The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

Mari was deeply feeling her own helplessness.

Although she had never boasted to anyone else, she secretly prided herself on her sociability.

Even though she had never met one in person, she thought that her natural sociability was not inferior to that of a capybara beastkin, who were considered the best among all races in getting along with other human species.

Therefore, she believed that if she sincerely comforted Arisa, who was in despair, she would surely be able to cheer her up.

However, that was nothing but a misconception.

“Sniff… Wendy! Another glass of fresh milk, please!”

Despite spending half a day by her side, listening to her complaints and agreeing with her, her sadness had not subsided at all.

No, instead of subsiding, it had only deepened.

Ironically, it was because of Mari’s innate sociability that her comfort had no effect.

As they say, a genius cannot understand the life of an ordinary person.

Mari, a born social genius, could not truly empathize with the sadness of Arisa, a born introverted genius.

Arisa, who had become an adventurer, had a complex about her race as a Dark Elf, low self-esteem, and poor sociability. The first companion she made.

Although their first meeting was unpleasant, it was precisely because of that unpleasant first meeting that the memory of truly becoming comrades was all the more special.

Such a precious comrade leaving the party, and moreover, to take responsibility for her own mistake.

What Arisa, with her introverted personality, feared most was a situation where others would take responsibility for an accident caused by her own fault, and the collapse of the community she belonged to due to her own mistake.

What had happened to her was tragically a case that applied to both.

The guilt and despair Arisa felt were several times greater than Mari had imagined.

Thus, due to the difference in their personalities and the resulting gap in perception, Mari’s comfort was unusually ineffective.

“Ah, Arisa. Stop drinking. You’ve had enough. If you drink any more, you’ll have to pee at night.”

“It’s okay! A useless Dark Elf like me can wet the bed at night and it’s fine! Sob sob.”

It was then, as Mari felt helpless and strongly wished for a helping hand, that the kitchen door of the Adventurer’s Guild finally opened after a long wait.

“You’ve waited long enough. It’s mealtime.”

The helping hand appeared before them, holding dessert.

“Sniff.”

The mention of dinner from Kurt, who had appeared from the kitchen.

At those words, Arisa reflexively tried to leave her seat.

Although she had been invited to meals a few times due to her friendship with Kurt’s party, it was generally a rule that Kurt’s party dined among themselves.

However, Kurt stopped her as she tried to get up from her seat, holding a beer mug filled with milk and sniffling.

“No need to get up. We’re all having dinner together tonight.”

“Me…? Sorry, but I’m fine with just milk…”

“Don’t be like that, Arisa.”

“It’s been a while since we had a meal together.”

With Liche and Yuri joining from the kitchen, Arisa had no choice but to sit back down with her beer mug.

But even as she sat down, she showed no interest in the meal.

This was unusually strong self-assertion for her, who was normally timid and concerned about others’ opinions.

In response to her timid rebellion, Mari forcibly raised the mood and welcomed the dish Kurt had brought.

“Wow, wow! It looks really delicious… Dessert…?”

No, she tried to welcome it.

Until she realized that the crepe Kurt had brought was still incomplete.

“What… is this?”

The crepe he had brought was unfinished.

A very thin bread that looked like a pancake, finely chopped fruits, various jams or syrups, crushed nuts, and a few piping bags.

In other words, they were in the state before the toppings were filled in and the crepe was rolled.

“Ah. Today’s dish is customizable. You can add as many toppings as you want to make it to your taste.”

“As many as I want!? And only the toppings I want!?”

At Kurt’s words, Mari raised her voice, forgetting that she was supposed to comfort Arisa.

This was the conclusion Kurt had reached after pondering how to create the most satisfying dessert, inspired by his experience making Kraken Sausage.

At that time, he had chosen to let the tasters choose the taste they wanted by making different parts of the Kraken Sausage taste different from the start, to satisfy as many people’s tastes as possible at a party where an unspecified number of people gathered.

And at this moment, he had chosen to go one step further and give Arisa the initiative to create the dessert she wanted.

Therefore, the most optimal dessert was a crepe that was easy to customize.

Customizing.

It is a word filled with dreams and hopes that makes one’s heart race.

As a child, every boy has dreamed of imagining their own strongest monster, combining characteristics from various monsters.

And girls are no different, though they may not imagine the strongest monster like boys do, they dream of their own ultimate dessert.

For example, like longing for a bucket of pudding, even though they know they won’t eat half of it and will get sick of it.

Ignoring practical issues like food expenses, calories, taste balance, and others’ gazes.

Only the ultimate dessert made entirely of their own preferences.

This was not only true in this world but also in Kurt’s previous life on Earth.

Even on Earth, where food culture was incomparably more developed than in this world, most dessert shops only handled combinations and toppings that sold well, to meet sales targets, manage inventory easily, and avoid overly niche products with irregular demand and easily spoiled taste balances.

Thus, even amidst abundance, it was difficult to find the ultimate dessert that truly satisfied the inner girl in countless dessert shops.

Even on Earth, where one could go around eating all kinds of food if they wanted, this desire was not easily fulfilled. What about in this fantasy world?

The impact would be similar to the shock felt by martial artists when the concept of card games was first introduced to the Central Plains.

“Really! Can I really add as many ingredients as I want!?”

“You seem to like it more… If you want, you can fill it only with fruits and jams, or only with ‘dairy products’ like cream and condensed milk.”

Kurt explained the crepe to the cheering Mari, emphasizing the word ‘dairy products’ while glancing at Arisa.

“….”

But Arisa showed no interest even in the word ‘dairy products,’ which she liked, and just looked at the beer mug (filled with milk) with a consistently gloomy expression.

“What should we do? She’s not even interested in the word ‘dairy products’…”

“Maybe it’s not effective?”

Seeing Arisa’s gloomy attitude, Liche and Yuri also looked at her with uneasy expressions as the meal began.

Arisa reluctantly picked up a crepe from the ingredients placed in front of her.

The word ‘customizable dessert’ was indeed a word with strong allure that would have tempted her under normal circumstances, but unfortunately, the sense of loss she felt was too great to be tempted by food.

‘Yes. But since they worked hard to make it, I should eat one out of courtesy and then leave…’

Thinking so, Arisa tried to eat the crepe without any toppings.

“Wait a minute!”

“…Why?”

Liche stopped her with a look of disbelief.

“Are you really going to eat that crepe without putting anything on it!?”

“…I was going to?”

“No! This crepe is a dessert where you can put as many toppings as you want! It’s not a dish where you just eat the plain crepe!”

“But…”

“No buts!”

As Yuri joined in to scold her, Arisa finally put down the crepe she was about to eat with lifeless eyes, and Yuri, unable to stand it, took the crepe from her hand and topped it as she pleased.

She squeezed a zigzag of cream from a piping bag onto the spread-out crepe, filling one side completely, then placed slices of predatory water fruit on top, added strawberry jam, and finally finished with crushed nuts.

After filling it with all the toppings, she folded the other side, which had no toppings, neatly to make a handle for eating.

Predatory Water Cream Crepe.

“Here! Eat it!”

“…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

Arisa, who had received the richly completed crepe in an instant, expressed her gratitude in a small voice and then took a small bite of the fluffy, colorful crepe that stimulated a girl’s heart.

Fluffy.

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