Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Unexpected Variable

James Tile.

If you ask for the most renowned businessman in current Britain, he is a famous figure to the extent that three out of ten London residents would pick him first.

That is thanks to the Golden Syrup he succeeded in developing 5 years ago.

The waste products that come out in the sugar manufacturing process were too wasteful so he put them in water and boiled them, and an unexpected sticky sweet taste was born. He attached the name 'Golden Syrup' to this result and supplied it cheaply to general stores, and luckily achieved commercial success.

As a result he received the knighthood which is the highest honor as a London entrepreneur and is still enjoying tremendous popularity.

Such he was crumpling the paper in his hand while twitching the trauma goat beard and fiercely slammed it on the table.

Bang!

"Th-this... What on earth kind of trash-like guy spread such nonsense!! Saying our syrup is defective and harms the citizens' health!"

The factory manager startled by that sharp momentum shrank his body.

James Tile. The appearance of him who is a perfectionist and doesn't lose cool-headedness losing reason like this was something even the close factory manager was seeing for the first time.

But there was a reason such an overreaction would come out.

"S-surely the fact that we secretly mixed even the lowest grade sugarcane that would be discarded and manufactured the syrup hasn't been exposed, right? Huh? If that gets caught both you and I are finished!"

"Don't worry! We're thoroughly keeping our mouths shut! No one will know! We've even threatened the families!"

"Surely is it those Wright family bastards? Did those guys plot a scheme saying we ruined their sugar business?!"

It was a momentary temptation.

Golden Syrup is made from the by-products of the sugar process. That is, it means recycling residue that should originally be thrown away. But it gained too much unexpected popularity. That was the problem.

From some moment Golden Syrup started selling more than the main business sugar at general stores. Cheaper than sugar but denser and more intense sweet taste. Popularity had no choice but to explode.

In the end he took the strong measure of putting the sugar inventory he had made back into Golden Syrup manufacturing, but nevertheless couldn't keep up with demand. As the popularity of the syrup became excessively high, a person came out from the government and even urged. The Golden Syrup inventory is insufficient to the point of a workers' riot occurring, so if you somehow resolve it we'll compensate, the pressure.

At that time a thought suddenly crossed James Tile's mind.

'If I additionally put in even the sugarcane discarded for quality failure in the import process into Golden Syrup manufacturing, it will somehow work?'

Pondering was brief and the decision was fast. He did as he thought. In return he obtained the knighthood.

But this fact is a thorough secret. Only he and the factory manager, and some factory employees should know.

"Look at this content! It's not made by an ordinary guy! They even drew illustrations and turned the 'printing press'! This is clearly instigated by those Wright family bastards! Those bastards noticed our plan and struck first one step ahead! There must be their spy in my factory! But where did you pick up this paper?"

"S-sorry! It's the orphan bastards of London! I barely caught one and interrogated, someone was scattering this in every alley and telling them to sing noisily, and gave chocolate as the price...!"

"Song? A song?! What song? Where is that orphan bastard now?!"

"While I took my eyes off for a moment he stepped on my foot and ran away..."

"You stupid bastard!"

Rattle!

"Boss! Something big has happened! An article about the syrup made at our factory in the newspaper...!"

"What? Bring it right away!"

Flutter.

And the shocking content carried inside�

"Wh-what?! This is real slander! Slander!"

Food poisoning! The content that people who ate the Golden Syrup distributed in London are successively complaining of abdominal pain, and Scotland Yard is launching an investigation into the actual situation!

"No! It can't be! I used low-quality materials, but I didn't use even rotten and decayed ones!"

Rattle!

"Boss! Something big has happened! Right now policemen have flocked in front of the factory!"

"I-I'm not in this office! Make up that I went on a business trip! Right now! Right, quickly contact Member Chamberlain! If it's that person he'll definitely help!"

###

A similar situation occurred at the same time at Wright Company which produces Treacle.

"Th-this is sabotage! Sabotage! It must be that Tile bastard's doing! We're innocent!"

Suddenly policemen flocked from Scotland Yard and started an investigation. The reason was that successive reports came in that people got sick from eating the Treacle they produced.

And after persistent search, a shocking result was revealed.

Someone pulled out the corpse of a dead mouse from the Treacle manufacturing machine.

A voice of astonishment burst out all at once among the searching policemen and the employees who were being dragged around in a daze.

"Th-this can't be!"

"The story I only heard as a rumor was true?"

"These bastards! Making and selling food in such an unhygienic environment! Ugh!"

The president of Wright Company who saw that scene turned pale and struggled.

"How can I block even mice secretly sneaking in like that! It's not a one or two day thing that mice are swarming in every London alley! More than that investigate Tile Company first! I received definite reports that their Golden Syrup has hygiene problems!"

"I don't know about that, but anyway since evidence came out here first you'll have to cooperate with the investigation, Mr. Harry Wright! What are you doing there? Quickly put handcuffs on him!"

"Yes, Inspector Reid!"

Click.

In fact mice coming and going in sugar factories wasn't that surprising a thing in this era. Many factories were built with wooden boards instead of bricks due to cost issues, and because of the humid London weather they quickly rotted and mice came and went through the gaps that opened. Especially sugar factories were places where not only mice but all kinds of bugs properly flocked because of that unique sweet smell.

Moreover it wasn't only here that mice were roaming. London was always a headache with rat packs due to dense population and poor sanitation facilities, and irregular garbage collection problems.

Of course the inspector knew this problem well. But today of all days he had nothing else to say. Because he himself had just eaten cookies spread with Treacle a little while ago!

Imagining that Treacle was made in a machine that a mouse corpse entered, ugh, I feel like throwing up right away! The inspector felt like spitting on the president's face!

"Escort him politely! And close this factory for the time being! Even nail the door!"

###

And as a matter of course, the result of all these incidents was completely different from what I, Jean-Paul Durand, intended.

"What on earth is this?!"

The article on the front page of the morning newspaper.

The super popular products Golden Syrup and Treacle were suddenly suspended from sale by Scotland Yard. So at each general store there was content that it was engulfed in confusion with people requesting refunds, and conversely people who would buy all the remaining inventory.

How absurd? I haven't done anything yet?! Where on earth did the butterfly effect appear?

How do I know it's related to me?

【Main Quest Open: Change history with special food (0.54%)】

The quest progress suddenly jumped by 0.1%. Of course it could be the result of Mr. Tesla and Mr. Edison who returned to America doing something... Those people are still floating in the middle of the Atlantic! It wasn't even time for them to arrive!

Moreover I can't say I'm completely unrelated either�

"I did tell them to scatter slanderous flyers a week ago..."

But swearing on my conscience, by the standards of this era it was very educational content! I only put a picture of a devil with a trident stabbing the mouth of a child who eats too much sugar!

That was really all! And additionally I only had the newspaper sellers slightly leak to the reporters the story that after eating sugar syrup my stomach suddenly hurt!

"But a real food poisoning incident broke out? A mouse corpse came out from the factory?"

I swear to Saint George, it's absolutely not related to me! No matter how much my conscience is a bit rotten, I'm not that vicious. I just needed them to stagger enough to step on and climb�

Surely did the competitors try to stab each other and coincidentally with good timing mutually destroy?

Rattle!

At that moment, someone suddenly pushed open my office door and entered. The person who would enter so confidently without looking at others' eyes was only one person I know.

"Earl of Derby! What's the matter?!"

"Ahem, young Jean! Did you also see this newspaper? Very heaven-outraging bastards were roaming in London!"

"Yes? Who?"

"Surely you haven't heard yet? It seems you've become insensitive to world affairs from being immersed in cooking every day. Of course, those bastards who were selling that damn rotten sugar syrup! And shamelessly roaming London city, they must definitely be of Scottish origin! If those bastards were in front of my eyes I would have blown their jaws right away!"

The newspaper didn't even say the syrup was rotten?! Rumors are distorting and spreading this much.

"Among them one even received a knighthood for the merit of making syrup and pleasing the public! My goodness! No matter how Saint George he wouldn't be able to endure and would have definitely slapped those bastards' cheeks! So I just put in a proposal for deprivation of title to the parliament and am on my way!"

Hmm... Now it's a matter unrelated to me. A bit uneasy though. In fact in the early 20th century there weren't proper regulations like food safety laws so I did think it seemed like it would burst if poked with a needle. And in this era there was not a single place where dust doesn't come out when shaken.

"By the way you made something amazing again! Why do you always proceed with things leaving me out like this? Huh? Shall I just leave my checkbook here and go?"

"Where did you hear that again?!"

"Who else would it be! Your new partner! The Pitton family has been the best wheat farming landlord in our Derbyshire region for generations! So I've often stopped by this restaurant with that guy!"

Does confidentiality even exist in this society?! No, more than that the Earl was an acquaintance with Mr. Pitton? Well, if a gentleman who eats so well that oil flows from his face didn't stop by here it would rather be strange.

Seeing that he followed right away as soon as Mr. Henry connected him as an investor, it seems correct to see that person also knew about me to some extent.

Somehow from the first meeting he treated me strangely familiarly.

"Well, anyway... Welcome. Just in time I was thinking of doing an additional peanut butter tasting session."

"Ahem. A tasting session? Surely you're not putting me third or fourth in order..."

"No, no! This time I swear the Earl is first! Because it's content I haven't even told Lady Edith yet! Instead please just keep it a secret continuously."

The Earl has a light mouth so trust doesn't particularly go. In fact by now it seemed like rumors would already be spreading in some way so it wasn't that big a problem.

I was adding facilities to Mr. Pitton's factory, and gradually running test operations. Among the factory employees who participated in that process, can I say there are no people with light mouths?

In the current era there is no one who wouldn't boast after tasting my peanut butter. Moreover right now when bad news broke out for Golden Syrup and Treacle is also a perfect time to debut peanut butter.

"Good! Then when are you thinking of doing that tasting session? Do I have to wait long? Can't it be today? I don't think I can wait anymore!"

"I'll do it today. Just in time there's a combination I want to test."

Since I made peanut butter, I should gradually try using it, right? While also creating word of mouth?

Not particularly because I want to treat the Earl of Derby, but because I suddenly thought of a Korean dish from seeing peanut butter every day.

How does peanut butter go with Korean food?

In fact, peanut butter is the strongest cheat key in baking. Spread on any sandwich, accompany scones or cookies, even sprinkle as topping on salad it's delicious. Moreover it goes well with fruit jam, so a sandwich spread with strawberry jam and peanut butter shows the true extreme of sweet and salty. It's not for nothing that peanut butter became a symbol of America.

But I was a person who believes the true potential of peanut butter is maximized the most when made into a thin sauce.

For example Vietnam's spring rolls. A simple food of just accompanying fresh vegetables on rice paper, if eaten as is it's bland. But if you dip peanut sauce there? The taste becomes deeper and richer. The savory yet sweet taste of peanut butter further maximizes the lightness of the vegetables in the mouth.

So if approached as a sauce concept in Korean food there weren't none of dishes that match perfectly.

Among them the one I most want to eat right now.

That is samgyeopsal.

Try eating samgyeopsal accompanied with peanut sauce mixed with a little mayonnaise. That place is paradise.

Just thinking about it my mouth waters a lot.

And that thick samgyeopsal grilled brown and golden on a grill with oil sizzling a lot!

Anyway around the time I was calming the Earl who got excited and thrilled at the word of treating a new food, an unexpected guest visited my restaurant.

A person I really didn't expect even a little.

A figure with no one comparable if only counting recognition in current London Britain.

The author of the great detective Holmes series, Arthur Conan Doyle.

The rumored influencer who should be reclusive in Undershaw of Surrey suddenly appeared at my restaurant.

And that was also a bolt from the blue for me.