TSBSFVW 34

Chapter 34
Seven Breads. Things Escalate Quickly (3)

It was a sudden comment, but Maurice seemed to understand immediately and nodded.

“You said you wanted to work here?”

“Yes. I decided to hire her. She’ll learn baking as well.”

Today, Malina had worked hard kneading the dough before leaving.

She had always worked diligently, but ever since Ellie taught her how to manage the levain, her enthusiasm had become almost uncontainable.

To the point where Ellie hardly had any work left for herself.

“Malina, the campagne dough…”

“Ah, here it is! Could you check it?”

“Perfect…”

The dough barely needed any adjustments. She had perfectly handled the proportions and kneading for the sandwich bread, campagne, and baguettes.

Ellie now only joined Malina on days when baking for the delivery to the Knight Order headquarters, otherwise she just managed the fermentation process.

Not only was Malina strong, but she also had excellent dexterity. Once Ellie pointed out key techniques, Malina would follow them perfectly.

“At first, I wondered if I really needed to do all this, but now I understand. Even skipping a small step changes the outcome!”

“Right? Right? It makes a difference!”

“Completely! To get the smell, texture, and color just right, you can’t skip a single step.”

Her passion for bread matched her love for food.

Ellie was inspired by Malina’s eagerness to learn even the smallest things and began teaching her one step at a time.

Baking in the oven still had to be done by Ellie alone, but with a thermometer now available, she could organize and teach the previously intuitive parts.

Originally, Malina had only planned to work until Ellie repaid her loan.

Since Malina knew this, she quickly submitted her resignation to the guild when Ellie mentioned that the debt would soon be cleared.

Ellie heard about it yesterday.

She had intended to ask Malina to continue working with her, but now her plan had been preempted.

“It’s already been ten days? Then she’s been working without pay all this time! How much is Malina’s daily wage?!”

“You can’t combine the daily wages from the guild and the bakery. I was a veteran there, but I’m an apprentice here. I’m learning.”

“Still…”

“You can work even if you’re only given staff meals.”

“Even so… that’s not right…”

I feel like I might turn wicked. Don’t give me an excuse to become a villain.

A new employment contract would be drafted.

Ellie was relieved that Malina, whom she had jokingly wondered might be an ex-mercenary, was indeed a retired mercenary and didn’t act cheekily.

Since Malina never intended to reveal her usual wage, Ellie asked Maurice, but he also refused to tell her.

“Then how am I supposed to decide how much to pay her?”

“It’s your shop, so you handle it.”

“But there’s a market rate! My idea of a proper wage could be wildly different from reality.”

“If you set it, Malina won’t complain.”

“Exactly why I have to be careful… I want Malina to run this shop eventually. She said she wants that too.”

Maurice also knew that Malina liked Ellie.

He had often praised her as a cute genius and raved about how good the staff meals were. But he didn’t know she was genuinely passionate enough to learn baking.

‘Someone who probably never even went near a kitchen in her life.’

Malina, who had fought as a B-rank mercenary with an axe as her main weapon, had retired due to injuries but was still capable of participating solo in C-rank escort missions or orc hunts.

It seemed odd that she resigned suddenly.

‘She said she’d work for Ellie until she told her and found a replacement…’

She must have been aiming for reemployment as an apprentice.

“Ask the neighboring shop’s clerk what their daily wage is and pay her the same. Don’t try to give extra. Malina will have a lot to learn from you, but she won’t charge tuition. Keep the accounts proper.”

“Understood…”

“Don’t pay by the day—calculate by the hour.”

“I was going to do that anyway. I’ll increase her working hours, teach her more, and gradually give her more responsibility.”

Once Malina could handle all the work alone, she could even handle large deliveries without Ellie. Even now, Ellie couldn’t help during kneading.

Thanks to this, Ellie could enjoy her half-paid “sweet gig” and also had the bandwidth to expand the dessert line.

Even as a part-timer, all she did was chat while drinking tea and brainstorm desserts.

Ban, who had grown up in an extremely noble family, was very helpful in developing products.

Ellie felt a bit guilty thinking she should pay, but she had no intention of letting a willing mark go. Soon, Malina would follow the heroine of her own free will.

“But Maurice, aren’t you busy?”

“I’m having dinner and then leaving.”

“You left it in charge?”

“No. But I’ll still have dinner.”

Ellie checked the time. It was past 4 p.m.

“Edmund and Ban will be here soon…”

“Are we meeting in secret? Should I hide?”

“I’ll hit you.”

Ellie shot a glance at Maurice, who was teasing her, and sighed.

“If your mouth suddenly became four, it would be hard to deal with, right?”

Her gaze fell on the night pouch neatly placed beside Maurice, and a good idea came to her mind.

The more people, the more hands there are.

She could have them shell the olives.

Olives?

‘Ciabatta.’

The bread with a porous interior and crispy crust, mild in flavor and perfectly complementing the salty taste of olives, was one Ellie had especially enjoyed in her previous life.

‘Light and low-density, so it somehow feels like it won’t make me fat…’

But quantity always matters.

The drawback of home baking is that it’s hard to eat in moderation. Too much, too often, and it’s no help for dieting.

Ciabatta, which could be made with a no-knead method, was the second bread Ellie tried making after sandwich bread.

However, with high hydration, the dough was difficult to handle, and even when successful, it never quite satisfied Ellie’s palate, accustomed to olive ciabatta.

Like all bread, shaping ciabatta beautifully required more practice, and despite the effort, it still fell short of perfection.

She wanted to enjoy it as a perfect combination for all her hard work.

Having the olives, it was natural to retry making ciabatta.

However, ciabatta required 12–15 hours of cold fermentation, so it couldn’t be eaten immediately.

Ellie hurried to finish the dough and took out a piece that had been fermenting, prepared for the meal.

‘Good thing I made plenty.’

There were three mouths to feed. Four if you include Ellie.

Since the plan was originally for three people, she would also need to make sandwiches from the baguettes she had reserved.

Well-fermented dough felt different from the start, soft and stretchy. Handling the fluffy, pliable dough melted away all the pent-up frustration.

Dinner was pizza.

She had prepared a sauce made from tomatoes, onions, and minced garlic.

Originally, it was to be a Margherita pizza with just cheese, tomato sauce, and basil, but she added black olives because she wanted them.

She flattened the dough into a large, round pizza shape. It would have been fun to spin it in the air like a pizza franchise logo, but there was no time for that.

‘Feels like I’m being chased.’

Ban and Edmund joined for dinner, as expected.

One was the gullible victim, the other the benefactor who had made her magical tool.

Ellie couldn’t ignore these brazen little birds.

A glance outside the kitchen met three pairs of curious eyes.

“Don’t look this way.”

“Not even a peek?”

“I can look wherever I want with my own eyes.”

Maurice and Edmund protested, and Ban covered their eyes while pulling them back.

“I’ll hold them, so don’t worry, Ellie.”

“Hey, that’s unfair, only showing off for yourself!”

“Get your hands off the captain’s face! Men touching faces are gross.”

“Ellie said she doesn’t like it. Edmund, you too.”

Ban said sternly.

“Let’s just shell the olives.”

Good workers deserve fair treatment.

Ellie decided to put double cheese on the pizza portion for Ban.