WE WENT TO A SWEETS FAIR
“Here you go! I brought treats for you~!”
The sun had set, and Beelzebub arrived carrying a large box filled with packets of baked goods. In Earth terms, they were closest to madeleines or financiers.
I don’t think madeleines existed in medieval Europe, but I bet some civilization had invented something similar by then. Plus, this was a different world entirely.
“Yaaay! Thank you for the goodies, Miss Beelzebub! Falfa loves you!”
“Hooo…how precious… A critical hit…”
Falfa’s expression of affection almost knocked Beelzebub out. One of my daughters almost brought down a high-ranking demon; what a proud day.
“These are baked confectionaries from the Holy Knights’ Sweets, an old-standing shop in the royal capital. These are quite well-known.” Shalsha performed a thorough analysis before digging in.
“What?” I said. “If the shop is in the royal capital, that means you brought stuff from the human lands this time.”
Beelzebub’s gifts usually came from the demon lands, which was of course perfectly natural.
“Indeed. I have already brought gifts from the most notable shops in the town around Vanzeld Castle for my girls.”
How much has she bought? And the way she was calling them my girls was getting under my skin.
“That is why I have now shifted to the more well-known establishments in the human lands. You are all welcome to them, but I would appreciate some expression of gratitude. At least from those of you who are not my girls.”
Laika, Flatorte, and the rest of us were already digging in before Beelzebub said that. The only one who was abstaining was Halkara.
“I had too much to drink over dinner… It’ll come back up if I eat now, so I will wait…”
“You really need to know your limits…”
Halkara never learned. Why did she always make herself so sick?
“That isn’t it, Madam Teacher. I do know my limits. I have been an elf for a long time. I just can’t resist. The alcohol always wins.”
“To be honest, your self-awareness just makes it way worse,” I said with a great sigh.
Meanwhile, Beelzebub was not happy. “Flatorte! Do not eat so much all at once! These are gifts for the girls! They will vanish in an instant!” She tended to get extra strict when the twins were involved.
“What? But they’re so small. I need to eat five at a time; otherwise, it’s barely dessert.”
There was a huge pile of the little cookies stacked in front of Flatorte, almost like she was participating in an eating contest.
“You must show restraint. Your indolent lifestyle is making everything worse,” Laika, the other dragon, admonished Flatorte.
“Well, you’ve already eaten quite a bit yourself, Laika… But I know you dragons are big eaters, so I suppose I shall let it go…” Beelzebub acquiesced.
Laika also had three of the cookies sitting in front of her. Usually, you’d just take one.
“Shalsha is finished. I only needed to experience the rich, buttery flavor, so I don’t mind.”
“Falfa’s full, too! Thank you so much, Miss Beelzebub!”
Ironically, the two at the center of this whole event ate almost none of them…
But everyone was happy, which meant that the sweets accomplished their job as gifts. The box was empty by the time we were done.
Well, one of the two dragons would have definitely eaten whatever cookies were left, so I had to jump in and save some for Halkara for tomorrow. She could have it when she was sober.
“They were delicious. I, the great Flatorte, could eat another three hundred.”
“A shameless boast, Flatorte. You could have one hundred at the most.”
Might as well just break into the bakery itself…
“Hey, there’s something in here.” Falfa had made a discovery in the empty box—a little flyer. She was staring hard at it. “Mommy, there’s some kind of event happening!” She handed me the piece of paper.
Ooh, now what was this about?
“Hmm, a sweets fair… I guess this world really has everything…”
The human kingdom could be weird sometimes, although the demons definitely still had them beat.
I could see Falfa’s eyes glittering. She was going to ask to go, wasn’t she?
She would be a kid in a candy store—a kid among rows and rows of candy stores. It would be a dream come true.
But what Falfa actually said was nothing like what I was expecting.
“Let’s enter the event with our edible slimes!”
Oh! We’ll be competing!
Edible slimes, by the way, were this world’s first manju-style steamed buns. I’d created them after I trial-and-errored my way into a decent recreation of the Earth version.
We gave them slime-looking faces (?) with a little brand, so we called them edible slimes.
The bean jam was perfectly sweet, so you could eat a bunch just in one sitting. Went great with tea, too! In fact, it was fair to call it Flatta’s most famous confection. Not that it had any competition.
“Oh yeah, I used to make them myself, huh… I’ve got Halkara’s company taking care of production, so I totally forgot…”
It was too much work to make them myself every day to sell them at shops, and my job would go from witch to confectioner if I did that.
Normally, I’d just teach the process to someone that Halkara hired, and then they’d sell them in Nascúte. The only time I made them personally was for special occasions and when the mood struck me. But a festival like this was definitely a special occasion.
“Here is what Shalsha thinks: This is the perfect opportunity for us to share edible slimes with the rest of the country. We must not miss this chance.”
Shalsha was down, too. Well, then participating was our only option. In fact, the girls were so excited about this that they were gonna join with or without me.
I didn’t exactly want to make edible slimes famous or anything. If they got too well-known, then my relaxing lifestyle would ultimately vanish into a hectic mess. But we were way past that now.
“We can win this competition! We’ll be the best in the kingdom!”
Falfa was really into this! I could already tell this was more than a round of playing store to her. She was gearing up for battle.
“I’m not going to stop you from entering, so I’ll help you out,” I said. “But are edible slimes the best thing in the kingdom…? Not to be a downer or anything, but I’m not sure.”
They were just regular ol’ manju, after all. Even regular ol’ manju had rarity going for them in their world, but I highly doubted they were actually that delicious.
If anything, they were just comfy to eat and cheered me up a bit—I’m pretty sure that’s the job manju are supposed to serve anyway (in my personal opinion).
When I lived in Japan, every town out there sold their own kind of buns, but they kind of all tasted the same. People would go on trips and bring back the local sweets from their destination, but then I’d eat them and find it tasted really similar to something I’d already eaten from somewhere else (again, in my personal opinion). That was how things were supposed to be. That’s all manju needed to be (in my personal opinion anyway).
That’s why my edible slimes weren’t going to take first place in the kingdom. They were just something a witch made for fun in her spare time. No way they’d win against someone who’d spent decades of their life on confectionaries.
“Mommy, edible slimes can win. And Falfa isn’t just saying that because I’m excited. Falfa knows they’re good enough!” Falfa flexed her muscles (such as they were) and struck a pose.
“I can see you’re really enthusiastic about it, Falfa. It’s almost surprising.” I’ll admit, I was really happy she liked the treats her mommy came up with…
“After all, we have Big Sis Laika on our side! And if we have Big Sis Laika manning the counter, we’ll sell like crazy!”
“So that’s your plan!”
Everyone, including me, turned to look at Laika.
“What? What? What? Me? You want me to…sell them…?” She hesitantly turned a finger toward herself.
Everyone nodded.
Even our visitor Beelzebub nodded.
Yes. Laika’s customer contact skills were unbelievably high. Like, top-notch. We got a good look when we opened the Witch’s House Café. Her service wasn’t exactly god-tier, but her cuteness was leaps and bounds above everyone else.
In the second year of the Witch’s House Café, we had throngs of people who’d come from faraway places just to see Laika. She had enough influence to be considered a social phenomenon.
If we used her power during the fair, there was no doubt she’d contribute to our sales. We weren’t exactly using our flavors to compete in that case, but…it wasn’t like we could suddenly change how our product tasted.
“Shalsha asks the same. We want you to help us.”
“Let’s spread the word of edible slimes together, Big Sis Laika!”
My daughters were pushing this idea more than they usually would.
And it went without saying that Laika looked absolutely bewildered. “I don’t know if I…” She fidgeted, reluctant to answer. But that’s just Laika. If she suddenly went, Yeah, I’ll do it, mate! then people would think Muu had possessed her.
Then Beelzebub interjected into the conversation.
“Are you not currently in training? Then by engaging in a field you are not so well versed in—customer service, in this case—you shall eventually improve yourself, no?”
Beelzebub, you aren’t just pulling this out of your butt, are you…?
She was right about Laika’s training, but she was doing so to get physically stronger. It didn’t really have anything to do with treating customers well in stores. If that made any ounce of sense, then all the pro boxers from my past life would be taking up part-time jobs in retail so they could get better at boxing. Why not just, y’know…practice boxing?
Oh, she’s covering for my daughters, isn’t she?
Beelzebub would do anything to make Falfa and Shalsha happy, but I think forcing Laika to do a customer service job was somewhat missing the point. To be honest, though, I wanted to see her do it, too.
“A-all right… I will do it to improve myself!”
Laika was on board!
“Wait, Laika,” I said. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to do it. And I don’t think this has anything to do with your training…”
Afterward, Beelzebub would say to me, “I cannot believe you are not taking the girls’ side in the matter! I shall take them, then!” And I would ignore her.
“No, it makes perfect sense. If I run away from the things that challenge me, I will never grow stronger. I shall take this opportunity to be the best I can be at customer service!”
She was taking this whole thing so seriously. Maybe if I took the dirt from under her fingernails and steeped it into a tea, I could share a bit of that earnestness with some of the more cavalier folks out there. Mmm, making other people drink fingernail dirt isn’t a great business…
Anyway, I doubted she could get seriously injured dealing with customers buying sweets, and if she genuinely wanted to do it, then I didn’t have to stop her.
“Thank you, Big Sis Laika!” Falfa flung her arms joyfully around Laika. Hey, what about me?!
And Beelzebub was genuinely shocked— “Ahhh! How unfair of you, Laika!” But I ignored her then, too. It was her idea anyway.
“I will do my best, Falfa!”
“Okay, then Falfa will give you thorough guidance, okay~?”
Falfa didn’t appear to be old enough to be providing any guidance, but the last time we sold edible slimes, she had clearly showed just how skilled she was in dealing with customers. It was a mystery as to where she got those skills from, though. From playing house?
Either way, she could at least teach Laika without a problem.
…I was still a little nervous, though, and since this was my daughter and apprentice here, I decided to tag along.
“Okay, Falfa will start teaching you first thing in the morning tomorrow! Are you ready?”
“Yes! I am more than ready, Little Master Falfa!”
“Little Master”? That almost sounds like a stage name.
No matter how it happened, Laika was going to be participating in the sweets fair.
The next morning, I woke up and went to the kitchen—and found Laika wearing her maid outfit.
“Oh, good morning, Lady Azusa!”
“Wow, you’re dressed and everything… It sure is a sight for sore eyes, but don’t get too overeager.”
“We have no guests right now, so I do not mind.” Laika grinned at me.
It’s like the sun! I’ve seen her almost every day, and I know her well, and I still can’t look directly at it!
“And I have always been interested in the edible slimes, so I think this would be a perfect opportunity.”
Interested how? Did she want to eat her fill of all the leftover manju…?
Then Falfa came in, also wearing a maid outfit. “Morning, Big Sis Laika! Morning, Mommy!”
Falfa was bright and cheerful no matter what she wore. She was always adorable.
“Falfa’s going to teach you so much today, Big Sis Laika!”
“Yes! I am looking forward to it!”
“That’s the spirit! But you can’t be quite so forceful around customers, so be sure to greet people gently, okay?”
Hey, that’s actually good advice.
Now that I thought about it, Laika was a dragon who’d gone through a lot of martial arts–type training, so her voice would sometimes take on more power when she was enthusiastic about something.
“I am sorry… I will be more careful next time…Little Master Falfa.”
Little Master Falfa still sounded weird…
“All part of the learning process! Okay, now Falfa will give an example~ Ahem.” Falfa cleared her throat. “Welcome~ We have edible slimes! They’re the most famous treat from the village of Flatta in the province of Nanterre~ They may look like slimes, but they’re sweet and tasty! Why not try this marvelous experience for yourself~?”
She said it all without tripping over anything…
Laika gasped in admiration. It would be one thing if she worked at a store every day doing that, but she didn’t have that kind of practice. This was Falfa’s hidden talent.
“All right, now you go, Big Sis Laika.”
“Yes, I shall try.”
From my perspective, Laika’s sales pitch was pretty solid, but—
“Very good! But your face was so tense! Falfa thinks it’d be much better if you relax a little!” Falfa was smiling, but she was not pulling her punches. This was like a full-blown training seminar. “Imagine the slimes in your head and put the cuteness in your voice. Think bouncy!”
That sure was a unique request! Maybe that was something only a slime spirit like Falfa could know…
“Think bouncy… I see…” Laika gave it her best shot, but this was tough for her.
The question of slime-consciousness aside, she was still most definitely a little too on edge. Stiff.
Customer service was a real attentive job… A serious, hardworking kid like Laika would get mentally worn out.
On the other hand, Falfa seemed to be playing the role of a store clerk—and only for a short time. For her, this was basically an extension of playing store, so of course she enjoyed it.
Hrrm, customer service sure went deep.
As I watched them practice, the time for breakfast steadily approached, until they briefly put everything on hold to eat.
Afterward, Falfa continued to fervently (?) guide Laika.
“Now let’s practice handing out a sample box when a customer comes in. Say, ‘Please try one~!’ High enough that there’s no sense of pressure.”
Wow, this is some in-depth practice…
“P-please try one…? Was that okay, Little Master Falfa?”
Shalsha had joined in now, but she basically just stood on the sidelines watching with her arms crossed. She reminded me of a coach. “Shalsha has a question, although I’m an amateur in this field.” Shalsha raised her hand. “You almost seem to think customers might be afraid that trying a sample will compel them to buy something. Shalsha wants you to express that just trying the sample is fine.”
That was a difficult ask. I knew what she was trying to say, though.
“Hey, how about we put the sample box nearby, but make it so the customers can try them without the staff seeing? That way there’s no pressure.” I gave the suggestion based off memories from my past life.
In big souvenir displays, there would be several sample boxes, and anyone could have a taste without much resistance.
But then it was kind of unclear as to whether they would actually buy it… The souvenir sweets were meant to be more of a memory of a trip, not a snack for the taste…
Falfa and Shalsha looked at me.
What? Are they going to tell me my idea wasn’t spicy enough?
“That’s a good idea! You’re so smart, Mommy!”
“A fascinating insight. You’re even taking sight lines into account.”
Hey, they approved! Momma was pleased about that.
“Then we’ll have to put the sample box in just the right spot. And we’ll have to test it.”
“You do it, Shalsha. You’re a lot more shy than Falfa is, so if you find a spot that you don’t mind, then that should be good for everybody.”
My daughters were so enthusiastic about it, it warmed my heart.
But there was something I still couldn’t get over.
We were selling sweets, but how they tasted never actually came up…
The most important thing when it came to selling confectionery wasn’t how to make it taste any better but how to improve customer service and the displays. The reason Falfa thought we had a chance was because we had Laika with us.
Marketing over taste—it was glaringly obvious to me now.
Well, people only started paying attention to them because we put the eyes on them for the slime angle… Developing a product was hard.
On that point, I genuinely respected Halkara and her factory. I could never run a business.
By the way, Halkara had been planning on eating her portion of the gift that Beelzebub brought along that night, but she ended up drinking again and had to put it off to the morning after…
Finally, the day of the fair came.
One of the plazas in the royal capital served as the venue, and it was lined with several temporary booths like many of the fairs I’d seen in Japan.
And we saw a big ballot box sitting at where the fair HQ would be.
When a customer bought a product, they would be given a ballot with the name of the store on it. Once they decided which store had the best wares, they’d put the ballot for that store into the box.
Also, the numbers would get thrown all out of proportion if fake customers bought a bunch of stuff from the same store, so there were apparently lots of security officers roaming around in plainclothes. Apparently, they worked in secret for the kingdom.
This event was so low-key; did they need so many? Maybe the country was so peaceful that they didn’t have anything better to do…
We started setting up at our booth, and we were done way earlier than everyone else. I had expected as much.
“Things really get done quickly with you around, Laika.”
“I do not consider myself especially skilled at this kind of work, but…I suppose I know a bit more about it than the other booths.”
Dragons had a lot going for them, of course, and Laika had built me a whole house before. Setting up a temporary booth was over in the blink of an eye.
We also had a sign that said:
We had made this back when we first turned edible slimes into a product. Afterward, Halkara had hired sales staff and let them use it.
The ones who came to the fair were me, the twins, Laika, and Halkara. Our elven entrepreneur was like a supervisor who’d been selling the edible slimes for a long time, so of course she came along.
Sandra and Rosalie couldn’t eat, so they weren’t interested. They stayed home. Flatorte had given this one a pass, too, complaining that everything on offer was too small.
If one booth served enough sweets to fill up a dragon in one go, then normal people wouldn’t be able to enjoy the fair…
Beelzebub had work, so she wasn’t coming. I think the last time she came over, she’d said they were holding their own event, and preparing for that was way too much work.
The other booths were still setting up. Obviously, there were no customers yet.
“Let’s go take a look at the competition, Shalsha!” Falfa tugged on her sister’s hand.
“Understood. Knowing one’s enemy will lead to a greater understanding of the self. Only by observing others can we truly observe ourselves. Is the self not simply a reflection of others? Where does the true self exist?”
“When were we talking about philosophy, Shalsha? Don’t worry about that now! Let’s go take a look around!”
The girls were full of enthusiasm, so they went off to who knows where.
“Why are they so into this…?”
“Oh, you know, Madam Teacher. Children love sweets, don’t they? That’s it~”
“I’d accept that answer if they were normal kids, but this is kind of an exception, isn’t it?”
“When one lives a long time, you do entertain the idea of running a business! I was like that.”
“I’ve never thought that, so I can’t really agree.”
“If I run the business, then I can never be scolded for my lateness. No unreasonable bosses, either… Hee-hee-hee…” Halkara’s expression was getting very dark!
“You used to work at a different company a long time ago, right, Halkara? I bet that was a rough time…”
I knew the pain very well, as one who had died from overwork.
“I did… Please, could you pat my head…?”
Well, that was a bit shameless of her, but it wasn’t like it would cause any harm. I acquiesced.
“O, please make my boobs as big as Halkara’s…,” I joked.
“Madam Teacher, you know I’m not a statue that grants wishes if you pat my head?”
While Halkara and I were doing our own thing, Laika stood alone with a nervous look.
“Good customer service… Long-lasting customer service… Customer service that brings people together…,” she was muttering to herself…
In my opinion, she was thinking too much about hospitality, which was stressing her out even more.
“Yes, I have perfectly mastered the art of customer service. All that is left for me is to handle the fair. I can do this, I can do this.”
Meanwhile, anxiety was written all over her face. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever seen her this nervous before.
It’s hard work, jumping into something new. If it was too much for her, then we’d have to pull her out even if the girls were disappointed.
But letting her quit because she wasn’t used to this job would give us a lot less to work with… I guess we’d just have her work at her own pace for now.
In the meantime, I was setting up the steamer that we would use to make sure the buns were freshly hot. I had Falfa prepare a lot more than we could possibly need, since we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot if we sold out.
Worst-case scenario, we’d bring the extras home and Flatorte would eat the rest. She has the appetite of a high schooler right after sports club, after all.
“Well then, I guess all we have to do now is wait until the venue opens. We have time, so let’s relax.”
That was when my daughters came back.
“Mommy! Miss Eno, Witch of the Grotto, is participating, too!”
“What? I didn’t think Eno of all people would show up!”
Does she even bake? I thought she specialized in medicine.
The one who reacted to that name the strongest was Halkara. Negatively, of course.
“That hussy! She has learned naught, yet she dares to show her face before me?! I shall teach her a good lesson she shan’t forget!”
“Halkara, you’re speaking funny!”
Why did she sound like she’d stepped out of a period drama? And as the villain besides?
“I’m sorry, when I hear a business rival is nearby, I just…”
Even the normally generous (or at least absentmindedly nice) Halkara couldn’t keep still when the subject of a competing store came up.
“Madam Teacher, since we have time, can we go and see what that…that woman is selling?”
I suspect she wasn’t planning to call Eno a woman at first.
“Sure. She’s here, so we should at least go say hello.”
“No need. I am just very curious to see what she’s scheming.”
Yeah, we’ll at least say hello to her.
“I’m certain that with you around, Madam Teacher, she will let her guard down.”
“Don’t use me.”
It’d still been a while since we last saw Eno, so I wanted to see her. And I was curious what kind of sweets a medicinal specialist would be selling. Thus, we made our way to Eno’s booth.
“Is it this booth? The Grotto?”
“Uhh, guess it’s this way.”
The big sign read, SUGAR + MEDICINE = A MIRACULOUS COMBO. Grottos and medicine—this was definitely her.
We found her just setting up. She wasn’t making her goods on the spot, either. That was easier to do with fewer people.
“Oh, if it isn’t Miss Azusa! And—the infamous Halkara Pharmaceuticals! How brave of you to show yourself in broad daylight! You will not get away now that I have you! I shall end you before you can end me!”
“You’ve changed up your character, too!”
Why was everyone speaking so old-fashioned? Were period dramas in right now or something?
“Hey, Eno. I didn’t think we’d see you here. I see you’ve got some sweets, too. I guess baking and medicine-making can be kinda similar, huh?”
Some people said baking was a lot like chemistry. Like how you have to be very careful with the amounts of certain powders.
Witches had to be very careful about measuring their medicine, so that was another parallel.
“Exactly. I decided to create a new product just for the sweets fair!”
Eno then handed her entry to us.
It looked like a puffy baked something or other, but—
It was dark green.
“This is my own invention, the herbal cake! I came up with it! It contains sixteen types of natural remedies, which will leave your body healthy and your taste buds happy!”
Halkara took a look at the cake. Then—
“Pfft.” She snorted.
“Hey! You are making fun of me, aren’t you?! What are you trying to do?!”
“I’m glad to see this, Madam Teacher. We have one less rival. No one will buy this.”
“Do not ignore me! Miss Azusa, this elf is wicked! Do not let her trick you!”
Not a huge fan of being caught in the middle here…
Having two friends fighting each other ranked pretty high in the list of most annoying times in life. Still, I could see what Halkara was trying to say.
“Could you have done something about the color, Eno? This doesn’t exactly make me want to try it…”
Its appearance alone proudly told everyone how bad it was. Green was a color for vegetables; confections had to look sweet, too. This did not.
“What?! You, too, Miss Azusa?! A-all right then, give it a try! It is very good! The proof of the cake is in the eating!”
I couldn’t say no after she offered. We couldn’t keep insulting it without trying it, either.
Halkara and I took a bite of the herbal cake at the same time.
If she was selling these, it couldn’t be too nasty, flavor-wise—
“Hurk… This…is bad!” I covered my mouth with my hand. That was a shock to the system…
“Urrrgh… I feel like I’m going to vomit, and I’m not even drunk!” Halkara’s reaction wasn’t an act, at least not as far as I could tell.
“No! I made it sweet! It’s technically cake!”
“That isn’t how this works! You cannot just throw in some sweetener to offset the bitter herbs and call it cake; that only makes it more horrible! It’s like adding sugar to medicine for children; it tastes worse than the bitter stuff!” Halkara the apothecary was, of course, right on the money.
“Yeah… This was a failure. No one can eat this.”
“Oh no… B-but it’s good for you! I said it was healthy, and it is!”
“Uh-huh.” Halkara snorted again.
I had no idea she could get so condescending when it came to her business rival…
“This is a sweets event, you know. The most important thing here is the flavor. So if we take that argument to its logical conclusion, then your entry needs to taste good, no matter its effects on your health. The second you decided to prioritize other factors was when you made your first mistake. You are a cake amateur. Go home!”
Halkara was taking no prisoners. A little extreme but generally correct.
Eno was in shock. I could see it on her face—she knew she’d lost this round.
“Indeed… Sweets that do not taste good contradict the very essence of their nature… I treated cakes as mere child’s play, but I can’t even bring children joy with my own line of thought…”
Well, she could meditate on her mistakes all she wanted, but the event hadn’t even started yet. Wasn’t it a little too early for her to start acting like that…?
“I was chasing two rabbits, but I caught neither. My cake is the result of this folly. Baked treats may be indulgent, but the baking world is not.”
Halkara wore a smug look on her face, but she wasn’t a baking pro herself, either. The words of an amateur really didn’t have a lot of power.
After thoroughly crushing Eno, we couldn’t exactly have a casual chat with her, so we decided to take a look at the other booths.
“Wow, there are booths from all over the country here. So many types of sweets~”
“Look at those colorful candies. Everyone’s so creative.”
Pickled bake, kottac candy, sugar beans, spirit pudding… I spotted all kinds of names I’d never heard of before.
I was starting to think that taking first place out of all these was going to be much harder than Falfa and Shalsha thought.
“Madam Teacher, I believe edible slimes have great potential, but it isn’t as well-known as some of these other sweets. If there is one hurdle we will have to clear, that is it.”
“I mean, we have no real tradition to draw from, either… It’s not going to be easy being a newcomer.”
It was safer for people to buy what they knew.
Of course, some adventurous types will buy something new just because it’s unfamiliar, but they aren’t the majority.
“Our key to victory does indeed hinge on Miss Laika’s cuteness.”
“This really isn’t about the sweets anymore, is it…? Well, I guess we should be heading back now.” It was too early to buy anything.
“Oh, Madam Teacher, could you make me an edible slime when we get back?”
“I’ll be making them to sell—and you know you can’t vote for me even if you buy one, right? That’s against the rules.”
Halkara shook her head, her face pale. “No, I want it to refresh my palate. The bitterness from that herb cake is coating my whole mouth… It has one of those strangely persistent aftertastes…”
Eno’s herb cake successfully dealt damage to Halkara!
“Damn you, Witch of the Grotto… You are causing me pain with your failure of a cake… I shall carry this grudge for a thousand years!”
“I’m pretty sure it was just a coincidence!”
And why did she take on that old-fashioned cadence again?
I doubted Halkara and Eno’s relationship would mend anytime soon.
Finally, the time came for the sweets fair to open.
The general admission gate opened, and all the guests came flooding into the venue.
“Wow, there are so many people! I suppose it is in the royal capital, after all~” Halkara placed her hand above her eyes to shield them as she gazed out into the distance.
“Yeah. Not really a sight we get to see where we live.”
If someone saw this without context, they’d probably think it was a riot or war.
“We’ll get so many customers! Falfa’s so happy!”
“The teeming masses have arrived, guided not by their own wills.”
“Hey, Shalsha? Let’s not call our customers ‘the masses,’ okay? I think we’d get in trouble for that…”
Of course, the sheer number of people was having a negative effect on someone else—Laika.
“I did not think this many people would come… Stay calm, stay calm…”
If she had to tell herself to stay calm, then she wasn’t calm. This level of self-consciousness was the definition of not calm.
“Are you okay, Laika? You look a little green. You can always throw in the towel if it’s too much, okay?”
As her instructor, I didn’t want to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.
“I—I am fine! I am simply unused to this environment! But that is far from an excuse on the battlefield.”
I guess it was okay if she was just surprised by how many people were here. Really, it was a bit odd to see a dragon so shocked by a large crowd.
Shalsha patted Laika on the shoulder.
“You need not worry. Think of the tiger within your own heart.”
“Thank you, Shalsha!”
Uh, whatever works… Is it normal here for dragons to have “tigers in their hearts”?
Meanwhile, the guests started approaching our booth.
The first ones to come by were a pair of women in their twenties.
“Hey, edible slimes!”
“What a funny idea.”
Here we go! Let’s nab some customers.
“Edible slimes are super good! These are the only slimes you can eat in the entire world~!”
“Your life will not be complete until you’ve tried them. Please have a taste.”
The twins advertised first.
“Awww, twin girls!”
“They’re so cute~!”
Right, right? Aren’t my daughters just adorable?
To be honest, I was way happier than if I’d gotten a compliment myself. Just part of being a mom, huh?
Now the problem was Laika—
“H-helcome…”
She tripped over herself! Stumbled out of the starting gate!
Oh no, I was right; this wouldn’t work… She was nowhere near calm.
Laika hung her head. She was probably feeling the same way I was.
But surprisingly—when she lifted her head, she looked incredibly calm.
All the nerves and anxiety seemed to vanish.
“Why not try an edible slime? I believe this will be an entirely new flavor for you. They are filled with sweetened boiled beans. You may also take a sample, so please, try one.”
Incredible! Her nervousness must have reached a limit and flipped the switch instead.
“Here you go, ma’am and ma’am. These are our sample edible slimes.” She held out a plate of one manju cut up into quarters to the two girls.
“Wow, this dragon-girl is super sweet… And those clothes look so good on her…”
“She’s more, like, handsome than cute… She’s like a prince.”
And she’d charmed the customers!
“Okay, I’ll buy ten.”
“I’ll take twenty.”
Right off the bat, we’d sold two and a half dozen. This was the Laika Effect!
“Thank you. Please enjoy the rest of your day at the event.”
Laika saw the customers off with the smile of a distinguished butler.
Now that I thought about it, I’m pretty sure Laika was once in a position like this at a red-dragon school. She should be the perfect image of a prim young lady. Maybe memories of the younger students fawning over her came back to her.
“Big Sis Laika, you were super cute!”
“A true femme fatale. Both castle and kingdom would bow to you.”
Both of my daughters were giving her their stamp of approval, while another one of us was acting oddly.
“I could go with Laika…” Halkara was enraptured.
“‘Go with’ how? What does that mean?”
“Oh, Madam Teacher, how uncouth can you be~?”
“No, wait, hold on! I just need to know what you’re talking about!”
“Isn’t it so romantic to let a late bloomer like Miss Laika take her turn for the attack?”
“What on earth are you talking about?!”
We continued to sell our edible slimes as we kept a cautious eye on Halkara.
To be honest, it was selling well. This was basically just a festival, and that mood was working in our favor. The strings on the customers’ wallets were loose for the occasion.
Obviously, no one would come out to a sweets fair and then not buy any sweets. We had a concentrated pool of people interested in confectionary. And our flavors were going over extremely well.
“I’ve never had something like this before!”
“I’ve never seen this in my life, but it’s good!”
People would buy a portion and eat it immediately nearby, and sometimes I could overhear their opinions.
I was never nervous about the taste. It wouldn’t have gotten the reputation it did in Flatta or Nascúte if it was bad. But taking number one was a different story. There were plenty of other booths that were even more popular than we were.
I also got a clear view of the line forming at our booth. That was enough to tell us that we were doing well.
It wasn’t that we were bad—it was just that there were other places that were even more amazing, and they deserved it.
“Everyone’s offering the staples from their region, huh. They’ve got ‘white chocolate friends’ over there. And those are ‘peep cookies.’ And ‘bear sherbet.’”
“Those are all the famous, classic treats from those regions. And when they all gather in one place, the teeming masses have no choice but to come and line up.”
There Shalsha went again, calling people the masses…
“Then people who see the lines wonder what the lines are for and come to join the queue despite their ignorance.”
She sounded like a lamenting sage, but I knew what she was trying to say.
Once a line formed, it was hard to resist the urge to hop in. And any familiar goods had a natural advantage. Not that that’s much of a surprise.
“Well, there’s not much we can do. We’re practically unknown here in the capital, but we’re still putting up a good fight.”
We didn’t have to take first; Laika was overcoming a weakness of hers anyway as she was steadily dealing with our customers.
But then, it happened.
“Helcome…Ah.”
She tripped over her words for the second time today. These kinds of mistakes always happened right when you were getting used to things.
Laika wouldn’t fall into a panic over something like this—would she?
Her face immediately went bright red.
“M-my pololgies! Oh no, I messed up again…”
If the first error flipped the switch that set her free—then the second flipped the switch that brought her nerves back!
“I’m losing my composure… Um… Well, if it’s all right…it would make me very happy if you were to buy these…” Laika placed her hand to her mouth, her face still bright red.
She’d tripped over her words in front of others, so of course she was embarrassed.
But there were people out there in the world who found value in her bashfulness.
“Isn’t she adorable?!”
“Her adorableness is on an entirely new dimension.”
“She’s the most precious here in this whole square!”
I could hear the opinions of the crowd, and Laika’s embarrassment was only fanning the flames.
Everyone had discovered how cute she was the second she got flustered.
“Um… Is there something on my face…? I get nervous if you look at me too much… I do not mind when I am fighting in dragon form, however, but… Please do not call me cute; I…I am not cute a-a-at all!”
All the people calling her cute only flustered her even more.
As she squirmed, the crowd around her was visibly swelling.
It was like when regular people realized a huge pop star had tried to sneak into an event.
“Hey, isn’t that Laika, Jewel of the Highlands?!”
“I had no idea she’d be here as a booth girl!”
“She’s right there!! I want a glimpse of her, at least!”
Apparently, there was a small subsection of people here in the royal capital who already knew her name. The power of a rumor…
A few moments later, the crowd started to take the shape of a line.
I was surprised at how quickly they formed the queue, like they were all going through a drill, when I saw Halkara pushing them into shape.
“This is the line for edible slimes~ Edible slimes~ One for seventy gold! Please have your money ready when you get in line~ We take payments in two spots, so please form two lines!”
So efficient. She’d been in sales for a long time.
“Oh, sir, could you please stick to the side as best you can? Do not block the ways to other booths, please!”
And she was conscious of the smallest details, too…
Meanwhile, at the front of the line, Falfa and Shalsha were handling the customers as salespeople.
“Thank you~ They’re really tasty!”
“We thank you for your purchase. I pray that your discovery of these sweets will lead to your happiness.”
The two were hard at work. Shalsha was getting a lot better at dealing with the customers.
“Um… Lady Azusa? What happened…? I don’t quite understand…,” Laika asked me with a perplexed look.
“The people of the capital have spoken, and they say you are adorable.”
A beautiful, blushing girl was a force to be reckoned with.
And just like a well-known snack…a well-known girl had immense crowd-gathering power.
Laika essentially functioned as a giant ad now.
“No… I was simply embarrassed because I’d made a mistake… They don’t need to concentrate on me like that… Ooh…I wish I could hide in a volcano…”
Nobody would be able to follow you in there, that’s for sure.
“By the way, Laika, we get more customers when you’re not acting dignified.”
When people came, Laika got more embarrassed. And when Laika got embarrassed, more people came. A perpetual-motion machine.
“Is it true that Bashful Laika’s here?”
“Yes! I really wanted to see Bashful Laika!”
It sounded like a nickname… Who came up with it…?
Blushing bright red—
“Please try one.”
—Laika extended the sample plate out to the people around her.
I was happy enough lightly encouraging her from the sidelines.
Her bashfulness was reasonable; it didn’t seem totally out of nowhere.
And once a line formed, the line summoned more people. We got a good cycle started at our booth.
“Oh no, Mommy! We had so many slimes prepared, but now they’re almost gone!”
“What? No way we’re almost sold out…”
Sure enough, our reserves were practically empty.
“No need to worry,” Shalsha said, arms folded. “We prepared enough that selling out would most certainly mean victory. The path will open to us so long as we continue to sell.” Shalsha was starting to remind me of a stubborn artisan.
In the end, our edible slimes sold out before the event was over.
Once our wares were gone, Laika looked considerably relieved, like a ghost who’d been haunting her was finally gone.
“I still have much room for improvement; I’ve learned that losing my composure is a bad tendency I have from this event. I have much more to learn.”
“I think it’s fantastic that you found the desire to improve from that.”
I bet that was the secret ingredient to her popularity.
“I am all right in front of people, but the moment they tell me I’m cute, I cannot handle it. I must learn not to let that bother me.”
Now that she mentioned it, being told she was cute weakened her way more than just customer service.
“But that’s ’cause you are cute, Laika. People are gonna say it.”
“Lady Azusa, please do not say that, not even as a joke.”
But I wasn’t joking…
We were all sold out of slimes, but it was still too early to pack up and go home. At the end of the fair, they were going to reveal the winners of the popularity vote.
They started calling the winners from third place.
We didn’t hear our name for either third or second place, and for a moment, I wondered if maybe, just maybe—
“And the honor of first place goes to the edible slimes!!”
And the MC called our name!
Everyone who hadn’t gone home yet sent up a cheer.
Falfa and Shalsha high-fived each other.
Wow, I had no idea we’d be taking first place…
“Not only did you offer wonderful customer service, your unique recipe of sweet bean paste set it apart from the competition and earned you a fantastic reputation! With advertising effectiveness and originality, you took first by a mile! Congratulations!”
It’d be cruel to make Laika go get the trophy here, huh?
“Go on, Falfa, Shalsha.”
“Okey dokey!”
“Understood.”
The two lifted the heavy trophy together, and the audience applauded and cheered.
“They’re so cute~!”
“The kids are adorable, too!”
“They’re so smart!”
I’m pretty sure this was all because of Laika, but I was glad we got first place.
“Edible slimes are now a national phenomenon. I’ll have to open quite a number of stores now~ Heh-heh-heh~”
The plans were running at high speed in Halkara’s head.
“Open as many stores as you like, but please don’t advertise that the Witch of the Highlands made them…”
“Of course. I will stand a good enough chance if I advertise Miss Laika’s name instead!”
“Stop! That’s worse!”
Think of what it would do to Laika!
In case you were wondering, nobody bought Eno’s cake. To no one’s surprise.
Strictly speaking, a few people did buy it out of curiosity, but she got no votes at all for such a bad-tasting product. Only the smallest subsection of the people with the weirdest taste would like that flavor.
“I will get my revenge for this one day… All of my things are so heavy… It was a mistake to come here alone…” Eno came by to say hello at the very end, then she loaded her entire booth setup onto a cart and left.
I guess these things happened when you ran a business…
“If there are winners, then there must necessarily be losers. Conflict is so cruel.” Beside me, Shalsha stood with her arms folded as she nodded deeply.
“That’s a heavy comment to end a sweets fair on, don’t you think?”
“Such is competition, Mom.”
Baked goods may be indulgent, but the baking world is not.
And there was one thing that was still on my mind—or at least that started weighing on my mind right as we were leaving.
“Hey, Laika? You said you were interested in edible slimes. What did that mean?” I was pretty sure she’d said something to that effect.
“Ah, yes, yes. I thought of a new way to bring the edible slimes to their maximum potential.”
“You did?”
Did that mean Laika was interested in business now? If so, that was unusual.
“Lady Azusa, why not spend a day at my hometown, Mount Rokko, next time? I can tell you the details then.”
“Sure, I’d be glad to go.”
Laika had worked hard today, so I could definitely take up a simple request like that.
Ahhh, Mount Rokko. May as well hit up the hot springs while I’m there. I know they have great hot springs.
Wait, hot springs?
And manju?
Wait a second…
A few days later, I hopped on dragon Laika’s back, and we headed for Mount Rokko.
I got to see Laika’s older sister Leila and her parents for the first time in a long while, and it was all in all a peaceful time.
“Boy, this is nothing like the blue dragon village…”
When red dragons lived in their human forms, it really felt like an upper-class human society. Even the furniture was all high quality.
“Ah-ha-ha, that is because blue dragons are nothing more than what they are. Even the most useless dragons can still survive. That is how you get those types.”
Laika’s dad acted relaxed, like he had a lot of money, but “dragons can still survive even if they are useless” was a perfectly apt phrase. Dragons had such high potential that they could afford not to make the most of it.
Laika and her sister were having a fun chat, but Laika herself seemed a bit uncomfortable with all the teasing.
“Laika, I know you’re training to get stronger, which is great, but what about love?”
“That hardly matters! Please do not ask about this…”
“You are hopeless when it comes to this topic. You have so many weaknesses.”
Yep, she knew her little sister well.
“Miss Azusa, I know Laika is in your capable hands.”
“Yes, don’t worry. I’m taking very good care of her!”
“Please don’t let my sister rope you into this, Lady Azusa!”
Despite being a powerful dragon, Laika was still the cute little sister at home.
“Um, Lady Azusa,” Laika said, “I think it’s about time we do the experiment with the edible slimes.”
“Oh yeah, that’s why we were here!”
Our chat with her family took longer than I thought it would.
“I was wondering if we would be able to use the steam from Mount Rokko. I believe heating the edible slimes in the steam will give it flavor like no one has ever had before!”
“…Yeah. This is exactly what I expected.”
She was trying to have us make onsen manju—manju steamed in the waters of hot springs. Even in another world, people could see that they were a match made in heaven.
“Incredible, Lady Azusa! Such powers of insight!”
Ooh, her look of admiration kind of stung…
I was just making use of the memories from my past life…
We immediately set out to start our plan to turn edible slimes into onsen manju. Fortunately, they were selling wooden steamers at the Mount Rokko hot spring village. All red dragons were good with their hands, so there were artisans who made them by hand.
“Mount Rokko has never had any trademark sweets, so I thought we might be able to make one ourselves.”
“Yeah, that’s really good thinking. Here, line up the steamers like this, and we just need to put them over the water.”
“Lady Azusa, you know exactly what I am thinking of. I thought I’d come up with a perfect idea, but now I’m a bit embarrassed…”
“Oh, I’m not inspired or anything. I’m just using the knowledge I’ve gathered over the years… I think it’s amazing that you thought this up, okay?”
We placed the steamers, careful not to get scalded, and waited.
I wasn’t sure how long we needed to wait, exactly, but we’d test it several times to find out the perfect timing. We both waited in silence.
“Um, Lady Azusa, I learned a lot during the sweets fair. Well, about my weaknesses anyway,” Laika said as she stared at the steamer.
Now that I thought about it, with all the newcomers to the family, we’d had less and less time to talk one-on-one.
“I wanted to rid myself of all unnecessary thought and aim for greater heights—that is how I’d been training myself thus far, but…when I do that, I grow more brittle…”
This was something only the most hardworking kids worried about. Maybe the real reason she asked me along was so we could talk.
“Until now, I have done my utmost not to think too hard about things, but I suppose now I see that I am not terribly strong emotionally. I was trying to ignore that by aiming straight for one single goal.”
I hugged Laika tightly from behind; I needed to act like a master every once in a while.
“I think you are amazing. You came to that answer all by yourself, Laika. I’m so proud you’re my apprentice—my family.”
“I am happy to hear you say that, but I am lacking in so many areas still…”
I didn’t mind her hardworking attitude, but the negativity was a different story.
“Laika, how long has it been since you realized that?”
“What?” Laika’s voice squeaked, probably because she wasn’t expecting my question. “I have only just figured it out. I had been hiding it this whole time…”
“Then take your time overcoming this. Three hundred years ago, I was just a regular, powerless witch, too.”
Yes—I spent three hundred years doing the exact same thing, and that’s what made me who I am today. It didn’t happen overnight. In fact, three centuries is super, super slow.
“If you can take it slow, then you should. Don’t do more than you can handle. Look at the bigger, broader picture. There’s nothing to worry about. That’s my guarantee as your teacher, Laika.”
“All right, Lady Azusa.” I couldn’t see her face, but her voice told me there was no problem here. “I will take things slowly from now on.”
“Good—glad you understand what I’m saying. You’re such a good apprentice. Now let’s see how our manju are doing.”
We opened the lid on the steamers and found a row of puffy little slimes.
““Oooh!””
This wasn’t an unusual sight at all, but we still cooed in awe together.
We wasted no time in popping the steaming hot onsen manju versions of the edible slimes into our mouths.
“Yes, this is so good! It doesn’t really taste any different than normal, though!”
“Indeed! It’s lovely! …It does taste largely the same.”
Yeah, all we really did was steam it in some hot springs… It’s not going to taste like curry or anything all of a sudden.
“But…it does have a slightly different charm than regular edible slimes.”
“Yeah. I think it’d taste much better than usual if we ate it in a town with hot springs.”
We looked at each other and giggled, although I couldn’t tell you what exactly was so funny. But these little slime buns made us laugh for no reason, and that was what made them so great.
And I hear they’ll soon be sold as the Mount Rokko edible slimes.
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