Chapter 153: Chapter 145 – Baking cookies

The shocking news on this already eventful day didn't seem to stop. While Sophia was spending time with Ari, she not only found out that the jaguar had two moms but also that she was simply playing to be a maid. The jaguar was, at best, an honorary one that exclusively takes care of Princess Anna. Afterward, to finally have a calm moment, the duo started to bake the cookies together that Ari planned to try out while the tiger wanted to help her out. That was the plan, at least.

"Ah, we don't have enough sugar here..." After the duo finished talking about who Ari's allowed to be flirty with or not, they finally focused on the cookies they wanted to bake, but the jaguar noticed a new problem.

"That's a disaster!" Sophia didn't like the sound of that because she's very fond of sweet things. "How can the royal castle run out of sugar?"

"Calm down. We just don't have any here in this kitchen. There should still be plenty in the storage rooms."

"I see... Don't scare me like that!"

"My suggestion here would be that you should think about not jumping to conclusions instead." Ari wasn't going to take any responsibility here.

"A-Ah." The tiger had lost the match in an instant. "E-Easier said than done."

"I'm sure it's pretty easy. Step one; think. Step two; speak." She gave Sophia no chance to talk back. "Depending on the situation, step two even is optional."

"Y-You're way too good at being reasonable!"

"You're just too unreasonable. The same goes for Anna."

"No." Sophia shook her head. "It's definitely not that."

"Are you sure about that?" The black-haired girl only stared at her. "Our princess said the exact same sentence on many occasions before."

"Uuh... 50:50."

"Well, whatever works for you."

"O-Once again, I'll try to think some more. "

"If that's what you want to do, you have my full support."

"Thanks, mom." Sophia just had to do it.

"..." The jaguar stared at her for a while. "It stings a lot less compared to when Anna does it, but I still don't like it."

"A-Ah, I'm sorry." It wasn't the reaction she had hoped for.

"No... I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming from." Ari was aware of how her ways of doing things could be interpreted. "It just feels weird being addressed like this. Especially when Anna does it..."

"Well, if you don't like it, I won't do it again." After all, teasing someone, and doing something one genuinely doesn't like, were very different things for Sophia.

"Thank you very much."

"Alrighty," Sophia felt like ending the topic and wanted to be helpful. "We need sugar, right? Where's this storage room? I'll go fetch it really quick."

"It's... basically on the other side of the castle."

"Well, then I'll see you in around a week again." The tiger was still unable to navigate through the castle. "I'll get lost a few times."

"How about we go together, instead?" Ari had a better plan.

"Hmm... Yeah, let's go with that."

"We'll probably still need around half an hour to be back here, though."

"Seriously?! This place is way too big!" Sophia didn't like the sound of it. "B-But the cookies..."

"It's not like we have another choice. It'll only take longer if you don't stop complaining, too."

"Fine... I, Ah!" The blonde suddenly stopped mid-sentence. "Will I get scolded if I do something kinda ridiculous that'll give us sugar in an instant?"

"Is it something dangerous?"

"Not at all. It's just a bit mind-blowing if anything,"

"I'm a little curious now."

"So, no scolding?"

"I promise nothing."

"So unfair!" She pouted for a second before continuing. "Whatever, Maya and I went grocery shopping the other day, and l, uhh... might've forgotten to unload it into our kitchen. Ah, please don't tell her, okay?"

"Sorry, I can't follow." The jaguar-girl was obviously confused.

"I'll show you." After saying this, Sophia pushed her arm into the purple portal she created and pulled a pack of sugar out of her extra space. "There we go. That's enough sugar, right?"

"Eh?" Naturally, Ari was beyond surprised and had no idea what to say.

"Pretty cool, isn't it?"

"What... What just happened?" The jaguar blinked a couple of times, but it didn't help her confusion. "What was that purple thing... and where did the sugar come from...?"

"It's some magic I came up with. It gives me basically unlimited storage that I can access wherever and whenever I want."

"I want that, too!" Her reaction was different from expected. "I've never heard of anything even remotely as useful as that!"

"Yep, it's amazing, but sorry... It's pretty complicated and uncategorized chantless magic. It's an original creation of mine, after all."

"According to you, elements or categories don't matter. You also claimed that activation words make no sense, and those who can use that also should be able to use chantless magic. That's why, gimme~!"

"Ahaha, so you can be unreasonable, huh?" Sophia let out a chuckle. "Not going to lie, spoilt Ari's kinda adorable."

"A-Ah." Her face turned red. "Stupid Anna... it's definitely from her influence."

"Hehe~. But remember, you were the one who told me that there most likely are more requirements for chantless magic other than being able to use activation words with ease. Something like a power requirement."

"R-Right..." Ari got even more flustered. "So embarrassing…"

"I know that feeling~." The tiger was happy to be on the other side for once.

"Still, I'm sooo envious about that magic! I wish I had more power..."

"Sorry."

"Well, though regrettable, there's nothing I can do." The black-haired decided to return to the original topic. "Now that we have all the ingredients, how about we get started on the cookies?"

"Cookies!" Sophia was very motivated.

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Taking the lead, Ari explained the contents of the recipe she found to the tiger. For a moment, Sophia wondered about how they were going to weigh the ingredients because modern scales couldn't possibly be a thing in this world. She hoped for something magical, but, as it turned out, they had simple balance-type scales where the ingredients go on one side while placing a variety of sample masses on the other side to balance it out.

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"They're not going to be the super-sweet kind, huh?" The blonde was reading through the recipe and wasn't the biggest supporter of the amount of sugar noted on it.

"You think so? I don't bake that often because I usually enjoy making savory food more, but I thought it's fine?"

"Well, it's my first time baking cookies, so I might be wrong. Just compared to the amount of the other ingredients, it sounds a bit too little?"

"Hmm..." Ari eyed their recipe with a raised eyebrow.

"As I said, I don't know how to cook. There's a high chance I'm wrong."

"You shouldn't have said anything then... Now I'm conflicted..." Thanks to the tiger, she now was second-guessing it, too.

"Sorry." Sophia hung her head. "Oh, they might be the perfect base for choc... chocolade-chip cookies!" She needed a second to remember the correct pronunciation. "That would add some nice sweetness. Not to mention that they're amazing~."

"Chocolade... chip...?" The jaguar-girl tilted her head. "What's that?"

"Eh?" She stared at her with a blank expression. "Y-You don't know what chocolade-chip cookies are...?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"W-Wow... forget the whole magic thing, I've found something way worse that's wrong with the population." It was a way more significant issue for her compared to the underdeveloped magic of everyone. "How... How did no one ever think of adding chocolade to cookies?!" She looked crestfallen.

"No, chocolade cookies are a thing. Either by adding cocoa powder to the recipe or by melting chocolade and mixing it in. I don't understand the chip part."

"A-Ah, that's a relief..." Sophia let out a long sigh. "The chip part comes from adding chunks of chocolade to the cookies before baking. Those bits only partly melt and stay intact. When you bite into the cookies, you always get a mouthful of slightly gooey but still somewhat crunchy chocolade. It's amazing."

"Forget about my recipe. We're doing that!" Ari needed to have these kinds of cookies now. "Ah, but now we need to the storage room regardless to get some chocolade..."

"Coming right up~." Saying so, she opened the portal to her storage again and pulled out a whole assortment with all kinds of chocolade. "Maya literally ordered me to always have a stock of it. It's also really helpful when she needs it. She can get moody otherwise."

"Understandable. I have a big craving for chocolate, too, every now and then." The jaguar gave a slight nod.

"Like, I don't know, for a couple of days once a month?"

"It's a mystery, isn't it~?"

"Sure is. Well, I never not crave chocolate, but it's occasionally even stronger during that time, too, so I do understand."

"Anyway, I so badly want this storage magic!" Ari got envious of it again.

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Ignoring the black-haired girl, Sophia explained how they were supposed to look, and the girls started preparing the cookies. As the stakes had now become chocolade-chip cookies, the tiger didn't want to risk anything and let Ari do the base recipe. Instead, she only chopped the chocolade to the correct size before adding it to the finished dough and mixing it through with a spatula. 

"Err... Before I actually start cutting and mixing... Do you have an apron for me?" Sophia glanced down at herself. "I am 106% certain that it's going to be messy~." The blonde was aware of her clumsiness, after all. "Maybe some slippers, too. I'm sure I'm able to manage to even get something on my shoes."

"That's no, uhh... not much of a problem..." Ari looked around, and her eyes stopped at a clothes hanger next to the door. "H-How do you feel about a slightly frilly apron in a cute pink?" She tried her best not to smile while imagining the tiger wearing it.

"I might not look like it, but I like cute clothes, okay?!" The blonde started pouting.

"Perfect!" The jaguar grabbed the apron and handed it over to her.

"S-Stop grinning already!" Sophia glared at the other girl, who kept looking at her after she started wearing the pink dress-like apron together with the similarly colored slippers.

"I-I'm sorry... You look adorable." Ari didn't even try to stop.

"Uuh..." She squirmed around a bit. The tiger seemed kind of happy to hear it, but the situation also was rather embarrassing for her.

"A-Alright!" The black-haired girl needed another minute to be serious again. "Let's continue." Saying so, the two continued their work. While Ari finished the dough, Sophia cut the chocolate into chunks and added it before mixing everything together. Afterward, the duo formed it into actual cookies.

"So, what now?" They went a little overboard, and the tiger was currently staring at five packed cookie sheets.

"Thankfully, the ovens here are pretty big. We're going to use the one on the right." She pointed at one of the two in the kitchen they were in. "Normally, I use the one powered by wood because it tastes better, but that's no good for sweet stuff, so we'll have to take the one that operates with magic. Smokey cookies are kinda..."

"That makes sense. Wait, how does an oven powered by magic work? Maya also always uses the wood ones because of the taste."

"You use your magic power for it to heat up."

"Like with a chant or an activation thingy like 'Heat up'?" Sophia tried to guess how it worked.

"No, you simply pour your magic into it by touching the respective controls for the oven while thinking about the temperature you want, and it does just that."

"What...?" She needed a moment after hearing this. "Ari...?"

"Yes?"

"That's literally what chantless magic is."

"It's not?"

"No, it absolutely is. In a way, it's quite similar to some type of magic I use. For that, I also use my own power to generate heat. Okay, flames in my case."

"Really...? Well, I can't do that without the oven."

"So... Ovens are able to use chantless magic, but people can't...? Who even invented those kitchen appliances...?"

"They've been around forever. I don't think it's actually known who invented them, only that you need a special type of material to build them."

"Something's seriously wrong with magic... There's definitely something missing in the explanation everyone has for it." Sophia looked extremely confused.

"l, uhh... I have no idea what to say." Ari couldn't help her. "If you find out what's going on, please use it to teach me the storage thing, okay?" She really fell in love with the magic.

"Oi, magic!" The tiger suddenly started yelling. "I don't know what's going on, but do me a favor, okay?! Let Ari use chantless magic, alright? I'll even help out if you need anything from me! I know that we're missing some crucial elements, but be cool, okay? Thank you very much! Love you~."

"What... What was that...?" The jaguar looked even more confused than the blonde now.

"Don't mind me. I'm just frustrated and needed to get it out of my system."

"I-I see."

"Alright, let's get to baking the cookies!" With a refreshed look on her face, Sophia got motivated again and pushed the topic aside.

"Sure…"

Afterward, once the oven was heated up, the duo watched the cookies bake and chatted about everything except magic while waiting.

 

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