I Was Reincarnated as a Commoner. I Can’t Stand Living Like This, so I’ll Become an Aristocrat! C170

170, Development of Refrigeration Equipment Part 1

The day after I made the croquettes. 

I decided to go to Marcel's workshop today and left the house after lunch. I'm currently on my way to the workshop. 

Today's lunch was a croquette sandwich, and it was really delicious. As expected, Marie was very excited, and she seemed to really like it as she ate it. 

　I'll probably be eating croquettes for a while. My mother and father were also enthusiastic about developing croquettes to see if they could be made even more delicious, and it looks like we'll be tasting croquettes and eating leftover croquettes for a while. 

If I ate that much, I'd probably get bored... but I guess I can't help it. 

While thinking about this, I walked to Marcel's workshop and arrived there. It's been a while. 

I knocked on the door, feeling a little nervous, and called out to Marcel. 

"Hello Marcel! This is Leon."

When I called out to them, I heard the sound of people running from inside the workshop, and immediately the door opened and Marcel-san appeared. 

“Leon, why are you here!?”

“Eh, why… you’re coming back to your parents’ house for summer vacation?”

When I answered that while being surprised by Marcel-san's strength, Marcel-san looked as if he had just realized something and took a deep breath. 

"Ah, that's true. I completely forgot about summer vacation. I was surprised to see that Leon was here, wondering if something was wrong."

"Sorry for surprising you?"

"Well, it's okay, I just misunderstood. You can come in."

"Yes. Thank you."

Marcel-san said that and returned to the workshop. Everyone was surprised when I came back. You think I'm going to cause that much trouble...I'm a little depressed. 

　

"So, do you have anything to do today?"

“I came to see Marcel, but I had something to discuss with you.”

I answered while sitting in my usual position. 

“Is counseling a magic tool?”

"Yes. It's a magic tool, but if you can make it without using a magic tool, that's fine..."

“What do you mean?”

"Actually, I'm about to open a specialty sweets store, so I'd like to install refrigeration equipment in the store..."

“Wait!”

As soon as I started to explain, Marcel-san stopped me. Haven't you said anything yet? 

"what?"

“Leon is going to open a shop?”

"That's right. We're planning to turn it into a specialty store for sweets, and since sweets go bad quickly, we need refrigeration equipment."

“I-I see…I’m surprised that Leon would start a store, but, well, Leon would probably start a store at least.It’s true that starting a store is a normal thing compared to what he’s done up until now. Well then. Yeah, that’s right.”

Marcel seems to be trying to convince himself by telling himself that. 

Is it really that surprising? Marcel-san knows how much money I have, and he also knows that I belong to a ducal family. Is it different when it comes to shops? 

“Are you that surprised?”

"No, if you think about it, it's Leon, so it's not that surprising. However, I'm still surprised that it's a sweets specialty store. Does that mean they don't sell anything other than sweets?"

 it was. There are no cake shops in this world. 

"Yes. Basically, I'm thinking of turning it into a shop that only sells sweets."

“I see, so I guess we need refrigeration.”

"That's right. Sweets are perishable, so I want a refrigeration facility... I'm wondering if I can somehow create a refrigeration facility using ice. In particular, a refrigeration facility that can cool the inside of a glass box would be ideal. However. Glass walls seem difficult, so in the worst case scenario, you can give up.”

Actually, just before I went back to my parents' house, I received a call from the glass workshop, saying that the glass showcase was completed. It's left in the store for now. 

It looked pretty good and I thought it would be usable, but there were surprisingly many gaps, especially at the opening where you put the cake in and take it out. I tried putting ice in it to cool it down, but it wasn't very cold, the ice melted quickly, and it was extremely humid. There was also a lot of condensation. 

Well, condensation can be dealt with by adjusting the room temperature or removing moisture using the water magic I developed recently. But nothing can be done about the gap. 

The person at the glass workshop thought it was a masterpiece, so it would be difficult to do anything more than that. In that case, I feel that glass showcases are difficult. 

"It's difficult again..."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could make it with ice, but if that's not possible, I thought I'd have to use magic tools..."

When I glanced at Marcel while saying that, he nodded as if he had no choice. 

"Okay. I'll think about it too."

"Really!? Thank you!"

As expected, Marcel is kind. She is always helpful and I am so grateful. I feel like he's an old man that I can talk to about anything, which makes me feel at ease. 

“You said earlier that it was a glass box, but why is it made of glass?”

"Yes. I would like to place a glass box on the counter of the shop and display sweets inside it. Therefore, I would like to keep the inside of the glass box cool."

"Also, don't you think strange things."

“Is it weird?”

When I said that, Marcel-san thought about it for a while, then shook his head. 

"No, if I could make one, it would be the centerpiece of the store. Nobles like new things, so I think it will become popular."

“Is it true!?”

If Marcel says so, I think it will go well if I can make it. In that case, I don't want to give up on glass showcases after all. 

"Oh, so have you tried making a glass box?"

"Yes. It's big, so we have it in the store, but it's about the width from here to there, and the height is a little shorter than my height."

“It’s also pretty big.”

"I decided to use it as a counter, so I ended up with that size. I asked them to eliminate as many gaps as possible, but it seems like that would be difficult, as there are a lot of gaps at the joints."

"Well, I guess so. Have you tried putting ice in it?"

"Yes. It was cold, but the temperature wasn't ideal for storing sweets, and it was also extremely humid and there was a lot of condensation..."

There were so many problems that I was at a loss as to where to start improving. So I installed it at the store and returned to my parents' house. I thought that if I gave it some time, I might come up with some good ideas. Well, you could call it escapism from reality. 

However, while returning home, I tried to think about what I should do in my free time. The conclusion I came to was to keep it sealed. If you seal it tightly, it will probably start to cool down. 

However, it is quite difficult to seal it tightly. I thought about stuffing cloth into the gap, but it would be too ungainly for a cafe for aristocrats, and it would be too difficult to take out the contents and put them away. 

Moreover, even if it can be sealed, the humidity problem will not be solved. Actually, I don't know if it's better for sweets to have humidity or not. 

I feel like if there's too little humidity, it'll dry out, and if there's too much, it'll be soggy and won't taste good. 

After all, there are so many problems that it's difficult... 

After thinking that far, Marcel opened his mouth. 

“First of all, let me ask you one thing: Do I have to think about the budget?”

"Yes. You don't have to think about it for now."

"In that case, the problem of airtightness will be solved immediately. Just use magic iron."

...Magic iron? That's certainly true! With magic iron, it is possible to have zero gaps. 

"That might be fine! Ah, but that means you can't use glass..."

"No, that's not true. When you transform the magic iron, you can just insert the glass and transform it."

"Put the glass in...?"

“Okay, wait a minute.”

After saying that, Marcel brought a piece of glass from the other end of the workshop. It's pretty big, about the size of my outstretched hands. 

“Let’s transform the magic iron by using this glass as a window.”

I see... When you transform magic iron, you can not only transform it, but you can also align it with something else. 

"I'll try it!"

“I think this is enough magic iron.”

With that said, I transformed the magic iron that Marcel-san handed me, and first shaped it into a glass frame. Then I made a box out of magic iron, and on the other side of the glass I made a sliding door with no gaps at all. 

Phew, done! 

“Marcel-san is here!”

"Oh, that's wonderful."

In front of me was a magic iron box the size of something that would fit on a desk in the workshop, and one side was covered in glass. There are no gaps at all. On the other side of the glass is a sliding door that opens smoothly, but when closed it's so perfect that you can't see the border. 

From my memory of Japan, I was adamant about having the entire wall made of glass, but if you just want to be able to see inside, one wall is fine! 

If you open the door from the back, you can see inside, and all you have to do is memorize the location of the sweets. That's right, if you make part of the sliding door glass, you can see inside. It might be a good idea to improve that for the actual production. 

I'm glad I consulted Marcel as it was such an easy solution! If it's just me, I'm inevitably drawn to my memories of Japan, and to begin with, I have no knowledge of manufacturing at all. After all, my real job is different.