46: A Taste Comparison of Shortbreads

What is shortbread?

At its core, shortbread is a simple baked confection made by mixing wheat flour, butter, and sugar. It's a snack that's easy to enjoy, with origins so ancient that it predates even the expansion of the Vanilla Galactic Empire—indeed, it existed long before the nation known as the Vanilla Galactic Empire even came into being.

At Triticam Factory, they developed shortbread based on such traditional confections—making it convenient to eat and a nutritious snack. This has been sold for generations.

The history of its development and sales continues to this day, with a wide variety of flavors available, from traditional tastes to limited-time special editions, and even some using mod technology now.

"Alright, let's start with the classic and trusted vanilla flavor. Yeah, delicious."

Let's go through them one by one.

First, the vanilla flavor.

Though it bears the name of the Empire, this vanilla refers to a unique plant with a distinct aroma—apparently, the origin of the Empire's name traces back to this very plant.

Yeah, subtly sweet—could eat this all day.

Next, cheese flavor, chocolate flavor, maple syrup flavor, honey flavor.

All of these flavors feel familiar and comforting.

I could easily eat these all day.

Oh, the cocoa in the chocolate flavor, and the maple syrup's source—the sugar maple tree—come from the Grogrobeta star system, just like the honey flavor resembles the one from Kelebi.

So if we can read that much into it, could we also consider this a minor variation version?

Plus, tomato flavor, vegetable flavor, pineapple flavor, mixed fruit flavor.

These are somewhat unique, but still fairly common tastes.

Each one tastes exactly as its name suggests.

Tomato and vegetable flavors especially have a light, snack-like taste—probably because they're made from vegetables.

Now, here comes a completely unusual flavor.

Fake meat flavor, or meat substitute.

Yeah, it definitely tastes like meat.

In fact, the texture is quite meat-like, thanks to the mod.

But even looking at the ingredient list, I can't detect any meat at all, even with my own tongue.

Next comes the sashimi flavor—raw fish meat.

Like the fake meat, both taste and texture are quite fish-like, yet there's absolutely no actual meat present.

Then comes natto flavor.

Natto is a unique food made by fermenting soybeans, known for its distinct smell and texture... yet it manages to partially recreate both the odor and texture.

Hmm, these kinds of unusual flavors are definitely hit-or-miss depending on the person...

"...From a physiological standpoint, Satā's body shouldn't have any issues with it, but still... how can you eat such a thing in such large quantities?"

"Yeah? Oh, even a regular human adult male could get about one meal's worth from two of these. I think they're that nutritious. This one's fine, no problem."

Incidentally, I've already eaten twelve different types, and since each pack contains four, that makes forty-eight in total.

For a regular human adult male, that's twenty-four meals' worth... more than a week's worth of food, really.

The difference in size is negligible—just a margin of error.

"Oh, so there's a Calorie Bomb type too. I didn’t notice since I’d ordered it from the start."

"Calorie Bomb?"

"It’s a product designed for polar explorers. One stick contains four times the nutrition of a regular one."

"……"

Ah, no surprise—it’s the Calorie Bomb.

Intensely flavorful, greasy, and with a sweet syrup core to keep your mouth from drying out.

It’s kind of like a flavor that’s clearly built for packing on the pounds.

But then again, it’s a big company—there’s definitely some taste to it.

Incidentally, the note mentioned it was designed for polar explorers, but it’s also suited for special professions like soldiers and mercenaries, and could even double as emergency rations.

It has a wide range of uses, and enjoys strong popularity among certain groups.

"So this must be the final one..."

Then, the last one—this is the trial version of the new product.

I take it out of the package, smell it, then put it in my mouth and chew it up.

"……"

If I had to describe it simply, it would be something like "perfect control flavor."

Thanks to the specified crushing mod, I can feel it breaking down in my mouth in just the right way—perfectly tailored to maximize taste with every chew.

Moreover, "feeling delicious" means not only properly stimulating the taste buds on the tongue but also transporting fine particles to the nasal cavity to deliver pleasant aromas.

Not only that, but once it reaches the stomach, it quickly reacts with gastric acid for digestion, and upon arriving in the intestines, it is absorbed into the body with exceptional efficiency.

Once absorbed, the nutrients are released from the mod and swiftly transported to the necessary parts of the body, where they perform their intended functions.

The taste is hardly different from the original product, aside from the mod function.

The texture is likewise unchanged.

Not bad.

Not bad, but... since this is a new mod, a bit of experimentation seems necessary.

I don't expect a major corporation like Triticum Factory to have overlooked anything, but better safe than sorry.

"Sat?"

"Miss Sat?"

"Memoxy. Is there a feedback box for the new product?"

"Here it is."

"Got it."

With that, I'll verify the mod according to Seiryō Corporation's standards on the main unit, then send the results to Triticum Factory.

Hmm, this feels like it might be hard to eat for regular users, but it could still be suitable for patients who can still move their mouths, even if they're weak.

One drawback is that, under the current mod configuration, if something is embedded, its absorption also becomes more efficient.

This can be effectively utilized, but it also requires caution.

"That Sata... the transmission seems to be taking unusually long..."

"Well, we're sending a substantial amount of data. But from an expert's perspective, this is valuable data, so it shouldn't be ignored."

"We should be careful—this might be seen as business interference."

"There's a note at the beginning saying to contact Seiryō if you're worried, so it should be fine."

"..."

Well, it's not a defective product, and it might be useful somewhere down the line.

There doesn't seem to be any risk of critical failure, so I'll keep this mod in mind.

With that settled, I went ahead and sampled the rest of the new products too.

First up, the one that makes your mind feel dizzy and your stomach tighten.