Angel Fluffy Bread

The moment I saw the name, the words slipped out of my mouth.

“Could this possibly be… a Crown…!?”

A Crown refers to an item of even higher quality than High-Quality.

A prefix is added to the item’s name, expressing a magnificence like a royal crown.

The “Angel Fluffy” part is what corresponds to that.

A Crown’s defining trait is that, even though no magic-infused materials are used in the crafting process, it is granted special effects like magic.

“The fact that I of all people can make a Crown item…!”

Still, there was one point that bothered me.

It was the existence of the Limit Penalty.

“I’m pretty sure this penalty was on the Gisu Automatic Milling Hut too. That one was level 120 too, if I remember right…”

Most likely, anything over level 120 was being turned into a Limit Penalty.

“Does that mean I can’t make items above level 120…?”

If so, that was an unpleasant problem, though it was also an overly luxurious one to have.

After all, even legendary master craftsmen who serve the royal court can barely manage a level-20 craft.

“If I’m making items at six times that level, maybe it’s not something I need to worry about…”

Even so, it still bothered me, but this was no time to think about the cause.

The Angel Fluffy Bread was still in the oven, and Kurumi had shoved her face inside without caring that her cheeks were turning painfully red.

“A-A-Amazing…! I-I’ve never seen bread this fluffy before…! Ah… aah! Aaah, this must be a dream…! But even if it is, please don’t let me wake uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup…!”

“If you stick your face in there like that, you’ll turn into bread yourself. I’m taking it out, so move.”

Kurumi pulled back with the tip of her nose stinging and said, “S-Sorry!”

When the dough had gone into the oven, it had only been about the size of a clenched fist.

But when I took it out, it had swelled so much it looked like whole cakes, all packed tightly together.

“U-Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Amazing, amazing, it’s amazinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggggg!!”

Kurumi clapped her hands like a child who had just been given a cake even though it was not her birthday.

“All right, then! Let’s have everyone eat right away!”

Time went back just a little.

Out in the field, Monaka, Kotone, and Maachan and the others were sitting in rows on the mats like little sparrows.

They had been waiting excitedly to see what exactly they were going to be fed, but…

Then an uninvited guest barged in.

“Ah, Lord Payper, what brings you here?” Maachan asked.

But Payper did not answer that, instead plopping himself down nearby.

“Well then, shall we have lunch?”

Then he took sandwiches out of the basket he had brought and began stuffing his face with them as if to show them off.

“Paaah! A sandwich made with bread baked from the finest flour and stuffed with the finest ingredients really is exceptional!”

Payper was praising it lavishly, but it did not look all that enviable.

Because the bread looked hard and dry, thin as a rag, and a strange color besides.

The ingredients inside it were withered too, without even a trace of freshness.

More than that, there was a major problem with the person eating it.

After all, both his cheeks were bulging out as though every single one of his teeth had gone rotten.

But Payper did not even notice that the girls had gone cold on him.

“If you truly insist, I suppose I could share some with you ladies too. Oh, but Maachan, a low-class merchant like you is out of the question no matter what sort of face you make. Pay is talking to Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama.”

All that came back was a short harmony of, “No, thank you.”

“Paaah? It seems Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama have spent so much time with that birdbrain that they’ve lost all sense of value. Even though you won’t find a lunch anywhere in this academy that surpasses this finest sandwich.”

Then an indescribably rich aroma brushed past their noses.

The girls all twitched their nostrils at once.

“Oh? This smell is…?”

“It’s the smell of freshly baked bread, Monaka-sama, Kotone-sama!”

“Is that so? It seems to be a scent with little connection to my life, and yet, for some reason, I find it deeply alluring…”

“P-Pay!? N-No way!? There’s no way bread could be baked in a place like this! Bread is only something you can bake when you have the proper equipment, ingredients, and a specialized artisan all together! Even if the equipment and ingredients were somehow there, there’s no way unemployed trash could possibly have the skill to bake bread!”

Then that impossible possibility arrived.

“It’s done! Freshly baked bread!”

When I returned to the field carrying the tray, for some reason Payper was there.

“P-Paaah! Even if, by a miracle, it somehow baked, it has to be some paper-thin, rock-hard thing that can’t even be called bread! Bread is supposed to be soft, like the sandwich Pay is holding…!”

But the instant Payper saw what was on the tray, he dropped his precious sandwich with a thud.

Everyone there stood up.

“F-F-Fluffyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!”

To the friends who had gathered around, I said,

“I baked twenty for now, so could three people share one? They’re big enough that even split three ways, they should still be satisfying. I’m going to bake more, so get along and share them, okay?”

“Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!”

At that point, differences in standing no longer existed there.

Saint, Miko, low-class merchant, Tamer, Pastry Chef—everyone was laughing together as if they were all the same kind of companion.

When everyone split apart the large bread all at once,

Paka, fuwa…!

Soft steam spilled out, and threads stretched from the fluffy dough.

After everyone chorused, “Thank you for the meal, Leopin-kuuuuuuuuun!” they stuffed their cheeks with it while blowing on it.

“D-D-Delicioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooous!?!!?”

By then, the cheers that seemed ready to ascend to the heavens, not just float one millimeter, raced across the blue sky.