Inside the high-end chocolate shop, which served as a purveyor to the nobility, the floor was expansive, with chocolates displayed in showcases scattered throughout the room. Staff members were stationed at various points, but they didn't approach to pester us; instead, they simply stood by with an air that suggested we should call upon them only if we had a request.
As someone who honestly has a hard time saying no when a salesperson makes a recommendation, I found this format quite helpful. Of course, since I was currently alone with Fia-sensei, it might have also been a consideration on their part not to interrupt our conversation.
"Miyama-kun, look at this."
Fia-sensei spoke in a hushed voice. I shifted my gaze to the showcase in front of her and saw chocolates so beautiful I would have believed they were gemstones if someone had told me so.
Then I saw the price. A single piece was 30R—roughly 3,000 yen in Japanese currency.
"It’s not for a box, but 30R for one piece? That’s incredible. Do nobles really eat things like this regularly?"
"Hmm, I doubt even they buy them on a whim. But for the nobility, appearances are everything, so they probably serve these kinds of ultra-high-end sweets when they have guests, right?"
"I see..."
Lilia-san’s mansion, as expected of a Ducal House, always had high-quality sweets and tea leaves on hand, but I didn't recall ever seeing anything on the level of a 30R chocolate.
However, that was likely because we were looking at things for daily consumption. I wondered if Lilia-san brought out luxury goods like these when she had other noble visitors.
Come to think of it, I remembered that they had put a great deal of effort into preparing high-end sweets when Kuro first visited the mansion. Unfortunately, those snacks had fatally missed the mark when it came to her preferences.
Kuro’s hobby was eating her way through various places, and her "Complete Guide to Eating Around" made it clear she was a real gourmet when it came to meals. However—and this was something I had only learned after becoming reasonably close to her—Kuro’s preferences for meals and sweets went in completely different directions.
For meals, she enjoyed complex and high-end dishes, evaluating them comprehensively based on the flavor and the shop's atmosphere. But for sweets, her primary prerequisite was that they had to be "easy to eat." She tended to give low ratings to anything that looked difficult to consume.
Baby Castella was the obvious example, but whenever someone served sweets to Kuro, she was always happier with things that could be eaten in a single bite, like cookies or chocolates, rather than extravagant cakes.
Well, setting that aside... what should I do about Tre-san’s souvenir?
"Fia-sensei, I’d like your honest opinion."
"Yeah?"
"Which do you think she’d be happier with: these ultra-high-end chocolates that cost dozens of R per piece and look like jewels, or these simple chocolate truffles over there that come in a larger quantity?"
"The truffles, 100%. Actually, if you gave those to Big Sis Tre, I think she’d eat them immediately without even looking at them."
"I thought so."
I honestly agreed with Fia-sensei. I suspected that whether I gave her jewel-like chocolates or ordinary truffles, Tre-san would just shout, "Yay, luxury chocolate!" and devour them on the spot.
In that case, volume was probably the way to go. Honestly, I had a feeling she’d happily munch on them even if I gave her wheat chocolate.
"For now, I'll buy a few items with relatively large quantities for Tre-san... but I’m still curious about these, aren't you?"
"Yeah. To be honest, I’d like to try them at least once."
Aside from the gift for Tre-san, I was interested in what a chocolate piece costing 30R actually tasted like. As I was considering this, a nearby clerk smoothly approached us and gave a light bow.
"Pardon the interruption. Are you looking for high-value chocolates?"
"Um, yes. Well, we were interested..."
"The items displayed in the cases are our relatively inexpensive products. Those listed in this catalog represent our shop’s most prestigious series. Please feel free to look through it if you wish."
"Oh... yes. Thank you."
Wait, what? 30R for a single piece was "relatively inexpensive"? Did that mean there was a level even higher than this? While exchanging a look with Fia-sensei, I glanced at the catalog I had just received.
"Miyama-kun, this is incredible... It’s a whole different world."
"I thought my sense of money had been getting warped lately, but it looks like reality is even further ahead of me."
What was with this chocolate? One piece for 30,000R? That was three million yen. It was insane. How could a single piece of chocolate possibly cost three million? Was there a diamond hidden inside?
The thirty-thousand-R chocolate was the most expensive, but there were plenty of others listed for several thousand R throughout the catalog. As Fia-sensei said, it was a staggering world.
Still, I was honestly curious about the taste, so I decided to buy one. Apparently, they didn't keep chocolates of this caliber in stock, so it would be a custom order to be delivered to my house later.
I wondered if Lilia-san had ever eaten sweets of this rank. I'd have to ask her next time.
Extra: What Eden (Machina) Did After the Six Kings Festival
- Threatening the Nobility
Because the scale of Eden’s magic power was fundamentally different, most nobles understood the moment they met her that she was someone they must never defy. Consequently, the majority of them obediently swore their loyalty to Kaito. As long as they complied, she didn't do anything in particular or threaten them too harshly. However, there were apparently a few who resisted out of stubbornness; every single one of them was shown a glimpse of hell and was reportedly in tears, performing a dogeza, just seconds later in real-time. As per her promise to Kuro, she didn't kill anyone... though there were those she brought to 90% Death.
- Visiting the Former Hero-role Migrants
She visited the three migrants and checked to see if they were facing any hardships in their lives in this world. She asked if there was anything they wanted from their original world; for the items they desired, she consulted with Shallow Vernal and presented them as gifts. She was kind to My Child.
- Sightseeing
While she appeared to be spreading unreasonableness wherever she went, she actually spent a great deal of time sightseeing normally. During the Six Kings Festival, after she had finished intimidating most of the nobility, she went around the stalls like any other visitor. She was witnessed eating takoyaki during her rounds, and because of her conspicuous appearance, it triggered a temporary takoyaki boom.
- Grave Maintenance for Past Migrants
She visited the graves of past migrants scattered across various regions. For old graves that no one visited anymore, she cleaned them up beautifully. To reiterate, she was kind to My Child.