When I visited a sweets shop with Kaori-san, I was impressed by the variety. The selection was quite extensive, ranging from nostalgic penny candies and savory snacks to bottled cookies and dried fruits.
“...I haven’t actually visited many shops like this before. Since I haven't had many chances to eat these types of snacks in this world, it all feels quite new to me.”
“Ah, right. Before you bought your house, you were staying at Lilia-san’s mansion. A Ducal House would never serve commoner sweets for tea, so I suppose it couldn't be helped. You actually eat this kind of stuff fairly often when you're on a pilgrimage for the Hero-role. Since they're targeted at commoners, they're usually made to last a long time, which makes them perfect for a quick snack.”
“I see. Does the existence of Magic Boxes have a big impact on that too?”
“Yeah, definitely. With a Magic Box, you don't have to worry about expiration dates, and you can keep freshly made treats indefinitely. It probably makes people drift away from the cheaper, long-lasting sweets.”
Factories do exist in this world, in a sense. They use large-scale magic tools for mass production. Looking at the sweets here, the variety felt almost on par with what I remembered from back home.
Now that I thought about it, mass-production equipment had been created for Nifty’s products too... but those were a special case made by Canalis-san. Since they were "rule-breaking" items that required absolutely zero energy to operate, they were a far cry from typical factories.
Or more accurately, it seemed the contractual restrictions with Shiro-san were looser regarding the separate space in my backyard. As long as the items didn't leave that space, it was apparently possible to manufacture things that defied all common sense.
“...Also, I think part of the reason is just that my Magic Box is already stuffed with sweets. I have about eight hundred Riple Pies alone, for starters...”
“...What kind of insanity drives a person to buy eight hundred Riple Pies? Usually, you'd buy more after you finish the ones you have...”
“I didn't buy them; they were a gift. A thousand of them... Believe it or not, I've actually cut the number down quite a bit.”
“A thousand Riple Pies... I want to say how excessive that is, but knowing you, if I start asking questions, I'll find out the person who gave them to you is someone terrifyingly important. I think I'll just keep quiet.”
“Would you like one, Kaori-san? They really are delicious.”
“Thank you. I think I will take you up on that.”
I’d been working hard to go through the mountain of Riple Pies Ein-san had given me. Between handing them out to friends and eating them for snacks, I’d managed to clear about two hundred, but I wasn’t even halfway through yet.
The taste was incredible, and since they were in a Magic Box, they were as fresh as the day I got them, but... the quantity was simply overwhelming. Oh well, I’d just have to keep chipping away at them.
“You really keep a lot of stuff in your Magic Box, don't you, Kaito-kun?”
“I have a habit of putting gifts in there 'for now.' I try to organize it every so often, but it's so convenient that I end up forgetting what I've even tucked away.”
“Ah, I get that. I received a high-capacity Magic Box recently too, and I've started doing the same thing. You can tell what's inside if you touch it and focus, but if you don't make a conscious effort to check, it's easy to lose track.”
Magic Boxes had a function that allowed you to see a list of the contents—or rather, the information was projected directly into your mind. While touching the box, the owner simply had to invoke a Content Confirmation, and a mental list of everything inside would appear.
“Anyway, to get back to the point... Kaito-kun, do you have a favorite kind of candy or sweet?”
“I think I prefer chocolate treats over savory snacks. Anything that combines chocolate and cookies is a solid choice for me.”
“Oh, those are great. I like snacks too, but if I eat them with the same abandon I had when I was younger, I end up with terrible stomach heaviness. It’s a bit of a problem.”
“...Shouldn't that be fine now that you have Olivia-san’s Blessing?”
“Ah, right. I wonder if it covers things like that too? I don't plan on overeating, but it would be nice to have that youthful feeling again—where I could eat as much as I wanted.”
I remember feeling that way in high school—thinking my stomach was a bottomless pit. Of course, that was just a feeling, and I wasn't actually capable of it... though there were people like Alice who actually could eat forever.
“Actually, I heard that High-ranking Demons and their ilk perform a conversion into magic power with the food they consume, so they really can eat as much as they want.”
“Is that right? That means their calories are effectively zero, doesn't it? Man, that sounds nice. I'm so jealous they can eat without worrying about their weight... because that really is a concern for me.”
“To me, you look slender and very beautiful, Kaori-san, but I understand why you'd worry.”
The truth was, thanks to Shiro-san’s Blessing, I didn't gain weight no matter how much I ate, but the habit was hard to break; I still felt a twinge of guilt whenever I had a late-night snack.
Weight and height were tricky things; everyone had their own private fixations that others might not even notice.
“...How can you say something like that so naturally? Like you mean it from the bottom of your heart... I'm trying so hard not to let this get to me, and then you... you really are something else.”
“Huh?”
“It's nothing! Come on, let's pick out some treats!”
Serious-senpai: “T-That subtitle... Are you going to flirt? Are you really about to start flirting!?”