The Power of Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
Behind the Flying Dragon Training Ground, inside a cave carved into a sheer cliff. In this hidden space, I was entertaining two young ladies.
“Have you been waiting long? Shall I serve the dessert right away?” I said calmly, but inside I was gasping for breath. Huff huff huff…! I’m about to collapse.
Outwardly I acted as if nothing was wrong while serving the two ladies, yet my heart pounded so hard my veins felt ready to burn. No wonder—I had climbed the mountain nonstop for a full thirty minutes to reach the meeting spot at the Flying Dragon Training Ground.
As the name implied, this was a flight training ground for dragons. That was why it sat high in the mountains. The cave we were in now was only halfway up, so we were lucky. Reaching the summit would have taken half a day.
What kind of place is this to eat dessert in……
I had ended up doing exercise I wasn’t used to. Staying cooped up in the lounge must have dulled my stamina.
It’s not like I signed up for a mountain march……
On top of that, I had to enter the dizzying cliff cave at the end by clinging to a single chain. Falling from this sheer drop would make survival harder than death. Anyway, I was now at an absurd height.
If they were dragons, couldn’t they just fly? They could have carried me on their backs. Why insist on walking up in human form?
—Shiver shiver…!
My hand trembled as I held the wooden basket containing the precious dessert. Climbing had already been exhausting; worrying about crushing the cake only made it worse.
—Crackle crackle…!
While I struggled to serve the dessert, the two ladies in front of me launched into another power struggle. They couldn’t hold back their growling. I needed to hand over the snacks quickly. It felt like taking puppies to a dog café.
—Swish, thud…!
“Hmm?”
“Hmm?”
When I began setting out plates and cups from the basket, their standoff eased for a moment. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to give them what they wanted and finish this. Whether they liked it or not, it would work out. I had done nothing wrong. I prepared the exact same dessert for both, just as requested.
—Clink, pour…!
“Ladies? Don’t get too worked up. Calm down first. Smiling faces suit you better in a place with such a lovely view.”
To soothe their anger, I poured out the special honey latte first. It was the same drink I had served at lunch, but time had been too short to make anything new. I had poured all my effort into the mint chocolate instead. Still, nothing beat this drink right now. The special honey latte was pure sugar replenishment. Sweet things always lifted the mood, after all. I served each of them a glass to help settle their tempers.
“Even a human has some sense, huh?”
“Breeder, I’ll enjoy it.”
—Gulp, chug…!
They must have been thirsty from the climb, because they drank without complaint.
“Haa, Breeder’s drinks always put me in a good mood.”
“Perfect timing. I was thirsty. It’s nice and cool.”
The special honey latte worked like a charm. Their voices softened noticeably. If I handled this right, one latte could even block a dragon’s breath.
“By the way, Diora? Why take the dangerous human-form route? I wondered if you’d set a trap somewhere along the way……”
“Ha, what do you take me for? I climbed all the way up here for a reason.”
“What reason? There are plenty of other hidden caves like this one.”
—Thud…!
Diora set down her empty glass and answered Sofia’s question.
“This has been my hideout since my second year. As long as I don’t reveal my dragon power, the professors won’t notice. I personally laid an earth barrier here for over a hundred years.”
“Is that true? I thought it was just an ordinary cave…… I had no idea.”
“Pretty impressive, right? There’s also a silence spell, so no matter how loud we get, the sound won’t leak out. And third-years are keeping watch outside.”
Diora rattled on as if showing off a new house. From her explanation, the place was a complete palace. How had she managed academy life while building such a private sanctuary? She even had juniors doing her bidding.
“Diora? When did you set all this up without the professors’ permission……”
“That’s none of your business! Now, shall we get to the main point?”
Yeah, the introduction had gone on long enough. I wasn’t interested in the details either. I just wanted to hurry back to the lounge. I kept worrying whether Derke had come looking for me today. Her upset face at finding me gone kept flashing in my mind.
“Understood. Then I’ll take out the item you requested right away.”
I shook my head to clear my thoughts and reached into the basket for “that.” I wanted to finish quickly and return.
“Hmm? Another cardboard box inside the basket? You put real effort into the packaging. Hurry and take it out. What exactly is it that Sofia even requested an unauthorized outing for?”
When I lifted out two paper boxes, Diora raised her thick brown eyebrows in curiosity.
Even if they’re not that close, doesn’t she know anything about her classmate Sofia’s tastes?
She couldn’t even guess. No matter how I looked at it, Diora didn’t seem suited to be the next student council president.
—Rustle…!
Muttering my inner thoughts, I revealed the mint chocolate chip cakes one by one. Fortunately, their shape was intact. The chocolate hadn’t melted. Only a few crumbs had spilled out. Thank goodness I had paid attention to the packaging. If the cakes had been crushed, it would have been a disaster. My entire life would have been crushed along with them……
“Oh, it’s cake? And loaded with chocolate……?!”
Diora’s brown eyes sparkled. Her reaction was pure jackpot. It reminded me of Johnson’s first reaction that morning. From the outside it simply looked like an ordinary chocolate cake. Inside the cliff cave, lit only by lantern light, the mint-green cream was even harder to notice.
“Breeder…? You really did it!”
“Yes. I made this cake with everything I had.”
“So what is this? A cake made only with expensive chocolate? Is that why you hid it so carefully?”
Unlike the moved Sofia, Diora only voiced her curiosity. Understandable, since she had never seen it before. Still, I had no intention of revealing the truth.
“It’s a dessert more special than chocolate. Why not try it yourself? Your palate will tell you more than any explanation I could give a hundred times.”
“Hoo, you’ve got a real knack for making things sound plausible.”
Diora picked up a fork, muttering something like “If you couldn’t even say that, I would’ve eaten you already—what a shame.”
“I’ll enjoy it, Breeder.”
“Great. Then let’s dig in?”
Sofia followed suit and picked up her fork. Then she charged toward the cake. If the mint green had been visible, she probably wouldn’t have touched it so easily.
—Poke…!
Diora thrust her fork first and cut into the cake. But the piece she scooped up belonged to the cake sitting in front of Sofia.
“Diora? What are you doing, acting so uncouth?!”
“Hmph…! Who knows what you two plotted yesterday? At least yours should be safe, right?”
Diora glared at Sofia with eyes full of distrust. She looked carefree on the outside, but she had been wary of us in her own way. It wasn’t surprising. If I had really pulled a trick, I would have been flustered. But both cakes were truly identical mint chocolate chip cakes.
“You don’t have to be suspicious. They’re the same dessert.”
“Hmph, I’ll know once I eat it.”
“Hehe, I’ll enjoy it. And thank you, Breeder.”
—Nom…! Chomp…!
Each lady spoke once before swallowing the dessert. Sofia, as if she understood my intention, smiled and cut her cake into neat bite-sized pieces before bringing them to her mouth.
““Munch munch……””
Both ladies moved their jaws and cheeks at the same time. Not long after—
“Gweeeek…?! Khaak……?!”
The reaction hit immediately. As expected, it worked perfectly even on dragons. The performance was truly reliable.
—Thud……!!!
Diora collapsed, foaming at the mouth. After letting out a final cry, her body went limp. She hit the cave floor in an even more unsightly state than Johnson had that morning. Served her right. Some might wonder what kind of nerve I had to feed mint chocolate to a dragon like Diora. But I wasn’t worried. Sofia would handle the rest. This should count as a successful conditional rapport.
It was as good as conquering the main heroine of 「Destiny Dragons」, so there was nothing to fear.
Clearly Sofia, who loves mint so much, will take care of things while the earth dragon is down—
—Thud……!!!
“Huh? What…? S-Sofia?!”
Contrary to my hopes, Sofia, who had tasted the dessert, suddenly collapsed as well—right beside Diora. She wasn’t foaming at the mouth, but the sight was still incredibly bewildering.
No, why are you fainting too?!