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Volume 1, Chapter 20: I hired an employee.

Café Omusubi now has an employee. Honestly it was just around the time when I began to have too many things on my plate, so it was great to have another person on board even though they were an amateur.

First, I taught Zeke how to make bread. As we know, bread took up more than half of the sales at the café. Although I was slightly bothered about the café turning into a bakery, the purpose of more hands on deck was to answer demands so there was no helping that.

Zeke had close to no experience in cooking, but he listened to my explanations earnestly and quickly learned how to make bread. Perhaps he was a quick learner to begin with.

As he was originally in the chivalric order, he was also a stickler for respect. Although he spoke casually to me when he thought I was younger, he became very polite when I hired him, even calling me manager. I didn’t like being so stiff, so I asked him to stop…only for him to call me teacher, which made it worse. When I asked him to stop that too, he reluctantly started calling me Miss Risa. That seemed the least he would allow, so I decided to compromise.

I was okay with the casual speech before, though…

While he worked hard at bread making, I could experiment with possible new menu dishes. The person happiest about this was none other than Zeke.

Things I couldn’t make before included cake. Although I could make swiss rolls relatively quickly, whole cakes and tarts needed a lot more time.

Of course, when one thinks of cake, one thinks of shortcake. Zeke’s eyes shone when he saw the experimental shortcake I made. The slice I handed him disappeared in an instant. He must really love sweets to make such a happy face. In a way, this might be a better place for him than the chivalric order.

Step by step, Café Omusubi began moving forward.

“…Whoa! So this is custard cream!”

Today was the regular weekly holiday. In Feliformia, there was one holiday per week where everyone except the essential services rested. Most people spent this day at home, be they nobility or commoners. Even at the Claude’s, all the butlers and maids had a day off.

So today, Café Omusubi also had a day off.

To be honest, I wanted to open business as holidays bring in the most profit, but there was no way anyone would be on the streets. It would be pointless to open when there wouldn’t be any customers, so I could only tearfully give up. I hadn’t imagined that my industrious Japanese nature would surface here.

Anyways, the regular holiday. The café was closed, but I was in the kitchen trying out new dishes. For some reason, Zeke was there too even though he had the day off. When I let slip that I would be trying things yesterday, he happily asked if he could drop by today despite it being a holiday.

It seems his sweet tooth was getting the better of him, and he was itching to try the just made custard cream. I hadn’t made any extra, so I sadly couldn’t answer his expectations. I spared him a side glance as I poured the cream from the pot into another container and put it into the fridge. He followed my actions with his eyes and slouched.

Don’t be like that, you just had three of the trial puddings I made! I quipped in my head, ignoring his reproachful stare. A stack of empty pudding containers were in front of him. I had baked three different types of pudding and caramel and chilled them in the fridge.

He was the only employee, so I was deciding the menu for the café while listening to his opinions. For now, the combination appeared to be sweet pudding with slightly bitter caramel.

There were three more things I planned to make today.

First, pie dough. I could store it in the freezer, so I wanted to make as much as I could. Once I had pie dough, the amount of sweets I could make would multiply instantly. Pies, of course, but also tarts, breads, and even mille feuille with the custard cream.

Next, ice cream. It would take time to make this, so I would have to work on it even on workdays. After all, ice cream had to be mixed thoroughly every one or two hours in the freezer, which would take a lot of energy as well.

However, I had finally received a magic tool that would make that easier yesterday??—a hand mixer. This was also a custom order from Silas’s Magic Tool Store. The stand mixer was already making butter and a valuable asset in whisking cream, but it wasn’t suitable for making things in small amounts. That was solved by acquiring a hand mixer, which also made mixing ice cream much easier.

Lastly, chiffon cake. This could also be made thanks to the hand mixer, as meringue was the life and blood of a chiffon cake. Making meringue required mixing egg whites, which would also take a long time.

With two mixers, the food would also have more variety. Better to rely on the magic tools when they are handy, after all.

…bam bam!

Right when I took the roller, prepared to start making pie dough, there was a hard knocking on the door. Memories of the drunkard from the other day flashed across my mind and I flinched.

“I’ll go.”

“Ah…”

Noticing my pale expression, Zeke got up from his stool and left the kitchen. I thought I had forgotten all about it, but I guess I might have been terrified…I’m so glad Zeke is around…

“…one…you!!”

“…so…”

I could hear Zeke and someone else in the direction of the entrance. Was it someone Zeke knew? But their tone seemed gruff. Suspicious, I peeked into the hall from the kitchen, locking eyes with the person Zeke was talking from behind his back.

“Ah!! You!!”

He pointed at me and pushed past Zeke into the shop.

“You’re the one who seduced him!”

He was a redhead of my height, if not shorter, and looked like a middle schooler if we were in Japan. Hm? But he was wearing the chivalric order uniform that Zeke wore. Didn’t you have to become an adult to get in the order?

While I was captured by my thoughts, he marched over to me.

“Zeke is…ow!!”

He opened his mouth but was interrupted by a dull loud thud, to which he immediately hunched down holding his head. Zeke had hit his head.

With a balled up fist, too…

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“Please have a seat.”

For now, I had the young man, discouraged by Zeke’s punch, sit at the counter. The sulking youth was called Reinhardt Howell, who entered the chivalric order at the same time as Zeke and was friends with him since the chivalric academy. Apparently he was also eighteen. Good thing I didn’t tell him I thought he was a middle schooler…

“…I won’t approve of it.”

He quietly muttered, still looking away. He most likely barged in, dissatisfied that Zeke had quit the chivalric order. I wouldn’t blame him, though. This was the first time I heard of this, but he quit the chivalric order he even went to the chivalric academy for, only to work at a café, a placecompletely out of his field.

“I’m fine if you can’t approve of it.”

“Why! You worked so hard! And you’re blessed with talent and physique! The guys in our year, no, everyone in the order had high expectations for you as the next captain of the order! Even so, why! It’s obvious that the reason you quit so easily was because of this woman!”

“It’s true that Miss Risa was the reason.”

Hearing Zeke’s words, Reinhardt glared daggers at me.

“See, he-”

“But it’s not what you’re making it out to be. If you’re going to slander Miss Risa, go home. I do feel bad towards you since we’ve gone through so much together, but I don’t regret quitting the order, nor do I plan on going back. That’s how far I’ve fallen.”

…what?

“…Wha, w-w-wha!”

I stared at Zeke with my jaw dropped, and Reinhardt flushed red and jumped up, his seat clattering to the floor. Zeke argued vehemently,

“Miss Risa’s food is amazing! It’s the best in this country, no, the world. Not only that, I have never been so deeply moved by these things called sweets that she makes since I was born. This is the path I will walk. That’s how far I’ve fallen for Miss Risa’s food.”

“…”

Ah, he’s talking about the food. Right, that makes sense. F for Food, not H for Human.

Reinhardt, who had been yapping like a Spitz up until now, stood speechless staring at the suddenly eloquent Zeke.

“If you still don’t approve, you’ll understand once you eat some. Msis Risa, there is still some pudding, right?”

“…Yes, there is.”

“Could he have some?”

“Okay.”

I returned to the kitchen and took the nicest looking pudding, plated it, and brought it to Reinhardt.

“Here, please have some.”

The pudding was covered in plenty of brown colored caramel. Tempted by the sweet fragrance, he stared at it.

“You’ll understand if you eat it.”

Zeke said, full of confidence. Reinhardt glanced at Zeke and I and slowly picked up the spoon. Pudding is equal parts bouncy and soft, so his spoon easily sank in. He paused, surprised by the texture, but tentatively raised a spoonful to his mouth. His eyes grew wide, and he picked up the plate in his hands to take two bites, three, and he inhaled everything on the plate, even the caramel, in a matter of seconds. He set the plate down and exhaled a long breath before breaking out of his trance and looking up.

“You’re amazing! I’ve never had anything like it! What is this!?”

“Right? Today’s also the first time I’ve had pudding!”

I was shocked by his sudden change in attitude, but Zeke nodded as if it was only natural. Then, Zeke began to chatter about all of my food that he had tasted as if to show off.

While this scene of two men talking away about sweets was a little weird, I guess this means the case is closed…?

Afterwards, Reinhardt lowered his head to me and apologized. I thought it was probably better for Zeke to return to the order, but Reinhardt easily approved of Zeke’s position, told him to work hard, gifted him a bottle of ale, and left with a hop in his step.

A new regular, a sweets guy, was added to Café Omusubi’s roster.