Chapter 165: The Bear Makes a Shortcake

Chapter 165:
The Bear Makes a Shortcake

 

I’D FINALLY PERFECTED the devil’s food. I scooped up some of the white, finished fluff with my finger, and licked it. “Sweet.”

After I’d finished eating with Blitz’s group, I saw that there were strawberries for sale in town…and here I was with an irresistible craving for shortcake. After three days of research, I’d finally finished making the fresh cream.

This cream would be expanding my horizons as far as confectionaries were concerned.

I whipped up a sponge cake right away as step one. I cut it in half so it had upper and lower pieces and sandwiched a giant helping of strawberries and cream in between. I spread the cream over the whole thing, then tidily arranged some strawberries on top. I only had the vaguest knowledge of this stuff from my previous world, but it was enough: my strawberry shortcake was complete.

I cut up the cake right away and got it onto a plate, but…compared to the shortcakes I’d seen sold in stores, this thing was a sorry sight. Nonetheless, I attacked it with my fork and wolfed it down.

Yup, delicious. Totally worth it. Was it pro-baker level? Of course not, but it was good enough for an amateur like me.

Still, I couldn’t let myself overeat. I wasn’t one to put on the pounds, but I still had had to watch my sugar intake. With the bear onesie, people couldn’t really tell what my body looked like, but you never know who you’ll bathe with. If Fina and Shuri ever said something like, “You’ve got a soft belly,” I don’t think I’d ever recover from the shock.

 

While I was eating my first strawberry shortcake in a long while, someone came by the bear house. Who would barge in right when I was mid-cake?

“Yuna…”

“What’s wrong, Fina?” When I opened the door, I found Fina outside. If it’d been Cliff or Milaine, I would’ve sent them packing, but I couldn’t do that to Fina.

“I thought today we were going to pick up the mithril knife from Mr. Gold…”

“Now that you mention it, I guess so.” It’d completely slipped my mind during my three-day cake obsession. Oops.

“It was three days, just like he said,” said Fina with a truly powerful pout-lecture.

Argh, today wasn’t the day for this. I’d just perfected making fresh whipped cream and was in the middle of feasting on my strawberry shortcake. It wasn’t like the knife was going to run off on me, but the cake? The cake could spoil. Guess I had the bear storage, but…nope, my top priority right now was stuffing my face with that cake.

“Fina, I made something delicious. Would you eat it with me instead of going to get the knife?” I grabbed Fina’s hand as she was standing in the doorway and dragged her into the bear house. I’d gone to all that trouble making the cake; I might as well get Fina’s opinion on it.

After I sat Fina down in a chair, I brought the cake out in front of her. I even prepped some milk for her to wash it down with. “What is this?”

“It’s a strawberry shortcake. It’s good. Take a bite, let me know what you think.”

Fina timidly brought the cake up to her mouth. Guess she was kind of scared of eating something unfamiliar? But after one bite, her eyes shot open wide.

After she took a bit of the cake, the look on Fina’s face changed.

“So? How is it?”

“It’s delicious!”

Fina ate a second bite, then a third. She was fully invested in polishing off the cake. She was savoring every bite, but she wasn’t gonna slow down either. Her face was a mess of cake and cream, capped with a huge smile.

“What’s this white stuff?”

“Whipped cream. Basically, I whipped some milk. I used some sugar in it too.”

“The strawberries are good too.”

Strawberry shortcake was a sure winner. Maybe I’d even try making a cake with a different fruit next time. Before I knew it, the shortcake in front of Fina was gone without a trace.

“So…good?”

“So good!” She was on cloud nine…and glancing at the other strawberry shortcake positioned a little away from her. She was usually so mature for her age that it was kind of a relief seeing her actually act like a child.

I silently cut the cake and put it on Fina’s plate. Fina looked at the cake and then at me.

“No, you can go ahead.”

But she didn’t dig in.

“You’re not going to eat it?”

“Can I bring it home? I want to let Shuri try.”

“Ha! Aww.”

“Wh-why are you laughing?! Is it funny?”

I gave Fina a pat on the head, unable to restrain a smile at how much she loved her little sister. She was a great kid—and one who really cared about her family.

“There’s still plenty, so don’t worry about it. Plus, once I run out of cake, I can just make some more.” I cut slices for Shuri and Tiermina, then put them into a basket. “Make sure to ask Shuri and Tiermina what they think too.”

I handed the basket to Fina.

“Thank you, Yuna!” With that out of the way, Fina dug into the cake in front of her. After her second slice of the new cake, she thanked me and headed out, homeward bound.

Hm? I kind of felt like I was forgetting something. Maybe it was just my imagination?

A few seconds after Fina left the bear house, she rushed right back.

“Yuna, the knife. We need to go to Mr. Gold to get the knife!”

Oh, right. Both our heads had been too full of cake thoughts to remember that knife.

 

We headed over to pick up the mithril knife from Mr. Gold. When we got to the shop, the iron golem was standing in front of it…and lookin’ slick. The iron golem held a sword and shield. It made me pretty happy, seeing my present to him out on display.

“Whoa. Yuna, this is the golem you fought while I was at Lady Ellelaura’s house, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m just really glad you got home safe.”

It was nice to hear her say that. “Thanks.”

After one more look at the iron golem, I headed inside with Fina.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” said Nelt, who was once again stuck tending the shop.

“Is it done?”

“Of course it is. That’s the only thing the man is good at, after all,” Nelt said as she handed a knife wrapped in cloth to us. Fina took it rather than me.

She pulled off the cloth to reveal a beautiful butchering knife. It didn’t have any of the decorations of the knife that Ellelaura had given me, but it was elegant and lovely that way.

Fina slowly unsheathed the knife.

“What do you think?”

She gripped the knife in her tiny hand and looked at the blade tip. “It’s very easy to hold. Real nice, and it’s very pretty.”

She tilted it around to get a look at it from all kinds of angles, held it to the light of the window, and smiled happily. I was getting just the slightest bit of a dangerous vibe.

“Yuna, um! Thank you very much!” Fina turned, fully beaming at me. Seeing how happy she was made the present worth it.

“I’m going to ask you to really get at that butchering with it, though, okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll do my best.” Fina returned the knife to its sheath and carefully put it away into her item bag. “Thank you very much, Mrs. Nelt. Thank you for making me such a nice knife.”

“I’ll let my husband know. Bring it by for maintenance if it ever gets dull.”

Since the cost of maintenance had been included with the iron golem payment, it’d be free…not that Nelt hadn’t already been sharpening her knives out of the kindness of her heart way before then. Even after Fina was in a better situation, what with Tiermina starting to work and getting her new dad, Gentz, they’d apparently turned her down when she offered to pay. They really were a kind old dwarf couple.

“Now then, please stop by in three days for the second one.”

“We’re in no rush. Take your time.”

“Ha! No, it’s fine. If I don’t make him work, Gold will slack off.”

“In that case, if you could do it at a moderate pace…?”

I thanked Nelt and left the shop.

Good, that was out of the way. Now, to business: more cake!

Oh…butchering the black tiger? Yeah, we could do that later. Cake time.