c26 (1/2)

Chapter 026 : 3rd Day – Last Day : Potato Chips

On the third day, morning.

Slipping out of bed, I changed into my butler clothes.

It is said that human beings could adapt to any kind of environment……I have surely adapted to acting as a butler recently. I’m simply happy that Chrisse ojou-sama is pleased about it.

Of course, it is also due to the good environment.

Both the Master and his wife are as open hearted and kind as masters go.

Head butler Merry still kept his distance from me, although he does not “create trouble to chase me out” like in shoujo manga. He just keeps an eye on me.

Head security Gigi-san and head maid Mercè-san gave their cooperation in helping me get closer to ojou-sama, I was really taken care of in the past 2 days.

If the 2 of them aren’t here, ojou-sama would still be afraid of me.

Once things have settled down, I would like to express my grat.i.tude to the both of them.

Etching this thought into my heart, I check for wrinkles after changing into my butler clothes.

Opening my bedroom door, I greeted the waiting Mercè.

“Good Morning.”

“Good Morning, Lute. Then, let’s wake up ojou-sama.”

It is now the promised third day. Need to be fired up.

Thus begins a day in the Vlad house.

I entered ojou-sama’s room.

She’s still asleep due to listening to my story until late night, yesterday.

There’s still plenty of room even if 3 adults were to sleep on the canopy bed.

Ojou-sama’s eyelids are closed, eyelashes quivering.

Cheeks flushed in cinnabar red, lips red as rose and moist.

Blonde hair spread on the pillow creates an illusion of a divine princess from fairy tales.

Even so, her sleeping face is surely on the level where it could be labelled as ‘Angel’s sleeping face’ in art galleries.

Though I intended to observe longer, Mercè-san proceeded to wake her up.

“Good morning ojou-sama, please wake up, it’s morning.”

Mercè-san called out, pulling off the futon.

Like a cat feeling cold, ojou-sama cutely curled up.

However, Mercè-san gave pursuit without mercy.

“Ojou-sama, please wake up quickly. Today is the day your have acquaintances visiting. Waking up so late will cause them to wait for you, is that alright?”

Ojou-sama reacted to those words and raises her body slowly.

Eyes only half open, still noticeably sleepy.

“Good morning, ojou-sama.”

“Good morning.”

Ojou-sama seems to be sleepy, and the words on her mini blackboard looked strange.

But despite her sleepy state, today she didn’t become afraid when I drew near, unlike yesterday or the day before.

I felt a great sense of achievement and in my heart, I made a pose of pumping my fist into the air.

With sleepy eyes, ojou-sama started writing.

“Today Karen and the others are coming for afternoon tea party, could you make the ‘crepes’ cake that we ate yesterday?”

“I don’t mind, who are these ‘Karen-sama and the others’?”

“They are ojou-sama’s childhood friends. The 3 of them are girls and of the same age as ojou-sama.”

Mercè-san explained.

So they are ojou-sama’s same-aged childhood friends, huh.

Furthermore the words written on ojou-sama’s mini blackboard.

“Lute please do attend the tea party too. The story from last night was the most interesting, I want everyone to hear all of it.”

“Yesterday’s……ah, barusu huh.”

“Yes, barusu♪”

Ojou-sama merrily wrote on the mini blackboard.

I introduced these as stories popular in my home town, preemptively subst.i.tuting trains, guns, cars, and radar to their equivalents in this world, but they still seem pretty interesting.

This is the first time I see ojou-sama being so happy.

Apparently Studio Ghibli works even in an alternative world.

That’s seriously awesome, Ghibli.

Caught in the moment, I attempted to open the thick curtain, which was like a dark screen, to have the sunlight s.h.i.+ne onto ojou-sama.

Ojou-sama whilst happily writing characters noticed my intention and covered her eye.

“My eye~, My eye~”

“As expected of ojou-sama.”

It has been 11 years since I have been reborn into this alternate world.

I happily enjoyed exchanging otaku communication after such a long time.

Ojou-sama and I laughed at each other while making poses of holding down our eyes.

Looking at our figures, Mercè-san face hardened with surprise.

As I opened the curtain, I caught her expression at the edge of my sight, though I do not understand her surprise, for now I’ll just show ojou-sama my smile.

“Thus please allow me to tell my stories during the afternoon tea party.”

Ojou-sama smiled happily as she hears my answer.

After ojou-sama’s care is completed with Mercè-san, we had breakfast slowly.

I headed into the kitchen as soon as I finished eating.

Ingredients are lined up in a corner of the kitchen, which is now for my exclusive use.

Ojou-sama wanted to have the [Mille Crêpe] from yesterday, during her afternoon tea party.

Hearing that it is on the childhood friends’ request, caused me to feel fired up about making the [Mille Crêpe].

The crêpe from yesterday had rawberries sandwiched between the layers, today I decided to mash and mix them into the batter.

The crêpe layer was dyed pinkish.

I requested the lizardman head chef, sweet-toothed Malcolm-san to light the stove. Even though he is not a magician, he’s still able to use simple magic for cooking.

The fire is controlled by adding or removing firewood.

A few maids offered their help as they worried about me being a child but I declined them gently.

Although I am busy with preparation for ojou-sama’s friends, it’s not like it’s so bad that I need their help.

I made the crêpe the same way as I did yesterday.

After I am finished with crêpe batter, I left it to cool for a moment.

While the batter is left to be cooled, I finished making the custard cream quickly.

I had not only taken rawberries out of the refrigerator, but other fruits too.

I finished slicing the fruits thinly as they are to be sandwiched between the layers.

Next I smeared the custard cream on the crêpe, placed the fruit on top, and added another layer of crêpe, a process which I repeated.

When I’m done, I requested head chef Malcolm-san to help me cut the [Mille Crêpe] into a heart shape.

Finally, Malcolm-san decorated the [Mille Crêpe] with the leftover fruit and custard cream.

[Heart-shaped Mille Crêpe with seasonal fruits] completed!

As the batter is pink in color, it would be so wasteful to eat such a cute thing if I do say so myself. To that, I am very grateful to Malcolm-san for the decorations.

As ojou-sama’s friends are all girls, I think this will be received pretty well.

I gave my thanks to Malcolm-san, and asked if he could help me create one more snack.

I placed a deep pot on the stove, and poured oil in―

Ojou-sama’s friends have arrived.

They exchanged simple greetings with the master and madam before proceeding towards ojou-sama’s room.

Normally when guests are invited to tea parties, it would be held in the garden or at the terrace.

However due to ojou-sama being unable to leave her room due to the trauma of getting bullied, her parties would normally be held in her room.

Her friends knew of the circ.u.mstances, and this is not the first time they have done so.

Without even a twitch of eyebrows, they were escorted in.

Ojou-sama received the guests in her room.

As expected of a tea party with guests, she is now in her casual clothes instead of the normal pajamas. The light blue one-piece dress is well matched with her blonde hair and crystal clear skin, making her very lovely.

The dark-screen-like curtain stayed down.

The room is being illuminated through the power of magic.

Mercè-san and I partic.i.p.ated in the tea party as stewards.

Their piercing gazes landed on the human child whom they are not familiar with.

“Nice to meet you, I am the butler apprentice, Lute from the human race. Glad to make your acquaintance.”

I placed my right hand on my chest, the left hand behind me, and quickly bowed my head in greeting.

Ojou-sama introduced her 3 childhood friends to me.

Bunny Bloomfield of the 3-eyed race.

At first glance, her physique looked like those of a cute human girl, however there is a visible eye on her forehead. That’s why they’re named the 3-eyed race.

Her family is running a currency exchange business.

As such she is very proud of her skill in counting money quickly.

“It is so unexpected that Chrisse-chan employed a human as a butler, and a male one too.”

The next person belongs to the Lamia race with a lower body of a snake and an upper body of a human, Muir Head.

“Isn’t it alright, he seems like a kind and pleasant person. As always, the Earl has a good eye for character.”

She gave her opinion leisurely while sticking out her red snake tongue.

Muir’s family seems to own a mine.

Her lower body, which was of a snake was not covered while her upper body wore a simple apparel that can be easily slid on, similar to a kimono. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s are so big that one would not think of her to be of the same age as ojou-sama.

The 2 of them seems to be very friendly, but the last girl is showing an unhappy face.

Karen Bishop of the Centaur race.

She has the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a human girl.

Her hairstyle is tied in a long ponytail matching her race.

She did not sit on a chair but instead folded her legs on the floor.

“I don’t want to meddle with other families’ employees, but if you ever lay your hands on Chrisse I’ll never let you off easy.”

Is what she said in a threatening voice.

Her tone is like that of a samurai.

Her family does the manufacturing and sale of large-sized weapons and armor. Her race also deals with mercenary work, resulting in her (Karen) picking up martial arts from a very young age, which is how she ended up having this tone of voice.

Ojou-sama made a follow up after Karen.

“Lute is a nice person. He’s also good at making snacks, I had him make some for today’s tea party on a whim, too..”

In response to ojou-sama’s words, I lined the [Heart-shaped Mille Crêpe with seasonal fruits] and [Potato Chips (lightly salted)] on the table.

“Wow, so cute” Bunny of the 3 eyed race lets out in her girly voice.

“Hm, the looks aren’t too bad. The looks”, says Karen Bishop of the Centaur race.

“Karen is really……. However it is such a cute looking cake. But, this is……. is this potato?” Muir the Lamia tilted her head in wonder.

“That is correct. It is a snack called [Potato Chips]. It is made by slicing potato into thin slices before frying it with oil, then adding salt. Though it is not sweet, it has quite an addictive taste.”

The potatoes here look mostly the same as those in my previous life.

I just wanted to try it out, but the potato chips turned out just fine.

The flavor was given endors.e.m.e.nt by Malcolm-san who tasted it.

I was fired up because of the impending arrival of ojou-sama’s friends and developed a new menu.

Swiftly, ojou-sama stretched her hand towards the [Potato Chips] from the new menu.

“It’s crispy, so delicious.”

She wiped her fingertips with a handkerchief and merrily wrote on her mini blackboard.

The other 3 also stretch out their hands, and they unanimously said that it was delicious.

In the mean time, Mercè-san brewed scented tea for everyone.

Next, I cut the heart shaped mille crêpe and distributed all of it to ojou-sama and friends.

It was performed so brilliantly, it is not an exaggeration to say that it’s a form of art.

“Although the [Potato Chips] are delicious, the cake is also tasty.”

“This repet.i.tion of sweetness and saltiness is so irresistable.”