Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 – PHANTOM BREAD

　　「Allen, Elena . Come! It’s time for a break」

　　「「Ye~s」」

　　I call over the two children who are running all over the place, picking fruits and medicinal plants, and use《Was.h.i.+ng》on them .

　　「What would you like for a snack?」

　　Because I got the permission from Wald-sama, the two have snack break while walking .

　　Allen and Elena who move the same as the adults, eat half of what the adults eat . It can’t be helped because they have small stomachs . However, that would prevent them from receiving enough nutrition, so I often give them snacks on the move .

　　「「Cream!」」

　　The request of the two seems to be a Cream bread .

　　「Here . Eat while paying attention so you don’t trip」

　　「「Ye~s」」

　　The two bit into the bread immediately after I hand it over to them . Wald-sama who saw that suddenly shouts .

　　「Oi! Is that『Gold Wheat’s Shop』phantom bread!?」

　　「What’s with that……」

　　Phantom bread? Cream bread?

　　「Sold on days without a fixed date, moreover, there’s a limit of 20 breads a day, therefore it’s called “Phantom bread”!」

　　Oh, seems like Road-san started selling Cream bread .

　　◆ ◆ ◆

　　It was few days after arriving at the town of s.h.i.+rin .

　　「Excuse me」

　　「Ye~s」

　　When the sun was setting, I visited a bakery called『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 .

　　The goods weren’t displayed anymore, it was the closing time .

　　When I entered the shop and called the salesclerk, a woman immediately came from inside the shop .

　　「I’m sorry, it’s time for the shop to close today」

　　The woman was apologetic .

　　「Is it possible to order bread here?」

　　First of all, I asked what I came to ask .

　　「Do you mean you need a certain quant.i.ty prepared?」

　　「No, there’s bread I want you to make」

　　The bread eaten in Aetherdia are simple . The sizes are different by the shop, but all of them are just a circular bread .

　　Table roll――a small-sized bread used as a garnish for meals .

　　If a Pullman loaf is not being sold here, things like kas.h.i.+-pan or choripan won’t sell anywhere .

　　But, there are more or less varieties of bread .

　　Containing an alb.u.men mixed with wheat flour――a bread made with a whole wheat flour, Cereal bread .

　　Bread made from a refined white wheat flour, White bread .

　　A rye flour――a bread made from rye, Brown bread .

　　Although the white bread is delicious and fluffy, it’s wasteful not to develop it further .

　　I thought . If it’s not here, why not just create it?

　　So I came to『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 .

　　「You want to make? Is it something different from what’s being sold?」

　　「Yes, that’s right」

　　「Umm…… the bread is made by the father so… I will get him」

　　「Alright」

　　The woman is apparently a daughter of the shopkeeper .

　　「Is it you? The one wanting to make bread」

　　Immediately, a solidly built man, with a typical『Oyaji-san』appearances came out .

　　「What do you want to make?」

　　「Umm, it’s this, but…」

　　I take out a custard cream and Ranka fruit jam I made myself .

　　「N…… a jam? I don’t know this one…」

　　「This is called custard cream . I want to put this inside bread and bake it」

　　「Put inside, you say?」

　　「Is that not possible?」

　　「It’s not like it’s not possible, but . I have never made something like that before…」

　　「In that case―――」

　　I visited『Gold Wheat’s Shop』the next day in the afternoon again and demonstrated the shopkeeper, Road-san how to make it .

　　I received a pre-made white bread dough from Road-san and I immediately worked on the filling .

　　First, I taught Road-san how to wrap the jam and custard cream in the dough properly . As expected of a baker, he quickly got hold of it .

　　The custard cream and jam I prepared has been all used up in no time . On the other hand, the was quite of the dough remaining .

　　He wanted to bake the remaining dough normally, but I asked if I can take it over as I was thinking about using it for a different bread .

　　Road-san who showed interest in the Cream bread and Jam buns readily approved .

　　Having said that, something suddenly came on my mind……

　　I retrieved Raisins from《Infinite Storage》I washed them in hot water and lightly sprinkled with rum . Maa, I intended to make a basic Raisin bread . I only knead it into the dough .

　　After all, there is also no store which sells those .

　　What can I make next…… ah, that’s right! There was that!

　　What I retrieved next is a cinnamon stick . I found and bought this while walking around a grocery store .

　　That and sugar . Sugar is not from a grocery store, but it was something I received from Syl . I mix it with cinnamon to create a cinammon sugar .

　　I spread the dough into a 30cm rectangle and paint the surface with melted b.u.t.ter, sprinkle it over with the cinnamon sugar and coil it around in a cylinder shape .

　　I surprisingly quite love them~ Cinnamon rolls .

　　Now, Road-san only needs to bake them properly .

　　After all the bread was baked, it was time for sampling .

　　「So good!」

　　I receive praises from Road-san .

　　「「Yummy~」」

　　Allen and Elena who observed me the whole time finally bit into the samples which they really liked . Although they were only samples, but because there were four kinds of bread, they filled their mouths plentily .

　　A~ah, if they eat so much, they won’t be able to eat dinner later~

　　And then, the bread I made (strictly speaking, they weren’t my ideas) became the talk of『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 .

　　Of course, I have approved of it . If it sells, I will be now able to buy it from a shop . Because the custard cream tends to spoil, I had to explain its method of making, though carefully .

　　After that, Road-san did various trials and errors and put the products on sale .

　　◆ ◆ ◆

　　The rumors of 『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 Jam bun, Raisin bread, Cinnamon roll being first-cla.s.s bread from the town of s.h.i.+rin spread around .

　　The rival bakeries now started selling them too .

　　Maa, but no matter what happens, their rivals won’t be able to reproduce it properly . But still, there are one or two shops that are ahead of『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 .

　　But, the Cream bread made with custard cream is a specialty of『Gold Wheat’s Shop』 . They won’t allow its ingredients to be known to anyone .

　　The culture of “Bread, the main protagonist” was born……

　　… I honestly didn’t know . When did it become like that……

　　I didn’t think that the Cream bread would become so famous it would be called “Phantom bread”……

　　「Moreover, there’s a talk it sells out a few minutes after selling . Tak.u.mi, you bought it!」

　　「No, this is something that was personally made for me」

　　「Haa!? What’s that! They shouldn’t be accepting orders for that!」

　　I did order anything from Road-san .

　　Rather, why is Wald-sama so knowledgeable about this? Did he perhaps not eaten it yet?

　　The Knights including Wald-sama are looking envious…… The adventurers of『Dragon Breath』who are not from s.h.i.+rin didn’t seem to know of it, but they are now greatly interested…

　　「Kiddos, share a bit with me」

　　「「No~!!」」

　　Please don’t go taking food from children!!

　　Ah~ my Cream bread inventory…… ah, there’s enough for all people here .

　　Can’t be helped~

　　「Only this one time~」

　　「Seriously!? Alright!」

　　When I take out the Cream bread, everyone gathers .

　　Calm down a bit! This is『Gaya Forest』be a little careful of surroundings!

　　「Iya~ that was good!」

　　Everyone who ate the Cream bread liked it . There seems to be an unexpectedly large amount of people who like sweets .

　　However, in this world, the most common sweet thing is jam .

　　There also seems to be cookies, but they are something that only those with a bit more money can afford .

　　Honey and starch syrup appear to be relatively cheap, but it can only be eaten like that or mixed in a tea .

　　No wonder I couldn’t find sweets for Allen and Elena in the town .

　　I have no choice, but to make the sweets myself from now on .