After hearing from Alice that the stall and cooking equipment were finished, I headed to the backyard to check them out. The stall Alice brought out looked exactly like something you'd see at a traditional festival, matching the image in my head perfectly.
"It looks great. It really captures that festival stall vibe... but, uh, what’s with that familiar, creepy cat on the sign above?"
"That’s the mascot character. I’ve even drawn it on the Baby Castella paper bags."
"...I see."
It seemed she was shamelessly doubling down on using that thing as a mascot. Well, as long as it was just a drawing of its face, I suppose you could argue it was "creepy-cute."
In person, especially with the way it moved, the needle swung decisively toward "creepy."
"Now then, here is the cooking equipment. Since we’ve got a group of amateurs working this time, I’ve made several modifications to make it easy to use. For example, do you see this Magic Crystal on the handle?"
"Ah, the small one? What does it do?"
"When you’re baking the Baby Castella, this crystal will change from green to red. That’s the perfect time to take them out. If it goes from red to purple, they’re a bit overdone, and if it turns black, they’re burnt."
"Wait, so I can tell exactly how they're doing just by looking at my hand? That’s incredibly convenient."
I was genuinely grateful for that. With baked sweets, burning the batch is always a major concern, but with this, even a novice like me could judge the timing perfectly.
"Also, this doesn't produce an open flame. It uses magic to heat the plates, and I’ve programmed it to adjust the temperature automatically."
"Ohh..."
"The iron plates have also undergone a special magic process. They automatically generate a thin Magic Power Membrane on the surface while cooking, so nothing will burn or stick even without oil. As a bonus, if you twist the handle to the left twice, a spell activates to clean the plates instantly. Any waste removed is funneled into this small box on the side, so just make sure to empty it every now and then."
"...That is amazing."
So, let's see... the heat is managed automatically, no oil is required, nothing sticks or burns, and it even has a self-cleaning function. It was an all-inclusive, dream setup.
"For your information, this plate is for regular Baby Castella, and this one is for the chocolate-filled ones. For the chocolate version, you just drop bar chocolate into this cylinder, and it mixes it in automatically. No need to melt it in a double boiler or anything—plain old bar chocolate works just fine. You can adjust the chocolate-to-batter ratio by moving this lever on the cylinder, so try to find a balance you like."
"...Alice, aren't you being a bit too competent right now?"
"Didn't you know? Alice-chan is always a transcendently beautiful girl and transcendently competent. I put a lot of thought into making sure even someone like Kaito-san, who has almost no cooking experience, can pump out a high volume with ease. With this, you should be able to handle even a massive rush of customers."
I was really glad I’d asked Alice for help. For once, I’d let her smug attitude slide—she’d done more than enough to earn it.
The iron plates were also easy to remove and carry, and since it didn't use fire, it was perfectly safe for indoor use. It was an excellent piece of equipment for practice.
I decided to call Tre-san and the others over immediately to start on some prototypes.
With Tre-san, Cento-san, and Sien-san gathered, we began cooking using the ingredients I’d received from Shiro-san. Alice took on the role of teacher, but because the tools were so high-tech and user-friendly, I managed to make a decent batch even though it was my very first time.
Since I had a promise to keep, I packed the first batch of Baby Castella into a bag. When I called out to Shiro-san in my mind, the paper bag vanished from my hand.
Shortly after, a message of thanks reached me from her. It looked like I’d successfully fulfilled the first part of our deal.
After that, we focused on making more prototypes. We started with the regular ones instead of the chocolate-filled version. Once they were finished, we all sat down to taste the results...
"...So... good..."
"This is incredible, Kaito! It's super delicious! Maybe we have a natural talent for making Baby Castella! We could totally take over the world with these!"
"...Cento, look at this..."
"...Y-Yeah, it’s way too good. Are we really selling these for only 5R a bag?"
Tre-san was munching away with an extremely satisfied expression, while Cento-san and Sien-san stared at the treats with strangely solemn looks. Alice, meanwhile, was covering her eyes and looking up at the sky.
After standing frozen like that for a few moments, Alice turned to me with a look of total resignation.
"...Kaito-san, have you already received all the ingredients from Shallow Vernal-sama?"
"Eh? Ah, yeah... She gave me quite a bit more than I initially expected..."
"I see... Sigh, fine, I give up. It’s probably a waste of breath, but please tell that Natural God... 'If there's a next time, please at least use ingredients that actually exist in this world.'"
"...Understood."
I’d been thinking it was far too delicious for something made by amateurs, but it seemed Shiro-san had provided materials of such transcendent quality that they shouldn't even exist.
...Well, I'm sure it’s a headache for Alice, who has to manage all the information and logistics, but it’s not like it hurts us for the food to be delicious. I guess it's fine.
Wait, actually... I’m starting to get a little scared of how Kuro will react once she tastes these.
Serious-senpai: "Well, despite some hiccups, it looks like the preparations are finally complete. That means the Founding Anniversary Festival should be kicking off next time. I wonder which characters are going to show up first..."