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Episode 57: The World After The Forest
While eating chocolate, I took a break while enjoying the peaceful and beautiful scenery.
Basking in the pleasant sun was a bonus.
Jii-chak—
“If you’re done resting, shall we go in now?”
Upon entering, Um was cleaning the bakery with a broom.
He was still wearing an apron with fluffy bread design on it.
‘Now you’re a full-fledged assistant baker, Mr. Um.’
I snorted proudly.
‘Whoa, it was hard to convince him at first.’
Um, who could handle fire was a perfect fit as a helper in the bakery, but of course there was a lot of backlash at first.
Like a large dog that was extremely resistant to the leash, he rebelled, going, ‘Bow wow wow!!’
‘So I had to get him to be familiar with bread little by little.’
“Mr. Um, look at the color of these wonderful croissants!”
“I won’t look. I’ll never look at it, so give up!”
Slowly, very slowly
 I

“Try eating this freshly baked morning bread soaked in fragrant milk. Is it delicious?”
“Huh
 It tastes good.”
Slowly, I set the trap of the evil bread lover.
“Glutinous rice, the full moon is very pretty today.”
“It looks like a delicious bread baked in the morning.”
“
Is it?”
―In the end, Um was soaked into bread.
One day, he put on an apron and started helping out little by little in the baking business.
Naturally, he sometimes grumbled about my amazing career choice.
“The king’s bookkeeper, the continent’s richest man, the king of war who created a new civilization
 And the baker.”
However, in self-employment, labor costs account for a very large proportion
?
Accept reality, Um.
‘Whoa, this is a great operating cost reduction.’
Of course, the benefit of Um helping me was not only the reduction in operating costs.
There were also other great unexpected benefits.
I walked over to the lights illuminating the bread display stand, lightly snapping my finger.
Poof!
At that gesture, the lights went out like magic.
It was Sordi’s power.
‘The more time I spend with Um and Sordi, the more my resonance with them increases.’
Thanks to this, I could now handle the power of the two to some extent.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect yet.
For example—
“Glutinous rice, we will be away for a few days.”
“Oh
 Is that time already?”
“Yes, we’ve been here too long. Now is the time to go back.”
There were still shortcomings, such as not being able to let Sordi and Um stay here indefinitely.
Still, it was better than the first time.
I thought back to our first meeting.
‘I couldn’t summon them for even a moment, so I had to ride a monster flower and go to the place where the two of them were.’
Though in our second meeting, I could summon them to the Forest warehouse for a while.
I later found out that the place where I first met Sordi and Um was the ‘Sorcerer’s Hall’, where the souls of the sorcerers gathered.
They usually take a break there and then appear when I call.
I replied with a smile.
“It must be a long vacation for the two of you. Go eat a lot of delicious food and rest well. Sordi, Um.”
Sordi asked sadly, covering his eyes with his long sleeves.
“What if I miss my baby?”
“You will be fine!”
The red-haired wolf also crossed his arms and became serious.
“Glutinous rice, it must be very difficult for you to run <Little Bakery> alone.”
“Enough!”
Even with my ironclad defense, the couple who loved their belated child only deepened their anguish.
“I might cry every day because I miss my baby. It’s fortunate that I have a portrait.”
‘
When did you draw the portrait?’
“Glutinous rice, call me anytime. Even if you need help in the bakery, call me. Even if I am resting, I can immediately jump out—”
‘All right, go back.’
I listened to the stories that contained their worries for a long time, and in the end, following Sordi’s words, “Let’s hug each other”, I hugged the two of them in turn.
‘They both have severe separation anxiety.’
I shook my head, but only inwardly.
After such a long goodbye, Sordi and Um eventually returned to the Sorcerer’s Hall (it took over 30 minutes to say goodbye).
“Whew
”
I put my hands on my waist and looked around the bakery, which had become quieter and more peaceful.
“Is it ‘me time’ from now on?”
I laughed softly.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Mmm, hm, mm~
As I entered the kitchen humming pleasantly, ‘Poof!’ the lights automatically lit up.
From the shiny polished oven to the low and small worktop, to the way the cooking utensils were laid out and evenly arranged—
It was my favorite space.
I put on my apron and checked the pre-fermented dough.
“Hmm, that’s just right.”
Chwiik-seuk— This squishiness while pushing the soft dough with a rolling pin felt good.
While the bread was being made, in a cast iron pot, a stew made with diced lamb, potatoes, onions, and paprika simmered with a delicious smell.
“Oh my.”
Put the bread in the oven, and let it rise! Upon heating, the dough quickly rose.
Just like those big fluffy chick butts.
I hummed, pulled out some freshly baked soft bread, grabbed some sweet fig jam and some yogurt, and sat down at the table.
“Fufu, shall I eat some now?”
Huuu—
The bread that had just been taken out was steaming. I carefully grasped both ends of the bread and pulled it, it tore with the grain, and revealed the hot inside.
“Crazy.”
I hurriedly took a bite. The taste that melted in my mouth like butter was absolutely enchanting today.
“Ahh, it’s good to be the owner of a bakery
”
This bread lover’s life satisfaction was 1,000%.
Shwiik—
I opened the newspaper and enjoyed my leisure time.
“Will there be a lot of interesting news today
?”
I always read a newspaper during lunchtime.
It was a ‘world daily’ newspaper.
‘Sometimes, there is news of Sislin and Heinrich.’
Of course, this extra was omitted from the original.
Still—
‘I’m curious as to whether it’s going well towards a happy ending.’
After only existing as ‘Reader 1’, entering the original work, and directly affecting the story, it was quite interesting to watch.
It felt like peeping at the slightly changed original, or reading a new, exciting novel?
In fact, almost 10 years have passed, and my feelings for Sislin and Heinrich remain only beautiful memories.
Even till our deaths, we would never see each other again.
So, what could I say.
‘It feels less burdensome.’
This newspaper was a comprehensive coverage of news from all over the world, so articles about Sislin or Heinrich were only published once or twice a year.
Even if it was only one or two times, it was always interesting.
What articles have been published so far?
The hidden prince (Sislin) of the El Dorado imperial family was discovered, and that he was in a secret nursery.
It was reported that the children were rescued from the facility and that the ‘Forest’ was eventually closed.
‘Hmm, that’s great.’
Of course, it was true that living in the Forest was good.
But it was a place where children were raised and used for special purposes.
The intention was impure to begin with.
When I saw the article, I was curious about the whereabouts of the children and teachers of the Forest, so I had the thought of calling Julius
 But I eventually decided against it.
‘If I reveal my location, I might get in trouble.’
I couldn’t merely trust the phantom thief boy.
I, too, was hiding from the past so not even a single strand of my hair could be seen.
Thanks to this, Gerard had been searching in vain for over a decade.
“Hey, I cut off all pursuit and am living in this corner of the country, so how will you find me? 
Even if you’re an obsessive maniac, you’ll never find me.”
I muttered, and I shuddered for a moment.
Just a little
 Wasn’t that an ominous statement?
“Scratch that. It will be difficult even for an obsessive maniac! Even if he’s an obsessive maniac, he can’t find me!”
No one was listening, but I purposely shouted out loud towards the sky.
It’s fine whether it’s God or the writer, just listen to this and remove my ominous flag.
‘Do you understand?’
‘I’m now more reassured, fufu.’
I rubbed my nose and leisurely flipped the newspaper again.
In any case, other than that, there was only news that Sislin had waged a war.
That was the whole article about Sislin.
To put it all together, Sislin’s life was going roughly the way it was written.
But not Heinrich’s.
‘Why is Heinrich different from the original?’
Judging from the fact that it was written in the articles as ‘Heinrich Hyacinth’, it was certain that he had been adopted by the Marquis of Hyacinth as in the original story, but his movements were different from the original.
Heinrich made a name for himself as a genius wizard (so far it was the same as the original), and was earning a lot of money by inventing various magic tools.
He was a new-rich man.
There was no such content in the original.
Because of my personal taste, nearly all the characters I read about were poor.
—No, shouldn’t it? If one laid down on a pile of gold coins and wiped their tears with the finest silk, it’s not enough to evoke pity, right?
Anyway

‘Isn’t it good to be rich?’
I thought, chewing on an apple.
In addition, there were articles that spread his vicious chihuahua-like side to the world, stuff like, ‘He grabbed the arm of the old mage’. But I had a foggy brain (?) and tried to forget about it.
Fortunately, today’s paper did not contain anything about the boys.
“
Whew, I’m safe again today.”
I laughed softly.
I felt like no news is good news.
I mean, it’s a little difficult if something like the ‘Wizard’s neck
’ was posted frequently.
I folded the newspapers and arranged the plates that had been emptied in no time.
Just then, I heard a chime from a bell on the door.
“Welcome!”
I greeted with a bright smile.
‘Ah, did someone come to pay the bill?’
The self-employed person looked at the door reflexively, recalling the first credit customer.