Chapter 693

Too competent for his own good!
After receiving word from Galvano Ojisama that the prototype machine was ready, we wasted no time and headed to his workshop that weekend.

“Ojisama! It’s finished already!?”

“Oh-ho, you came bright and early. Mind you, it’s only a prototype, so don’t expect too much.”

With that, Ojisama bustled over to the shelves and pulled something out.
The shape was simple, but as far as shaved ice machines went, it looked perfectly functional.

For it to be finished this quickly… Ojisama, aren’t you a little too competent!?

“You set the block of ice here, press it down from above and secure it with these claws, then turn the handle and the shaved ice should fall down below. That’s about right, isn’t it?”

“Yes, exactly!… May we try it?”

“Of course. Ah, but we don’t have any ice.”

Heh, that’s no problem at all.

“Mashiro, please.”

“Leave it to me.”

Mashiro raised a hand, and with a heavy thud! a massive block of ice appeared beside the machine.

“Eek!?”

Mariel-chan let out a most unladylike shriek and jumped back.

“Oi, White one. That block won’t even fit in the machine.”

Kurogane sighed, flicked his hands in a crisp cross motion, and neatly cut the ice into machine-sized blocks that stacked up with a to-to-to-ton!

“A master’s skill…!”

Mariel-chan gasped in awe and clapped.

“I was going to resize it properly anyway. Don’t stick your nose in.”

Mashiro retorted, and then reduced one of the blocks into smaller pieces with a crumble of icy rattling.

“Here, now you’ve got ice for chilled drinks too.”

Mashiro gathered them in a bowl, and I asked Miria to pour us some iced tea.

The workshop was a little warm, so it was just the thing.

“Well then, let’s give it a try.”

Ojisama picked up one of the ice blocks and set it into the machine.

“Now you clamp it down, see? Then turn the handle, and as it presses and rotates, the ice meets the blade and gets shaved off. You can adjust the thickness with this knob here.”

We all nodded along as he explained, watching him begin to turn the handle…

“Ahhh! The tray! You forgot to put a bowl underneath!”

Noticing in the nick of time, I hurriedly pulled out a soup bowl from my inventory and set it beneath the machine.

“Oho, my mistake, my mistake. Now then…”

He turned the handle firmly, and with a satisfying shari-shari sound, soft flakes of ice began to fall.

“Waaah…!”

As expected of a legendary blacksmith—the sharpness of the blade was superb. With just a little adjustment, the ice came out as impossibly fluffy shaved ice.

We each scooped up some of the plain ice with our spoons and tasted it.

“Mmmhh! So fluffy… it just melts away…”

“Cristea-san! You brought it, right!?”

What? Obviously.

“Of course! Let’s try it properly!”

While Ojisama shaved more ice, I lined up all the syrups and toppings I’d prepared.

“Mango, plus other fruit syrups and sauces, matcha syrup, red bean paste, shiratama dumplings, and condensed milk. Oh, plum syrup might go nicely too. There’s lots to choose from, so try your favorites. Just don’t mix random ones together—other than condensed milk, they won’t pair well.”

“Okayyy!”

Everyone dove for their favorites and began eating with gusto.

“So delicious—ahhh, ouch ouch ouch!”

Heh. Mariel-chan, you never learned a thing from your past life, did you?

“If you gulp down too much cold all at once, you’ll get brain freeze. Be careful.”

“… Would’ve been nice to hear that beforehand…”

… Ah, now Sei was clutching his head the same way, groaning.

I quickly asked Miria to bring out hot tea as well.

Mariel-chan had mango syrup with diced mango, Sei went for matcha syrup with red bean paste, Kurogane chose matcha syrup with shiratama, Mashiro had berry sauce with condensed milk, Byakko-sama piled on matcha syrup, red bean, and shiratama, Suzaku-sama opted for plum syrup, and Galvano Ojisama stuck with matcha syrup only. Their preferences couldn’t have been clearer.

And me? I went full loadout—matcha syrup, red bean paste, shiratama, and condensed milk!
Uuuu, so good!

“Still, with the ice this delicious on its own, maybe just sui would be nice.”

“Sui? What’s that?”

Mariel-chan tilted her head when I let the word slip.

“Oh, just plain sugar water poured over the ice. Sometimes called mizore or white syrup. In my past life, it was a connoisseur’s way of enjoying natural ice—like a hidden menu at shops that specialized in it.”

“Hee—!”

The name supposedly came from satō-sui (sugar water), but it wasn’t something you could get everywhere. As I recalled, it was more like a quiet specialty at certain places that prided themselves on their natural ice.

But hold on a second.
Shaved ice with just sugar water or honey syrup—in this world, wouldn’t that alone be considered a luxury dessert?

And if you added fruit syrups and toppings on top of that… well, no one would blink if nobles treated it as a high-class delicacy.

… Uh oh. Did I just… did I mess up big time…?

What do you think about this chapter?