Chapter 1320 - Intermission: Otherworlders in the Founding Festival

Chapter 1320 - Intermission: Otherworlders in the Founding Festival

The Royal Capital of Symphonia Kingdom is bustling with people celebrating the kingdom’s founding. There were three figures walking along one of its streets. They were Akane, the Chairman of the Mikumo Trading Company, Frau, her maid and escort, and Kaori, the owner of a Set-Meal Restaurant in the Friendship City Hikari.

[Hmmm, this is amazing. The atmosphere here was different from the Festival of Heroes. The city where the Festival of Heroes is held doesn’t hold something like a Founding Festival, and since I was traveling around, I just wasn’t able to get the right timing, so this is the first time I’ve been to the Symphonia Kingdom while it’s celebrating its founding.]

[Hoh, since you mentioned Symphonia Kingdom, does that mean you’ve been to the festivals of other countries?]

[I’ve been to Archlesia Empire’s Imperial Festival. I’m indebted to the current Emperor Chris-san in various ways after all.]

[Oya oya, it seems like Kaori is also someone not to be underestimated. With you having connections with someone in the higher-ups, wouldn’t you someday be like Kaito?]

[That won’t happen, nor do I want that to happen. That will definitely pierce a hole in my stomach in the process……]

Hearing the words Akane happily said, Kaori responded with a wry smile.

[However, I don’t think I would have had the chance to come if Akane-san didn’t bring me. Teleportation costs are high after all.]

[Ahh~~ Now that you mentioned it, I have my own Teleportation Magic, but it does cost a lot to teleport from Friendship City to Symphonia’s Royal Capital. It would also take too much time if you had to ride a Flying Dragon Flight.]

[That’s right~~ I was lucky to make friends with Akane-san this year.]

Kaori was invited by Akane to come along with her to this year’s Founding Festival, and since the time they met through Kaito, they have been close friends due to the fact that they are from the same homeworld.

At that moment, Frau gently interrupted their conversation.

[……Kaori-sama. It’s good that you get along with the Chairman, but I’d like to caution you…… The person you’re talking with is someone way past the marriageable age.]

[Uwehh!?]

[Oi, Frau! Who the heck is way past the marriageable age!? I’m just, that, you know? That…… I’m married to my job.]

[Chairman, do you have a fever? Your job isn’t a living creature.]

[……Don’t take my words literally! It’s just a metaphor! Metaphor!]

Seeing Akane and Frau’s usual two-person comedy-like exchange, Kaori giggled, but seemingly reminded of something, she spoke.

[Speaking of which, Akane-san. Didn’t Kaito mention he’s opening a stall here?]

[Ahh~~ That’s right. I heard he’s selling baby castellas. It looks interesting, so why don’t we go check it out?]

[I agree. Ahh, but if it’s Kaito-kun’s stall, won’t there be a huge line over there or something?]

[Hmmm, I wonder? There’s a limit to the number of items that can be sold at a stall, and since there should be tons of baby castella stalls in this festival, I don’t think people will go out of their way to wait in line there.]

[I see~~ Then, any chance he was having some sort of bigwig manning the stall?]

[If that were the case, that might cause a commotion, but considering Kaito’s personality, I don’t think he would have someone famous pulling in customers.]

As Akane had guessed, Kaito’s stall isn’t that thriving. There certainly is word of mouth gradually spreading about how extremely tasty their baby castellas are, but Alice is manipulating the information so that there isn’t so much of a line and people aren’t crowding the stall.

In terms of bigshots, there is indeed Alice manning the stalls…… but they don’t know about Alice’s stuffed costumes, so even if they found it strange how the stall’s mascot is a strange stuffed animal, they will just think it’s Kaito’s hobby…… It leaves a regrettable impression on Kaito though.

[Akane-san, don’t you have a stall here of your own?]

[Hmmm, our company doesn’t really sell our merchandise like street vendors. That’s why, we aren’t used to opening shops in the form of stalls, and it would be a hurdle for us to make a profit. Even if we were to put up a shop just to enjoy the festival’s atmosphere like Kaito does…… The merchant blood in our people would just be too eager to pursue profits, so we can’t do things casually.]

[Fumu fumu, if you were to open a stall though, what kind of stall would you open?]

[Takoyaki…… is what I’d like to say, but I suppose as some sort of missionary work, I would have liked to open an okonomiyaki stall. I can still find some takoyaki stalls to some extent, but finding an okonomiyaki stall is really difficult.]

[Now that you mentioned it, I don’t think I’ve seen many okonomiyaki stalls. I like okonomiyaki a lot too…… I wonder if they used yakisoba in it? The noodles under the batter look delicious……]

Kaori was happily talking about okonomiyaki…… but when she heard Kaori talking about that part, Akane’s eyebrows twitched.

[……Wait a moment, Kaori.]

[Unnn?]

[Are you talking about Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki or Modern Okonomiyaki?]

[Aren’t those two the same?]

[The same……? ……It looks like I should enlighten you what okonomiyaki is, Kaori.]

[……This is bad. I definitely must have stepped on a strange landmine…… Frau-san, help me.]

[Please prepare yourself, Kaori-sama. With Chairman like that, she would be talking quite a lot.]

[Uweehhhh……]

By the time Kaori realized her mistake, it’s already too late, as Akane began to explain about okonomiyaki passionately. It goes without saying that they were late to visit Kaito’s stall.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [Incidentally, the main difference between Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki and Modern Okonomiyaki is the cooking method. Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki is grilled while layering the ingredients. Modern Okonomiyaki is more like Kansai-style Okonomiyaki, where the ingredients are mixed, then noodles are added, and then eggs are added. It’s hard to tell the difference from the outside, but it’s good to remember that the difference is whether or not the ingredients are mixed before they are grilled.]