As we walked, chatting as we went, I suddenly remembered something and spoke up to Elis-san.
"By the way, Elis-san... I actually brought a small souvenir. Would it be alright if I gave it to you now?"
"Eh? A souvenir?"
"Yes. Since you were kind enough to invite me, I asked Canalis-san if there was anything appropriate to bring. She prepared a new product scheduled for Nifty, so I brought that along."
"Hieeh... Th-thank you for your thoughtfulness. Is it... perhaps an exceptionally expensive item?"
"Oh, no. It was actually designed to be affordable. Canalis-san said that bringing something too extravagant would put the host in an awkward position, so she prepared something reasonably priced but visually striking. Here, it’s this."
While Nifty was primarily a high-end black tea brand, they were planning to expand their more accessible lineup so people could buy things more casually. What I’d brought was part of that new range. For the record, neither Nebula nor Illness-san had been involved in this; Canalis-san had planned and produced the item herself.
"It’s a very colorful and charming box. If I may ask, what exactly is inside?"
"An assortment of uniquely shaped sugar cubes. There are no special magical effects or secret manufacturing methods; the focus is entirely on the colorful, cute designs based on popular monsters. Here, there are three bottles inside so you can see the contents."
The sugar cube sets Canalis-san had prepared lacked the intricate mechanisms of the crafted sugar Nebula produced; they were simply fancy, stylized versions of popular monsters. They were so well-crafted that you could tell what they were at a glance—things like Funny Rabbits and Petit Devis. Sieg-san, who loved animals, and Luna-san, who adored cute things, had both been full of praise for them.
"These have a truly wonderful and elaborate design."
"It’s true. They're made with quite a lot of detail, and they look like they'd be popular... but this looks like it would take a lot of effort to manufacture and end up being quite expensive. Are you really putting this out as a low-price product?"
"Canalis-san mentioned that she used her God Power to build a tool that shapes the cubes as soon as you add sugar. She said the production cost is basically zero."
"That woman... When it comes to business, she really is a total rule-breaker..."
Kuro looked a bit exasperated as she gave a wry smile. From her perspective, Canalis-san's ability to ignore costs was nothing short of a cheat.
Still, Canalis-san was strictly the manager of Nifty; she didn't interfere with other trading companies or get involved in the transactions of the shops and companies Anima dealt with. She possessed the restraint to know that her omniscient and omnipotent self shouldn't meddle in those areas, so it wasn't a major problem. For Nifty, she seemed to be doing whatever she pleased within the boundaries Shiro-san had permitted.
"Anyway, thank you for the lovely gift."
"I’m glad you like it. I brought extras in case there was a chance to give some to the other guests as well... but should I refrain from doing that?"
"No, that is entirely within my authority as host. While I requested the other guests not to bring gifts for Kaito-sama to avoid any social pressure, there is no issue with Kaito-sama handing things out himself. I’m certain everyone will be delighted."
"In that case, I’ll hand them out toward the end of the tea party."
Now that I had Elis-san's permission, I decided to give the sugar cubes to the other participants later. I had enough for eight people, but even if I ran out, it wouldn't be an issue. Canalis-san had told me, "If you're short on stock, just call out into the air, and I’ll have more delivered instantly via God Delivery," so replenishment was only a shout away.
"Ah, I can see it. Is it over there? ...Wait, what's this?"
"Yes, that terrace is our venue."
"I see... wait, huh?"
"...Please, pay them no mind. I suppose it’s only natural for them to end up that way..."
As we rounded the building and entered a courtyard, I saw a gathering of people and realized that was the venue. But something felt off. There were definitely noble daughters there, but they were standing in a perfectly disciplined, rigid line, waiting for us. Why were they so... Ah, right. It was because Kuro was with me.
Serious-senpai: "I mean, a God who can create basically anything within the boundaries Shiro permitted and mass-produce it at will is a total rule-breaker in commerce. It only avoids becoming an international incident because she’s restricting her God Power to a black tea brand run by the walking extraterritoriality Kaito as a sort of hobby..."