Shaved ice.
It was a simple sweet, consisting of nothing more than a shaved block of ice drizzled with syrup. Because the process was so easy and ice could be produced through magic, it was a fairly well-known treat in the Village of the Great Tree. Some people enjoyed it in a warm room during the winter, but summer was undoubtedly the true season for it.
I set out to perform maintenance on the shaved ice machines.
It seemed the Mountain Elves had already beaten me to it, however. The machines operated perfectly, without a hint of hesitation. I decided to just give them a quick cleaning.
Lu was busy producing ice. When I asked if she had any plans for it, she gave me a look that told me everything I needed to know. It was time to get ready. I knew exactly what she wanted: a brand-new flavor.
As Lu ate her portion, she suddenly began writhing in agony. It was a classic ice cream headache. I recalled hearing that it was a phenomenon where the brain misinterprets the sudden cold as pain. It varied from person to person; some were prone to them, while others weren't. While there were many supposed remedies, I personally found that a few sips of warm tea worked best.
While Lu sat there nursing her tea, the Fairy Queen—who had been lured over by the sweets—was already happily enjoying her second bowl without any issues.
"I wasn't sure about this matcha flavor at first, but it's not bad at all," she remarked. "It goes quite well with these little mochi and the bean paste."
"I'm glad you like it," I replied. "By the way, those little mochi are called shiratama." Though, since they were technically a type of mochi, her description wasn't wrong.
I noticed one of Kuro’s children standing nearby. It was Kuroni.
"Do you want some too, Kuroni?" I asked.
That was rare for him. I didn't mind giving him some, but I warned him to eat slowly. I also worried he might choke on the shiratama, so I prepared to set those aside.
Kuroni pawed at me. He wanted the shiratama.
"Fine, fine. I’ll cut them into smaller pieces for you. But they aren't that tasty on their own, you know? They aren't sweet. Make sure you eat them with the syrupy parts of the ice."
A moment later, Kuroni was also writhing in agony. I told him to eat slowly! Then again, I suppose he felt he had to finish quickly before the other wolves noticed and swarmed the area. He didn't need to be that considerate.
"Here, have some warm tea."
The Fairy Queen requested a third serving. Lu wanted one too—wait, no, she just wanted more tea.
I told the rest of the wolves gathering around to hold on for a moment. I needed Lu to make more ice first.
Since there were so many of them, I tried making a massive batch in a large tub. However, the weight of the shavings caused the center to compress back into solid ice. It was a failure. Luckily, I realized this before I poured the syrup. I gave up on the shortcut and went back to making them one bowl at a time.
I shaved the ice, poured the requested syrups, and added fruit toppings. The matcha-adzuki-shiratama combination was a huge hit. I just hoped everyone would stop getting headaches.
Once the wolves were satisfied, I moved on to the portions for Zabuton's Children, who had been helping me. The Mountain Elves had modified some humanoid golems into specialized shaved-ice makers, but I felt this was a task I should handle myself. I figured I would let the golems handle the work at the stalls later.
"Since you’re here, help me out," I said to the others. "We’re running low on shiratama."
I eventually took a break to try a bowl myself. I went with strawberry flavor, as we were out of matcha. It was delicious. Then, I tried another bowl—strawberry again.
The taste was different.
Was it the ice?
To be honest, I’d been worried about Lu having to produce so much ice with magic, so I’d tried to find an alternative. Lu’s method involved using magic to create ice out of thin air and then expanding it. I’d thought it would be faster and easier to just prepare water and freeze it using magic.
While my method was indeed faster and required less effort, the flavor was noticeably inferior. The ice created from nothing was simply better. I didn't know the exact reason, but the difference was clear enough that even I could tell. I suppose the quality was worth the extra labor. Or perhaps it was just the freezing process itself; I remembered there being a big difference between home-frozen ice and ice from a professional vendor. It was worth researching further.
"Sorry, Lu," I said. "Could you push through a bit more? The kids just finished their studies, and they're all looking this way."
I’d have to work hard too.
The next day.
An Improved Shaved Ice-making Golem appeared. They had apparently finished the upgrade before I’d even used the first model. Supposedly, it had enhanced performance capabilities. I took a look.
By "enhanced performance," they apparently meant the showmanship of the sequence where the ice was loaded into the machine. It was certainly flashy, but the golem dropped the ice block about once every three tries.
"It’s ice, so it’s slippery," they explained.
Well, they weren't wrong. It was a waste of ice, but I had the fallen pieces tossed into the reservoir. I felt a bit guilty toward the Fenrirs, as they were the ones who had provided the magic ice for the demonstration.
When the golem finally managed to produce a few bowls, I decided to have one. Just one, though—I couldn't eat them all.
The golem’s face slumped in a look of profound sadness.
"Don't give me that look. I saw you operating it from behind!"