<Author’s Note>
Chapter’s a little short because this would be an appropriate stopping point.
Kuro returned before Kaori finished preparing her set meal and ate her lunch as if nothing had happened, so her quarrel with Shiro-san seemed to have settled down.
As for Olivia-san, if she had never eaten baby castella before, there was no point in asking her any questions about them, so Kuro instead gave her some baby castellas to evangelize her.
The sincere Olivia-san thanked her and accepted the baby castellas, and after finishing her meal, she politely gave us her salutations before leaving.We could also have gone on to our next destination after we finished our meal, but there seemed to be relatively few customers today, so we continued chatting with Kaori-san, who had plenty of time to spare.
[Ahh, speaking of which, Kaito-kun. Speaking of ingredients made me remember this just now, but I talked to Akane-san before. We were wondering if there are matsutake mushrooms in this world.]
[Matsutake huh. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before……]
[They do exist here.]
[ [ Eh? ] ]
When I heard Kaori-san talk about matsutake mushrooms, I remembered not seeing them before, but a reply came from someone I didn’t expect. No, I suppose it isn’t that surprising huh. Kuro, whose hobby is eating around, should know a lot of rare dishes, and in the first place, there’s a difference in the amount of knowledge about this world between her and Kaori-san and I.
[To be precise, they aren’t called matsutake mushrooms here, but that’s what Neun called them, so I’m pretty sure that’s what you were talking about.][Ahh, so they call it by another name in this world?]
[Unnn. They’re called Spearmush, mushrooms that can be found in areas where trees called Needle Trees grow. They’re rare mushrooms that can only be found in a small part of the Demon Realm, so with their scarcity and high price, it’s not widely distributed.]
Needle Trees would probably be those red pine trees. There are areas in the Demon Realm where red pine trees grow in clusters, and matsutake can be found there huh……
[C- Can ordinary people acquire them if they want to?]
[Hmmm. The forest where Needle Trees grow is the territory of Spirits of trees called Spear-branched Tree, so it is possible if you have someone there to help you.]
Kuro had a slightly complicated expression on her face upon Kaori-san’s question. The way she said it, it seemed like it really was possible to acquire them, but one would require some connections.
Even so, that being the case…… I feel like the name of that tree sounds familiar…… Where did I hear about it again? However, since they’re a Spirit, maybe I can talk to Lillywood-san and ask her if she could introduce me to one.
[Spear-branched Tree? I think I heard about it somewhere…… I wonder if I could somehow do something after talking to Lillywood-san about it?]
[……I think it is possible. The leader of the Spear-branched Tree Spirits has recently joined Lillywood’s camp. If I’m not mistaken, she should be under Camellia’s command right now?]
[……Ahh, I see! It’s Lanza-san!!!]
The woman with the rust-colored short ponytail I met when I went to Harmonic Symphony, Camellia-san’s subordinate who was very lively and had a loud voice.
Come to think of it, she did say that she was a newcomer subordinate under the World King.
[Unnn? Do you know her, Kaito-kun?]
[Yeah, she was introduced to me by Camellia-san back at the Harmonic Symphony. She said she was a Count-rank and a newcomer, so I think it’s definitely her.]
[……That’s strange, are Count-ranks people that would just be brought up normally like this? Even now, one of the Seven Princesses is just brought up, and before that, you just said you’d consult World King-sama as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world…… This kouhai sure is of a different dimension as usual.]
While I was surprised that there was a point of contact in a place I didn’t expect, Kaori-san was looking far into the distance. But well, I see. In that case, I would like to ask Camellia-san to create an opportunity for me to talk with Lanza-san some time. I wanna eat some too. Matsutake, I mean. If I can afford them, I definitely want to buy some.
[……Makes me wonder…… Matsutake baby castellas, does it work?]
[I’d prefer if you don’t even try……]
I can’t say for sure that matsutake wouldn’t go well with baby castellas, but I feel like that would just be sacrilege to the mushrooms, so I think it would be better if she stops.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Ohh, that really is a connection in an unexpected place…… Seems like Matsutake Gathering Flag had been raised.]
