The Magic Batch and a Series of Magic Mishaps

The Sugar Shortage~Part 2

TW: none

Espresso locked the door behind him and walked out onto the pavement, moving briskly. He was a bit anxious about this experiment he was doing. He had a theory about the espresso to coffee ratio, where the more espresso he adds to his magic, the bigger and stronger his coffee beans would be. It was a bit of a stretch in his opinion, but he was willing to try it if it meant he'd be stronger than Madeleine. Why did he want to be stronger than Madeleine? I don't know, I'm just the narrator.

The coffee mage was deep in thought when he bumped into a small figure. He looked down and Pancake looked back up at him. "What's wrong?". He asked. "I was at the park to play and there were a lot of loud bangs, and everyone was running around,- and then I was in the air! I don't know what happened!" The small child sniffed and rubbed his nose on his sleeve, his lip trembling. Espresso felt bad for him. He had no idea what the kid's description meant. Espresso didn't want to stick around, but he felt like he had to console the cookie.

"You want to know what I do when I'm scared?" Espresso got down on one knee. The boy nodded his head and sniffed again. "I find out the source of my fear! So I think you should go back there and see what happened, look for clues, ask questions, think of it like detective work." The small cookie perked up. "Like Almond?" Espresso smiled, but mostly for show. "Oh but of course!". The tiny cookie thanked him and ran off.

Espresso got up and speed-walked the rest of the way to the market, shuffling around cookies and stalls. Until he found just the stall he needed. Pumpkin pie and Pompon's Sugars and Sweets. "Good afternoon, Pumpkin Pie Cookie,".

The girl nodded "Yes, good afternoon." The girl's rabbit doll whispered in her ear and she murmured back, looking up at Espresso again. "Pompon wonders why you're in such a rush, he thinks you look tired.". Oh that darn doll. Espresso wasn't fond of him, he found him...... disturbing. Tolerable, but disturbing. What kind of magic even kept that thing alive?

"Oh that's nothing. I just need some sugar, is all." He pushed his glasses up. Pumpkin pie could only sigh. "We're truly sorry Espresso, but we're all out of sugar" Espresso blinked. "Well is there any shipments in from the train station coming in soon?" Pompon clung to her arm as she shook her head gravely. "Nothing to do with sugar. We're afraid.". Espresso gaped at her as alchemist ran up beside him.

She bent over and breathed heavily before straightening up and leaning on the stall. "Got any sugar?". "No," the girl and mage replied. "Grape juice! Do you know if the mines are open?" Pompon rolled his eyes as pumpkin pie pulled him into a hug. "The mines are being upgraded by the player."

"The what?"

"Never mind,"

"What's this about sugar?" Latte and Cream puff trotted up now. "They're all out of sugar and none is coming in.", Espresso explained. "I put a spell on Almond for this?!" Latte mumbled under her breath.

"I'm sorry you wHAT!?", Wizard had joined them now. Latte sighed. "It doesn't matter now because there isn't any sugar, and there won't be any for quite some time.".

Cream puff bounced impatiently, "So then what do we do? Nearly all our spells and potions need sugar as a defense property!" Everyone mumbled in agreement. No sugar, no magic. It's as simple as that.

Pumpkin pie glanced at the magic cookies nervously. Of course she was also magic, but she was a summoner type of cookie, she relied on Pompon more than she did her magic. Only now did she feel guilty about this. Pompon noticed her anxious expression, and pulled her even further into the hug. Oh, What to do now?

She couldn't serve these cookies. The one thing she loves doing is serving and helping other cookies, even when they understandably avoided her for being....... Well...... creepy. Hold on—! An idea materialized in her head.......

"What if you just made your own sugar?". Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. Espresso cocked his head to the side. ".....What?...." "You guys are smart, why not try looking for a substitute of some sort?". The cookies turned to each other and started discussing this. Pumpkin pie was right. Not to brag, but they all were pretty smart. And this kingdom has a bunch of different resources they could use and experiment with.

"This could lead to new discoveries!" Alchemist pointed out excitedly.

Latte nodded in agreement. "This could be a beneficial learning experience," she looked down fondly at Cream Puff, who was now bouncing with excitement. It was contagious, because wizard started doing the same thing.

"FINALLY! I'LL GET TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MAGIC COOKIES!!", he was so excited he accidentally lost his grip on his staff, which hit a now breathless Espresso in the gut.

He hunched over and grimaced as everyone fell silent. Everyone knew that Espresso liked to keep to himself, and that he also saw Coffee magic as the most superior craft...... So a collaboration with other magic cookies who all practiced different crafts.......... Would be a little problematic.

Pumpkin Pie recalled that Strawberry Crepe had mentioned that Espresso was one of the first cookies to move into the kingdom, and because of that a lot of cookies respected him- especially the other Magic cookies.

Pumpkin pie was just pulled from the Gacha a month ago, and was immediately spoiled by the player and given a lot of star jellies. And as far as she could tell, she was one of the only cookies who were self aware. All the other cookies on the story exploration team were self aware too, so maybe it's just a glitch in the game.

After catching his breath, Espresso finally spoke between gritted teeth. "How lovely~"

He murmured sarcastically, false docility etching his tone and throat. And oh, reader, it would be lovely, but only for you.