That afternoon, we decided to strike while the iron is hot.
Alice and I borrowed a corner of the kitchen so we could make sweets. I’ll try to make them by myself at first, and if everything goes well, we can eat them at the tea party tomorrow.
By the way, the chefs have formed a wide circle around us. It seems to be because they knew I made the custard pudding a while ago.
“So, Leon, what have you decided to make?”
“Right….first I wanted to try to make chilled pudding. Then, try to make a fresh cream cake and ice cream.”
“Milk and eggs should be easy enough…..But, what about vanilla extract, fresh cream, and cake flour?”
“Maybe we should ask?”
I looked out at the circle of chefs surrounding us….they were all looking at us curiously. It seems all of them are confused because we have been talking about ingredients we need using Japanese words.
After asking the chefs, we were able to find everything except fresh cream. Let’s get started immediately.
“All that’s left is fresh cream. How can we make that?”
I have memories from my previous life about how to make fresh cream. I remember that you need to combine cream and granulated sugar, then stir it and wait a long time for the cream to separate.
However,
“Fresh cream is simple enough, we only need milk and a centrifuge.”
Alice says this, and prepares a large jug of milk.
“Is that all?”
“It’s a bit more difficult with processed milk.”
Ah….that makes sense.
In Japan, where only processed milk is sold, it is much more difficult to make fresh cream. But, in this world, unprocessed milk is common, so there are no problems.
“Then…..should I keep the milk in the jug and keep shaking?”
I thought that would be the only way to do it without a centrifuge.
“That’s not necessary.”
Alice laughs mischievously, then places her hand, which had gathered magical power into it, over the jug of milk.
“…..Eh, whitish lumps float to the top at a great speed. I’ve asked the spirits to separate the ingredients.”
“……What is with your cheat.”
Why is this girl so strong? Spirit magic isn’t enough? Why do I have to feel so jealous of her?
She’s a high elf with an attractive face and great figure, she has enhanced perception and sensory sharing, and is also a master spirit magician. Then, she also has knowledge from another world.
Well I have that last one too, that’s why I can make sweets for Sophia.
….If I think about it calmly, Alice is waiting for my reply to her confession, but she’s also helping me cheer up another girl.
Somehow, I feel apologetic to Alice.
“Alice, umm…..I’m sorry.”
“Fue?”
When I suddenly apologized, Alice tilted her head and looked at me blankly.
“I feel sorry for having you help me cheer up Sophia.”
“What’s this, you don’t need to worry about it. I can’t just stand by why such a small child is so sad.”
“….Alice is kind.”
“This much is just normal, should we start? I’ll start to make the cake, Leon start on the ice cream please.”
“Okay.”
I try to focus and start preparing the ice cream.
Ice cream, ice cream. I lived alone ever since I lost my parents in my previous life, so I have plenty of experience with cooking…but the only knowledge I have of making desserts is from what I looked up on the net.
First off, I need to whisk the cream….Muu~, because there is no mixer in this world, it’s quite troublesome…..Finally, it’s gotten frothy.
Next, mix egg whites and sugar in a bowl and whisk…..Is this enough?
Finally, put it all together with a little vanilla extract.
Whisk it once more, and it will be completed after chilling it with spirit magic, but…..using spirit magic to chill it is harder than I expected.
Usually when trying to use magic, I use a template. Just by chanting a spell and picturing what I want to happen, I can get something to happen…….but when I want to just gradually cool something, it’s useless to use a template.
I just have to picture it properly and I should be able to manage……
As I was trying to focus on using spirit magic, I again could hear a commotion behind me.
The people surrounding us seemed to be amazed that a child is able to use the same magic as Alice without chanting, but Alice is at a completely different level than me.
Please stop looking at me like that, if you treat me like I’m at the same level as Alice I’ll feel nothing but shame.
“Hey, hey, Leon.”
As I was going through trial and error to cool it, Alice spoke to me.
“I can’t cool it well enough, what should I do?”
“Ah, I’ve finished mixing. Well then, I’ll cool it down so it will become ice cream, Leon can you taste the cake while I do this?”
“Ah, of course……huh? You want me to taste the ingredients you just mixed?”
“Yep. It tastes like sponge cake and whipped cream.”
“That’s impossible, we only started cooking twenty minutes ago — is it really done!?”
There was a pure white cake in front of Alice. There were no decorations on it, but no matter how you look at it, it’s a cake with whipped cream on it.
Even just the time for it to bake would take a little over an hour or so, so how on earth did she….ah, did she use spirit magic?
“Yep, the ice cream is also done.”
“What!?”
I look back in surprise to see that the ingredients I had been working with a little while ago, had now become ice cream with a perfect texture.
“Wh-what did you do? How did you cool it while stirring?”
“I just asked the spirits to chill it while slowly stirring.”
“…………….Is that so?”
There’s no point saying anything more……No, just let me say one thing.
Do you think by just saying you asked the spirits that explains anything!?
……Fuu. I’ve calmed down a little. Let’s put aside Alice’s cheat for the time being, and try the cake and ice cream.
“Alice, can I cut the cake?”
“Ah, I’ll cut it.”
“O-okay….”
Does she think I’ll mess up cutting the cake!? Don’t you just need to cut it with a knife like usual? Ah, I feel a little sorry for getting so defensive.
“Still, it’s beautifully done.”
I mutter while looking at the cake after Alice had cut it. To be honest, it looks like it would be a good enough quality to be displayed in a shop window in my previous life.
“Fuufuu, I’m happy to hear you say that, it was worth practicing so much since my childhood.”
“Really, since you were a kid, huh.”
Since Saya was small, and her body was weak, she never had much opportunity to cook. So, Alice must mean that she’s been practicing cooking using knowledge from her previous life ever since she was reborn in this world.
So her cooking skill is also high. While thinking this, I took a piece of cake on the end of a fork into my mouth. A rich taste spread throughout my mouth.
“Ooh….this tastes just like a ‘strawberry’ cake, but it has no ‘strawberries’!”
“……’Strawberries’, do you want to look for some?”
“Don’t joke around. If there is no fruit, it does feel like it’s missing something.”
“— What kind of fruit is this ‘strawberry’?”
The head chef must have been listening and called out to us.
“Umm……It is a red, plump fruit with an acidic sweet taste, I guess?”
“Is it a bite-sized fruit that can be eaten as is?”
“Do you know of a fruit like that?”
“Yes, it sounds similar to this fruit called —”
I see. I make sure to register that word as the strawberry of this world in my brain.
“Well then, that strawberry, can you get some?”
“Yes, it’s actually time to harvest them right now. I should be able to obtain some. I can get it by noon tomorrow, does that sound good?”
“That sounds good, can you please get some?”
“Leave it to me. Hey, you guys —”
The head chef immediately had one of his subordinates submit an order.
“By the way Leon-sama, you’re making these sweets to cheer up Sophia ojou-sama, right?”
Why does he know…….eh? Maybe he heard Alice and I talking earlier.
“That’s right. I wonder if I can cheer her up by holding a tea party.”
“Just as I thought. Then, please, allow us to help as well.”
“I’m fine with you helping…….but why do you want to?”
The story that was told to the public, is that the Grances family was attacked by extremists and these same extremists attacked the Sfir family, killing Carlos.
Nobody here should have a great opinion of me.
“The people here have been serving the Sfir family for nearly ten years. To us, Sophia ojou-sama is like a daughter.”
“Daughter, huh. I was told that Sophia is incredibly shy of everyone.”
“Recently that has been true, but Ojou-sama used to be bright and cheerful. She would improve the mood of anyone she came in contact with.”
“So you’re saying you want to help cheer up Sophia?”
“Yes, Carlos-sama passed away and Elyse-sama has become bedridden. We’ve heard that she has been sulking for some time now, so we wanted to try to improve her mood.”
“If you say you want to help with the tea party….can you please taste this? I want to tailor it to Sophia’s tastes.”
“Yes, of course — You all, you heard what he said. Follow their instructions and bake a cake, we will cheer up Sophia ojou-sama.”
“—YES!!”
All of the chefs and other employees in the kitchen replied in unison.
……What is this. Sophia said she couldn’t rely on anyone else, but there are plenty of people who care about her.
Everyone’s feelings need to be conveyed properly.
Learning to make new sweets was a success. We will hold a tea party tomorrow, and I have someone tell Sophia the time of the tea party.
After that, I went back to my room and spent some time relaxing with Alice.
“Fuu~n, then Alice, did you also gather a lot of knowledge while you were in the hospital?”
“Yep, there were many things I wanted to do if I had a healthy body. I would look at the scenery from the window imagining many things everyday.”
“Ah, that scenery. You and I were looking at the same box garden, it seems it can really get a person’s imagination going.”
“Right, I know just what you mean —”
Alice laughs happily.
It’s been awkward between us for a while now, so it’s been a long time since we were able to spend time relaxing like this…Yeah, it really is fun spending time with Alice.
As I begin to reminisce, there was a knock on the door.
“— It’s Michelle, can I come in?”
…….Michelle? As in Claire’s maid, Michelle? She was safe? Rather, I wonder how long she’s been in the Sfir mansion.
“Leon-sama, can I enter?”
“Ah, the doors open, please come in.”
I hurry up and answer. I held my breath as she entered, it was the Michelle that I knew. I unconsciously stand up from the sofa and greet Michelle.
“Michelle, you’re safe.”
“Excuse me for my long absence, Leon-sama. Oh, and you as well, Alice-san.”
“It’s been a long time, Michelle.”
We exchanged simple greetings and I asked how Michelle had been.
“Actually, I was taken by the Sfir family at the same time as Claire-sama.”
“Eh, really? This is the first time I’ve seen you here.”
“Yes. I went to a village, following Claire-sama’s instructions.”
“…..A village?”
A faint hope appears in my mind. At the same time, Michelle signalled to someone outside of the room. A woman poked her head into the room. After I saw her face I was left breathless.
“…..Leon-sama, it’s good to see you again.”
Her brown hair gently shakes and she shows a gentle smile. She has distinctive purple eyes, it was the person I hoped to meet again someday, my mother.
“Leon-sama? Is it possible, you’ve forgotten me?”
“……I could…..I could never forget about you.”
I only found out that Milli was my mother after we were separated following the influenza outbreak. But now I know Milli is my mother.
— She’s my mother. It’s been a long time, how has she been? I’ve wanted to see her for the longest time. Even though these words are in my mind, I’m lost for words.
And —
“Mother!”
The person that ran up to Milli shouting this — was Alice……..Why?
