Chapter 152 – Bear-san Makes A Shortcake
I had finally completed it. The devil’s food.
Using a spoon, I scooped up a bit of this white and soft thing and tasted it.
「So sweet!」
I finally managed to make cream, and making cream meant I could now make shortcake.
I had seen strawberries being sold in the town, and it had made me want to eat shortcake.
Now, after numerous attempts, I finally completed it.
I could even make many different flavours now; all I had to do was just add various things to the cream.
I could make cream puffs and many other cream related sweets.
First things first, though. I baked a sponge cake and added strawberries, covered it all with cream and topped it with more strawberries. My pseudo strawberry shortcake was complete.
Cream might have already existed in this world, but I had never seen any, and now, I managed to make it using my vague memories.
I cut off a slice of the shortcake and ate it.
It wasn’t as good as those made by j.a.panese professionals, but it was delicious enough.
Yep, it was totally worth going through all that trouble to make it.
As I was enjoying my shortcake, I heard someone knock at the door of my Bear House.
Who dared interrupt me when I was finally enjoying a cake after a long time!?
「Big Sis Yuna.」
It was Fina. It was fine, then.
If it had been Cliff or Mylene-san who had interrupted me, I would have sent them away.
「Fina, why are you here?」
「Gold-san should have finished the knife by today, so we should go and retrieve it, right?」
「Oh right, now that you mention it…」
I had just shut myself inside the house the last few days, so…
「You forgot even though it was just a few days ago!?」
She scolded me sharply.
No, today was not a day for retrieving knives; it was the day I finally made cream.
I should be eating my shortcake now.
「Fina, I made something delicious. Want to eat it?」
Since it was finally complete, I had to have Fina taste-test it for me.
「Eat what?」
「I made a cake.」
「A pancake?」
「No, it’s a bit different. It’s a shortcake.」
「Shortcake?」
「A strawberry shortcake, to be precise.」
Fina didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about.
It would be faster to just show it to her and make her eat it, then.
I took Fina’s hand and dragged her into the house.
「B-Big Sis Yuna!?」
Fina called out in surprise, but I decided not to mind it and dragged her to the room where the shortcake was.
I then made her sit down, cut off a slice of the shortcake and put it in front of her.
I also didn’t forget to add a gla.s.s of fruit juice.
「So, this is a shortcake?」
「Yep. Eat it and tell me how it is.」
「What is this white stuff?」
「It’s cream. It’s sweet and delicious.」
Fina timidly pierced a piece of the cake with the fork and brought it to her mouth.
Was she scared of putting an unknown thing in her mouth?
After eating a mouthful of cake, her expression changed, though.
「It’s delicious!」
Fina said and took another mouthful.
「Big Sis Yuna, it’s delicious. So sweet and soft.」
Fina kept eating it without stopping her hand for a single second. There was even cream around her mouth.
「I’m happy to see that you like it.」
The shortcake on Fina’s plate disappeared in an instant.
When she was done, I used a handkerchief to wipe the cream around her mouth and put another slice of my shortcake onto her plate.
The cake was too big for me to eat it on my own, after all.
We haven’t even eaten half of it yet; I honestly didn’t know if the two of us could finish it.
「Big Sis Yuna, is it okay for me to eat more?」
「Yeah, there is still a lot more.」
She looked at the cake with a happy smile on her face.
Fina liked it as I had expected; she was a young girl, after all.
She acted as an adult most of the time, but I was happy to see her acting her age from time to time.
After Fina finished her second slice, she showed a satisfied expression.
「Fina, if you think it’s good, others will think so as well, right?」
「Big Sis Yuna, will you add it to the menu at your shop?」
「Hmm? I don’t plan on doing that for now. I only made it because I wanted to eat it, after all.」
「Really?」
Fina seemed dejected.
「What is it?」
「Well, I would be able to eat it anytime if it was on the menu at your shop, but it must be expensive, being this good, right?」
「It’s not that expensive. The most expensive ingredient were the eggs, I think? And since eggs are easy to come by these days…」
「Why won’t you sell it at the shop, then?」
「It’s not that I never plan on selling it. I just haven’t considered it yet.」
She was right, though, wasn’t she? If I added it to the menu, I could eat it just by going there and wouldn’t need to make it myself.
I should probably make another cake and present it to Morin-san and the other employees. There were quite a number of them, so I would have to make a lot of shortcake.
Completely forgetting about the mithril knife, Fina and I started to make the cakes together and in a few hours, managed to get a few of them done.
Yep, they all looked delicious. We didn’t just use strawberries as a topping, but other fruits as well.
Now, we just had to bring it to the shop for a taste-test, and if Morin-san and the other employees all liked them, it should be safe to add them to the menu.
Just as I was about to head to the shop, Fina finally remembered the other important thing.
「Big Sis Yuna! We still have to go to Gold-san’s smithy!」
Fina suddenly said with a slight panic in her voice.
I had been so focused on making the cakes that I had completely forgotten about the knife.
So troublesome.
The shortcake was of higher priority than the Black Tiger’s pelt right now.
There was no point in fetching the knife if we weren’t going to dismantle the Black Tiger straight away. Still, I promised Nelt-san that I would come to pick it up today, so there was no helping it.
I suppressed the urge to go directly to the shop and decided to go fetch the knife with Fina.
I put all the shortcakes inside the Bear Box; they wouldn’t spoil or crumble in there.
The Bear Box was really convenient; if I bought enough ingredients, I could just shut myself in if I wanted.
I would get fat if I only ate cake, though, so I had to be careful.
I had been going out a lot since I had come to this world, which also meant a lot of exercise.
How did the exercise work with the Bear Equipment, though?
Did I lose fat while I exercised (battled)?
I didn’t put up muscle, though, did I?
My Bear Punches and other quick movements were all thanks to the Bear Suit and not my own strength.
Anyway, I had never gotten fat even if I ate a lot since my body didn’t absorb a lot of energy due to my inefficient metabolism.
I did plan on having two big lumps of fat in a few years, though.
While I was imagining myself in a few years time, we arrived at Gold-san’s smithy and saw an Iron Golem standing in front of the shop in an imposing manner. It was really cool.
The day after commissioning the knives, I had met with Nelt-san and had talked about the Iron Golem only to learn that she also liked the idea of it standing guard in front of the shop. We hadn’t forgotten to add a sword and a shield, of course.
「Is it really okay for us to have it?」
「Yes, I would be happy if you put it on display. When I offered it to Gazar-san, he said that it would only be a hindrance and customers wouldn’t come anymore.」
「He doesn’t understand the greatness of the Iron Golems, it seems. He has a long way to go as a salesman.」
She had said while patting the golem. She really loved it.
Also, when I had offered her the golems, she had said that it would act as labor fees for the knives just like Gazar-san had done.
I had said that it was a gift, but Nelt-san had said that she couldn’t accept the labor fees when given such a splendid gift.
I had realized it had been meaningless to push the issue, so I had decided to just accept it.
I looked at the Iron Golem once more before entering the shop, which was tended to by Nelt-san this time around.
「Welcome. I have been waiting for you.」
「Sorry for coming this late.」
「It’s okay. You already paid, after all. Coming late doesn’t matter much after you paid.」
She said and gave Fina the knife.
「How is it?」
Fina tightly gripped the knife and looked at the blade.
「It’s beautiful and easy to hold.」
Fina looked at the knife with a smile on her face.
Fina… had become a bit dangerous.
「Thank you, Big Sis Yuna.」
Well, she was happy and that made making the knife for her totally worth it.
「I will have you dismantle a lot of things in return, Fina.」
「I will do my best.」
Fina put the knife back inside its sheath and placed it into her item bag.
「It will take four more days to make the other knife.」
「We’re not in a hurry, so you can take your time.」
「It will still be ready in four days. If I don’t make Gold work, he will just keep sleeping.」
「Okay then, but no need to rush him.」
「If the knife gets dull, you can come anytime, okay?」
We thanked Nelt-san and left the shop.
Well then, should we go back and eat one of the cakes we had made?
Huh? The Black Tiger’s dismantling?
We could do that anytime.
Also, I wasn’t such a bad person to leave Fina to dismantling while I ate cake on my own.
So, when we got back to my house, we both ended up eating more cake.
「Big Sis Yuna, is it okay for me to take some for Shuri?」
「I plan on doing the taste-testing tomorrow, but having Terumi-san eat it in advance wouldn’t be a bad idea.」
I said and cut a slice for both Shuri and Terumi-san before giving them to Fina.
「I want to hear Terumi-san’s opinion tomorrow, so please tell her to come over when she has time.」
I asked Fina, and then we ate what was left of the cake.
Author’s note:
Preliminary announcement!
I will revive a special character next chapter.
Helena:「It’s finally my turn again?」
Yuna:「Huh, who are you?」
Well, that’s what I plan on doing at least. w
PS: I will ask you not to comment about the minute details of how she made the cream, please. I might add some more, next time.