Chapter 1: The Increasingly High Hurdle

When I told Faruno that I would go to the ducal house, she smiled.

Thank you for agreeing resolutely. You have truly become reliable.

Ive made up my mind. The rest is just to go to d.u.c.h.ess Renaliers territory. I wish to be as prepared as I can, though.

The problem now is how to travel d.u.c.h.ess Renaliers duchy. If Im not mistaken, I need to cross over more than a couple of mountains.

Kurt-sama will head towards my fathers manor. d.u.c.h.ess Renalier will send escorts to my fathers manor. Since its not an ordinary means of escort, they couldnt come to this village.

d.u.c.h.ess Renaliers escorts, unordinary means. Hearing those two, theres a single thing that crosses my mind. Could it possibly be that I can personally taste that experience in my life? The most expensive travel in the whole world. Well, its not impossible. If I use a horse carriage, the trip going there will take about half a month. However, if I use

that

, Ill arrive in just two days.

Got it. The next issue is departure time. I want to cram as many things as possible. For making a pastry that d.u.c.h.ess Renalier never tasted before, itll be the easiest to use ingredients that she never knew about.

Most likely, the kudzu and pinal that I brought with me now would fill the requirements. However, I want to arrange every possible ingredient besides them.

Thats The banquet will be held in ten days, so the escort shall arrive three days from now in the afternoon.

My face makes a tiny twitch. If the escort arrives at the Fernande domain in the afternoon three days from now, I must depart tomorrow afternoon or things will get ugly.

What a reckless schedule. Moreover, to arrive in d.u.c.h.ess Renaliers territory four days from now means that I merely have six days for preparation. In six days, I have to invent the most ideal pastry using the ingredients Ill carry from this place and those I will obtain in d.u.c.h.ess Renaliers territory, as well as preparing all of them on top of that.

This kind of schedule is insane. Still, theres no time to mull over it. I still have an ominous feeling about another thing, though. Or rather, theres something that I fear for.

d.u.c.h.ess Renalier said that with a fragment of my abilities, I could make a more wonderful pastry than the rose cookies, didnt she?

Yes, thats correct.

Did that refer only to the pastries?

Thats the part where I have this awful feeling from. As I recall from Farunos words, [It seems she wishes for the best banquet attended by the four Grand Dukes. She orders Kurt-sama to personally display your best skills in that event]. Is it only the best pastries, or is it the best banquet? Could it possibly be that she demands not only pastry, but the best of a full course, starting from the hors doeuvres to the main dish as well? On top of that, those must be something that they have never eaten before. New inventions.

Aha, ahahahahahaha. That, that is very unlikely, isnt it? That, no matter how many Kurt-sama there is, even the pastry is already a major difficult matter, let alone the best full course that no one has ever eaten before in merely six days. Faruno laughs dryly.

It seems that she has noticed that possibility as well. If not, the order will only express the best pastry, not the best banquet.

For the time being, it can only be inquired from the d.u.c.h.ess herself. Ill move according to the worst possibility. Theres not much time before tomorrows departure, Ill prepare until the last second. Sorry, I want to talk in leisure, but we dont seem to have that kind of leisure right now.

Theres no way I can overcome this hards.h.i.+p without utilizing each and every weapon that I have in my a.r.s.enal, the things Ive built in my village.

Im going to stop these anxious thoughts. Well then, from now on its the battle of each minute and each second.

I understand. Kurt-sama, even with my poor abilities, I will do my utmost to support you. In the case of our worst a.s.sumption that you will have to handle the full course instead of just the pastry, please write down everything that youre going to need. From when you arrive in Fernande to the time when the escort comes to pick you up, well gather and utilize every single power that we possess. In the port town of Eclaba, therell definitely be a lot more variety of products than even in the duchy.

That is very helpful. Ive taken a look around the marketplace once. The things that I want then are my objectives now, to some extent.

Ill borrow your strength then, Faruno. Youre a great help.

No, it is caused by Fernandes carelessness from the start. Well naturally do our best to help. Besides, I am Kurt-samas wife!

Thank you. Then, theres one thing that Id like from you. Its the ingredient that I absolutely need. Its by no means unreachable with Arnolds budget, is it okay to borrow Fernandes strength?

As a ptissier, that ingredient is a single ingredient that I am most familiar with. When I saw it in Eclaba, I was overjoyed.

You absolutely can! Please dont worry about money!

Ill become more confident if I can use that.

With rea.s.suring words, Faruno and I left the mansion.

Since its much too sudden, I cant decide on any recipe at all. In order to antic.i.p.ate each and every single circ.u.mstance, in the end, Im going to gather all the things that wont be available in the d.u.c.h.ess domain.

Walnut oil A deluxe oil made from squeezing the plenty nutritious walnut. With this, I can rest a.s.sured with the possibility of making rich pastries.

Honey Refres.h.i.+ng honey purely made from raspberry flowers nectar. Its the flavor of this fief, the flavor of the beginning of myself as a pastry chef.

Kudzu starch The kudzu collected from the spirit village. Kudzu starch is something that has never appeared in this world. Theres no mistake, it should be a not yet known flavor.

Pinal and paple This is also the spirit villages harvest. Moreover, these are of exceptionally top quality. If I marinate the pinals in honey, they will exude a different charm to the raw ones.

These are ingredients to make the pastries. Now, I need to arrange the ingredients to make other meals. In the storehouse behind my house, theres a rack of venison. The meat is still being dry cured.

However, what Im going to use isnt the dry aged meat, but something hidden in secret, deep in the storehouse.

Yosh, found it.

Its a piece of elliptical, dry and hard block of dark reddish brown color. I lightly hit the wall with it, and it produces a clear solid thud. The appearance and the sound are both similar to dried bonito flakes. This is the so-called

s.h.i.+kabus.h.i.+

, venison flakes in the block form. Its an ingredient that recently made its way into French cuisine of modern Earth. Its the ingredient with umami component like dried bonito flakes. Its worth noting that it doesnt have the fishy stench though.

s.h.i.+kabus.h.i.+

, made from the lean meat of venison by the chefs who chose it from all the ingredients that they experimented on through trial and error to get the umami component. If I use this, I definitely will be able to produce a wonderful soup stock.

Well then, I need to find something that can make use of it.

While making that monologue, I left the storehouse. Other preparations are still necessary. I promptly gather all the food ingredients that will become my weapons in this battle.

Credits:

Raws

Venison Bresaola from Gardening Along The Creek

Isecais Notes:

The s.h.i.+kabus.h.i.+. Interestingly this isnt an ad, but a promotional picture of a j.a.panese kickstarter campaign:

https://www.makuake.com/project/chinzeiya

/ I didnt look too deep into it, but in case youre wondering. xD