Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: When a Good Person Gets Angry (5)
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Maybe it was because I'd been going out so much lately, more than my fair share of outdoor excursions. Honestly, I was piled high with fatigue. The saying that humans are creatures of adaptation didn't feel like such a positive thing anymore. Back when I was fully immersed in the duke's household duties, I wouldn't feel tired even after a week without returning home. But after a leisurely year, just the thought of stepping outside made me sick of it.
Even the sword I'd been honing half as a hobby felt too much to touch, so I lined up three chairs to make a makeshift bed and lay down on them to rest.
In my previous life, I'd been on the shorter side, so this position was tolerable enough. But now with my taller frame and broader build, there was no posture more uncomfortable.
I subtly let out a fart and shifted positions repeatedly on my back, trying to find a comfortable spot, but nothing satisfactory came up.
In the end, I sat up with my disheveled hair and brewed some coffee using the drip bags I'd made as a test.
Confirming they had a decent aroma and flavor even if not perfect, I let out a deep sigh.
Today was the middle of the week, the day of water—Wednesday, in other words.
With everyone in the thick of their busy seasons, the cafe was empty even though it was past lunchtime.
"If it weren't for the emperor, I wouldn't be going through all this trouble."
Not that I had a rebuttal if someone called it misplaced venting, but looking back now, wouldn't holing up in some remote corner of the empire have been better for resting? At least, that's the kind of thought crossing my mind. Of course, rural areas tend to be extremely hostile to outsiders due to the difficulty of travel between regions, so settling down there might've been impossible.
It was certainly more convenient this way. With that in mind, I dumped the coffee grounds from the drip bag into a separate storage container and tossed the filter paper in the trash.
Taking advantage of no customers, I cast a drying spell on the collected grounds to clean them up nicely, then added them to a jar I'd been saving, thinking maybe I could make air fresheners later.
"...They could work as fertilizer or dish cleaner too, but I wonder if they'd sell."
Up until now, I'd only used them personally to remove grease and such, but now that I knew more people, maybe branching into various business ventures wasn't a bad idea. No, fundamentally, I opened this cafe to enjoy peaceful times. What was the point of making money?
I could live frugally off just selling my personal assets for about thirty years anyway. There was no reason to slave away for cash.
Of course, from my past life's experience, I knew that doing absolutely no work leads to ruin in all sorts of ways, so it wasn't that I wanted to slack off completely. But if I had to keep dealing with people even after leaving the academy, what was the point?
Like Mina always did, I rested by slamming my head on the table and closing my eyes. But moments later, the bell on the door jingled merrily.
"Oh, Cafe Manager! You were resting!"
"...Yeah. A bit tired."
"Came to talk about registering that info with the Adventurer's Guild."
"This way, please."
I gestured toward the bar table they all usually favored and freshly made an Einspänner with the whipped cream I'd prepared that morning.
What to say about beastkin physiology—their features were great indicators of mood. Like now, a cat beastkin's ears twitching busily meant they were in a pretty good mood.
As she lapped at the cream, I handed her a tissue to wipe the smudge from her mouth, and she replied with a nasal hum.
"I get why Mina likes you, Cafe Manager."
"Nah, well... We're close, sure."
"Mina gets along with everyone, but she doesn't get that close to many. Lately, even I'm relieved."
"Is that so."
She tilted her head curiously at my lukewarm response, so I put a bit of coffee grounds in one of the filter papers I'd prepped for drip bags, sealed the opening, and handed it to her.
"It's an air freshener. What do you think?"
"Mm. Smells nice."
"Not bad, right?"
"Coffee itself is bitter and hot, so can't drink it, but the scent's great. Sometimes when I'm passing by and the window's open, I just sniff and go."
"Take it. It's a gift."
"Heh heh. Giving gifts to another woman right in front of Mina, you cheeky little cutie."
Suppressing the urge to retort to her odd remark, I properly brewed my own coffee. Roughly drip-bagged coffee just didn't hit the spot.
Caffeine addiction after a year? Back at the academy, I had no leisure to brew as I pleased, and without proper equipment, it was just rough infusions.
And now, after a year straight, my body couldn't handle fatigue without it.
Cosetica watched in fascination as I quietly brewed the drip coffee, observing how it swelled and settled.
"Did you develop this brewing method yourself?"
"Pretty much."
"Neat."
"It's all the same idea—extract the components with water anyway."
In reality, it was from my past life.
Ignoring my throbbing headache from fatigue, I finished brewing and took a sip. The warm coffee gently melted away my sour mood.
Feeling a bit better, I turned back to Cosetica.
"So, what's the conclusion?"
"First off, you know the adventurer guild's internal ranking system?"
"Isn't it straightforward? Divided intuitively from 1st to 10th rank."
"Right. And adventurers 7th rank and above have the potential to greatly aid or hinder the empire in emergencies, so their lists go straight to His Majesty the Emperor."
"...Bomb management."
"Exactly. Mina's 7th rank. Honestly, her achievements could justify 8th, but she avoids the review."
"So what about me?"
"Stuck you at 6th. It's based purely on combat prowess without achievements, so insiders who see the files might think it's odd, but I don't have to justify it externally. It's a fitting rank."
She swirled the cream in her Einspänner and sipped, her mouth relaxing at the sweetness as she spoke.
"No issues for activities, and as a special review rank I handled, no monthly quotas to maintain it. Use it as you please."
"Feels like too much convenience on my end."
"Think of it as repaying what I owe Mina usually. Or help me out once when things get tough later!"
Good grief. Dealing with people stressed me out, yet here I was benefiting from relationships—I couldn't help but laugh at myself.
The migraine lingered, but I smiled without showing it.
"Call me for real danger or when you're truly serious. Then I'll stake... no, everything I have to help you. I promise."
"Oho! Sounds like a proposal if you mishear it! Well, for you, Cafe Manager, I'd ponder a bit and accept!"
"No, that's not it. For the foreseeable future, I'm keeping my distance from romance."
My family, the Lebedevs, were positively inclined toward the first prince's succession. Not some staunch 'First Prince faction,' but friendly enough that if Christoph that bastard defied legitimacy and tried claiming the throne, we'd raise armies and slit his throat ourselves.
In the midst of that, Ermina, whom Christoph fancied, kept circling my orbit. His rage and hatred toward me must be indescribable—facing him felt like aging ten years on sight.
Romance and love affairs? Not in my life anymore. Well, not for a good while, at least.
"Oh ho. With that handsome face and gentlemanly demeanor, you've made plenty of girls cry, huh?"
"Ah... Looking back, maybe. But I'm the type whose emotions in that area are pretty dried up."
"Eh? Aren't human guys supposed to be burning hot at this age?"
"Everyone around me just puts out the fire."
She seemed to glean my situation from my dry laugh and vented her own gripe.
"Plenty of solid adventurer parties shatter over romance issues."
"What, even in labyrinths? Folks make babies in wartime, don't they?"
"Still, it's heartbreaking watching peak performers split over petty drama and stagnate solo."
"Love blinds you to immediate gains and long-term problems alike."
Rias Calamity, Christoph Imir, Yumin Bertrand. You fools cheated on your fiancées under the guise of 'love'—it won't end prettily. Engagements bind houses and expand influence; weakening those ties means your entire families pay the price.
Back in childhood, during our first betrothal, things weren't bad with Rias, so the outcome wasn't entirely satisfying. But after nearly seven years of her avoiding me and clinging to other men? Yeah, they deserved it.
Even knowing this was a romance-fantasy world, that Rias was the typical villainess archetype—even thinking my best efforts might avert it—past me, reflect on that.
"Heh heh heh. Change your mind, tell me anytime. Mina and I are both husband-hunting."
"Won't happen."
"Hee hee. Tasty. Mind one more?"
"Get back to work."
Despite my words, I'd already started making her another Einspänner—the one that had eased my boredom and headache.