CH 22

Anthony-sensei’s homeroom is over.

We stand up and bow.

Ue~ii, it’s finally after school~.

“See you later, Makoto,” Carol said.

“Later,” I said.

It seems that Carol will write a letter to arrange a meeting with Yurisha-senpai.

Elmer goes to the Magic Club.

Curtis must be in the Swordsmanship club.

When I was wondering what to do, Melissa-sama was peeking at me through the gap in the classroom door.

Her gaze is fixed on me.

When I meet her eyes, she looks to the side.

I wonder what’s going on?

“What do you need, Andrea-sama?” I asked.

“…”

When I called out to her, she timidly approached me.

Is she a cat?

“Um, uh, um, the thing is…” Melissa said.

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“You know, that,” Melissa said.

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“I have come to apologize to you, Kimball-sama, for my misunderstanding,” Melissa said.

“I accept your apology.”

That’s it, let’s go home and relax now.

“…”

“…”

“Ah, thank you very much, and, um, ah, I’m embarrassed,” Melissa said.

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“Kimball-sama, um, um, uh, I wish I could be friends with you, um, please be friends with me!”

Wow, it’s hard to refuse if you say it outright.

“Fine by me.”

“Uwaa, are you serious?!” Melissa said. “Thank you so much, I, I’ve admired the Seijou-sama for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to be friends with the Seijou-sama of this generation, oh, I’m so happy.”

“Is that so?” I said.

“We can chat together after school, and we can go shopping together in the city, it’s such a trivial thing, but I think I can give you things that you can’t get in the temple,” Melissa said.

I don’t think so.

I’ll do it with Carol, that sort of thing.

Also, even at the temple, we had warm exchanges, such as chatting with the nuns and going shopping with the children at the orphanage.

Somehow, in Melissa-sama’s imagination, the image of the poor and lonely saint candidate seems to loom large.

“Is that so?” I said.

“The saint candidate doesn’t have many friends, doesn’t she? If you talk to your friends more cheerfully, your friendships will deepen.”

“Is that so? It’s just as you said, Andrea-sama,” I said.

I smile politely.

“Ah, that’s right, which faction does your family belong to, Andrea-sama?”

“Umm, if you’re talking about my family, it’s Pottinger-kyous’s Faction I believe?

“Ah, I’m so sorry,” I said flatly. “I got into trouble with Pottinger-sama, and if things continue like this, you might be bullied by your faction, Andrea-sama.”

“Huuh?!! You’ve got to be kidding,” Melissa said.

“Faction conflicts are terrifying,” I said. “It would so pain me for you to suffer because of associating with me, Andrea-sama, so right now let’s just forget about us being friends.

Let’s do that.

“It’s a misunderstanding, Kimball-san,” Melissa said. “Vivian-sama is a good and wonderful person. You guys are misunderstanding each other. That’s right, I’ll act as a bridge between you, Kimball-sama, and Vivian-sama. If you talk to each other, I’m sure we’ll clear up any misunderstandings.”

""

I don’t think it’s possible to clear up the misunderstanding of someone who says that the baker’s daughter is an eyesore and should leave the school.

“Such things cannot be decided by first-year students alone,” I said. “I think you should consult with your faction leaders and officials first.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Melissa said. “As expected of the saint candidate. I’m going to talk to the executives now.”

“In that case, I’m putting the matter of being your friend on hold,” I said.

“I will do my best,” Melissa said.

Go ahead and get scolded that she can’t reconcile with the baker’s daughter.

“Ah, that’s right, Melissa-san, would you like some bread?” I asked.

“Oh, you’ve already called me by my first name, I wonder if it’s okay for me to be so casual as well, Makoto-sama?” Melissa said, smiling happily.

“Oh, I beg your pardon for my rudeness,” I said.

“It’s all good, I’m quite happy about it,” Melissa said. “Yes, the bread, um, the bread I received yesterday was very delicious, but I don’t know what other types of bread are available.”

I wonder if I should make a bread menu flier for student distribution.

Well, it’s fine if it’s not today.

“Then, why don’t we go to the bakery together, and you can see and choose for yourself?” I asked.

“A commoner’s bakery… isn’t it a place for maids to run to?” I asked.

“No, no, Hiyoko-Do is a shop that even senior aristocrats walk into, and His Majesty the King used to go there when he was a student,” I said.

“Well, if His Majesty came, it must be a very storied restaurant,” Melissa said.

“You’re right, so please come shopping in town with me,” I said.

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing that getting bread is the first thing we’ll do, but I’m happy to regardless,” Melissa said.

Umu, the sales activities of the bakery are important.

I go out of the school with Melissa-sama.

The young lady doesn’t have many opportunities to walk, so she walks with a wobbling gait.

She’s holding something like a parasol.

Though Appleton Academy has uniforms you’d call “standard clothes,” you can wear plain clothes aside from that and Melissa-sama uses dresses.

That’s why upper-class aristocrats spend their school days wearing gorgeous dresses that they would wear to an evening party.

Isn’t it hard to do laundry?

There aren’t many Dress-sans in Class A, but most of the Dress-sans are in Class C.

“Fu, I haven’t been walking lately, so I’m sweating a lot. As a lady, it’s embarrassing,” Melissa said.

“There will be dungeon training in the second year, what will you do then?” I asked.

I wonder if she’ll wear an armored dress like Saber. 1

“Ohoho, ladies don’t go to barbaric places like dungeons. I’ll take a rest from that,” Melissa said.

“Is that so?” I asked.

Then there’s no point in being in the Academy.

Hang out at home, for goodness’ sake.

Well, a young lady is like that, and it seems that the idea of leisure is deeply rooted in her, and the more she is free, the more elegant she is.

If you work, you lose, and they feel like a NEET.

A diligent daughter like Carol or Corinna seems to be rarer.

We arrived at Hiyoko-Do.

It’s after school, so it’s not so crowded.

“Oro, what’s up, Makoto?” Cliff-nii-chan said, visibly nervous.

“I’ve been guiding a customer here,” I said. “It’s my friend, the viscount’s daughter Melissa Andrea.”

“Fuu, is that so?” Cliff-nii-chan said.

“Wait, why are you so relieved?” I asked.

“No, sorry about that, the friends Makoto has been introducing so far have been above the clouds like the children of a marquis, a margrave, and an earl,” Cliff said.

“Well, we’re not as good as a marquis, but even a viscount is an aristocrat, you know,” Melissa said.

“Right, please excuse me,” Cliff said.

“Well, the thing is, you’re Makoto-sama’s onii-sama, so I don’t mind pardoning you for your rudeness.”

“Thank you very much.”

Ah, Melissa-sama, you blushed a little.

Cliff-nii-chan is also quite handsome.

Well, it doesn’t matter what happens because of the difference in status.

I enter the store with Melissa-sama.

“My, it’s full of delicious-looking bread, isn’t it? So this is how bread is sold,” Melissa said, fascinated.

It’s her first experience at a bakery, I wonder how much she was sheltered.

“Onii-chan, is it possible to deliver to the girls’ dormitory once a day according to Melissa-sama’s order?” I asked.

“Well, that’s right, there shouldn’t be a problem if it’s just one time, but if there are a lot of them, or if you bring them in and sell them on campus, Zunft Bakery might start complaining,” Cliff said.

“Are they the ones in charge of selling bread in the Academy?” I asked.

“They’re under Meigetsu-Do,” Cliff said.

“It’s a top-notch purveyor to the royal family,” Melissa said, “the bread for the lower nobles at the girl’s dormitory was terrible, though.”

“Ah, Meigetsu-Do proper is only in the upper-class restaurants, the others are run by Meigetsu-Do affiliated bakeries,” Cliff said.

“I see, what are the odds that we can enter that market?” I said.

“You won’t be able to enter without the help of the royal family or upper-class nobles,” Cliff said.

“They also won’t allow you to do business that way,” Melissa said.

“I don’t want them to order too many, because I can’t bake all that bread,” Cliff said.

“I see, so that’s why?” I said.

Even if you place an order with planning, you cannot make it in time.

Large orders are coming in regularly from the Great Temple.

“Give me this bread, this bread, and saint’s bread,” Melissa said.

It seems she’s made up her mind.

“Thank you very much for your patronage,” Cliff said.

Ah, that’s right.

“Nii-chan, do you have an empty cookie box?” I asked.

“I do, what are you going to use it for?” Cliff asked.

“I just got an idea,” I said.

I choose eight popular types of bread and divide each into four equal parts with a kitchen knife.

I arrange the eight slices of bread in a wooden cookie box using cloth dividers so that they don’t stick together.

I write the name of the bread on ribbons and place it on top.

“Oh, samples of our bread?” Cliff asked.

“Yeah, yeah, there’s something about bread that you can’t understand until you try it,” I said.

“Well, it’s beautiful,” Melissa said.

I put a lid on it and handed it over to Melissa-sama.

“For me? I’m so happy, Makoto-sama,” Melissa said, smiling softly.

“It’s in small portions, so you can try a lot of bread at once, I wonder if it will sell,” Cliff murmured to himself.

“I will buy it, please sell it,” Melissa said.

And now, seeing this young lady buying a bread sample box, the other maids and wives in the store were asking for it, too.

“I wanted to try different types of bread, but Hiyoko-Do’s bread is a little too big so it fills the stomach quickly. This way, we can enjoy it during tea time.”

“This alone looks like it could be lunch and dinner. It looks delicious.”

“My ojou-sama doesn’t know the types of bread, so she only eats saint’s bread. With this, she has a chance to try different kinds and expand her palette.”

It’s about the size of two loaves of bread in total.

It might be just right for a woman who eats small meals.

“Yes, please line up, I will make it now,” Cliff said. “Makoto, please make write the names on the ribbons”

“Understood, Melissa-sama, can you help me?” I asked.

“I will do it, it looks like it will be fun,” Melissa said.

I made a bread sample box together with Melissa-sama for about an hour.

“Thank you, Andrea-sama, this is a thank you cookie, please eat it,” Cliff said.

“Well, thank you very much. It was a lot of fun,” Melissa said.

That’s good to hear.

After taking a box of bread in a cookie box as a gift for Yurisha-sama, we left Hiyoko-Do.

“Thank you very much, if you have time, please go to Hiyoko-Do directly, we can sit around a while, too,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s nice to take a walk like this,” Melissa said.

In the warm sunshine, I return to school with Melissa-sama.

The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?