I Want It All!

When Bernard and the others saw Ambrosius, they had already braced themselves. If he made a move, four spells would come flying at him from behind.

But Ambrosius’s move left them completely dumbfounded.

"What is this…?"

Adam looked at Ambrosius in surprise.

What did this mean? Softening him up before making a threat?

"Honeydukes Sweetshop will be closing soon."

Ambrosius did not answer Adam’s question. Instead, he spoke with a hint of dejection.

Adam said nothing and silently waited for him to continue. Ambrosius could not possibly think that, because Adam was a student, he would go soft on them and spare them.

"I asked many regular customers why they chose your sweets over mine. Their answers were astonishingly consistent—because your sweets taste better."

Ambrosius paused, then continued.

"But when I asked them exactly where my sweets fell short, they couldn’t explain it… They just said they weren’t tasty enough."

From Ambrosius’s words, Adam suddenly understood a little of what he was trying to say.

Clearly, he did not merely see confectionery as a way to make money. He had a genuine love for sweets and derived immense satisfaction from making them and selling them to everyone.

As Adam’s little shop steadily took over his customers, what concerned him most was not his plummeting income, but why people did not choose his sweets. Where exactly had his sweets fallen short?

And when he truly investigated, the results left him somewhat lost.

Flavor? Texture? No one could point out anything he had done poorly, yet the customers’ answer remained the same: they simply were not tasty enough.

"There’s nothing wrong with them, but they just don’t taste good." That was probably the greatest blow a pastry chef—or any chef—could suffer, especially for someone like Ambrosius, who loved his craft beyond measure and regarded it as his dream.

Adam’s current market only covered Hogwarts, while Honeydukes Sweetshop’s customers spanned the entire British Wizarding World. The impact Adam had caused could not even be called damaging to Honeydukes Sweetshop, yet Ambrosius had still decided to close it…

Clearly, his ideals had been dealt a crushing blow, enough to make him consider giving up this career entirely.

Adam looked Ambrosius over again. All right, he admitted that he had initially held some stereotypes about this bald, heavily built man. Now, though, he found him rather endearing.

"Now that I’ve actually met you, Adam, I want to know… Where exactly do my sweets fall short?"

Ambrosius looked at Adam in confusion, then added before Adam could speak.

"Ah, forget it. This probably involves trade secrets. Pretend I never asked…"

"It doesn’t really count as a trade secret."

Adam shook his head.

"What I make isn’t anything particularly mysterious. Most of it was created by Muggle chefs."

"…Muggle chefs?"

Ambrosius was stunned by the answer.

"Wizards always underestimate the power of Muggles, never realizing that what sets humans apart from other living beings is not magic, but intellect and creativity."

Adam opened the box in his hand, took out a piece of Coconut Ice, and bit into it.

"You’re too fixated on magical effects. Your understanding of flavor is limited to hard candy, soft candy, and whether to add fruit or spices. Muggle chefs, on the other hand, have no magic, yet their creativity makes their creations far more varied and colorful than those of wizards."

Adam took out another piece of Coconut Ice. The pink, faintly glowing confection turned snow-white after passing through Adam’s hand.

"Want a taste?"

Ambrosius took it and bit into it. He froze on the spot, his eyes going blank.

The crisp toasted coconut on the outside, the soft glutinous rice in the middle, and the cool coconut ice cream filling created rich layers of texture. Its less cloying sweetness complemented the fresh coconut fragrance perfectly.

"Is it good?"

"…It’s delicious!"

Ambrosius quickly finished the Coconut Mochi Ice Cream in a few bites and could not help sighing.

"If I had to choose, I’d prefer the sweets you make too. All these years, I’ve been walking the wrong path…"

"I wouldn’t call it wrong. After all, once something tastes good, people will certainly be happy if the sweets also have strange and unusual effects. But those effects should only be an extra bonus, an embellishment that does no harm if absent—not an obstacle to flavor."

As Adam watched Ambrosius sink into thought, inspiration suddenly struck him.

"You said Honeydukes Sweetshop is going to close. Have you thought about what you’ll do next?"

"Oh? I had planned to travel with my wife, visiting wizarding communities in other countries and improving our confectionery-making skills. I’ve saved up quite a bit over the years… Once I feel my skills have made a new breakthrough, I’ll reopen Honeydukes Sweetshop."

Ambrosius glanced at his fingers, which were still dusted with coconut flakes.

"But now, I think I’ll probably visit some Muggle cities and try the sweets made by Muggle chefs?"

"Hmm… Actually, I have a suggestion. I wonder whether you’d be interested."

Adam looked around.

"After I graduate, I’m planning to buy a shop in Hogsmeade."

"What…"

Ambrosius froze.

"So you have your eye on this shop? I don’t really have any objection to that…"

"No, no, no~"

Adam raised a finger and wagged it.

"What I mean is, would you be interested in working at my shop?"

I’m not just after your shop. I want you, your wife, and the customer base and influence Honeydukes Sweetshop has built up over all these years!

Ambrosius frowned. Just as he was about to speak, Adam said,

"Don’t be so quick to refuse. Don’t you want to know how all those desserts of mine are made?"

"…"

At those words, Ambrosius swallowed the refusal that had reached his lips.

"Besides, even if you went to learn those recipes in person, they might not be willing to teach you. And how much time would you have to study them?"

A clear look of hesitation appeared in Ambrosius’s eyes.

"Become my employee, and I can teach you everything you might not learn even by traveling the world~"

"Why would you do this?"

Ambrosius could not help asking.

"You could make and sell sweets all by yourself. There’s no need to recruit a pair of… defeated rivals like us."

Adam’s lips curved slightly.

No need to fear questions. Adam’s mother had a famous saying in his previous life: customers who ask this and that are the ones genuinely planning to pay. The people who just say, ‘Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,’ to everything are only browsing.

So Adam’s talent for business could be considered a family inheritance times two.

"I don’t see us as direct competitors, Mr. Flume. After all, our shared goal is to let customers experience joy and happiness."

Adam smiled and extended his hand toward Ambrosius, silently strengthening the effect of The Love.

The stupidity-reducing aura… No, the great persuader technique, activate!