Side Story 2: Pudding Parfait

Side Story 2:
Pudding Parfait

 

I headed to the usual restaurant, sat in my usual seat, and looked over the room like I always did. I, Victoria, had done this for a few years now.

Now that I think about it, this place has gotten quite busy over time.

My little brother had invited me to a luncheon earlier, which was why I was at the restaurant quite a while after midday. Still, it was a bit too early to begin drinking.

Back when I’d first successfully summoned the restaurant door on my own and started coming here, there weren’t many customers. It was usually just my master—he gets angry if you don’t call him Pork Loin Cutlet—sitting back, enjoying some ale. I’d quietly enjoyed my pudding à la mode on my own.

Lately, however, more customers visited at this time of day in search of specific menu items. As one of those very customers, I knew well why this time slot had gotten busier. Most of us who visited the restaurant around this time were here to eat the other world’s unique treats and desserts.

The other world’s sweets were far more refined than ours. In my world, we made treats from milk or water kneaded into flour and wheat, mixed with sugar, and baked. We had seasonal fruit, fruit soaked in honey or sugar, and balls of literally just honey.

However, the other world was completely different. Its desserts and snacks were beautiful and delicious.

I’d first discovered that for myself about ten years ago. At the time, I was traveling with my master on all sorts of adventures in pursuit of knowledge. This little restaurant in another world had been the last place we found ourselves. Over the following months, I’d spent my time eating every single treat this place offered, writing down a description of each item in the restaurant’s menu.

There were all sorts of people in the world, but I was fairly certain that I was the only one who’d actually eaten every sweet at the Restaurant to Another World. That was why I loved it when new customers visited around this time of day.

Today, I noticed a new comrade in the restaurant. The sound of bells filled the air, signifying their arrival.

“Well, well. What shall I order today?”

The new guest was a blonde woman clad in a red dress. She was likely from the Empire, judging by her height. She looked to be around my age, which meant she was actually probably close to twenty years younger than me.

I bet she’s only just come of age, I thought.

She was wearing a pretty dress that was, perhaps, a bit too simple for something worn in front of others. From the way she held herself, she was clearly nobility, not a commoner.

“Perhaps I’ll order another chocolate parfait,” she murmured. “But eating that three times in a row seems like a waste.”

The fact that this young woman was eyeing a chocolate parfait meant that she was here with the same purpose I was—sweets.

Glancing at the busy demon waitress, I spoke up. “Hey, you. Would you care to join me?”

As a Nekoya regular and a veteran customer, I saw nothing wrong with breaking the ice with a fellow visitor.

“Oh, I’d love to.” The girl raised her head from the menu and nodded before asking, “Um…and you are?”

“My name’s Victoria, but I’d be happy if you called me ‘Pudding’ here.”

I gave her both my real name and my name in the restaurant. I doubted that anybody remembered the name of the Duchy princess who hadn’t shown her face in public in some twenty years, but there was nothing wrong with playing it safe.

“Oh, my. Is that so? My name’s Adelheid. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Pudding.”

“Wait just a second.” I couldn’t help shaking my head internally at Adelheid’s introduction, since the young lady just so happened to be the imperial princess.

When it came to the Empire’s nobles, only one person was named Adelheid. Simply no aristocrats in that nation would dare name their daughter after the great Empire’s founding mother.

“Oh—is something wrong?”

“I’d advise you not to use your real name too often here. It’s kind of a rule that we all go by nicknames based on our favorite foods.” I did my best to teach her how to lay low.

“Is that so? You do that, too, Lady Pudding?”

“Yes. Pudding is the most delicious treat on the menu.”

“Wow! I had no idea.” The imperial princess nodded and furrowed her brow, looking taken aback and somewhat dissatisfied.

“With that in mind, what will you choose to call yourself?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t that be obvious? ‘Chocolate Parfait’! It’s so very delicious.”

I see.

“In that case, you should cut it down to just ‘Parfait,’” I explained further to the somewhat puzzled imperial princess. “This restaurant serves all kinds of parfaits. Chocolate is just one of many.”

“Oh—you’re right.” The princess thought for a moment before nodding. “‘Parfait’ it is, then!”

Parfaits were prone to falling apart and melting very quickly, so they weren’t available for take-out. The great thing about them was that, by adjusting a parfait’s ingredients, one could turn it into something else entirely.

In some ways, my beloved pudding à la mode was actually a type of parfait. At least, that was what the master had once told me.

So, this is the princess’s third time here.

According to what Parfait had said, she’d eaten chocolate parfaits during her first two trips here. In other words, she didn’t know the joy that was pudding and custard. Sure, chocolate parfaits were delicious, but they didn’t have pudding or custard in them.

I grabbed a menu and opened it for Parfait. “Here’s the menu. From here to here are all the parfaits.”

“I know. I was stunned to find out that there were so many different kinds.”

She’d apparently struggled with choice during her last visit.

“If you’ve had a chocolate parfait before, I recommend this pudding parfait.” I urged the princess to try what I believed to be the most delicious of parfaits.

“Oh, I see. Then I’ll have that today!”

Once Parfait nodded, I called over the demon waitress the restaurant had recently hired.

“Yes? How can I help you?” she asked.

“We’d like to order now.” I decided to take a day off from pudding à la mode and have a pudding parfait as well. “Two pudding parfaits, please.”

“That’s two pudding parfaits? Got it. Hang tight.” The demon waitress returned to the kitchen.

“What kind of dessert is it?” the princess asked.

“It’s a parfait made from pudding, a kind of egg-based dessert. It’s very good.”

“Egg-based? Oh, my. I’ve never had something like that before. I can’t wait to try it!”

After I explained the parfait to the princess, the two of us chatted peacefully for a bit. A few moments passed.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Two pudding parfaits.”

The demon waitress placed two large glasses in front of us. Today’s objective.

“Oh, my. This is…” The shining yellow-and-brown pudding made Parfait’s eyes sparkle.

I nodded at her. “Pudding, yes.”

The main ingredient in a pudding parfait, just like pudding à la mode, was pudding. All kinds of delicious treats were stuffed into the beautiful parfait glass. Unlike the pudding à la mode, the pudding parfait didn’t include anything cold or frozen, so I made a point of ordering it during the winter as well.

The pudding parfait was as beautiful as the pudding à la mode, but in a different way. Above the yellow pudding and white whipped cream, a host of different colors were layered atop one another.

“Shall we eat?”

“Yes!”

There was no reason to hold back. The two of us picked up our long parfait spoons simultaneously and began eating.

I took a spoonful of the beautiful whipped cream decorating the top of the parfait and brought it to my mouth. As the fluffy cream melted, I tasted milk. It was perfectly sweet, causing me to smile.

I kept attacking the cream surrounding the pudding. I was the type who liked to start from the outside and work my way in. I dug into the white whipped cream and then attacked the banana slices and otherworldly strawberries decorating the parfait’s border.

In the center of their sweetness, the boiled berries tasted slightly sour. The cream was sugary, and the fresh bananas were ripe. They were all delicious, and they went particularly well with custard.

They were basically garnishes on the main dish, but I was quite fond of them nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Parfait began to devour the pudding straightaway. “Oh, my. So, this is pudding? It looks so soft and smooth…and delicious.”

With each spoonful, the princess’s beautiful pudding collapsed further. As I watched her eat, I found myself craving a spoonful of pudding as well, but I held myself back and focused on the fruit and whipped cream.

Once they were gone, I finally made my way to the smooth, soft pudding, which jiggled on my spoon. I made sure to get some caramel atop it as well and then enjoyed the first bite. That was how I always did things.

Mmm. Delicious as always.

I couldn’t help being charmed by the perfection that was pudding. However many times I ate it, its flavor impressed me. My hand sped up, and soon the pudding at the top of the parfait began to collapse.

Meanwhile, Parfait had moved on from the pudding and was enjoying the rich flavors of the fruit and whipped cream.

“Oh, my. Are these candied fruits?” she asked. “They go so well with the cream.”

She looked utterly charmed by their deliciousness. Satisfied by that sight, I finished off my first pudding of the day.

Now that the two of us had eaten the parfait’s upper layers, we finally moved on to the stuff hidden at the bottom of the glass.

Parfait didn’t appear familiar with the sponge cake below the pudding and cream.

“Oh, what’s this at the bottom? Bread of some sort?” She poked at the pudding-colored cake curiously.

“Ah, this is sponge cake. It basically serves as the base for tons of baked pastries called ‘cakes.’” I gave Parfait a quick primer and then turned my attention back to the cake.

At first glance, sponge cake looked like regular bread, but it was actually completely different. By itself, it was a positively delicious pastry. Since it wasn’t overly sweet, it served as the perfect follow-up to pudding. You didn’t see it used much in parfaits with ice cream, because it got wet and soggy.

“It’s soft and completely different from bread. How scrumptious!”

It looked as if Parfait was already quite fond of it. She dug a hole in the sponge cake with her spoon, only to spot something.

“Oh, my. Is this cream? But it’s a bit yellow.”

“Judging by the color, there must be lemon mixed in. That’s why it’s yellow.”

Whipped cream was so soft and light that it went well with all kinds of things. For example, you could pair it with very sour fruit, uniquely bitter chocolate, or even coffee. It didn’t overpower them, but rather, made them sweeter and easier to eat.

In the pudding parfait’s case, the master placed whipped cream combined with fruit beneath the sponge cake. Which fruit he used differed based on the season, so the taste wound up being something of a surprise.

“Wow!” Parfait exclaimed. “Just from adding a bit of sourness, the cream’s flavor stands out even more! It’s completely different!”

Since first coming to this restaurant, I’d learned that mixing something bitter or sour into something sweet could emphasize the latter much more strongly. By itself, a lemon was sour and not sweet in the slightest. But combine its skin and pulp with cream and suddenly it was a perfect little treat.

Judging by the speed of Parfait’s hands, she seemed to have taken to this great taste. “Oh, my! Is this chocolate now?”

“Not quite.”

Underneath the lemon cream was a layer of gorgeous-looking chocolate—but not actually. The thing in question definitely resembled chocolate but was a bit brighter in color.

“Is that so?”

“Indeed. This is chocolate custard.” That was right. It was a cream made of chocolate and the custard used in pudding.

“This is a little different from regular chocolate, but it’s quite good,” I explained to Parfait.

I took a bite of chocolate custard. The chocolate’s bitter flavor mixed with the smooth custard’s sweet taste. It gently caressed my tongue.

Parfait was also enjoying the flavor in her own way, her eyes narrowed. She smiled. As her spoon continued to delve in, she stumbled upon the final excitement of the day.

“Oh, my. Is this…pudding?”

“Exactly. This is milk pudding made with cream.”

The pudding parfait’s final layer, milk pudding, was the second bit of pudding in the dish. It was whiter than custard pudding and so soft that it was incapable of holding its form anywhere but the bottom of the parfait glass.

The rich milk flavor was perfect to close out the pudding parfait. It wasn’t overly sweet, which helped soothe one’s mouth after indulging in chocolate custard. In fact, it was because the milk pudding came after the cloying chocolate custard that it shone so brightly.

“Oh, my! I can’t believe there’s even cream pudding! It’s so much softer than the custard pudding on top. How delightful.”

I listened to Parfait as I very seriously indulged in the final spoonful of my dessert. The remnants of the chocolate custard above mixed with the milk pudding.

Eaten on its own, the milk pudding would’ve been a bit too thin to be satisfying. However, that very lightness was welcome after eating the pudding parfait. The custard pudding in pudding à la mode was delicious, but this milk pudding was something else entirely.

The two of us finished our parfaits around the same time and put our spoons down, satisfied.

Instead of offering my opinion of the parfait, I simply sighed out my feelings. “Delicious.”

I didn’t normally talk to myself, but today, I wasn’t alone. Someone was here with me to share in this wonderful pudding experience.

Parfait spoke up, almost as if responding. “Indeed. That was delightful. Enjoying it after it mixes with the fruit juice…eating it with pudding…there are all sorts of ways to enjoy the whipped cream.”

I couldn’t let that go.

“Remember, pudding and custard are the pudding parfait’s main ingredients,” I corrected the girl—er, Parfait. “Whipped cream is just an extra.”

Yes, whipped cream was delicious, but it wasn’t the star. It couldn’t be.

“That’s not true at all,” Parfait replied without missing a beat. “Why, yes, custard and pudding are both wonderful. Still, the cream’s light sweetness, and the way that it gently melts in your mouth, are unsurpassed.”

I immediately stared at her. It looked as though she refused to back down as well, her own fierce glare directed right back at me.

Custard was better than cream. That was a clear truth of this world, yet Parfait refused to acknowledge it. I couldn’t help but get a little frustrated.

Fine. As a mage who’s dedicated her life to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom, I quite like debating others.

I decided to explain in great detail to the young girl why custard won out over whipped cream in all respects. Parfait didn’t appear willing to surrender her belief in cream’s superiority, but that was all right. I’d make her throw in the towel eventually.

Our fierce argument over which was better went on until the evening.

“It’s about time to part ways. Let’s revisit this when next we meet,” Parfait said as she left, her stride a bit frenzied.

In her hands were the parting gifts I’d bought for her: two fruit sandwiches—one made with cream, the other custard—so that she could compare them.

“You should try these sandwiches and then get back to me about which is more delicious,” I’d told her.

If she ate them, even that young girl should realize which was superior. That’d be the fastest way to teach the stubborn little one about the joys of take-out pudding.

“Now then.”

Satisfied with the future lurking over the horizon, I decided to head back myself. I’d spent far too much time in fierce debate today, and it was already almost evening. I took my pudding as usual and made my way toward the exit.

“Hrm. Things have been quite interesting here lately.”

Before I reached the door, my master—who’d been watching us this whole time, drinking his ale—spoke up with a smile on his face.

“Well, that was sudden, Mast…Pork Loin Cutlet.”

“Oh, don’t mind me! I was just thinking about the old days.” He narrowed his eyes in thought. “Hey, Pudding, which is better? Croquettes or mincemeat cutlets?”

“Excuse me?”

Master’s random question puzzled me. I’d had both dishes, and they were delicious, but I’d never given much thought to which was better.

“Not that it matters. Pork loin cutlet is obviously best.” Master sipped his beer, seeming to care little for my opinion. “Now, now. Time to go home. Going forward, I imagine that you and that young lady may see quite a bit of each other.”

“Hmm.” I tilted my head in response, opened the restaurant door, and returned to my own room.

Seven days later, the young girl, Parfait, once again visited Nekoya, gracefully sat at my table, and immediately offered me her unbelievable conclusion.

“After eating both sandwiches, I still believe cream to be the most delicious.”