking?”
“I’ve got a Yebisu beer.”
“Yebisu is good, isn’t it? I’m drinking a Sapporo Black Label…but it’s weird. I like the flavor in an ‘oh, so this is what we used to drink turned into’ way, but it also makes me wonder how that turned into this.”
And…
“But it’s weird how good a fit Japanese beer is.”
“A good fit for what?”
“It acts as a ‘phase’ to provide an offering effect.”
A few heads tilted in confusion.
●
Shifu raised the beer can she was holding.
“It seems kind of like receiving alcohol as an offering, but there’s also a little something else that could be a phase effect. It’s a subtle difference in the flavoring, though.”
“Yeah. I sensed the same thing in the German and Scandinavian beers we bought in Will’s basement. The American ones didn’t have it, so it probably has to do with the land.”
He’s getting a bit analyze-y again, thought Shifu, but she was curious about this too.
So including the “new” aspects of this era…
“I’m sure there are people with their complaints, but I like the Japanese beers. Do you know why that is?”
●
“You mean why Japanese beers have a phase related to Scandinavia and beer?”
Kuwajiri hadn’t actually looked into this.
…It seemed crass to do so.
Alcohol was meant to be enjoyed and stepping back from her duties was a part of that. It was also important to find the type that you personally enjoyed, so she had planned on not investigating this until she had more thoroughly tried the different varieties.
So she raised her hand and provided the knowledge she needed to provide up front.
“Some of you know more about the history of beer than I do.”
“Yeah, we are the experts, so feel free to rely on us.”
“The recipes and production did originate in our Mesopotamia.”
“Right. As we discussed before, beer – or rather an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grains – goes back to Raqefet Cave in north modern-day Israel. Later traces of producing drinks from fermented grains have been found in other places. Around 5000 BCE was the first peak, so we see it being produced by individuals and small groups across Europe, in Mesopotamia, in Egypt, and in China.”
“If they were producing grains…does that mean they had developed agriculture?”
“Most likely. We can estimate that was when the yeast required for alcoholic fermentation spread across the world after the end of the ice age.”
And…
“In Mesopotamia, the people were drinking beer together from a big earthenware pot by 4000 BCE.”
“Together?”
“They would use reed straws to drink it together while avoiding the floating lees. Because the pots were shared. Beer was supplied publicly.”
“I bet if you spat it back into the pot, they’d beat you up.”
“The very idea makes me want to punch you, so please shut up.”
She really did feel like doing that
“And beer officially began to be produced from fermenting barley in…”
“Around 3000 BCE. About 400 years before our time, wine and beer production began in the Zagros Mountains on the east border of Mesopotamia. That’s pretty far away. About 470km from Uruk where we were.”
“So about 15.7 Yamanashis.”
“I think that just makes the distance harder to understand.”
<From Tachikawa, that would reach Okayama to the west and Iwate’s Morioka to the north.>
“That’s pretty far! But is that how much land you ruled? Way to go, Apology Man and Busty Mesopotamian!”
“There’s a passage in Bil’s epic poem where I drink a ton of beer, so it really was a major drink back then.”
“Hey, aren’t you forgetting a certain Mesopotamian!? Y’know! Someone way more important!”
“Here, Eshita-san, have some yakitori sprinkled with shichimi.”
“Eh!? What!? You really think you can win me over with food!?”
“Yummyyyy!”
“It took less than a second to win you over.”
“Huh!? Who said I’ve been won over! What’s wrong with saying yummy things are yummy!? I’ll have you know I’m a strong-willed goddess! You can’t win me over with anything less than Karamucho! What’s that, Norse harvest god!? Yakitori with pepper? There’s no way something so simple can be any good.”
“Yummyyyy!”
“I think you can just ignore her now.”
Kuwajiri agreed. But the mention of Mesopotamia’s Zagros Mountains would need some extra information.
“470km is a long way. To transport things that far and have them be publicly managed was only possible with the invention of the wheel.”
●
“The wheel!? That happened back then?”
“Yes, it was a Mesopotamian invention. Potter’s wheels to make pots and such showed up around 5200 BCE and those developed into wheeled wagons by around 4000 BCE.”
“So were these wagons pulled 470km by humans?”
“No. Once some time had passed, they would have been using horses. Horses had been hunted for food, but they were domesticated for riding in Central Asia at around 3500 BCE.”
“And that spread to us.”
“Right. So by 4000 BCE, beer was produced as far as human-drawn or cattle-drawn wagons could transport it, but by around 3000 BCE, the common usage of horses would have allowed production to happen in much more distant places. Do I have that right?”
“So it took horses + wagons + a land that could produce beer to have it available in large quantities?”
“Yes. That Mesopotamia forbade the eating of horses shows just how valuable they were.”
“In the same way, the mass-production and public supply of beer began in Egypt at around 3000 BCE. You can think of Egypt and Mesopotamia as being the second phase of big beer producing regions.”
●
Kuwajiri decided to get back on topic.
She had wondered for a while why Japanese beer was such a good fit for the Norse group.
“Can you answer that one, Temanko-kouhai?”
“Oh? But Japan is a country of rice wine.”
“Then,” said Kuwajiri, holding up an empty beer can.
“What is this?”
“If I had to guess, I would say the phase effect you receive from beer comes from the geographical features of Sweden or Iceland. Now, taking me for example, my strictly defined home would be Dazaifu and my broadly defined home would be ‘the land of Japanese myth’. And for the Norse gods…”
“Your strictly defined home is Sweden and Iceland, but your broadly defined home is the land of the Celtic and Germanic tribes.”
●
“Oh, I get it. Norse is more associated with Scandinavia, but our home can also be seen as where our myths came from.”
“Right. If we trace your myths back, I believe they most likely originated in Germany. Thunder God-senpai, you mentioned before that Scandinavian beer is also a good fit, but do you remember the brand?”
“Pripps Blå. It was light and watery.”
“I see. That more or less gives me the answer.”
“Did you say bra!? So is it busty!? A busty beer!? Way to go, Uncensored Kingdom Sweden!”
<He said “blå”, which is Swedish for blue. In this case, it is meant to give a refreshing image, ape.>
After a breath, Tenma continued.
“Simply put, Japanese beer was strongly influenced by Germany at one point. Germany is seen as the king of European beers, which may play a role.”
●
Tenma thought.
…Yikes.
She was actually touching on some really dangerous information here.
And she was probably the only one who knew it.
How dangerous? Enough for her to open a Revelation Board and send a message.
“Omokane-senpai, may I reveal some spicy information for a discussion of beer?”
●
“Oh? How spicy are we talking?”
“Enough to get ahead of the DC.”
“Ooh, can I listen in?”
“Huh!? Wait, Yatsui! What is this about, Tenma-kun!?”
“Most likely, this is something you could only notice while actually living here in this divine world. And it’s something everyone will eventually realize.”
“And you just realized it before anyone else?”
“Yes. If I mention this, I am certain Norse Knowledge God-senpai will realize it too. I am equally certain Human-senpai will not realize it.”
“Was that last part really necessary?”
“Then go for it, Sugawara-kouhai.”
“Are you sure? I can hear all this.”
“Which makes us all accomplices. You know how to go about it, I trust, Sugawara-kouhai? I also want to hear your discovery.”
●
Kuwajiri saw Temanko-kouhai close a Revelation Board after making a divine transmission somewhere.
After a deep breath, she turned toward the others. With a smile.
“Let’s have a deeper discussion on beer.”
Wow, that is an unpleasant smile.
But she must have something, realized Kuwajiri. As a knowledge god, Kuwajiri knew one thing for sure.
She’s guiding me toward something.
…But toward what?
●
They had been discussing why Raidou and the other Norse gods were weirdly fond of Japanese beer.
It definitely had to do with the culture they belonged to, not the brand or product.
She could understand it if Germanic or Celtic cultures were seen as a phase.
And since Japanese beer was influenced by Germany, it was indirectly Germanic and it would have a weak offering effect for them. But…
…Hm?
Something felt off.
That logic made good enough sense, but in truth…
…It almost seems like breaking the rules?
What about it broke the rules? It was probably something so natural and ordinary for them that was, at the same time, unthinkable for the others.
What could it be?
She wanted to know.
So she played along. That unpleasant smile now looked pleasant enough. So in order to play along with Temanko-kouhai’s game…
“Fine. We have time to get sidetracked with a discussion on beer.”
●
“Shifu-senpai, Raidou-senpai. This is probably going to touch on some dangerous information.”
“Dangerous? As long as we’re not talking end of the world stuff, that’s business as usual for us. Don’t worry about it.”
“Right? We’re A-OK with things getting wild. Let’s shoot the Mesopotamians a divine transmission and rope them into it too. For Shinto, Senpai-chan would probably freak out if we told her, so send it to Kido-chan instead.”
She’s so good at this, thought Kuwajiri.
“I don’t know how the others will react, so let’s leave this with Temanko-senpai. For now, just react like normal.”
●
“Okay,” began Tenma.
Outside of the usual group, there were some nameless gods and spirits relaxing with a light meal and chatting lazily with each other. She glanced over at them before starting.
“I’m going to dig deeper into what we discussed before and prove it. Why do the Norse gods receive an offering blessing from Japanese beer? Does that really come from the phase of a Germanic or Celtic culture?”
“How will you prove that?”
“I will compare the beers they are drinking now with the ancient beers and show what factors provide the effect.”
How should she get started? First, she raised an unopened beer can.
“First, we need to understand that the beers we have here and the beer the Norse gods drank in their time are very different.”
“They are?”
“Yes. But if there was no connection at all, then it would have to be a factor other than the beer.”
“So,” she said.
“What differs between the beer they drank in their time and present day beer? There are two primary ways: the fermentation method and hops.”
●
Tenma gestured toward the beer cans everyone was holding.
“Drinks made by brewing – that is, fermentation of a liquid produced from grains or fruits – is divided into three types based on the method of yeast fermentation.”
- Natural Fermentation: Left alone. No real rules.
- Top Fermentation: Fermented at room temperature or high temperature. Yeast floats to the top.
- Bottom Fermentation: Fermented at low temperature. Yeast sinks to the bottom.
“Of these, top and bottom fermentation are best suited for mass production. And in ancient times, managing fermentation at low temperature was difficult, so top fermentation was the standard method. Drinks made from barley in this way are known as ales or beers.”
“There are two different names?”
“Yes. The distinction between a beer and an ale differs depending on the time period.”
- Ancient Times: Differed based on region.
- After 822: The addition of hops for flavor began. From then on, with hops was referred to as beer and without hops was referred to as ale.
- 15th Century: A bottom fermentation method was developed in Bavaria and spread from there. Gradually, anything made with bottom fermentation became known as beer, whether it had hops or not. This was well established by the 19th century.
“Later, the Reinheitsgebot established a definition of beer in the German region, but what I have given you is a good rough idea of the division.”
Now…
“There are two primary differences between the beer the Norse gods used to drink and the beer we have now. As I said, those differences are the presence of hops and the fermentation technique.”
●
A hand went up. Thunder God-senpai’s.
Tenma gave him a “what is it?” look.
“Our myths were complied in the 12th century, so we wouldn’t know about the bottom fermentation beer that only came about in the 15th century.”
“Right. And all of the Japanese brands you gave before actually use bottom fermentation.”
“I see,” said Thunder God-senpai. But then he pointed his right hand at her.
“But. That hops beer began in 822, so we might have drunk that, right?”
That was a good question. And another hand went up.
“Um, this might be a stupid question, but what are hops?”
●
“Senpai! Hops are…y’know! Hey, the rest of you! Why are you already looking away and whispering to each other!? That hurts! But I won’t let that get me down! Hops are the first step of the hop, step, jump, jiggle! Y’know, that triple jump that makes big boobs bounce (up and down)! You jump three times, so that’s three jiggly ‘pulu’ sounds! In English, it’s called a tri-pulu!”
<Um, ape? Can you tell me when you’re done?>
“Shut up, you! I’m done already! Disappointed!?”
●
Tenma saw everyone except for Human-senpai’s fans take a sip of their beer.
Drunk talk is always the most interesting, she noted before speaking.
“Um, hops are an additive that gives beer its distinctive bitterness. They add flavor. They are a vine flower and they were first added during fermentation by the Frankish Kingdom in 822.”
“Hops were meant to provide flavor, but they also have an antibacterial effect that helps preserve the beer. They originally used various herbs as a preservative, but hops are a perennial plant and have varieties with vines that grow longer than 10m, so they can be mass-produced.”
●
“Hops are actually part of the hemp family. They’re a lot like cannabis.”
“Aunt! Aunt! They use the flower, not the leaves or vine!”
“Why am I not surprised?”
●
Tenma knew what it meant for Knowledge God-senpai to provide additional information like that.
…She’s joining in.
She didn’t know what the upcoming danger was, but she was willing to play along.
Knowledge came first. Danger and morality were unimportant.
That was the proper stance for a knowledge god. So Tenma continued.
“That’s right.”
A breath.
“The hops acted as a superior preservative. They were preserving it at room temperature since refrigeration technology didn’t exist, but this was when the Vikings were getting their start and several peoples were opening up sea and river routes. So a lot of beer was produced and they had to enter other lands to trade the excess beer.
“But,” she said, looking to Thunder God-senpai who had asked the earlier question.
“Getting the balance of hops right was a challenge and the recipe wasn’t completed until the 13th century in Bohemia of the modern day Czech Republic. Later, the Hanseatic League and other traders handled beer as a major export and import for different countries.
“So,” she said.
“Norse mythology was complied in the 12th century, so its gods may have had hop-flavored beer, but hops beer wasn’t yet the standard.”
Norse Knowledge God-senpai gave her a serious nod.
“I already knew that.”
Oh, she’s strict when she’s drunk.
●
“The point is,” said Tenma, laying out her partial opinion.
“You Norse gods would have primarily had beer from an age before hops were included. Meanwhile, modern day Japanese canned beers almost all include hops. All the brands you mentioned do. So looking at the beer itself, the idea that you’re receiving an offering blessing ‘because it’s the same thing you used to drink’ fails on two levels if you include the bottom fermentation issue.
“So,” she added.
She tapped the earlier Revelation Board listing the difference between beer and ale and the conditions behind the distinction. She hadn’t discussed one of the entries there:
- Ancient Times: Differed based on region.
“In ancient times, was wheat-based alcohol known as beer or ale? What did you call it, Norse gods?”
“Well. In Sweden and Iceland, beer was called ale. And some ancient poems refer to ale and mead.”
<That remains true. Beer is known as ale in Scandinavia and Iceland.>
“I see,” replied Tenma.
She snapped her fingers to gather everyone’s attention.
“Why does modern Japanese beer provide a phase effect for the Norse gods? Nothing seems to fit so far, does it? Japanese beer is generally refrigerated, so it uses bottom fermentation. And it includes hops.”
She heard a few gasps of realization. The terraforming lead’s look of understanding likely came from her being Shinto.
But the rest still hadn’t caught on.
…They are already seeing something that should be impossible!
It was just so obvious they hadn’t noticed it.
But she continued using the process of elimination to help them see the answer. So…
“Out of curiosity, what is the etymology of the word ale, Knowledge God-senpai?”
●
Kuwajiri could more or less guess the answer to their question.
…She’s paving a road.
Kuwajiri could tell which way Temanko-kouhai was steering the conversation.
So she went along with it.
“Ale goes back to Proto-Indo-European. It was alu at that point and it went through Proto-Germanic aluth before reaching the Old Norse word öl.”
“It goes all the way back to Proto-Indo-European? That’s really old.”
“It is. Barley-based alcohol reached Europe early on at around 3000 BCE. After that, it spread mostly through the northern Germanic tribes who had Celtic cultures. They were primarily hunters and gatherers, but they began producing beer at around 1800 BCE.”
“When did the split between ale and beer happen?”
Kuwajiri glanced over at Temanko-kouhai who nodded. Taking that as permission to field this one, Kuwajiri answered.
“Beer also goes back to Proto-Indo-European. It began with the word beusom which meant ‘beer yeast or barley dregs’ and that reached the form we know by passing through Proto-Germanic and Old English. So it would refer to the type of ale that is made from barley.”
“But it would usually also include herbs as a preservative or as medicine and fruit for flavor, right?”
Exactly.
“So I think the word beer came about as a name specifically for barley-based drinks. But maybe there were different regional rules because the northern Germanic tribes we come from continued to call it ale. But in Germany and further west – such as the West Germanic people – it was known as beer. Despite being to the west, it was long called ale in English and only became known as beer later on.”
“The division between ale and beer is quite stark, isn’t it?”
“It is,” said Kuwajiri.
“One theory says that the people of Scandinavia and Britain used beer to refer to any fruit wine made from anything other than grapes.”
Everyone let out a “hm!?” of confusion.
●
“Um,” said Senpai-san, a hand on her forehead.
After a bit, she mimed holding something on her left.
“Didn’t you say in ancient Germany, the West Germanic people used beer to strictly refer to barley beer that didn’t have fruit in it?”
“I did.”
This time Senpai-san mimed holding something on her right.
“But the ancient Scandinavians and British used beer to refer to non-grape fruit wine?”
“Correct.”
“Isn’t that the opposite?”
“That’s what you get when you let humans decide how language works.”
●
That was generally how it worked with humans.
“That means there were two different meanings of beer, right?”
“Right.”
Kuwajiri raised her empty can.
“Most etymologies of beer are related to barley, but one theory says it comes from the Latin word bibere, which means ‘to drink’.”
“And that arrived at Scandinavia to mean fruit wine?”
“We used Germanic runes starting from around the 2nd century, but the spread of Rome, which officially used Latin, and the western migration of the Germanic tribes replaced them with the Latin alphabet. A lot of words arrived with the alphabet.”
“Yes. This is only speculation, but it is possible that beer is still known as ale in Scandinavia because the Latin ‘drink = bibere’ was applied to fruit wine and so their beer word didn’t overwrite ale. This also fits with Britain using ale for a long time but finally using beer as Germanic influence spread.”
“You’re really getting into this.”
“It is my territory.”
Kuwajiri gestured to Temanko-kouhai to move on. And…
“I think I’ve figured it out. We have all the pieces to the puzzle now, don’t we?”
●
Tenma saw the serious-faced knowledge god look her way.
“That’s enough setup, don’t you think? So how about we move on? Okay?”
“Kuwajiri-chan? Are you pressuring her?”
Unfortunately, she was.
Still, Tenma appreciated that hint.
It led into what she wanted to say. Which was…
“As you can see, the ale the Norse gods drank back in your time was different from ‘modern ale’.”
She displayed a can on a Revelation Board.
“This is the Swedish ale Thunder God-senpai mentioned having bought at Will and tried. Pripps Blå is a bottom fermentation beer. And with 51% barley, it has a light flavor, making it easy to drink. It is a top seller due to its low price.”
What did this mean?
“If there was an offering blessing you could receive based strictly on the ale from your time, Thunder God-senpai would not see any effect from modern ale.”
“But we do see an ether recovery effect, so does that come from the alcohol? Or…”
“Yes,” said Tenma, following the leading question Knowledge God-senpai had provided.
“I think it comes from the phase of Germanic and Celtic culture.”
●
“They may have called it something different, but this kind of alcohol originates in Germanic and Celtic cultures. The combination of tradition and improvements has brought it to the modern day and each country’s beer is the latest form of their culture.”
“It still works after it’s changed so much?”
“Um, yes,” someone said with a raised hand. It was the terraforming lead.
“This is a Shinto thing, but it doesn’t actually matter what an offering is as long as it belongs to that land.”
“It’s like that knowledge god said. The phase influenced by a god is their land. And, you’re saying, it also applies to any land that produces elements that originate from them?”
“Yes,” said Tenma, raising her hand.
This settled it.
She stated something that everyone subconsciously understood.
It was a dangerous fact.
“We are departing from the rules applied to us.”
●
“Listen,” said Tenma.
“We have our territory based on our divine rank, but then how do we explain the offering blessing the Norse gods receive from Japanese beer? It doesn’t come from the drink. Well, it does in that it comes from being offered the drink, but…”
She said it.
“Even when outside our territory in this divine world, food and other aspects of culture can provide a blessing from the cultures that created us and spread our myths.”
A breath.
“Those cultures were created by the humans, not us. Thus, humans can take us great distances by transporting and spreading the ‘framework’ of our myths and our existence. Currently, that is limited to this divine world. This is a special phenomenon that is not found in the virtual manifestation land where no humans exist.”
So…
“The cultures created by humans have phases too. In that sense, we have gotten ahead of the DC and the virtual manifestation gods.”
Interlude[edit]
“Did you get all that?”
“Sorry, Temanko! I stopped paying attention when none of it had to do with big boobs! Do it again but make it about big boobs this time!”
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