Chapter 80 – Bear-san And The Second Opening Day
While I was dealing with some tasks, Rurina-san came looking troubled.
「Yuna-chan, could you come here for a second?」
「Something happened?」
「Yeah, a little. A child that neither Gill nor I can handle came.」
「Who came?」
「A noble girl.」
There was just one noble girl I could think of, though...
First of all, I didn’t even know how many nobles there were there in this town, so she might not be the one I was thinking about.
「If it is just a normal noble, I can do something about it, but...」
We exited the kitchen, and as we went towards the entrance, we could see a blond girl charging at Gill through the glass windows.
There was no doubt, she was the person I knew.
「Let me enter! I have some business with Yuna-san!」
「Wait a little. Someone just went to call Yuna.」
Gill was blocking the entrance.
I knew it. The noble girl was Noa.
The two were glaring at each other.
It was no good just looking at the two of them, so I decided to go out and intervene.
「Noa, what are you doing?」
「Yuna-san!」
「...」
「The two of them won’t let me come inside.」
「Well, I asked the two of them to be guards until the store opens after all. You two noticed that Noa was a noble, huh.」
「I saw her a number of times with the feudal lord after all.」
「So, why are you here, Noa?」
「That’s not the problem! You didn’t come to see me at all, so today I decided to come and see you, but... What is this shop?!」
Noa was pointing at the bear sculptures.
「When I came here the other day, there was nothing like this...」
Her face swelled when she got angry.
「So, what did you come for today?」
「I came to eat pudding of course.」
It was before the opening hours, but I couldn’t really tell her to go back, so I brought Noa into the shop.
The moment Noa entered, her movement stopped.
「Wh, wh, what is this!!!」
Noa started shouting.
Noa approached me and grasped one of my Bear Hands.
「Please do the same to my house!!」
「Cliff would get angry, you know.」
「I will persuade him!!」
「Please don’t. Calm down and have this instead.」
I made a Bear Nendoroid that was waving its hand and gave it to Noa.
「Thank you very much! I will treasure it for life!」
「You don’t have to.」
I would be troubled if she cherished a doll made from earth as a lifelong treasure.
While Noa was carefully holding the doll, she was touring the interior of the store to see other sculptures and said one phrase.
「I want all of them.」
I ignored those words, of course.
「While I am thinking about it, how are you doing recently?」
「Because I went to the capital, my studies were delayed, so my father assigned me a home tutor.」
Well, it wasn’t wrong that we just played while we were in the capital city.
If you were a noble’s child, you had to study.
It was better to have intelligent nobles than idiot ones.
「But father is horrible! He won’t let me go outside at all!」
「Isn’t it because you were lazy that it became like this?」
「I think some relaxation time is needed.」
「Then, I will give you a pudding, so do your best with your studies!」
For now, I guided Noa to a seat.
If I left Noa alone she would just run around, exploring the inside of the shop without end, so I made her sit down.
But even when seated, she was turning her head all around to see the interior of the shop.
「It is a little early, but do you want to eat something other than pudding too?」
「Is it okay?」
「Yes. Almost everything we serve is easy to make, so we can bring it to you relatively fast. Ah, but you can only have one pudding cup. We don’t have a lot them after all.」
Noa asked for a pudding, a small pizza, and an Oren juice.
「The shop isn’t open?」
「Not yet.」
I briefly explained what happened yesterday.
「That can’t be helped. After eating it the first time, I also wanted to present it to other people.」
「But this number was really outside the expectations.」
「You are too naive, Yuna-san. You are too naive if you think so little of this pudding. I really wish you could have seen the dining hall when the pudding was brought during the king’s birthday.」
She scooped a spoonful of pudding, and presented it to me before putting it in her mouth.
「I heard a little of it from the king, like how lots of people were asking to see the chef, or something like that.」
「That’s absolutely normal! When the pudding was brought in, all the people present tilted their heads at the new food they had never ever seen before. But, because the king recommended it, all of them tried it, and the hall became a really big mess.」
Hmm... this was more terrifying than what I heard before, but...
「Nobody ever ate something so delicious. That’s why there was a big uproar in the hall. Nobody knew the methods of preparing it or even the ingredients used. Even the nobles, who only ate high class meals, couldn’t think of what it could be.」
With just pudding, it became such an incident...
「But the king didn’t reveal the recipe or who was the one that made it. Of course, I knew it, so I was looking at them while laughing.」
「Is it possible that we are in a pinch?」
「What are you talking about?」
「I was thinking that if they know we are selling it here, they will pressure us to reveal the recipe...」
If that was the case, the children could be in danger.
「I think it will be okay, you know. The king said something like this: 『The one who made this is my best friend. The food will be sold at the place where it is made. If someone damages the store, or harms anyone who is working there, you will be punished.』」
That meant that the king told all of the nobles that we were best friends??
「And the king directly ordered father to look out for Yuna-san, so if something happens, you can just go and see him.」
I had the backing of the king, huh.
Thinking of the children’s security, it was better protection.
I’ll receive the “best friend” title with much gratitude.
Even if I didn’t need it, it was not really something I could give back.
After talking with Noa for a while, I heard some troubles outside of the shop.
To confirm it, I went outside and there stood a lot of people.
「What happened?」
I asked Rurina-san.
「You see, when I said that the shop would open for lunch, they said that they would wait in advance.」
I see.
There was less than 30 minutes before the opening.
It was not strange for customers to start lining up now.
「Rurina-san, make the customers form two beautiful lines. Make sure there are no people who disregard the lines or try to cut in line.」
「Is it okay?」
「If they don’t cause any problems, it’s okay. It will cause troubles for Rurina-san, though.」
「It’s okay. I just have to arrange them in two lines, right?」
「Yes, I am counting on you.」
Before the opening, we ate and left the entrance to the two guards.
When it was opening hour, there were around 30 people lined up.
Thanks to Rurina-san, there were no problems.
We managed to prepare 100 puddings, so it would be one per customer only.
After talking with Noa, I thought there would be a lot of demands for puddings, but there were more customers asking for hamburgers or pizzas. Was it because it was lunch time?
「Good job!」
I said some words of appreciation to the two of them.
Their job ended and they were seated at the seats prepared for them.
「There is really a lot of people, huh.」
The customers who came this morning and the ones who knew the opening hours entered at the same time, so the shop was packed.
「Still, it’s really delicious, this pizza and this hamburger!」
「...」
In front of Rurina-san, Gill was eating silently.
I could just barely tell that he did not dislike it.
「Say if you want more. It’s okay for any item on the menu except for pudding.」
「That’s the pudding from the rumors, huh. I heard from Helen-san that it was delicious.」
「It’s sweet, so there might be some men that wouldn’t like it, though.」
「No problem. It’s delicious.」
Gill shared his impressions after eating one mouthful.
「Yes, it’s delicious. And we will be able to eat it for one week, that’s great.」
「You could be employed for life, you know. I have a lot of tasks I want you to do after all, Rurina-san.」
「That’s a wonderful temptation. Unfortunately, I also want to continue my job as an adventurer, you see.」
「Thinking about adventurers, what is Deborane doing?」
「Ah, him, huh. I thought about parting ways with him. After all, I was just a temporary member from the start. What will you do Gill?」
「I haven’t decided yet.」
「You can work at the shop too, Gill.」
「I can’t do anything else than fight.」
「That’s more than enough, you know. You could be a guard, and there are children who want to become adventurers, so I would like you to teach them how to fight as an adventurer.」
I thought that the children who wanted to become adventurers wanted to do so because of me.
I, the one who saved the children of the orphanage, was an adventurer, so it seemed that there were children who wanted to become adventurers like me too.
They wanted to become strong in order to protect the orphanage.
The director said that I wouldn’t have to mind it because there were no places for the children of the orphanage to work even after they become adults, so there were a lot of them that became adventurers.
There was a place for them to work now though. That was why I didn’t really want them to do something dangerous.
「And I need someone to protect the children when I’m not here, so I would have a lot for you to do!」
「I will think about it.」
I thought he would refuse it, so I was really surprised that he responded this way.
I really thought he would say something like: 『I am more suited to be an adventurer.』
「You have time, you know. It’s not a pressing matter.」
The headhunting of those two has been put aside for now, but it was not something that needed to be resolved immediately, so I didn’t really mind.
The second day finished without a problem and we closed the store.
The customers who came too late couldn’t have any pudding, and I saw their dejected faces going back home.
The problem was, once again, the number of eggs.
If there were some leftovers, I wanted to make some sandwiches. If I made some, the egg sandwiches were a must (I wanted to eat them). (TL note: parenthesis in the raws.)
By the way, Noa had been dragged away by a butler.
She escaped during her lessons after all.
Noa asked me for help while crying, but I couldn’t do anything.
The butler was dreadful.