CH 21

“The final battle starts tomorrow… I can’t afford to let my guard down now!”

“Umm… excuse me, Callis-sama? Could you please keep your voice down in the kitchen?”

As I made an energetic pose with a manly shout, the head butler Zeke spoke out to me. Ah, come on, it’s such an important day, how can you expect me to hold back…? Surely they can forgive even a middle-aged man like me getting a little excited when it comes to celebrating with his beloved family…? But, well, it wouldn’t do to disturb the two people here with me who were vital to the mission, so I guess it can’t be helped.

“But still… I really was surprised when Callis-sama suddenly said that he wanted to celebrate the young lady’s birthday…”

“I suppose I haven’t been able to do so in the past. But, well, isn’t it only natural for me to want to celebrate my daughter’s birthday?”

Hearing that, Zeke nodded with a small smile.

“Understood. But, please don’t overexert yourself… I will be returning to work now.”

“Ah, sure. I’m counting on you, Zeke.”

After that, the butler left the kitchen. Well, I guess he came to check on me since I was being so noisy.

As for the reason I’m so passionately working in the kitchen… tomorrow is Laurier’s birthday.

There wasn’t any celebration for it last year, but now that Callis is a changed man, that would absolutely not fly this time.

“So… Callis-sama. About the dishes for tomorrow… are you sure that you don’t want me to help with the cake at all?”

“Yeah. Besides, I’m confident that you’ll do an excellent job if I leave you to focus on the other dishes, Garrick. I expect great things.”

Garrick, who was listening to Zeke and I talk, nodded confidently.

“Of course! I’ll be sure to put those exotic recipes of yours to good use, Callis-sama!”

“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”

For the party, I’d given Garrick a collection of recipes from another world. Well, it’s a special occasion being a birthday after all, but I guess just how well he’ll actually be able to replicate these recipes with the limited variety of ingredients we have on hand will be a good test for him, as a chef.

Whilst he takes on the main dishes, I’ll be in charge of the cake. It feels like my practice in making sweets had all been lead up to this seminal moment… I’m going to make my daughter’s birthday as great as possible!

“Now then… when it comes to Laurier’s cake… yeah, I think going really sweet would be best.”

Since my girl has quite the sweet tooth, I think a cake topped with lots of fresh cream would be good. Only…

“If Sasha is going to have some as well, I shouldn’t make it too sweet…”

Laurier definitely didn’t inherit her sweet tooth from her mother, who doesn’t really love things that are overly sugary. Of course, I had to keep Laurier’s tastes in my mind first and foremost since it was her birthday after all, but… yeah, it’s really hard to come to a decision, since I want Sasha to eat something delicious as well.

“I remember Sasha mentioning that she liked more tart tastes recently… So, perhaps I should make Sasha a lemon cake and Laurier something sweeter?”

I’ve noticed Sasha has looked pale at times, lately. Well, it didn’t seem like anything too serious, but… still, it made me want to make her something to hopefully raise her spirits.

After laying out my ingredients on one of the kitchen counters, I got to experimenting at once. This was my first time trying to make a lemon cake, so I was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but… it ended up not looking half bad.

The problem was Laurier’s birthday cake… I just can’t get it as perfect as I wanted.

I have no shortage of ingredients so I can try as many times as I like, but…

“Something’s not right…”

It wasn’t as sweet as I wanted it to be. Usually, this would be the point to give up on perfection and make a compromise, but… my little girl deserves only the best. I’m not going to spare any effort.

“Callis-sama!”

Then, after several more failed prototypes, the moment I was finally relatively satisfied with the latest cake I made, a maid suddenly sprinted into the kitchen in a panic. I knew her face… that’s right, she was Sasha’s personal maid… I stopped applying frosting to the prototype cake and looking at the maid, who was desperately trying to catch her breath in a fluster.

“What’s the matter?”

“Sa… Sasha-sama…”

“What happened to Sasha?”

I suddenly felt an awful premonition in the form of a chill running down my back, and as I looked seriously at her, the maid uttered the words I dreaded.

“Sasha-sama has collapsed…”

I didn’t even hear the end of her sentence before dashing past her. Not caring about how people looked at me, I ran as fast as I could towards Sasha’s room.

I don’t know what’s happened, but… there was no way I could stay calm after hearing something had happened to Sasha.

“Sasha…!”

Please be alright… as I prayed, I kept running.