My plan to make a daily bakery, Sien Mirmode’s, continued.

The most important part of that plan was this guy, the boss who ruined the harmony.

I called him boss, then tightly grasped his hand and giggled, hehe. The boss scratched the back of his neck.

“……Boss, huh.”

A somewhat innocent-looking expression.

I stared at him quietly, then tilted my head.

“You are the boss!”

“……Why did you call me?”

“Let’s make bread together.”

When I smiled brightly, the boss looked down at me distrustfully. But seeing how he was still gripping my hand, which he could easily release with his strength, he seemed to want to make bread no matter how I looked at it.

Moreover, while only the boss had such a stiff attitude, the gypsy children next to him were entranced looking at the kitchen.

I smiled brightly and blinked at the boss.

“Hmm? Come on.”

That’s when it happened.

An unexpected obstacle blocked my plan.

“No!”

The brown-haired boy who shouted loudly enough to deafen ears stared at me quietly. Then he roughly grabbed my sleeve.

It was quite a violent action, and I nearly fell over backwards before barely regaining my balance. Ted tried to draw his sword at that sight, but I shook my head no.

Let’s hear what this boy has to say first.

I had just managed to stand up straight, but the boy didn’t seem to care about that at all.

He spoke in a cold, commanding tone.

“I don’t like them. Get rid of them.”

As a child who had experienced violence, I decided to respect his wishes.

“……Ah, okay.”

But still, completely excluding the boss and those children didn’t sit well with me.

So I came to one conclusion.

“Then, the boss and friends can use the left side of the kitchen, and the two of us will use the right side.”

My plan was to become friends with this brown-haired boy, and leave the boss and gypsies to Acid, Ted, and the maid sisters.

I’ll have to ask this brown-haired boy first why he and the boss fought.

I winked at the boss.

The boss looked dejected for just a moment, then nodded.

‘Clearly it’s not just simple violence, there’s something more.’

The spring snow-like expression that had almost softened earlier disappeared, and a harsh midwinter expression appeared again.

‘What’s with that closed-off expression?’

I rolled my eyes around and looked at the brown-haired boy, the victim of violence.

I planned to properly grill the brown-haired boy first to find out exactly what had happened.

[This is the timeline separator]

Unlike the children’s complicated relationships, the time came for the savory smell of bread to waft through the air.

The round kitchen was divided into two areas, and the fun bread-making time continued.

Ignoring the maid sisters, Acid, and Ted who were twitching to come to my side, I made bread alone with the brown-haired boy.

Putting on sanitary gloves with a snap!

Pressing the fluffy flour with hands like bread, then rolling it out long like a ball on the cutting board – it provided a surprisingly thrilling satisfaction.

I giggled as I kneaded the dough.

Beside me, I heard the cook say, “As expected of our baby, handling flour well with such small hands.”

Just as I was staring intently at the rising bread dough with a satisfied heart, that’s when it happened.

The brown-haired boy next to me snatched away my flour dough. Then he naturally placed it in front of himself as if it were dough he had made himself.

‘What……?’

I stared at the boy with narrowed eyes.

It seems he had been looking at the dough I made with greedy eyes instead of making bread. He kneaded it as if he had made it himself, then slammed the dough onto the cutting board when it didn’t work out.

“What’s wrong?”

I stood on tiptoe and firmly grasped the flour far away on the table, then made the dough again. He kept kneading the dough while getting flour on his hands. Feeling a bit strange, I carefully called out to him once more.

“Um, hey.”

“……Yes.”

The boy flinched slightly. But it seemed his mood had improved from making bread.

“What…happened earlier?”

“……”

Thwack-!

Without answering my question, the boy punched the bread with a loud thud.

I covered my ears in surprise. This was the first time someone had directly displayed violent tendencies right in front of me. It felt like my tiny heart had fallen to the floor.

When Acid, Ted, and the maids rushed to approach, I waved my hand to caution them.

I pressed down hard on my pounding heart, then quietly looked at the boy.

“That guy is a monster.”

“Huh……?”

The word “monster” was tinged with deep disgust. I stared at the boy for a moment, then rolled my eyes. Just how bad could it be to call someone a monster…

“People like that guy. They don’t know his dirty schemes.”

The eeriness and sense of inferiority were clear.

I carefully opened my mouth.

“Hm? What do you mean by that……?”

Fortunately, whether because he was still a young child with an underdeveloped mind, or because he wanted to completely win me over to his side, he glared at the boss who kept glancing this way as he spoke.

“That guy is dirty. I never bullied him, but he cornered me just because I was playing around…!”

“Hmm?”

I tilted my head.

“What kind of playing around did you do?”

He stared at me. Then he smiled slyly.

“I can’t tell you that.”

Strangely, seeing that smile made me feel queasy.

Really strangely.

“……I’ll tell you what kind of play it was when I come back later.”

I fell into thought as I kept kneading the flour dough. I remembered the advice I had carefully given to the maid sister when sending the boss away earlier.

I had told her to casually probe while playing happily with the boss. I also remember telling her to get information about the wandering sorcerer gypsies.

I wondered if the maid sisters had been successful.

I awkwardly nodded my head towards the brown-haired boy.

[This is the timeline separator]

The fun bread-making time came to an end.

The boys on the other side were cackling excitedly with flour all over their faces.

A boy who had been next to the boss came running over to me.

“Are you coming again tomorrow?”

“……Yes!”

I nodded my head vigorously.

My pigtails fluttered with each nod.

The boy in front of me let out an admiring sigh, and the gypsies’ eyes sparkled.

Everyone was looking at me with envious gazes.

I didn’t realize it at first, but unexpectedly, these gypsy boys seemed to be more innocent children than I thought.

Except for just two.

The boss and the brown-haired boy.

……These two seem to have crossed a river they can’t return from.

Seeing Deadly sister standing frozen behind the boss, it seems the boss must have said something to her, as her heart’s door appeared to be opening little by little.

‘……He really made me curious.’

I smiled faintly and waved my hand.

“Now let’s go hand out bread!”

I hugged an armful of bread and placed it snugly on the tray.

Now, rather than the children’s power struggle, I had to go find the amazing sorcerer!

Just as I clenched my fist tightly, the boss spoke to me.

“Hey.”

His tone was still gruff and a bit irritable, but he had a faint smile as I turned to look at him in confusion.

“……Thanks for making good memories for our kids. Sien Mirmode.”

I never introduced myself to the boss. How did he know my name?

“Umm……”

I blinked and nodded my head.

He smiled brightly and said.

“Now let’s go give bread to the people on the streets. They’ll all love it.”

I nodded vigorously.

The boss’s mood is slowly improving too!

Once he opens up his heart a little more, I’ll have to ask what happened.

I planned to gradually become closer by listening to the backstories of the orphanage’s gypsy children one by one, then find the sorcerer.

And the first step of that plan.

Small talk!

Keeping a smile on my face, I looked at the pockmarked bread in his hand and said.

“Oh! You made dimpled bread……? It’s cute!”

But he looked at me with a shocked expression.

“This is…castella……”

……I froze with an equally shocked expression.

I wondered how that pockmarked bread full of holes could possibly be considered castella.

No matter how I thought about it, the distance between our hearts seemed to have grown a bit further.

But somehow, that boss.

“……Dimpled bread, huh.”

He seems like he’d be fun to tease.

I smiled at him and turned my head away. Now it was really time to hand out bread.

[This is the timeline separator]

A somewhat dirty and rundown alleyway.

A fluffy tray was placed down.

On top were delicious and soft breads giving off a sweet aroma. Of course, there were also some oddly shaped breads made by the clumsy-handed boss, but they were warm and tasty since they had just come out of the oven.

“Get your bread!”

“It’s free, free!”

Free bread.

It was natural for the poor gypsies sitting around chatting in the alley to have their eyes light up.

“Hey, is that for real?”

“Aren’t those the orphanage kids at the entrance to the alley?”

The gypsies all got up at once and looked greedily at the bread. Thinking that if they overpowered those young children, they could eat all the bread.

“Let’s just grab it and ru-”

“Hey. Look over there.”

The gypsy’s finger pointed towards the burly maids.

“L-let’s hold back.”

Quite fortunately, their wicked fantasies quickly disappeared at the sight of the armed knights and muscular maids standing around the orphanage children.

“Right…. L-let’s just take one each.”

This was the mindset of being strong against the weak and weak against the strong.

The gypsies formed an orderly line and received one bread each.

Meanwhile, Sien carefully examined each gypsy’s face, trying to find characters that appeared in the original story.

‘But there really aren’t any sorcerers here.’

They were all dirty, with black hair… black skin, and no moles above their lips.

I sighed.

‘I guess I’ll have to become friends with the gypsy kids and dig for information under the surface.’

I considered going through the information guild, but the targets were free-spirited gypsies. There’s no way such people would fall into the information guild’s net.

I racked my brain while diligently handing out bread.

If there was one rewarding thing, it was people saying thank you.

“You’re doing a good deed, baby.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never seen someone with pink hair before.”

“Huh?”

“I mean it’s cute.”

Kind-looking grandmothers would look at me adorably as they passed by. I handed out bread diligently with reddened cheeks.

So far, I hadn’t found any clues about someone who looked like a sorcerer.

It meant I hadn’t found a way to catch Axel Mirmode.

I could see my lifeline burning away, but strangely I felt proud. I wiped my forehead with a bright smile.

As the prepared bread was steadily being handed out, while the maid sisters had briefly gone into the orphanage to get more bread.

Some gypsies who showed up late suddenly got angry.

“You’re a noble, aren’t you? Are you pitying us?”

“This bread tastes like crap.”

The gypsies came towards me, jerking their chins and spewing curses.

In the process, they bumped the large tray I was holding, and a bread rolled onto the ground with a thud.

I looked at them calmly without being shocked.

But the other children were different. Seeing the bread they had worked hard to make meticulously roll onto the ground, the orphanage children’s gazes wavered seriously.

They were hurt.

Ted, who had been watching the situation, came to my side and threatened the gypsies as if about to draw his sword.

“Back off now. I won’t stand for any more of this.”

“Ha! What a great noble lord. Even brought a knight. Ptoo!”

Watching them spit on the ground, I bit my lip.

“We don’t need that kind of pity, got it?”

I, who had been quiet, said to them.

“No!”

“……Then what is it?”

Their expressions twisted menacingly.

“It’s just, my heart.”

“……What? There’s no such thing.”

“I’m giving because I want to give. So take it if you want. It’s not pity or anything like that.”

The gypsies growled.

They didn’t take the bread I held out, but just turned their heads.

“……Hey, let’s go.”

“We’re letting you off because of the knight.”

The fact that they weren’t taking the bread even though it smelled good meant they really disliked it.

As I became a bit gloomy, the boss carefully approached me.

Unlike when he had glared at me coldly earlier, and when we first met and he told me to “get lost”, he looked somewhat docile now.

“……Sien Mirmode.”

“Yes?”

“……You’ve got some guts.”

Hearing that reminded me of Leonhart.

I tilted my head as I looked at the boss calling my name.

That’s when the boss lowered his voice and asked.

“Are you still curious?”

“……Huh?”

“Why I beat up that bastard.”

Still a heated attitude.

I looked at the brown-haired boy going into the orphanage.

“Yes, I’m curious.”

I judged it was worth asking at least once.

He chuckled and brushed back his hair.

But clearly, his eyes were wavering.

As if he was worried about how I would react.