Chapter 24: Sweet Future within the Pastry
The banquet was exciting. There are a lot of treats and delicious alcohol. Moreover, everyone feels hopeful for a more prosperous life from now on. It’ll be strange if it’s anything less than exciting.
The entertainers play music with their hands, and the other people dance to match it with laughter on their faces. It’s really a wonderful festival. I’m savoring this atmosphere with my whole body.
“Jeez, Kurt-sama, have you been paying attention?”
“Faruno-sama, I’m listening.”
Faruno’s voice calls back my consciousness.
Since the start of the festival, I have been captured by Margrave Fernande and Faruno. The main topics are the supplementary information for the document about the device I’ve been implementing in my territory, as well as the books I have translated before. Both are fairly complex topics, so I can’t afford to answer absentmindedly. Since the both of them seem to be enjoying themselves here, I’m glad.
When Tina sees my empty cup, she pours the wine again. She has been conducting herself with full devotion for a while now.
Just with her by my side, I feel at ease. She’s a great help. I continue the talk for a while, then turning my focus to the venue. Both the food and drink seem to have diminished already. If I want to start, now would be a good time.
“Margrave Fernande, Faruno-sama, I am treating everyone to the pastry in a few moments.”
Margrave Fernande nods, while Faruno opens her mouth to speak.
“It is regretful that we have to halt our discussion. However, I’m looking forward to the treat.”
“I intend to treat both of you personally. Therefore, if you don’t mind waiting, I’ll return soon.”
“Wow, wonderful. It’s a promise, then.”
“Yes.”
I rise up from my seat.
“Tina, let’s go.”
“Yes, let’s give Kurt-sama’s pastries to everyone!”
Thus, with Tina, I’m walking away to reach the table where we left the pastries.
☘
There are baskets filled with madeleine and earthenware pots filled with Hollandaise sauce on top of the table.
“Tina, I’m counting on you.”
“I’ll slowly warm them up!”
With Tina’s power, the sauce pots are warmed up to 60℃ to stimulate the best deliciousness from the eggs. It’s the long-awaited pastries; I want people to eat them in their most delicious state. I’ve already divided the Hollandaise sauce into a few numbers of small earthenware pots.
The servants are bringing the madeleine baskets and small sauce pots to each table. People have started making a fuss over what’s going on. After the servants open the baskets, a sweet smell immediately fills the air. People realize that inside the baskets, there are the sweet pastries that I made; their faces start to melt.
Tina and I are moving around too. This time, we’re going back to Margrave Fernande’s and Faruno’s place. I want to directly present the pastries to them, as the heir of the Arnold family.
☘
“Hou, the ones distributed just now are your pastries, correct?”
When I return, Margrave Fernande calls out to me.
“Yes, they are my pastries. Would you allow me to present it to you?”
“Absolutely.”
Tina opens up the basket, then I arrange the madeleines on a plate.
“Baked pastry, isn’t it? It smells really nice, like the scent of a fragrant forest. It looks really pleasing to the eyes as well, with a vibrant light-brown color. Isn’t that the crest of the Arnold family carved on it? That is a good presentation. Very befitting of a grand ending to a festival.”
“It looks fluffy and delicious. I also agree with Father that it smells really nice. What is the source of this scent, I wonder?”
“The scent comes from honey and walnuts. By baking them, they turn into this wonderful smell.”
They both inspect the madeleine with great interest.
“Also, my pastry isn’t finished yet. Let me put the finishing touches for you.”
I receive the earthenware pot from Tina, taking the task to scoop the Hollandaise sauce. The temperature is perfect. The moment that pot is open, the sweet and sour scent from hardy kiwi spreads in the air. It is a refreshing fragrance that smells different than the walnuts.
“Hou, so you’re going to add the sauce.”
“Yes, you are correct.”
With that, I’m pouring the sauce into the crest symbol. The golden-colored crest of the Arnold family appears in the madeleine.
“Uwaa, it’s a golden-colored pastry. It’s so pretty! How wonderful.”
“My, my, I’m surprised. So this is what you meant when you said golden-colored pastry. Beautiful. It’s the first time I’ve seen this kind of presentation. I almost have no heart to eat it up.”
The both of them raise their voices in admiration. Faruno, especially, can no longer hold back; her hand has already gripped her fork really hard.
“With this, it’s completed. This is the pastry that I created, and I named it Madeleine Arnold. By all means, please, enjoy it.”
The surrounding servants who have been watching us are also pouring the warm sauce into the madeleines.
“Kurt-kun, you have attached the name of Arnold to the pastry, but do you have the resolution to smear mud in the family name if the taste isn’t as good as it looks?”
“Yes, I can say with certainty that this is the best pastry that my current self is able to make. It absolutely won’t let down the Arnold’s name.”
Without a shred of doubt, I answer clearly.
Margrave Fernande brings a spoonful of Madeleine Arnold to his mouth. The moment he starts chewing, his eyes opens wide.
“This is?! Such a rich egg flavor!”
Of course it would be. The sweetness of honey and acidity of fruits are added into the yolk-based sauce. Let alone that, if I only used the egg yolks, the 60℃ of temperature stimulates the best deliciousness of the eggs. If it’s compared to custard cream, the latter won’t hold a candle in enjoying the rich taste of the egg.
“Father, it’s not only the taste. The smoothness is also wonderful, it’s so plump and fluffy, so moist. However, the place where it meets with the rich golden sauce, the texture changes into something even smoother. It’s a dream-like pastry.”
The baked batter was expanded by folding meringue into it, which made the pastry fluffy, but on the other hand, made it easy to get too dry. However, adding yams and walnut oil maintains the batter’s moisture. When it gets in touch with the velvety Hollandaise sauce, it creates a sensual texture. The texture of the part that touches the sauce and the part that doesn’t are really different, which lets people to enjoy various sensations while eating it.
Also, the affinity of the flavors are excellent. Other than the eggs, all of the ingredients are grown right in the Arnold fief. It’ll be stranger if they don’t fit each other.
“I was already surprised by the cookies back then, but that one had a simple richness. This one, however, has a luxurious and gorgeous rich flavor. At this rate, there won’t be a problem to have this on my dining table. It is a pastry for nobles. Moreover, it is very refined. My, my, it seems like I have still underestimated you. And you also made this with constraints in the ingredients and preparation time. You’ve done an excellent job.”
Margrave Fernande, while showering me with praises, can’t stop his hand from taking the food into his mouth. It seems that he likes it that much. From the venue, I can also hear the voices of the fief’s people.
“Sweeeeet! I can so die happily now.”
“Just by eating this pastry, I can sincerely feel that it’s good that Kurt-sama is our next lord.”
“Aaah, I’ve finished mine already. The things I’ll pay if I can eat it again...”
“It’s too good to be true. This kind of food, how can we eat it again?”
“If Kurt-sama becomes our family head, we can probably eat it again in the future.”
“It’ll be good if that happens, I want to let my unborn son taste it too.”
I’m glad that it enjoys a huge popularity. Everyone indulges themselves to eat Madeleine Arnold. Meanwhile, Faruno, who has just finished hers, starts to speak.
“Kurt-sama, there is a heavy shortcoming of this pastry.”
She gives me a severe look. I become pale from her words. What kind of thing could I have overlooked? What kind of mistake could I have possibly done?
“Yes, a shortcoming... that is,”
She pauses to emphasize the importance.
“There are too few of them! We can’t have seconds!”
When I heard that, Margrave Fernande and I smiled wryly.... Our eyes met and we both laughed louder.
☘
After everyone finished their pastries, I step up on the stage once again. This is my closing speech. Also, this is the moment where I make them understand about my dream.
“Everyone, there are a few words I’d like to speak.”
The location falls into silence. Everyone is paying attention to me.
“Did you enjoy the pastry I made?”
When they heard my question, everyone responded one by one. I’m glad that there was nothing but rave reviews. It was as if they had enjoyed it to their heart’s content.
“I am glad to hear that. That pastry is called Madeleine Arnold. Just as the name says, it’s a pastry that expresses the future I want to create in this Arnold fief.”
Certainly, I didn’t use the Arnold’s name just for the elegance or being eccentric. I need it to be an Arnold.
“My dream is to create a fief where all of you who live here may enjoy eating pastries as a common thing in your daily life.”
The fief’s people are all showing a shocked expression, their necks stiffen. For them, this is truly but a wishful tale of dreams.
“Everyone, you may not be able to imagine that kind of life. The Arnold fiefdom is poor, a lot of us are having it hard just to think if we have anything to eat tomorrow. Pastries are a dream within a dream. We can’t even get our hands on sweet things. Moreover, pastries are a noble’s food in the first place. Isn’t that what you’re thinking?”
The reality is harsh, but it’s true.
Pastries are luxurious goods of noble’s taste. That is the common sense of this world.
“But, you know, the ingredients for this Madeleine Arnold are all gathered from this territory. That kind of pastry, there’s no way we can’t enjoy them, is there?”
The fief’s people are muttering impossible one after another.
“Let’s go through the ingredients, shall we? Wheat... that’s already grown by everyone. Walnuts... if we go to the forest, we can pick up as many as we want. Yams... Even though they’re hard to dig, they are easy to replace. Hardy kiwi fruit... It’s the green fruit growing all over the place. The eggs, I can send the chickens to each village once they have multiplied from what Margrave Fernande has given to us. And then, the sweetness is obtained from honey. The honey is something I have successfully harvested from the honey bees in my territory. With just a little bit longer, I can perfect the techniques and share them with other villages. In the near future, all of our families can enjoy honey. These are all the ingredients.”
As they listen to my words, they make a greater fuss. Finally, they have started to see that my dream is achievable in the future.
“Eggs and honey have to be postponed until next year, but everything else can be gathered even right now. Everyone, the future where we can make this pastry is right before us!”
For making this pastry today, I’ve been really fixated on using ingredients just from this territory. For the sake of making them realize that my dream can come true, it’s important to make the best pastry from common ingredients. Once I’ve cleared that step, it becomes the pastry that will make the fief’s people believe in that dream. That’s why the name is Madeleine Arnold. A pastry of a sweet dream. Their faces start showing enlightenment.
“I think you all have heard that my village is more prosperous than other villages. I have no intention to hide that honey. You see, for me, I will be trying each new invention in my village, and spread them to all of the other villages in the Arnold fief once it succeeds. By doing that, I’m sure we all can prosper!”
While we’re still in the same fief, each of the villages are stubborn in their ways of doing things. I want to change that. In addition to the rumors of the success of my village and the recognizance of Margrave Fernande, the power of my pastry can surely become accepted by them now, right?
“And then, once we are not burdened by our daily meals, let’s enjoy the pastries from the abundant ingredients, honey, and eggs. Pastries aren’t just to be enjoyed by the nobles. It’s something we can enjoy every day. I’ll show you that I can make this Arnold fief into that kind of land.”
That is exactly my duty as the feudal lord.
More than that, it is my dream as a pastry chef. Isn’t it sad if there’s only a limited number of people who can enjoy sweets? I want more people to know the happiness of eating pastries.
“My goal is [a land overflowing with sweets and smiles]. I want to make that dream come true, and if you have come to believe in me, please clap your hands. As the next Baronet of Arnold, with this I’m closing my speech.”
I bow my head down. Saying any more words will just be boorish.
Can my dreams be accepted? The moment that thought came to my mind, I heard waves of noises. It was a huge round of applause. Every single person in this place clapped their hands with all of their strength.
Among them, there were Father, Margrave Fernande, Faruno... and there was Tina, too. Everyone believed in me.
I want to make this land prosper, along with these sweet and kind people.
I think of that from the bottom of my heart, and smile.
Translator’s Notes:
Only the epilogue left! I’m cheering on myself, go go go!
That being said, I’m really tempted to change fief’s people to villagers, which sounds more... homey. But, eh, whatever. xD
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