Chapter 237: The Matsuya Group Construction Team!
Thursday morning.
Minos left for the Demon World first thing and wasn't expected back until the afternoon. After purchasing the day's ingredients, Ryohei Tanaka grabbed Yurine Hanazono's tablet to look over the materials Medusa had sent yesterday.
He spent a couple of hours browsing. His main goal was to broaden his horizons, gain knowledge, and see if he could learn from the experiences of the demon world's dessert makers to avoid pitfalls and reach his goal faster.
Overall, the harvest was significant!
The wide variety of demon world desserts opened Ryohei's eyes, and his mind was flooded with new ideas. Using the demon sweets as a foundation and combining them with his current ingredients, inspiration sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain.
He was ready to start baking immediately, but first, he called over Pino and the others. A dessert shop couldn't just sell a few items; it needed variety. Their skills were all excellent, so developing recipes together might even spark more inspiration for him.
As a bonus, Ryohei invited Poporon and her group to act as the official taste-testers. The happiest of all wasn't Pekola, but Binchotan. The little girl was so moved she cried out, "Is this... heaven?"
Poporon, overhearing her, immediately held up a finger with a serious expression. "Heaven is not like this."
As an angel, she was the authority on the matter!
...
Time flew by. In the afternoon, around 2:00 PM, the sun was shining brightly.
Lucoa received a call from Minos and notified Ryohei, who had just finished his lunch break and returned to the kitchen. She then turned, her long, shapely legs carrying her outside the villa.
She opened a spatial portal, bringing Minos and the "Matsuya Group Construction Team" to the ranch.
"Welcome back, Minos."
Ryohei had followed her out and greeted Minos with a smile as she stepped through. His gaze then curiously swept over the oddly shaped, suit-wearing group behind her, and he froze.
"I'm back!" Minos returned his smile and naturally stood beside Ryohei, turning to introduce him to the neatly lined-up demons. "This is the client for this project, and also my boss in the human world. You can just call him Boss Ryohei."
"Good afternoon, Boss Ryohei!"
A tall merman with a blue-green fish head as thick as his neck, covered in coin-sized scales; a burly crocodile-man with a reptilian head and a mouthful of serrated teeth; a short, green-skinned,-stooped goblin with pointed ears and a large nose; a dark green, humanoid mimic slime that looked like it was constantly sweating; and an ugly, stone-skinned gargoyle with a pair of wings...
They all bowed in unison, their shout so loud it had the force of a hundred men, startling a flock of birds from the nearby forest.
The angels and demons inside the villa were also startled, crowding the windows to peek out.
"...Hello to you, too," Ryohei replied, his expression rather strange.
To be honest, this group of demons didn't look like a construction team at all. Who wears suits to do construction? The two crocodile-men even had thick gold chains and sunglasses.
They looked less like builders and more like a yakuza gang.
"Torasuru, you can take out the things I got from Medusa," Minos ordered, placing a hand on her slender waist, her silvery-white cow-tail swishing behind her. She was addressing the only one not wearing anything—the mimic slime.
"Yes, Young Mistress!" the slime replied respectfully, stepping forward. Its body suddenly expanded, stretching into a 1x2 meter dark green "door frame."
Two hands, mimicked to look human, reached into the "frame" and pulled out several large boxes, placing them on the ground.
Ryohei remembered Minos mentioning this before. He had worried about the logistics of transporting materials from the Demon World, but Minos had proudly patted her chest and told him not to worry. Every construction team in the Matsuya Group was equipped with a mimic slime possessing a "Dimensional Stomach."
It was extremely convenient.
Ryohei saw now that it was convenient. He noted with satisfaction that the boxes were clean, with no slime residue.
"Everything Medusa gave me is here. Should I have them moved inside for you?" Minos asked, counting the boxes and turning to Ryohei.
"No need."
Ryohei stepped forward and touched the boxes, transferring them to his own storage. He looked back at Minos. "Let's head to the lake first. I'll let you get them started."
"Got it," Minos agreed cheerfully.
Lucoa, seeing this, proactively opened a spatial portal to the lake. Ryohei gave her an appreciative glance and stepped through first.
...
Meanwhile.
Yurine Hanazono had come downstairs. Seeing Jashin-chan in the living room, she couldn't help but ask, "Jashin-chan, is Minos's family really in the construction business?"
The appearance and aura of that group didn't match "construction team" at all. Plus, she heard the slime call Minos "Young Mistress." It sounded exactly like how one would address a mafia princess!
"Hmm? Yeah... is there a problem?" Jashin-chan tilted her head, blinking, not understanding the issue.
Yurine said honestly, "They really don't look the part."
"Tsk tsk! Yurine, I can't believe you're judging a book by its cover. That's not very nice, you know," Jashin-chan crossed her arms and teased.
"...Being told that by you feels incredibly weird!" Yurine leaned back, exasperated, feeling like the whole world was off-kilter.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" the scummy snake pouted, indignant.
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