Chapter 49
Chapter 49. Different Dreams in the Same Bed (4)
As soon as he hung up the phone, Baron Keystone sought out the mayor.
"This... this is..."
It was just as his aide had said.
In a corner of the bustling central shopping district stood the 'Pasture Trading Company' directly-operated pharmacy.
"Come get your Cola! Cola!"
"Relieves indigestion, restores vitality, and boosts stamina! Pharmacists guarantee it!"
"One bottle of Cola for just 3 pence! We appreciate your interest and support!"
At the prime spot on the display shelf filled with various potions and medicines.
Cola was brazenly displayed and being sold.
The crowd that had formed a long line picked up Cola with delighted expressions and drank it right on the spot.
"What in the world..."
Baron Keystone swallowed hard.
The Cola Emergency Ordinance had definitely passed.
Foreign beverages, especially Cola from Nortaris, weren't supposed to be seen in Golden Hill.
Under the pretext of 'regional coexistence,' this was something everyone had agreed to—so what lunatic would dare violate it on their own?
"Tsk tsk, completely insane."
Baron Keystone clicked his tongue.
He didn't know how Y&P Trading Company had coerced Pasture Trading Company.
But Pasture Trading Company's move was a blunder among blunders.
This world had its own set of rules.
People didn't follow the rules because they were fools.
That's what made it all the more puzzling.
"Pasture isn't a stupid fellow though..."
If it had been some unheard-of petty merchant blinded by greed making a self-destructive move, he would have understood.
However, Pasture Trading Company owned a brewery—the sweetest of sweet deals.
It was a mid-sized trading company that had received a beer brewing license from the Kingdom.
Just as the furrow in his brow deepened, a man walked out of the store with a leisurely air.
"Oh my, Lord Keystone! What brings you to this humble establishment?"
It was Viscount Pasture, the owner of the trading company.
He greeted him cheerfully, but it was obvious he was reading the room.
Since their business fields didn't overlap, they normally treated each other like strangers passing in the street, but this was blatantly undermining Keystone.
"Pasture, what are you doing right now?"
"As you can see... yes, I'm selling Cola."
"Do you think I'm asking because I don't know that? Did those few pennies suddenly become so tempting?"
Baron Keystone didn't get angry at Viscount Pasture.
After all, even if he didn't get indignant, Pasture Trading Company's fate was already sealed.
Making an enemy of political forces without any justification was the worst move one could make in business.
Even for Baron Keystone.
"You're not going to tell me you don't know about the Cola Emergency Ordinance, are you? The necessity of regulating foreign beverages was recognized even by Golden Hill's city council deliberative body..."
"Hehe, Lord Keystone. It's not a foreign beverage."
Viscount Pasture, who had been rubbing his palms and reading the room, interrupted.
Baron Keystone's jowls twitched.
"Look here. Don't talk nonsense. Even the farmhands shoveling cow dung know Cola is a Nortaris beverage."
"Even so, it's not. The Cola we're selling was legally manufactured right here in 'Golden Hill.'"
"What?"
With every single bottle of Cola blocked from coming in, there was no way production facilities could have crossed over.
They couldn't have built a factory in Golden Hill.
At that moment, Baron Keystone thought of one possibility.
'Don't tell me they handed over the Cola business to Pasture and exited?'
If they'd transferred the business itself to a Golden Hill trading company, they could ignore the ordinance.
Has Cola become a 'Golden Hill' beverage?
"This is maddening! Why would they sell off something so valuable!"
Baron Keystone wanted to immediately return to his mansion and call Jurgen to confront him.
After a long period of stagnation, this was a beverage market finally showing signs of life.
Cola was a product with the potential to easily reclaim the number one position.
Sure, they'd scared him a bit, but to sell off the goose that lays golden eggs entirely!
'If you can't protect it, you'll just sell it?' What kind of self-destructive business mindset was this?
"I misjudged the man."
Baron Keystone drastically slashed Jurgen's rating from its original 10 points down to 0.
"Lord Keystone, I think you've misunderstood."
"Misunderstood? I understand perfectly well."
Viscount Pasture, who had been reading the room, interjected.
"It's true this Cola was produced in Golden Hill. But we didn't acquire the entire Cola business from Y&P. We merely received a license."
"A license? What kind of license?"
Viscount Pasture, seemingly not wanting to completely antagonize the Baron either, began explaining as kindly as possible.
"The right to mix syrup with carbonated water, bottle it, and sell it. Y&P calls it a 'Bottling Partner License.' We only buy the syrup from Y&P headquarters."
"Just the syrup? What about the rest of the production facilities?"
"Well, we have a brewery, don't we? Mixing and bottling are simple once you receive basic technical training."
"..."
"We have to make a living too, don't we? The terms were so favorable I couldn't refuse."
Baron Keystone felt like he'd been struck in the back of the head with an iron hammer.
It was a shock that made every hair on his body stand on end.
The core of the regulatory barrier Keystone had erected was 'blocking products from external companies.'
However, suppose a Golden Hill company that received syrup made Cola, as Viscount Pasture said.
Strictly speaking, that Cola wouldn't be a product from an external company, but a proper 'Golden Hill-made Cola.'
They could hold onto Cola's core—the 'syrup concentrate'—while breaking through the ordinance's hollow pretext.
"Ha, look at this guy?"
"Lord Keystone, even if I'm just a viscount, calling me 'this guy' to my face is..."
"No, not you, Pasture."
Baron Keystone smiled with satisfaction.
"Yes, if you're a talent I covet, you should be able to pull off at least this much."
He'd been curious what kind of magic this cocky fellow would pull, and he'd delivered a satisfying blow.
Though Pasture hadn't explained much, Baron Keystone immediately recognized the strengths of this system.
Originally, products were terribly tied to 'regions.'
Y&P was a startup from Nortaris.
They had no foundation in regions outside Nortaris.
They'd solved this by creating 'local partner companies.'
Pasture Trading Company had thoroughly secured Golden Hill's distribution network, commercial districts, and even political connections.
To maximize their own profits, they would actively utilize their influence and know-how.
The profits thus gained would also roll into Y&P's pockets.
"They acquired what would have taken the building from the ground up, while sitting down."
And look at this scalability.
Normally, expanding factories meant shouldering proportional risks—that was business basics.
You could see this with Rex Salisbury.
Hadn't he made a self-destructive move, recklessly expanding factories to capture the market first, then losing a fortune?
However, following this method, Y&P didn't need to directly build factories or hire people.
Local partners in each city would build factories and produce Cola with their own money and connections.
This way, Y&P minimized initial investment burden and risk.
While simultaneously securing Y&P multi-production bases in an instant.
Then this wasn't just Golden Hill's problem.
Riverport and Billstone were only a matter of time.
Now, Baron Keystone's power alone couldn't stop Cola from spreading throughout the North.
Baron Keystone boarded his car with a grin.
'I told you. The desperate side would come first.'
Now he understood what Jurgen had said.
"Sir, where shall I take you?"
What choice was there?
The desperate side had to visit first.
"Straight to Golden Hill Station."
***
Life after escaping from the Minister of Internal Affairs position was satisfying.
The fact that he could freely invest time in the culinary revolution he'd wanted all along.
The fact that even so, he wasn't suffering from intense work, so he had time to breathe.
This was also surprisingly important—he could cook his own meals.
In Britannia, where even the Royal Palace chefs normally used incomprehensible recipes under the guise of 'court cuisine.'
Rather than eating things like Eel Pie with wobbly jelly added, or Haggis—sheep's bladder stuffed with oatmeal and spices—it was far tastier to make his own food.
Moreover, anyone who's cooked would know.
How gratifying it is when there's someone who deliciously eats the food you worked hard to make.
Reaction bot Penelope ate well no matter what he fed her.
She always exclaimed with admiration until stars seemed to pour from her eyes, and today she'd even stepped up to learn cooking directly.
"Alright, I'm ready."
Jurgen's townhouse kitchen.
Jurgen looked at her fondly as she changed into comfortable clothes and even tied on an apron.
"Very good thinking. So Miss Penelope has also discovered the wonder of cooking."
"It's because of you, isn't it? Ever since I started eating your cooking, food has to suit my palate. I want to be able to make it myself when you're not around too."
Penelope's first cooking challenge in her life.
She seemed quite tense for some reason.
Well, would a noble young lady have ever gotten her hands wet in the kitchen?
Her firmly pressed lips were especially stiff today.
"No need to be so tense. Miss Penelope, aren't you an alchemist?"
"What does alchemy have to do with cooking?"
"They share the common points of precise measurement, recipes, and the importance of imagination."
"...Hmm, I suppose that's true?"
Today's menu was Aglio e Olio pasta.
Thanks to its simplicity, it was a menu he ate at least once every two days, and the alpha and omega of pasta dishes.
It was also the wicked menu that made Penelope overeat every time.
"I like that one."
Penelope swallowed like Pavlov's dog.
"But isn't it too simple? There aren't even that many ingredients."
"Don't you like it?"
"It's not that, but since I'm learning for the first time, I wanted to learn something more substantial."
"You don't know what you're talking about. Why do you think Aglio e Olio is classified as fundamental?"
Because there's little room for fancy techniques and the taste is simple, the subtlety hidden within that simplicity is important.
Still, Penelope was a good student.
When he explained the reason, she quickly understood and followed instructions.
"First, we'll heat olive oil in the pan. And the garlic, hmm... Miss Penelope, will you mince this?"
"Wait, is it okay to put in that much? Garlic is spicy."
"When heated, the spiciness disappears and only the aroma remains."
"...You're not teasing me, are you?"
Spice-sensitive Penelope was shocked at the amount of garlic Jurgen handed her.
Traditional Italian recipes don't use this much garlic, but if it's Korea, you have to add plenty of garlic.
Though Penelope, who had been fooled by Jurgen before, looked at him with suspicious eyes...
In the end, she concentrated with furrowed brows and minced the garlic with careful hand movements.
"Oh, Miss Penelope. By the way, don't touch your face with hands that minced garlic."
"...You should... tell me... that... earlier..."
"Did you already touch it?"
"My eyes... my eyes feel like they're burning... Grrrgh!!!"
"Don't rub your eyes! You absolutely must not rub them!"
There was a minor mishap with novice chef Penelope.
"Add the garlic and a bit of Peperoncino to extract the oil. Then add this anchovy, and also add capers to eliminate the anchovy smell and greasiness."
"W-wait, just a little slower."
"This is pasta extruded through a bronze die."
"Does it matter what die the noodles were extruded through?"
"The rough surface helps the sauce stick to the noodles."
"...Where did you learn all this?"
The cooking progressed quickly.
Since this was Penelope's first time cooking, her hands were quite slow, but perhaps due to her experience handling various alchemical ingredients, she was surprisingly composed for a beginner.
"Cook the noodles until slightly underdone... Good, the rest we transfer to the pan, mix, and finish cooking, right?"
"Don't forget the pasta water too."
"Right, pasta water, pasta water."
With parsley added as a finishing touch, Penelope's Aglio e Olio pasta was complete.
When she twirled the noodles and plated them like a bird's nest, it looked quite presentable.
"Let me try it."
"I want to try it too."
After taking turns tasting with Jurgen.
"Hmm."
"Ehehehe..."
Penelope placed her hands on her hips and preened.
"How is it? Pretty good for a first time, right?"
"Miss Penelope has skillful hands."
"Of course. Who am I? A 5th Rank alchemist, right? Compared to alchemy, this level of cooking is easy."
"It's delicious. You made it very well."
Getting cocky over small things was Penelope's cute habit, but this time he'd acknowledge it.
This was a well-made Aglio e Olio.
To be able to make it this well in one try.
Quite impressive.
"If you just follow this recipe, you'll be able to make it on your own."
However, Penelope, who he thought would brag for another 10 minutes, quickly became quiet.
He soon learned the reason.
Because Penelope, who had been twirling pasta with her fork, spoke as if tossing out the words.
"It would have been nice if Serena could eat this too."
"Why didn't you invite her to come along?"
"You know too. Serena has a fit whenever the topic of invitations comes up. She's so peculiar."
Though she vehemently denied it, Penelope seemed to feel lonely that Serena would be leaving before long.
These days, whenever something happened, she had Serena's name constantly on her lips.
"I wanted to treat her to a meal before she leaves. With this special Penelope Aglio e Olio I made."
Only then did he realize why Penelope had suddenly asked him to teach her cooking.
Penelope had a surprisingly sentimental personality.
She was also the type who couldn't honestly admit such things.
After this conversation, Penelope didn't bring up Serena again until the meal was finished.
Penelope had let Serena go because ultimately Y&P had nothing to give Serena comparable to the Granville Viscount Family. The moment she recognized this unchangeable reality, she stopped whining in front of Jurgen.
However, her noticeably reduced chatter throughout the meal spoke volumes about her feelings.
"I'll come again next time. Next time, have a more difficult recipe ready."
After Penelope left.
Jurgen sipped Cola while waiting for one person.
"It should be about time..."
The person he was waiting for was Baron Keystone.
Ding-dong.
"He's here."
The Santa Claus who would deliver gifts to Serena and Penelope.
FOOTNOTE
- Anchovy: A type of salted fish made from anchovies and similar fish.
- Caper: A type of spice. It has a sour and spicy taste and aroma, often used pickled in vinegar.