"Boss Capris! Another order for thirty more fish-shaped pastries...!!"
"Tell them to wait just a little longer! We’re turning the molds right now!!"
Today’s Oxford fish-shaped pastry shop.
The unexpected hit had forced them to stop business for several days while they made more molds, so they had worried that customers would drop off a little... no, a lot.
"Hurry! If we don’t eat them now, who knows when they’ll be open again!"
"If the ingredients run out, it’s over! We don’t know how long we’ll have to wait this time!!"
"Another hundred here! As tribute to the Duke of Oxford, the Duke of Salisbury, and the Duke of Norwich, make sure they stay crispy for at least a day!!!"
"Do you think fish-shaped pastries can last that long?!!!"
Having tasted them for just one day, then endured several days with the shop closed, they had become almost like engines running on nothing but fuel, burning in an incomplete state.
And because of that, when the fish-shaped pastry shop reopened, the fear from last time—fear that if they didn’t buy them now, they might never get to eat fish-shaped pastries again—combined with the crowd that had gathered after hearing all sorts of rumors.
As a result, the shop ended up doing far better than it had on its first day.
"Damn it, doing well is great and all, but isn’t this getting way too crowded? I don’t think it’ll happen, but if this keeps up, it’s going to cause all kinds of problems for our future plans...?!"
It sounded like I was drinking kimchi brine with great enthusiasm, but there was nothing I could do about it. At the very least, I had to consider the worst-case scenario within reason.
So even while my hands kept turning the molds without a moment’s rest, my brain kept grinding away.
...All right, I’ve made a decision to some extent. Now I just need to tell the lady and get her agreement, then wait about a week and...
"...Ah, damn it?! More importantly, the fish-shaped pastries are going to burn!!"
"Boss?!!"
Snapping my wandering mind back into place, I pulled the pastries out of the mold and handed them straight to Ainsel, then loaded the batter and red bean paste back in, turned the mold, and took them out again.
Add the ingredients, turn it, take them out. Add them again, turn it, take them out, add them again, turn it, take them out...
I repeated that process countless times. Seriously, if I hadn’t done blacksmithing work before, this would have been impossible. My arms didn’t have a single second to rest... damn it, please, just don’t let any more people come in here...!! I’m really going to die...!!!
But whether God had failed to read his thoughts or not, the more days passed, the more the customers and orders increased instead of decreasing, until eventually...
"You there, come to my manor!! Enter a permanent contract and serve me fish-shaped pastries for the rest of your life!!!"
"And why should I allow that? To prove my loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen, this shop must be dedicated solely to Her! So if you follow me, I’ll grant you an honor worth more than gold!!!"
"N-no, before permanent contracts or tributes or anything else, you need the boss’s permission first...?!"
"What? Then where is the boss?!!"
"Well, lately he’s been turning the fish-shaped pastry molds so much that he’s come down with muscle pain and fatigue, so he’s resting right now..."
Even after closing time, customers started coming to their lodging to place reservations, and not just that—people swept up in a momentary craze began showing up without a second thought, trying to donate the shop to themselves or offer it up as proof of loyalty.
"...Ughhh... Boss... they’re all gone.... You can come out now...."
"Goodness, you’re always working so hard..."
Ainsel kept sending the visiting fairies away, and only then did Capris emerge from the shade.
If they didn’t hide like this, they’d be kidnapped on the spot or forced to keep turning fish-shaped pastry molds even in the middle of the night. What a mess this was...
"Sigh... at this rate, I don’t think we can keep going any longer."
"Yes... if this keeps up, we’ll be tied to Oxford for the rest of our lives at the very least..."
Day by day, the customers were overflowing, and on top of that came the troublemakers who showed up after closing and demanded extra service. Over the past few days, the steadily increasing crowd had pushed Capris and Ainsel to the limit.
Of course, if they hired more staff, they could run the business comfortably and make a good living, but doing that would be no different from putting down roots in Oxford.
For the two of them, whose goal was to travel through the Fairy Kingdom, that was unacceptable. So they decided to carry out the final method.
"So... is the preparation done?"
"Don’t worry. The bribes were paid long ago, the permits are in hand, and we’ve hired a friend with a tight mouth. All that’s left is to pack up and leave."
The preparations were perfect. To put it another way, they had kept the business running just for this day. There was no need to worry about failure...!
"No, that’s not it... I mean... ughhh... I guess there’s no helping it...
Just make sure to tell me if you pass near the river..."
"...? Ah, do you mean a prophecy?"
Ainsel nodded.
Apparently the lady’s [Fairy Eye] was not something she could speak of carelessly, so she only told him about the future she had seen by speaking in vague terms or leaving out the important parts.
Still, a river...? Tch, of all things... there was a river on the road to Cambridge...
"...Well, in any case, I suppose we have no choice but to go?"
The lady nodded.
Good. At least this was better than staying here any longer.
*
Deep in the night, under a dark sky, a cart rattled across the plains.
"Uwah... this is a new experience too... Running away in the middle of the night, I’d only ever heard about it in rumors...?!"
They couldn’t stay trapped in Oxford forever, and they couldn’t let the customers notice they were leaving.
What they needed was to come and go like a storm, then disappear without anyone noticing, as if nothing had ever happened.
In other words, the two of them were currently fleeing in the middle of the night.
"Haha, but we did get the proper permission before leaving... so we shouldn’t get stopped by any random inspection or anything. Still, can’t you go a little faster?!!"
"Puhihing, my speed transcends heaven and earth!! In other words, asking me to run any faster than this is the same as defying the laws of the world!!! Purrrnnn!!!"
So that means it can’t go any faster than this.
You insane horse fairy...!!
Of course, there was no doubt it was very fast right now...!!
"Ah, we’re nearing the riverbank now! Purrnnn, be careful. It’s said that a swarm of Mors has been appearing from the direction of the River of Tears since a few days ago."
"I know that...! So can’t you run just a little faster?"
"Unfortunately, that’s impossible. Even now, I’m worried whether the rattling noise will provoke the Mors or not. Heehee, if only that weren’t the case, I could have surpassed the laws of the world...!!"
Earlier she said she couldn’t surpass them, and now she’s changing her story...!!
Still, a swarm of Mors... I should be glad they didn’t show up while I was leaving, I guess.
"Leaving that aside,"
I glanced up toward the lady.
She looked restless and uneasy, and when she noticed I was looking at her, she nodded as if to confirm my suspicion.
...Damn it, I could faintly see them too now.
Those blackish-red... no, black-violet masses beyond that hill.
Haah... damn it, why is this happening...?
"...Puhihing, this looks like a bit of trouble, sir."
"Yeah, it does... I can see it too......"
"Uwahhh... we can still make it through, but..."
He lit the cart’s rear lanterns and shone the light straight ahead.
...Rustle rustle, murmur murmur, bustle bustle.
The plains were packed full of black-violet Mors, so densely that they seemed ready to burst, all of them sleeping quietly with the parts that were presumably their eyes still closed.
Big ones, small ones, all of them had gathered together to form a violet hill. Everywhere the light reached was filled with them.
...And just then, yellow circular lights appeared in the bodies of the creatures.
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