Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Making Cookies

After finishing lunch and a little while later, Ian returned home and spent some relaxing time with his family of four. I slowly began to speak.

"Mom, Dad, Marie. I got accepted into the Royal School, so I'll be moving to the city center in about six weeks."

"I see. Moving is a big task, so you should start early. Have you decided on a place to live? Did the Duke's family introduce you to one?"

Huh? Did I mention living at the Duke's mansion?

"They're letting me stay at the Duke's mansion, but did I forget to mention that?"

Oh... Oops...

Mom seems really angry! How could I forget to say that?

"Le~on~! I told you to say things like that early!"

"S-Sorry! I thought I said it."

"If we're going to live at the Duke's mansion, should we go there to pay our respects? But people like us commoners would just be turned away, right?"

Mom's anger seems to have subsided, and now she seems flustered.

"Mom, calm down. I don't think we need to pay our respects. As a message from you and Dad, I'll handle the greetings."

"Is that really okay?"

It's probably fine. Mom and Dad don't know anything about etiquette, and it might even inconvenience the Duke's family.

"It's fine. Don't worry."

"León, even if you're not going for greetings, wouldn't it be a good idea to bring a little gift? Maybe to the people who always pick you up and drop you off?

Well, even if I say a gift... I can't think of something from our place that the Duke's family would appreciate...

If I were to give something, maybe homemade sweets? I'm not sure if they'll eat them, but even if the Duke's family doesn't, the servants probably will.

Cookies would be easy to carry, so maybe I'll go with cookies."

"I think making cookies and giving them would be a good idea. They're easy to carry, and they won't spoil quickly."

"Okay then, let's plan to make cookies the day before the move. Will you help, León?"

"Yeah! Of course."

For a while after that, peaceful days passed without any major events. I reported my enrollment to Marcel-san, went to the forest, and spent my days peacefully.

I wanted to practice recovery magic for detoxification using mild poisons, but since there weren't many types available until spring or summer, I decided to do that a little later.

Spending those peaceful days, finally, tomorrow is moving day! Today, we'll make cookies together.

Yesterday, we went to the city center and bought a lot of sugar and butter, so we can make a lot today.

"León, can you teach me the recipe again? I didn't pay much attention last time because I was making it with Marie."

"Yeah! First, the ingredients are flour, sugar, and butter."

"I already have those prepared."

As long as you have the ingredients, the recipe is simple. Mix these three together, shape them, and then bake them.

The trickiest part is the measurements. Based on how we made it last time, it seemed better to use quite a bit of sugar. And we need to use enough butter for it to solidify properly.

"For measurements, for the amount of flour that fits into this large bowl, sugar should be about the size of a small plate, and butter about the same, I guess? For now, I think it's best to try and adjust as you go."

And so, we put the three ingredients into a bowl and mixed them well.

Phew, is this about right?

"I think this should be enough. After this, we just need to shape them into bite-sized pieces and fry them in a pan to complete it!"

"It's quite simple, isn't it? But since it uses a lot of butter and sugar, it might not become popular around here."

Certainly, it might take a while for it to become popular around here. After all, the culture of sweets hasn't really taken hold yet.

"It might be difficult for it to become popular around here. But if we're just eating them at home, go ahead and make more. We have butter from grandpa's place, and I've bought plenty of sugar to keep."

Marie is completely captivated by sweets. When she comes back, she better not forget to bring sugar.

As I was chatting with Mom about that, Dad had already started preparing for baking.

"Alright, Leon and I will keep shaping them, and you can handle the baking, Dad."

"Got it."

"Yeah!"

I continued shaping the cookies. When about half of them were done, I took out something I had secretly bought from downtown. Placing it on top of the cookies, I continued.

"Leon, what's that?"

"This is called almond."

"Almond?"

"Yeah! It's delicious even on its own, but I think it'll taste great in the cookies. I'm going to make some almond cookies to try."

"I see. I'm looking forward to it."

Yesterday, when I went downtown to buy sugar, I found something similar to almonds in a different shop. When I asked the merchant, they said it had recently been imported and wasn't selling well yet.

I tried one piece, and it tasted quite similar to Japanese almonds. Just a bit smaller than the ones from Japan.

Thinking it might go well in the cookies, I bought a bag. It was a bit expensive, but we had the money, so indulging a little is okay.

"Dad, since the almond-filled ones might not cook through easily, could you bake them longer than the regular ones?"

"Sure thing."

So, we ended up with around a hundred regular cookies and twenty almond-filled ones.

We each tried one as a taste test.

Let's start with the almond-filled one. *Crunch*... It's incredibly delicious! It's a bit crispy because it was baked well, but that adds to its charm. Almond-filled ones are a good idea.

Looking at Mom and Dad, they were just tasting the almond-filled cookies.

"Mmm, this is tasty! Almonds go really well with it."

"Oh yeah, the texture is interesting. It's slightly sweet and very flavorful."

Seems like they both liked it, which is good. This means it's safe to bring them to the duke's house.

"Delicious, perfectly done! Okay, let's put them in the basket to take to the duke's house."

I laid out a new cloth in the freshly bought basket and neatly arranged the cookies. Seventy regular ones and ten almond-filled ones. The rest will be shared among the family. Marie will be thrilled too.

"The cloth looks really nice. Where did you get it?"

"Downtown. I thought using fabric sold around here might be considered rude for the duke's household."

"True, that makes sense. The texture is really nice too."

This fabric is over ten times the price of what's sold around here. But it's worth it. It looks and feels great. No doubt it will stand out at the duke's house.

"Alright! All that's left is to give these to Roger, and we're all set."

"We still have quite a few left. Is this enough?"

"Yeah. Let's enjoy the rest together!"

"Marie will be so happy. Leon, you're a great big brother."

Saying that, Dad ruffled my hair. Dad's been doing that a lot lately, messing up my hair too much!

"Dad, my hair will get all messed up again!"

"Well, it's no big deal."

I escaped from Dad's hand and arranged the remaining cookies on a plate.

"Okay then, let's take these to the living room! Marie's probably waiting. Mom and Dad, come over soon too!"

Saying that, I left the kitchen and headed to the living room.