The nikuman launched at the Golden Bread Pavilion became the talk of Gilm in the blink of an eye.
At this time of year, there was little in particular that needed doing, and many adventurers spent their days resting at leisure.
Some took requests out of financial necessity, but the majority who had properly saved funds for the winter passed the time eating, drinking, and visiting brothels.
Precisely because Gilm was a frontier town with a large adventurer population, there was little for anyone to do during this season. That was precisely why novel rumors spread so quickly.
Moreover, the rumor concerned a diner right on the main street — one that any adventurer worth their salt would know. That only hastened its spread.
Word had it that the Golden Bread Pavilion was selling a bread unlike anything anyone had ever tasted.
Word had it that this bread, unlike ordinary loaves, was astonishingly soft.
Word had it that the filling and the dough complemented each other perfectly, and you could eat as many as your stomach would hold.
Word had it that Sandrine, the shopkeeper's daughter, was unexpectedly cute and friendly.
Naturally, such rumors stoked the curiosity of the adventurer crowd.
Normally they would be busy taking requests, but right now they were idle with nothing in particular to do.
Given that, it was only natural for curiosity to drive them to verify the rumors at the Golden Bread Pavilion for themselves.
And so, drawn by that curiosity, they would make their way to the pavilion... and there, they would finally taste a nikuman for themselves.
Baked bread was something they had eaten since the day they were born, but steamed bread was a concept that caught them completely off guard.
As a result, many adventurers ended up frequenting the Golden Bread Pavilion day after day.
That alone might have been fine, but while many adventurers were mild-mannered, just as many had fiery tempers.
What would happen when hot-tempered folk swarmed a limited supply of nikuman...? It didn't take much imagination to figure out.
"Gurururururu!"
Just as the adventurers were about to break into a full-blown brawl, that growl echoed through the street.
No adventurer living in Gilm could fail to recognize who had made that cry — nor who the creature's owner was.
With a jolt, the adventurers about to come to blows in front of the Golden Bread Pavilion froze. Like broken dolls, they turned their gazes toward the source of the sound.
What stood there was Gryphon Seto... and Rei Clad in a Dragon Robe.
The fact that he wasn't carrying weapons like Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear was probably fortunate for them — though that was largely because none of the brawlers had drawn weapons either, having been content to settle things with their fists.
Making a scene here would unquestionably end badly for them.
Those who reached that conclusion — along with the others caught up in the fracas — quickly lined up in front of the shop.
This was likely because how Rei dealt with those who opposed him in Gilm was widely known.
As a rule, Rei wouldn't pick fights unless something extraordinary provoked him, but those who did cross him had suffered in every sense of the word.
Naturally, the adventurers had no desire to find themselves in that position.
Seeing them fall into line, Rei seemed satisfied. Along with Set, he resumed his stroll down the main street.
(I'd heard things had gotten pretty crowded since the nikuman went on sale, but it looks like the rumors were true.)
Rodrigo had already concluded that handling all the customers at his own shop was untenable and had begun teaching the nikuman recipe to other diners. However, he only shared the basics.
He told each shop to develop their own improvements from there, keeping the refinements he had devised to himself.
A few cooks grumbled about this, but the majority understood Rodrigo's reasoning and were busy experimenting to create their own original fillings.
...That was part of why shops selling nikuman were still few and far between, and even those that did offer it couldn't hold a candle to the Golden Bread Pavilion's flavor.
When it came to eating the same dish, naturally you wanted the tastier version — and that, too, accounted for the long line.
Not that anyone was complaining. The shop was turning a handsome profit every day, and Sandrine was letting out cries of joyous distress.
(Nikuman aside, pizza is probably still a ways off. There's plenty of research left to do.)
Walking past the queue, Rei cast a satisfied glance at the packed interior as he passed the shop front and continued on his way.
"Gruu?"
Aren't we getting nikuman? Set purred, glancing up at Rei.
"It's packed right now. Later. ...Actually, buying a bunch fresh and storing them in the Misty Ring wouldn't be a bad idea."
"Gruu!"
The very first nikuman hadn't really suited Set's palate, but the improved version clearly hit the mark.
"In a bit, in a bit. The nikuman haven't been on sale for long, so everyone's still fixated on them. Give it a little more time and things will settle down."
"Gruu..."
At Rei's words, Set let out a mournful little cry.
If Mirene or Yohanna had been there — either one, or both — they probably would have found some way to get their hands on nikuman.
(The nikuman spread as a rumor precisely because it's winter and there are plenty of people with time on their hands. In that sense, Rodrigo couldn't have picked a better moment to put them on sale.)
It was already nearing midday.
The snow that had fallen the previous night had been trampled hard along the main street, robbing Rei of any chance to enjoy the crunch of fresh powder.
Mildly regretting that, Rei walked on with Set until...
"Ah, Rei-kun! Rei-kun!"
He turned toward the voice calling his name.
The speaker was so bundled up against the cold that her face was completely hidden — impossible to identify by sight.
But the sheer extent of the bundling, and more importantly the voice itself, told Rei exactly who it was.
"Kenny... and that's..."
Beside the heavily swaddled Kenny stood a woman who appeared to be around the same age.
She, too, was a beastman — a dog, or perhaps a wolf.
Despite that, she wore a gentle, almost sleepy expression and smiled warmly at the sight of Rei and Set.
Rei approached the pair, Set padding along beside him.
He had come out to the main street today simply to take a walk with Set; he had no particular errands.
If pressed, his one minor objective was to see for himself just how popular the nikuman had become, given that he was the one who had supplied the idea.
"Nice to meet youuu. I'm Kenny's frienddd, and my name is Kakouu."
Her drawn-out way of speaking perfectly matched the soft, unhurried aura the beastman named Kakou projected.
"Ah, right. Nice to meet you."
"Gururururu!"
While Rei felt a vague sense of being out of his depth, Set had no such reservations. He purred happily and trotted right up to Kakou.
"Ah, Set-chan. It's been a whileee. Have you been welll?"
"Gruu!"
Watching the exchange, Rei recalled having seen Kakou play with Set on a few previous occasions.
(Come to think of it, I have seen that before. ...Hmm. Kenny the cat beastman and Kakou the dog beastman. You'd normally expect them to be at each other's throats.)
He couldn't see her face, but going by what Kenny had just said, she certainly didn't sound like someone in the middle of a fight with Kakou.
"So, it's unusual for Kenny, who hates the cold, to be out and about like this. What's going on?"
Rei asked Kenny while watching Kakou happily play with Set.
Like Kakou, Kenny launched into an animated explanation — though with her face hidden, he had to judge her mood by her voice.
"Kakou had something she wanted to consult me about. ...Oh, right. Come to think of it, you've been teaching new dishes to places like the Golden Bread Pavilion and the Full Belly Diner, haven't you, Rei-kun? If you don't mind, could you hear us out?"
"Even if you say that, I can't exactly produce a new dish on the spot."
Between the mention of the Golden Bread Pavilion and the Full Belly Diner and the nikuman line he had just witnessed, Rei assumed Kakou was a cook or a diner employee. He replied accordingly, but Kenny shook her head.
"That's not it. Kakou doesn't work at a diner... See, she runs that shop over there."
Kenny's gaze landed on a single shop.
It was one Rei had never set foot inside.
That was because the shop dealt in cosmetics — and among them, perfume was its flagship product.
A modern high school boy might have had at least some interest in cosmetics, but when Rei had lived in Japan, he had resided in a place surrounded by mountains.
There were certainly a fair number of students at his high school, but whether due to his natural disposition or otherwise, Rei had never taken any interest in cosmetics.
If he were going to spend money on such things, he had always figured he might as well buy books or games instead.
And after acquiring his current body, whether he needed cosmetics was hardly worth contemplating.
Sure, using them might have had some benefit, but Rei had absolutely zero interest in that direction.
"A cosmetics shop?"
"Yes. It's called the White Fragrance, and it's reasonably well-known in Gilm. ...You haven't heard of it?"
"I've heard the name and seen it from the outside a few times. But I've never been inside."
"Ah, well, that's about what I'd expect from you, Rei-kun. The cosmetics I use, I buy at the White Fragrance too. ...Despite how she looks, Kakou is actually a highly skilled artisan."
Kenny murmured as she watched the dog beastman laugh cheerfully while playing with Set. Rei's expression shifted to one of surprise.
He simply couldn't see her as that accomplished a craftsperson based on appearances alone.
But Kenny had nothing to gain by lying to him, and Rei found himself truly appreciating that people were not always what they seemed.
"Ah, yeah. I get what you're trying to say, Rei-kun. But when it comes to blending perfume, she's one of the top people in all of Gilm. Being a dog beastman is probably a big factor too."
Rei felt a flicker of doubt at those words, but understood immediately.
Perfume was, as the name suggested, fragrant water — water imbued with scent.
For blending it, Kakou's superior olfactory sense as a dog beastman was an ideal match.
Of course, a dog beastman's sense of smell wasn't the only thing that mattered; the actual skill of blending was equally important.
But there was no denying she held an advantage over any ordinary person.
Hearing Kenny boast about her friend, Rei nodded, acknowledging that such an ability must indeed be impressive. But another question surfaced.
"If this were about cooking, that'd be one thing. But what exactly am I supposed to do at a cosmetics shop?"
"Hmm, actually, Kakou's shop has made a name for itself as a cosmetics store, but... the flagship perfumes aren't selling very well. The other cosmetics are moving fine, so it's not like the shop is in any real danger."
Kakou must have overheard Kenny's words, even while playing with Set. She turned a dejected gaze toward Rei and Kenny.
"Ah, hey, hey. Don't look so down. Anyway, setting other cosmetics aside, perfume isn't something most people use on a daily basis to begin with, right?"
Kenny said that, but Rei knew for a fact that she herself used perfume regularly.
As a Guild receptionist, it was probably part of the job.
Even now, buried under all those layers, Rei's sharper-than-average sense of smell still caught a fragrance from Kenny — something that could only be described as a refreshing sweetness.
"So I was thinking, maybe Rei-kun could come up with something about perfumee. That's what I thought, but... what do you say?"
"No, don't ask for the impossible."
Rei replied without hesitation.
In practical terms, he had zero knowledge of cosmetics or perfume.
With cooking, at least he could rely on manga and TV to recall the general method for certain dishes. But perfume was entirely outside his wheelhouse.
He didn't even know the basic application technique — dabbing it on the inside of the wrist, then along the neck.
"I don't know the first thing about perfume."
"Come on, come on. Even a half-baked idea is fine. Just give us some kind of input."
With that, Kenny grabbed Rei and started pulling him toward Kakou's shop.
For a brief moment, Rei considered resisting. But he didn't particularly have anything he needed to do today, and a small spark of curiosity had ignited for perfume — something he had never had any involvement with. So he let himself be dragged along.
Had this been a formal request like the one from the Golden Bread Pavilion, he never would have gone along with it.
It was purely circumstantial, bearing no resemblance to an official request — which was exactly why Kenny had felt free to invite him so casually.
...Though truth be told, while Kenny did have Kakou's situation to consider, more than anything she was simply happy to have an excuse to spend time with Rei.