Chapter 48 – Popsicle
I who was thinking of making ice-cream, in particular popsicles, began collecting materials at once.
“Welcome, did you finally run out of potions Kurono?”
“Regrettably I’ve only used one so far.”
I’ve come to the adventurer’s purveyor, the Irz village item shop.
Now that I have become a regular customer over here, we don’t talk to each other using honorifics.
“I’m looking for wooden sticks.”
The thing I’m searching here is definitely not the raw materials for ice-cream but the flat stick which will become the handle of the popsicle.
“A wooden stick, then how about this white wooden stake? When stabbed into their heart, the vampire race who takes pride in their immortality will be killed with a single blow.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t make my request clear, I’m not here to buy a weapon today.”
Putting aside the foolish imaginations of a delicious frozen treat that can also be used to murder vampires, I explain the circ.u.mstances and what I’m looking for.
“Well the most suitable thing I have is grilled chicken skewers.” [TN: yakitori]
“That will do.”
In addition, I purchase a container to act as a mold when I solidify the ice. After promising to give him the popsicle if it turns out good, I leave the item shop.
After purchasing the ingredients which will become the raw materials for popsicle, I leave the Irz village and return back home.
After returning home I start making popsicles with Lily, or rather, without Lily making popsicles would not be possible.
“Now that it has come to this, let’s make popsicles.”
“Popsickle?”
Lily blanky tilts her heads in confusion, it’s a normal reaction as she doesn’t know the existence of ice-cream.
“It is a dessert from my hometown which is cold, sweet, and delicious… at least when it is made successfully.”
I haven’t made popsicles since childhood.
But this time the materials and ingredients I have are different from modern j.a.pan. If I fail then in the worst case I’ll end up with juice.
I’m a little anxious while I start making it but there is not a lot of work.
I smash an orange and grapes (which are genuinely like those on Earth unlike the false apple) which I bought to remove the juice. To each I add sugar and water to make an undiluted solution (it can almost be said to be juice).
I’m lucky that white sugar is circulating in this another world due to luck. Looking from the history, the making of sweets started when modern era started, after all the sweet items are luxury items.
However, here spices and salt are also available, so getting sugar was relatively easy. It seems like there will be no problems in making other sweets too.
In any case, I pour the undiluted solutions into the metal molds and add the skewer sticks to let it cool down.
As for the most important task, I ask Lily.
“Okay Lily, please freeze this with a little bit of ice magic.”
“Yes!”
Without knowing how it will help, Lily uses her freezing magic.
For this thing, my black magic is totally useless.
My black color magic consists of materialization of substances, adding enchantments, and making dimensional s.p.a.ces for now. I cannot use the common color magic elements like Ice or Fire, or rather, there is no color magic inside my body, so it is impossible for me to learn it.
Therefore, I asked Lily who can use color magic to some extent other than her inherent magic Extra.
Similar to when Lily boils tea, a chill gushes out in the same way she breathes fire.
“Fuuu! Fuuu!”
The effect of the magic is powerful, in an instant the juice solution is frozen solid from Lily’s hard work.
To eat the ice candies right from the sh.e.l.l, just freezing it slowly won’t work. The freezing ingredient (a three to one ratio by weight of ice to salt) is used to freeze it in a few minutes.
But I can instantly freeze things without such a thing if I use magic.
“That’s enough now Lily.”
“Hmm?”
I stop Lily’s ice magic and reach out a hand to one of the containers.
While taking into consideration, if pulling it forcibly, it would uproot the skewer, I form an blade near the sides of the container using the black magic.
In front of the blade sticking out of the wall of rock of the container, the hardness of popsicle is as same as non-existent. I lighty open up the lid of the container.
And then, I smoothly pull the popsicle out of it.
“How is it?”
While receiving the gaze of curious Lily, I face the popsicle with seriousness that I’ve never shown.
As expected, there are no flavouring or coloring agents in it like the goods in the market, there is not much color in the popsicle and of course there is no scent.
But the taste should not be bad, while believing in that I put the popsicle inside my mouth.
The taste of the orange’s sourness and the sugar’s sweetness spreads inside the mouth along with the feeling of ice cubes crunching.
Yeah, this is without a doubt an orange flavoured popsicle!
“Yay, I made it just fine! Here, Lily you also eat it.”
I take out the popsicle using the same trick as before, and hand it to Lily.
She takes the popsicle while full of antic.i.p.ation, and without hesitation bites into it.
“Chomp Chomp—–!”
“How is it, is it tasty?”
“Tasty!?”
Seeing Lily eating it like crazy, I can get the idea of how tasty it is.
Even in another world, the kids love popsicles, as expected.
“Well, will you also eat the grape flavoured one?”
“Yeah!”
In this way, I remember about the nostalgic feeling of j.a.pan, Lily also ate the frozen dessert while being happy, and so I completed the making of popsicles.
The next day, I came to guild for a midday meal today like yesterday.
“Oh, Nyarko-san, I made the ice-cream I mentioned yesterday, will you taste it?”
I hand over my best made popsicle to Nyarko, who came to me as always.
Besides me is Lily who has become a prisoner of the popsicle and is eating a grape flavoured one with relish.
“You really made it! Is it the one that Lily-san is eating?”
Seeing Lily who is eating it with relish, Nyarko’s eyes shine with antic.i.p.ation.
“Yeah, it’s a popsicle made by freezing fruit juice――let’s skip over the tedious talks, try eating it. Ah, orange or grape, which one would you like?”
Then with orange, Nyarko answers. I take out the container stored inside the shadow s.p.a.ce and hand over the popsicle to her.
WIth the same movements as Lily from yesterday, Nyarko bites into the popsicle.
“Chomp! Chomp!?”
“How is it?”
“Thi, this is――”
Nyarko eyes open wide in surprise, it seems like an lighting effect could appear behind her.
“What is thisー! *Licking*”
Nyarko licks it wholeheartedly, as if licking a soft cream, and it is finished off very fast in front of my eyes.
Now that I think about it, the cat’s tongue is rough as it is made for ripping off the meat sticking to bones and Nyarko who is a cat beastman might also have it, but still, will the popsicle be shaved off just by licking it?
While thinking about these trivial thoughts, the popsicle disappears.
“So was it good?”
“Can I get the grape flavoured one too?”
I hand over the grape flavoured popsicle without speaking a word to Nyarko who has the eyes of a predator looking at its prey.
“Thank you very much―― *Licking*”
But well, from the looks of it it looks I don’t even need to ask about its taste.
“This popsicle thing is really great! It’s my first time eating such a tasty thing!”
“That’s right, it tastes even better when eaten on hot days.”
“That might be right! This is a great invention Kurono-san!”
“Though it’s not me who created it.”
“No, no. this is an item which can bring a revolution in the food industry of Irz village. If put for sale, this will be really popular, no objections asked!”
“Oh, Is that so, it will be a hot summer after all――”
Somehow, it feels like it’ll be more peaceful if I sell popsicle with Lilly, rather than doing dangerous adventurer work.
No, I must at all costs find a device, altar, or magic circle inside a dungeon to go back to my own world.
It’s not the time to think about selling ice cream all the time.
“It is easy to make it, if I told it someone they might start selling it.”
Naturally, I’m not so good of a person to tell it for free. Though it is not a franchise, but let’s try selling it out to merchant guild at price equivalent to it.
“Ah, Kurono-san you have a bad face right now.”
“Hahahahaha, If I make a profit, I will let you eat as many popsicles as you want.”
“Really! It is a promise then!”
“Yeah, but if you eat too much it’ll ruin your stomach, so keep it in control.”
For proving that popsicle is an innovative sweet, I thought to let other people try it as samples.
At the right moment the members of Irz-Blader came inside the guild. First of all, let’s make you guys the prisoners of popsicle.
“Oi Kurono! You gave something to Nyarko just now, right! Trying to win her through presents huh, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
Before I can call out to them, as usual the personal knight of Nyarko, Nino comes rushing forward. [TN: Real translation would not sound cool. So i modified it a little. Though the meaning is not changed at all.]
“Calm down, I will also give it to you.”
“That’s not the problem here! In the first place, you after all are eating midday meals here with Nyarko everyday, what do you want!”
“Even if you ask me what I want… Anyways, how about you invite her for midday meals and dinner if you don’t like it?”
“Du, du, dumba.s.s, I can’t do something so darin――”
I don’t understand whether Nino is just pure or just incompetent. If you like her that much keep on attacking/approaching her.
Well, I can’t say something so grand, as I have no experience in approaching any girl I like.
“An, and if i get refused……, I might never be able to cope up with it……”
This guy’s lost it, Incompetent alert!
“So what is it you will give us Kurono?”
Ignoring the already dead leader, Aten steps forward to me.
“Aa, I made a sweet from my hometown called a popsicle, so I thought of letting everybody eat it.”
“Popsicle? Never heard of it, but making sweets, Kurono you surprisingly have a girly hobby.”
“When it’s hot everyone yearns for it, well you’ll understand it once you eat it.”
“Ho~, pretty confident aren’t you?”
“Lily, Village Head, Nyarko, all three praised it saying it’s tasty.”
I presented it to Village Head before coming to the guild, when I went for my daily routine of reading there.
“For the time being, try to eat it, the flavors are――”
I distributed the popsicles of the flavour the guys wanted.
Everyone eats it together, the impressions are, well the same as till now――
“”Tasty!!””
And then, Aten also asks for the other popsicle flavor like Nyarko.
Even in the real world, It is this time of day one yearns for eating an ice cream.