Chapter 112: The Baking House’s Recruitment Talent is Giving Away Free Cookies
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: The Baking House’s Recruitment Talent is Giving Away Free Cookies
After lugging a display board larger than myself to the site, I searched for a long while among the sea of recruiting clubs before finally spotting Senior Sister Ying Shiqian slacking off.
At that moment, the Senior Sister was sitting bored behind a table, one arm pinning down a stack of application forms. Only a crude banner announced that this was the registration spot for the "Baking House" club.
It was a completely different world compared to the other clubs nearby, which were busy putting on talent displays.
"Senior Sister, you came here this early just to loaf around? You didn't even bring the equipment?" I plopped the display board down in front of her, finally catching her attention.
"Huh? Oh! Xiao Han, you're here! I was so bored all by myself. If I’d known, I would’ve just stayed at the shop, waah..." The moment she saw me, Ying Shiqian stood up and began to wail in mock misery.
Her performance drew stares from the Senior Sisters of several neighboring clubs.
"Give it a rest! Honestly, Senior Sister, you came all the way here and didn't bring anything?" I used one hand to fend off her over-the-top enthusiasm and pointed at the display board. It looked like it had been professionally designed, but judging by its condition, it had clearly been used many times over the years. It had a real sense of age to it.
But it was still functional.
"Eh? Oh, the base was too heavy, so I didn't bring it. Besides, the members we recruit this year will probably just quit soon anyway. It doesn't really matter if I try or not." At this point, the Senior Sister was slumped over the table like a literal salty fish.
"Pull yourself together, Senior Sister. Aren't you afraid the Shopkeeper will come by for an inspection?" I leaned my hands on the table and offered a kind reminder.
I had to admit, Ying Shiqian was a "salty fish" to her very core. Her passion and liveliness were just an act for strangers; once she got comfortable with me, she stopped hiding her true nature immediately.
But... weren't there plenty of people around here?
"What's there to be afraid of? If the Shopkeeper shows up, I'll just act cute and complain about how hard I'm working. She won't blame me. Come, come~ sit down with me." The Senior Sister spoke with total nonchalance.
"Fine, whatever you say."
I moved the display board behind us and spent a good while assembling it. Once I was finally done, I sat down.
"Senior Sister, how long do we have to stay here?" I asked casually, dusting off my hands and picking up my phone.
"Hmm... two days. Today and tomorrow."
"Alright. So, do we have any 'talents' prepared for the showcase?"
"Talents? What kind of talent do you need for this? Am I supposed to pipe a cream flower onto a freshman's head right then and there?" Ying Shiqian shot back irritably.
"Okay, okay... so we're just going to stand here? This is a recruitment drive, after all. Why didn't you bring some of the shop's free cookies to hand out? It might win over some of the new junior sisters." I continued to suggest ideas. After all, I’d had a hand in making many of those cookies and other treats; I didn't want their final destination to be the giant trash can outside the shop.
"Eh? Great idea!" Upon hearing my suggestion, the Senior Sister bolted upright. I wasn't sure which part of what I said had triggered her, but she had instantly snapped out of her "salty fish" state.
"Huh?"
"It's decided! I'm going to go hook up with some junior sisters!"
Well then... it turns out the "junior sisters" part was what did it. I hadn't realized Senior Sister Ying Shiqian was so interested in underclassmen. Then again, she had seemed quite interested in me at first, though that spark seemed to have fizzled out once we became friends.
Does she really lose interest that quickly?
I'm a junior sister too!
"Senior Sister, I'm a junior sister too, you know," I said mischievously, giving her sleeve a little tug.
"Ah, well... Xiao Han is my good sister now! I'm hooking up with junior sisters so I can have more good sisters. Wait for me, I'm going to go find you some sisters right now!"
Ying Shiqian was momentarily stumped by my words, but she quickly came up with a flimsy excuse to dodge the subject.
"Fine, go ahead. I'll keep watch," I said with a sigh, leaning back in my chair and stretching.
"Good sister! Just wait, I'll be right back."
I watched the Senior Sister run off, leaving me to mind the stall out of boredom. However, I took the opportunity to try and contact my classmates and pull them into the class group chat.
I assigned them numbers one by one, added them as friends, and sent out requests. It was a tedious and repetitive process.
But soon enough, things started getting hectic.
As students began trickling into the group, a non-stop barrage of "welcome" messages and freshman inquiries followed.
I had no choice but to step in, clarifying my role as the Class Monitor and explaining why I was pulling them into the group.
And it wasn't just the official class group; I also set up a second "Class 14 Mutual Aid Group"—the kind without the counselor.
As the number of people I added grew, the group became increasingly lively. The freshmen had a lot of questions, many of which were repetitive.
After answering the same things several times, I started getting annoyed. I eventually summarized all the answers and solutions into a single post and sent it out, tagging everyone in the process.
After that, I went back to adding students. There were about a hundred people in the class, which was quite a lot.
Even though it was only the morning of the second day of the school opening week, I already had contact information for more than half of them.
A few freshmen stopped by to ask about the club, but since I didn't know much about it myself, I could only give them a basic explanation. They didn't seem particularly interested in joining.
By the time Ying Shiqian had made a round trip back to the bakery and returned, I hadn't handed out a single application form.
"Xiao Han~ Xiao Han~ I'm back!" Ying Shiqian arrived carrying her basket and plopped it right onto the table.
"You brought the whole basket?"
"Yeah. There's no one at the shop anyway, so I might as well hand them out here," the Senior Sister said with a bright, energetic smile. "Xiao Han, want to come hand them out with me?"
"Um... no thanks. I'm not really good at that sort of thing. I'm still busy with class matters," I said, waving my hands dismissively.
Now that I was the Class Monitor, I had to prioritize the class. Many of the freshmen had just arrived and knew nothing, so they naturally turned to me for help.
However, I was a bit surprised that not a single person in our class had arrived at school early. I remembered there being quite a few freshmen who arrived ahead of schedule; had none of them been assigned to Class 14?
Just how many freshman classes were there?
Despite my internal grumbling, I found myself enjoying the work. Helping others really is a wonderful thing~
Seeing them run into trouble and turn to the class group in a panic, staring at their phones in desperate hope that someone would reply...
Just thinking about it made me feel a little giddy.
Time ticked by. I didn't actually have much else to do over these two days. I already had my Flight License, and there was no rush with my part-time job at the bakery. I planned to use this rare bit of free time to head to the library and borrow some books.
After all, I couldn't just keep idling away like this.
I had been at the academy for a while now, and while I had mastered some transcendent methods, it hadn't really required much effort on my part.
An academy is a place for learning—learning the principles of the transcendent, mastering the means to control power, and uncovering the secrets of unknown worlds. Isn't that the true charm of the transcendent?