Upstart Pastry Chef - Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The Chocolates of Roses and Crowns

Slipping out of the party venue, I headed toward the washroom to relieve myself.

That was when I overheard a conversation between two men who had gotten there before me.

"That Arnoldt brat really pulled it off."

"He managed to sweet-talk Duke Lenaril into giving him a huge promotion to Baron."

"Call him a go-getter all you want, but she's just a naive little lady who knows nothing about men. I should've just pushed my luck and bedded her myself."

"No kidding. Having some kid who acts like a male prostitute ranked as our equal... I can't stomach it."

The men laughed.

I stayed hidden in the shadows.

I remembered the faces and names of the two men badmouthing Duke Lenaril. They were the Viscount and the prospective Count who had just greeted me earlier.

...So that was how people viewed Duke Lenaril.

Duke Lenaril was capable and had a proven track record. Yet, simply because she was a beautiful young girl, she couldn't escape such slander.

And my own refined appearance was likely one of the causes feeding their ugly speculation.

Stepping out right now to demand a retraction wouldn't accomplish anything.

People like that would only offer apologies with their lips while laughing at you in their hearts.

The only thing I could do was become a splendid Baron and prove through my accomplishments that Duke Lenaril possessed an eye for talent.

"Looks like I have another reason why I can't afford to fail making sweets for the Royal Family."

Duke Lenaril must have known she would face slander like this.

Even so, she recommended me for the title of Baron.

To live up to her trust, failure was not an option.

I had to work even harder.

◇

The party came to an end.

I was mentally exhausted.

After all, given the status of the people I was speaking with, I couldn't afford to say the wrong thing.

On top of that, such influential figures approached me one after another.

Since it would be impolite not to remember everyone's name and title, I had to desperately memorize their faces and names. I was tired enough to want to collapse face-first onto a bed right then and there.

"Did you enjoy your baptism into nobility?"

"Yes, it was an experience I'll never forget for the rest of my life."

"Fufu, opportunities like this will only increase from now on. You had better get used to it quickly. Starting tomorrow, we'll be making calls on the nobles we need to greet. We won't be meeting as many people as today, so you can breathe a bit easier."

For the next week before heading to the Royal Capital, it would be nothing but greeting rounds.

We needed to personally visit the nobles who couldn't leave their territories under any circumstances, as well as those who were deeply connected to Duke Lenaril even if they weren't part of her faction.

It was a hassle, but it was a necessary step toward becoming a Baron.

"Duke Lenaril, could you spare about thirty minutes of your time before we depart? I would like to use the garden."

"I don't mind that much, but why?"

"That is something to look forward to tomorrow."

I wanted to repay Duke Lenaril.

To make me a Baron, she had put in immense effort, endured slander, and set aside precious time to host this party and travel around with me.

I wanted to bring her even a little bit of joy.

And I would do it the way a pastry chef knows best.

◇

After the party ended, I suppressed the urge to flop onto the bed and began making chocolate.

Earlier, I had ground the aged and dried cacao beans, separating them into powdered cacao mass and cacao butter. Now, I would finally use them to finish the chocolate.

Warming the cacao mass powder in a double boiler, I gradually added white sugar, fresh cream, and cacao butter, kneading them together.

It turned into a smooth, dark cream.

This was conching. For over thirty hours—or over seventy hours for high-end chocolate—it had to be continuously stirred while maintaining a constant temperature. It was the most laborious process of all.

This operation gave chocolate its signature smoothness and flavor.

With Chloe helping me out as well, she applied force and pressure to the liquefied cacao mass using her magic.

As expected, thanks to magic, the cacao particles unified quickly.

With this, I could shorten the time down to about ten hours.

"Thank you. Chloe, you can head back and rest now. You too, Tina. It's my turn from here on."

Both of them were exhausted as well. It would be wrong to force them to stay up with me.

"Hmm, it looks interesting, so I'll stay and watch. Seems like Tina feels the same way."

"Yes, Kurt-sama! You said you'd manage the temperature yourself, but it's much safer with me here!"

I was borrowing Tina's fire to heat the double boiler.

To keep the chocolate's flavor from evaporating, the temperature needed to be kept at a precise 45°C, so I had been leaning on her help.

"I appreciate it, but are you sure? I could manage with a hearth if I had to."

"It's fine. Refusing to compromise to make the finest sweets is who you are, Kurt-sama. Please use me to your heart's content for that!"

When put that way, as a pastry chef, I couldn't argue any further.

Having Tina around would definitely yield a better result.

"I'm sorry to both of you. Please stick with me until morning so we can make the absolute best chocolate."

"Yep, sure thing!"

"Let's do our best, Kurt-sama!"

And so, we continued conching the chocolate until morning.

Our efforts through the night paid off, resulting in the finest chocolate.

I spread that chocolate out over a marble slab and began working it.

This was the final step: tempering. It was the temperature adjustment needed to break down the cacao butter in the chocolate and crystallize it into stable, fine particles so that it shared the same melting point.

Performing tempering yields chocolate with a glossy appearance, a tender texture, a smooth melt-in-the-mouth feel, and a beautiful shine.

If conching was the most laborious part of the whole process, tempering was the one that required the most craftsman skill.

Once tempering was done, the chocolate was finally complete.

First, I poured the portion meant to be kept as bar chocolate—the ingredient for future sweets—into molds.

As for the remainder, I would use it right now to make a confection.

"We finally finished the chocolate, Tina, Chloe."

"Making chocolate really is ridiculously hard, isn't it?"

"But it's completely worth the effort! The deliciousness of chocolate is something you can never taste in any other sweet!"

"It's tough, but the value far outweighs the labor, which is why I go to such lengths."

Indeed. That was precisely why the process of turning cacao into chocolate was so complex and refined.

What sustained the passion of our predecessors was the sheer deliciousness of chocolate itself.

"Both of you, there's still a little time before departure. You should take a brief nap."

"What about you, Kurt-sama?"

"I have a little errand to run."

I was going to use this chocolate to repay my debt of gratitude to Duke Lenaril.

◇

After Tina and Chloe left, I prepared a simple chocolate confection and brewed some herbal tea.

Placing them on a tray, I headed toward the garden.

Duke Lenaril was waiting there.

"You're early."

"I was so looking forward to your invitation that I couldn't help myself."

She smiled.

She always presented herself with grace and beauty.

She was a strong person.

"The reason I called you here is that I wanted to thank you no matter what. I made chocolate just for you. It features two distinct aromas. Please enjoy it alongside the herbal tea."

I placed the plate with bite-sized chocolates and the herbal tea before her.

First, she reached for the herbal tea.

"What a wonderful scent. And when I drink it, my body feels so warm. This is lovely tea."

"This tea is effective for relieving fatigue and soothing the mind. It's what you might call medicinal cuisine."

It wasn't just simple herbal tea, but a proper traditional brew formulated with knowledge of medicinal cooking.

Duke Lenaril was wearing heavier makeup than usual—proof that she was hiding her exhaustion.

I had prepared this herbal tea specifically to give her even a bit of relief.

"Fufu, I really do feel as though my body has grown lighter. I'd love to drink this every day."

"In that case, please take this. It details the formulation of this herbal tea and the prep work required for the tea leaves. If you like it, please enjoy it daily. Having it as a routine habit is ideal."

While it didn't produce dramatic instant effects, medicinal cuisine works by improving one's physical condition through continued use.

Considering her health, drinking it daily would be best.

"I shall do just that. My body feels so much easier, and above all, it's delicious."

"I am a pastry chef. Even if it's good for the body, I would never serve something that tastes bad."

When I said that, she laughed.

This was a matter of pride for a pastry chef. To ensure great taste, I had added several extra steps that weren't strictly necessary for the medicinal benefits alone.

"So you made chocolate for me. I've been longing for this for so long. Using it in cakes is wonderful, but I wanted to try eating it just as it is at least once."

"Yes. While it serves as an ingredient for cakes, chocolate itself is a magnificent confection. Please, give it a try."

These were bite-sized chocolates crafted to look beautiful.

There were two varieties. One was almond-shaped, molded intricately so that the image of a rose was etched onto it.

"I shall start with the rose chocolate... Ah, how lovely. A mature bitterness and an elegant sweetness spread throughout my mouth. And the moment it enters my mouth, I'm delighted by the scent of roses. It truly soothes the heart."

"I enclosed rose-scented syrup inside the chocolate. I crafted it so the scent wouldn't leak out beforehand, so the instant it enters your mouth, it's as if a rose blooms and bursts with aroma. This is the rose chocolate."

To let her savor the qualities of chocolate itself, I kept the sugar and fresh cream in this batch to a minimum, making it quite bitter and lacking sweetness on its own. However, once it blended with the rose syrup inside, it reached a perfect balance.

"Wonderful... To have chocolate of my favorite roses... My fatigue feels as though it blew away like a lie."

"Chocolate also has the effect of helping recovery from fatigue. I'll send you plenty next time."

"I won't hold back, then. I can't resist something this marvelous. The other one has a crown drawn on it. Since you mentioned two scents, I assume this one isn't rose?"

Duke Lenaril looked back and forth between me and the chocolate with expectant eyes.

It would be easy to give her the answer, but doing so would dull the impact.

"That's something to look forward to after you eat it."

"Indeed. That is much more delightful."

Duke Lenaril placed the crown chocolate into her mouth.

Surprised beyond expectation, she dropped her fork.

Then, with an enraptured expression, she immersed herself in the lingering aftertaste of the crown chocolate.

"Amazing... What a noble scent. It's vivid, rich, and so intense it sends a tingle from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers. I've never experienced anything like this."

It seemed she was even more delighted than I had anticipated.

Time to reveal the secret.

"This uses the same ingredient as the one I will use for the cake offered to the Royal Family. While I cannot allow anyone else to eat the actual cake intended for the Royal Family, serving a different confection using the ingredient isn't forbidden. I made this specifically because I wanted you to taste it."

Furthermore, this had been an experiment for me.

I had been worried about whether people of this world would be able to appreciate the qualities of the black jewel.

"The taste was naturally supreme, but this is the first time I've ever felt on the verge of melting from aroma alone. Just what did you use to make this sweet?"

She asked with intense curiosity.

I pulled something out of my pocket.

"Is that... a black stone?"

"No. It looks like a stone, but it's a mushroom. It is called a truffle."

The star ingredient of the cake to be presented to the Royal Family was this black truffle.

On Earth, it was counted as one of the world's top delicacies—the king of mushrooms.

The finest ones cost tens of thousands of yen apiece, a mushroom more expensive than gold.

In this world, however, it wasn't highly valued, allowing me to obtain high-quality ones at a low price.

"To think such a mushroom could become such a noble sweet... I wouldn't have dreamed of it. This is why you're so fascinating."

Duke Lenaril reached for another crown chocolate.

An alluring scent strong enough to make her choose the crown over her beloved rose—that was the sheer power of the truffle.

The true identity of the crown chocolate was chocolate encapsulating truffle butter mixed with sugar.

It was a proud creation of mine, born of painstaking effort to draw out the truffle's aroma.

The compatibility between the scent of truffle and chocolate is absolute perfection.

The Western confectionery world on Earth only realized this recently; until then, truffles were used exclusively in savory cooking and never in desserts. However, its value was re-evaluated, and nowadays, select ultra-high-end restaurants serve chocolate confections made with truffles.

"Don't you think offering the king of mushrooms to the Royal Family has a nice ring of wit to it?"

"Fufu, that's certainly true. Here is a word of advice: keep the existence of that mushroom hidden to the absolute limit. You accepted the condition of presenting a sweet that no member of the Royal Family has ever eaten before. ...It's entirely possible that a malicious noble might investigate what you plan to serve and present it beforehand just to sabotage you. If possible, it would be wise to pretend you are making a completely different sweet right up until the day itself."

I see; I hadn't thought that far ahead.

Since no one else can make flawless chocolate, they wouldn't be able to recreate a specialized cake using abundant truffles and chocolate, but it was best to exercise caution.

"Understood. As it happens, the Count asked me to make a wedding cake, so I'll ostentatiously work on prototypes for that while in the Royal Capital. They'll naturally assume that's the cake intended for the Royal Family."

"A clever idea. Even so, mm... this chocolate really is delicious. Its appearance, scent, and flavor are all top-tier. Won't you serve this at your shop? Since you obtained cacao cheaply, you should be able to offer it."

It was true that if we were talking strictly about material costs, it might be manageable, but...

"That would be difficult. Making a single pot of chocolate takes a whole day, so I can't make enough quantity to sell continuously at the shop. ...However, hosting a chocolate fair once a month might be doable."

"That sounds wonderful. Either way, the condition for procuring cacao is creating new chocolate confections, so wouldn't it be perfect to prepare the sweets to sell at the shop at the same time?"

"I was thinking the exact same thing."

Duke Lenaril and I shared a smile.

"Thank you, Next Baronet of Arnoldt. My fatigue has cleared away, and I feel energized. Your sweets are happiness itself."

"That is the highest praise I could receive."

Because that was precisely the goal my sweets aimed for.

Making sweets that bring happiness to those who eat them is the true calling of a pastry chef.

"Well then, let us depart soon. It's a tight schedule, but do your best."

"Of course."

Someone far busier than me was making time for my sake.

If I didn't work hard here, I wouldn't be much of a man.

Alright, time to gear up and give it my all.

◇

For the next week, we traveled around making our greeting rounds.

It was a good opportunity to truly digest what it meant to become a Baron.

The recipe for the cake to be presented to the Royal Family had solidified quite a bit, and I had managed to make prototypes as well.

And then, boarding the dragon carriage, we set off on our journey toward the Royal Capital.

The Royal Capital—a place I normally wouldn't have set foot in for the rest of my life.

Stepping into it brought a slight touch of anxiety, but above all, my heart was filled with anticipation.