Chapter 742

Speaking of Autumn
"Speaking of autumn, there is autumn for sports, autumn for reading, and the like... but as expected, it's autumn for an appetite! Right? Cristea-san!"

Just as I was about to drink the black tea Miria brewed for me, Mariel-chan suddenly piped up.

Even if she made a big deal about an autumn for an appetite... I'm someone running around doing all sorts of food-related things year-round, so, you know?

"If you want a snack, just say so. Right now, the only stock I have in my Inventory unfortunately is cookies, dorayaki, and youkan, though."

"""Dorayaki, please!"""

Hm? The number of respondents increased?

When I looked, Kurogane and Mashiro, who were supposed to be relaxing in their Sacred Beast forms, had turned into their human forms and were just sitting down to my left and right.

Well, dorayaki is their favorite, so I always keep plenty in stock, so it's fine, but still...

"Allow me to switch it to green tea."

As Miria chuckled and moved to brew new tea, I picked up my teacup.

"I'll drink this, so I'm fine. Just make some for Kurogane and Mashiro, please."

"Ah, I'm totally fine sticking with black tea too! The black tea Miria-san brews is super delicious, after all!"

Mariel-chan took her cup as well and gulped down the black tea.

Mariel-chan, that's rather unladylike, you know?

"Understood. Fufu, thank you very much."

While Miria happily prepared the green tea, I brought out the dorayaki, and hands shot out from all sides at lightning speed, shupapapa, vanishing the dorayaki from the plate. So fast!

"Aahh, the dorayaki Cristea-san makes is just so delicious~! ...Wait, that's not it, I mean it's definitely delicious, but it's autumn, you know? Isn't it the season for delicious autumn desserts?!"

Is that really something to say right after thoroughly savoring a dorayaki?

"Meaning? Is there something you want to eat?"

"In a little while, village children roast the chestnuts they gather in the forest and sell them in town. Those sales are one of the ways they raise funds for winter preparations, you see. It's one of my annual pleasures this season."

"Roasted chestnuts, huh. That sounds delicious."

Come to think of it, in my past life, autumn was famous enough that entire corners were dedicated to sweet potato and chestnut sweets, wasn't it?

Eating them with piping hot coffee during work breaks used to be something I really looked forward to...

"They're delicious, yes. But after meeting Cristea-san, there's no way I can settle for just that anymore!"

"Ehh?"

"Mont Blanc, candied chestnuts, chestnuts in astringent skin, sweet potato cakes... Even this dorayaki and youkan could have chestnuts in them, and there's sweet potato youkan too, right?!"

"Ah, right?"

Admittedly, I had made dorayaki and sweet potato youkan before.
Sweet potato youkan was tricky to adjust because the potatoes lacked sweetness compared to my past life.

As for Mont Blanc, back then I hadn't made a piping nozzle that could extrude thin strings like vermicelli, so while I had made a mock Mont Blanc by just slathering cream onto the tart base, the appearance hadn't been very pretty... although the taste wasn't bad.

"I'll ask my father to negotiate with the village children in advance to secure chestnuts and sweet potatoes, so won't you make autumn sweets? No, please make them, I want to eat them!"

"Mariel-san, your true feelings are leaking out, you know? Uhh... autumn sweets, huh..."

"Please!"

Even though Mariel-chan pleaded with me, I usually cook by eyeballing, throwing things together roughly, and measuring? I just eyeball it, so what?
Because of that, Shin, who's in charge of taking recipe notes, has a rough time.

Baking, where strict measurements are fundamental, happens to be a genre I don't dabble in very often.

Putting aside things like pound cake, I wonder if I can make something that lives up to Mariel-chan's expectations.

"Um, well, if the village kids are guaranteed sales in advance, I think they'll gather them with lots of enthusiasm... Is that no good?"

Ah... I see, that makes sense.
Mariel-chan's primary goal was that.

The kids are working hard to earn money to get through the harsh winter, after all.

Of course you'd want to help.
Besides, it's that noblesse oblige thing.
Basically a noble's duty.

That said, they aren't orphans, so handing out charity wouldn't be right, and when it comes to the support we can give, helping their sales is the best way.

In addition to that, if they increase the harvest yield, avoid bug-eaten ones, or sort them to uniform size to raise the product's value, we could add a bonus to the payment accordingly, couldn't we?

Connecting it to higher earnings would serve as better motivation for them, too.

"All right. Let's give it a try."

"Yay! Cristea-san's special autumn sweets!"

In response to my resolve, Mariel-chan rejoiced so wildly she practically leaped into the air.

… Wait? Did I overthink this?
Could it be that Mariel-chan really just wanted to eat sweets...?

Oh well.
As long as the village kids can spend a warm winter and we get to eat delicious sweets.

Ah, I want Okaasama and the others to eat some too, so I'll have Baron Meyer secure extra.