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Flora’s anger was simple to understand.

After all the effort put into her gift, to hear comments like ‘It’s not that it tastes bad, but it’s just so-so’ was infuriating.

It was all because Gordon added pointless remarks.

Given such a reaction to a carefully prepared gift, it was only natural for anyone, not just Flora, to be angry.

Anyway, Flora was firmly stewing inside.

While they had bickered over trivial matters before, this time it was unforgivable. But contrary to the whims of this Dryad…

“Pororoorong—♪♬♪♩”

Her body and taste buds were utterly unimpressive.

Flora, aged under one year, had fallen for Karem’s chocolate creation (name undecided).

“How could I not eat something made from the items you recommended? It seems to sit well with your heart.”

“Porong! Pororong—! Porong-♪♬!”

Flora continued to chirp away.

Yet her expression, gestures, movements, and nuances all conveyed a deep satisfaction.

“By the way, the current portions are for you, Flora. This is all that’s left for now.”

“….!”

“If only there were more of those heart fruits someone gave as a gift, we could make loads—”

Pororoorong!

Flora, who had been frozen in shock, took off towards the heart fruit tree (tentative name) in the distance with a grand expression before I could even finish my sentence.

“Hmm. I’m relieved she’s calmed down.”

Gordon, watching this in a bit of a daze, checked the object in his hand.

It was a medium brown color, neither bright nor dark, and a flat circular solid about the size of a thumb.

“Did adding a bit of milk to sugar really change the taste this much?”

“What’s most important in dessert?”

“Well, isn’t it butter and sugar?”

“Something like that. But not just butter, milk products in general.”

Karem answered nonchalantly, twisting the metal tray he was holding slightly.

Clang! The chocolate that had solidified on the tray popped off, and he quickly poured it into a bowl, refilling the empty tray with chocolate from a piping bag.

“More importantly, Flora got angry?”

“Yeah. She sometimes complains, but this time it was a real headache.”

“What on Earth did you do?”

“Wait, are you doubting me from the get-go?”

“If a sweet and lively half-year-old that resembles Alicia gets angry, it’s clear who the cause is without needing to look.”

At Karem’s pointed gaze, Gordon shrugged despite catching a piece of chocolate that had ricocheted off into the air.

“I concede. You’re absolutely right. But this stuff is really addictive.”

“So, what exactly did you do?”

“I just critiqued the taste of the fruit. When I said I didn’t like it, she puffed up her cheeks and stormed off.”

When it came to preferences, Karem also leaned a bit toward disliking the taste of the heart fruit.

‘Who enjoys the taste of pure cocoa without sugar or milk?’

While it had a faint sweetness and a strangely addictive aroma, it was too overpowering to simply like.

Yet, there was still a strange compulsion to keep reaching for it.

“So where did this fruit even come from?”

“Huh? What do you mean, where did it come from?”

“I’ve never heard of Corvus starting to grow new crops.”

If he had, Alicia, with her wide social circle, would’ve rushed over for some tasty treats.

That meant it must have sprouted during the cooldown period.

With Gordon unlikely to be behind it, the culprit could only be one.

“Flora made it, right? Or should I say made it grow since it’s a fruit?”

“I thought she was just playing in the mud, but suddenly a tree seemed to grow as if decades had passed right in front of me. Over there.”

Was he implying to take a look? Gordon pointed to a corner of the area.

From a distance, there was a vibrant, strong-looking unfamiliar tree (Flora was tapping on its trunk) growing in the middle of the grassy area.

It was clearly unnatural.

“So, this fruit is…?”

“Yeah. That tree over there.”

“But is that really okay?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Gordon’s face bore confusion as if he hadn’t the slightest idea what the problem was. And honestly, it was a valid reaction.

“The greenhouse. The areas are divided strictly by environment and ecology.”

“Exactly. Spring, summer, fall, and winter, all in one spot. Ah.”

“Is it really fine that a tree like that exists in a grassy area that was purely home to creatures living there?”

“…Are we supposed to uproot it and plant it elsewhere?”

“No, before that, is it even okay to uproot it?”

“Well, I guess I’d have to check with Corvus or Flora.”

“Speaking of which, the culprit is approaching.”

This time, when Flora came back, she was different from how she had been before.

Specifically…

Fwahwahwahwa-!!!

Dozens of heart fruits were all tangled up in a web of vines, racing towards Flora with eight vine legs like a spider.

“Ugh, gross!?”

“Certainly doesn’t look pleasant.”

“Is that all you have to say about it?”

“You should try being a mercenary sometimes. That’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“If that’s what being a mercenary is, I absolutely don’t want any part in it.”

Of course, Karem had survived by eating wild bugs.

But that didn’t mean he was fond of bugs.

Instinctual survival and visceral disgust couldn’t be helped.

“Pororong-!!!”

“Whoa… She brought back a lot.”

Karem instinctively took a step back.

“Pororong?”

Flora tilted her head, puzzled about why he reacted that way.

She then moved the vine web to a corner of the outdoor kitchen and sat down on the floor.

Only after the vines that had formed her legs returned to a net could Karem finally confirm the amount.

“Wait, you want all of this to make that stuff we ate earlier?”

Looking at it as if questioning if all of this was really necessary, Flora nodded repeatedly with a blissful expression mimicking majesty.

“It’s not particularly difficult.”

“Pororong-!”

“Are you planning to eat all of this right now?”

“Porong?”

“Not that. If it’s just the fruits, that’s fine. But this has a ton of sugar in it. Then…”

As Karem began to voice his concerns, he hesitated.

“Put on weight?”

Given Flora’s tendency to dash around the greenhouse and climb trees, it was hard to picture her gaining weight.

“Get in trouble?”

If eating got her in trouble, Alicia would’ve been in trouble ages ago.

Let alone if she ballooned up like Godwin.

“Pororong?”

“…No. Never mind. Just eat. Eat.”

“Porong!”

Karem quickly poured the rapidly solidified chocolate substitute into bowls for the couple and sighed at the numerous fruits contained in the vine web.

“That’s a staggering amount.”

The only silver lining was how, compared to real chocolate, this was astonishingly easy to make.

Usually, if a regular person tried making chocolate, they’d just end up mixing and solidifying some commercial product, but that commercial chocolate requires dozens of steps of blending and processing.

You needed facilities manned by experts and professionals—seriously.

Yet making chocolate from heart fruits required none of that.

The buttery texture melted in a double boiler, and with only the addition of cream and sugar, astonishingly, liquid chocolate was ready in no time.

Rapidly freezing this with divine power meant no refrigeration was needed. It didn’t take too long either.

The problem was the sheer number of heart fruits brought back—dozens.

“I don’t even care. Let’s just make it and see what happens. Gordon.”

“What? You want me to bring more sugar and cream?”

“Please.”

Karem watched Flora, who was devouring the chocolate.

Unlike a moment ago, she seemed to be savoring it slowly, and the amount in her bowl didn’t seem to diminish much.

But her face was much redder than before.

Is she excited? Just how much does she love chocolate?

Watching her made him want to eat some, too.

“I’ll just have one.”

“Porong.”

Karem picked up a piece of chocolate.

Immediately upon putting it in his mouth, he felt neither a particular taste nor scent.

It was due to the rapid freezing.

Gliding—

But as he began working on it, it slowly melted, bringing back the nostalgic taste of chocolate from his previous life.

It was smooth, sweet, but with a bitter aftertaste.

Thanks to the generous amount of high-quality cream, it didn’t feel dense at all.

“Mmm… It’s been a while, but one is definitely enough.”

“Porong?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

Chocolate was certainly a delicious thing, but Karem leaned more towards desserts made with it rather than chocolate itself.

Choco pie, chocolate crepe cake, molten lava cake, Nutella toast, chocolate pudding, brownie, you name it.

But there was one significant problem.

It was a very serious problem.

“’I don’t know most of the recipes…’”

Karem sighed inwardly as he put liquid chocolate into a piping bag.

In his previous life, there was never an issue.

After all, he had the money and time, so he just bought it.

The problem was that this was not his previous life.

Moreover, this was the first time Karem encountered anything like these heart fruits.

Had he known he’d be reincarnated here, he would have self-studied or gone to a pastry academy to memorize at least some recipes.

Choco pie, chocolate pudding, chocolate crepe cake, Nutella, chocolate fondue.

All chocolates he could make and knew how, or at least used to.

Wait, hold on.

Karem paused while piping chocolate onto the tray, deep in thought.

“What if I ask Mary for help? Surely, she could whip something up.”

She had enough skill to make cream puffs just from having glanced at pastry techniques from Karem’s past life.

To be honest, if they provided the ingredients and went through a bit of trial and error, she’d probably whip up any of the previously considered chocolate desserts she wanted to eat.

Actually, it was certain she would.

“Ah, Flora, could you keep this a secret for a little while?”

“Pororong? Porong.”

Nod—head tilt?

“Those fruits. You gave them to Gordon, right? I also want to gift someone, so it wouldn’t be fun if they knew beforehand.”

Flora blinked slowly, munching on chocolate, and suddenly, her face flushed even more as she grinned slyly.

As if she could tell perfectly well what he was hinting at.

“The way you’re looking at me right now is strange. Anyway, let’s keep this just between us greenhouses for now.”

“Pororong. Pororong?”

“Um… Until the coming-of-age ceremony is over. Just a few days is all I need you to keep it secret.”

Gordon notwithstanding, Flora’s reaction seemed successful, but it wasn’t enough to stop there. To surprise Catherine, even more variables were needed.

Only two days remained until the coming-of-age ceremony.

That was plenty of time to recreate chocolate from his past life.

“Porong Porong?!”

With huge jars and bags in both hands, Gordon approached them.

Thud—thump—

“Here, I’ll put this down, so help yourself.”

“Thank you. I’m just picking up the feel for things a bit here.”

“Is it just a dad thing?”

“…It’s different from that, but yeah.”

While he might not be able to distinguish every meaning, the way Flora chirped and moved definitely conveyed something.

“Though you can manage to understand a bit too, can’t you?”

“Hey, I’ve spent how long with her? Not understanding would be more strange. But enough about that—are you making good progress?”

“Right. It’s a bit tedious since it’s repetitive work.”

Cut the heart fruits in half, double boil, mix the ingredients.

Put them in piping bags and freeze with divine power—such simple, repetitive work.

“Ah, but the cream you’re using is the last of it.”

“Is that jar filled with milk?”

“I brought it since it’s similar, but…”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Really?”

Gordon crossed his arms and stared blankly at Karem, who felt that gaze and turned away.

“So. Our beloved little genius baker.”

He grinned mischievously.

“Pray tell, just who is the recipient of these new confections you are laboring away for?”

“…I didn’t say anything!”

“No way! Who do you think I am?”

“….”

While making chocolate substitutes from all the heart fruits, preparing a gift with Flora’s cooperation, getting permission from Corvus to utilize the area—

And the teasing continued until Karem darted off from the greenhouse when it was time.

“Hmmm. As this Swordmaster has a nose for things, we’re one decisive blow away now—”

“Pororong—♡”

“Huh? What? You finished all of it already? Huh? Why is your arm on your chest—”

“Porororoorong~!!!”

“Ah, wait, where are you dragging me… hang on, that cry sounded a bit odd—”

 

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