Hot And Fresh Delivery Pizza, Straight To You! (3)

“…Shirley. I’d like to use the stone oven… Would that be all right?”

“Huh?”

A voice suddenly came from behind me, and I let out a foolish squeak.

When I turned around, Christina-oneesama was standing there with a troubled expression.

That’s right. I had become so absorbed in making pizza that I’d completely lost track of time, and before I knew it, the kitchen had filled with maids.

“Ah, I’m so sorry, Oneesama! I’ll move right away!”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to rush quite that much…”

As I hurriedly tried to clear the space after getting so caught up in my work, Christina-oneesama glanced toward our Team Five area and spoke.

“…That’s an incredible amount. Did you bake all of these?”

Her gaze fell upon the enormous pile of experimental pizzas.

Beside them, Anne, who had repeatedly taste-tested them with me, was crouched down looking rather ill.

“No more… I can’t eat another bite… There’s way too much cheese sitting in my stomach…”

That’s right. Pizza was filling.

And because its flavor was so rich, eating a lot of it was genuinely difficult.

We had happily taste-tested everything at first, but gradually we’d reached the point where we didn’t even want to look at pizza anymore.

(Even so, I just can’t get the flavor right… The baking itself has gotten much better, though.)

Yes, the flavor still somehow felt lacking.

It was probably good enough to beat most ordinary restaurants, but even so, the Bob inside me still refused to nod his approval.

The pizza that would make the young master fall in love with it was still a long way off.

“That’s right, Oneesama. It’s a new dish, but I just can’t seem to get the flavor the way I want it.”

When I answered honestly, Christina-oneesama stared at the pizza I had baked and spoke.

“For something you made, this is surprisingly conventional… Hmm… Yes, perhaps I could taste a little too?”

“Huh? You’ll take a look at it for me!?”

The unexpected offer caught me completely by surprise.

I had thought Christina-oneesama wasn’t interested in me.

But then she rested a hand against her cheek and spoke with a troubled expression.

“…I know I treated you rather coldly when you first arrived, but normally I should be looking after the new girls. And I wasn’t much help the other day either.”

By “the other day,” she was probably referring to when Jacqueline and I had clashed.

It was true that she’d been about as useful as a water flea back then, but she had at least tried to stop us, so I didn’t hold it against her.

Besides, I understood everyone’s reaction when I’d first arrived now.

The young master had been served nothing but Sacru for so long that he clearly wasn’t enjoying snack time at all, so everyone must have been extremely anxious.

And then some carefree little girl had arrived, received special treatment, and stood around looking completely unconcerned, so of course that would have irritated them.

So I understood why they had reacted coldly.

But if she was offering to look at my cooking, I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

When I eagerly accepted, Oneesama nodded, picked up a slice of pizza, and took a bite.

“…My. This is delicious.”

After carefully chewing with her small mouth, she spoke with surprise.

Just as I thought, Yes!, however, her expression clouded and she continued.

“But would this really work as a snack? It isn’t sweet, and it’s quite filling. Do you think it’ll be approved?”

“No, no, it’ll be perfectly fine! Pizza can absolutely be a snack. There’s no doubt about it!”

I hurriedly protested.

To be perfectly honest, I had made it this far while constantly battling my own doubts about whether serving pizza as a snack was really appropriate.

But there was no turning back now. Until I served the young master the ultimate pizza, even Bob wouldn’t be able to rest in peace!

“The problem is, I feel like it just doesn’t have enough savory depth. I’ve been wondering what exactly is wrong.”

“…Savory depth…? You certainly use strange expressions. But, let’s see. If something is missing…”

As she spoke, Oneesama gently removed the toppings from the pizza and ate only the crust.

After chewing it carefully, she nodded firmly and spoke.

“I thought so. The crust isn’t quite good enough. The toppings are so flavorful that the crust gets overwhelmed, which throws off the balance.”

“Ugh… So you think so too…”

It was something I’d already vaguely realized myself.

I had used high-quality toppings and cheese, and the sauce was made from my own special ketchup, so there was nothing lacking on top.

But the base crust simply wasn’t flavorful enough.

It didn’t have enough presence to support such good ingredients.

Of course, I was confident I could bake better bread than a mediocre bakery, but I still couldn’t call it ideal.

And I already thought I was putting a great deal of effort into it, so I had no idea what else I could possibly do.

While I was thinking that over, Oneesama looked thoughtful for a moment before bringing over a bread roll from her team’s workspace.

“Shirley, I baked this yesterday, but try it.”

“Huh? Are you sure!?”

Bread baked by Christina-oneesama.

Oneesama was famous for being a master baker.

In fact, even when the young master ate plenty of the snacks the rest of us made, he always made sure to eat Christina-oneesama’s portion as well.

Apparently, there were even nobles who looked forward to eating Oneesama’s bread.

And now I had one of those breads before me. I swallowed hard, bit into it… and in the very next instant, my consciousness blasted straight into outer space.

“…Delicious…!”

No way. This was seriously delicious!

Even though some time had passed since it was baked, the outside still had a proper bite while the inside was wonderfully chewy. The moment my teeth broke through both layers, an indescribable deliciousness spread through my mouth, and if I stopped to dwell on it, I felt as though endless waves of deliciousness would keep pouring forth.

Above all else, it tasted of wheat. The delicious flavor of wheat practically exploded in my mouth, and I wanted to keep eating forever.

Ahh, with this… I wanted to eat stew with this!

If I could eat piping-hot stew together with this bread… surely my entire outlook on life would change.

“You really do eat things as though they’re the most delicious food in the world.”

Oneesama said that as she watched me hunch protectively over the single bread roll as though refusing to let anyone take it away.

There was a smile on her lips. Oneesama was probably the type who genuinely enjoyed seeing people happily eat the things she made.

“That’s because it really is delicious! Amazing… I didn’t know bread could be this good…! Amazing, amazing!”

Having completely lost my vocabulary and reduced myself to repeating “amazing” like a parrot, I listened as Oneesama continued.

“If you’d like, shall I teach you how to bake bread?”

“Really!?”

I couldn’t help raising my voice at the offer.

That made me happy… far too happy. If I could learn to bake this bread myself…

How wonderful would that be!?

“Of course. Like I said, I haven’t treated you two very well. As the head of Team One, I’d feel guilty if I didn’t at least give you some proper instruction. Anne, you should join us too.”

“Really!?”

Anne, who had apparently come over at some point and had been hovering nearby with her hands fidgeting anxiously, raised her voice.

She must have wanted to learn from Oneesama, the master baker, just as much as I did.

“Yes, of course. You two already have the fundamentals down, so you’ll improve quickly. Let’s work hard together for the next few days.”

Oneesama spoke with a cheerful smile, and Anne and I grabbed both of each other’s hands and burst into cheers.

This was obviously a power-up event. Once we overcame it, our hair would surely stand on end and turn golden.

…Or so I thought. I was delighted at the time… but Christina-oneesama’s training would prove to be extraordinarily brutal.