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“Wend experimented with all kinds of new dishes thanks to one of his usual spasms, and that caused new restaurants to pop up in Baulburg within less than a week, you say? People around here sure got a strong business drive.”
“That is because profits are guaranteed if you imitate and sell His Lordship’s new dishes and desserts. Any smart merchant would definitely jump at the chance.”
“I mean even Akira is copying him to a degree.”
“Erwin-sama, the number of stores has clearly increased.”
“Well, Baulburg’s population has grown after all.”
Today Anna-san, who was working as maid and had taken lessons in being a bride with me, Haruka-sama, who took a day off after entrusting her child Leon-sama to Elise-sama and the other women of the Baumeister House, and lastly I, the maid beauty and role model of the Earl Baumeister House as well as the lovely fiancée of Erwin-sama, were enjoying Baulburg together with Erwin-sama.
“Hmph!”
“Dominique-neesan, that hurt───”
Moreover, once again she reads my mind at the perfect moment and drops her iron knuckle on my head…maybe Dominique-neesan is capable of using Mind-Reading magic?
“As if that would be possible. It looks like you’re all giddy because of today’s vacation, but we are members of the Baumeister House and as such we must moderate our behavior.”
As always, she’s so damn stuck up about everything. Typical Dominique-neesan!
“Hmph!”
“Ouuucchh…! I didn’t even say anything…”
“Seeing through your thoughts is as easy as child’s play to me.”
“Now, now, you two, we’ve come out to play for today, okay?”
As a matter of fact, Anna-san had her wedding with Erwin-sama yesterday. We kept the ceremony to a very small circle of our closest friends and family, but it was still a nice event which His Lordship, Erwin-sama’s best friend, and his wives joined.
I want to turn into an adult and marry Erwin-sama soon, as well.
It was decided that the two would have their honeymoon when things had settled down a bit more. Instead they got a holiday of three days which was scheduled to be spent on having a fun time in Baulburg. As such, Anna-san invited Haruka-sama, Dominique-neesan, and me, saying that she’d like to spend the first day playing with all of us.
Dominique-neesan isn’t Erwin-sama’s wife, but Anna-san still invited her since Dominique-neesan helped her with the bridal training.
Dominique-neesan, you’re unexpectedly popular among those younger than you…
“Hmph!”
“That hurt, Dominique-neesan! I didn’t even say a thing…”
“What’s going on in that little head of yours is as plain as daylight.”
That kind of strong fist blow made me forget what I ate during yesterday’s wedding ceremony…
“The whole-roasted serpent was truly a treat. Most of it was eaten up by Wilma-sama, though.”
“Didn’t you forget all about it?”
I only felt like I forgot it.
“Dominique-san, you’re not working today.”
“Ah, you are right, Haruka-sama.”
Dominique-neesan, if I had said that, would you have accepted it just like that?
◆◇◆
“It’s our first stop. Dominique-san, the guards working at the mansion recommended this place.”
“The 『Roast Bowl』, huh…?”
“They cook all kinds of monster meat at low temperatures. I hear the meat is very tender and delicious.”
“Heating meat at a low temperature, you say…? So it’s the same cooking method His Lordship used to prepare cow meat the other day, right?”
“They’ve faithfully re-created Milord’s cooking method, and even got his stamp of approval, it seems.”
“Just what is that guy doing…?”
Considering how busy His Lordship tends to be, he sure invests quite some effort to taste-test places like this one, doesn’t he? But, maybe that’s the reason why many customers are crowding the restaurant?
“Today, roast bowls using boar and rabbit meat are on the menu. You can also have a bigger serving of rice for free.”
“Okay, then I’ll go with the bigger serving,” Erwin-sama announced.
“Me too.”
“Lea, are you going to be alright with that?”
“Even though I may look like this, I have quite a big stomach.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
I mean, I was the one who ate up all of the noodle dishes left behind by Dominique-neesan. Besides, if it costs the same either way, you’ll naturally choose the bigger portion. Isn’t that human nature…instinct?
“Thank you for your patience. Here’s your serving of today’s roast bowl. Three normal and two big servings.”
“Ooohh! That looks really delicious, doesn’t it?”
“Decorating the mean like flower petals does make it look pretty.”
“Erwin-sama, there’s an egg in the middle of the bowl. It’s not raw or boiled either.”
“This also uses low-temperature cooking as taught to us by His Lordship.”
“I see…”
I’m fairly sure Erwin-sama must be thinking, 『Why is that guy teaching restaurants how to cook…moreover, just when did he have time to do this…?』, around now.
“But, can the owner of this restaurant use magic? Otherwise, cooking at low temperature is quite difficult, no?”
Which reminds me, dishes using that method also made an appearance during Anna-san’s wedding ceremony. The cow meat prepared like that was super tender and tasty.
“I hear a person called Beckenbauer-sama developed an exclusive magic tool for this. They say it was his way to repay a huge debt with His Lordship.”
“A debt…right…”
“The magic tool is expensive, but if you use it for this, it becomes possible to easily cook meat and eggs at low temperature.”
Beckenbauer-sama…isn’t that the airhead who’s been visiting the mansion many times recently? So he was actually a genius capable of creating magic tools. You definitely can’t judge a book by its cover.
“If you crush the soft-boiled egg, mix it with the meat and sauce, and eat it together with the rice, it tastes wonderful.”
We immediately began to eat the bowl as instructed by the waitress. The meat was tender and juicy, making it a dreamy experience. I feel like the deliciousness of the meat and rice is elevated by several levels, if you mix it with the egg yolk and soy-based sauce.
“It tastes great, doesn’t it Erwin-sama?”
“I think it’d be smart to teach this to Akira, too.”
“Just where is all that cooking knowledge of Milord coming from?”
“Maybe it’s a memory of a previous life?”
“Lea, that sounds too absurd to be true.”
“Didn’t he say something about it stemming from an old book or some such?”
But, I’ve been occasionally borrowing and reading the books in the mansion’s library. Yet I don’t recall having seen any such a book over there? Is it part of a book collection in the library of Margrave Breithilde-sama’s mansion or a library in the capital?
“Thanks for the meal. It was superb.”
After Erwin-sama paid the bill for all of us, we left the restaurant. Still, I got to say that a considerably long queue of people is still waiting outside. Though I can fully understand the people’s wish to eat the bowls here.
“Next up are desserts, right?”
“In that case, I know of a good place.”
“Makes sense. It’s your field of expertise, isn’t it Lea?”
“Well, I simply checked it out while passing it during errand runs.”
“…That’s nothing overly praiseworthy though…”
Dominique-neesan, you can’t hit my head too often today since Erwin-sama is with us, can you? That’s quite convenient.
◆◇◆
“Erwin-sama, this is the store I recommend.”
“It looks like it’s flourishing, but it’s filled with nothing but women and couples, isn’t it?”
“This cafe regularly comes up with new desserts. I hear His Lordship has been frequently giving advice to the owner of this place.”
“Just when…well, you could say that’s typical of Wend, but still…”
“It seems like they’re also selling desserts made out of dairy products, which have been purchased at the Baumeister House’s ranch, as an experiment.”
“Lea, you really know your stuff.”
“I’ve been checking this cafe whenever I go out on errands. It’s perfectly situated on the way back to the mansion, after all.”
The desserts are a bliss, they regularly come up with new ones, and above all, the cafe lies on the way back, making it easy to stop by. It truly rocks.
“You should make sure to not disclose that you’ve been boldly playing hooky to stop at cafes during work.”
“(As I thought, she doesn’t hit me…all hail Erwin-sama!)”
Just as I rejoiced all by myself…
“Every once in a while, I visit this cafe with Dominique-san and our colleagues.”
“Really? …Ee───h! Please invite me to such outings, too! Isn’t that like you only leaving me out of the loop?”
Just when did Anna-san and Dominique-neesan become such good friends? Doesn’t that put my position as someone similar to Dominique-neesan’s little sister at extreme risk!?
“It’s because we were asked by His Lordship to go test the taste. In the first place, if we had invited you even at such a time, it’d result in you visiting this cafe almost every day, wouldn’t it?”
“Ugh…I can’t refute that.”
Anyway, this is a cafe that serves desserts, but I think it’s worthwhile to be a regular customer of this place. The cafe is filled with groups of girls, engaged couples, and married couples. As might be expected, the menu isn’t really catered towards men visiting by themselves.
“Welcome to our cafe. Lea-san, His Lordship visited this store the other day.”
“His Lordship did? With whom?”
“By himself. He said he was on his way back from doing construction work in the earldom.”
“I see…”
Ordering desserts in a cafe overrun by women and couples as a lonely guy…
“Erwin-sama, His Lordship is truly a man amongst men!”
“In a certain sense, it deserves praise, I admit. It’d be impossible for me to pull this off.”
Besides, it’s not like he sneaked in here incognito as a random customer. I guess it’s a small breather for him before eating dinner after coming back to the mansion from his hard day of work.
“Has His Lordship accumulated too much stress?”
“Well, I’m sure he’s burdened by various things, but watching over him while pretending to not see anything is an expression of kindness, I think.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
Erwin-sama and us will be fine, I think. Haruka-sama is a great wife, and Anna-san and I will become great wives, too.
“What did our lord order?” Erwin-sama asked the waitress.
But he’s right. I’m also curious about that part.
“Umm, it was our new, high-class shaved ice, and roasted tapioca mate tea.”
“High-class? With shaved ice you mean the dessert where you shave ice and sprinkle jam or similar over it as a sauce, right?”
“Oh, you’re quite knowledgeable, Erwin-sama.”
“I’ve been eating it every once in a while since meeting Wend.”
In Milord’s case, he can create and shave ice with magic. Shaved ice is a fairly expensive dessert in the capital, but going by Erwin-sama’s explanation, it doesn’t seem to pose much of a problem.
He told Anna-san that he was eating it often during his time as an active adventurer.
“Ice can be created by freezing water with a magic tool, but for high-class shaved ice, he usually freezes fruits from the Demon Forest and shaves those. On top of that, he adds fruit pieces, honey, whipped cream, and other things.”
“Hee, that sounds quite extravagant.”
So it’s shaved ice when frozen Demon Forest fruits are shaved and not ice, huh? Milord truly comes up with all kinds of things.
“Most recently cow and goat milk flows into the city from the ranches in the Baumeister Earldom, so it has become popular to sweeten up the milk, make it freeze, shave it off, and then add extravagant toppings. Many customers from Baulburg and other places expressly come here to eat this ice.”
“Seeing how there’s many couples, they also use it as an opportunity for some sightseeing, huh?”
These days Baulburg’s development has been striking, and many people visit to see the city and its attractions. Tours where you visit the famous spots of Breitburg and Baulburg with a magic airship appear to be popular among newlyweds from the capital who got some financial leeway.
“The Mizuho-styled high-class shaved ice at the Fujibayashi store, where they finely shave off frozen mate tea and top it off with condensed milk, red bean paste, and roasted soy flour, is extremely popular. We cannot afford to lose to that.”
Milord, you’re casually stirring up the competition between the various stores, aren’t you?
Or rather, Akira-san is going strong even without Candy-san helping him out.
“Okay, so let’s go with high-class shaved ice for everyone. Also, what’s tapioca?”
“It’s my first time to hear of it. It doesn’t exist in Mizuho.”
“I have also never heard of it before.”
“It is nothing I heard Elise-sama mention ever before.”
Including me, none of us knew about the tapioca foodstuff. That means…
“I am told it was invented by His Lordship. You can get this at every corner in Baulburg at the moment.”
“Our lord sure has times where you can’t tell whether he’s a noble or a merchant… Anyway, give us all some of that as well.”
“Thank you very much for your order.”
After a while, the waitress first brought the shaved ice.
“Oh, so they really shaved off frozen fruits.”
What a luxury. I doubt it’s wrong to label this as a high-class dish.
“I got the one made out of frozen banana with choco cream and fresh cream as toppings.”
“I have frozen lychee with plenty of mango, dragon fruits, and other fruit pieces added to it.”
“Mine is shaved out of frozen strawberries. It has been topped with condensed milk made out of cow milk and all kinds of berries.”
“I have one made out of sweetened cow milk with various types of fruits as toppings.”
Erwin-sama, Haruka-sama, Anna-san, and Dominique-neesan seem to enjoy their ice.
“I went with the same one as Dominique-neesan, ice made out of sweetened cow milk, but at a double-size. It’s been stacked with plenty of fruits.”
It’s a huge, high-class shaved ice. The height of supreme luxury.
“Lea, can you eat all that?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine.”
“Come to think of it, Katharina mentioned that you can eat quite a bit.”
Besides, girls have a different stomach for sweets.
“So they even got double-sized ones…wait, they got buckets!?”
Given that Baulburg has its own, new sweets shop called 『Gyarusone』 that serves parfaits, buckets aren’t that unusual anymore.
“Do any people other than Wilma order these sizes?”
“Doushi-sama occasionally visits, wolfs it down at an incredible pace, and flies back to the capital.”
Sometimes I miss him very closely, but Doushi-sama already is enough of a regular customer that the cafe employees know his face. Then again, I doubt you’ll find many people who easily forget Doushi-sama after seeing him once.
“Just what is that man doing…?”
Doushi-sama’s way of life has been a riddle for others. But I’m sure, he just wanted to eat 『High-Class Shaved Ice』.
“This is tapioca roasted mate tea.”
“Does that mean 『tapioca』 is tea that uses cow milk?”
The roasted part probably refers to the mate leaves having been roasted to deepen the flavor. Haruka-sama’s home, Mizuho, also drinks roasted tea. She let me taste it before and I think it tastes very great.
It wouldn’t be strange for people to do the same with mate tea…it must be Milord’s influence.
“Erwin-sama, there are many black beads at the bottom of the cup. Aren’t those tapioca?”
“Somehow they look like eggs…and strangely black…”
Nevertheless, for me, as someone always passing this store, to not have known about tapioca… This is quite an embarrassment.
“We started serving it just yesterday, but it is already very popular.”
Oh, then it’s unavoidable. Yesterday I was busy with Anna-san’s wedding, so I couldn’t come to this cafe.
“How do you eat these black beads if they’re at the bottom?”
“Erw-san, don’t you use this straw for it? It’s a fairly thick straw.”
“Oh, I see.”
Haruka-sama appears to have realized the use for the thick straw in the cup. Restaurants over in Baulburg have introduced straws, too. However, since the straws of Urquhart, the country of its origin, were expensive, the ones here were relatively cheap items made out of wood.
Drinking with two straws from one cup was a fad among couples nowadays.
“This is…konjac? No…it’s too springy for that.”
“I guess it’s slightly sweet? Maybe sugar?”
“Erwin-sama, isn’t this brown cane sugar?”
“But, the role of brown cane sugar is to add sweetness and flavor. I wonder just what the black bead ingredient might be?”
We all groped for the true identity of the black beads while drinking our tapioca roasted mate tea. Given that it has been roasted, the taste of the mate tea was aromatic. The cow milk added richness as well as thickness. Moreover, the black beads with their brown sugar cane taste were springy and delicious.
I think it’s only natural for this to be popular.
“The tapioca ingredient is a special tuber that’s being grown in the Eulenberg territory. In combination with the brown sugar, which had its production capacity recently increased in the south of the Baumeister Earldom, this tapioca is being processed as an ingredient. I have heard that His Lordship christened it as tapioca. Though I cannot tell you anything about the origin of the name. The one who developed the production method was His Lordship.”
Milord is truly hardworking when it comes to food. For him to even come up with ingredients that have never been seen before is crazy. Although, his sense for names is kinda hard to understand, if you look at tapioca.
“Eulenberg territory…aaahh! Katia-san’s Dad and Brother, huh? So this uses tuber as an ingredient…”
Milord always comes up with all these new ingredients all of a sudden, doesn’t he? I’m sure he must seem like a genius to others.
“It’s not maroimo, right?”
Maroimo taste better when eaten after steaming. But, I can understand Anna-san’s question.
“I hear it’s a tuber that has been cultivated in the Eulenberg territory for a long time. His Lordship supposedly shouted, 『I can use this!』, when he found out about it.”
“Our Lord is really good at coming up with things like this. I feel like he could easily make a living as a merchant, too.”
Certainly, the tapioca roasted mate tea is popular despite its sale started just yesterday. The female customers keep ordering it. The women seem to be charmed by those black beads. Still, why is Milord, a man, so knowledgeable about the likes of women?
“Did it possibly happen when he turned into a woman previously?”
“As if that’s possible!”
Dominique-neesan immediately shot down my theory.
“Welcome!”
“Oh, Erwin? Congratulations on your wedding!”
Suddenly Doushi-sama entered the cafe. Still, Doushi-sama can’t use 『Teleport』 like Milord, and yet he often comes all the way here…I admire him, in a certain sense.
“Doushi, you’ve expressly come here from the capital?”
“No, even I would not go that far! I had business over at Breitburg, so I made a small detour afterwards!”
Even so, the League Mountains are infested with many wyverns and other flying dragons…no, I guess they won’t be much of a hindrance for Doushi-sama.
“A new menu? Then give me that as a bucket version.”
“Doushi? You want a beverage in a bucket?”
“No problem at all! ….Oh, I see! It contains the black beads called tapioca, huh? Then please increase the quantity of tapioca!”
“As you order.”
The waitress seems to be used to this. She immediately brings over a bucket full of tapioca roasted mate tea. Of course, the straw is also a special version that’s longer and thicker than usual.
“The mate tea with its increased fragrance, the richness of the cow milk, and the springiness as well as sweetness of the tapioca make this tea delicious!”
It might be because it suits his taste, but Doushi-sama gulps it down quickly. He drains the entire bucket in like no time.
“Thank you for the meal! Add the bill for Erwin and the others to my tab! Anyway, I am off!”
Doushi-sama paid our share as well, probably as a wedding gift, and then flew away with his magic.
“I didn’t even have any time to thank him…”
“He’s truly like a gale.”
“He has already become so small that you cannot see him anymore.”
“We must thank him next time.”
Doushi-sama’s sudden appearance and disappearance astonished us a lot more than the fact that he treated us.
Afterwards, we enjoyed some sightseeing and ate dinner in Baulburg. Anna-san and Erwin-sama apparently planned to stay the night in a luxurious hotel that had just recently been built in Baulburg, and thus we bid them farewell after dinner and went back to the mansion.
So Anna-san has married as well now, huh? I want to grow up quickly and properly marry Erwin-sama. A wedding dress is a dream come true for every girl, after all.
“That’s fine and all, but haven’t you gotten slightly fat, Lea?”
“Dominique-neesan, what are you saying? I’m still growing.”
Yep, I’m in my growth period as a girl. That’s why I’ll eat lots, quickly grow up, and get a nice body, as I must please Erwin-sama.
“Haruka-sama, I’m still growing, right?”
Just in case, I decided to also consult Haruka-sama, who was accompanying us as Erwin-sama and Anna-san would spend the night alone today. Because it’s essential to get plenty of food during the growth spurt, I always investigate all kinds of restaurants in Baulburg.
“If you ask me like that, I certainly…feel like you’ve become somewhat thicker…”
“Haruka-sama, I’m still growing. I’m sure my chest has become bigger, so it must look like I’ve become thicker…huh?”
Just now I checked my own chest by touching it, but it hasn’t become bigger at all… Moreover, when I pinch my belly, flabby, excess meat…
“Didn’t I tell you? Lea, you eat too many sweets. You must take Haruka-sama as an example.”
“If you put it like that…Dominique-neesan, you still haven’t fully returned to your previous figure after giving birth, but Haruka-sama already looks like before her birth!”
“Who hasn’t fully returned to her previous figure? Eh!?”
“Ouuuuch───”
Dominique-neesan, regardless of whether you hit me or not, it remains a fact! My eyes aren’t wrong.
“Don’t worry about me. You haven’t even given birth and yet you’re becoming fat. What are your plans about that, Lea?”
“Uughh…I’ll restrain myself…”
◆◇◆
It’d be fine if my chest became bigger, but my belly becoming flabby is bad news. But, humans are creatures who have it more difficult to slim down than to grow fat.
Even though I returned to normal, it took me twice as much time as it took me to become fat.
Everyone, please be careful about buying and eating sweets.
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