The café Ragni mentioned was located in a small two-story building in one of the alleys adjacent to the main street in Rimia. The ground floor housed the kitchen, and a few tables were set outside on the street, attended to by waitresses in charming uniforms. I had no idea what used to occupy the spacious area in front of the building, but now it had been transformed into a summer café.
We took a small table for four, with Katrina sitting closer to the wall, and Ragni and I surrounding her on both sides to ensure the safety of any passersby. The café had a strange name, "Yuki", and its menu featured even stranger dishes: sushi, yakisoba, ramen, onigiri, dango, and takoyaki. From the entire list, I could only recognize tea, coffee, and a couple of cake names, which seemed to be added for their popularity in other cafes.
"Where did you bring us?" Katrina grumbled in dissatisfaction. "I can't make anything out from this menu."
"It seems they serve the national cuisine of some small country here, but everything is quite delicious," Ragni leaned closer to Katrina. "Look, this dish is made from fish, and this is something like noodles, and these could be desserts," Ragni carefully pointed her finger on the menu, explaining the composition of each dish. It was evident that she had been here not for the first time.
"Do you know what? How many times have you visited this restaurant in the past week?" Katrina's irritation began to resurface. "You couldn't have tried everything in just a couple of visits."
"Well, you know," Ragni grinned. "This is only my fifth time here, and I haven't tried everything."
"Instead of working for the good of the guild," electrical discharges were gathering in the air again.
"Calm down, Katrina. If you destroy this café, you won't make a good impression on the newcomer."
At the mention of the newcomer, Katrina fell silent immediately. She was about to arrive any minute now, so the princesses pretended to look pensive.
Ten minutes after our arrival, a waitress approached our table.
"W-w-what w-w-will you o-o-order?" her voice trembled with nervousness. What was wrong with her?
She was a young girl in a cute waitress uniform, somewhat resembling a maid outfit. Her hands were shaking, and she tried to hide her face behind the tray. Something about her looked familiar, but I had never met anyone else with such delicately blue hair. Still, she couldn't possibly be working here!
After taking our orders, the waitress staggered slightly and timidly headed towards the kitchen.
"Asura, could you get me a glass of water while we wait for the orders?" Katrina asked.
"Of course, I'll bring it right away."
"Oh my, it's so easy to get caught. The waitress blushed to the tips of her hair and hurriedly ran to the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, among the waitresses, you could see a pair of twins. The café's name now made sense – it was part of their guild's name.
"What? Did you see that arrogant swordswoman somewhere?" Katrina, how can you be so inattentive?
"And didn't you notice that the waitress had blue hair? I don't know about you, but I've never seen any other girls like that," I said.
"What?!" The magician's eyes widened in astonishment. "So her proud words about her warrior's glory were empty, and she's working as a simple waitress?"
"I would ask you not to insult the lady!" One of the twins stealthily approached us, and since both of them had their hair loose, I couldn't tell which one was which.
"Whoa!" Ragni almost toppled the table in surprise. "Is it really okay to sneak up on customers like that?"
"Hehe, you're supposed to become an outstanding guild of warriors, yet you opened some petty restaurant?" Katrina couldn't resist the irony.
"Oh, come on, Princess, you wouldn't understand. All the surplus from our stipends goes towards renting this building. Even if we don't stop taking on assignments, the money earned won't be enough for new equipment. You see, as someone like you wouldn't understand the value of one's weapon. Lady Asura once even refused to repair her katana to help my sister and me, and it caused problems for her during battle. After that, my sister and I suggested opening this restaurant, and the income from it covers not only the rent but also the equipment."
"I've heard that many guilds open side businesses or other enterprises for additional income. After all, there might not always be enough contracts for everyone."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to speak ill of your GM," Katrina guiltily lowered her gaze. "We also have money problems ourselves, but I thought that earning them this way was beneath academy students."
"Well, it would be a good income for our guild too."
"Do you have any more vacancies for these two?" I couldn't resist teasing Katrina.
"Oh, nooo, we don't need waitresses who can strike clients with lightning or eat more for lunch than all the customers in a day," the girl spoke with a completely serious tone, but her eyes revealed open mockery.
Oh, she caught them so precisely.
"Hm?" Ragni, not catching the hint, continued to study the menu, planning her next meal.
We didn't let her order half of the menu, as she originally intended, to avoid shocking the newcomer. But she continued preparing for her next visit to the café.
The twin waitress slightly bowed and left to serve other tables. Soon, our orders arrived, but half an hour had already passed since the appointed time, and the newcomer still hadn't shown up. Katrina was beginning to visibly get nervous.
"Are you sure you told her the right place and time?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Oh, and I also told her to disguise herself. So she might already be here, and you just don't notice her."
The café was small, with only ten tables. There were few customers at this time of day: two lovey-dovey couples, a few locals, and the girl from the Academy dressed in red attire. She had arrived five minutes ago and was peacefully sipping her coffee at her table. It was evident that she occasionally threw sidelong glances towards our table. The girl was remarkably beautiful: her long, chestnut hair reached down to her waist, her lush crimson lips perfectly complemented her tanned skin, and her unnaturally red eyes added even more allure. The red uniform indicated she was a fire mage, slightly altered from the top to accentuate her outstanding chest. The girl also wore many seemingly expensive ornaments: bracelets, rings, and even the buckle on her belt seemed to be made of gold and precious stones. Usually, such wealthy girls had personal chefs. It was doubly suspicious that she appeared in such a small and inexpensive café.
"Are you trying to say that this is the vulgar-looking, uh... girl?" Katrina stared at me suspiciously.
"No, definitely not! No matter how she disguised herself, she couldn't look like that. It's definitely not Kurone, but for some reason, I feel like she's been watching us for a while."
"Well, if you insist, then fine," the sorceress said with relief and added, "Hey, maybe she won't come at all? Or she just decided to mock us?"
Katrina's voice was starting to tremble with anger, but it was too early to reveal all the cards.
"Don't worry, she's probably just running late."
"Mm, well, okay. Maybe she couldn't find this place. Let's wait a little longer."
An hour had passed since the appointed time, and the newcomer still hadn't shown up. Almost all the café's patrons had changed, except for the girl in red, who remained at her table and now openly stared at us.
"I guess it was foolish to hope that someone would join us so quickly," Katrina's sad voice heralded the end of our anticipation. "Perhaps we should leave before we become an inconvenience."
"Oh, come on, Princess, don't be sad," even Ragni sympathized with Katrina. "Let me pay for the meal; I have more money than you anyway."
Trying to cheer up the girl, Ragni opened the bill that had just been brought. But her expression immediately turned from surprise to anger.
"Hey, waitress, something's definitely wrong here!"
At her exclamation, Asura herself came out, hiding was useless now.
"What happened?" Her voice no longer carried the previous embarrassment – it was once again the icy tone of the snow queen.
"You've added something extra here that we didn't order, even the coffee! We only ordered three cups, so where did the fourth one go?" Ragni continued venting her anger on Asura.
"There it is," Asura coolly pointed to the empty coffee cup that stood on the vacant spot behind our table.
"What? When did you manage to do that?" Ragni couldn't figure out how the waitresses pulled off this trick with the coffee cup.
"Let me explain," it was time for me to intervene before it escalated into a fight. "She ordered it all."
Taking Ragni's hand, I placed it on the head of the person she hadn't noticed until now. Kurone had been sitting in an empty seat for half an hour. Katrina was so surprised that she even fell off her chair.
"W-when did she appear here?!" the princess squeaked softly.
"She's been sitting here almost since you arrived, and you still didn't notice her," the girl in red interjected into the conversation. "How clueless you must be not to notice someone who came to meet you, intervened in your conversation several times, and even ordered food on your behalf?"
"What? How is that possible? We would have definitely noticed her," Ragni's face contorted with surprise. "And who are you?"
"Aah, forgive me for upsetting you before this," Kurone defended herself with her usual polite tone. "Mr. Krito asked me to come like this to the first meeting. He said it would be a little test."
"A test for what?" Katrina began to suspect something too.
"This is our new recruit - Kurone Venres, by the way, she's our classmate. Her special ability is that she can become invisible."
On the faces of the people gathered around us, one could read both disbelief and astonishment.
"I just told her to train this ability, and if she could sit here with us for a whole hour without you noticing her, then she would be accepted," I patiently explained. "But the fact that she could even place an order, that is, become visible only to the waitresses and even intervene in the conversation, exceeded my expectations. I'm sure she will be our most important fighter."
At such words, Kurone blushed. Katrina, who had been skeptical about invisibility until the end, suddenly realized its advantages and rushed to Kurone, saying joyfully:
"You're amazing! Join our guild!"
"Aah, I-i-i was actually planning to," Kurone shyly stepped back under the sudden pressure from Katrina.
"But first, I'd like to ask something from our unexpected conversationalist," I turned to the girl in red. "How were YOU able to see her when no one else did?"
"What a boor, addressing an unknown girl so informally right away," the beauty coquettishly smiled and continued, "Your companion can avert the gaze of others, but she continues to emit warmth. My family, a lineage of fire mages, developed the ability to sense an enemy solely based on the warmth they emit. She can hide from ordinary people, but if you encounter an enemy relying on their scent, she won't be able to hide that easily."
Elegantly finishing her coffee, the girl left several gold coins behind, much more than the cost of her order, and headed towards the academy.
"Miss, what about your change?" one of the twins tried to stop her.
"I don't pay attention to such trifles," the girl waved her hand without turning around and left peacefully.
"Wow, that's so cool! You could, for example, sneak into the royal cellar and eat whatever you want, or during an exam, quietly approach the teacher and copy all the right answers," for some reason, only such mischievous applications of Kurone's powers came to Ragni's mind.
"I don't do anything like that!" even the modest Kurone was offended by such suggestions.
"Ragni! I'll punish you right now for the misdirected use of natural resources! Her abilities deserve respect, but we must carefully consider how to use them in real combat."
"Well, maybe I can be a good scout," Kurone timidly suggested.
"I'm not sure. That girl was right, and if we plan to fight monsters, your abilities may not work," exposing her to such danger was out of the question.
"So, I'm useless after all," her face became darker than a thundercloud.
"Oh, don't worry, that's not all you're capable of. By the way, you said you know how to handle things well, and your father taught you that?"
"Of course, I'm far from my father's experience, but I know the basics of managing a business quite well," Kurone said.
"Well, that's much better than relying on our GM," I said disdainfully, pointing my finger at Katrina. "So, I propose that you take on the position of treasurer in our guild."
"Hmph, I'm not that bad at handling things," Katrina pouted.
"Anyone who won't spend the contract money before completing it will be an improvement. I'm in!" Ragni couldn't resist teasing the GM.
"Then it's settled. Kurone, now you're in charge of our finances! We just need to find one more person, and then we can relax a bit," I added.
"Thank you for trusting me, I won't disappoint you," Kurone bowed deeply and timidly asked us a question, "By the way, how did you look for new recruits?"
"Well, I kept an eye on the freshmen, trying to remember who wasn't in a guild yet, and then I remembered you," I had nothing to hide.
"I... um... I tried to talk to some classmates a few times, but they usually ran away from me," Katrina said modestly. "Oh, and I also made a poster that said 'Join our guild' on the notice board."
"I didn't look for anyone," Ragni confessed frankly, "I had more important things to do."
"Like what?" the princess glared menacingly.
Ragni lifted her finger with meaning, responding seriously, "The search for food!"
Thud! Princess's elbow strike interrupted Ragni's streak of self-importance.
"Well, no wonder you have so few people," the newcomer smiled. "Finding freshmen without guilds isn't that difficult. Guilds usually make brooches with the guild emblem and distribute them to all members. You can see them on the lapels of jackets for guys or on the chests of girls."
"That's awesome! I guess I want some for my guild too," Katrina bit her nail enviously.
"Well, you can only make them for official guilds, and your guild still needs one more person," Kurone explained.
"Then let's start looking for people without brooches tomorrow!" Katrina, encouraged by the long-awaited addition of new members to the guild, outlined a plan for us for the next day.