“Faaah.”
The morning after hearing Catherine’s worries, Kent woke up in his room.
“Um, what time is it… it’s about time to get up. Marie, it’s morning. Wake up.”
“Ungh, just five more minutes…”
Kent tried to wake Marie, who was sleeping next to him, but she still seemed weak in the mornings and showed no signs of waking up.
“I have no choice. I’ll wait five minutes.”
Kent reluctantly decided to wait for Marie for about five minutes and began getting ready, changing into his school uniform for the first time in a while.
“Good morning, Kent.”
“Morning, Catherine.”
When Kent left his room and showed his face in the living room, Catherine was already preparing breakfast. Her gloomy expression from yesterday was gone, replaced by her usual one, which made Kent feel a little relieved.
“Where’s Al and Fuuko?”
“Al is in the home garden outside. Fuuko should be in the Kotatsu?”
“Hmm, I don’t see her.”
Kent asked Catherine about Al and Fuuko. It seemed Al was in the home garden and invisible, and even though Fuuko was supposed to be in the Kotatsu, she was nowhere to be seen.
“Could it be?”
*Rustle*
“It’ll get cold if you leave it open! Who-? Oh, it’s Master.”
When Kent lifted the Kotatsu futon, Fuuko was curled up inside like a cat, keeping warm.
“Morning, Fuuko.”
“M-morning, Master.”
After greeting Fuuko, Kent gently lowered the Kotatsu futon.
“Kent, breakfast will be ready soon. What about Mom?”
“She said to let her sleep for five more minutes.”
“Five minutes? I don’t think she’ll wake up.”
“I agree.”
Catherine’s voice echoed from the kitchen as Kent relayed Marie’s current situation. Kent and Catherine shared a wry smile, anticipating another difficult morning trying to wake Marie.
“Marie, it’s been five minutes. Please wake up.”
“Just five more minutes…”
“I heard that already. Please wake up.”
Kent called out to Marie while keeping a close eye on her movements. If he let his guard down here, she might trap him, and it would take a lot of time to escape.
“Today is Monday. You’re reopening the shop, aren’t you?”
“Fufu, Monday… mon day. Kent, you’re so lewd, even in the morning. *Zzzzz*”
Kent informed her that the shop was reopening today, but Marie mumbled something nonsensical in her sleep and drifted off again.
“Kent, did Mom wake up? Oh, it looks like it’s going to be tough today.”
Since Marie wasn’t waking up, Catherine peeked into the room, concerned. Seeing Marie sleeping soundly, she realized that the usual method of waking her wouldn’t work this morning.
“Kent, we’re going to use force this morning. Pull off the blanket.”
“Okay. Here goes!”
“Hyaaa, it’s so chilly!”
At Catherine’s instruction, Kent forcefully pulled off the blanket. Marie had slept naked after a night of… indulgence with Kent. With the only layer of warmth gone, she looked very cold. However, despite complaining about the cold, she showed no signs of waking up.
“This should wake Mom up!”
“It’s… it’s cold! St-stop, I’ll catch a cold!”
Catherine conjured a gust of wind with magic and directed it at Marie’s body. Overwhelmed by the cold, Marie’s eyes snapped open.
“G-good morning. *Cough* *Cough*. I apologize for the trouble every morning.”
Marie seemed fully awake now, apologizing to Kent and Catherine while sitting cross-legged on the bed, still naked.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you as always.”
“Thank you, Catherine.”
By the time Marie finished changing and came down to the living room, breakfast was ready and waiting. Al hadn’t returned from the home garden, but since he generally didn’t need breakfast, they decided to start without him.
“Ah, Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Actually, work at the sanctuary has become busy, and I won’t be able to help at the shop for a while.”
“I see. That can’t be helped.”
After they started eating breakfast, Catherine informed Marie that she wouldn’t be able to work at the shop for some time.
“We’ll also be handling fewer types of bread from today, and there’s no clear timetable for reopening the dining space, so you won’t need as many staff, so don’t worry about the shop.”
“I’ve turned down others too. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yes, with Al and Fuuko here, it’ll be fine.”
Marie’s Bakery was reopening with a significantly reduced scale. Josette, Elnet, and Patty were given time off, while Caro and Rachel would be working at the second store. Therefore, the first store would only be operated by Marie, Kent, and the fairy duo, Al and Fuuko.
“Eh, I wanted to relax here.”
“Since there aren’t enough people, Fuuko, you’ll have to work hard too.”
“Ugh, if Master says so, I guess I have no choice.”
Fuuko, who had been listening to their conversation, protested from within the Kotatsu, but when Kent directly told her to work, she couldn’t refuse.
“Well then, let’s get the oven fired up and start preparing.”
“I’ll prepare the bread dough, so Fuuko, you help too.”
After finishing breakfast, Kent and Marie, along with Al and Fuuko, moved to Marie’s Bakery. Once inside the workshop, Marie began firing up the bread oven. In parallel, Kent, Fuuko, and Al started making bread dough.
“It’s tough doing the steps that were done by machine manually.”
“Go, Master!”
“Hmph, tear it off and throw it, tear it off and throw it. Haaan, I don’t think it’ll ever end!”
Previously, the bread dough had been kneaded by machine, but since electricity was no longer available, Kent was kneading it by hand. The dough that was made was then divided into small portions by Fuuko, who then arranged it on plates for baking, though she seemed to be getting bored already. Al occasionally cheered Kent on while skillfully using the vines he summoned for transportation tasks.
“Al, the bread is baked. Please take care of it.”
“Understood, Roger that.”
Marie placed the plates with the divided dough into the oven and baked the bread, adjusting the heat and timing based on her years of experience. The finished bread was then carried to the shop by Al, who began arranging it on a makeshift shelf.
“Ugh, it grieves me that I can’t help at all, even though I’m a shop-attached fairy.”
“Yes, yes, just be patient until you can work again.”
”Al, please. I want to help Master as soon as possible.”
“I know, but stop fluttering around in front of me! It’s distracting.”
As Al was arranging the baked bread on the shelves, the small fairy-shaped Emily flitted around him, talking to him. Emily had lost her power and was now in the form of a small fairy, unable to leave the store. Therefore, all she could do was talk to people who entered the store.
“Whew, is this all the preparation? Still, it feels lonely with nothing in the dining space.”
Kent and Marie finished their preparations for opening by the usual opening time. The dining space in the store was sealed off with ropes. The bread displayed in the sales area had its selection of ingredients limited due to the lack of secured materials. Savory and sweet pastries were removed from the sales items, leaving only simple, fluffy bread. Seeing this, Kent recalled the store’s former vibrancy and felt a pang of sadness.
