Chapter 143: Baking With Nadia, Proposition From Rose
"Are you free for a little longer, Natalie? I could use an extra pair of hands for another hour... I’m sure Rose told you that we have a few more orders that get picked up late at night? A few of the Nocturnals have taken a liking to our little bakery, and the money is really good so we fulfill their orders even though it means longer days..."
She gave me a somewhat tired smile before gesturing towards the bowl right beside her, the thick batter for what I assume was a red velvet cake resting inside and waiting to be further mixed before poured into a mold and then baked.
"I have another hour available, Miss Nadia. There aren’t many trying assignments I need to worry about just yet."
"Ah, yes... the Academy... Did you know that only a few hundred of the thousands living in this city - either those who moved here or those born here - have ever been accepted to the Academy? I sadly am not amongst that number, while Rose never even applied..."
The mild melancholy in her tone made me smile wryly as I began to mix everything, and even after she noticed that and immediately added "Oh, please don’t think I’m being envious or anything like that! I was just making small talk!" while patting my back I couldn’t help but feel a little... guilty...
Even though I had no impact on whether or not she got into the Academy, the fact that I had just... died and gotten in while she actually had to work for it was sort of... y’know..?
"Ahem, anyways... With a city as diverse as Mythia, the strain on those of us idiotic enough to start our own businesses is quite hefty... Learning who can eat what, when they can or can’t eat it, when they are available or when they might have more money on hand... it feels like I am having to study every single night...
Everything gets complicated here in Mythia, but I try and simplify everything as best I can. Sweets shouldn’t be complicated because of how much better they make life, which is part of the reason we opened Bakery Harmonious in the first place."
"Was it something you wanted to do or was it a combined effort between you and Miss Rose?"
That - for some reason - made the Dogkin snort as she shook her head and said "No, it wasn’t my desire or something we both wanted. Rose wanted it... to the point she started begging me to even consider coming on this journey with her. I wanted to keep working at the restaurant we had met at; she convinced me to turn down the manager role and open this place up with her."
"And do you..?"
I left it at that since I felt like Rose was still somewhat close to us, yet Nadia just snorted again and shook her head as she answered "Regret it? No, I don’t. It’s challenging, we’re practically broke, but... it’s what I want to do now. I’ve always enjoyed baking, people always told me they enjoyed my cake-"
That made it very hard for me to not react, so I redoubled my efforts in mixing this batter lest I make it clear that I was one of the people who enjoyed her ’cakes’...
"- and I had a knack for fine tuning recipes to make them as good as possible. All in all I am quite happy we took this leap together, but getting to the precipice was difficult... and being convinced to take the leap was even more so."
The small talk continued after that as we worked side by side, and eventually I prepared the batter of almost a dozen cakes for Nadia, who poured them into the molds and set them into the ovens to bake.
Time passed by rather quickly once again, and before I knew it the clock had struck 9:30, prompting Rose to come over and say "Now I don’t wanna sound rude, but you might wanna get going now Natalie. It’s getting late, and someone~ has to get up early tomorrow mornin’ for class~!"
The Dogkin let out a gasp and turned towards the clock before giving me a wry smile as she apologized for keeping me for so long, giving me a handshake before rushing off towards one of the ovens again when one of the many timers went off.
Walking me to the door, Rose fished a small bag from her pocket and placed it in my hands, smirking at me as she said "You were worth every single Crown, Natalie~! Ten out of ten would pay for you again~!
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