kscans

Chapter 124 - Illusion Dragon Countermeasures and Mass Production

Hayato finished his shopping in the Royal Capital and returned to his base.

He had gathered the materials needed to make the recovery items. All that was left was to craft them, so that wasn't a problem.

The problem was the countermeasures for the Illusion Dragon.

Even if the Illusion Dragon was one of the weaker ones, it wasn't so weak that they could win while afflicted with poison and paralysis. The subtle damage from the poison couldn't be ignored, and the paralysis would cancel their attacks, meaning their total damage over time would be lower than usual.

He was supposed to make a medicine to deal with that, but the ingredients weren't being sold at the shop.

(First the horse tails, and now this. Pat-san's, or rather, Veru-san's tactics are nasty. And the hardliners are rich. How do they make a living, I wonder?)

From a certain perspective, they were both harassing each other, but from Hayato's point of view, it was a nasty attack.

He did have another countermeasure.

It was the Super Eclair that Esha had told him about.

The Super Eclair was a rather large eclair, but its effect was status effect immunity. Normally, sweets type food items had the effect of gradually restoring HP and MP, but this was a sweet with a completely different performance.

(It's not that I can't make them, but they use up too much dough, chocolate, and custard cream. I have to make the base ingredients like the dough and chocolate with my Cooking Skill in the first place. I just don't have the time to prepare enough for everyone. There's no point if only one or two people have status effect immunity.)

The dough, chocolate, and custard cream were not sold in stores. They had to be made from other ingredients.

For the dough, all you needed was flour and water. For the chocolate, you had to make cacao mass and cacao butter from cacao beans, then add sugar to those two. For the custard cream, you made it from eggs, milk, sugar, and cake flour.

He had a large supply of chocolate for making Esha's chocolate parfaits, but it would be gone in an instant if he were to make a large number of Super Eclairs.

What's more, preparing enough for the members of Kokuryu and Ash's mercenary group would take a significant amount of time. It would probably take even longer than going to gather the herbs.

(I haven't confirmed it, but I have a feeling Pat-san and the others will be at the place where I can gather the herbs. I have no choice but to ask Ney and the others to go get them. We'll lose to the Illusion Dragon until they can bring back the necessary herbs, but as long as the treasure isn't stolen, it should be fine. But the facility in the Spirit Country is, if I remember correctly—)

"Hayato-san."

"Whoa!"

Ren suddenly appeared right in front of Hayato. He had been concentrating on his thoughts and almost fell out of the chair he was sitting in.

"Ah, you scared me. Ren-chan? What's up?"

"Well, you've been thinking hard ever since we got back to the base. What's wrong? My brother already went back to his room to prepare for the afternoon."

"I was just wondering what to do about the Illusion Dragon countermeasures. I'm thinking it's probably best to have Ney and the others go get the Lightning Grass and Wind-Snow Grass."

"Is that so? Wait, but if you say it's 'best' to have them go get it, does that mean you have another way?"

"That one takes too much time, so I was thinking of giving up on it."

"What is it, by the way?"

"It's a completely different countermeasure, but there's a sweet called a Super Eclair. If you eat it, you become immune to status effects. The only thing is, it requires a huge amount of ingredients, so it takes a long time. I was thinking of dropping it—um, Ren-chan, your face is a little close."

"Let's go with that! It's much more effective than drinking some weird medicine!"

"It's not a weird medicine."

She was definitely just saying that because she wanted to eat it. Hayato judged as much from the look on Ren's face.

"No, look. I know you want to eat it, but like I just said, gathering the ingredients is a pain. I need a massive amount of dough and chocolate, so just making them will take a considerable amount of time."

"Can't we just buy a lot!? We have the money, so let's just spend it all!"

To calm Ren down, Hayato explained the situation from the beginning. The problem was the time it took to make the ingredients. Hayato could only log in in the mornings and at night. Even if he spent the whole day on it, he might only be able to make ten. He also had to make recovery items and perform maintenance on their weapons and armor. He could probably make even fewer. He could probably prepare enough for everyone if he took about two weeks, but if they couldn't win, they would have to prepare all over again. In terms of time efficiency, it probably wasn't a good choice.

That's what Hayato thought, but Ren crossed her arms and sank into thought. Then, as if she had an idea, she looked at Hayato with a smile.

"As long as we have a lot of ingredients, it's fine, right?"

"Like I said before, they don't sell them in stores, you know? The only things they sell are the initial ingredients like flour."

"Then I'll make them!"

"You will, Ren-chan...? Oh, that's right. I don't have to make everything myself. I just need to do the cooking for the Super Eclairs themselves, right?"

"That's right! If I remember correctly, things like dough and cacao butter can be made even with a low Cooking Skill, right? If it's something that can be made even with a low Cooking Skill, leave it to me!"

(I've always done this alone, so I didn't realize. I can just have them make the dough and chocolate, like subcontracting... To think I didn't notice something like this. Even though I belong to a clan, I must have been doing everything by myself.)

The Kokuryu clan originally had few players with production skills. Hayato could make anything, and since he rarely went to hunting grounds, he was the only one making things.

Hayato was satisfied with that, but it was safe to say that in terms of production, he never relied on anyone for anything other than gathering materials dropped by monsters.

"Then I guess I'll ask you, Ren-chan. Ah, but, custard cream requires a pretty high Cooking Skill. Dough is fine with around 20, though."

"Is there anyone else who could help? Oh, wait, there is!"

"Ah, that's right. There is someone we can ask."

Just as Ren realized something, Hayato did too. There was someone with a decent Cooking Skill.

Hayato contacted that person. When he said he had a favor to ask and wanted them to come to the base, the person agreed without a second thought.

About ten minutes later, that person arrived at the base.

She didn't come alone, but with one other person. The other was likely there as a chaperone.

"Have you finally realized that you require my power? You're a little late, but I shall praise you for it."

"Aren't you getting worse every time we meet? Can't you go back to the quiet Lunaria-san from before?"

"Lunaria-sama has gained even more respect from the people of the Demon Country after the Underworld Dragon Subjugation. That is why she has gotten quite carried away."

"Rosalie-san, you've been pretty harsh on Lunaria-san lately, haven't you?"

The person with a considerable Cooking Skill.

It was Demon Lord Lunaria.

The four star cookies known as the Demon Lord's Cookies were so delicious they were traded at high prices in the Demon Country. The sales from them slightly supported the Demon Country's finances.

"So, what is it that requires the help of this Demon Lord Lunaria? As a fellow clan member, I will do anything for you. I will turn anything into rust with this Arondight, so you may rest easy."

"I want you to make a large amount of custard cream."

"Custard cream?"

Lunaria tilted her head slightly and looked at Hayato.

"The truth is, I need a large amount of dough, chocolate, and custard cream to make a sweet called a Super Eclair. Ren-chan will make the chocolate, so I'd like you to be in charge of the custard cream, Lunaria-san. This can't be made without a high Cooking Skill, so I'd like to ask you."

"Hmph, a simple task."

"Lunaria-sama, please be quiet for a moment."

Rosalie's scythe was thrust out in front of Hayato's eyes. There was no killing intent. If anything, she seemed exasperated.

"It seems Lunaria-sama is not the only one getting carried away, is she? I would appreciate it if you did not trouble Lunaria-sama with such matters. You may have forgotten, but as you can see, Lunaria-sama is a Demon Lord, you know?"

"'As you can see,' you're saying some pretty terrible things yourself, aren't you, Rosalie-san?"

"I will be fine. As you can see, I am a Demon Lord. I can make something like custard cream, so rest assured. I will mass produce Demon Lord cream."

(She said 'as you can see' herself...)

"Um, Lunaria-sama, that is not what I meant. I was saying that a Demon Lord would not do such a thing—ah, fine, I understand. We are indebted to Hayato for the Underworld Dragon Subjugation. Lunaria-sama's reputation has risen because of that, so we will help you to repay that debt. I will lend you the members of the Black Rose who can cook, so please make as much custard cream or whatever else you need."

"Eh, really? That would be a huge help. I needed as many people as I could get."

"Wait. This is a request where Hayato-san came to me for help. I should be the one to do it."

"Lunaria-sama has many other things she should be doing."

"Then I will make it with everyone from the Black Rose. It is not good to be left out. If you do not include me, Arondight will go wild. This is not a threat."

Lunaria's negotiations continued.

In the end, Rosalie gave in, and it was decided that they would mass produce the ingredients for the Super Eclairs at the base starting tomorrow.

Rosalie leaned back in her chair, drained of energy and looking quite tired.

"That was tough, Rosalie-san. Want something sweet to eat?"

"Whose fault do you think it is, punk... sigh, then I will have some gateau chocolat, please. And coffee too."

Hayato thought, it's definitely my fault, isn't it, and vowed to make and serve her a five star gateau chocolat.