HTACS 37

Chapter 37

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Aila Triesta simply watched Wolfram say what he had to say and walk away, her eyes wide open.

“……”

Wolfram von Lohengrin.

Her fiancé. The person her family had chosen for her.

Her first impression was of someone deeply unreliable.

Though it was an engagement, it was a contract bound by political interests.

They had known each other since childhood, but what existed between them was reason, not emotion. Selling a low-ranking prince to a powerful family, extracting loyalty to the Imperial family in return.

Wolfram and Aila may have been childhood friends—but the contract came before any affection could bloom.

When he was betrayed by his younger sister and stripped of the student council presidency, she was deeply disappointed.

She had thought he couldn’t even fulfill his contract.

Wasn’t he supposed to marry her and take flight on the wings of rebellion? Why was he crawling on the ground like that?

Even when he came to her, that disappointment continued—but Wolfram said there, that he had a card for a comeback.

A prince who had fallen to the bottom. His resurgence.

She wanted to see that.

But somewhere in her heart, she might have been thinking:

[Wolfram von Lohengrin needs Aila Triesta’s support.]

It was natural.

Right now, Wolfram’s foundation was weak. Just the fact that he was paying rent and living in her building made that clear.

So, somewhere deep down, she might have been looking down on Wolfram’s path—just a little.

But not anymore.

Wolfram von Lohengrin calmly declared he would defeat Regina Ciella.

It wasn’t arrogance, hubris, or overconfidence.

It was simply the truth, placed upon his lips.

Wolfram had judged that Regina Ciella—whom she herself had never once defeated—wasn’t even his opponent.

Is that possible?

That he could so easily surpass someone Aila Triesta had never been able to break?

“…I’m curious. Truly. I’m dying of curiosity.”

Being the straightforward type, Aila Triesta went directly to her building—Wolfram’s convenience store—to find out.

And outside the building, catching a glimpse of what Wolfram was doing, her eyes went wide.

[Next is this. Try it.]

[Ugh, uuu. I’m full, Senior.]

A pink-haired student who looked gentle and naive. From her tie, she seemed to be a first-year.

He had piled up a mountain of pastries in front of her and was handing them over.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Wasn’t he supposed to be devising a secret plan to defeat Regina Ciella? And yet he’s cooing with a junior like that?

“Th-this is immoral!”

Thinking that, Aila tried to kick open the convenience store door. She didn’t quite know why she was angry.

But the voice she heard immediately after made her flinch—and stop.

[There’s no time. Hurry.]

[Eep.]

[You can just eat a little at a time. It’s just for buff confirmation anyway.]

[Eeeep.]

[With this, you’ll defeat Kelterus, and I’ll defeat that Regina Ciella. Hurry up and eat.]

[Y-yesss.]

That—is his method for beating Regina Ciella?

Aila stopped opening the door and watched the scene intently once more.

Looking closely, it wasn’t so much a pink aura as—what should she call it?

“Feeding chicks?”

It was a more accurate expression than she’d expected.

—

If I said I’d win, I had to win.

Honestly, I’d bluffed a bit to shake off the annoying Regina, and it worked. Imperial Bloodline skill is the best. It even makes lies sound like truth.

Anyway, back at the convenience store, I held the pastries I’d made over the past 24 hours and looked at Mille-feuille.

“How about this?”

“U-um. Ah, I feel like I could deflect wind arrows well!”

“Wind-element projectile resistance, then.”

I’m using Mille-feuille like a cash item for checking options—but D/Z SAGA has no probability manipulation.

“Fifteenth. Wind-element projectile resistance. Still beginner. Long way to go. Sixteenth.”

“Ooo, ooo.”

“Is it not tasty?”

“No, it’s delicious. It’s delicious, but… eating this much will make me gain weight…”

“If it’s delicious, you won’t gain weight.”

“R-really? I-is that true?”

“Of course.”

As I nodded, Mille-feuille’s eyes sparkled.

Sorry.

And so, past the 16th and 17th, we reached the 19th pastry.

The mana I can recover in a day is 24. The pastries I can make total 24.

I hope something changes within the next five tries.

“Uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“This… it’s a little different.”

“Can you tell me how it’s different?”

“Yes. Well… all swords? No, spears. No, no. All melee… yes, I feel like I can quite reliably dodge all melee attacks.”

There it is.

Finally—a ‘buff that can be useful on the battlefield.’

It means Magical Pâtissier’s proficiency has reached intermediate level.

“True Physical Evasion.”

“Huh? True Physical Evasion? Isn’t that a Magic Department skill?”

“That’s right. An 8T buff skill. Now it’s become a true artifact that could actually be used on the battlefield, hasn’t it?”

“…I’ve never even heard of applying buffs through pastries, let alone up to 8T…”

Mille-feuille trembled.

Excluding the talented first-years, most were just at the entry level of 9T.

In this situation, an 8T buff is clearly a huge help.

“Yes. Just by eating, it grants an 8T buff—truly a ‘buff-type snack.'”

“Magical sweets.”

“…Why are you so attached to that name?”

“I don’t want to think I ate a mountain of pastries with such a strange name.”

Is that so?

Well, the name isn’t what matters.

“Fine. Magical sweets. At 9T, only low-level buffs applied, but if you’ve reached 8T, there’s a real chance of winning.”

“Th-that’s right!”

“Eat the rest too.”

“Eep. But I’m full.”

Saying that, the fledgling began pecking at the feed. Among the remaining five pastries, one was an 8T buff. Since I don’t know exactly when it reached intermediate level, I can’t pinpoint the probability—but getting two is encouraging.

Then shall I use that?

“Mille-feuille. Can you eat one more?”

“…Eep. Yes. I’ll try somehow.”

“Instead, I’ll show you something good.”

“Huh?”

“Watch closely. You don’t get to see this often.”

As I’ve said many times—Magical Pâtissier is a decent buff skill.

But think about it—I played this game until I was rotten.

If I, of all people, call it ‘decent,’ that means it’s not an ordinary skill.

Magical Pâtissier.

It truly is a fun and decent skill in the early game.

“The truth is, it’s all about what you name the pastry.”

“…??”

First, I need to make 【Chiffon Cake】.

**【Magical Pâtissier is activated!】**

**【A certain magic dwells within the pastry!】**

**【The chiffon cake has been imbued with magic!】**

When the chiffon cake cools, decorate it with cream made from mixed beans.

So what happens?

What should I call this now?

**【Magical Pâtissier is activated!】**

**【A certain magic dwells within the pastry!】**

**【The fresh cream cake has been imbued with magic!】**

“As expected.”

“Y-yesss?”

The system I knew did not betray me.

This is the real fun of Magical Pâtissier.

Mixweet.

**【MI X WEET!】**

**【Calculating applied magic.】**

**【The two magics shimmer faintly silver.**】

Reading the system description, I nodded.

“…Not a complete success.”

“Se-Senior, what’s going on…”

“Eat it first.”

I cut the chiffon—no, cream cake—and handed a slice to Mille-feuille.

“It’s different from usual… Huh? Huhhh?”

“How’s the magical effect?”

“Th-it’s the same as before. True Physical Evasion. But, but…”

“Speak.”

“I feel like I could dodge fire magic too.”

“As expected. One side was beginner. Combined additively.”

“U-uh. Until now, this has never… Huh?”

As Mille-feuille tilted her head, I sank into thought.

This is why Magical Pâtissier is fun.

For example, I just made a chiffon cake and imbued it with magic.

Then if I decorate that chiffon cake with cream again—is it still a chiffon cake?

No. It should be called a fresh cream cake.

In other words, with Magical Pâtissier, the more you stack it, the greater the effect of the pastry.

In theory, it’s a skill you can play with as much as your mana allows—but Wolfram’s max mana is 3, so so far, one stack is the limit. Two pastries cost 1, Mixweet costs 1. What a trash body.

“Wow, wow… This is truly amazing, Senior! With this, you could even win the Magic Craft competition! For real!”

The fledgling chirped with sparkling eyes, looking at me.

“No. This is half a success.”

“…Huh? There’s more?”

“There is. In the first place, at 7T there’s Shining Pâtissier, and at 6T there’s Miracle Pâtissier. Being satisfied with just 8T Magical would be the end.”

“…Wow. Truly, you’re different from me…”

“What do you mean?”

“I… can’t even attempt such challenges. Senior, you’re truly dazzling.”

“Why can’t you challenge?”

“I’m average at everything… and my stats are low… My stamina and strength are low for the Knight Department, and I have mana sensitivity but my mana isn’t particularly high for the Magic Department…”

Hmm. I see.

So stamina is low, strength is low, and mana is low.

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

“…If I eat this, but still lose because I’m weak—what do I do then?”

……

A more realistic concern than I expected.

Right now, Kelterus probably has all stats around 15–16. Or since he missed early classes, he might have some stats stuck at 14.

But right now, Mille-feuille’s realistic concerns are less important than the fact that she might stop eating the pastries.

A fledgling digging holes, is she?

Daring to steal the mole’s job?

Time for some senior-style mental education.

I’m the one who enlisted in the engineering corps to raise my daily wage even though I was exempt as an orphan.

Don’t talk to me about that garbage mindset.

Hey?

“Mille-feuille von Sablé. State your stats.”

“Yesss. Stamina 9. Strength 8. Mana 11. Dexterity is 6.”

“I see. I see. About that much. Haha. I see.”

“Haha. Too low, right? Honestly, I don’t even know how I got into Zephrin.”

“My stamina is 2.”

“……………………”

She dropped her fork with a *clatter* and rolled her eyes.

Then she tilted her head as if she’d misheard.

“Ah, you mean 20…”

“2.”

“…Ho-how.”

“Ha. Yes. You’re asking how I got in? Well…”

“How are you even alive?”

Oh. She went straight for the kill.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be. My mana is 3.”

“……”

“My competition opponent is Regina Ciella, with mana 20.”

“The Magic Merchant senior?”

“That’s right. So don’t say useless things.”

“…Yes. Yesss.”

Hmm.

She still doesn’t seem convinced.

Then let me hit her with a nice inspirational story.

Let’s see—an inspirational story.

Can a fledgling become a chicken if it works hard? So what?

An old hawk pulls out its feathers and claws? That’s just a rumor.

An inspirational story that suits Mille-feuille…

Ah.

Yes. There’s Mille-feuille.

“Mille-feuille.”

“Y-yesss?”

“There’s a pastry called mille-feuille.”

“Is it the same name as me?”

I nodded. Her focus shot up. A pastry with the same name as her—what could the story be?

Now begins the essay on effort that Lee Young-jin had seen ad nauseam.

“This pastry is quite unique. The dough is folded and rolled thin, folded again—repeatedly. And when it finally emerges—the dough has no less than 2,187 layers.”

“Th-that’s right. Wow… amazing!”

“Hmm.”

Mille-feuille was looking at me with sparkling eyes. She seemed to be expecting something profound.

What should I say next?

Something cool, befitting a senior.

So, um…

“One layer of mille-feuille may be fragile.”

“!”

“Then break boldly. And repeat. When you’ve done that thousands of times—only then does the mille-feuille reveal its true form to the world.”

“W-wowww… WOOOOOW…”

It’s a bit old-fashioned and cheesy, but oh well.

“Anyway—it means WORK HARD.”

“Yesss! WORK HARD!”

“Yes! WOOOOORK HARD!”

“Yessss!”

A cheesy conclusion—but the fledgling’s eyes sparkled with motivation.

She’s this affected by improvised motivational philosophy?

Are you okay, really?

“Two thousand layers. Mille-feuille. Effort. Even if you break, stand up again—and when you’ve broken thousands of times, the mille-feuille is completed as one…!”

She even looked like she was making a resolution to herself.

Her face was oddly flushed too. Are you okay?

“Thank you, Senior. Back home, I was called a scatterbrain and an idiot, and I didn’t even know how I got into Zephrin.”

“…I see.”

“Th-this is the first time I’ve received such encouragement. Especially from an Imperial… Thank you. Truly…”

Hm?

No, the Imperial part doesn’t matter.

“It has nothing to do with the Imperial family.”

“Huh?”

“It’s just something I said.”

“………”

Mille-feuille blinked, then smiled with a flushed face.

“Yes. I’ll work even harder! I’ll do my best.”

“Hmm.”

She’s so gentle-natured—is she going to be okay?

Senior’s worried about you.

“Now give me the pastries!”

“Go back for today. I’m out of mana.”

“Ah.”