Since it was already nighttime, we decided to leave the tour of the renovated garden for tomorrow, and since I was tired from the festival, we split up at an appropriate place and I returned to my room.
As I was lightly organizing the things I had bought, a part of the wall slid open in which Kuro appeared. Kuro coming to my room is a daily matter, but what's with that sliding wall? Is that some kind of entrance?
[Kaito-kun, I'm here~~]
[...I'd really like to find out how many hidden functions I don't know were installed in this room.]
I looked at Kuro, who was smiling brightly at me, with a dumbfounded look, but well….. Whatever. If I was really curious about this, I could just ask the nearby Alice.
Putting that aside, Kuro basically comes every day, but I had been wondering if she would come tonight as well.
[I thought you wouldn't come today because you were busy with the White God Festival.]
[Hmmm, even though you say that, I only said a few words at the beginning and the end of the festival, and then I just watched the others most of the time.]
[That in itself sounds difficult, but is it also like that at Festival of Heroes?]
[If I'm basically attending a festival as a guest of honor, that would be the case.]
It seemed like it would be troublesome to sit in the guest's seat with all the attention of the populace, but Kuro, one of the Six Kings, might be used to it.
As I had such a thought in mind, Kuro, just like usual, took out a teacup filled with coffee and placed it in front of me... and along with it should be the usual baby castellas...
[Here, I've brought some "financiers" today! Let's eat them together~~]
[ ! ? ]
Note: Its name is derived from its traditional rectangular mold, making it resemble a bar of gold.)
The moment I heard those words, I reflexively put my hand on Kuro's forehead and checked if she had a fever... However, do Demons even catch colds? In the first place, could they even get sick and get a fever?
[...Kuro, are you alright?]
[Eh? W- What are you talking about?]
[It's just, Kuro actually serving something other than baby castella, I thought you must have some really serious illness...]
[Isn't that a bit rude!?]
No, it's true that Kuro's hobby is eating while walking, and she eats all kinds of sweets. So, it wouldn't be a surprise that she eats financiers.
But whenever she came to visit me at nights, she would always bring out a combination of baby castellas and coffee. When she had a new creation, she would bring that out, and when she hadn't created anything new, she would just bring out regular baby castellas.
[No, I mean, I've never had anything other than baby castellas when you come over at nights...]
[Ahh~~ Come to think of it, I guess that really was the case... Well, anyway, it's financiers today.]
[However, why financiers?]
[I actually wanted Kaito-kun to try some of them. I also brought you some other stuff.]
Saying this, Kuro took out some cylindrical items about 5cm in diameter and laid them out on the table.
[In fact, I've recently created a new trading company.]
[...Fumu.]
[Kaito-kun, you know about random boxes, right? They were papers that contain disposable magic techniques made from shards of magic crystals, but a new method of making it has been discovered and the production cost has been reduced considerably.]
She created a new trading company huh... However, what does that have to do with the financier?
[Well, to put it simply, it's a trading company that deals in "portable food". As I'm sure Kaito-kun knows, magic boxes are one of the most expensive types of magic tools in the world, and disposable magic boxes are too costly to buy just to store food.]
[I see, so what about that portable food?]
[Unnn. Rather than with Space-Time Magic, they're created with State Preservation and Size Reduction Techniques, and when you open this small tube, you can eat the food inside.]
I see, it's like those instant foods and retort pouches back on Earth. That certainly would be a good direction they're aiming at.
Of course, magic boxes were quite efficient tools, but it also had its limits to its efficiency. Also, magic tools aren't really things that one can use indefinitely, as they also deteriorate with time.
The purer the product, the longer it may last, but that still doesn't mean they can be used indefinitely. It's quite difficult to buy something that would just complement food.
[At the moment, we're only able to make them for several flavors of soups, confectioneries, and some breads. Well, we'll definitely increase the variety in the near future.]
[What about their price?]
[I'm planning to sell them for about 1R to 5R each. I'm sure that if we continue on this track, we would be able to reduce the cost a little more.]
With prices ranging from 100 yen to 500 yen, they would sell not only to adventurers and vendors, but to ordinary families as well. They can be used in times when you don't feel like cooking.
If you buy soup and bread, one would already have a meal out of it, and the fact that it's stored in this state means that it will come out still warm when you open it.
...Thinking that this would definitely sell, I tried out the financier... The texture is moist and soft, and the taste is quite high level with a gentle sweetness that spreads in my mouth.
[...How much is this?]
[It's planned to be sold for 1R for a pack of three.]
[They're pretty tasty... They're really high-quality.]
[Fufufu, I'm pretty particular about its taste and price. Well, it's difficult to create something that matches well with both of those factors, which is why there aren't that many varieties yet... but while we're at it, why don't you try some of the others too?]
Thinking that she simply likes creating new things, I happily sampled Kuro's new company's portable food, feeling warm and fuzzy as she happily explained.
[Afterword]
Serious-senpai : [...She's trying to get even richer.]
? ? ? : [It's just like Kuro-san, or rather, she probably plans to leave it to the right person among her family once the trading company has grown to some extent. This product is like a Trinia version of retort pouches, and I think they will sell really well. I think they have already thought of the idea of selling something like this itself for a while, but it was never implemented because they still don't have any way to make it profitable.]
Serious-senpai : [Thereupon, a new process for making magic paper was discovered, and it became possible to reduce costs significantly, so they established a company immediately... As expected of the Don of the Business World, she sure acts fast.]