In the capital, the heart of the Empire, Ben’s bakery is filled with savory and delectable breads, as well as colorful and sweet desserts.
They used an entire large building in this expensive capital’s prime location, with breads on the first floor and desserts on the second.
Admiring the artistic displays of desserts and breads, members of the noble gourmet club assessed the place.
“This shop is like an oasis of sweetness in a parched desert. It feels like I’ve stepped into a different world here.”
With interiors that match the quality of the displayed desserts, the head’s delicacy was striking.
The comparison to an oasis seems quite fitting, Ben, the head of ‘Ben’s Bakery,’ thought.
Next to the elegantly designed bakery building was a rough structure where dozens of pastry chefs were pouring all their efforts into creating the breads and pastries to be displayed in the bakery.
The bread factory beside the elegant and sophisticated bakery was a place filled with hot flames, sweat, and pain, much like a desert.
The bread factory was a dreadful place.
Muscular men were frantically kneading the dough, while behind them, the completed dough was shoved into the hot oven.
It didn’t end there.
They had to constantly check on whether the bread was baking properly inside the oven and reposition it as needed.
Until all the bread was completed, the pastry chefs, unable to move an inch from the sweltering ovens, were drenched in sweat, their faces flushed from the heat.
With the physical labor being arduous, combined with the heat radiating from the ovens, it felt no different from a sauna.
Among the inventions of magical engineering was a device that continuously cast a spell to lower the temperature, but it turned out to be so effective that it negatively impacted the ovens, rendering it unusable.
There was simply no way to cope except to step into the room where the device was installed to rest when one felt they might collapse.
One pastry chef, who had been diligently kneading the dough, asked Ben, who had come to check on the situation.
“Head… Is that really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
A man proudly sporting a beautifully curled mustache, resembling a crescent moon, shouted.
His well-built frame in a white chef’s uniform looked ready to burst, with a determined gaze that was intense.
Ben, the head of ‘Ben’s Bakery,’ responded to the pastry chef’s question with another question.
“You mean the dough we sent to Woodville? That’s something even the royal family doesn’t do.”
What he was worried about was the ‘preserved dough’ sent to the Academy that morning.
They had cast preservation magic on the dough, which was just one step away from baking, allowing them to serve products of the same quality as those displayed in the store.
Using this method would give people a feeling as if they were visiting the bakery even from great distances, but Ben’s Bakery had never sold preserved dough outside; they had only ever tested it internally.
Ben’s Bakery had its motto based on providing flavors that could only be experienced in this shop.
“Since we’ve been trading with that family for a long time, I can manage that. They also lent money to help establish this shop.”
Despite it being something he had sworn never to do, Ben couldn’t refuse Woodville’s request.
Ben came from humble beginnings.
While he was in business with nobles, originally he was merely a farmer who baked bread well, just recently arriving in the city.
When he established this bakery with his name on it, no one helped Ben, but the Woodville Trading Company fully trusted him and helped him open his bakery.
And until now, it was the Woodville Trading Company that supplied various ingredients to Ben’s Bakery.
How could he refuse a request from the daughter of the Woodville family?
“You’re saying you’ll sell it at the Academy festival… The biggest reason nobles line up at our bakery is that this taste can only be experienced here…!
Unlike the dough, the exhilarating aroma of butter right after baking can’t be preserved by the preservation magic.
He doesn’t even sell those to the royal family, preferring to handle everything from kneading to baking personally…!!”
He still didn’t seem satisfied.
What he said was certainly correct.
Although Ben’s exceptional skill contributed to the bakery’s rapid growth, what was more important was his natural marketing ability.
Skill was certainly a prerequisite; the reason he became the most famous in the capital was that he cleverly capitalized on the nobles’ desires.
He regularly produced ‘limited sale’ items and never opened a second outlet, no matter how successful he became.
This difficulty in obtaining limited items spurred the desires of those who possessed them, while those who couldn’t acquire them became restless.
As he became more famous among the nobles, his value continued to rise.
Even when he received a suggestion to supply the royal family, he grit his teeth and refused.
Instead, Ben took trips to manage everything personally whenever the emperor or the royal family required it.
If he opened a branch and started supplying the royal family regularly, or sold preserved dough properly, his income could double, but Ben resisted temptation.
He believed the image value retained in his bakery was far more precious than yielding to those temptations.
That’s why it was unbelievable that Ben, just out of simple gratitude, sent the ‘preserved dough’ outside the capital, all the way to the Academy located at the port.
But Ben raised his fist and gave the pastry chef a light smack on the head, saying,
“What, is baking bread easy? The time and temperature to bake different kinds of breads and pastries vary, and if those spoiled nobles who’ve never even touched a drop of water can do it perfectly, why are you getting paid at all?”
…
…
…
An oven has existed since ancient times as one of the cooking tools.
When you place food into a sealed device containing a heat source and seal it, the food cooks using heat from all directions of the sealed space.
In other words, it’s a device that heats food by directly applying high heat.
In my previous life, an oven was an extremely convenient cooking device that adjusted itself to the appropriate temperature and time with just a few button presses, but this place is different.
In this world, where many magical engineering items are being produced, the ovens still operated the same way they always have.
To modern people, this oven, built of bricks, resembled the illustrations found in storybooks or a renowned children’s animation series about baking.
Below it was a hot heat source, in this case, a wood fire, and instead of directly heating it, they filled the oven with heat to cook.
Of course, there were no sensors to indicate how hot it was inside, and it was impossible to adjust the temperature intricately.
Pastry baking, as expected, requires skill, and while much has been simplified, converting dough into perfect bread also requires considerable know-how.
It’s not something that can be achieved easily by people who have never touched flour.
“That’s just obvious.”
Even if it was made simple, it was among the noble children who had only ever delegated tasks to others, so things were bound to go awry.
Thinking like that made it hard to believe only two weeks were left until the Hunting Festival.
At this level, shouldn’t they have at least two months?
“That can’t be….”
Dorothy Woodville was flustered as she looked at the blackened dough.
She had thought that simply placing the dough in the oven and pulling it out would transform the white dough into shiny brown bread, but it had turned into charred coal instead.
Dorothy wasn’t the only one in a panic.
Seeing that Dorothy’s project resulted in coal, her fellow students began to murmur.
“Is there anyone here with expertise in baking skills…?”
No one raised their hand to Woodville’s question.
There was no way there could be.
The students who might have relevant experience were all participating in the Hunting Festival, vying for a quick fortune.
While they might know how to enjoy delicious pastries or the various types, they had no clue how to make them.
“Uh… But let’s all give it a try! It’s okay to burn everything. They say failure is the mother of success!”
“Y-Yeah!!”
Agreeing to keep trying until favorable results emerged, Dorothy Woodville encouraged her fellow students to give their best effort to bond with the oven.
As for me, while I could manage some cooking, pastry baking was an entirely different realm, so I couldn’t quite get the hang of it.
As everyone focused their attention on the oven up front, Woodville quietly approached and whispered.
“… Do you have a moment?”
“Me?”
…
…
…
Dorothy and I slipped out of the practice room and entered an empty nearby classroom.
It was my first time being alone with Dorothy Woodville, but I was well aware of her family name.
Back in my knight days, I had met her father, Gale Woodville, the head of the Woodville Trading Company, a few times.
He was a typical boisterous merchant with a protruding belly and brown hair like Dorothy’s, which left a strong impression.
Naturally, I found it maddening that Dorothy was taller than I was.
Each time she moved, her luscious pigtails grazed my face, almost making me sneeze.
Perhaps because she used fine perfume, her hair wafted the scent of wildflowers.
After closing the classroom door, Woodville turned around and made eye contact with me.
As she twirled around, her pigtails and skirt formed a large circle, reminiscent of a musical.
“What does Lady Woodville want from me?”
“First of all, I want to express my gratitude.”
Dorothy suddenly bowed her head to me.
I was taken aback by her sudden gesture.
“I don’t remember doing anything worthy of your thanks.”
“You stayed back for our class, giving up what could have been a victory in the Hunting Festival, right? I owe you much more than my thanks.”
Even though I had done it just for fun, her way of wrapping it up had some flair.
Listening to her flattery, I recalled her character.
“The woman who set her sights on the Golden Ball with a well-rolled tongue…”
Both Dorothy and her father were incredibly adept at flattering others and bringing them to their side.
In the original story, she nearly gained real power to shake the economy of the Empire instead of Shaara Prigia, who had turned into a demon.
Even though she was good at talking, she had a frail body, and the position almost went to her before Shaara, now a demon, killed her.
Had she survived, the collapse of the Empire in the story would have been significantly delayed.
“Lady Nemea doesn’t need to do anything at this Hunting Festival. I and the other students will handle all the refreshments, class decorations, and hospitality.”
“Is this some sort of torment? Should I just stand against the wall?”
“Not at all. What I’m asking of you, Nemea, is to act as ‘security.'”
Due to my background, there are many who might not take kindly to me.
While I could bear the targeted harassment directed at me, I felt it might also affect the other students in our class.
The Woodville family was currently aristocratic, but they weren’t born into nobility.
Gail Woodville was a successful merchant who bought his title with the fortune he amassed.
They have no territory or specific perks, having merely bought the ‘responsibilities’ that come with being a noble.
But in the long run, the nobility would serve as a valuable shield that costs more than any additional taxes they pay.
However, there were many nobles who despised them simply for purchasing their title.
Although the Woodville family was powerful enough to not step into conflict directly, it seemed they felt a lot of animosity.
“So you just want me to stand there so they can’t make a fuss? Sounds a lot like just staring at a wall.”
“Please think about it this way. I want this Hunting Festival to go successfully no matter what.”
After saying that, Dorothy Woodville bowed her head again.
“You really think we can succeed when we can’t even make decent bread?”
“I’ll do my best to at least mimic it within the next two weeks.”
Thinking of the charcoal-coloured dough, I felt worried, but Dorothy looked at me confidently.
“… That’s a good look.”
It was a strong gaze that belonged to someone who had made up their mind.
I liked it.
“Alright, since you’re taking the charge for this Hunting Festival, I’ll support you. But you really have to prepare thoroughly in these two weeks, okay? I’ve never been to Ben’s Bakery before.”
“You can expect that. I’ll make sure we bake perfectly somehow, at all costs…!!”
“No, just make sure you only use legal methods.”
