The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

...This might sound really bad, but honestly, calming Mia down was incredibly simple.

All I had to do was put something in her mouth.

As the weather started getting colder—although it was still a little early—street vendors selling fish-shaped pastries had started to appear.

Not as frequently as when I was a kid, but if I walked about thirty minutes from home, I could sometimes find vendors along the main roads.

Since I usually carried a bit of cash on me, buying some pastries wasn't a big deal.

Maybe because it was her first time seeing such food, Mia looked a bit wary when she first received one, but after I, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Alice, and Claire each took one and started eating happily, Mia followed suit.

"Careful, it’s hot."

...Though I said that a little too late. Mia had already taken a big bite and was now frantically blowing on her mouth.

In a way, that was the right method of eating them. They're meant to be eaten when it's cold out — nibbling slowly while the outside is still crispy and the inside steaming hot was exactly how you were supposed to enjoy them.

Although Mia was initially startled by the heat, she gradually got used to it as she kept eating. Once she properly registered the sweet taste of the red bean filling, she ate with a blissful expression.

"What’s inside this?"

Unlike Mia, who was busy blowing and nibbling at the pastry, Charlotte couldn’t hold back her curiosity and asked.

She still hadn’t taken a bite yet.

"......Charlotte. I know it’s natural for us, as people from the Empire, to be skeptical of unfamiliar foods, but this one’s fine. Besides, this isn’t the Empire."

"......"

Come to think of it, it was actually Claire and Alice, who just ate whatever was given to them without fuss, who were the unusual ones.

Sure, it might be a little exaggerated because of how videos portray it, but when you watch foreigners try Korean food for the first time—especially Westerners—they often show an excessive amount of caution.

How should I put it? They have very strong preconceptions about food.

Especially people proud of their own country's cuisine — they tended to be even more cautious. Maybe it made sense, given that Charlotte and Mia came from a world inspired by that kind of culture.

"It’s red bean."

"......Red bean?"

"Sweetened red bean paste."

"So... you’re saying it’s sweet beans?"

"......Would you mind trying it first before making a judgment?"

I asked her politely.

"......"

After hearing my explanation, Charlotte seemed even more suspicious. She stared warily at the pastry for a while before finally taking a cautious bite.

After a few careful chews,

"......It’s delicious."

She muttered quietly.

Told you, right?

But somehow, I had a feeling we were going to run into situations like this again in the future, and it made me a little nervous.

*

"What’s that?"

"A croffle."

"A croffle?"

"It’s a fusion food made by pressing croissant dough in a waffle iron."

"......Why?"

"......Why, you ask?"

I stopped walking, confused by Charlotte’s utterly bewildered expression. Charlotte, looking genuinely perplexed, spoke again.

"If you want a croissant, you can just eat a croissant. If you want a waffle, eat a waffle. Why would you press croissant dough in a waffle iron?"

Looking at Charlotte's serious face, I realized something.

Ah, right. Belvur isn’t based solely on France.

I don't know exactly which country invented croissants, but the name sounds French enough. And waffles are famously from Belgium.

From a Korean perspective, where "bread is bread," it doesn’t really matter — you can mash them together however you want. But in France, where there are even laws about how to make baguettes, it might indeed seem very strange.

So I tried to understand Charlotte’s perspective.

...Hmm, maybe it’s like imagining someone smashing kimchi with a meat tenderizer and eating it?

...Why?

If the first thing that pops into your mind is "why?" then, yeah, maybe it’s similar.

"Because someone thought it would taste good?"

I struggled for a serious answer, but Claire, who had been quietly listening while munching on her own croffle, spoke up.

By the way, Claire had already bought one while we were talking.

And Mia was also nibbling on hers, glancing back and forth between us.

"Of course it would taste good. They combined two delicious things."

Charlotte, looking at Mia happily eating the croffle, replied with a complicated expression.

"No, it’s because both were delicious that they combined them."

Alice, who had been listening silently, finally couldn’t hold back and interjected.

"Think about it — would you think it’s tasty if someone plopped eel jelly on a toast sandwich?"

"......No, that example sounds totally wrong."

Still, it was pretty effective.

In the end, Charlotte didn’t look completely convinced, but she gave up arguing about it—

*

"This is strange."

—or so I thought.

"What is?"

After wandering around for a while and sitting down at a café, I was quietly relieved that the one who came along was Charlotte, not Sophia. Just then, Charlotte pointed at the tray of desserts we had brought over and complained.

For reference, the drinks we ordered were one frappuccino, one espresso, and three Americanos. The espresso was for Charlotte, to avoid shocking her too much with cultural differences. The frappuccino was something we recommended to Mia, who loved sweet things.

I was relieved it was Charlotte and not Sophia. Sophia would have freaked out just seeing the Americano, which, after all, was basically espresso diluted with water.

Seeing Charlotte, who fit the "slightly exaggerated stereotype" so perfectly, I figured Sophia wouldn’t have been any easier to deal with.

At least full-fledged French cuisine wasn’t widely available here, mostly limited to desserts, so I had thought things would go smoother—

"Is this... a macaron?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Charlotte asked with wide, disbelieving eyes.

What she was pointing at was a massively thick macaron stuffed with tons of filling—what people called a "fatcaron."

"......They call it a fatcaron because it’s fat."

"Fatca..."

Charlotte pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose, groaning.

"Why?"

"It’s probably based on the idea that more filling tastes better?"

"......Just because it has more filling doesn’t mean it tastes better, does it? With food, balance is everything. Isn’t that way too excessive? And the coque breaks apart into crumbs easily. Plus, if it’s too big to fit in one bite, wouldn’t the filling just squish out everywhere when you bite it?"

Everything she said was completely reasonable, but unfortunately, I had no rebuttal.

Because I wasn’t the one who made them.

For whatever reason, this absurdly fat version of macarons had become popular in Korea, so cafés were selling them everywhere. I had absolutely nothing to do with that. Honestly, I probably ate two macarons a year, if that. Even if both happened to be fatcarons, my contribution to Korea’s entire macaron market was negligible.

"Why, seriously why?"

Charlotte muttered helplessly as she watched Claire skillfully eat a fatcaron without spilling a single crumb, and Mia, who after hesitating, bit into one and ended up smearing cream all over her lips.

"Don’t worry too much. Most of Belvur’s traditional dishes probably haven’t been transformed like that. At least, they’re not that widespread here."

I said, taking a sip from my Americano.

Honestly, if you asked random Koreans on the street whether they’d ever eaten anything French besides dessert, barely anyone would say yes.

I’d heard of dishes made with wine instead of water, but I’d never actually eaten one myself. I wouldn’t even know where to find it.

"......No, that doesn’t make me feel better at all."

Charlotte answered blankly.

"Still, try not to think too negatively, Charlotte."

Alice, stirring her drink with a straw next to her, said casually.

"After all, the food you know from this world is technically 'French cuisine,' not 'Belvur cuisine.' So even if they mess around with it here, it’s not really your cuisine being changed."

"......That somehow feels even worse."

Charlotte said, almost whining, unable to refute Alice’s teasing comment.