#Original Story by Miri Mikawa

[fantasydreaamer]

I found this original short story written by the author of Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, Miri Mikawa. It's a story that's in the special edition Blu Ray bonus Vol 2. I had to share it with the fandom. This is in Anne's pov, Enjoy!

(Btw, this is just the first part of the story, I though it was complete, but it wasn't)

Anne and the Fairies’ Early Summer Tea Party

When Anne opened the window, the summer breeze caressed her cheeks, bringing with it the smell of fresh greenery. “Summer is nice, the wind is soothing.”

Anne narrowed her eyes and turned indoors. The obsidian fairy, Challe Fenn Challe, who was sitting on the bed, tilted his face up and looked at her. He eyed the sunlight filtering through the window and responded curtly. “That’s right.” His tone was cold, though his expression was calm, and his wing, which was lightly draped over the sheets, was a refreshing light green color that glowed faintly.

Although he doesn’t seem to express joy, it seems that he must be comfortable in the early summer breeze and sunlight. It’s been more than half a year since they started travelling together. Anne has come to understand his mood from the changes in his facial expression and the color of his wing.

“I love this season too!” a voice full of energy said, and then jumped on Anne's shoulder. It was Mithril Lid Pod, the small fairy with lake-blue eyes. Thankfully, his emotions were easily understood, unlike Challe's.

“I’m a little sad that winter is over because I can’t drink mulled wine anymore. But there are some things that we can drink at this time of the year. Anne, do you know?”

Anne arched her back a little. “Of course! Early summer is tea season. Do you know why we came to Lewiston?”

Mithril’s face brightens. “To enjoy the Early Summer Tea Festival, right?”

At the end of last year, Anne celebrated Ascension Day in Lewiston and spent the New Year Holiday there before continuing her journey. With the thousand cress she received from the former Duke of Philax, she is able to live comfortably until the next fair without working. However, it was not good to live a life of leisure. She needed to continue working to live a stable life. So Anne, just like Emma, decided to drive around small villages and towns selling sugar confections. The sales were decent.

Although, she didn’t have the title of Silver Sugar Master, rumors of the former Duke of Philax's sugar confections spread, so she attracted people’s interest when the name of Anne Halford was mentioned.

So relying on a map, on a whim, they came to Lewiston yesterday. They stayed at the affordable, safe and clean Weather Vane Inn, and it had been a long time since Anne had seen the friendly proprietress again. All of this, as a cheerful Mithril said, was in order to attend the festival in Lewiston.

“You two seem to know about the festival, don't you? It’s only held in Lewiston and Westol.” Challe said with a sideways glance at Anne and Mithril.

Mithril raised his chin proudly. “Heh, heh. Who do you think I am? I'm Lord Mithril Lid Pod. I've heard rumors that there will be such celebration.”

Anne also replied with the same arrogance as Mithril. “I heard about it when I was travelling with my mother. We enjoyed the tea of early summer when we slept outdoors.”

The tea that is generally consumed in the Kingdom of Highland is brewed from fermented and ripened tea leaves. When the leaves are harvested, there is only a small period of time where you can savor the rich aroma of the freshly roasted tea leaves. This is called the tea of early summer. This tea was common among the nobles, but not among the common people.

However, after the civil war of House Chamber, the country became more and more stable, and the lives of the common people settled down, and this entertainment of the nobles spread to the common people. More than ten years ago, the cities of Lewiston and Westol began to hold tea party celebrations. The tea festivals in early summer were held only in the larger cities. It was a very desirable celebration for the young boys and girls of the countryside. If someone goes to the festival, they will be the center of conversation for a month. The tea festival will start tomorrow and will last for three days.

Challe, looked at both of them who were puffing out their chests and asked with an expressionless face. “How do you plan on enjoying the early summer festival?”

Anne and Mithril exchanged a confused expression.

“This ...... since it's a festival ......” Anne then realized that she didn't know exactly what the festival would be like. It seemed that the same was true for Mithril who had a flustered expression. Both of them had heard of the existence of the festival, but they didn’t know much about it. It was a festival they had always wanted to attend, so now that they were travelling on their own volition, the three of them came to Lewiston wanting to enjoy it together.

An early summer festival… Now that you mention it, I wonder how it’s going to be like.

Challe saw through them and asked them with an exasperated look on his face. "How do you enjoy it?"

“Yes, yes, yes! Well, you know, you go into town, drink early summer tea, sing, dance, and even splash tea on each other! Mithril in a cold sweat invented something random.

Anne also stammered as she answered.  “I'm not quite sure, but I've heard that they enjoy the tea. Anyway, on festival days they go out into the city and have fun. Um... Shall we splash tea on each other?”

Challe held his forehead and sighed heavily. He was annoyed at them, because they were excited about the festival without even knowing the reality of it.

“You two should go ahead and have such a bizarre festival.”

“Hey, what do you mean? Do you know what this festival is really like, Challe Fenn Challe?”

“I know.” he answered dryly.

Mithril’s mouth opened wide before he muttered again. “N-no that’s a lie. How can the boring Challe Fenn Challe who has no hobbies, could know more than me, the one who loves theater and festivals?”

“I’ll throw you out of the window.” Challe glared at Mithril.

Anne asked excitedly, “What kind of celebration is it? What will be done?”

“The one I know of is the Westol festival, which is the same. There are street vendors that sell tea leaves and the townspeople buy them.”

“Is that all?”

“During the three days of the festival, relatives, acquaintances, and friends are invited to the ceremonies. They show each other the leaves they have bought and enjoy them. During these three days, people have a break from work and have a tea party.”

“No tea will be spilled on each other? We won't sprinkle tea leaves?We won't tug on the tea tree? That's boring...” Mithril said.

To the disgruntled looking Mithril, Challe responded. “Originally, this festival was an aristocratic custom, not a festival run by the commoners for the sake of lively entertainment. It's a pity.”

Anne hugged her arms and pondered. “Tea leaves can be bought, though. It would be a bit difficult to organize a tea party. I don't know anyone in Lewiston.”

With a thud, Mithril Lid Pod clapped his hands together. “Kat and Benjamin are here!”

“Kat moved away to a town down south.” Hearing Challe’s words, Mithril slumped his shoulders.

“That's true. They’re not here.”

“Well, there’s no need to invite people. We can just buy some delicious tea leaves and enjoy them together.” Anne said with excitement.

When Anne and Emma traveled together, they heard that there was a festival called the Early Summer Tea Festival, so they bought tea leaves and enjoyed them. They talked about wanting to go to a festival someday, but they were happy with their own festival.

Even though Emma was gone, Anne now had two friends with whom she could celebrate the tea festival. Even if they could only experience half of the festival, it was enough. Because just like when she was with Emma, they could celebrate it on their own.

Let's forget about splashing tea on each other. It seems that Challe would be furious…

[a-few-of-my-favorite-mangas]

Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower

by Miri Mikawa and Kasumi Nagi

Light Novel Volume 1

Shoujo, Romance, Drama

Story  ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆  ||  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  Art

Summary

Rimi has spent most of her life making food for the protector god of the land. She is suddenly sent as a tribute to the great empire of Konkoku, becoming one of the emperor’s 120 concubines. She comes close to losing the taste of her home country, but she is saved by the gastronomist Shusei. As she dreams of a reunion with the kind scholar, she does her best to survive in the envy-filled rear palace with the help of her natural cheerfulness and her skill as a cook. Then out of nowhere, she is arrested and sentenced to be executed on the charge of disrespecting the emperor! How will Rimi get out of this mess? Find out in this China-inspired fantasy story about a princess and her love for food surrounded by gorgeous men.

Review

I did enjoy this one, but I wonder if I will continue to, I like a good romance, but this one seems to be rather simple and too simple so far... I like a little more drama.  This is more of a romance with a love triangle with the Emperor setup. With Rimi and Shusei clearly starting to have feelings for each other, but major problem is that she already belongs to the Emperor as one of his concubines and he may be more interested in her now too. Volume 1 is basically setting up Rimi’s background and being sent to live in the rear court. We don’t really learn a lot about anyone other than the 5 main characters, so not much of court life or the other concubines - perhaps in the next volume.

I like Rimi, she is likable and cheerful, and you can see why all the men at court, or at least the ones relative to this story find her interesting and refreshing, but it also all seems too easy or her ability to win them all over is rather generic and typical. The guys are all okay, Shusei is Mr. Perfect so far, like his chemistry with Rimi - they are will suited to each other. The Emperor has a bit of a temper, but I assume it is part of the character growth arc he will go through.  I can go with it, but it isn’t original and might start getting boring if the series is just dragging all this out and nothing more to make it interesting for me.

This isn’t as good as The Apothecary Diaries (another china-inspired rear court setting series) to me, but I do love a romance and Rimi and Shusei are likable and make a good couple that I can root for. Will give it another volume.

[recentanimenews]

J-Novel Club Licenses Official Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook

  J-Novel Club held a live stream on Twitch last night, taking the opportunity to announce the acquisition of two new titles. The publisher's latest additions include the Ascendance of a Bookworm Official Fanbook and Miri Mikawa's historical fantasy Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower.

  The first volume of the official Ascendance of a Bookworm fanbook is intended to be read after Part 3 Volume 2 of the original light novel series. The book will launch soon on J-Novel Club, and contents include full-color art, bonus stories, and a Q&A with author Miya Kazuki. 

  Ascendance of a Bookworm Official Fanbook 

by Miya Kazuki with Illustrations and Art by You Shiina and Suzuka 

    Description: 

Here is the first official Ascendance of a Bookworm fanbook, intended to be read after finishing Part 3 Volume 2. This book contains a slew of additional content, including all the color and cover artwork up to Part 3 Volume 1, a short story on some new apprentices’ first tour of the temple, a manga chapter by Suzuka, and three four-panel manga by You Shiina.

  Also inside are design sheets showing how Bookworm’s characters were visually brought to life, and a Q&A with author Miya Kazuki containing lesser-known details about the plot as well as information on how she planned out and developed the series.

  Parts 1 and 2 of Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower are live on J-Novel Club. 

  Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 

by Miri Mikawa with Illustrations by Kasumi Nagi 

    Synopsis:

Rimi has spent most of her life making food for the protector god of the land. She is suddenly sent as a tribute to the great empire of Konkoku, becoming one of the emperor’s concubines. She comes close to losing the taste of her home country, but she is saved by the gastronomist Shusei. As she dreams of a reunion with the kind scholar, she does her best to survive in the envy-filled rear palace with the help of her natural cheerfulness and her skill as a cook.

  Then out of nowhere, she is arrested and sentenced to be executed on the charge of disrespecting the emperor! How will Rimi get out of this mess? Find out in this Chinese-inspired fantasy story about a princess and her love for food surrounded by gorgeous men.

  J-Novel Club also made a bunch of new print announcements, including:

  The Faraway Paladin (Manga) By Mutsumi Okubashi and Original Work by Kanata Yanagino

A Lily Blooms in Another World By Ameko Kaeruda with illustrations by Shio Sakura

Her Majesty's Swarm By 616th Special Information Battalion with illustrations by Eiri Iwamoto

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer By Yu Okano with illustrations by Jaian

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (Manga) By Haiji Nakasone and Original Work by Yu Okano

The White Cat's Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King's Lap By Kureha with illustrations by Yamigo

Tearmoon Empire By Nozomu Mochitsuki with illustrations by Gilse

Ascendance of a Bookworm Official Fanbook By Miya Kazuki and Illustrations / Art  by You Shiina and Suzuka

My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me! By mikawaghost with illustrations by tomari

  Source: Press release

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his brand new comic, MONSTER FLIGHT, at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

By: Joseph Luster