Chapter 239: If You Don't Mind, I'll Be Your Dad!
Ryohei Tanaka named the new creation "Blue Starry Sky." He set a piece aside for Minos at the construction site and brought the rest to the living room to share with everyone.
Unsurprisingly, it was met with a chorus of exclamations and unanimous praise.
...
With the "showstopper" dessert now secured, Ryohei Tanaka let out a sigh of relief. The weight was off his shoulders.
Looking cool was important!
Having flair was important!
A dessert shop that didn't have something to blow people's minds just didn't fit Ryohei's style. He was becoming almost obsessive about this, which he admitted was probably not a great habit.
Following the tasting, Ryohei, Jashin-chan, Yusa, and Pino discussed the rest of the menu. They finalized twenty different desserts, making it twenty-one including "Blue Starry Sky."
The next step was to tally the required ingredients and estimate the quantities. For things like Elven Wheat Flour, he would have to rely on Lucoa. Fortunately, none of the ingredients he needed were extraordinarily expensive.
Take the Elven Wheat Flour, for example. It was milled from a special wheat species cultivated by elves using their own abilities. It had a much richer aroma than common flour and produced a superior texture. But at the end of the day, it was just the elves' daily staple food, so it wasn't pricey.
For the Demon World ingredients, Ryohei was originally going to bother Medusa again, but Yurine Hanazono looked at Jashin-chan.
"Jashin-chan, doesn't your family control the food and water supply in the Demon World? Can't you arrange it?"
"Do I really need to personally handle such a trivial matter?" Jashin-chan said, shrugging. She wagged her head with an expression and tone so punchable that it made everyone want to smack her.
There was a very good reason this girl was always getting beaten up.
"Is Jashin-chan's family really that impressive?" Ryohei asked, feigning surprise.
"I'm shocked, too. It's the most stunning thing I've heard all week," Yurine said, glancing at Jashin-chan.
"Hmph—!" The scummy snake lifted her head and huffed, pulling open the snakeskin pocket on her belly to fish out her phone. "You're all so hopeless. Fine, I'll make a call for you."
'Perfect,' Jashin-chan thought. The golden bangs hanging over her forehead cast a shadow on her face. Her sapphire-blue eyes curved into sly crescents, and her mouth stretched into an exaggerated grin, revealing two sharp fangs.
'I help him procure ingredients, so taking a little kickback isn't unreasonable, right? I can get the ingredients at cost, maybe even get the family to cover shipping... Then I'll sell them to my vassal at market price and charge him for shipping on top...'
"Your smile is incredibly sinister," Ryohei said, eyeing her suspiciously. 'What is she plotting?'
JII and Koji huddled together, whispering and pointing at Jashin-chan.
The scummy snake deftly typed a number into her phone's dialer and looked up at Ryohei. She was in a good mood and didn't mind his comment. "I'll just take that as a compliment!"
"...I wasn't complimenting you!" Ryohei was speechless for a second. Was she really this thick-skinned, or just shameless?
She ignored him, dialed her mother's number, and put the phone to her ear.
'Come to think of it, I've been in the human world for a while and haven't contacted Mom or Dad at all.' Jashin-chan's expression softened. She decided to use this opportunity to chat with her mom for a bit.
"..."
Seeing her on the phone, everyone in the room quieted down. Ryohei could faintly hear the beep... beep... of the line ringing.
It was immediately followed by a beep-beep-beep busy tone.
The call had been disconnected.
"Er..."
Jashin-chan froze. She looked down at her phone, blinked her beady eyes, and guessed, "Mom... must be busy..."
She then skillfully dialed her father's number.
This time, she got to say two sentences.
"Moshi moshi!"
"Dad, is that you?"
Then the call was disconnected.
Jashin-chan immediately petrified, her entire body turning a dull grey.
"...She's petrified!" JII exclaimed.
"She seems to have taken quite a blow!" Poporon covered her mouth, gloating.
'What a tragedy.' Ryohei suppressed the urge to mock her. Looking at the petrified snake, he felt a twinge of pity and offered, "Your dad is probably just busy."
"That's right," Yurine quickly agreed. Since Jashin-chan wasn't actively annoying her, she could spare a little sympathy.
"...But he already answered the phone." Jashin-chan snapped out of her petrified state, looking utterly dejected. "And I've been in the human world for so long, and they haven't called me once..."
"Maybe they're just... too busy?" Yurine said, though her voice lacked conviction as she recalled that they also hadn't helped Jashin-chan with her loan shark debt.
Ryohei stepped forward and placed a hand on Jashin-chan's slender shoulder. He looked at the love-deprived demon and said with faux-seriousness:
"If you don't mind, I can be your dad."
Every single person in the room froze for a second, their expressions turning progressively weirder.
"..." Jashin-chan stared blankly at Ryohei. Then her face darkened.
Can't you see I'm having a moment of grief? How dare you say something like that? Your age isn't even a fraction of mine, and you want to be my dad?
In a fit of rage, Jashin-chan launched her "Jashin-chan Coil" at Ryohei, wrapping around him. She clenched her fists furiously. "You bastard! I'm going to kill you!"
"Yurine, help me!" Ryohei yelled.
Yurine, after a moment of exasperation, rushed forward and peeled Jashin-chan off him.
...
After the chaos, Jashin-chan picked up her phone again, shooting Ryohei a sidelong glance. "I can solve your ingredient supply problem. But you have to give me a kickback."
"Fine..." Ryohei was slightly surprised but agreed. "You get me the lowest price, and I'll give you three percent." He held up three fingers.
Taking a kickback on procurement was normal. You can't expect the horse to run if you don't let it eat.
"Three percent? That's way too little! Are you trying to pay off a beggar? I want at least thirty percent!" Jashin-chan was not satisfied, her demand increasing tenfold.
"Are you playing Greedy Snake right now?!" Ryohei's face darkened. The scummy snake's greed was beyond imagination. He thought for a moment and held up one hand. "Five percent. That's my maximum."
...
After a round of haggling, they finally settled on a ten percent kickback.
With the deal struck, Jashin-chan contacted her family's butler and had him arrange the inventory and delivery.
By the time everything was settled, it was already past 4:00 PM. Ryohei left Jashin-chan at the ranch to prepare dinner for the Matsuya Group construction team, while he took the rest of the staff back to Tokyo to open the restaurant.
~~~
Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 1 extra chapters
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter