Bear-san And The Cake Taste-Test, Part 1
The “Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop” was closed the next day, so it was the perfect opportunity to have a taste-test there.
Morin-san and Karin-san were already at the shop while Fina went to the orphanage to get the children, and since we didn’t have enough cake for all of them, she would only bring the ones working here.
When I got to the shop, Fina and the children were already there.
There were also some people I hadn’t invited.
"Mylene-san, Elena-san, why are you here?"
Somehow, it seemed as if the two adults had come here with the children…
"Why, you ask…? We saw the children going here, so we talked to them and learned that we could taste your new recipe, Yuna-chan."
So, they came along because of that, huh.
I looked at Fina, and she seemed troubled.
"Should I have not invited them?"
"No, it’s okay. We need someone to do the poison-test, after all."
I couldn’t really blame it on Fina.
"Yuna-chan, it isn’t nice to call us your poison testers…"
Mylene-san said, but I ignored her.
"How did you even meet the children? There is nothing between the orphanage and the shop, right?"
"A woman’s intuition."
"Haa… And Elena-san?"
It would be meaningless to keep talking to such an useless person.
"I saw Fina-chan when I went to get the eggs for the inn. If I’m bothering you, I will head back."
"You aren’t a bother, Elena-san."
"When you say it like that, it feels as if I really am bothering you, though."
Again with the persecution complex…
"Tirumina-san couldn’t come, Fina?"
I had only noticed now that Tirumina-san wasn’t here.
I had wanted her to come too, since if I were to add it to the menu, I had to talk to her about the ingredient costs and selling price, plus some other things.
I really wanted Tirumina-san to take care of all these troublesome things for me…
Well, I could talk to her at a later time, so her not being here now wasn’t a real problem.
"She would be a bit late, she said."
"Really!?"
"Somehow, that reaction is completely different from the one you had with me…"
"That’s not true at all. I’m happy that you came, Mylene-san. What about your actual job, though?"
"Yuna-chan, you meanie."
I believed Mylene-san was fundamentally a good person, who did her job well, but she also brought trouble with her many times. She really enjoyed sticking her nose into troublesome things. Seeing her dealing with them was fun, but being dragged into them wasn’t.
Anyway, we all entered the shop and called out to Morin-san and Karin-san.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"I made a new cake called shortcake, so I wanted all of you to try it, if you don’t mind."
"A new cake? Of course, I want to try it. Your new recipes are always good, Yuna-chan, which is also good for my shop."
We sat down in the dining area while Morin-san and Karin-san went to retrieve plates, forks, and a few drinks.
The children, Mylene-san, and Elena-san all waited for them happily.
I took time to cut the cakes into slices while Morin-san and Karin-san put them on plates.
I had many different flavors, so I made sure to divide them equally.
"There are many different flavors; I would be happy if you tried them all."
I said that, but the only thing that was different were the fruits used.
Well, even though it was just the fruits, the taste was completely different.
I proceeded to distribute the cakes to everyone at the table.
"Yuna-chan, what is this white thing?"
"That’s the main innovation of the day: whipped cream. It goes great with the fruits and the cake. Please try it."
They didn’t waste any time grabbing their forks to eat their cakes.
"What is this?! This fluffiness.."
"It’s delicious!"
"Both strawberries and cream are delicious."
Everyone found it delicious.
"Yuna-chan, will you be adding this to the menu?"
Morin-san asked while still eating her cake.
"I was planning to, but do you think it will sell?"
"It should sell based on how it tastes, but it still depends on the cost of ingredients and how much we sell it for."
"It shouldn’t be too expensive since the ingredients can be obtained easily."
"So, somewhat like pudding? You sure you’re willing to share the recipe with us again?"
"I see no point in hiding it; if I hadn’t planned on putting it on the menu, I wouldn’t have held this taste-tasting party."
If I didn’t add it to the menu, I wouldn’t be able to eat it anytime I wanted. It would be really troublesome if I had to make it myself everytime. Well, I could just make a lot of them and put them inside the Bear Box, but that would also be a pain.
"Great. Please show me how to make it later when I have some spare time, then."
Morin-san seemed to have entered her cook mode and was already doing some calculations.
"Yuna-chan, wh-what is this?"
Mylene-san said, her fork trembling in her hand, but that didn’t stop her from eating quickly.
"As I told you before, these are shortcakes. You can change their flavor just by putting different fruits inside. I love the strawberry ones the most, though."
Hmm, I should stock up on strawberries, so I could eat them whenever I wanted.
Thank you very much, Bear Box-sama.
"I was already wondering this when you made pudding, but what in the world are you, Yuna-chan?"
"You ask me what I am… I don’t know how to respond to that…"
I came from another world. There was no way I could tell them that.
"I’m an adventurer, more or less."
"There are no adventurers with clothes like yours."
Mylene-san said and poked my stomach.
Could you please not do that?
It made me feel as if she was poking a fat belly.
My stomach wasn’t as big as the costume made it seem like, you know.
I wasn’t lying, okay?
"Not talking about the fact that you’re strong, cute, strange, and you can make delicious things like pudding. There are no other adventurers like you."
Well, it was all thanks to the Bear (Cheat), after all.
"I agree. Thanks to Yuna-chan, I can now make many new varieties of bread; her innovations are just incredible."
Morin-san praised me as well.
"So, when will you start selling it?"
"That depends on Morin-san and Tirumina-san, I guess? We have to discuss the price, and I’m not sure if Morin-san will have the time to make them everyday."
"You’re right. We are already tight on time as it is."
There were now even more different breads than when we had opened the shop.
Well, the main reason was probably me telling Morin-san "I want to eat a bread like that, and also a bread like this." every now and then. She kept adding those new breads to the menu, which brought us to the current problem of being low on preparation time.
"Also, tell me which cakes did you like best, so we can decide which ones we would put on the menu when the time comes."
"We won’t be selling them all?"
I shook my head at Morin-san’s question.
She was already busy enough preparing bread every day; with the time cakes took to prepare, there was no way she could make it in time for the opening hours.
So, without enough time, making all these different cake flavors was impossible.
Well, we might make do if we added more employees, but I would have to talk with Tirumina-san and Headmistress about that first.
"Yu-Yuna-san! Please let me work here!"
"Elena-san?"
"I will work hard and won’t reveal the recipes to others, so please hire me!"
Elena-san said and bowed.
"What has gotten into you, Elena-san?"
"For a long time now, I have been thinking I want to do a job that is worth living for."
"Your help is more than welcome, but what about the inn? Wouldn’t it be difficult for your parents to manage it on their own?"
"They will be fine."
"They will be fine, you say… They would be troubled if you suddenly left, right?"
"You see, my uncle came not long ago, and now, I don’t really have to work at the inn anymore."
Elena-san proceeded to explain that her father’s older brother and his wife had come here since their job at their hometown had become unprofitable.
With all the people that came from Mireera, more and more people stayed at the inn, so her father welcomed their help, and they now ran the inn together.
"If you get more guests now, doesn’t that mean you also have more work to do, Elena-san?"
"My uncle and his wife are hard workers, and they are indebted to my father for letting them work here; they took all of my workload."
"And what about your job of relaxing at the counter?"
"Yuna-san…"
She started to stare at me.
"I’m joking."
"That job is taken care of by my grandmother."
She wasn’t denying it. Also, about her grandmother…
"She lived with my uncle and his wife and came here with them. She now takes care of guiding the clients to their tables and other reception tasks."
Elena-san could work here immediately, and that would help us a lot, so wasn’t it okay?
"So, because of that, I want to have something to do."
"It’s busy here, you know."
"It’s better than having no work to do. All I do at home is go shopping from time to time, and even that, my uncle and his wife do most of the time."
Elena-san seemed a bit sad when she said that.
"I’m okay with it for now, but you have to get your parents’ permission to do it."
"Yuna-san, thank you!"
Elena-san bowed again.
"By the way, are you a good cook?"
I asked, just in case.
"I help at the inn from time to time, so I can do it pretty well."
"She can also serve customers."
"Well then, I will go ask for permission at once."
"If your parents disagree and you leave anyway, I won’t hire you, okay?"
"Okay!"
Elena-san stood up and rushed out of the shop.
She didn’t really have to hurry that much… Well, she had good parents. I wouldn’t let them split up if they didn’t agree with her working here.
They were way different than mine, after all.
Soon after Elena-san left, Tirumina-san and Shuri entered through the same door.
"Elena-san just ran out of the shop. Did something happen?"
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Translations from: Xant & Minions
Author’s note:
I finally found a place for this girl from the first volume. w
Now that I think about it, the first volume has been out for more than a month now.
There might be a reader or two who doesn’t know about the book yet, so…
The first volume is now being sold by ‘Shufu To Seikatsu Sha Co’.
If you happen to see it at the bookstore, it would make me really happy if you bought it.