by Dojyomaru
“Th-This... isn’t much fun.”
“Ya think? I’m havin’ a blast.”
“Yes. It’s refreshing to see the scenery stream past us.”
“Well, yeah, you two are just riding! It’s about time one of you took my place!”
“Aw, don’t be silly. A frail little thing like me’d never be able to manage with two people ridin’ in back.”
“I can take over in a little while.”
“I can fly, so why do I need to ride this thing anyway?!”
The three of them, despite their arguing, seemed to be having a good time.
Meanwhile, as for Tomoe and Ichiha...
“Take that!”
“H-Hey! Tomoe! Don’t poke the driver in the cheek.”
“Ahaha, sorry, sorry.”
...They were writing another page in the story of their youth.
Some ten minutes later...
“Whew... I’m beat...”
Yuriga was sitting with her head down at a table on the balcony, exhausted from pedaling a cycle with Lucy and Velza on it all the way here.
As she lay there, Lucy brought a spoon to Yuriga’s mouth with a smile.
“Here, Yurie. Say ahh.”
“Ahh?”
Unable to think straight, possibly due to exhaustion, Yuriga just opened her mouth, and Lucy put a spoonful of something inside. To her surprise, Yuriga remarked, “...It’s sweet.”
“Isn’t it, though? I hear when you’re exhausted, eatin’ somethin’ sweet’ll do you good.”
“You’re saying that when you’re the one who tired me out?”
“Here, say ahh.”
“...Ahh.”
It must have tasted really good. Yuriga did as she was told, opening her mouth wide like a baby chick, and let Lucy feed her.
Tomoe, Ichiha, and Velza watched the two of them with wry smiles.
The five had come to the fruit parlor run by Lucy’s parents, The Cat’s Tree. It was a trendy main street shop with, as the name suggested, a cat on the sign. It was two floors, with a quarter of the floor space taken up by fresh fruit they were selling, and the remaining space being a cafe which served sweets made using that fruit.
Tomoe and the others were The Cat’s Tree’s main street balcony, trying out the sweets Lucy was so proud of. There were two plates of them laid out on the table.
Tomoe took a spoonful of the treat in front of her, put it in her mouth, and smiled.
“This pudding is really delicious.”
“Glad to hear it. That’s our best sellin’ item, the ‘Special Pudding a la Mode.’ We pride ourselves on the fact that the pudding, fruit, and cream are all delivered fresh through our own routes.”
Lucy puffed her chest out with pride when her product was complimented. It was that sort of gesture that made her look like Roroa. Then Ichiha, who was also enjoying the pudding, tilted his head to the side. “What’s ‘a la mode’ mean?”
“Dunno.”
“Huh?”
“Couldn’t tell ya why, but that’s what they call puddin’ in Souma’s world when it’s bein’ served with fruit and whipped cream like this. Feels kinda fancy, doesn’t it?”
“I-I guess...”
Ichiha worried whether it might be a strange word, but even if it was, no one from this world would know it, so he decided it was still fine. “A la mode” means something like “modern style,” so there was no issue, but Ichiha couldn’t have known that.
Lucy also seemed to like it, so it would probably have been rude to say anything, too. While Ichiha was thinking about that, Lucy continued to pile the pudding into Yuriga’s mouth.
“Here. Say ahh.”
“Ahh... Wait, how long are we going to do this?! That’s enough! Don’t make me eat any more!” Yuriga said, moving her head away.
“Aww, I was havin’ such fun, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Well, help yourself! And hold on, Velza, what have you been so quiet about all this time?!”
Now that she mentioned it, Velza hadn’t said a word. Wondering what was up, the four turned to Velza.
“Whew...”
She was frozen stiff. A spoon in her mouth, and a look of ecstasy on her face. Her eyes were gazing up and to the right, unmoving, as though her mind had gone elsewhere.
“H-Hold on, Velza, are you okay?!” Tomoe said as she shook Velza.
“Ah!” She blinked as though she had just come back to her senses. “I-I’m sorry. It was so delicious, I lost myself.”
“Th-That badly? I know it’s good, but...”
“Apologies. In the God-Protected Forest, the only sweet food that we have is fruit, so...”
“Oh...”
Aisha did say that, remembered Tomoe. She also remembered Souma watching Aisha with a wry smile and saying, “Half of Aisha’s loyalty might have come from me taming her with food.”
Velza held her cheeks in embarrassment. “Ohh... Ever since I left the God-Protected Forest, the food has been so good I don’t know what to do.”
“Uh, yeah, I sort of get that from having watched Aisha.”
“But, even with that in mind, I think this pudding is delicious... I would very much like to share this with them. And I’d like to come back here with everyone again...”
“Huh? Who’s ‘them’?”
“Oh, just talking to myself there.” Velza smiled and brought an index finger to her lips. It was a soft, mature smile; an expression that implied she would not divulge on this topic any further.
“Huh? Is this a kuku berry?”
“Huh?! Whoa! It is!”
When Ichiha scooped up a round, translucent fruit that was next to the pudding, Yuriga looked surprised, too.
“Kuku berry?” Tomoe asked, tilting her head.
“It’s a little round berry that comes from the Union of Eastern Nations, and it has a distinctive gummy texture,” Ichiha replied as he held up the spoon.
“Nom... Munch... You’re right, it does have an unusual texture,” Tomoe commented, having snapped up the kuku berry that Ichiha offered her.
This was a scene where there were indirect kisses and lines like, “Say ahh,” going around, but Tomoe and Ichiha were both still children, so they didn’t care.
In fact, in order to return the favor, Tomoe took a different fruit and fed it to Ichiha. Once he had swallowed, Ichiha continued his explanation, “Munch... But kuku berries don’t last long. They may not spoil immediately, but I never expected to be able to eat them outside the Union of Eastern Nations.”
“Heheheh. You’d better not go underestimatin’ the Kingdom’s ability to ship things. There’s rhinosaurus trains runnin’ to and from the border almost every day. That’s why we can put these short-lived fruits on our menu.”
“Why are you acting so smug about that...?” Yuriga said, sounding exasperated at the way Lucy was puffing up her still flat chest.
Lucy stood up, and got so close to Tomoe their cheeks might have been touching. “What’re you sayin’, Yurie? The one responsible for gettin’ that rhinosaurus train set up is our very own Tomie here.”
“Hm? It is?”
“I-I only helped out a little.”
Tomoe told Yuriga about how she could speak to animals, and how she had used that ability to arrange an area suitable for rhinosaurus mating, securing their help as a means of mass transportation. Naturally, she kept quiet about the top-secret information that she could speak to monsters and demons, too.
“I was iffy on it at first, but as I was listening, it started to sound incredibly useful,” Yuriga grunted approvingly. “If you have that ability, why not join the dairy farming club, or something like that? If I recall, there was a farm with horses and cows on the outskirts of the school, you’d be instantly useful to them...”
“Absolutely not!”
“Whoa!” Tomoe’s firm refusal made Yuriga bend back in surprise. “I-I didn’t expect you to be so against it.”
“...Okay, Yuriga, try imagining it.”
Tomoe rounded on Yuriga with a face so serious you could hear the dramatic sound effects. Her threatening attitude made Yuriga sweat as she asked, “Imagine... what, exactly?”
“The voices of livestock that will be made into meat. Of chickens having their eggs taken away.”
“...I’m sorry,” Yuriga meekly apologized. It was tough just imagining it.
Tomoe adjusted herself in her chair, then, “Whew...” she let out a sigh. “Obviously, I plan to do whatever I can with my ability if it helps Big Brother and Big Sister, you know? I think I can help with creating an environment that won’t stress the animals... But I don’t want to get seriously involved in farming livestock. I don’t think I’d be able to eat the oyakodon that Big Brother makes anymore if I did.”
“No, seriously... I’m sorry.”
There was an awkward air in the room. The once sweet pudding had lost all its flavor.
In an attempt to change the atmosphere, Lucy clapped her hands and said, “Now, now, let’s get back on topic. So, like I was sayin’, we’re able to offer unusual fruits thanks to a distribution network that includes the rhinosaurus train. It’s just that, well, products that are subject to shipping fees end up being more expensive. The only ones who’ll be orderin’ this puddin’ a la mode regularly are the family of nobles, knights, or influential merchants.”
“Ah... So it is expensive.” Velza looked wistfully at the already half-eaten pudding. Lucy smiled and crossed her arms.
“That’s right. For my part, I wanna make it cheaper so your average girl can come eat, too. If we had reasonably-priced sweets, that’ll make puddin’ a la mode feel more special. If we can manage that, maybe the gals out there’ll buy it as a luxury on special days.”
“Wow... That’s amazing, Lu. You’ve got all of this thought out.”
“Nyah, nyahaha. You’re makin’ me blush.”
Tomoe’s compliments made Lucy a little bashful.
Looking at the way she thought about the common folk at the same time as she thought about business, it was little surprise she idolized Roroa.
“So, it was just as I was thinkin’ about that. The God of Food, Lord Ishizuka, released a new recipe. Hold on just a sec.”
Lucy rose from her seat, and rushed down the stairs to the first floor. Not long after, she returned carrying a single plate. This plate also had pudding on it, but... this pudding was different somehow. It was glossy, shining, and wobbly.
Lucy laid the dish on the table, and, smiling, she said, “Ta-dah! This is our store’s future hero product! It’s called gel pudding!”
““““Gel pudding?””””
The other four cocked their heads to the side in unison.
Lucy confidently laughed and said, “It’s faster just havin’ you eat some. Go on, try it.”
The four dug into the pudding with their spoons as directed, and each took a bite. Instantly, their eyes widened.
“How is this so delicious?!”
“It’s wobbly, but smooth on the tongue. It goes down like a drink.”
Yuriga responded instinctively, and Ichiha analytically.
Though they expressed it in different words, each was extremely pleased with the taste. Tomoe, meanwhile, was smiling despite herself, and Velza even had tears in the corners of her eyes.
“To think there could be something so delicious... I’m so glad I left the God-Protected Forest.”
“Velza, do you need a hankie?”
“Th-Thank you, Tomoe.” Velza took Tomoe’s handkerchief and wiped her tears.
Lucy was nodding ecstatically at their response. “Reactions are lookin’ good. Looks like we’ve got a big hit on our hands.”
“It’s like pudding, but not, right? What’s different?”
“That there’s a good question, Tomie. To make it simple, custard puddin’ is made by boilin’ it, while this gel puddin’ is made by chillin’ it. The base ingredients’re similar, but custard puddin’ uses the way that eggs harden when heated, while gel puddin’ uses the power of an ingredient that isn’t in custard puddin’ which hardens when chilled.”
“An ingredient that hardens when chilled?”
“Like this.” Lucy put a jar filled with a white and slightly greenish-yellow powder on top of the table. Everyone peered at the contents of the container.
“What’s this?”
“Dried, powdered gelin.”
“Gelin?!”
“Huh?! I just ate gelin?!”
Ichiha and Yuriga both cried out in surprise.
Gelins were invertebrates that lived in the fields, and primarily lived by absorbing the remains of animals. The Union of Eastern Nations had no such culture of consuming gelin, so seeing it came as a shock to them.
“The same gelins from gelin udon?” Tomoe asked.
“We had that sent to us in the God-Protected Forest, too, after the disaster,” said Velza. “It was called instant gelin udon, and they told us it was developed for military rations, but it was delicious.”
The children’s reactions were divided into two clear camps. Lucy smiled with amusement as she explained, “For gelin udon, you destroy the core and use the hardened remains, right? Well, this is the opposite. We cut or bludgeon them without destroying the core, and then use the liquid that produces. It turns out, chillin’ liquefied gelin makes it get hard. You know how, when ya boil meat, the juice that comes out can turn into a jiggly lump when you leave it? It’s like that.”
Even after being appointed a minister, Poncho had continued his research on dishes from Souma’s world. He tried, through trial and error, to recreate the sort of gelatin-based pudding he had been told about (the kind where you pull the tab, and it wobbles out of the package), and in that process, he arrived at using gelins. The liquefied gelins were a source of collagen, and he discovered they could be used in place of gelatin to produce an exceptionally smooth result.
Naturally, because gel pudding used raw eggs, it required fresh eggs to make. The Kingdom had put food hygiene laws into effect after taking over Van, the capital of the Principality, so using old eggs was illegal. However, in a situation where fresh eggs could be prepared, gel pudding was less expensive to produce than custard pudding. That was because powdered gelin was cheap, and it meant less eggs and milk were required.
There was also the ease of mixing together the ingredients, then leaving them in an ice room in the basement to set.
The ice could be made by packing in the snow that fell in the winter season, or replenished by hiring a user of ice magic, so most businesses that handled even slightly larger ingredients had an ice room in their basement.
Incidentally, last summer in the castle...
“Liscia, I want to cook. Can you make me some ice?”
“Again? Don’t treat me like an ice merchant.”
“I was planning to make ice cream for dessert, you know...”
“...Well, okay then.” (<- Cheerily producing ice.)
This was a conversation that took place between people at the highest level of power. It reflected how ice was rather important to the people. But we’ve digressed. Let’s get back on track.
This was how a low-cost, delicious gel pudding came to be.
“The God of Food, Lord Ishizuka, sure is incredible. Praise be to him.” Lucy brought her hands together as if praying to a deity.
But for Tomoe, who knew the man personally... I’m sure Poncho would be so troubled to see her praying to him like that...
She could just imagine Poncho laughing (because what could he do but laugh?) with a troubled look on his face.
“Tricycles, rhinosaurus trains, and gel pudding...” Yuriga whispered to herself as she stared at the streets of Parnam from the balcony.
“Yuriga?” Tomoe tilted her head to the side, causing Yuriga to look back to her.
“It’s a weird country, huh... This country of yours.”
“Murgh, there you go, saying that again...”
“I don�
�t mean it sarcastically.”
Yuriga grabbed Tomoe’s puffed-up cheeks. She didn’t put any force into it. It was more like she was just lightly rubbing them. She didn’t pull like usual.
As Tomoe was thinking this was odd, Yuriga smiled wryly and said, “I don’t really understand what it is your brother is trying to do with his policies. If he were like my brother: stronger than everyone, leading the warriors with his charisma, defeating enemies, and protecting his people... that would be easier to respect. But King Souma is making tricycles and bizarre food?”
“Th-That’s not all he does. He’s always busy attending to his duties.”
“But the people can’t see that, right? They only see the result. The sight of my brother fighting inspires the troops, and the way they sing his praises wins him the support of the people. That united the clans on the once fractured steppe, and is about to unify the Union of Eastern Nations, too. Do you think your people will feel the same way when they see a tricycle?”
“.........”
When she put it that way, Tomoe had no response. It was a fact that Souma wasn’t doing things in a way that stood out.
His dealings with other nations, the place where Souma was most regal, were hidden from the people. He had their gratitude for the Jewel Voice Broadcast programs, but it was hard to see them associating that with how he was doing as a king. Souma had their support, but he was not showing them much that was kingly.
“...That’s what I don’t get.”
“Huh?”
When Tomoe tilted her head to the side, Yuriga crossed her arms and groaned, “My brother is king because he’s been recognized as more regal than anyone else. But King Souma never acts like a king, and yet he is able to continue being one. Even though he’s making nonsensical contraptions like this.”
“...Aren’t you ragging on the tricycle a little much?”
Had being forced to pedal with three people riding on it left her with a negative impression?
While Tomoe was thinking about that, Yuriga let out a sigh and said, “It all looks pointless to me. But from what I hear, it’s helping, isn’t it? I can tell that from looking at the city. Everyone’s smiling, full of energy. They don’t think tomorrow will be worse than today. The people aren’t fanatically obsessed with their king, but they do trust in him. That’s why I said it’s a weird country.”