The Fire

The violent sound of bells being rung echoed through the town, and the area grew noisy.

“Something sounds really loud outside.”

I said this to Marie while I was cleaning up in the bakery workshop, unable to ignore the commotion outside.

“I wonder if something happened?”

Marie said as well, looking puzzled.

“Marie-san, big brother, they say it’s a fire!”

Rachel rushed into the bakery workshop in a panic. It seemed the noise had been caused by a fire breaking out somewhere. Hearing that, I needed to check where it had started and prepare to evacuate if necessary.

“Akane, do you know where the fire is coming from?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, but it seems far from here, so I don’t think the fire will reach this place.”

Hearing that, I felt a bit relieved.

“I found out where it started. They say the fire broke out at the Bakers’ Guild warehouse.”

Caro rushed in, out of breath. It seemed she had gone to check the source of the fire.

“What’s stored in the Bakers’ Guild warehouse?”

“Mostly flour and other ingredients needed for making bread, I think.”

Marie answered my question.

Once we knew there was no need to evacuate, we couldn’t just stop working, so after finishing the cleanup on the workshop side, everyone gathered in the shop’s dining area.

“There’s a Bakers’ Guild office next to the warehouse, and they hold meetings there. I’m worried whether it was affected.”

Marie said anxiously. If the warehouse was burning, it was likely that at least some of the stored goods had been affected. With no information coming in, it was worrying.

In the end, it seemed the fire had burned all night. The warehouse was completely destroyed, and nearby buildings were also affected. The Bakers’ Guild office burned down as well, leaving it unable to operate.

The next morning, Marie received word from the Bakers’ Guild that an emergency meeting would be held, and she went out. Since the office had burned down and there was no place to meet, the bakery where Rachel used to work became the temporary venue. That bakery had a large dining space, making it convenient for meetings.

Since it was a day off, we stayed at home. Rachel also came over to our place to eat breakfast.

“Kent-san, this is troubling.”

“Yeah. Marie-san looked really worried too.”

Caro said this with her eyebrows slanted downward. It was inappropriate, but I found her a little cute. Rachel beside her also seemed to be staring at Caro’s unusual expression.

“Big brother, big sisters, breakfast is ready.”

With that, plates piled with black-looking food were set out. It was Catherine’s homemade breakfast. It looked bad, but the taste was quite good.

“Thanks, Catherine. Then let’s eat.”

““““Thank you for the meal.””””

Feeling a bit sorry for Marie, who was attending the meeting, the four of us ate breakfast and then spent the time relaxing. After a while, Marie came back.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back, Marie-san. How was the meeting?”

I asked Marie as she returned.

“Well… it seems all the flour stored in the warehouse was completely destroyed. They tried to get replacements, but flour is hardly used for anything other than making bread, so the town’s merchants had already sold almost all of it to the Bakers’ Guild and don’t have any stock. They say there’s no prospect of getting more until the autumn harvest. Also, the burned flour was purchased by the Bakers’ Guild, and they had stock stored through this coming autumn. Replacing that would require a huge amount, and they don’t have the funds to procure more from outside the town. Because of that, the Guild can’t do anything, and they asked each shop to secure ingredients on their own for the time being.”

Marie said this wearily.

“For now, this shop has about a week’s worth of ingredients, but after that it’ll be difficult to get more. Some shops have their own supply routes, but most shops, including ours, don’t have any suppliers besides the Bakers’ Guild.”

This shop had about a week’s worth of flour. Other shops also seemed to have been just before their usual resupply, so most bakeries would run out of ingredients by the end of the week.

“Did they find out what caused the fire?”

The mood was gloomy, so I changed the subject.

“They don’t know who did it yet, but it seems it was arson.”

“So someone with a grudge against the Bakers’ Guild, or a thrill-seeker… If it were the latter, there’d probably be other fires too…”

I tried to reason it out based on what Marie said.

The two-day holiday passed in the blink of an eye, and it was Monday. From today, we had to work as usual. When we finished getting ready and left the house, a long line had already formed in front of Marie’s bakery.

“Um, there’s still quite a while until opening time. What’s going on?”

I spoke to a familiar older man standing in line.

“Oh, Kent-kun. You’re selling bread today, right?”

“We plan to sell as usual.”

“That’s good to hear. Because of that fire the other day, ingredients are in short supply, bread prices have shot up, and people are gathering to find even a slightly cheaper shop. Some places even ran out of ingredients and stopped selling yesterday. I’m one of the people lining up too.”

“I see. We’ll open at the usual time, so please wait until then.”

After saying that, we went inside the shop.

“Kent-san, this is incredible.”

Caro said while peeking outside.

“Kent-san, should we reduce how much we bake and conserve ingredients?”

Marie asked me.

“No, it’s fine to do things as usual.”

“Understood. At this rate, the ingredients might not last a full week, but let’s do our best.”

With that, we all took our positions and prepared to open. Once preparations were finished and opening time arrived, breads sold out one after another, which was unusual. Even with the oven running at full capacity, the speed at which bread was bought far exceeded the speed at which it finished baking.

“This is pretty rough…”

“Yeah. But we have no choice.”

To avoid wasting fermentation time, we added instant dry yeast and shortened work time by handling tasks in parallel, somehow managing to clear the line that had formed before opening. Even so, customers kept coming one after another. Since we didn’t have enough staff to handle the dining area, we closed it for the day and focused solely on selling bread.

“It’s time to go to school.”

Caro told Rachel and me. With the peak over and the dining area closed, the shop could run even without us. Leaving the rest to them, we headed to school.

At school, everyone was talking about bread price hikes and shortages.

“Good morning, Kent-kun.”

“Good morning.”

Unusually, the girl sitting next to me greeted me, and I returned the greeting.

“The price of bread has gone way up, and the whole town is in chaos.”

“Really? How high has it gotten?”

I hadn’t gone into town over the holiday, so I didn’t know the details and asked her out of curiosity.

“About three to five times the usual price… At those prices, commoners like us won’t be able to eat bread anymore.”

I had expected some increase, but the scale of it surprised me. Incidentally, Marie’s bakery was selling at normal prices. I finally understood why there had been so many customers that morning.

“Have you not been eating bread?”

“I couldn’t buy any yesterday, so I ate something else. I probably won’t be able to eat bread for a while.”

She answered when I asked.

“The cafeteria serves bread too, so it’d be bad if they raised prices as well.”

She said anxiously.

It became lunchtime. Looking around at the other students, those who bought bread from Marie’s bakery looked as usual, but students who normally brought bread from other bakeries had fewer items or couldn’t bring any at all.

“Hey, the cafeteria hasn’t raised prices!”

“““What did you say?!”””

A male student ran into the classroom shouting. Hearing that, classmates rushed toward the cafeteria.

“Kent-san, things are really getting serious.”

Josette spoke to me.

“It can’t be helped if bread ingredients are scarce and prices are rising across the board.”

“And what about your place? Are you all right?”

She asked, worried, after my reply.

“For now, we have ingredients for this week, so we’re fine. And even if we run out, we still have a hidden option… But there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

“Everyone is waiting, so let’s change locations.”

Josette took my hand and led me to our usual spot behind the school building. Caro and Rachel were already there, sitting on a bench and chatting happily.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“My apologies for being late.”

“Big brother, you’re slow!”

“Kent-san, Josette-sama, thank you for your hard work.”

As usual, the four of us sat on the bench and started eating our bread. After finishing lunch and switching into discussion mode, Josette spoke.

“Kent-san, about what you mentioned earlier—what was bothering you?”

I explained things to Caro and Rachel, who didn’t yet understand the situation, and then began.

“First, the fact that the Bakers’ Guild warehouse burned down due to arson. Second, that there are several shops that don’t source flour through the Bakers’ Guild. Third, that bread prices rose far too quickly. All of that feels off to me.”

“Big brother, that sounds like the scent of an incident.”

Rachel said this in a dramatic, show-like tone, following up on my words.

“Actually, if it’s bread ingredients, I can easily get them through the terminal. So our shop won’t have to close due to shortages. Still, I feel like it’d be better to expose whoever stirred this up.”

“That’s true. If Marie-san keeps selling bread as usual, the culprit’s side will be troubled, so there’s a chance they might try some form of harassment.”

Josette agreed with my thoughts.

“They probably chose this timing for the arson because it was when each bakery’s stock was low. That means they must have had access to that information somehow. If we keep selling for over a week, they might start to find us suspicious.”

“It seems we’ll need to investigate a bit.”

“Big brother, things are getting interesting.”

“I will also do my best to assist you, Kent-san.”

And so, the four of us decided to begin investigating this matter together.