The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Story 1

ONE MORNING, the mood in the institute’s kitchen was far more cheerful than usual, on account of the fact that we had a guest. A lady guest.

The cheerful voices of my male colleagues filled the kitchen. Aira had come to visit.

“Good morning, Sei! Thanks for having me today.”

“Morning, Aira. Thanks for coming.”

Aira showed up a bit after we had finished eating breakfast. We had promised each other that we would get around to baking together. We both had a day off, so we were finally fulfilling that promise.

We went to the kitchen and Aira greeted the chefs. They beamed at her. It felt like everyone was wearing far sunnier smiles than usual. I guess that’s just the power of an adorable young lady.

Well, I couldn’t say that I didn’t understand. Although Aira was just wearing comfortable clothes that were easy to move in, it being her day off, her daisy-yellow dress looked cute as heck on her. She was especially darling when she tied that white apron over it.

While the chefs cleaned up breakfast and started getting things ready for lunch, they directed Aira to a corner of the kitchen. I had collected all of the ingredients we were going to use and laid them out on the counter, so we were ready to start measuring.

“Did you make this a lot back in Japan?” Aira asked me.

“Yup, especially when I was still in school.”

“But not after you graduated?”

“Nope. I was so busy with work, I never had the energy.”

To be more accurate, I was so busy that I’d never had the time, but I bet I would’ve if I had. I might have even made udon and bread from scratch. Kneading dough did strike me as good stress relief.

“But you did make it a lot a long time ago, then?”

“Well, not really, just once in a while.”

“Huh? I’m surprised you can remember the measurements, in that case,” Aira said with a look of wide-eyed wonder, making me blush. Something like that wasn’t really worth praising!

“It’s not that complicated,” I protested.

It really was easy as anything to remember the basic ingredients and quantities for pound cake. That was what was on the menu today, and true to its name, pound cake required exactly the same amount of its four ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. It was so easy to remember that I’d never been able to forget it after the first time I stumbled upon the recipe.

Granted, having now made pound cake several times since my summoning, I had made some slight adjustments to the measurements. Cookies used the same basic ingredients and in similar ratios, but they required twice as much flour as the other ingredients. With that alternative ratio in mind, it had been relatively easy to start iterating on the combination.

For example, when I added dried fruit, I used the basic recipe as a foundation and then experimented. 

Aira praised me yet again when I told her this. Too much!

“I’m surprised it takes so much of these ingredients to make a cake, though,” she said.

“The volume of butter and sugar is especially surprising, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! So how much do we need to measure out?”

“We’re going to be making a large batch today, so…”

Aira was shocked when I told her the full amount. However, we were making half again as many cakes as I usually did. It had been a while since the last time I made them, as I had been busy on expeditions. I was planning to divvy the cakes between Johan, Jude, and the other researchers. Of course, I also intended to give Aira some to take back with her.

Aira smiled happily at this promise. “Your cakes are hugely popular among the mages too, you know.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

I had given Aira cakes multiple times now. She said she ate them during her breaks at work and shared them with her colleagues when they took breaks at the same time. The first people she had let try my cakes had said they were gentle on the tongue and the stomach, as they weren’t overly sugary. From there, the word had spread. A whole bushel of people were looking forward to their share of this batch.

In that case, I should probably give Aira more than I was planning to. If I don’t, she won’t have much to eat herself.

We poured the pound cake batter into molds, then rolled the cookie dough into cylinders, which we cut into slices. After we placed the cookies on a baking tray, Aira started peering around the kitchen. “Where’s the oven?”

“Over there.”

“This? Huh? You use firewood?!” Aira was bewildered to learn that we needed firewood to heat our oven.

“Never fear.”

“Oh, wow!”

We had veteran chefs on hand. One of them came over with a smile and took the tray from Aira.

“Thank you.”

The chef returned her thanks with a smile. “Don’t mention it.” 

This exchange was quite familiar to me. To tell you the truth, I still couldn’t control the temperature of the flames on my own yet. I therefore often relied on the chefs to handle it for me. They were always helping me out, so in turn, I always made sure to give them some of whatever I had concocted on a given day. Of course, I planned to give them a share today as well.

“It’ll be a while before everything’s done baking, so how about we have some tea?”

“Good idea!” Aira beamed.

I got some hot water from a chef, made herbal tea for the two of us, and we headed into the dining hall. This time, I chose chamomile tea. It was a mild, soothing drink, and I had unintentionally favored it lately.

“Making cakes and cookies sure takes a lot of hard work.”

“You can say that again. It’s even harder in this world because we don’t have all those nifty gadgets we had back in Japan.” I nodded with Aira as I rubbed my upper arm.

Granted, making cakes and cookies had been rough going even with the advanced baking tools of modern Japan. It went without saying that it was profoundly more difficult without those tools.

With pound cakes, the more batter you wanted to work with, the more oomph you had to put into mixing. If not for my Healing Magic, I’d have been sore from shoulder to fingertip the next morning. To prevent that, I used magic on myself starting from right that moment. I was pretty sure that I was the only person I knew who would use magic for this sort of thing, though.

Aira was surprised when she saw me Heal myself, but of course she would have been. Who would expect someone to use magic to buff up their body just to bake?

Speaking of, the chefs never relied on their magic when they cooked. They relied purely on the strength of their own muscles when we baked together. It was important for them to hone their stamina so they could cook at their best even when they didn’t have a mage with reinvigorating magic to rely on. The chefs were far superior to me in that regard.

“I think if you taught me the recipe, I might be able to do the prep work myself, but I doubt I’d be able to handle the baking part on my own,” Aira said.

“I always have the chefs help me out. Were you hoping to make these on your own later?”

“Mm-hmm. I always get flustered asking others for help. But, well, I don’t have anywhere to bake anyway, so it’s not like I could really do that.”

“Ah, yeah.”

A place to cook, huh? It made me think. A certain kind of Water Magic enchantment could turn an item into a water supply of sorts. Aira could use Water Magic herself, so she would have that covered so long as she had a basin to act as a sink. What about a stove? Was it possible to make a stovetop with a Fire Magic enchantment? If it was, then I bet Aira could have a tiny kitchen just about anywhere in the Assembly barracks.

“Have you thought of maybe getting a slab enchanted with Fire Magic so it could be a kind of stove?”

“Oh! We actually have something like that! Though it’s only really for heating water.” According to Aira, it didn’t even bring the water to boiling—just warmed it up a bit.

Is there a way to make it a bit stronger? I thought.

But just then, a wondrous fragrance came wafting out of the kitchen. Our cakes and cookies would be ready soon. We paused our conversation and practically skipped into the kitchen.

***

I walked down the hall to the office of the knight commander of the Knights of the Third Order. I was carrying the goodies I had made with Aira.

Albert doesn’t like overly sugary desserts, but these are simple and I just used the basic recipe, so it should be okay, I’d thought as I set aside his portion earlier.

To tell you the truth, I had no choice but to give Albert a share. I’d stopped giving him homemade desserts for a time because I had found out he didn’t care for sugary snacks. But when he found out that I was denying him, he’d looked so depressed. I couldn’t stand seeing that beautiful man look so sad.

As I approached Albert’s office, the person standing beside the door noticed me and announced my arrival. I was immediately led into the room.

When I first started coming by, I’d had to tell the guard at the door why I had come before he announced my arrival, but lately I was getting the VIP treatment. That seemed a little much, but no one said anything, so I tried to shrug it off. If I was doing anything weird, I hoped someone would say something.

“Hello,” I said as I came in.

Albert greeted me with a dazzling smile. “What brings you here today?” 

I lifted the basket hanging off my arm. “Aira and I did some baking today, so I brought you goodies.”

“It’s been a while since you last baked. You have my thanks.” Albert accepted the basket with a pleased smile and handed it to the servant in the room.

The servant took the basket with practiced grace and walked out. He had presumably left to go fetch us some tea. How did I know that? Because that was what happened every time I brought baked goods to Albert.

“You’ll have some with me, won’t you?” Albert asked.

“Of course, if you’d like me to join you.”

What did I tell you?

Albert invited me to sit on the sofa, so I did. A few moments later, the servant returned, pushing a cart. I smelled the delicate scent of tea from the teapot sitting on it.

“So, you made pound cake and cookies today?”

“Yup. I used the basic recipe, but hopefully it’s not too sugary for your taste.”

“That’s quite all right. I can’t wait to try them.”

The servant filled the teacups and then placed them on the table alongside plates topped with cookies and slices of pound cake. Normally, I brought Albert specially made confections that were less sweet, but today I had brought him the same thing everyone else got. I didn’t think it would go terribly, but I still worried that he might be less than pleased—hence my warning. But Albert didn’t seem to share my caution as he took a bite of the pound cake.

My heart raced as I watched him chew. I was on tenterhooks, waiting to hear his opinion. Did he like it?

“It’s delicious,” he said with a smile.

A wave of relief washed over me, and I at last picked up my own plate.

“You made these with Aira?”

“The very one. I promised I’d bake with her a while ago.”

“I see.”

“That’s why we stuck to the basic recipe. It’s sweeter than what I usually make for you.”

“Well then, that explains it. But don’t worry, I find this level perfectly good.”

“Oh, whew.” I grinned, reassured. 

I still thought it’d be nicer to make him a less sugary loaf of his own the next time I baked. I asked him if he would prefer that, just in case. He paused before nodding apologetically. I’d had a feeling!

“Sorry to make you go out of your way for me like that,” he apologized.

“It’s all right. I’d prefer to know your preferences so I can make things to your taste.”

“Thanks. But I’d rather not be on the receiving end all the time,” he murmured restlessly as he put a hand on his chin.

Uh-oh. Don’t we have this conversation every time?

He asked me the question I knew was coming. “Is there anything you’d like to have?” 

“Not really. Just seeing you enjoy my cooking is enough.” 

I was glad he’d at least asked me this time. The first time around, the conversation had gone something like:

“Dresses with narrow silhouettes have become fashionable. Would you like a new dress?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly accept something so expensive in return for something as insignificant as cookies.”

I turned Albert down every time, just like I had on the first, but he still hadn’t given up. At first, he’d only asked about dresses, like what kind of designs I liked and such. After he exhausted that avenue, he’d moved on to asking me about accessories.

To be fair, there were an endless number of different kinds of accessories out there, so a lot of them would’ve been cheaper than a dress. However, I had a feeling that if I agreed to anything, Albert would go and buy a version of that thing that was even more expensive than a ball gown. So, I didn’t. I turned him down again that day, but somewhat unusually, he kept at it.

“I know you don’t want anything, but…” Albert trailed off and furrowed his brow.

But he wants to give me a dress anyway? Or more like, he just wants to give me something—anything? Is that what he’s about to say? Hoo boy, I hated the feeling that I was taking advantage of his generosity. I still gave him an inquisitive look and urged him to continue.

“I don’t mind if it’s something practical you’d wear any day,” Albert said suddenly while averting his eyes. “I would just like to see you wearing something I picked out.”

“Something practical?” I asked, just to make sure I had heard him correctly.

“Yeah.” He looked back at me pleadingly, searching for an answer. He reminded me of an abandoned puppy. My resolve was shaken.

What should I do? It’s okay to accept something practical, right?

“Do you like the color blue?” he asked.

“Blue?”

“Well, yes, I thought cloth in a light shade of blue would look nice on you.”

That didn’t really narrow it down. Which light shade was he thinking of? There was aqua, sky-blue, forget-me-not blue… White-violet too. Any of those hues could be likened to the color of Albert’s eyes.

Which means that… My heart skipped a beat as I remembered a certain Salutanian custom. No, wait. Calm down now. He still hasn’t said that’s what he intends to give me.

My cheeks began to glow as I lowered my gaze to my feet. “Uh, yes, I do like the color blue.”

“You do?” He sounded quite pleased.

“Um. An accessory with a blue stone set in it would probably look nice with light-blue cloth too.” I was so unnerved that I tried to change the topic, but the next thing out of my mouth just helped me dig my own grave. I probably wasn’t being melodramatic either.

Why did I bring up accessories?! I mentally wailed at myself as if I were part of some comedy routine, but it was too late.

“Then perhaps a sapphire,” Albert happily murmured.

Whoa, wait! Sapphires are really expensive. Augh, oh man! I gotta come up with something else to talk about… Oh, I know!

“What about you?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“What colors do you usually wear?”

“Hmm, good question. I prefer darker colors.”

“You do?” I asked. All right! I managed to change the subject. I’m surprised he likes wearing dark colors, though. He seems like the type who’d look good wearing any shade.

Then Albert asked, “What color do you think would look good on me?”

“H-huh? Hmm…” He looked at me expectantly, and for some reason the room grew hotter. Wait, does he want me to say that out loud? From my own mouth? But that would be super embarrassing!

My cheeks grew hotter than ever as I racked my brain trying to come up with a way to survive this encounter.

***

“Huh? Are those Sei’s cookies?”

Aira’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of the voice addressing her.

She had just started taking a break with some of her colleagues, so it wasn’t like she was doing anything bad. However, something in Grand Magus Yuri’s tone put her on edge. Everyone in the room simultaneously turned to look in the direction of the grand magus’s voice and saw that Magus Erhart was with him. 

The dread in the pit of Aira’s stomach only grew. It was, to say the least, painfully awkward to be eyed by her bosses while she was taking a break.

But Yuri wasn’t wrong. Aira was indeed serving cookies Sei had made, along with tea.

“You can tell?” one mage asked in surprise.

“Mm-hmm. I can see Sei’s magic emanating from them.”

While it was common knowledge that Yuri could see traces of magical power, Aira was surprised to learn that he could detect it on objects as well.

“May I have one?” Yuri asked. “I’m ready for a break myself, and something sweet might just do the trick.”

The fact that Yuri and Erhart had just arrived together meant that they had likely returned from a meeting at the palace.

“Uhhh.” The mage who had spoken glanced at Aira, expression unsure.

Aira timidly offered the plate of cookies to Yuri. “Sure, go ahead.”

Yuri selected a cookie between his thumb and index finger and popped it into his mouth. A smile spread across his face. “Mm. Divine.”

Aira let out a sigh of relief.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Erhart watching Yuri closely, so she quickly offered him a cookie as well, feeling regretful for not offering him one in the first place. However, she soon began to worry that she shouldn’t have. Erhart was her boss and the second strongest mage in the Assembly. She didn’t want to be disrespectful.

However, contrary to Aira’s fears, Erhart stretched his long fingers toward the cookies. As he ate, his expression remained utterly unchanged, but he nodded ever so slightly.

I’m guessing he liked it? Aira thought.

“Did you make some of these too, Aira?” Yuri asked.

“Huh?”

“I see that some of them have traces of your powers as well.”

“Oh. Yes, that’s right.” Aira grew a bit flustered when this was pointed out.

Yuri picked another cookie, holding it high overhead as he voiced his admiration.

The other mages on break looked at Aira with a bit of surprise. Most of them were from noble families and had assumed that, like the majority of noble ladies, Aira couldn’t cook.

“You know how to bake cookies, then?” Yuri asked.

“Yes. Just simple ones, though.”

“Would you consider baking more later? You like sweet snacks and desserts, don’t you?”

“Uh…” Aira’s eyebrows knit at the suggestion. She wouldn’t have minded baking more, but she had no place to do so. There was a kitchen at Sei’s Research Institute of Medicinal Flora but no such facility at the Assembly. She could ask Sei to let her borrow the kitchen, but she couldn’t barge in all the time. As such, Aira was unsure of how to respond.

“Don’t ask her to do something she can’t,” Erhart said.

Yuri pouted. “Why can’t she, though?”

“Just go buy some, if you want them so badly.”

“But the ones they sell at the market are too sweet.”

Everyone glanced about, searching for an escape from this banter between their superiors.

“Besides, where would she even bake them?” Erhart continued. Though unaware of Aira’s reason for hesitating, he had identified the main issue all on his own.

“Uh…”

“We have neither an oven nor a kitchen.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Yuri’s shoulders drooped. However, his frown brightened nigh instantaneously. “Then perhaps we should have them built here as well.”

“What?”

“You’ll be able to bake if we have the correct facilities, right?” Yuri looked at Aira eagerly.

Aira nodded nervously, inspiring a most powerful brow furrow on Erhart’s part. It wasn’t hard to guess why he was so troubled. Building a baking facility would incur quite a cost, and the Royal Magi Assembly had no such room in its budget.

“Do you have any idea how expensive it would be to build a kitchen?” Erhart demanded.

“Aw, are you saying we can’t afford it?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Yuri pouted again.

Meanwhile, Aira frowned thoughtfully. It’s true that making an oven that uses firewood would require a good deal of construction. But what if we just enchanted something, like Sei suggested?

“Um, excuse me?” All eyes focused on Aira. Despite her anxiety, she managed to tell them about her conversation with Sei.

At present, the most an item enchanted with Fire Magic could do was heat a bit of water, but could they devise something with a bit more firepower? If they could, then maybe they could even create an enchanted oven. Aira had no idea whether it would cost more to construct a kitchen or to create such an enchantment, but she offered the idea anyway.

Erhart furrowed his brows again, as expected, but Yuri was dearly intrigued, no doubt because this was an opportunity to experiment with magic.

In the end, after Erhart worked out the cost of both ventures, they didn’t get his permission. However, not much later, Yuri used his own funds to develop an enchanted oven. Of course he had been able to make it happen, what with his high level in Fire Magic and access to the abundant coffers of his adoptive family.

The Assembly couldn’t put the oven on the market due to its exorbitant cost, but Yuri wore an incredibly satisfied look when he finished it. Of note, the two individuals he had interrogated nonstop about the inner workings of electric ovens in Japan were, by the end of it, exhausted.

It went without saying that the very first enchanted oven was installed in the Royal Magi Assembly barracks.