Invade
Ten minutes before Blow told Cunsai he would buy the sugar, he was taking counsel from Jane and Linne on the contract.
"You do mean to accept, don't you, young master?"
"If I can help it. Getting sugar at thirty percent of the usual price is far too tempting an offer to pass up."
"Mm..."
Jane pressed her lips together as if something about it sat wrong, and Blow, catching the hitch, asked her in an easy tone.
"Why? Worried someone else will move to check us?"
"Yes. He said as much himself, but I'm afraid the merchants out of Parso will interfere."
"Th-that's right, boss. Things like that... happen from time to time. I know they do. I do."
Linne hurried to back Jane up.
Jane had worked at a trading house, so she would have heard plenty coming and going, and Linne—whom she had brought along on the promise that she would be useful—all but lived in the library, and seemed to know a great deal.
That kind of caution was no bad thing at all, so Blow decided to hear them out.
"We're still in the middle of growing, and we're doing quite well even without sugar."
"Sugar isn't essential?"
"Right. If we need it, wouldn't it be better to grow the business a little more first? The carbonated water can always be positioned as a luxury for the nobility."
"......."
But that didn't sit well with his palate.
Back in the other world, carbonated drinks had been a comfort to everyone—men and women, young and old—no matter which spoon they had been born holding.
While he turned that over, Jane added, serious now.
"I understand how desperate he is, but I don't think this is the moment."
"Fair point. Being a noble will soften it, but we'll still take heat. Indirectly, at least."
"Yes. It won't come to that, but if you were a Commoner, young master... I would have argued against it with everything I had."
Linne, who had been listening, stepped forward then and spilled the rest out in a rush.
"B-boss, but because you're a noble, it could actually look as if there's some political intent behind it."
"Political intent?"
"S-sugar has been... awfully controversial lately. Even the imperial palace is talking about it."
"I think I've heard that. That it's too expensive."
"If you keep buying s-sugar from the beastkin, it might... look instead like you're the one checking Parso."
"....It goes that far?"
"Buying a few times... wouldn't matter. But if you sign a contract and goods start moving back and forth on a schedule, it... it could look that way. At the v-very least, people will talk. That's what I think."
"True enough. A lot of eyes on us."
"Too many, and that's the trouble."
At Jane's closing remark, Blow clicked his tongue.
Linne pressed on, as if she still had more to say.
"O-of course... it is a relief that the p-palace thinks along the same lines as you do."
"Even so, you're saying it'll put noise in the business."
"Yes... I think... that's right."
Then, as if something had just occurred to her, Linne pushed her glasses up and said,
"Ah...! Even so...? You might not like hearing this, but..."
"It's fine. Say it."
"The Deblique family still... isn't on the level of Senior Yulia's Edfolk house, or S-Senior Julbert's Mertios house, so it might be... a little less. It might."
"...And here I thought you were about to drop something worse. You're only saying what needs saying. Why are you so tense?"
Blow let out a short laugh, and Linne answered in a voice that shrank into itself.
"I-I was afraid you might be upset."
"Not about this sort of thing. Linne, the way you see it, this is a question of possibility, right? Not something that's certain to happen?"
"Yes. Not one in ten thousand. More like... one in a hundred."
"Oh. That's actually rather large...?"
Linne wrinkled her nose, scratched her head, and went on, sounding even less sure of herself.
"But I... I worry a lot. It might be something that never happens at all..."
"It's fine. Even if I add the two of you to Skadi, you still don't come up to Hervena."
"Honestly..."
Jane's mouth went flat at the nonsense. Blow stretched an arm overhead once and answered.
"All right. I hear you. Two points, then. First, our weight class is still too light. Second, weight class or not, noise could get into the business."
"Yes. What... do you intend to do?"
The decision was Blow's alone, so Jane asked in a slightly worried tone. Even if he chose to sign this very moment, she could not stop him that far.
"This time I'll just take a small amount. Use it for experiments and menu development."
"That much should be fine."
To Jane, who let out a sigh of relief, Blow added,
"And as for the contract—what if I ask Senior Yulia for advice first?"
"Ah, I agree completely. If it's Senior Yulia... she might point out things we haven't thought of."
Linne made a small sound of surprise and turned to Blow.
"B-boss, are you c-close with Senior Yulia?"
"A little, lately? Why?"
"Mm... mmm..."
Linne hemmed, then murmured, barely loud enough to catch.
"If the E-Edfolk family threw their weight behind us... that would be... really something. O-of course! Only if there's no problem on the political side! Haha!"
A chill went through Blow at that, and his eyes met Jane's in the same instant.
Almost at once, the proposal Yulia had set before them at the hotel rose in both their minds.
...It works out like this?
The contract itself was still a secret, so he could not tell Linne that much. Blow smiled at her instead.
"Linne."
"Y-yes, boss!"
"Let's get you and Rowbedi under contract first. Today, even?"
"Ah. Yes, that sounds good. Haha!"
As he looked at Linne, Jane leaned in and whispered.
"You really are lucky, young master."
"...Even I can see that."
They shared a short laugh, then went into the inn.
After he had agreed to buy the sugar.
Cunsai, back from the washroom a good while later, looked brighter than he had when he first faced Blow.
Both Blow and Skadi could see that the rims of his eyes were a little red. They decided, politely, to pretend not to notice.
"How soon can you bring the sugar?"
"Even this evening, if you need it."
"Bring it tomorrow morning, on your way to school."
"Ah, would that be all right? Thank you for the consideration, young master!"
"It's nothing. That much."
He had decided to buy only a small amount for now, but he was already imagining what might come after.
If he could get sugar cheaply, and get it steadily... Melo's sausage-and-vegetable stir-fry, Red and Yellow, could shift into a flavor that struck his PTSD even harder, and the corn-and-cheese dish Yulia couldn't live without could take a heavy dusting of sugar and turn softer, more addictive. The whole boundary of what a cook could do would open enormously once sweetness was in the mix.
...Melo's going to be busy.
Just then Melo was stealthily lifting her fifth doughnut. When their eyes met, she hurriedly set it back on the table and checked his face.
"Melo."
"Yes, young master."
"The doughnuts are good, huh?"
"......Yes.... They're gooood."
At first she had put one in her mouth with a sullen thought—let's see just how good it really is. But the girl had no choice but to admit it, however much it rankled. This doughnut was good enough to make her eyes fly open......
While she sat there nursing a kind of defeat, Cunsai spoke to her.
"Ah, you're the head chef, aren't you?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for letting us use the kitchen. The food was truly delicious."
"...Yes."
"You seem young, and yet you're remarkable!"
"Thank you."
At that, Melo tried to sneak the doughnut she had set down back toward her mouth, but when Blow gave her a firm shake of the head, she had no choice but to put it down.
"Eat the rest tomorrow. Melo."
"Hngh..."
When Jane carried Melo's plate into the kitchen, Skadi turned a smiling face on Cunsai.
"So Blow's duel really left an impression? You'd been here since Thursday, from the look of it."
"Ah, it certainly did."
"Because the magic was flashy?"
"Ah, not that. What impressed me was how Young Master Blow kept getting back up, again and again, even after he fell."
"Oh."
"I was watching with a friend, and even he couldn't really understand it. Why you wouldn't give up."
Blow, who had been listening, cleared his throat, oddly embarrassed.
"No, it was just..."
"I thought then that you were someone with a great deal to teach. Whenever something's hard for me, I picture you from that day. Haha."
"........"
Cunsai looked at him with bright, shining eyes that held a little respect.
....He seemed to be laboring under a serious misunderstanding, but Blow decided to say nothing.
Skadi took up the beer mug in front of her.
"Oh, how many people did you hook with a single duel, Blow?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Rachel Campbell, Senior Yulia, and young Cunsai here. That's already three."
"Hooked? Aren't I the one who got hooked?"
"Oh, is that it?"
The two of them clinked mugs. Cunsai added, calm.
"So, the truth is... I looked into it a little."
"Hm? Into what?"
"I'd heard you were opening a new restaurant and a potion shop. I wondered what the place you already had was like."
"I see."
"Yes. And when I heard the menu... I thought I might be able to help."
"...You came in with a fairly careful calculation, didn't you?"
"Ah, did it come out that way? Haha."
Cunsai scratched his head.
Blow watched him quietly, turning over everything that had happened since they met today.
Cunsai... this one knew how to make a deal happen. He had reminded them of the flaw in the menu—the salt—then quietly shocked them with the overwhelming sweetness that was their own strength, the doughnuts. And he had earned trust by laying even their disadvantages bare, emotions set aside as far as he could manage. On top of that, the tenacity of standing in front of the inn since Thursday.
The process had been a little clumsy, a little rough around the edges, but in the end Blow had bought sugar from him, so he clearly knew how to get a thing done. And Blow was genuinely, deeply grateful for it. Thanks to him, he had all but found the path to sweetness he had been searching for so long.
Just as his mood lifted and he picked up his mug, Skadi's voice cut in.
"Hey!"
"Hm? What?"
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"Nothing. This and that."
"Their festival is next Tuesday. The day after our exams end. Want to go?"
"With who? You?"
"Umhaha! Obviously we all go, me included."
Skadi sounded thoroughly delighted. But Blow, quietly calling up the face of the barbarian Ornn, propped his chin and answered.
"Well. I ought to start getting ready to open, soon."
"Hey! It'd be nice if we all went. Wouldn't it?"
From farther off, Hervena murmured, barely loud enough to hear.
"....I'd like to go."
"Hm...?"
While Blow was briefly thrown by the sudden remark, Skadi cried out, delighted.
"Cunsai says he's running a booth, too!"
At the word booth, Blow's eyes flew open, and his gaze snapped to Cunsai.
"A booth?"
"Ah, yes, young master. I applied for one. It's a bit far from the central grounds of the festival, but..."
"....Have you decided what you'll sell?"
"Haha, I was going to sell some doughnuts."
"The ones we ate today?"
"Yes."
"Don't tell me you used us as test subjects..."
When Blow asked it in a suggestive tone, Cunsai startled and waved his hands.
"Th-that couldn't be! The recipe was already finished!"
"I'm joking."
"Still, I've gained confidence! Because you and the young lady said it was delicious!"
While Cunsai clenched a fist to show it, Blow's mind was spinning hard.
...A festival booth?
Put another way, a perfect chance to advertise for free?
Capall Central Academy sat fairly close to Dusk Block, and as a comprehensive school it had several times the students of Caypol Municipal Magic School...
He made the judgment and the decision in the same breath, and called him with a sly smile.
"Cunsai. There's something I'm curious about."
"Yes, young master."
"Are there rules about outsiders at the festival?"
"Outsiders?"
"I mean, can an outsider run a booth?"
"Ah, the application period is already over... Were you hoping to get a booth of your own?"
"Yeah. We're opening, so we ought to promote to kids at the other schools too. I let this slip past me."
A little regretful, he clicked his tongue and eyed what was left of his beer.
"Too bad."
"Ah... I should have come sooner. I'm sorry."
"Nothing for you to be sorry about. Are you running the stall alone?"
"Ah, no. I registered Mr. Luta as staff."
...Staff. Staff...?
Blow broke into a beaming smile and quietly set a hand on Cunsai's shoulder.
"Cunsai?"
"Yes, young master."
"Any interest in hiring this Blow Deblique as staff?"
"Whaat?"
Jolted by the sudden words, Cunsai asked it again.
"Jane beside me, and our head chef over there, too."
"Whaaat?"
"Doughnuts on their own are a little plain, don't you think? So we collaborate."
"Collaborate?"
"Yeah. We'll have to think about the items."
"Oh.... Th-that would be wonderful! Haha!"
But the faces of Skadi beside Blow, and of Hervena farther off, were splitting at the seams.
...And Jane was shaking her head, just barely visible, as if to say of course he would.
Skadi, who had been listening without a word until then, brought a hand down on his shoulder.
"Hey!!"
"What? Again? You finish your beer?"
"I said let's go to the festival together! Not go there to work!"
"Skadi."
"What, you bastard."
"A festival, properly speaking, is something you truly enjoy only by taking part."
"You really are too good with that mouth. Good enough that I want to hit you right now!"
Skadi clenched her fist at his slick tone. Blow thought it over, drew a finger along his chin, and smiled.
"Then you do it too."
"....What?"
"Your exams are over anyway, aren't they? Why don't you come and try it? Business is pretty fun, in its way."
"Mmm? No..."
"Yes! Skadi, let's do it together!"
Hervena, who had been sitting far off, shot to her feet.
Seeing her eyes blazing for reasons of her own, Blow pointed at her.
"See? Hervena says she'll do it too."
".....No...."
Skadi took one quick look around at everyone, and Cunsai—eyes darting as he tried to work out what was happening—was pulled into it with her.
"...Mm... well, whatever...."
Blow shifted his gaze to Cunsai.
"Cunsai, bring the sugar tomorrow morning, and we can head to your school together."
"Huh? Whaat? Yes..."
Only then did Cunsai snap back to himself and stare blankly from face to face.
Young Master Blow Deblique... Young Lady Skadi Hetaya...
And that purple-haired woman, the one who radiated a kind of madness... if she could even be called a woman... anyway...
Mm...
....Before Cunsai's slack mouth, the world was spinning.
Weekend or not, lights were on all through Caypol Municipal Magic School.
Mnevoir, who had been reviewing documents on Blow until just now, changed into athletic shoes, came outside, and loosened up—stretching her arms, extending her legs.
Colleagues and students who recognized her startled and offered greetings, and she received them awkwardly.
The reason the stooped woman, who ought to have stayed shut in her laboratory except during class, had come outside was that she had judged it better to bring the state of her body even a little closer to Blow Deblique's.
Right before she ran, a piercing voice rang through her head—the voice of Gethier Ropert, the mage sent from the imperial palace during the Blow incident. If you call a dangerous thing not dangerous, does the danger simply vanish!
Mnevoir sighed and looked up once at the third floor of Whittaker Hall, where the meeting had been held at the time.