Fluffy Sweets For The Young Lady (6)

“Whaaat!?”

All the maids cried out in surprise at once.

They had probably been watching as though it were someone else’s problem, only to realize that things had suddenly become very serious indeed.

Looking satisfied by their reaction, the young lady declared her terms without allowing any argument.

“For today’s snack time, only you and my Mia will serve anything. Then we’ll ask Prince William which one tasted better, and if you lose, every last one of you will leave the Royal Palace. Understood?”

“Th-That’s far too unreasonable! This is all so sudden, and besides—”

“Be quiet! Once I’ve decided something, that’s final! Now, Mia, get started. Show her just how far apart your skills are!”

“Yes, my lady. …Now then, ladies, please excuse me while I make use of the kitchen.”

With the discussion unilaterally brought to an end, the young lady gave her command, and Mia-san immediately got to work, efficiently selecting the ingredients she could use, arranging them on the worktable, and beginning to knead flour.

What surprised me most was just how skilled she was!

As I watched her hands move with astonishing speed and elegance, I could not help but let out an impressed groan.

(This woman… she’s good!)

I had spent years wrestling with flour myself, and I had even received instruction from the masterful Christina-onee-sama.

I could tell roughly how skilled someone was just by watching the way they handled their ingredients.

Mia-san’s technique was probably on the level of an experienced professional. Even compared with us Snack Maids, she certainly did not seem inferior—if anything, she might be better.

And at that speed, she would surely be able to prepare enough to satisfy Prince William entirely on her own.

“A-Amazing…”

“Hmph, of course she is! She’s simply made of better stuff than you are! Now then, Mia, I’m going to see William-sama, so make sure you prepare a sweet that can’t possibly lose. Understood?”

“Yes, my lady.”

The young lady strode triumphantly out of the kitchen, while Mia-san bowed toward her departing back.

The other maids watched anxiously, but the moment the young lady disappeared from sight, they rushed over and crowded around me, all clamoring at once.

“Shirley, what in the world did you do?! That young lady absolutely hates you!”

“What does this mean?! If you lose, are we really all getting fired?! You’re confident you can win, right?! Tell me you are!”

“You really are a walking disaster! Every single time, you cause nothing but trouble! If somebody has to get fired, then you should be the only one!”

“E-Everyone, please calm down! Calm down! I’ll figure something out—I promise I’ll figure something out…!”

I tried desperately to calm them while being jostled about from every direction.

Still, this really was a bad situation. The contest had been sprung on me so suddenly that I had no idea what I should make.

Mia-san seemed to be a formidable opponent. If I served anything half-baked, I would probably lose.

But there was hardly any time left. I had no idea how much time I had to come up with something, much less actually make it.

(What do I do? Anything I’ve already served him probably won’t be enough… Mia-sama’s sweets will be something unusual to Prince William, after all. I need to serve something new and unusual too. But I don’t have time to make anything complicated…!)

I was completely at a loss.

But then Clara-onee-sama, the Team Head of Team Two, spoke up.

“Everyone, this isn’t the time to blame Shirley. That girl just declared war on all of us maids. She’s basically saying none of us are worth worrying about. Aren’t you angry that she’s looking down on us like that?!”

“B-But she said Shirley was the only one allowed to serve anything this time, so there’s nothing the rest of us can do…”

When one of the older maids said that anxiously, Clara-onee-sama gave a bold, confident grin.

“True, Shirley is the only one allowed to serve the food. But… that young lady never said the rest of us weren’t allowed to help her make it.”

At Clara-onee-sama’s words, all the maids’ faces immediately brightened.

“That’s right… Of course! We can’t serve our own snacks anyway, so we have plenty of time. We can all work together!”

“Exactly. After letting her say whatever she wants to us, there’s no way we can just sit back and take it. This is a challenge to every maid here!”

“Then let’s do it! Just like when we made the donuts, we’ll all join forces and seize victory!”

The older maids became fired up all at once.

Encouraged by their enthusiasm, Anne smiled at me.

“Shirley, this is great! If all the others are helping, you’ve got an army behind you! So, what are you going to make? Think of a snack that’ll wipe that smug look off the young lady’s face and win this thing!”

But something about those words caught in my mind.

…A snack that could win.

A snack… to win?

I really should have begun cooking immediately, but for some reason, I could not stop thinking about those words.

…Was that really the right way to think about this? Was what I needed to make now really something meant to defeat somebody else?

“…What’s wrong, Shirley? You look like a bear getting ready to hibernate.”

Anne described me that way as I wandered restlessly around the kitchen, deep in thought.

Even with everyone watching me, I carefully faced that lingering sense of discomfort until I finally reached my answer.

“Yeah. That’s it. That’s how it should be. In that case, I know exactly what I need to do.”

Then I turned back toward all the maids and told them.

“Everyone. I want to make a snack that will invite Prince William and the young lady into a land of dreams. But it’s going to be extremely difficult, and there’s no way I can pull it off by myself… So please, lend me your strength!”