Side Story 2:
Pudding Parfait
I headed to the usual restaurant, sat in my usual seat, and looked over the room like I always did. I, Victoria, had done this for a few years now.
Now that I think about it, this place has gotten quite busy over time.
My little brother had invited me to a luncheon earlier, which was why I was at the restaurant quite a while after midday. Still, it was a bit too early to begin drinking.
Back when I’d first successfully summoned the restaurant door on my own and started coming here, there weren’t many customers. It was usually just my master—he gets angry if you don’t call him Pork Loin Cutlet—sitting back, enjoying some ale. I’d quietly enjoyed my pudding à la mode on my own.
Lately, however, more customers visited at this time of day in search of specific menu items. As one of those very customers, I knew well why this time slot had gotten busier. Most of us who visited the restaurant around this time were here to eat the other world’s unique treats and desserts.
The other world’s sweets were far more refined than ours. In my world, we made treats from milk or water kneaded into flour and wheat, mixed with sugar, and baked. We had seasonal fruit, fruit soaked in honey or sugar, and balls of literally just honey.
However, the other world was completely different. Its desserts and snacks were beautiful and delicious.
I’d first discovered that for myself about ten years ago. At the time, I was traveling with my master on all sorts of adventures in pursuit of knowledge. This little restaurant in another world had been the last place we found ourselves. Over the following months, I’d spent my time eating every single treat this place offered, writing down a description of each item in the restaurant’s menu.
There were all sorts of people in the world, but I was fairly certain that I was the only one who’d actually eaten every sweet at the Restaurant to Another World. That was why I loved it when new customers visited around this time of day.
Today, I noticed a new comrade in the restaurant. The sound of bells filled the air, signifying their arrival.
“Well, well. What shall I order today?”
The new guest was a blonde woman clad in a red dress. She was likely from the Empire, judging by her height. She looked to be around my age, which meant she was actually probably close to twenty years younger than me.
I bet she’s only just come of age, I thought.
She was wearing a pretty dress that was, perhaps, a bit too simple for something worn in front of others. From the way she held herself, she was clearly nobility, not a commoner.
“Perhaps I’ll order another chocolate parfait,” she murmured. “But eating that three times in a row seems like a waste.”
The fact that this young woman was eyeing a chocolate parfait meant that she was here with the same purpose I was—sweets.
Glancing at the busy demon waitress, I spoke up. “Hey, you. Would you care to join me?”
As a Nekoya regular and a veteran customer, I saw nothing wrong with breaking the ice with a fellow visitor.
“Oh, I’d love to.” The girl raised her head from the menu and nodded before asking, “Um…and you are?”
“My name’s Victoria, but I’d be happy if you called me ‘Pudding’ here.”
I gave her both my real name and my name in the restaurant. I doubted that anybody remembered the name of the Duchy princess who hadn’t shown her face in public in some twenty years, but there was nothing wrong with playing it safe.
“Oh, my. Is that so? My name’s Adelheid. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Pudding.”
“Wait just a second.” I couldn’t help shaking my head internally at Adelheid’s introduction, since the young lady just so happened to be the imperial princess.
When it came to the Empire’s nobles, only one person was named Adelheid. Simply no aristocrats in that nation would dare name their daughter after the great Empire’s founding mother.
“Oh—is something wrong?”
“I’d advise you not to use your real name too often here. It’s kind of a rule that we all go by nicknames based on our favorite foods.” I did my best to teach her how to lay low.
“Is that so? You do that, too, Lady Pudding?”
“Yes. Pudding is the most delicious treat on the menu.”
“Wow! I had no idea.” The imperial princess nodded and furrowed her brow, looking taken aback and somewhat dissatisfied.
“With that in mind, what will you choose to call yourself?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t that be obvious? ‘Chocolate Parfait’! It’s so very delicious.”
I see.
“In that case, you should cut it down to just ‘Parfait,’” I explained further to the somewhat puzzled imperial princess. “This restaurant serves all kinds of parfaits. Chocolate is just one of many.”
“Oh—you’re right.” The princess thought for a moment before nodding. “‘Parfait’ it is, then!”
Parfaits were prone to falling apart and melting very quickly, so they weren’t available for take-out. The great thing about them was that, by adjusting a parfait’s ingredients, one could turn it into something else entirely.
In some ways, my beloved pudding à la mode was actually a type of parfait. At least, that was what the master had once told me.
So, this is the princess’s third time here.
According to what Parfait had said, she’d eaten chocolate parfaits during her first two trips here. In other words, she didn’t know the joy that was pudding and custard. Sure, chocolate parfaits were delicious, but they didn’t have pudding or custard in them.
I grabbed a menu and opened it for Parfait. “Here’s the menu. From here to here are all the parfaits.”
“I know. I was stunned to find out that there were so many different kinds.”
She’d apparently struggled with choice during her last visit.
“If you’ve had a chocolate parfait before, I recommend this pudding parfait.” I urged the princess to try what I believed to be the most delicious of parfaits.
“Oh, I see. Then I’ll have that today!”
Once Parfait nodded, I called over the demon waitress the restaurant had recently hired.
“Yes? How can I help you?” she asked.
“We’d like to order now.” I decided to take a day off from pudding à la mode and have a pudding parfait as well. “Two pudding parfaits, please.”
“That’s two pudding parfaits? Got it. Hang tight.” The demon waitress returned to the kitchen.
“What kind of dessert is it?” the princess asked.
“It’s a parfait made from pudding, a kind of egg-based dessert. It’s very good.”
“Egg-based? Oh, my. I’ve never had something like that before. I can’t wait to try it!”
After I explained the parfait to the princess, the two of us chatted peacefully for a bit. A few moments passed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Two pudding parfaits.”
The demon waitress placed two large glasses in front of us. Today’s objective.
“Oh, my. This is…” The shining yellow-and-brown pudding made Parfait’s eyes sparkle.
I nodded at her. “Pudding, yes.”
The main ingredient in a pudding parfait, just like pudding à la mode, was pudding. All kinds of delicious treats were stuffed into the beautiful parfait glass. Unlike the pudding à la mode, the pudding parfait didn’t include anything cold or frozen, so I made a point of ordering it during the winter as well.
The pudding parfait was as beautiful as the pudding à la mode, but in a different way. Above the yellow pudding and white whipped cream, a host of different colors were layered atop one another.
“Shall we eat?”
“Yes!”
There was no reason to hold back. The two of us picked up our long parfait spoons simultaneously and began eating.
I took a spoonful of the beautiful whipped cream decorating the top of the parfait and brought it to my mouth. As the fluffy cream melted, I tasted milk. It was perfectly sweet, causing me to smile.
I kept attacking the cream surrounding the pudding. I was the type who liked to start from the outside and work my way in. I dug into the white whipped cream and then attacked the banana slices and otherworldly strawberries decorating the parfait’s border.
In the center of their sweetness, the boiled berries tasted slightly sour. The cream was sugary, and the fresh bananas were ripe. They were all delicious, and they went particularly well with custard.
They were basically garnishes on the main dish, but I was quite fond of them nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Parfait began to devour the pudding straightaway. “Oh, my. So, this is pudding? It looks so soft and smooth…and delicious.”