Chapter 126 - 124 Do You Like Sweets?
I invited five people to the top floor of the luxury resort hotel in Port Town Marino. They were Regias, Vel, and Yaris—the three known as 'Shivans' Guard'—along with Sera and Passo.
"I'm sorry to bother you when you're busy. I just wanted to talk to the original members after a long time."
""Congratulations on your promotion in rank!""
It seemed everyone knew and were happy for me.
Immediately, Sera and Yaris raved about the Vanilla Gelato I had made, saying, "It's delicious! As expected of Shivans-sama!"
"Shivans-dono! This deliciousness is nothing short of a revolution! I must write an article about this immediately!"
Passo was acting like it was a professional compulsion. Since the two Old Men didn't seem to have a taste for sweet Vanilla Ice Cream, I had them eat gelato made with wine.
"This works, Regias!"
"True enough. The Young Master really is amazing!"
Finally, a peaceful atmosphere settled in, and when I asked, "Do you have any complaints? Anything troubling you?", Vel replied, "Every day, every night, I'm being pressed by two wives; my sperm and my stamina are in an empty state. Regias, you should remarry too! You're on good terms with that wife of yours, aren't you?"
Regias panicked at being told that.
"I don't mind remarrying. I'll be twenty soon, after all. More importantly, when can I become Shivans-sama's concubine? But my work is also fun, so it's a dilemma..."
Sera nodded at Yaris's words.
"That's right! I used to think marriage was something I hated. Now, I'm torn between the feeling of wanting to give birth to Shivans-sama's children and be his wife, and the joy of being able to work as the Commerce Minister! It's a luxury problem, isn't it?"
When Sera said that, Yaris replied, "I know exactly what you mean!"
I asked Vel, as if teasing him slightly.
"Vel, wasn't a harem your dream? Don't say such pathetic things when there are only two of them."
"T-That's true, Young Master! But I'm already thirty-six years old, you know?"
"So what? The Duke I know was still surrounding himself with women even at seventy! How about you, Regias? Yaris is saying it's fine, isn't she?"
Regias shook his head, saying, "Young Master! Don't tease adults!" but since he didn't seem to mind it, I decided to leave him be.
"What about you, Passo?"
"Fufufu. Thank you for asking, Shivans-dono! I have finally found a miraculous woman who is sixteen but looks about ten!"
I had completely forgotten. He was that kind of guy...
"But hey, is she tiny? Is there even a possibility that girl loves you? It's fine that you found her, but are you actually seeing her?"
At Yaris's point, he started saying, "I'm still just watching her from nearby... but I'm thinking of asking for your help, Shivans-dono, to confess!"
"My help? If it works out that way, then fine."
"Really? Yay! Now we can get married!"
As Passo rejoiced, Sera pointed out:
"Even if you manage to marry her by some miracle, what are you going to do when she doesn't look like a little girl ten years from now? If you abandon her or treat her coldly, you'll be disgracing Shivans-sama's face. Are you sure about this?"
Passo held his head in his hands.
"I hadn't thought that far..."
"Don't worry about me. If you truly love that girl, Passo, I'll help you!"
Passo said he would think about it and his shoulders slumped.
"Since Shivans-sama has brought such a product that looks like it will sell well! This is definitely going to be popular!"
Sera laughed, saying that if we released it with flavors like Japanese sake, fruit wine, or seasonal fruits, it would sell to everyone from children to the elderly. Seeing her eyes change when it came to making money, I truly felt she was Cielo's daughter.
"But how will we sell the gelato? We'll need cases for freezing, right?"
"For that, we can just apply the cases that Leen-sama made!"
She said we would just need to take the magic stone cases, which had ice magic mana infused into them, and make them large-capacity. Since there were already heating ranges and ovens made from fire magic magic stones, it wouldn't be strange.
(If I think about it, I can just make a Magic Box and put them in there.)
"In that case, there are people I want to have as sellers. I'll ask them for now! Also, I feel like if we made it like fast food, it might make money!"
"Fast food?"
Since Sera didn't seem to understand, I explained it was a sense of being able to eat it easily, and she rejoiced, saying, "That sounds like it would appeal to customers!"
I was thinking of asking Kiku, Inori, Shikari, and Chou, but if they weren't interested, I'd stick to just the gelato.
When I asked if it was okay for the three members of 'Shivans' Guard' to act as instructors at the Officer Academy, Regias said happily, "The Young Master will get an offer eventually too!"
It seemed all three were acting as instructors, or rather, telling stories about their experiences capturing bandits or fighting in wars.
"The students are listening with great interest!"
"There were some who looked down on the Young Master, too. I beat those guys in practical training, didn't I, Yaris?"
It seemed all three had high loyalty, which was more than anything.
"Well, don't worry about me. More importantly, how is the Yabusame?"
"Regarding that, centered around Kuai, several of them have achieved results that aren't embarrassing!"
I became interested in those few Yaris mentioned and asked them to do it.
"If possible, I want to have a hundred people ready. I want to present it to His Majesty in the autumn!"
"In that case, we'll need a few more people!"
Vel and Regias looked at the eager Yaris with what was, for some reason, an anxious expression.
"Don't push yourself too hard, Yaris. If it's no good, you don't have to force it. Let's just do it with those who can!"
My words seemed to help her relax her shoulders a little.
I went to see Kiku, Inori, Shikari, and Chou, and when I let them taste the gelato, they raved, "It's delicious!" I had a shop built near the sea and had them recruit several staff members.
"You all will sell well because you are beauties!"
The four of them rejoiced at my words, and since they said they wanted to know everything from the manufacturing process, I taught them the recipes. Until they were able to make it themselves, I prepared several types of gelato in large quantities as stock in the large-capacity Magic Box warehouse.
When I also let them taste things like crepes wrapped in whipped cream, Kiku said, "I want to try making this too!" Similarly, when I suggested trying hamburger steaks grilled on a griddle, Inori said, "Even people who aren't fond of sweets might come if it's this!"
"But, I wonder if hamburgers can be made easily?"
"I'm thinking of outsourcing that."
I thought I'd ask a bakery for the buns and a butcher for the patties, but since I was worried about hygiene, I decided to choose carefully.
"Certainly, hygiene is a concern..."
"Chou has magic, right? If she can use [Clean], it'll be fine!"
When I said there would be no problem with the patties as long as they were cooked through to the center, the four of them breathed a sigh of relief. I arranged for them to live on the second floor of the shop so they could practice making crepes every day. Also, since they could be eaten like soft-serve if we made something like a waffle cone, we practiced that as well.
Making the sauce for the hamburgers was also important.
I made this myself and handed it over as a recipe.
(At this rate, I'll want french fries too!)
There is a tuber called Spado that looks very much like a potato, but apparently, no one eats it.
When I wondered why, I was told, "That is food for slaves and vagrants."
(It can be obtained cheaply! I'll ask Sera to gather a large amount!)
I built a factory, gathered Aunties who weren't working, and explained the process. I left it so they only had to put them into a frozen warehouse made with [Space Magic] and [Time Magic].
"We just peel them, boil them, cut them into strips, and coat them in this powder?"
"Can we get a salary for something like this?"
When I said of course, they worked eagerly.
There are many butchers and bakeries in this city.
While I was wondering how to select them, Sera said, "Leave it to Meg!"
(Who was that again? She's quite a beauty, but I don't recall seeing her... Remember, me!)
"Ufufu! I must have changed so much that you don't recognize me! I am Liliana's older sister! I'm the woman who was called fat, divorced by the second son of Margrave Shinbu's family, and kicked out within a year!"
When I finally remembered and said, "You've become quite beautiful..." in a daze, she burst out laughing. It seemed she had trained herself to the point where she could handle both internal affairs and military affairs now.
"I worked hard using that resentment as a spring! Please leave it to me!"
"Understood. Please do!"
I returned to the Academy and treated Kate and Aria to Vanilla Ice Cream.
"Eh? Sera ate before me? That's unfair!"
Aria scolded me, saying something like she was jealous. To change the subject, I asked about recent news, and Kate told me that Aristo was working hard.
"Recently, we've been accepting letters for the student council's consultation service."
It seemed there were many merchant children being bullied or pranked by nobles. It appeared Aristo was imitating what I had once done.
"Aristo-sama would do such a thing..."
As I was being moved, Aria started saying, "But it's a little different."
"Hmm? Is there some kind of negative consequence from punishing them?"
I thought it was impossible for him to seek revenge on the grandson of a Grand Duke family, but as expected, I was wrong.
"Aristo only helps the girls and then sleeps with them in return. Apparently, some girls have even lost their virginity. When he was questioned, he confessed."
"Was it with the person's consent?"
When I asked anxiously, Kate said, "Aristo says it's with their consent, but since there's a past, it's suspicious, isn't it?"
"I'm anxious because I remember what happened last year. In the end, because it's him, I'm worried he might be brandishing his status at the end of it."
Last year, he said, "Because I paid money," but there was a part where he was using marriage as bait; as for this time, he apparently said with confidence, "I'm not hinting at marriage!"
(If the partner is a merchant's daughter, I just hope it doesn't end up with them having to suffer in silence.)
I felt a chill remembering last year.
"More importantly, two good women are waiting for you!"
When Aria said that, Kate also gave me a kiss, saying, "You said delicious food would be made tomorrow too, right? I'm looking forward to it!"
The next morning.
Aria and Kate had summoned the members of the student council.
Using Appraisal, I prepared low-gluten cake flour and made the base for the sponge cake. I separated the eggs into yolks and whites and whisked them with Wind Magic.
I layered the sponge with whipped cream, stacking them and spreading it beautifully with a knife. Finally, I decorated it with whipped cream and topped it with strawberries and other fruits, completing it. Before I knew it, a crowd had gathered around the laboratory. Most of them were female students.
"It's famous for having a sweet, wonderful smell! What kind of sweet is this called?"
Aria asked.
"It's called Strawberry Shortcake," I said, and she praised it, saying, "It's beautiful and smells wonderful!"
Kate clung to my back, sniffing the scent.
"Was the smell of vanilla leaking into the hallway? If you'd like, would you care to taste it? It's my first time making it, but I think it turned out quite well!"
"Ufufu! Is it okay if we are the first?"
Kate said happily, her face looking like she was about to drool.
I immediately divided it into six parts and served the members.
"Oihii! This is amazing! Jeff, don't you think so too?"
"I know, Chris! I bet Father and Mother would want to eat this too!"
Muller didn't seem very happy, but Aristo immediately said, "Mother will be happy with this too! Shivans! Can we make this at my family home too!" and then realized what he'd said.
He looked around nervously, fearing being called a mother-complex lover, but he looked relieved when no one said anything. Since Aria wasn't angry either, he looked puzzled, but she was talking happily about the cake with Kate.
"That's true. I would be happy if both your wife and Aqua-sama enjoyed it as well,"
I replied with a smile, but Aristo felt a hint of anxiety at Aria's silence.
The female students loitering in the hallway were asking, "Aria-sama! How is the taste?" or "Kate-sama! Please tell us how it tastes!"
"Everything Shivans makes is delicious, but this is on another level! It's hard to express the taste, but you could call him a genius for being able to make something this delicious!"
To think Aria would praise it this much. The female students all became objects of envy, saying, "I want to try it!" Seeing Muller, who doesn't like sweets, only eat one bite, Chris asked in an angry tone.
"Do you have a taste disorder or something?"
"N-N-No! I can at least tell if something is delicious!"
"And you feel that this is not delicious, right?"
As Chris stared at him with a suspicious gaze, Muller looked like he was about to cry.
"I-I'm not good with sweets. That's why I didn't feel it was delicious..."
Muller cowered as Chris let out a sigh.
"Is everything sweet bad?"
"I-It's not like that..."
"But if this isn't delicious, then what is it that you find delicious among sweets?"
Muller was cornered by her irritated questioning.
"Maybe the sweets at the usual tea parties?"
When Muller answered in desperation, Chris asked with a disappointed face, "Your sense of taste really is strange. This cake is bad, but the tea party sweets are good?" and Muller turned pale.
(He probably doesn't think the tea party sweets are delicious either. It's just that Muller hasn't realized he goes to the tea parties because he wants to see Chris. Nice! He's having a youth!)
It was pitiful, but Chris seemed completely unaware of Muller's unrequited love. I was watching to see how Muller would recover from this. However, there was no help from those around him. And the onlookers in the hallway were all taking a bite of the cake Muller had left behind.
"This is so delicious, I've never eaten anything like it!"
"Are you... crying? It certainly is delicious, but is it that much?"
"But, it's this delicious, you know? When I thought about how Muller-kun is such a pitiful child that he can't understand something this delicious, tears just came out."
Muller, who merely didn't find the cake delicious, was categorized as a 'pitiful child.' Along with the onlookers, Chris looked at him with the eyes one would use for a disappointing child, saying, "It certainly is a pitiful child who can't understand something this delicious..."
Aristo immediately sent a messenger to the Klaus family, and it seemed Jeff also sent a messenger to the Imperial Family to report. Kate and Aria whispered to me, "Hey? You'll make it again, right? We must be special, right?"
"That's true. I'll serve it when you've worked hard on something or on anniversaries! The ingredients aren't easy to get, after all."
They seemed to think they could just offer their bodies and beg anytime. Since I thought I'd be in trouble if they thought it was easy, I drew a defensive line.
Muller came to consult me, looking like he was about to cry.
"Is my sense of taste strange?"
"Even if it is, it hasn't caused any problems until now, right? I don't think there's a necessity to overcome being bad with sweets."
He shook his head and pleaded, "Please fix it... I'll do anything...", so I asked him.
"Have you hated sweets since childhood? Or is it your upbringing? If it's that, I think it'll be impossible unless you overcome it from there."
"When you put it that way, I actually liked them when I was little. I wonder why I became bad at it?"
When I told him to remember that and just overcome it, he said, "Thank you!" and left happily.
I was thinking of inviting Aristo to the Klaus family, but I was turned down, with him saying, "Tonight, I have a date with the children I rescued the other day!"
(I'll take some cake and ask about Otfrid.)
When I went there, Windam was apparently bedridden, saying he wasn't feeling well. It seemed he had been acting strange ever since he returned from the fort construction.
When I arrived, one of the Quack Doctor Trio from the Imperial Research Institute had discovered bacteria. Looking with Appraisal, it was a sexually transmitted disease.
"Why did you get such a disease on your way to the fort construction?"
When one of the Quack Doctor Trio asked Windam, he said, "Well, there was nothing for me to do, you know? Even if I'm told to supervise in a lonely place. Then, young women from the neighboring villages would come and keep me company every day! It was fun! I want to go to the northern fort again! Ahahaha!" The moment he said that, Klaus looked like he was about to punch him.
"Then, you won't know if it was done according to the design, will you?"
"The guy who went with me said, 'There are no problems, it's according to the blueprints,' Father! There's no way I could know, so I left it to my subordinates..."
In the end, he got punched.
"Your value is zero. In that case, you wouldn't even know if your subordinates were betraying you, would you? That's how much of a stupid and idiotic existence you are!"
Then Windam became uncharacteristically rebellious, saying, "I was sent to such a remote place for months, and I couldn't even eat decent food! Nor could I drink! I was in a place like that for months! Do you understand how I feel?" but...
"Isn't it natural for fort construction to be in a remote place? Did you go there without even understanding that?"
Klaus countered calmly, leaving him with no words to say.
I was making hamburger steaks until the argument died down. This time, in addition to the regular sauce, I made teriyaki sauce and carried them to the table on a griddle.
"You get more irritable when you're hungry. Would you like to eat, if you'd like?"
The two of them followed my invitation obediently.
The wife and Aqua were looking at Klaus and Windam worriedly, but I was relieved that both of them sat at the table obediently.
Everyone was eating silently and intently. Since the atmosphere was clearly still bad, I was thinking I had to do something when Windam said, "I'm sorry..." and started crying.
"I am incompetent..."
When Windam arrived at the site, it was completely different from the scenery he had imagined looking at the map. Due to the loneliness, he didn't know where to start.
"I thought I should have listened to the explanations properly and studied, but it was too late. I became a burden, and my subordinates looked at me with contempt every day. Before long, I escaped into alcohol and women, and ended up in this situation. Just as Father said, I was stupid and idiotic."
After making that confession, Windam finally noticed the hamburger steaks he was eating.
"This is... delicious, Shivans-kun!"
"Delicious things are good, aren't they? They make people happy unconditionally."
Nodding repeatedly while crying, he ate, saying, "You're right! Truly!"
When I served strawberry cake for dessert, the wife and Aqua ate it as if they were competing.
"To think such delicious things exist in this world! It's wonderful!"
The wife praised it immensely.
It seemed both Klaus and Windam liked sweets, as they were praised as well.
"I wonder if Empress Victoria would be happy if I presented this to her? Gehehe..."
"You never learn. Shivans-kun! You don't have to fix this idiot."
The wife and Aqua watched the conversation between Windam and Klaus with wry smiles.
"You say that, but I carry Father's blood! Aristo does too! Liking good women is in our lineage!"
"Don't blame it on me!"
I didn't expect to be shown adults frolicking like that. The banquet began, and I decided to ask what I wanted to hear.
"Um... is there something you want to ask?"
Then the four of them turned toward me.
Klaus made a gentle face and asked, "What do you want to ask?"
"Do you happen to know the name of a court mage who lived 250 years ago, named Otfrid?"
Everyone except Klaus said "I don't know," but Klaus alone seemed to know something.
"What do you intend to do with that knowledge? Who did you hear that name from?"
"I don't know if you'll believe me... but it's a story so strange I think it might have been a dream..."
When I told the story of what I experienced in the dungeon, he nodded.
"I see. If it's within the scope of what I know, I shall tell you."
I said, "Please," and bowed my head.