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Volume 1, Chapter 30: Anyone would want to eat good food.

The last day of the international royal conference.

In preparation for the ball tonight, the kitchen was a battlefield today as well. Although it was not a race against time like the full course meal yesterday, there was a lot of finger food provided today. The amount was nothing to laugh at, and there were twenty to thirty types in all.

Here was the menu. First, bread rolls. Personally, I couldn’t understand why, but everyone from the head chef and Mister Royce to the crown prince all suggested it so it was part of the menu.

Next, two or three types of sandwiches. Meat pies, kel (pseudo-salmon) vegetable rolls, (mock) shrimp fritters, chicken and mallow spring rolls, mushroom canapé, zelana (pseudo-spinach) cake salé, meat vegetable rolls, etc. There were around ten more food items.

Then there were around five desserts, all in my station. It would be too hard for me to do everything myself, though, so I asked Zeke to come with me today. We would be making bite-sized fruit tarts, shortcakes, pudding, leaf pies, and mini cream puffs.

I went to the royal palace early in the morning to begin preparations. The food prep for five types of sweets, and a huge amount of each at that, was very time consuming. Not only that, the mini cream puffs weren’t even sold at Café Omusubi yet, and I wasn’t familiar with the process.

Now that I think of it, I wonder why I decided to put something I wasn’t familiar with on the menu. I guess I wanted to do something special for a rare event like this.

Besides, Zeke was coming to help, and his skills had improved by leaps and bounds lately, perhaps due to his rivalry with Keith. Despite his personality, Keith was still a sous chef. He had worked hard on his path in cooking even before he became an adult, so he had more than ten years of experience.

Compared to him, Zeke only had a few months. What he couldn’t catch up with in years, he made up with diligence and skill, especially when it came to his favorite category, sweets. Sometimes his passion seemed to burn higher than mine. To that end, Zeke was completely in charge of the pudding and leaf pie.

“Miss Risa, is there anything else I can help with?”

Zeke quickly finished making the pudding and leaf pie and asked me while he cleaned up his station.

I was shocked at his speed, but I was really thankful that he came to help and took him up on his offer.

“Then could I ask you to cut the fruit?”

“All right.”

I had nothing but gratitude for Zeke who helped me with so many things, even though I was the only one to receive Mister Royce’s request.

The tart crusts, sponge cakes, and puff pastry were baked without too much trouble. Now and then some chefs would come over to watch, but they were also busy with preparations. The head chef also glanced our way from time to time, but he scolded the chefs.

Once the tart crusts were cooled, I squeezed a dollop of custard cream into the tart crust. I asked Zeke to decorate the tart with fruit. He was very dexterous with his hands, and the fruit tarts were decorated very prettily.

Next was the shortcake. I sliced the rectangular, bouncy sponge cake and dressed it with meichi syrup. Then I placed some sliced meichi, put on a layer of whip cream, and added another layer of sponge cake. One last layer of whip cream on top, with whip cream dollops and meichi as decoration. The contrast between the colorful, red meichi and the white whip cream raised a cheer from the watching chefs.

Some other chefs switched with the cheering chefs to see what the commotion was about, and I laughed drily.

Next was the cream puffs. I was going to make a croquembouche out of the mini cream puffs. A croquembouche was a pile of cream puffs stacked to look like a tree. They were also used as a substitute for wedding cakes, so I thought it would be perfect for a wondrous occasion like this.

First, I squeezed custard into the puff pastry to make a cream puff. I tried one and it was good. Zeke’s sharp eyes caught me trying the cream puff, and he stared at me fervently like a dog begging for food. I gave him one while no one was looking as thanks for helping with everything.

Next was the stacking. I used a round cookie base and covered it with caramel cream. This would serve as adhesive for the cream puffs. Croquembouche actually uses pure caramel, but it was difficult to handle. While some people substitute chocolate instead, there was no chocolate in this world yet, so I decided to use caramel cream.

I placed the cream puffs onto the cookie base so there would be no holes. Once the first layer was finished, I covered the top with more caramel cream. Rinse and repeat. I stacked around five layers, then drizzled caramel cream on top. I made around five of these towers.

While it took a lot of time, I made something I was happy with.

We finally finished making all the sweets, so I stepped towards the rest of the kitchen to check the food when I saw someone at the kitchen entrance.

“Huh? Tasia, what’s wrong? Why are you here?”

“Fufufu, you’ll see.”

I had a terrible feeling in my gut when I saw Tasia in such high spirits. Tasia was supposed to take part in the ball with Gil today, so it wasn’t weird to see her in the palace. After all, Gil was the head royal magician of this country and he had the title of marquis. It was only natural that he would receive an invitation to the ball. Of course, the invitation extended to Tasia, his partner, as well. But why was she in the kitchen?

Frightened by her broad smile, I slowly backed away.

“I…I still have some things to take care of, so…”

I stammered and turned on my heel, but she grabbed my wrist from behind me.

“Fufufu. Risa, you have to prepare for the ball too, you know?”

“What! Why!? I didn’t hear about this!”

“I didn’t tell you about it~”

Said Tasia as if it were nothing at all, and my face twitched. A repeat of the tea party nightmare!? I thought, terrified, and I looked around for help.

“You’ll be fine here, right? Head Chef McKinnies.”

“Y-yes! Of course!”

To my surprise, Her Majesty Adele was also here, standing next to the head chef. Judging from their dialogue, she was getting approval to take me away from the kitchen!

Her Majesty Adele smiled from ear to ear and took the other hand that Tasia hadn’t grabbed.

“Then shall we head out, Risa?”

The chefs watched, speechless, as I was dragged out of the kitchen by two ladies.

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As I thought, I was forced to change into the party style dress like the time with the tea party. In a room in the royal palace. The only difference was that Her Majesty Adele and her maids who were beauty themselves were present.

I experienced an exhaustion levels higher than the time at the tea party. After all, including the beauty pair Tasia and Her Majesty Adele, I was basically surrounded by ladies with high fashion sense.

First, I was covered in the smell of food and sweat, so I was scrubbed from head to toe in the bathroom. You don’t have to wash there too! Afterwards, I was rubbed from head to toe in body oil and had a face mask placed. After all the skin care was finished, they began to pick out my clothes.

With Tasia and Her Majesty Adele in the lead, the maids dressed and undressed me with this color dress, that type of shoes and what about the accessories? My arms were lifted, let down, and I was turned this way and that.

They finally came to an agreement on my clothes and moved to my hair and makeup. My eyes glazed over as they argued over what hairstyle and hair accessories I should wear.

The happy time when I cooked in the kitchen seems like a far away memory…

I wore a bright blue dress with silver strap high heels. My hair was spun in a complicated fashion with a silver accessory studded with a stone the same color as my dress. A professional makeup artist did my makeup.

However, the face in the mirror reflected exhaustion back at me. It’s true that I looked amazing, and the dress, the hair, the shoes, they were all very cute. But I felt that the powerful women around me had sucked various things out of me in the process.

I’m a girl too, so I like dressing up. But I wish they were a little gentler about it…

I sighed for the nth time of the day, and the maids led me somewhere, probably the ballroom. Whatever happens will happen, I thought, and I followed them to an extravagant door. They asked me to wait there and left.

I wondered if the kitchen was doing okay. Everything was going smoothly while I was there, and the head chef was probably leading everything just fine, but I was still worried.

Even though I was dressed like this, I thought I should go check on them for a bit and turned away from the door, when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“I have let you wait.”

“Y-your Highness Edgar!?”

His Highness Edgar, dressed in extravagant white sewed with decorations the same bright blue as my dress, calmly walked towards me.

“Why are you here? Is it all right for the host to be here?”

“Has Mother not told you?”

His Highness replied, just as surprised as I was.

“Your mother, Her Majesty Adele? She didn’t say anything in particular…”

“Mother demanded I escort you.”

“W-what!? E-e-escort…”

I jumped at His Highness’s words. A commoner like me, escorted by the crown prince of this country!?

“I couldn’t possibly! Aren’t escorts usually reserved for fiancées!?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have one. Lady Risa, would you allow me the honor of escorting you?”

He said, and offered his left hand towards me.

His princely movements struck a chord in me. I was a girl once, too, and any girl had dreamed of the prince in fairy tales.

While I hesitated, His Highness began to speak, his hand still raised.

“If I do not escort you, I will enter the ballroom on the other side of this door alone. If the guests see the crown prince of the host country walking without a lady by his side, what would they think…”

His Highness’s face darkened in sadness, and he looked down.

But if I let him escort me, I shuddered at what would be said about the young lady aiming for the throne next to him. His Highness implored once again.

“What would the other countries think…while this ball does not hold as much political weight as the rest of the conference, if I show myself in such a weak position at the end of the conference that had been going so well until now…”

He sighed heavily and placed a hand over his eyes. I finally understood that he was acting out a small skit. However, his words had some truth to it, and it would be bad to bluntly refuse him.

In the end, I placed my lace-gloved right hand on his still offered left.

“…Only for today…”

I muttered full of hatred, and His Highness took my hand, chuckling.

“Thank you, Lady Risa.”

On His Highness’s signal, the knights standing on either side of the door opened it.

It was a glorious ballroom with a high ceiling and a splendid chandelier reflecting its light off the floor. Tables were lined up next to the arch windows with the finger food the chefs and I made and wine placed on them.

The ball had already begun, and a few couples were dancing elegantly to the music in the center of the hall. I suddenly realized upon seeing their dance.

I can’t dance! The only dances I know are folk dances and small moves from pop idols long ago.

I glanced up at His Highness desperately, who stooped down a bit to lend me an ear.

“Your Highness! I’m sorry to tell you when we are already out in the open, but I can’t dance!”

I whispered into his ear, covering my mouth with one hand. He chuckled.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to force yourself to dance. Leave it to me.”

I don’t know what he was telling me not to worry about, but I was relieved that I didn’t have to dance. He slowly led me to the center of the hall, where people noticed His Highness and moved out of the way, making a path to the seat of honor. Everyone had their eyes on us.

Putting His Highness aside, I had never had so many eyes on me before and began to panic. Somehow I kept up a smile, but inside I screamed, don’t look at me! They must be thinking, who is that tiny prick? I thought as we moved forward.

We finally reached the seat of honor and I was urged into a seat reserved for royalty. I looked around to see Her Majesty Adele nearby. She met my eyes and smiled warmly. Next to her was a dandy old man.

If he was sitting next to Her Majesty Adele, does that mean this person is the king of this country…?

“Father, Mother, thank you for your patience.”

As I expected, His Highness called the dandy old man “Father.”

“It is nothing. I see you are Lady Risa, Gil’s daughter.”

His Majesty looked towards me and said with an amiable tone, to which I frantically straightened my back.

“It is an honor to meet Your Majesty. My name is Risa Kurokawa Claude.”

“Be at ease. I have heard much about you from Adele. I am very grateful for your efforts in the past two days. Enjoy the ball.”

“Thank you very much.”

I could only say respectful words to His Majesty, who was very friendly.

After smiling at me for a while, His Majesty stood up, saying “all right then.” Her Majesty Adele followed, and urged His Highness Edgar and I to do the same.

A servant behind His Majesty motioned to the orchestra, who had been playing wonderful music, and the music died down. The couples in the center of the ballroom stopped dancing, and the chatting masses grew quiet as they stood at attention towards His Majesty.

“Thank you for coming here tonight from far and wide across the continent. I am grateful that we could gather here and spend meaningful time during the international royal conference. I look hopefully to the future of every country represented here. Please enjoy the ball for tonight to celebrate that bright future.”

The hall resounded with His Majesty’s voice that was calm yet full of authority. The audience clapped, and when the clapping died down His Majesty continued.

“Perhaps you have noticed already, but we have prepared wine and many other foods today as never before. The tables form a buffet, where you can enjoy your wine standing, but also have some food with it. Go ahead and try them.”

Oh, I see. There was only wine in the previous balls. I had completely forgotten that I was the one to suggest eating light meals while standing. I guess there must be people among the crowd who were surprised by this since they had never done a buffet before.

His Majesty looked at me. Huh? I thought as he raised his left hand in my direction.

“The food was made by Lady Risa Claude here. By her talent, innovation, and courage, we now have a ball with no precedent. The food she makes is completely different from anything I have ever had before. I was shocked to find out that there is such good food as the food she makes. Thanks to her contribution, the food in this country, nay, this world will change greatly. Please give her, the one who has given us such joy, your greatest compliments.”

I wasn’t sure why, but the people in the hall began to clap. I began to get flustered while His Majesty, Her Majesty Adele, and His Highness Edgar began to clap as well.

Urged by His Highness, I pulled one foot backwards, raised my dress a little and curtsied in greeting. The clapping in the hall got louder.

I began to cook in this world because the food here was so bad I couldn’t take it. It was a very selfish reason.

I opened a café so that I could work on something only I could do, and so that people would be inspired by my cooking to make better food…

The consultation for the international royal conference was no difference. To put it bluntly, it was all for my own gains.

And yet, so many people acknowledged my food.

Because of my food, some stranger in a place I didn’t know was inspired, and their hearts were filled with happiness. I was hit with a wave of joy and embarrassment.

What I did might have been a mistake. Perhaps somewhere down the road, someone other than me would develop the food culture of this world.

However, right now, so many people were happy because of me. And supporting me were the people who had helped me at every step and every turn. If they had not tried their best to make my thoughts reality, I would not have succeeded.

It is just food, yet at the same time it is food. It might only amount to daily nourishment that replenishes one’s energy. Even so, people looked for deliciousness in food, for happiness.

I was happy to help them reach that happiness.

His Majesty ended his speech and the ball continued with some people, overcome with curiosity, reaching for the food.

Their faces glowed with happiness.