Chapter 98

Chapter 98

I maintained my expression as if ice cream naturally had such abilities all along.

I turned my head slightly to signal our people positioned behind…

[Everyone’s managing their expressions well with perfect nonchalance.]

[Only Cassis looks a bit awkward, but that’s just how his face usually is.]

Hmm, they’re handling it well even without my hints.

I turned back and checked the snow falling from the sky.

Ice cream pouring down like thick winter snowflakes.

<Snow is the most effective means of transporting people to another world.>

While northerners might be used to snow, even people in the capital weren’t very familiar with it.

Even the first snow of winter warranted an article in every newspaper.

<And pure white snow in May, but that snow being the rumored ice cream.>

<…>

<And if it can effectively eliminate demonic beast smoke, I think it will surely cause huge ripples.>

This is snow I’ve summoned.

Even I fall into a kind of trance, watching the ice cream cascade like midwinter snow.

So imagine what it must do to someone who doesn’t understand it — it moves them even more.

While there was no real need to stage ‘ice cream falling from the sky,’ we made this choice to create a strong impression.

That’s why we reconstructed everything from the magic circle up.

“Amazing…”

“Magical.”

“Snow in May…”

The snow continued falling for quite a while after that.

By the time the pure white ice cream had begun accumulating like snow on the ground, the black smoke from the demonic beast that had thickly covered the area had completely disappeared.

I spoke to the people who were catching the snow as if enchanted and bravely tasting it.

“Marquis Cloi’s claim that ice cream amplifies magi is completely wrong. Rather, ice cream contains ‘divine power’ and can effectively counter magi.”

The eyes that once held only hostility now seemed noticeably softer.

No, they now held even more absolute trust.

Probably because they had clearly seen with their own eyes. The magi disappearing, the demonic beast melting.

Of course, the latter wasn’t my intention, but we’ll research that separately later.

Cassis spoke after me.

“I believe the miracle Irina Seike has shown today is sufficient to clear the stigma about ice cream’s connection to demonic beasts.”

“Th-that’s impossible! Then why didn’t it have much effect on the demonic beasts at Duke Hellis’s residence? This is fabricated!”

Cassis shrugged.

“Marquis Cloi. Do you know how many demonic beasts appeared at Duke Hellis’s residence?”

“…”

“There were forty-seven spider-type demonic beasts and three humanoid ones.”

Cassis’s gaze was cold. As Marquis Cloi met his fierce stare head-on, his face reddened.

“Now we have just one, and it’s only a corpse. So the amount of ice cream now must be dozens of times what was used at the party venue.”

Of course, it was because we increased the amount of divine power used in ice cream production, but let’s keep that truth buried.

“So we can say there’s a big difference between then and now.”

People listened quietly to Cassis’s words. With eyes full of trust.

It made sense — Cassis was undeniably handsome, and his naturally cool, brusque demeanor lent him an unexpected air of reliability.

Perhaps it was his unshakable composure that gave his calmly spoken words such weight and credibility.

‘Plus, he’s the empire’s only Grand Duke.’

Bankrupt or not, in a class-based society, status is something that can never be ignored.

“Then how do you explain what I showed! Didn’t Your Majesty clearly see? Didn’t you clearly see the magi being amplified when it touched the ice cream?”

Marquis Cloi’s words grew faster. He tried to appeal to the Emperor with an urgent voice. But I didn’t miss that opening.

“Rather, I’m the one who wants to ask about manipulation. I just showed the magi dissipating when touched by ice cream, effectively purifying it.”

“Y-you!”

“So why did your preparation yield such a different result?”

I walked over and picked up the beaker Count Anders had used for his experiment earlier.

The beaker was full of black smoke and perfectly sealed to prevent the magi from escaping.

I opened the lid. Then I scooped some ice cream from the table and put it in the beaker.

“It dissipates quickly, doesn’t it?”

The smoke disappeared instantly.

“Did you mention manipulation?”

“…Your Majesty, this is unfair! I merely investigated based on research!”

“I’m curious how you obtained this ice cream you prepared. What kind of ‘manipulation’ did you apply to get such results?”

I looked around at the now-friendly crowd filling this place. Then once at the Emperor, and finally at Marquis Cloi.

The Emperor wore an expression of feigned ignorance, while Marquis Cloi’s face had turned pale.

Just moments ago, it had been red as if about to burst.

Cassis slowly bowed to the Emperor. He placed one knee on the ground in a knight’s salute.

“I hope Your Majesty will thoroughly uncover the truth.”

He appealed with the appearance of an incomparably pious and beautiful knight.

“The demonic beast incident at Duke Hellis’s residence has left dozens of victims. Even if we investigate and research the demonic beasts immediately, time is short.”

“…”

“We must quickly calm the situation and focus on stabilizing the people who are trembling in fear.”

“Hmm.”

In other words, this is no time to be playing into Marquis Cloi’s hands.

Although the Emperor had also contributed to Marquis Cloi’s scheme, Cassis’s words would have a slightly different meaning to the public.

That Marquis Cloi had framed Luwin, and the Emperor had been deceived by such a wicked Marquis Cloi.

Not to be outdone, I promptly knelt beside Cassis.

[Oh my, our baby. We raised those knees expensively!]

[We told our Irina not to kneel carelessly.]

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Please be quiet for a moment.’

I bowed my head and spoke quickly.

My heart was pounding. Even in a world at resolution 50, I still feel nervous.

“Our ‘Lu & Cream’ has a philosophy of wanting to make the world sweeter and gentler through ice cream.”

“I see…”

“I was deeply distressed that ice cream born from such a philosophy received this stigma. However, I am truly grateful that we seem to have cleared up the misunderstanding through today’s proceedings.”

I spoke without taking a breath. The Emperor nodded with a benevolent and loving expression.

Though I thought, ‘What a piece of work!’ internally, I looked at the Emperor as pitifully as possible on the surface.

“Being deeply moved by Your Majesty clearing our stigma through today’s proceedings…”

I continued rambling on at length about love and respect for His Majesty and so on and so forth.

The goal is clear! To hear the Emperor himself say it — that the stigma around ice cream has been cleared!

“I must say, I’m pleased that this has become the perfect occasion to rid ourselves of the stigma.”

Ding!

[SYSTEM | Quest ‘Marquis Cloi’s False Accusation’ has been successfully completed.]

[SYSTEM | Receiving rewards.]

Yes!

While everyone’s misunderstanding was cleared by today’s events, without getting this confirmation, who knows how the news articles might come out.

But now that the words “an occasion to clear the stigma” have come from the Emperor’s mouth, no matter how hard Marquis Cloi tries, he won’t be able to manipulate the articles.

I rose with satisfaction and gave a wink to Roen, who was watching me with a drained expression.

Finally, we’ve overcome this hurdle.

Now…

“Now let’s go promote ‘Lu & Cream.'”

* * *

‘Lu & Cream’ is still an unrevealed brand name nowhere to be found.

We had been deliberately hiding the brand name, planning to promote it more spectacularly than anyone else at the last moment.

We had planned to launch aggressive promotions with a ‘bang’ starting two months before launch.

But coincidentally, this incident occurred, and we deliberately kept the brand name extremely hidden to prevent damage to the brand’s value.

‘But now there’s no such stigma, right?’

[That’s right!]

‘Rather, ice cream’s image is very positive now. Everyone will be interested.’

[That’s right.]

[Now must be the perfect time to reveal ‘Lu & Cream.’]

When Cassis and I rushed outside, Luwin’s forces were already there, fully assembled and prepared.

That’s not all.

Even before saying “good work,” Isiel was nodding with a grave expression.

“Are the preparations complete?”

“Yeah. The posters are ready, and we’ve stationed many servants at the entrance.”

This part was entirely Yen’s idea.

<We need to prepare promotional posters for more than twice the capacity of the temple!>

<Why?>

<So we can imprint ‘Lu & Cream’ most definitively on the people who saw the ice cream snow here.>

<And?>

I asked Yen as if testing him.

<‘Lu & Cream’ will spread throughout the empire by word of mouth. If those who witnessed this scene have posters in their hands, we can promote more effectively.>

For this reason, we printed hundreds of thousands of posters.

The vibrant and cute posters created by our designer Yuri would likely interest many people even without today’s events.

I followed Cassis out of the temple alongside Roen. In front, countless people were about to burst into cheers.

Every single gaze contained respect and awe.

‘We need to be a bit careful about the respect and awe…’

Well, that’s something to deal with later.

I smiled naturally and waved my hand.

I could see people already holding posters in their hands.

“Lady Irina!”

I turned my head as I heard someone calling me loudly from afar. There stood Harvey’s sister, who we had hired along with Yen.

She shouted loudly as if seeing me for the first time.

“I want to eat ice cream again!”

She’s clever.

She deliberately asked me even though she already knew perfectly well, and even though the store’s opening time was already written on the poster.

I smiled and answered.

“We’ll be waiting for everyone at ‘Lu & Cream.’ Please visit us anytime.”