Chapter 91
The principle behind deep-fried ice cream is fairly simple.
Ice cream frozen solid.
Batter to serve as insulation.
Oil heated to around 200°C, hot enough to fry only the batter in a split second.
“So the inside stays ice cream while the outside turns into fried bread?”
If you were hearing it for the first time, the principle did sound impossible.
Even young Akion had wondered whether it was possible, but once he learned the principle, he understood with an, ‘Ah~.’
“Yes. You only fry it for a moment. About ten to fifteen seconds.”
“Ah, so only the outside gets fried, and the heat won't reach the ice cream inside…?”
“I never thought something like that could be done….”
And honestly, who would think of frying ice cream?
They'd even curse you in this medieval romantasy for thinking of melting such precious ice cream!
“Rather than just talking about it, shall we go make some and try it ourselves?”
Akion had even made deep-fried ice cream himself in his previous life.
Since he had cut ties with his family and lived alone, whenever he took a vacation and couldn't go to the lab, he had to pass the time by doing things like this.
“I know how to make it.”
“Young Master's deep-fried ice cream…!”
“I never knew Young Master Akion could cook… Hehe, this should be interesting.”
There was no helping it now.
“Don't be shocked when you eat it.”
He had no choice but to show off his outstanding cooking skills as a bachelor!
* * *
“Is this the fried thing?”
“No….”
Akion finally gave up on that dream after wasting thirty percent of the ice cream they had on hand.
The remains of what had once been ice cream or batter sprawled across his tray and were now threatening to form a mountain.
“Young Master, step outside.”
“Ugh.”
The moment the Empire discovered the one thing Akion was worst at.
Akion had to retreat from the fryer in sorrow.
“Hmm. Now that I roughly understand the principle….”
The one fortunate thing was that everyone watching had at least figured out how to make it,
and every one of them was a better cook than Akion.
“Goldie has worked in a kitchen before, too!”
Goldie was the first to step forward.
As an employee of the Enerysis family, she had gone in and out of kitchens often enough.
“Hiyah! Hiyah!”
Goldie had learned all the basics of cooking.
Something as simple as deep-fried ice cream was no different from drinking a glass of milk to her!
- Ghurrrgh….
“W-wow….”
Of course, even Goldie sometimes choked while drinking milk.
While Goldie despaired over the deep-fried ice cream—or rather, what had once been deep-fried ice cream—with bread that had held its shape but ice cream inside that had melted into a puddle….
“Hmm, I suppose it's my turn.”
“Saintess, you know how to cook too?”
The Saintess rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward.
“Of course! Do you know how many pots of soup I boiled for the children at the orphanage?”
The Saintess, who showed compassion to the poor.
She had also given generously by traveling between orphanages and slums and running soup kitchens.
Whenever that happened, she had been unable to refuse their fervent pleas and ended up taking on the role of personally cooking the soup.
- Sssizzle~!
“Oh, you seem pretty good at this.”
“Her wrist movements are no ordinary thing…!”
Her skill with cooking utensils was extraordinary, and it had raised the expectations of countless people.
And then,
- Ghurrrrgh….
she completed something whose fried coating and ice cream had both absorbed far too much oil and turned soft and floppy.
“It's done! Here, I'll taste it fir─ Aaargh?! A lump of grease!”
“…….”
“That's strange. The poor were always so happy and said it was delicious….”
But when you thought about it, people who could barely eat properly and regularly went two or three days without food would have been grateful for anything.
To them, the soup the Saintess made would have been a blessing whether it tasted good or bad.
Then the next contestant ought to step up.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Why me….”
The Tower Master and Flare shook their heads at Akion's gaze and refused.
The reason was quite simple.
“I have never stood in a kitchen.”
“Ah.”
“Neither have I.”
“Ah….”
They had never had any reason to set foot in a kitchen in the first place.
The Tower Master was a dragon who had spent the past thousand years shaping the Empire and devoting herself to magical research,
while Flare, as the Seventh Imperial Princess, had never once entered a kitchen to cook.
Then the only person left was….
“M-me?”
Aysirel!
“Why?! I-I have never properly cooked before!”
“So that means you've done it somewhere like the wilds.”
“Ugh, if you count that, then I have cooked before!”
Akion couldn't be the only one who failed this spectacularly.
Unless it was a case like Goldie and the Saintess failing, or the Tower Master and Flare submitting to his will… there was no way anyone could be worse at cooking than him!!
“Big Sis.”
“Why are you suddenly calling me Big Sis?!”
“I want to eat fried food made by Big Sis.”
─That was a joke, though. He was actually curious about how good Aysirel was at cooking.
So Akion even used the treasured title of ‘Big Sis’ to ask Aysirel for help,
“Ugh… Fine. I get it, okay!”
“Heh heh heh. What an easy woman.”
and Aysirel reluctantly agreed.
“I told you, Young Master is such a fox.”
“Why me?”
“What else could seducing Aysirel with actions she likes be if not fox behavior?”
“Um, Young Master? Could you perhaps call me Big Sis too─.”
“Your Highness the Princess and I are the same age….”
Of course, his fox behavior earned him a scolding from everyone around him.
“Ugh….”
And so the cooking utensils ended up in Aysirel's hands.
More precisely, she only had a frying skimmer. But anyway.
- Press, press.
- Shhhhhhh….
With her callused hands, she coated the frozen ice cream in batter.
She then lightly froze the battered ice cream once more with freezing magic,
- Plop!
- Sssizzleeeee!
and fried it for a short ten to fifteen seconds.
The control itself was not easy, so this was hardly a simple dish.
Recalling the many portions he had made in his previous life, Akion watched Aysirel concentrate with a serious expression.
“Now!”
- Swoosh!
And what Aysirel produced with her master-level concentration was….
- Crunch, crunch.
“Oh.”
Perfectly fried ice cream, with a crisp, well-cooked exterior!
“My word, what an excellent coating…!”
Each time Scarlett scraped it with a bread knife, the crispy sound of the fried ice cream coating tickled their ears.
“It is magnificent, Lady Aysirel!”
“Ahaha….”
When you looked at it objectively, wasn't this the first proper result they had achieved?
Aysirel grew bashful as admiring gazes gathered around her.
“Big Sis… No, Sis, you're amazing.”
“I was just lucky.”
“No, really. It's difficult to cook the outside this crisp without melting the inside. Look.”
- Crisp! Sliiide….
When Akion cut into the crispy exterior with a bread knife, perfectly unmelted ice cream revealed itself inside.
- Gulp….
Crispy outer bread generously coated with sugar, with sweet, richly milky ice cream inside?
Even Akion found it difficult to resist.
“May I try it first?”
“Of course, Young Master.”
Since everyone had gathered around with such expectant gazes….
Akion decided to take the opportunity and taste it first.
- Crunch!
- Gush…!
The firm, hot exterior crunched between his teeth, bringing out the sweetness of the bread,
while the cold ice cream inside flowed out and heightened the flavor to its fullest.
“Hwaaa.”
The bread was hot enough to make his mouth open on its own, but the ice cream cooled it down and created an incredible harmony.
“It's delicious…!”
“R-really?”
It was seriously so delicious that the moment Aysirel asked, Akion nodded his head vigorously.
It was so unbelievably delicious that he didn't even think of the deep-fried ice cream he had burned to a crisp every time in his previous life.
“G-Goldie can't hold back anymore!! Waaaah!!!”
Unable to stand it after seeing that reaction, Goldie was the first to grab a piece, and everyone else followed suit, picking up Aysirel's deep-fried ice cream and swallowing it down.
“Oho, this is something else… It goes together in a strangely pleasing way.”
“Ah… Could this be a blessing bestowed by the Heavenly Lord?”
“Mmph, mmph! This is really delicious. Should I mention it to the imperial family…?’
And everyone praised it.
Even the other ladies, who had been hissing with a touch of envy, were won over by how perfectly it fit their mouths!
“You could sell this.”
“It's not quite that good. Ahaha….”
Akion praised it without holding back to that extent,
and Aysirel, who lately had been unable to do much for Akion beyond serving as his bodyguard, began to feel fulfilled.
“Lady Scarlett.”
“Yes, Lady Aysirel.”
“If you don't mind… could I borrow this kitchen and cook for Akion?”
She had also realized through this opportunity that she possessed rather delicate hands.
Scarlett Montblanche smiled warmly as she watched Aysirel grow nervous and bashful.
“It is love.”
“N-no, it isn't.”
She could deny it all she wanted, but it was written all over her face.
Scarlett caught a glimpse of the makings of a devoted wife in Aysirel.
“Lady Scarlett?”
“Hmm?”
“You should seize this opportunity and make absolutely certain you catch your chance.”
“I don't know what you're talking about. Ahem. Akion and I are engaged….”
As a young lady in love, Scarlett couldn't help but cheer her on.
“No, Lady Aysirel. Men are all nothing more than male beasts who turn their eyes away when other women come wagging their tails at them.”
“L-Lady Scarlett?”
“So you have to grab him tight and shake him so he can never run away again!! Do you understand?!”
“I understand, so please calm down!!”
There was rather a lot of personal feeling and resentment mixed into that advice, but anyway.
*
In the middle of wrapping things up, Akion asked Aysirel to make some more fried ice cream.
The reason was,
“Huh, this is for us…?”
that he wanted to look after the people in the lab as well.
What he had realized while thinking about the evil professor this time was that, at the very least, that professor had never ground people down as if he were trying to kill them.
“Big Sis, you should eat some too.”
“C-can we really eat this? You won't get angry if we take a break from research for a little while… right?”
“Could lowly research slaves like us really eat something this precious…?”
“Stop tormenting us and just eat….”
It was only that the sheer amount and difficulty of the assignments had been absolutely god-awful, forcing them to grind themselves down.
The evil professor had let his small and precious graduate students off when there were no assignments.
- Crunch!
It was ironic that, from his previous life until now, there had never been a professor as good as that evil professor,
but in other words, that evil professor had been that good of a professor.
Of course, whenever he decided to grind people down, he ground them down with ruthless determination. But anyway.
“U-urgh, hnnnnngh.”
“Wiiing….”
“Is it really so delicious that you're crying…?”
So Akion decided that he must not become a bad professor.
Above all, since he had been grinding himself down in an effort to lead by example, hadn't he only made the people around him worry?
“And starting today, you get weekends off.”
“What is a weekend?”
“Mmph, we just come in every day, right…? We are Akion's research slaves, after all. Hehe….”
“I feel bad, so just go inside and rest….”
And no matter how much his sisters had tormented him, he had never imagined that they would become this broken.
Akion hurriedly switched into full pampering mode and sent his graduate students home.
“What about me?”
“You're just my slave─ Aaargh, I'm joking!!”
Akion himself also resolved to bring back the leisure he had decided to reclaim before.
And then, faced with this sudden free time all to himself….
“So what do I do now?”
he was confused about how to use it.
When he thought about it, aside from YouTube, eating, and a little cooking, his life in his previous world had been rather grueling.
Whenever he had free time on a day off, he searched for papers and patents that might help with his research,
or went to the lab for no reason to check whether the long-term experiments were proceeding properly, and so on.
“What? Akion, have you never actually had fun?”
“Big Brother, as if I could ever have done something like that.”
“……That's true.”
Even here, all he had done was get dragged along whenever the others suggested going somewhere or having fun somewhere.
It had been the same in his previous life, and in this life, he had stayed cooped up at home under his family's watch until he developed the incandescent light bulb.
After developing the incandescent bulb, he had stayed in the lab every day unless someone dragged him out!
So Juan suddenly felt a little guilty about Akion.
“Akion. Since things have turned out this way, how about going somewhere? I'll introduce you to a woman.”
So Juan decided to fulfill a request someone had made of him earlier.
Akion deserved to have a springtime of his own, didn't he?
- Zap!
Though it seemed that springtime had arrived four times… No, four separate times. But anyway.
Juan deliberately ignored the four pairs of eyes glaring at him and suggested that Akion go on a blind date.
“A woman?”
“Yeah.”
“Me? Why?”
“I'll give up the title of Count and recommend you instead.”
“Graaagh.”
And no matter how much of a power behind the throne Akion was, Juan was still the next Count.
As the person who would represent the family, he needed to take out insurance against the possibility of something happening.
“It won't hurt you. She's someone you know, too. Goldie!”
“Tsk, yes. Let's go.”
Thus, Goldie forcibly dressed Akion up, and he shuffled out into the lodging-house corridor,
“A-are you ready?”
“…….”
where the Tower Master appeared, dressed prettily… or rather, somewhat provocatively.
Wondering if this was what Juan had meant by introducing him to a woman, Akion turned around to look at Juan,
- Rat-a-tat-tat!!
but Juan had already fled far away.
“I-I have nothing to do with this!!”
Apparently, he had been unable to withstand the dragon's threats and had passed the job off under the pretext of introducing Akion to a woman.
When Akion turned forward again….
“Ahem, how do I look? I hear this is the fashion trending among young ladies around my age.”
The Tower Master had asked him what he thought of her.
Akion swallowed the blunt facts about why the Dongtan look existed and was trendy, as well as whether the Tower Master even had peers her age,
and carefully considered how he should answer.
After wracking the experience of several decades, including his previous life, he finally found the answer.
“You're pretty. Really.”
Honestly, there was nothing else he could say.
It wasn't as though he could call it inappropriate. She really was pretty.
“Ugh.”
The Tower Master's face reddened so much that he couldn't tell whether it was the right answer or the wrong one,
“D-don't say things you don't mean!”
- Swish, swish, swish!
‘She likes it.’
Judging by how violently the Tower Master's tail was wagging, she seemed extremely satisfied.
“Ahem, let us go. You are to accompany me today.”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
As the Tower Master led the way, Akion recalled what Juan had told him before they left.
“Grab her hand first.”
“Why?”
“It's a date. A date with a woman who likes you! She's practically handing herself to you, so are you really going to put up a wall?”
“I don't even know whether she likes me─.”
“Anyway, you grab her hand first!!!”
It was advice from Juan, who had seduced dozens of women and lived through it all without any major trouble.
At the very least, he knew dozens of times more about women than Akion did,
“Tower Master.”
“Hmm?”
- Clasp~!
“Let's walk like this.”
“Huh?!”
Akion took her hand first.
So the Tower Master….
- Swishswishswishswish!!
“Whoa.”
proved that she could replace a large fan with nothing but her tail.
In other words, she was extremely happy.
“W-well, if you want to, I suppose I can't refuse.”
Akion felt something tickling in his chest, something or other, but,
“Yep, let's go.”
it was still the beginning of a fairly pleasant date.