Ch.25Chapter 25 – This is that famous bakery, right? (3)

After ending my previous life in an absurd accident, I was reincarnated into the world that serves as the setting for Erasto Chronicle.

The ability I received as a reincarnation bonus was the power of ‘Repair,’ which can fix anything.

I planned to use this ability to see up close the characters from Erasto Chronicle, a game I enjoyed playing in my previous life.

So I appropriately utilized this ability to secure helpers in this world, among many other things.

Thanks to that, I was able to establish a repair shop near Glesius Academy in a relatively short time.

But you know what?

“Um, about the bread you give as service, could I have a little more?”

What I opened was a repair shop, but…

“Hello, Mr. Patos. I was cutting ingredients when my knife broke. Could you repair it for me? Oh, just half a loaf of bread is fine for me.”

Why does everyone who comes to my shop…

“Hey~ Patos! My knife broke, can you fix it? Oh, if you’re repairing two, I get a whole loaf of bread, right?”

Why are they all so obsessed with bread?

I really don’t understand.

‘Even if the bread is tasty, it’s just bread. Why is everyone so fixated on it?’

To be honest, this bread made with my ability is really just ordinary bread.

It’s like the soft white bread you’d find at any franchise bakery.

When you tear off a piece and eat it, it has the natural savory taste of bread, but that’s it.

It would probably taste better with some strawberry jam or peanut butter.

‘People’s tastes are truly mysterious.’

But I can make as much bread as needed, and I’m happy that the bread seems to be good publicity for my shop.

I wonder if the Academy might eventually put in an order.

That would be funny in its own way. My shop is called a repair shop, but the main product would be bread.

‘I’m not sure if I opened a repair shop or a bakery.’

Even now, an enormous amount of bread was waiting for my hammer work in a corner of my workshop.

The bread commonly eaten in this world was baked until bone-dry to increase preservation, with all moisture completely removed.

To put it simply, it’s like taking hardtack, drying it over and over, and then making it bigger.

When I first ate it, I thought I was chewing on a rock.

‘Sigh, I’m really sick of bread now.’

But giving out bread gets old after a day or two, and I’m truly exhausted.

Ah, please, even if it’s a government office, I wish someone would visit our shop and stop me from giving out bread.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

Today, while I was diligently attending to customers with the shop open, suddenly there was a commotion outside.

Then the shop door opened, and a couple of heavily armored soldiers entered.

“Hello. We’re from the City Hall’s Food Hygiene Department. Are you Mr. Patos?”

“Ah, yes, that’s me.”

When they said they were from the Food Hygiene Department, I thought someone must have finally reported my shop to the city hall.

If there’s someone who would report my shop, it would probably be someone who runs a bakery in Arkenium.

I happened to overhear while walking through the streets that meal bread hasn’t been selling well at bakeries in the city lately.

When the bakery owners investigated why meal bread wasn’t selling, they found that everyone was getting bread from another shop.

The angry bakery owners tried to find out which shop was doing such a terrible thing, but they couldn’t complete their investigation because people with bread wouldn’t cooperate.

So, the people who reported my shop to the Food Hygiene Department were likely bakery owners.

I almost shouted with joy.

This was the perfect opportunity to end my miserable cohabitation with these loaves of bread.

‘Bread, farewell at last! Finally, no more bread crumbs flying around my house!’

“May I ask why you’ve come to our shop?”

“It’s nothing serious, but we’ve received a report that unauthorized food sales are taking place at this establishment. Would it be alright if we inspect your shop?”

A bespectacled woman who followed the armored soldiers explained the reason for their visit.

“Ah, yes. Feel free to inspect as much as you like.”

I gave permission for the people from the Food Hygiene Department to inspect freely.

By the way, I just learned that this world also has a Food Hygiene Department. That’s new to me.

Looking at aspects like this, it seems the administrative organization is strangely modernized.

“The inspection is complete.”

Coming out of the workshop, the official had one of my ability-transformed breads in hand.

“According to our inspection, this type of white bread can only be sold at shops with proper sales permits. Have you ever received monetary compensation for this bread?”

“No, I haven’t.”

I answered the official’s question honestly.

For reference, I never sold the bread for money.

I just gave bread as a service to people who came to repair their items.

So, I didn’t break any laws!

“I understand. However, even if you didn’t sell it for money, according to the Food Distribution Law, handling this type of bread without proper authorization is against regulations. Since you’re from the Eastern Continent, we’ll let it slide this time. But we’ll be confiscating all the bread, and you must never handle bread in this shop again. If you wish to handle bread, please come to the city hall and obtain a bakery permit.”

“I understand.”

Whew, I’m saved.

The official from the Food Hygiene Department had the soldiers collect all the bread from my workshop.

I made a wooden sign with the handwritten message “Due to shop circumstances, we can no longer provide bread” and installed it next to the shop door.

Finally feeling that the problem was resolved, I could breathe a sigh of relief.

I don’t know who you are, but thank you to those who reported me.

‘Now I can finally be free from the stigma of being a bakery.’

But at that time, I didn’t know.

That this minor incident, which started with someone’s report, would cause a tremendous aftermath.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

“Fat Uncle’s Bakery,” a famous bakery that had been baking and selling bread in Arkenium for over 100 years.

The owner of this shop was, true to the name, a middle-aged man with a protruding belly and plump figure.

His name was Bex. He was an excellent baker who had won several awards at local baking competitions and proudly held the title of Master Baker.

Having sold bread in this region for a long time, he knew the secrets of how to increase the volume of bread while reducing ingredients, and how to maintain the same taste while using lower quality materials.

This allowed him to make and sell meal bread with relatively little investment.

Since the staple food in this region was plain bread, many people bought bread from his shop.

But recently, meal bread wasn’t selling well.

While wondering about this situation, he heard something strange from another bakery owner.

‘People have been carrying bread from somewhere lately, and when asked where they got it, they all shake their heads. But I saw something interesting! You know that new repair shop? Everyone who goes in comes out with a loaf of bread. I think that shop is trying to ruin us by giving out bread to people.’

So he investigated the repair shop that was causing massive damage to his income, and discovered that people were indeed coming out with bread.

He documented all of this as evidence, and even succeeded in obtaining bread from the repair shop by sending one of his employees there.

‘Delicious! It’s so delicious! We can’t let this shop continue to give out this bread.’

He was greatly surprised by the taste of the bread from the repair shop, and his anger toward the repair shop intensified due to its addictive flavor.

So Bex gathered other bakery owners in the region and together they filed a complaint with the city hall.

They applied pressure, knowing that the shop owner was a commoner.

Unlike with nobles, they could handle a mere commoner on their own.

This was because they had long been bribing the mayor and lord to keep them on their side.

And yesterday, someone from the City Hall’s Food Hygiene Department informed Bex that the complaint had been processed and administrative action had been taken against the shop.

This meant that the repair shop could no longer distribute bread.

Bex and the other bakery owners were satisfied that things had gone according to plan and shared drinks in celebration.

However, they didn’t know one thing.

That among those who had taken bread from Patos’s repair shop, there weren’t just commoners.

In a mansion located in the wealthiest area of Arkenium.

“Oh? So that shop can no longer distribute bread?”

In the most lavish room, an elderly man was receiving a report from a middle-aged man dressed in butler’s attire.

“That’s correct, sir.”

Though he wore extremely ordinary clothes, the aura emanating from his body proved that this old man was by no means an ordinary person.

“Hehe, I thought I had found something interesting after a long time, and now something amusing has happened. I should go for a walk after so long.”

“But sir, this doesn’t seem like a matter that requires your involvement.”

The butler tried to dissuade the old man from going for a walk.

This wasn’t out of concern for the old man, but because he recognized that the old man’s mischievous side had been activated, and he was worried about the repercussions.

Because the identity of this old man was…

“Tsk. You don’t know me well enough. Go and prepare for my walk.”

The Chancellor of the Gelebrio Empire, a position above all others and second only to the Emperor, and the former head of the Steiler Ducal Family.

“When have you ever seen Bergen Steiler recklessly engage in illegal activities?”

It was none other than Bergen Steiler.

The man regarded as “fear itself” among Gelebrio Empire officials had begun to move.