Chapter 720

Let’s Have Tea!
After returning from the artisan district to the merchant district, we figured it would feel a bit abrupt to just part ways like that, so we decided to stop by a currently popular café.

“A popular café, huh… I’m looking forward to it.”

“Well, it seems it got popular thanks to you too, Cristea-san.”

“Huh? Me?”

No, I didn’t do anything though⁉︎

“One of the sweets you registered with the Trade Guild is their signature menu item.”

“Wait, really?”

I’d registered quite a few recipes with the Trade Guild, but which one could it be?

That said, I didn’t think there were that many sweets among them…

I *had* registered some Japanese-style sweets like dorayaki and yokan, but maybe because of how they looked, they didn’t seem to sell very well.

While I was thinking through a few possibilities, we arrived near the shop, and I saw a long line of female customers stretching out.

“Wow, that’s quite a line.”

We got to the end of it and lined up, estimating how long it might take to get inside.

Since it’s a café, and considering people chatting, it’d probably be an easy hour wait.

Well, I used to be Japanese in my previous life, you know?

If it’s for the sweets I’m after, bring on the lines!

The handsome-and-beautiful-boy duo of Kurogane and Mashiro who lined up behind us caused a bit of a stir among the surrounding women, but it quickly settled down to just occasional glances as their attention shifted back to the sweets.

Sorry about my Sacred Beasts.

Pulling myself together, I asked Mariel-chan about the shop.

“This place originally was known for its good tea, but they only had things like cookies to go with it.”

“Oh? The master’s particular about that or something?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like that. Then regular customers started asking for more menu items, so they tried introducing one of your recipes, Cristea-san, and word of mouth brought in a flood of female customers.”

“O-oh… I see…”

Wait, did I really register something that appealed that much to women?

Looking toward the front of the line, I saw a group of what seemed like friends chatting excitedly about what to order.

“I think I’ll go for extra cream today!”

“Ohh, nice! But I’m going all out and adding extra honey!”

“Amazing!”

… Huh? What are they talking about?
It sounded like toppings rather than the main item.
When I looked at Mariel-chan, she seemed deep in thought.

“Mariel-san?”

“Huh? Ah, sorry. I was trying to decide between extra cream with fruit toppings or extra honey.”

“… What kind of spell is that?”

“Huh? It’s pancake toppings, though?”

“Pancakes?”

Come to think of it, I remembered registering that recipe way back when I first started submitting recipes.
And after that, when I showed some evolved versions, Shin had registered new variations too…

“Oh, pancakes, huh. It’s been a while.”

Extra cream… yeah, that reminded me of those piled-high whipped cream servings from my previous life.

I’d explained to Shin, “Hey, there are variations like this too!” and he’d included them as arranged recipes.

“There are a few places that serve pancakes, but normally it’s just a single pat of butter. This place became popular because you can customize them however you like. Right now, they’ve even hired extra pastry chefs and are busy every single day.”

“I… see…”

It seemed the freedom with toppings had completely captured the hearts of sweet-loving girls, and the place had been packed every day.

“W-well, it’s good that business is thriving… Ah, it looks like we’ll be able to get in soon.”

Just then, several groups left, and the line shortened considerably. We might get in sooner than expected.
While I was still debating toppings after hearing about them from Mariel-chan, it became our turn.

“Wow, what should I choose? Maybe I’ll go with the classic honey… huh?”

As I casually glanced at a table we were passing, I spotted a familiar face.

“C-Cristea-sama!?”

“Oh, hey, Cristea and Mariel. What a coincidence!”

“Lady Alicia and Adry-sama!?”

Wait, why are those two here? D-d-don’t tell me… a date!?
… Though it looked like they had attendants with them. Still, this counts as a date, right?

“… Don’t misunderstand. I only came along because Adry asked me to accompany him!”

As Mariel-chan and I froze, flustered over whether we should be interrupting, Lady Alicia spoke with a slightly reddened face.

“A-accompany?”

“Yeah! I heard the pancakes here are good, so I wanted to try them, but it’s mostly women here. So I asked Ali to come with me!”

Sei turned me down! Adry-sama said with a grin, while Lady Alicia shot him a flat glare that he completely ignored.

“… If you don’t mind, would you like to join us?”

“Huh? Are you sure?”

“Yes. It would help me as well. Talking with only Adry means it’s nothing but talk about swords, and it’s quite dull.”

“Hey, that’s harsh. We talk about summoned beasts too!”

“You were talking about swords the whole time just now, weren’t you? So please, don’t hesitate.”

“Th-then we’ll gladly accept…”

It was a four-person table, but since it was fairly large, we managed to squeeze in by adding chairs so that Kurogane and Mashiro could sit too.

Hmm… yeah, I definitely didn’t see this development coming…

What do you think about this chapter?