The Bread Maker

With Kurumi joining, the number of “visitors” in my base became 53.

Even among the girl students, Kurumi seemed especially bad at farm work.

She kept tripping over and, rather than helping, was mostly getting in everyone’s way, but I was grateful for the feeling behind it alone.

And after entering this academy, I properly interacted with many students for the first time.

Up until now I had been treated like garbage, and the only ones who would listen to me were Monaka and Kotone, but…

Now as many as fifty students were talking to me.

Maybe that was a good thing, because by around noon, when the farm work had settled down, I was wrapped in a gentle light.

“Ohh! Bread Maker! That’s exactly the perfect class for how I’m feeling right now!”

Right then, the bell of the clock tower announcing noon reached us from the residential district.

Monaka and Kotone zipped over to my side and, wiping the sweat from me from both sides, said,

“Good work, Leo-kun! What shall we do for lunch?”

“Master, if it pleases you, allow us to prepare the midday meal here…”

“No, you two helped with the farm work. It may not amount to much as thanks, but let me treat you. And since this is a good chance, let’s all eat outside. Could you two spread the mats around the field?”

“Yes!” Monaka and Kotone answered with perfect one-hundred-point replies.

They began laying out the Straw Cloth I had woven and prepared one after another on the ground beside the field.

“Everyone, thank you for your hard work! Please have a seat over here!”

“It seems Master is going to treat us all to lunch now.”

A cheer of “Waaah!” rose up at Monaka and Kotone’s announcement.

When it came from those two daughters of distinguished families, it somehow sounded like something amazing was about to appear.

“Good grief, now the bar’s gone up.”

To live up to that expectation even a little, I activated Jack-of-All-Trades’ Dexterous Job Change skill.

And changed into the class most suitable right now.

I went to the cooking area in the yard of my house, washed my hands clean with water I had drawn from the river, and then started cooking.

“First, I’ve got to make the yeast.”

To begin with, I took out a Princess Apple from my coat pocket, one I had bought a little while ago at Tom’s market.

After removing the stem and washing it, I cut it into eight wedges.

I left the skin and core as they were and put it into a jar in the cooking area.

After that, I poured in water, covered it with a wooden lid, and sealed it.

“Normally, this would need to be cooled for about three days at this point, but…”

I placed my hand on top of the lid and activated Fermentation, the Bread Maker class skill.

Then, in less than three minutes, I heard a fizzy sound coming from inside the jar.

“It’s already done? That was fast!”

When I opened it up, there was apple water with pearl-like bubbles floating in it.

Yeast is indispensable for making bread.

“Without this, the bread won’t rise and it’ll come out flat.”

With the crucial ingredient ready, I began making the bread in earnest.

I put flour into a wooden bowl, added water and the yeast extract, then salt, and…

“It would’ve been even better if I had sugar too.”

Then a paper bag was quietly held out from beside me.

The paper bag had “Sugar” written on it.

“Oh, it’s you, Kurumi.”

“U-Um, um, um, s-sorry! I-I was curious what Chef Leopin was making…!

If you’d like, p-please use this! E-Excuse meee!”

I called out to Kurumi as she tried to flee from the cooking area.

“If you’re curious, then stay and watch.”

Kurumi stopped dead in her tracks and turned back timidly.

“I-Is that… really okay…? C-Cooking artisans are a-afraid their recipes will be stolen, so they d-don’t let people watch them make things… M-My class is the same too, e-everyone is…”

“I’m not a chef, so don’t worry about it. If you need it, go ahead and copy as much as you want and make use of it. That way, everyone’s lives will become richer.”

Watching Kurumi timidly come back, I continued cooking.

I added the sugar Kurumi had given me and mixed the contents of the bowl.

That turned the flour into sticky dough, so I placed it on the worktable.

At that point, I activated the Refining skill.

I repeated the process of stretching the dough out like laundry, then gathering it back together again.

“Kurumi, which do you like better, fluffy bread or chewy bread?”

Kurumi immediately answered in a bright voice, “Fluffy!”

“All girls love fluffy things!”

Kurumi was probably imagining sweet buns or something.

When it comes to sweets, she suddenly stops stammering.

“I see,” I replied, then divided up the kneaded dough and activated the Fermentation skill.

Normally, fermentation has to be done in several stages over many hours, but with the skill, it finished in an instant.

Looking at the risen dough, Kurumi tilted her head slightly like she was doing a spot-the-difference puzzle.

“U-Um… huh? That tiny dough looked like it swelled up…? And by twice… no, maybe three times…?”

Even as she watched the bread dough go into the oven, Kurumi kept shaking her head side to side as if she thought her eyes were deceiving her.

“F-Fluffy bread is h-hard to make, isn’t it…? I-I tried making it a few times too, but… it turned hard and flat, like crackers… T-To tell the truth, I’ve always l-longed for fluffy bread… Aah, maybe I longed for it so much that I-I ended up seeing things…”

And then, as if dragged back to reality, Kurumi’s shoulders drooped.

But when she saw the breads beyond the opened oven, round and plump like baby foxes, she let out another scream as though she had been pulled back into a dream.

“F-F-Ffluffy…!? Fuwa-fuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?!!?”

Freshly baked bread, steaming hot.

It gave off a rich aroma that made you feel happy just by smelling it.