Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.3 - Chapter SS2

Leise — Confectionery Recipe 

“Leise, I will be returning with Myne, so please prepare the pound cakes for us.” 

“I’ll get all the recipes ready.” I gave Freida a short answer and went right for my cooking tools. 

My choice to become a chef was the natural result of my parents running a restaurant. When I was young they did their best with a little stand, but it wasn’t long before they opened up a small restaurant by the east gate. I grew up watching them cook. Thanks to them I could cook before becoming an apprentice and I had enough math skills to handle sales, which was rare for kids who hadn’t been baptized. 

After my baptism I started work at a restaurant owned by a family friend and absorbed recipe after recipe. I loved to learn and I loved to think about how to improve the recipes I had been taught and the recipes I had stolen by watching others cook. 

I explored various stores to hone my skills and eventually I was asked to cook in a noble’s mansion. My parents told me not to do it since I wouldn’t be able to return to the commoner’s part of the city, but I went anyway. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to learn the recipes served to the nobility. 

I started off being worked to the bone as a dish washer, and slowly over time I stole the techniques held by the head chef. The ingredients and spices used for nobles meals were a league above anything I had ever used myself. Even their dishes were fancier than anything you’d see in a normal restaurant. I learned more every day. 

But that only lasted for a few years. No matter how much I trained, I never moved up in the kitchen. In noble mansions, you needed not just skill but connections and a dignified bloodline to move upwards. 

I was stuck in the mud when the guildmaster called out to me. The head chef had recommended me, as he knew I was skilled enough to be a head chef myself but didn’t have the connections to make it there. He asked me to make food fit for a noble for his grandaughter, so that she would be better prepared to live in the nobles’ quarter when she reached adulthood. 

...I said yes on the spot. Finally, I had a chance to show off my skills as a head chef. Not to mention that I would be working for the Merchant’s Guild guildmaster, who had more money than some laynobles. His kitchen was built just like a noble’s and he had all the same ingredients and spices. There was no better place for a chef to work. To show my thanks for being given such an opportunity, I worked my hardest each day. Every day was enormously fun and rewarding. I built up total confidence in my skills. I was confident that nobody would be able to beat the recipes I had built up. 

Until Myne appeared, that is. 

I couldn’t believe it. Sugar was a newly developed sweetener that the guildmaster had just recently managed to purchase from the Sovereignty. Nobody in the world that I knew of had managed to accomplish much with it. I tried experimenting with it in various ways without much success. And yet, Myne made something great with sugar like it was the most natural thing in the world. I had to do all the making myself since she lacked the strength to do so herself, but her instructions made it clear she knew the recipe by heart. 

The pound cake she’d had me bake was fluffy, moist, had a refined sweetness, and broke apart in your mouth. It was unlike anything I had seen or made before. Not even the noble’s kitchen had made anything like it. 

But when I asked Freida where Myne was from, she told me that she was a commoner girl with a soldier father and a dyer mother. Her family would be too poor to partake in extravagant sweets. At most she would be able to eat the fruit and honey she gathered in the forest. Where had she learned a confectionery recipe? 

Ever since then, I had been experimenting with the pound cake recipe she taught me by altering the batter and changing the oven’s heat. After baking countless cakes I finally made one that I could consider my masterpiece. Even Freida was saying that this was food fit for nobles. 

Freida said that she would have Myne taste-test my pound cakes and negotiate the right to sell them. There was no doubt that Myne would be seeking connections with nobles. Freida would introduce her to a noble that would treat her well in return for exclusive rights to the pound cake. 

But contrary to her expectations, despite the approaching summer Myne never visited a single time. When Freida panicked and forcibly dragged Myne here, she didn’t look worried at all about the time limit on her life. 

When Myne ate the pound cake I had worked tirelessly to improve, she just shared ideas to improve it further in return for sugar. She said the flavor would change by putting stuff into the batter before baking, and that creams and fruits would make the cake look more fancy. 

As I made a pound cake with ground apfelsige peels in it, I squeezed the bowl. Myne had known how to improve the pound cake off the top of her head. She definitely knew more recipes. 

...I wanted them. I wanted her new recipes. I wanted to know every recipe Myne had. 

“Leise, Leise! I’ve brought Myne!” 

Just as I was lining up plates with small slices of my cakes on the table in the corner of the kitchen, Freida came bursting through the door with a broad smile on her face. 

Freida was born weak and when I was first hired she rarely ever left her room. She had changed so much after meeting Myne that it was hard to imagine she was the same girl who considered counting gold coins in her room to be her greatest joy. She had become a merchant with as much enthusiasm as Benno, a young man growing in power and influence every day. Her mission was to make Myne join her store. 

Freida had been pushing herself to surprising limits after deciding to hold her first taste-testing event. She had her entire family wrapped around her thumb, ordering them every which way. Myne seemed to have gotten wrapped up in this too and Freida had brought her to participate in the taste-testing. 

“So, Myne, you believe I should consider children as an important demographic?” asked Freida. Myne replied while looking around the kitchen. 

“It’ll definitely be too expensive for commoner kids to buy, but merchant children might understand the value and have the money to buy some. Those of apprentice age will be able to read, so... The thing to remember here is that food you eat in your childhood will stay with you until adulthood.” 

“Is that so?” murmured Freida while scribbling something on a board, the sight of which made me feel curious. Any way I looked at her, Myne’s growth had been slowed by her Devouring and she looked like a five-year-old at best. But she was talking entirely as if she had already experienced reaching adulthood. 

“Also, when you sell it you don’t have to sell the entire cake at once. You can lower the price and get more buyers by selling individual slices. That would be good for couples who only want two slices, or someone’s baptism ceremony getting celebrated. Stuff like that.” 

“I intend to sell primarily to nobles at first. An expensive confectionery will do well with them, I expect.” 

Freida wanted to keep the price as high as possible since she had exclusive rights to selling it. Myne on the other hand wanted to lower the price so more people could eat the cake. Despite being two young girls of the same age, they both had very different philosophies. 

“Exploiting your exclusivity isn’t a bad idea, but I think lowering the price and spreading it around is the best thing to do if you want your brand to be well known.” 

“My exclusivity only lasts for one year. Within a year it will spread regardless of what I do, no? I want to spend this year profiting as much as I can with nobles as my core demographic.” 

“Mmm. In that case, you could use seasonal fruits to make new cake flavors limited to each season. That’ll distinguish you from competitors and make your core consumer base happy.” 

New cake flavors, limited to each season...? I didn’t let Myne’s offhanded suggestion slip by me. I immediately started thinking about seasonal fruits. 

“What about winter, when fruit don’t grow? What can you do then?” 

“I mean, you can’t talk about sweet things in winter without mentioning parues, right? There’s also (rumtopf) y...” Myne froze mid-sentence and covered her mouth. 

I raised an eyebrow at her. With a finger over her mouth, she said anything else would cost money. It seemed she had realized that she had gotten so caught up in the conversation she was slipping out valuable information for free. 

Freida giggled at Myne’s awkward expression. “I wonder what you were about to say? I have a sizable sum prepared to pay for your information, Myne.” 

When offered a price that she considered fair market value, Myne tended to throw in extra information for free as a “bonus.” Freida said that was much better for forming friendly, long-term relationships than greedily trying to maximize profit or attempting to cheat others. Considering she used to say that cheating people was the bread and butter of merchants, it was easy to see how dramatically she had changed. 

“Mmm, I was going to talk about (rumtopf). Put simply, it’s fruit you put in jars with alcohol. It takes a lot of time for the soaking to make them taste just right, but I think they would be perfect for winter pound cakes.” 

“How does five large silvers sound?” With the core knowledge of soaking fruit in alcohol obtained, everything else could be handled through experimentation. Even if negotiations broke down, I would be fine. Or so I thought right as Myne glanced at the sugar. 

“...I guess since sugar hasn’t spread very far, nobody knows how to make or use (rumtopfs) either.” 

Despite just mentioning fruit and alcohol, it seemed what she was talking about also used sugar. Asking for details would probably be smart, then. Recipes involving sugar demanded a lot of trial and error. There weren’t many recipes out there using it. I looked at Freida and she nodded. 

“How about eight small golds, then?” 

“Okay. I’ll teach you how to make and use them. You’ll be able to keep it to yourself until sugar spreads around, so no need for a contract this time.” 

They tapped guild cards to exchange money, then Myne pointed at a jar in the kitchen. 

“We’ll need a jar like that. Do you have any others?” 

“We can just use that one, it doesn’t have anything in it. What else do you need?” 

I moved around the kitchen at Myne’s instructions and got what we needed. I washed some rutbers, a fruit that only grew in this season, and chopped them into pieces before putting them all in a bowl. We filled about half of the bowl with sugar and left it sitting. Myne said it was important to let it sit until the water drained out from the rutbers and sugar started melting into them. 

“Do you know how much sugar costs? You sure we should use this much at once?” 

“It’s for preservation. The fruit will go bad if you don’t put enough sugar in. Also, the fruit will rot if you don’t put super strong alcohol in it, like distilled alcohol.” 

I got the feeling that Myne’s sense of money had been damaged by how much she was making from selling recipes and product rights. Sugar was worth its weight in silver, yet she was using this much on a single batch of sweets. 

“Once the water is drawn out of the rutbers, put them in the jar and add the alcohol. Mmm... You have to make sure all of the fruit’s under the liquid, or the parts sticking out will grow mold. Also, you should add a different kind of fruit after about ten days. Pfirsloches and prunbeers are about to be in season, right? You really want to pack summer flavors in here and eat them once winter comes. Oh, right. Fruit like apfelsiges aren’t too good for this I think.” 

Freida wrote down all the warnings she was giving us. I carved them into my memory while stirring the bowl. I could tell liquid was getting slowly drawn out. 

“You’re making these too?” 

“Mhm. Using the sugar you gave me earlier. It’s my first time making them too. You can put these in pound cakes too, or use them as jam. They’re also good for making (parfaits) or putting on (ice cream).” 

Myne smiled to herself, murmuring something about looking forward to winter, when suddenly Freida shot up and looked at the table. 

“Oh no. We have gotten off track. I forgot all about the taste-testing.” 

“That reminds me. Mr. Benno said he wants to try taste-testing the cakes too. Can he come?” Freida gave Myne a look, eyes narrowed. Myne scratched her cheeks and looked up a bit, as if trying to remember what Benno had said. 

“Ummm, taste-testing is still pretty rare, right? He’s interested in what kind of sweets you’re going to sell, but he’s even more interested in how taste-testing events go.” 

Freida fell into thought, then looked up with a smile. She must have thought of something. She spun around and headed to the kitchen door. 

“I have something I need to ask Grandfather. You will have to excuse me for a moment. Leise, please keep Myne entertained.” 

Freida had an odd rivalry with Benno and him coming over had apparently lit up her defiant, flaming heart. She speedily left Myne in the kitchen, maintaining her graceful aura the entire time. 

“...Well, there she goes.” 

“She doesn’t usually act like that, you know.” 

“Freida said the same thing about you when I told you how to improve the pound cakes.” 

Myne giggled and I let out a sigh. People had been pointing out for years that I could never stay still after learning a new recipe, but I showed no signs of growing out of it. 

“That’s your recipe’s fault.” 

“...Aww. I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who wants to learn new recipes. So, mind telling me how these cakes ended up?” 

I placed a piece of cake in front of her that best represented the advice she had given me: one with added apfelsiges for smell and flavor, one with some of the sugar changed to honey, and one with walnuts. On top of that, I had prepared tea that matched the pound cake in general. 

“They all look so good! Thank you.” Myne’s eyes sparkled as she smiled and took slow bite after slow bite, enjoying the flavors to their fullest. The graceful way she held her fork made me think of a noble daughter who had been taught strict manners. At the very least, she didn’t look at all like a poor commoner, considering how they tended to stuff their faces with sweets when given the opportunity to eat them at all. 

Myne sipped her tea as she ate and let out a satisfied sigh. 

“Out of all of these, I think I like the apfelsige one the most? I like how the smell blossoms in my mouth,” said Myne with a warm smile after sipping tea. 

“...Oh, the tea leaves that made this tea would probably go well with pound cake too.” 

“Tea leaves? Aren’t those too hard to eat?” 

Myne held a hand over her mouth. Apparently, that was some valuable information. I let out a “hmph” and placed a bag of sugar on the table. 

“I’ll give you this bag of sugar if you talk. I want to know all I can to make the best cake possible. I’m guessing you’re running low on sugar thanks to making that rumtopf?” 

To be honest, I had never even dreamed of putting tea leaves in sweets. Sweets were, well, sweet. My understanding was that chefs in the Sovereignty were operating under the principle if you were going to be using expensive sugar, the sweeter the better. It was hard to think that tea leaves would make anything sweeter. I didn’t have enough time to experiment with the leaves and figure out how to use them properly. 

“...Well, a bag of sugar is probably worth it, maybe. This can be my way of saying thanks for all the cake.” 

After thinking for a bit, Myne explained what she meant. “You can grind up the tea leaves so they don’t hurt the food’s mouthfeel when you mix them with the batter. You’ll end up with some nice smelling cake.” 

“You mean tea leaves like these?” I held up a bottle stuffed with the tea leaves I had used for Myne’s drink and she gave a big nod. After looking at the bottle for a bit, I lit a fire in the oven. I started grinding the tea leaves up while Myne ate pound cake beside me. I wanted to try it out right away. That meant leaving a guest alone for a bit, but she would be the first one taste-testing it so it all worked out. 

“Hey, Myne. Mind if I ask something?” 

“Not at all, what is it?” 

“Do you maybe have some secret tips for making good soup, too? It seems like you do, judging by how you ate while you were staying over here. You always left the soup, but nothing else. I thought maybe you didn’t like vegetables, but you eat them no problem in other things. What’s the secret to making good soup?” Myne looked up at me with wide eyes, fork still in her mouth. I raised an eyebrow while beating eggs. 

“...You’re sharp, Miss Leise.” 

“So, will you tell me about the soup?” 

Myne took the fork out of her mouth and placed it on the plate. 

“...That’s a little harder for me. Things are different from before and I’ll be stuck dealing with nobles soon whether I want to or not. I want to keep as many trump cards as I can up my sleeve, for self-defense.” 

Her defeated expression made it impossible for me to push further, so I just shrugged my shoulders. 

I knew what she was going up against thanks to my time working in a noble’s mansion. There was danger in a status-based society, and the hardships status brought were no laughing matter. It made sense that she would want to keep trump cards, and I agreed that she should. 

“I’m fine sharing sweets recipes if Freida buys timed exclusivity for them, though.” 

“Really?!” I leaned forward with the bowl still in hand and Myne nodded repeatedly, leaning back in fear. 

“Only after the pound cakes get popular, I mean. Maybe a good time would be when the pound cake exclusivity runs out.” 

“Won’t Benno get in the way of that?” I said, knowing that Freida was always talking about Lutz and Benno attempting to monopolize Myne’s knowledge, but she just tilted her head. 

“Mmm, I don’t know about that. He probably won’t be too happy about it, but I don’t think he’ll even be able to get in the way. To be honest, I don’t think the recipes will mean anything to him even after being made public.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Benno doesn’t have strong connections with nobles yet, so he won’t be able to get the ingredients or the talent necessary. It looks like there aren’t really established trade routes for sugar yet, and to get a chef of your level he’d need to snatch someone away from nobles, right? Freida said that’s how the guildmaster hired you.” 

Myne’s analysis of Benno, who could basically be considered her guardian, left me at a loss for words. It seemed that Myne was actually properly thinking about who she gave information to. In which case, maybe there was a chance she would teach me more recipes. 

I glanced at Myne while sprinkling the bowl with flour. 

“You don’t mind giving me your recipes?” 

“A chef needs to be as skilled as you to replicate a recipe from word of mouth. Also, you’re so passionate about your work it makes me want to help you out,” said Myne, making me so happy I wanted to shout. She was basically saying that she recognized my skill as a chef. She would teach me recipes that she wouldn’t teach Benno, who she owed so much to. 

“...But it’ll end up unfair to various people if I teach them for free, so that’s kind of a problem.” 

Myne wasn’t too obsessed with profit herself, but the same couldn’t be said for those around her. Not only that, but her recipes made big waves around her in more ways than one. Her recipes probably weren’t the only thing she made with no historical precedent. 

I mixed in melted butter to the bowl and tried asking Myne something that had been on my mind for a long time. 

“Hey... Myne. Who in the world are you? Where did you learn all these recipes?” 

“...Mmm... I learned them from dreams.” 

“Say what now?” I glared at her hard, thinking she was joking around, but she just gave a troubled smile. 

“...I’m not kidding. Up until now, these are all things I’ve only been able to eat in dreams.” Myne gave a nostalgic smile that looked so mature, my suspicions only got bigger. 

“I would really like to just explain all my recipes at once and have talented chefs like you make them all, but oh well.” 

Myne closed her eyes, then looked up and gave a bright childish smile. But it was the kind of awkward smile that was clearly forced. Guessing that that was a topic she didn’t want to talk about, I changed the subject a bit while pouring the batter into the mold. 

“You can’t make these yourself?” 

“I don’t have the strength, stamina, tools, or skills to replicate them myself. So I need a skilled chef helping out and I can teach countless recipes to them. Or well, I can’t right now, but you know what I mean.” 

Myne kicked her legs while frowning with a sad look on her face. I looked down at her slender, weak looking arms, remembering that she lacked the strength to even mix a bowl of flour. It was hard to imagine her cooking anything with those. 

“Just ask if you ever want to eat something. I’ll make anything for you if you tell me the recipe.” My heart danced at the opportunity to recreate recipes that only existed within Myne’s dreams. 

...Aaah, I’m so excited. What kind of recipes are sleeping inside this girl? I looked at Myne eating more pound cake while sticking the new tea leaf cake batter into the oven.