Volume 2 - CH 79

The following week, 30 bracelets were promptly delivered from the leatherwork workshop.

Blue leather and rainbow-colored glass beads. It is the same design as the one worn by the Shirotaka.

They decided to prepare two types of popsicle raffles, one for the “love luck” and one for the “bracelet challenge”.

Love luck popsicles have been improved to look cute by mixing cut fruit and milk ice cream. The price has been revised accordingly.

The bracelet challenge is a simple popsicle, and the price is low. This is mostly offset by the cost of ingredients and the cost of the bracelet.

Since the product was originally designed to be a hot topic, profitability will be taken elsewhere.

This is how the bracelet challenge popsicles began to be offered, and within two weeks, they were attracting many customers.

Children were especially fascinated.

It is hard for children to buy a proper bracelet with their allowance, but they can easily afford cheap ice cream.

The word spread quickly among the local academy that ‘if you eat the ice cream and get a lucky win, you will get a real bracelet’.

Day after day, children on their way home from school started coming to the store.

Gradually, children from other districts began to show their faces.

As a result, they hurriedly set up a mass production system for popsicles. Alme ordered additional molds from the Citrali hardware workshop and added a daily routine to make more and more.

Not only Alme’s magic, but now the ice magic stone freezer is also in full operation. If she prepares it thoroughly at night, it will be completed in the morning. It’s really helpful.

Today, at the bracelet challenge corner, which is very crowded with children, Alme diligently advertises.

“Thank you for eating popsicles, everyone! Please tell your friends and family about the ‘Alme Titty’s ice cream shop’. Please come again.”

“Ah! Look! I won!”

“Oh, congratulations!”

One of the children showed Alme the “hit” of the ice stick. Alme chimed the small bell on the counter.

The other customers around the tables applauded as well. The child who had won the prize looked very happy and excited.

Seeing their big smiles is an irresistible feeling.

While the strategy of attracting visitors is important, she is also glad that they were able to carry out this fun project.

Alme would like to express her heartfelt gratitude for Falk’s proposal and cooperation, as well as for the workshop’s cooperation.

With the new featured product on track, she decided to launch another new product.

Alme put up a small sign next to the ice counter. The sign made of wooden board has the advertisement of the new menu item written in paint.

‘Fruit Milkshake is here! A New Sensation of Drinking Ice Cream!’

The spoon straws turned out to be perfect, so she made soft serve ice cream.

She decided to unveil the bracelets at this time because she wanted to attract customers with the bracelets and then add another level of excitement with the new products.

As soon as she set up the signboard, a female customer called out to her.

“Is that a new product over there? I wonder what kind of ice cream you drink. May I ask?”

“Thank you. This is milk ice cream for drinking. Please wait a moment while I make it for you.”

Alme set about preparing the shake.

Take a small amount of milk ice cream in a glass bowl and stir with a hand mixer.

When soft enough to stand on its own, transfer it to a juice glass. Pour a generous amount of the milkshake into the glass, and arrange the cut fruits on top.

Finally, she stuck a spoon straw in it and offered it to a female customer.

After paying the bill, the woman smiled elegantly. Her lips, decorated with red lipstick, were beautiful.

Then Alme suddenly remembered. Come to think of it, she thought she saw this lady at Café Heston the other day.

Looking back on her memory, she also thought she has seen her a few times at the ice cream shop, though she thought the lipstick was a different color.

(I’m almost sure it was this person, but… I’m sorry if I’m wrong. I’ll talk to her next time she comes over.)

Alme hesitated whether to talk to her or not, but decided against it. Next time they have a chance to talk, she will quietly ask.

The woman with beautiful lipstick took a seat in the shop and gracefully started drinking a fruit milkshake. Alme returned to serving customers again.

The female customer took out her notebook while glancing at Alme’s appearance.

This secret notebook contains all kinds of notes. The information is, of course, a story for making an “article”.

The woman is a reporter, and the articles she handles are mainly gossip.

It includes gossip about famous people, the secret games of the nobility, and a few interesting incidents that happened in the city. Even incidents among the common people are popular among the ladies of the city.

Right now, she is mainly chasing news about Shirotaka.

The brown-haired, brown-eyed man who frequents this ice cream shop is probably Shirotaka.

But it’s frustrating that she can’t carelessly write about him.

Shirotaka’s status is a bit special, even though he’s classified as a “nobleman.” Unlike the aristocrats and ordinary rich people, high-ranking priests belong to the country.

This includes royalty, saints, and dignitaries in the country.

If the reporter were to reveal, without permission, the private life of a nobleman who is in the service of his country, a man who has gone to the trouble of using a special magic tools to change his appearance, it would be a disrespectful offense.

Many reporters are afraid of this and have quickly backed off. There are probably only a few reporters left who are still following the story.

This reporter is not going to back off, she’s going to keep chasing the story.

When there is some big information—for example, a marriage—or some other sensation that attracts the public’s attention, she wants to be the first to publish an article about it.

She is not afraid of blasphemy once it is made public, so she is checking his movements in preparation for a good start.

. . . but.

The female reporter opened her secret notebook and started taking notes.

What she’s writing is not about the background of Shirotaka and Alme, who is a close friend, but about her impressions of the fruit milkshake.

(Using a utensil with a spoon and straw in one piece, I sip the soft ice cream and peck at the fruit. The milk ice cream is sweet and smooth and soaks into the flushed body. In between the sweet, rich milk ice cream, I enjoyed the fresh acidity of the fruit. The new fruit milkshake…is delicious.)

Writing it all down at once, the reporter let out a sigh of admiration. Then, with a huff, she came to her senses.

(What am I writing again…)

She is a gossip writer, not a gourmet writer. Absolutely not – Even though it should be, her notebook is full of food reports.

The reporter’s pursuit of Shirotaka led her to this ice cream shop, and then her exploration of the ice cream shop led her to an addiction to sweets.

In a city with a hot climate all year round, the new dessert of ice cream was outstandingly delicious.

The coffee floats at the café, which seems to be a partner of this shop, were also very tasty. The use of the stylish shaped straw was also enjoyable, and she already had it several times.

The loyalty point card of the ice cream shop that she secretly went to is about to be filled up a second time.

No, it’s just part of the job. She just goes to the ice cream shop and café to collect gossip about Shirotaka. It is unnatural for her to wander around without ordering anything, so she just eats this way.

(…Oh, someone is here.)

After finishing writing the food report, she suddenly looked at the counter and saw a black-haired man with an unhealthy face calling for the owner, Alme.

“Hey, Miss. I’ve made a prototype of the fireworks.”

“Thank you!”

“Well, I was just going for a walk and stopped by. Anyway, I tried to make it as thin as possible. I tried to adjust it so that the magic stone powder wouldn’t come out so that it wouldn’t be a problem if you put it in a parfait, but–“

The reporter checked the hands of Alme and the man – who seems to be a fireworks craftsman. He seemed to be talking about fireworks, but the long, thin stick in his hand does not look like a firework at all.

(Aren’t fireworks set up on the ground and blowing them up like a fountain? Are those stick-like things fireworks? Or rather, what does it mean to ‘put it in a parfait’?)

Could the parfait be a new ice cream? Could it be that they are planning to make a fire-breathing ice cream?

(I’m curious~! If such gorgeous ice cream is completed, it will definitely be popular! Oh, I want to make a special feature article about it~!)

She bit back her enthusiasm. No, she is a gossip reporter. Also a reporter with a steely mentality who is chasing news of Shirotaka, when other publications backed off. She would never give in to sweets.

But that’s just it, she would like to talk to the editorial department. She thought it would be a good idea to do a “Street Corner New Sweets Special” project.

(... No! No no no! I’m a gossip reporter! Look, I have to work…!)

The reporter just started to formulate a plan in her head, but she immediately shook her head and returned her consciousness to reality.　

In order to change her mind, she gathered momentum and stood up from the chair.

She went by a child who has just won a white falcon bracelet and was laughing with delight and asked.

“Hi, can you show me the bracelet for a moment?”

“Sure.”

“Good! Maybe this is real!”

“Hey, this is real”

She said ‘Maybe’ but since it’s what this shop offers, it’s probably the real deal.

The reporter assumed that the bracelet that Shirotaka was wearing was a gift from the owner, Alme.

A white jewel is also shining around the owner’s neck, so it might be that they gave each other gifts.

A child showed her a bracelet made of blue leather with colorful beads. When she pushed the beads away, she noticed that there was something engraved on the leather.

The engraved text is ‘Smile and happiness to you’.

(Hmmmm, it’s a safe sentence to accompany a gift. I wonder if Shirotaka’s bracelet also has this engraving.)

Or is it a different word altogether?

There’s no way to confirm it, but just in case, she would make a note of this inscription as information. Just below the food report, which was written in neatly lined rows, filling up many pages in the secret notebook.