Spending My Retirement In A Game

"Whoa, Grandpa, I had no idea you had so much booze here!" Benji exclaimed in surprise as he looked around at the bottles and barrels filled with beer, wine, or whiskey before Benjamin sighed loudly.

"It’s not ’Booze,’ some of this is expensive stuff. I made a lot of this myself, but alcohol like this is one of my favorite things to collect." He explained, crossing his arms proudly.

"Huh, gotcha... That’s why you didn’t want Dad and Uncle Nats down here? Afraid they were gonna get drunk?" Benji asked, but the old man simply looked at him in surprise, while Tony and Natsuo looked at each other with similar expressions, before Benjamin shook his head.

"Not really, no. I never cared too much if the boys drank alcohol, as long as they didn’t overdo it. I began traveling at 17 and drank all over the world as well, so it felt wrong to not allow them to, my issue was rather that I have some bottles of different alcohol worth around ten thousand dollars down here, and I didn’t want them to drink that. By the way, that’s why the cellar was almost a vault because down here are the items with high value amongst what your Dad, Uncle, and Aunt will inherit." He explained, and now Benji and Kyle simply looked back in shock.

"Wh-Wait, what? Grandpa, I knew you had a lot of money, but you’re like some super rich guy..." Confused, Benji continued looking around, now completely confused at what was going on, before Benjamin simply sighed, looking over at his two sons.

"You two, please grab a small barrel of the aged beer, the one from the summer five years ago and bring it to the regular beer keg we bought yesterday. I’ll pick out a few nice bottles of wine with Benji and Kyle." Benjamin asked them with a smile before they quickly nodded and did as Benjamin requested. Walking over to some of the barrels standing by the side, while the old man gave them a small tour of the cellar that was about the same size as the rest of the house in itself, and there was even another floor underneath where the really old stuff was stored.

"The majority of the alcohol down here was some that I made myself. I have some large equipment for it in the back. I don’t come down here too often since the general alcohol surveillance and security are all being taken care of by those little SafeDrone thingies." The old man explained, showing a few ’rails’ attached to the roof of the cellar as well as a few stations on the ground where the different little bots were loading their batteries right now.

"This is actually a certified distillery, and I even won a few prizes back in the day, and it how I made most of my money. It was a good thing to do from home while I was taking care of the kids." Benjamin then rambled on and on about a few different stories about when he got which of these bottles, before they reached something of a ’display’ where different liquors were standing on their own.

First, Benjamin stepped up in front of a grey bottle in the shape of a gourd. "This is a bottle of Kuchikamizake, a rice wine made by chewing cooked rice and spitting the liquid from that back into a container, where it will then ferment." He said with a nostalgic smile, which seemed somewhat weird to Benji and Kyle, considering that it actually sounded somewhat disgusting if one thought about it.

It seemed like Benjamin noticed that as well, so he gave them an explanation. "The Kuchikamizake in that bottle was made by your grandmother, Benji. She was a shrine maiden in Okinawa, and although they didn’t make it for religious ceremonies since 1930, there were still some ceremonies for traditional sentiment every once in a while for special occasions." He explained, and now it actually didn’t seem as weird anymore, despite still being quite abnormal if one thought about it again.

And then, Benjamin looked at two bottles of whiskey that were apparently made in the same years that Tony and Natsuo were born. "I bought these two bottles a few weeks before your father and uncle were born respectively. And then, on the days of their weddings, I drank a glass with them."

The old man explained and turned toward another, a much older bottle of whiskey standing next to those two. "And that is the bottle that my father bought for that purpose. He died before I got married, so I drank two glasses of it that day."

And before Benjamin could get sentimental because of his old man, he took a look at some other bottles, before chuckling lightly. "It seems like the most prominent type of memento I took from my travels were bottles of alcohol, huh? Look, this one is a bottle of wine I got from my year in France when I was working with a Clockmaker, and the bottle of scotch is from when I was in Scotland with a Leatherworker." He told the two teenage boys with a gentle smile, feeling incredibly nostalgic when looking at these bottles.

"Maybe I should pursue Gordon’s Quest soon," Benjamin muttered with a smile before Benji looked at his grandfather in curiosity.

"Gordon? Who’s that?" Benji asked before Benjamin smiled lightly. "Ah, it’s just someone from the game. He asked me to make all sorts of weird liquor that he came up with, and I promised I would. I didn’t follow up on it yet, though, and I think I should probably do that soon."

"Huh, interesting... Like, Snake-Wine Weird?" Benji asked, and Kyle listened in just as curiously before Benjamin thought for a while. "I think there was a recipe or two with that kind of style, yes. But that’s not the kind of ’weird’ I mean. It’s the kind of weird that literally turns you into a dog, or will make you completely weightless." He chuckled, remembering his transformations back then before continuing to walk around the cellar, picking up a few bottles of wine as well as one bottle of Whisky, handing them to Benji and Kyle so that they would help Benjamin carry them.

"So that kind of alcohol is a thing in the game..? Really?" Kyle asked, wondering what the hell the limit of things in there was before Benjamin slowly nodded. "Yes, it is. Although I won’t be making the necessarily super weird drinks, many are quite useful despite not seeming so at first." He explained as the three of them made their way back to the stairs and Benjamin began to talk about some of the most peculiar drinks in the ’Perfect Booze’ Recipe book he got from Gordon, while Benji and Kyle listened curiously.

When the three of them got back upstairs, and Benjamin locked the door again, they could hear some talking in the distance, and from the sound of it, it wasn’t a happy talk at all.

"Again, what the hell do you mean? We’re just bringing this outside, so let us through, please." Tony exclaimed, obviously trying to be as civil as possible before Michael responded extremely angrily.

"No, you will not. You will not serve alcohol here, do you understand?" He said in a commanding voice before Benjamin told the teenagers next to him to place the bottles down at a table while the old man himself stepped up to the group that was currently fighting.

"And what gives you the right to determine that?" He asked with a stern face before Michael looked up at Benjamin with a frown. "The Lord is on my side with this, Benjamin. I let the coffee slide, but I will not allow alcohol."

"Mhm, sure, then don’t allow it," Benjamin said with a sigh before Michael looked over at Tony and Natsuo with a triumphant smirk. And just when he wanted to comment, Benjamin placed his hand on his son-in-law’s shoulder from behind. "Sadly, I allow it. And in this house, I have the last word. Tony, Natsuo, you two go ahead and set everything up."

"Benjamin, what are you doing?" Michael asked in an irritated, angry tone despite not raising his voice and outwardly keeping his composure like always. And so, Benjamin crossed his arms and told Michael what he was doing. "I’m asking my sons to bring the alcohol that I made outside because it was requested by many of the people I invited here if I would be serving my aged Beer." He explained, before starting to walk toward the door, making sure that Benji and Kyle got outside alright without Michael interfering, and then continued to speak as he looked at Michael.

"I can understand that you don’t want to drink; it’s against your religion, I know. But I’m sure Mormons don’t have a rule about controlling those around them or do they? So please, just try to have fun, alright? There’s a nice spot next to the main tent where you don’t have to see other people drink, so if you want, you can be there. But you’re still part of my family, so I would prefer it if you would join the rest of us." Benjamin explained, before Michael slowly nodded with a deep frown, glaring at even Kyle as he was carrying some bottles of wine toward Tony and Natsuo.

"Alright, then come outside and keep helping out. I won’t have any slackers here, got it?" Benjamin exclaimed with a smirk, trying to set everything up so that Michael would be too busy to complain about things and make enemies at the party because he knew that many people didn’t fit in with Michael’s ideals.

And soon after everything was set up, and Benjamin took the Barbecue Sauce off the stove, some of the people in the neighborhood that Benjamin invited over started arriving, and quickly people began to socialize with each other, while Benjamin placed the ribs on the smoker, since those would take a while to finish.

After a while, another group of guests came. Alexander and Andrew with their wives, Josh with his girlfriend, as well as Kim alone. "Welcome, everyone. Long-time no see, you two." Benjamin said with a smile as he looked at Alexander and Andy’s Wifes, before looking behind him and seeing that Tony and Natsuo were already coming over to greet them as well, and Benji, Kyle and Sophia were coming over as well since Kim, Josh and his girlfriend were the first people their age here so far.

"Andy! Been a while, eh?" Natsuo said with a smirk, before Andrew stepped up closer and greeted the two of them with a hug. "Of course, nice to see you two again." Andrew said happily, introducing his wife and children to them and vice-versa.

"Alright, I can smell alcohol... Benjamin, where are you hiding the good stuff?" Alexander asked with a smirk, before Benjamin chuckled and brought him over to a table nearby where the bottle of whisky that he brought with him stood. "Here it is. It’s been a while since we’ve had a drink together, so I thought today would be as good a time as ever."

"Of course it is. But I’m surprised, haven’t seen an old bottle like this in a while now. Here Andy, take a look." Alexander said as he showed the bottle to his son, whose eyes shot open the moment he saw it.

"Wait, is that a bottle of 85-"

"Yup." Benjamin responded before Alexander could even mention the brand name.

"Isn’t this stuff super expensive? And you want to drink it leisurely today?" He exclaimed, before Benjamin slowly nodded as if it was apparent, and Kim stared at the bottle before taking out her phone and taking a picture of the bottle, before an automatic search made her react similarly to her father.

"Holy shit Mister Joyce, what the fuck?" She asked before Josh stepped up behind her to take a look at the screen.

"What’s going on, it can’t be that- Holy macaroni... That... That’s more than what my car cost me... I saved up for years..." Josh muttered out as if his whole view of the world was just broken while his girlfriend began comforting him.

"Well, what do you all expect? Alexander and I are old men, as far as we know, this might be our last drink, so why should we be wasteful with it?" Benjamin laughed before his old friend chuckled with him.

"You say that every time, Benjamin. Although I do have to say, this is quite a lot more expensive than I had thought, are you sure about this?" He inquired, and Benjamin placed his hand on Alexander’s back with a smile.

"Yes, don’t worry. It’s not the only one I have of it. Anyway, how about we adults go ahead and join the others and leave the kids alone for a bit, yeah?" Benjamin suggested, practically pushing Andrew and Alex away while their wives had already made their way to the rest of the party, before Benjamin leaned into his granddaughter Sophia, just ever so slightly motioning toward Kim with his head.

"She’s your type, isn’t she?" He whispered with a grin, before a bright blush formed on Sophia’s cheeks as she looked at the girl in front of her and cursed her grandfather in her mind.

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