Three hundred years after coming to this new world, for the first time in my life, I'd fought with dragons.
We returned to the highland cottage in high spirits.
"Mmm! It really is nice to be home!"
I almost never took overnight trips, so this was a fairly novel feeling.
"The bride was pretty, wasn't she, Mommy?"
Although there had been trouble at the wedding—particularly the blue dragon attack—Falfa already seemed to consider it a fun memory. What an excellent attitude.
"You're right. Laika's big sister looked happy."
"If I have a wedding someday, I wonder if I'll be able to wear a dress like hers."
Falfa's comment was innocent enough—but I froze up a little.
"When I get married, I want to live in a cute redbrick house."
D-does that mean she'll leave this one?!
"F-Falfa… You know, even after you're married, you and your husband could live here. We could build another addition, make it a two-family home…"
"What are you talking about, Mommy?"
Falfa tilted her head, looking blank. Oh, good. She isn't thinking about marriage in concrete terms yet. Phew, I'm safe!
Just then, Shalsha patted me on the back.
"Shalsha wants to stay with you forever, Mom. I've been learning how to cook lately. I want you to eat delicious meals."
Oh, Shalsha's trying to make me feel better!
I hugged her in spite of myself. My girls were so precious it hurt.
As a mother, I made sure to hug my daughters as an essential part of my child-rearing philosophy.
"Mom, did that make you happy?"
Shalsha was a reserved child who didn't generally let her emotions show on her face, but inside, she was incredibly kind. I knew that very well.
"Yes, of course. Your feelings got through to me, Shalsha."
"Just Shalsha?! No fair! Hug Falfa, too, Mommy! Hug me tight!"
Falfa begged, bouncing up and down.
Falfa was true to her own feelings, but she was just as tender and considerate as her little sister, Shalsha. Of course, I loved them both the same—infinitely.
"Yes, yes. Your mother wouldn't be unfair about these things."
This time I squeezed Falfa tightly.
"All right, why don't the three of us sleep together as a family tonight? It's been a long time."
"Yaaaaay! Falfa's happy!"
Shalsha nodded as well.
I wouldn't trade a chance for a nap with my daughters for several billion yen. I wouldn't budge an inch on that.
Just then, I felt eyes on us. Right away, I knew it was Laika and Halkara looking at us.
True, if I gave my daughters too much special treatment, the others would get jealous.
A short while ago at the volcano, I'd told Laika that she was like a little sister to me, and since she looked as if she'd just started middle school, the comparison was apt.
Halkara was a slightly flaky apprentice, but although the word apprentice was usually written with the character for little brother in my language, there was no reason you couldn't make up a feminine form that used the character for little sister. So, with a little tweaking of the definition, I could think of her as a younger sister, too.
"Wait just a second," I told my daughters, turning away from them. I went up to my two little sisters and pointedly ruffled their hair.
"Honestly! You mustn't look so left out. Come on, none of that!"
"Lady Azusa, you'll mess up my hair… Although…I don't really mind…"
The ever-serious Laika expressed her feelings hesitantly.
This house in the highlands wasn't where any of them were from, after all. I intended to actively support them, to keep them from getting lonesome.
On the other hand, Halkara clung to me of her own accord. Somehow, it reminded me of when I was in high school. Some of the girls had been weirdly clingy then, too.
However, in Halkara's case, there was a physical obstacle to closeness.
Boyoing.
I knew it. Her chest was touching me.
"Hmm…? I can't quite seem to get close to you. Why is that?"
She's actually wondering. I think she should be a bit more conscious of how buxom she really is…
"I wonder if I could borrow a little of your bust… Is there a spell for that?"
"Did you say something, Madam Teacher?"
"…No. Nothing."
And so our family trip to Mount Rokko for Laika's older sister's wedding ended without further mishap. Flatorte, the blue dragons' former leader, had quieted down considerably after Beelzebub glared at her, so there probably wouldn't be any retaliation.
That was why I thought we'd fall back into our daily routine in earnest, but—
"Lady Azusa, I'll need to begin the dinner preparations soon. However, as I didn't go shopping before our journey, we don't have many ingredients on hand," Laika reported.
And we were a large family, too. If I had her go shopping now, though, the vegetables and things might be sold out already.
"In that case, why don't we all eat in the village today?"
***
As usual, we made for the village at a leisurely walk, but we did do a little work along the way.
In this family, "work" meant exterminating slimes. They turned up on the road to the village, so we made sure to take them all out.
"If you spot a slime, kill it and retrieve its magic stone, all right?"
To cover the cost of dining out for a party of five, I needed to kill at least twenty-five. Each one generated a magic stone that was worth two hundred gold, which was roughly equivalent to two hundred Japanese yen.
The restaurants in the village weren't too fancy, so we could eat there for about a thousand gold per person. However, taking the cost of drinks and things into account, it wouldn't hurt to kill a few more. It wasn't that we were hard up for money, but I liked to earn what I used in a day before the day was over.
"Even I can kill slimes."
Halkara was hitting the springy monsters as though it was a sort of exercise.
However, Falfa checked her.
"Big Sister Halkara, that's a good slime, so you mustn't kill it."
"Huh? This one is?"
"Uh-huh. The slime over there is a bad one, so you should kill it. Look, see those two over there? It's the puffy-looking one."
"Um, this one?"
"Not that one! That one's good, too!"
"It's hard to tell them apart…"
I wasn't really sure how and where good slimes differed from bad ones yet, myself.
"Halkara, pale slimes are bad. The deeper-colored slimes are good. Just remember that."
"I understand what you're saying, Shalsha, but it's not exactly easy to distinguish color depth."
Timidly, Halkara killed the next slime.
After about half an hour of work, our family had managed to rack up a total of thirty-eight slimes.
By my estimation, we'd probably recouped the cost of our meal at the restaurant.
When we reached the village of Flatta, people were putting up decorations for some reason.
Colorful cloths hung on the walls, and the village's main street looked rather bright and festive.
"Oh, that's right. It's almost time for the Dance Festival."
I'd remembered that it was just about that time of year.
The Dance Festival was a traditional festival of the village of Flatta. I say "traditional," but back when I first came to live here, they hadn't started it yet.
They held the first one about two hundred and fifty years ago, and it had stuck around ever since. As far as normal people were concerned, once something went on for two hundred and fifty years, it counted as tradition.
"Lady Azusa, what manner of festival is it?"
Laika hadn't seen it before, so she didn't know.
"People dance in the village square and in the highlands whenever they want to, any way they like. Of course, there are street stalls as well, so you can have fun even if you don't dance."
"Ah. So this is a custom of your culture? How intriguing."
"Calling it a cultural custom makes it sound really formal, but it's a laid-back festival. I hear it was originally for the time when people offered the fruits of their harvest to an earth deity and asked for continued blessings in the coming year, but almost no one pays attention to that now."
Exercise burned off stress, too. By dancing all day, you built up the energy to give it your best in other tasks later.
"Oh, if it isn't the great Witch and company."
The man from the shop where we always bought our butter hailed us. He was in the middle of hanging colorful fabric on a wall, too.
"Good afternoon. It's almost time for the festival, isn't it?"
"That's right. Say, would you do something for the festival as well, great Witch? We'd gladly welcome your contribution. Although, naturally, we'd be happy even if you came to look around like always."
"Mm, yes. But you know, I try not to participate in the actual festival. If I did, I might end up leading it…"
In a word, the village would be in danger of losing its autonomy.
After all, I was a witch who'd been living there since before the festival began. If such a being took part in the festival, the villagers would be left unable to say anything.
I'd hate to end up feeling like I was dominating the village, so I'd stuck to my stance of abstaining from the festival program.
However, this year, my circumstances were a bit different.
"If it's a festival, do you think they'll have stalls selling candy?!"
"It's possible to discern the nature of villagers through their festival rites. Research of tradition is important to the study of history as well."
Falfa and Shalsha were showing interest… Although they found their interest in very different things.
"A festival, hmm? At elvish festivals, I made money selling exclusive drinks. When I offered a plant-based elixir that prevented hangovers, it just flew off the shelf. Maybe I'll sell it again. At festivals, your products will sell even if at high prices; it's quite an easy business."
Halkara's thoughts were also turning toward the festival, although hers were less than pure.
Laika was glancing at the preparations, too.
Well, my family had expanded rapidly. Maybe I could take this opportunity to try changing how I was involved with the festival.
That said, presenting as a family would be a tall order, and if we ended up being completely tied to our part of it, we wouldn't have the freedom to enjoy the festival normally. That would completely defeat the purpose.
Was there some kind of decent compromise?
"Great Witch, there's a celebration the day before the festival as well. You could do something then instead," the butter man said.
"That's true. If we did that, it wouldn't overlap with the main festival, but… Hmm…"
I couldn't come up with an answer immediately, so for the moment, I shelved the matter.
We went to my favorite restaurant, the Savvy Eagle, for a grand dinner.
Roast duck was on the menu this time of year, and it had been exquisitely seasoned. I wasn't much of a drinker, but even I downed glass after glass with gusto. Halkara drank a lot, too.
"It's fine if you drink, Halkara, but don't get completely plastered like you did at the wedding."
"When there's fruit liquor around, I always end up drinking it to compare the flavor, since I make plant-based drinks myself."
That's an elf apothecary for you. Plants are elves' specialty.
Just then, I had a eureka moment.
"Say, Halkara? Can you make several types of drinks that aren't alcoholic?"
"Yes. They don't have to be fruit-based, either. I can offer a healthier mushroom extract as well."
Then we'd be able to do this.
"On the day before the festival, let's host the Witch's House Café!"
My family's eyes all turned to me.
"What do you think? Halkara can be in charge of the drink menu, and the food Laika makes is good enough to serve at a restaurant. If we set up tables in the wooden shared space in the addition Laika built, we could use it as a venue without much trouble, and with our big family of five, we can serve the customers. And it'll be the day before, so it won't coincide with the festival itself."
No sooner had I proposed it than I pointed out plus after plus in an attempt to persuade the others.
However, one face didn't look particularly enthusiastic.
Oddly enough, it was Laika's.
"I see… In that case, we'll need to wear waitress uniforms, won't we?"
Oh, the ones that looked vaguely like maid outfits? I thought regular clothes would be fine, as long as we seemed put together. Actually, Laika's everyday clothes were pretty stylish already.
"Ordinary clothes would do, and if you'd rather not bus tables, you could work in the back. There's also the option of not doing anything at all."
It was wrong to force something like this.
"No, do let me participate, please! I also think it would be a good opportunity for your daughters to study society!"
Laika was sounding like a teacher. At heart, she was as dedicated as always.
"I'll put up with the waitress uniform… If we're busy, I expect it will stop bothering me before long."
Still, what does she have against waitress uniforms? I'd have understood if she was embarrassed, but Laika's style of choice was black Gothic Lolita. At this point, it already stood out more than your average outfit.
Well, if you're picky about fashion, you probably have inflexible standards.
The upshot was that we decided to join the celebration as a family on the day before the festival.
After we finished eating, when we went to report this to the village chief, he thanked us profusely: "That would be splendid!" From his reaction, you'd think we'd donated about a hundred million gold to the village.
The next day…
In the spirit of striking while the iron was hot, we went to the shop where we'd had our dresses tailored for the wedding.
We had waitress uniforms made for our whole group, and they completed the order for all of us without incident.
Since we had the opportunity, once we were home, we tried on our completed outfits together.
Mine made me seem like a perfectly ordinary server girl.
I felt like a high schooler at one of the maid cafés they often held at school cultural festivals in Japan.
I was a regular person who was wearing this on a whim, and a maid café professional probably would have told me I was doing it all wrong… If there even were any of those in this world.
Next, let's review the others.
First, Falfa and Shalsha.
"Does it look good on me, Mommy?"
"It fits comfortably."
They were a pair of splendid twin child maids. Marvelous. Truly marvelous. However, I was a little afraid to have them serve male customers like that. They were too cute, and I didn't want anyone looking at them in improper ways. After all, they were cute. Adorable, really.
Next, Halkara finished changing and emerged from her room.
"Um, they did take my measurements, but the chest on this is tight…"
Come to think of it, the shop clerk had said something along the lines of, "If it's a little tight, this one will make more of an impact."
It came as no surprise, but she was the busty elf waitress.
"When you're here, Halkara, things immediately get risqué. Conversely, I'm honestly impressed that you alone are enough to make this endeavor risqué at all."
"Madam Teacher, was that a compliment?"
"I think there's demand. However, if we only get a certain demographic, we'll have trouble… Listen, would you try walking around a little?"
"Just walk? You mean like this?"
Halkara walked.
Her bosom swayed assertively.
Wow, that swaying was enough to up the age rating. You almost had to wonder if her bust was made of water.
Even women would give that a second glance. We were absolutely going to get customers who were there for Halkara.
The last one to enter was Laika, who initially wasn't into this, and—
"Um, I… I don't look strange, do I?"
The moment I saw Laika, a shock ran through me.
Involuntarily, I covered my mouth with a hand and even crouched down a little.
"Hmm? Lady Azusa? Is something the matter? Are you feeling unwell?"
"It's a goddess… A goddess has appeared…"
I wasn't the only one who was reacting abnormally.
Halkara was also stunned. "It's the ultimate waitress…"
Yes, the waitress uniform suited Laika far too well.
It made her seem like an adorable girl who was serving customers for the first time and decided to try it on; her uneasy expression and the outfit's trimmings all harmonized with one another and her coquettish appeal. She was a force to be reckoned with.
"You wear frilly clothes all the time, so it looks good on you. Too good, actually…"
Laika was clearly embarrassed about this compliment.
"The truth is, long ago, I was a waitress in a play at dragon school, and everyone told me that it suited me… You're reacting the same way."
I see: She hadn't been enthusiastic because she knew it was almost too perfect for her.
"Laika, it may be embarrassing, but you really should do it at least once. Be more proactive about displaying your talents."
I was talking like I was a producer and she was an entertainer, but it was what I really and truly felt.
I had a hunch that we were going to be a success.
Well, all we'd done was have our clothes made, but the food would be relatively easy to deal with.
If we bought tables, they'd just get in the way later, so I was planning to borrow extras from the village.
***
And so we moved forward with the preparations for the Witch's House Café.
First, we came up with the menu. For drinks, we would offer the standards and rely on Halkara's instincts for the rest.
"Finally, I have the chance to give my abilities free rein! Just leave it to me, Madam Teacher!"
She seemed abnormally fired up, and she did submit lots of ideas for menu items.
However, despite the abundance of proposals, most of them were peculiar.
"'Drinkable Potency Enhancer—A Blend of Fifteen Different Roots.' This one's a no-go."
"Huh?! Why?! It was hugely popular with the men in my home province of Hrant. They said it worked wonders!"
"The concept is sketchy! Make it a bit more poetic."
"Well then, what about this? 'Drink It Daily and You'll Be Taller in a Month! An Herbal Medicine Blend that Promotes Bone Growth.'"
"Look, stop advertising how useful things are! Go with something more normal!"
Not only that, but it would be weird to sell an item with a one-month effect at a one-day-only café.
"I do think my suggestions sound witchier…"
Halkara's objection did make sense, but the people of the village didn't really fear me as a scary witch, so we didn't need to play the part too seriously.
"In that case, I'll play it safe and go with fruit juice. If you blend wild grapes in this region with honey dissolved in hot water, it has a refreshing aftertaste."
"Bring me ideas like that to begin with."
I could pick that one up without any complaints. As a matter of fact, there was nothing wrong with it.
"Well, I mean, it's just not interesting."
"Don't try for 'interesting.' These aren't gag products."
This wasn't an area where maid cafés were locked in fierce competition with one another, so "normal" would work just fine.
"If that's what you want, I can think of about fifty in a day."
"What are you, a genius? In that case, we'll be fine for drinks. Not that I was very worried to begin with."
"Drat… I'd at least like to make something like 'You Think It's Sweet, and Then Wham! Super-Spicy! Juice Blended with Thirty Spices.'"
No matter what world you were in, you could always find people who just wanted to do something weird.
Next was the food menu. That was also rougher going than I'd expected.
Laika brought in a plate supporting a huge yellow mass.
"Lady Azusa, I thought of a promotion in which anyone who eats this ultra-gargantuan omelet within thirty minutes will not be charged for it. What do you think?"
"No competitive eating gimmicks! We'll end up with a specific image!"
Are eating challenges a universal thing?
"Actually, I have one more secret plan!"
Laika went to the kitchen and brought out another plate.
"How about something unique? We'll put sweet cream on boiled pasta. People assume that pasta doesn't go with sweet things, and yet we'll top it with something dessert-like."
"I admire your adventurous spirit, but we're not doing that!"
They definitely had places like that in Japan, too!
"Laika, your regular cooking is delicious, so be truer to the basics!"
"I see… It's just that, we'll be taking their money and all, so I thought we really should provide them with commensurate value…"
Every one of them was far too adventurous. Café items should relieve and soothe people. I'd rather they didn't get that wrong.
However, there were worse troublemakers.
The door flew open with a bang, and Falfa ran up. She'd apparently been outside.
"Mommy! I caught a big grasshopper!"
She was right. It was a whopper, about the size of her palm.
"Wow, that is big."
"Listen, if we cooked this grasshopper, what do you think it would taste—?"
"We are not serving that at the café."
That was when Shalsha came up, holding a thick book.
"According to this volume, some foreign countries eat insects, and species related to grasshoppers are especially popular. However, unless you strip off the legs, they tend to catch in your throat or elsewhere inside your body, and you can end up in critical condition."
"I have no intention of denying other cultures, but we're not doing that here!"
Why would we want to take a one-day-only café in that direction?!
"You too, Falfa. Take Mister Grasshopper back outside, all right? He might have been planning to play with his friends."
"Okaaay. I will."
Falfa went outside again. Everyone was trying to do much stranger things than I'd imagined.
All right, I'll be the coordinator. There's nobody else.
The first thing I did was take care of seating. I used a tape measure and decided where we'd put the tables.
In addition to the indoor tables, I decided to set up outdoor terrace seating. That would give us more chairs, and the air was wonderful up there in the highlands. The occasional breeze felt pleasant, too.
I did this because if things got crowded, the atmosphere wouldn't be restful anymore, and that would mean our café had gotten its priorities backward.
I made the final decisions on the menu as well, taking Laika's proposals into consideration as I worked. I focused on dishes made with vegetables, settling on a slightly fancier version of home cooking.
"Let's write the menus on the sturdy paper we use to record medicine compounding results. We'll make one for each table. I'll handle the sample, so would the rest of you make three each?"
"Madam Teacher, you really are serious about this, aren't you?"
Halkara was so startled she'd drawn back a bit.
"I thought it would be more like a joke…"
"Why would we intentionally make a joke out of it when we're going to all this trouble?"
"No, I just meant, for example, we could say 'Welcome, Master' to customers and things like that."
Could Japan's maid cafés possibly be a universal thing…?
***
Time passed quickly—or rather, there wasn't much time until the day before the festival anyway—and the grand opening of the Witch's House Café arrived at last.
After breakfast, we all changed into our waitress uniforms.
"Y-you know, when we're all lined up in similar outfits, we make quite a sight…"
As Laika spoke, her expression was half-embarrassed and half-elated that the day was finally here.
I felt just about the same way.
"You're right. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be raining today. Let's begin making the final preparations, shall we? Laika and Halkara, you start the food and drinks; Falfa and Shalsha, you wipe down the tables and check to make sure there's no dust on the floor. I'll put out the terrace seating."
If we'd set up the terrace seats ahead of time and it had rained, we would have had trouble, so we'd kept them under the eaves until right beforehand.
Everyone nodded, so apparently, there were no problems.
"It's just eight o'clock now, so we have two hours left before we open at ten. Let's do this right."
This time, Laika and Falfa responded: "Yes!" "Okaaaay!"
"Um, what will we do if we don't get any customers…?" Unsurprisingly, given how often we ended up in miserable situations, Halkara was a pessimist. "We are rather far from the village here. There are bound to be pre-festival celebrations there as well, and if they decide they don't care about a shop in a location like ours and give it a miss…"
She was right. It was a genuine risk.
"Well, there's no sense in getting uneasy. Let's just do what we can. I mean, you know, just participating is worth something…"
"If we don't move any product at all, I'll pack the drinks in baskets and go sell them at the festival tomorrow."
As you'd expect from someone who used to run a factory, she had a hardy commercial spirit.
"All right, let's get to work. You all know what your shifts are, don't you? Okay then, meeting adjourned!"
Since my work was outside, I went to open the door in the side of the gabled log cabin. This was technically the back door of the house, but since we were using the cabin as the shop, it would be the front entrance.
There was a standing signboard in front of the house that read, THE WITCH'S HOUSE CAFé. That said, almost no one ever passed by here, so it would really be a question of how well word had spread through the village beforehand.
"Now then, I'd better get the outside tables set up neatly, too—"
However, the moment I opened the door, I froze.
There was already a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong line of
customers outside.
It had to be sixty people or so… We certainly didn't have that many seats.
About half were men, and half were women. Just looking at them, you would have thought they were about to hold a convention.
"Ooh! The great Witch of the Highlands, waitress version!"
"What a glorious sight!"
"I want to hurry and see the others, too!"
All I'd done was step outside, and a great cheer went up.
"U-um, you do know that we don't open until ten, don't you?"
I was pretty sure I'd attached a paper with our business hours on the sign in front of the shop, but…
"Of course!"
"Staying here all night would have caused trouble for people, so I came very early in the morning!"
"We took a full day to come here from the town!"
The person at the very back held a placard with END OF THE LINE written on it.
I don't remember making that! Did some volunteer do that on their own?
"We're getting ready right now, so wait just a little longer, please!"
I never dreamed that I'd have this many eyes on me as I set out the tables. That said, thanks in part to my tremendous physical strength, the work itself was over quickly. It was easy to carry a table in each hand when you were level 99.
However, I couldn't tell them to wait almost two more hours until we opened at ten.
I finished the outdoor preparations fast, then went back inside.
"Listen, there are already about sixty people lined up out there. Do you think we could open a little earlier, at nine?"
Everyone looked startled.
"What?! It's rude to line up the night before!"
Apparently, in this world, standing in line all night was considered a nuisance. The exhibition-and-sale culture in Japan was similar. Why are they similar?
"Actually, it sounds like they lined up starting early this morning."
"That's all right, then. If they'd been there all night, we would have had to send them to the back of the line."
They had pretty strict rules regarding the overnight crew.
"So do you think we'll be able to open at nine?"
"The drinks won't be a problem. What about you, Laika?"
"I'll make it in time as well. We already have the ingredients. However, we do have more customers than we'd anticipated, and it would be a problem if we sold out, so perhaps I should fly to the village now and arrange to have additional groceries delivered."
"I'll do that. Just tell me what you need! Then it's down to the number of chairs, I think…"
We did have spare tables on hand. Maybe I'd go grab what we had in our rooms. We'd use those to expand when we had to field large numbers of customers.
Right then, before I said anything, Falfa and Shalsha carried in a table.
"Mommy, Shalsha says we should put out more tables."
"Mom, I'll do what I can, too. An eastern scholar said that learning which does not lead to action is meaningless."
"You two are fantastic! If we had time, I'd hug you again!"
And so we worked like mad to make our nine o'clock opening.
It might have been the first time that I'd worked this hard in this world.
Still, it held none of the exhaustion of being enslaved to a company.
Maybe that was only natural. Wage slaves work because they're forced to.
Right now, we were working because we wanted to. Our motivation was fundamentally different.
Then the second the hands of the clock pointed to nine, I flung open the log cabin door.
"Since we have so many customers waiting, the Witch's House Café is opening an hour ahead of schedule! We'll help you starting from the front of the line, so please be patient!"
A cheer rang out: "Yeaaaaaaaaah!" Nobody yells like that for café openings!
I had no idea we'd be this popular…
The line was even longer than it was earlier. No question, we were going to be working all day.
"That's one party of two! Would you prefer to sit inside or out on the terrace? All right, follow me inside!"
"Party of one, correct? Would you be all right with sitting at the counter? Yes, come this way!"
"Party of five! Follow me to this table, please!"
I fielded customers right and left. As I worked, I remembered to smile.
Oh, and that "counter" I mentioned was a long table that we'd hastily shoved against the wall. Our original plans hadn't included anything like that.
The idea of having people relax and take it easy was already disintegrating. If we didn't raise our turnover rate significantly, some customers weren't going to get in at all. And here I'd been dreaming of a secret café hideaway…
Still, the customers had been aware from the time they joined the line that things would be crowded, and we didn't get any complaints. In fact, people cheered as if we were idol singers until it became a problem. Well, not a problem so much as embarrassing…
"You're a beautiful waitress, great Witch! Simply divine!"
"Halkara is exquisite, too! She's right on the line between 'wholesome' and 'lewd'!"
"The twin waitresses just couldn't be cuter!"
Hmm… My hole-in-the-wall restaurant was rapidly turning into a maid café.
As an aside, about half the customers were women. Japanese idol singers have quite a few female fans, too; this was probably something similar.
However, no matter what, the most popular—the one who attracted the most attention—was…
…Laika.
"Thank you for waiting… Here is the omelet you ordered. Do take your time and enjoy it, please…"
As a rule, Laika was in the kitchen, but every once in a while, she'd bring out an order herself. Every time she did, the customers' eyes went to her.
If the customers were eating, their fork or knife hands stopped dead.
"Sh-she's an angel…"
"You mean 'a goddess.'"
"If I had a little sister like that, I'd spend an hour every day hugging her, I just know it."
"There's no need for all these words. Just gazing at her is sublime."
Laika was perfectly adorable here, too. She'd captured the attention not just of the men but of the women as well. A table of teenage girls was squealing.
As a matter of fact, she'd overwhelmed me, too, the first time I saw her. This proved my senses hadn't been mistaken.
If there were a ranking for beautiful girls you'd want to have as your little sister, she'd take first place easily… Although a little sister in a waitress uniform might be a bit odd.
"Um, honored guests, if you stare at me like that, I, um… It's very hard to relax…"
Laika was blushing and fidgeting, and it made her even more formidable.
One customer had gotten worked up enough to get a nosebleed.
"Laika really is the one, isn't she?"
"It's great when earnest girls wear something like that."
"Halkara's good, too, but she's too provocative."
"After all, there's more to feminine appeal than boobs."
"I mean, I do like boobs, too!"
I'd started to hear slightly problematic comments here and there.
Should we just keep this up and start earning money as a maid café? No…I'd rather have a life of steadily killing slimes.
Not everything was going as we'd planned, but the café itself was very popular.
"This juice is really refreshing!"
"Yes, and the soup warms you right up. It feels like home cooking, but it's sophisticated enough for a café as well!"
Everything on the menu was high quality. I was confident that people would be satisfied, and it was all thanks to Laika and Halkara. Although, if I hadn't kept an eye on things, we could easily have had a lineup of outrageous items.
However, being popular meant we were busy, and so…
Before noon, Shalsha was sitting down in the back.
"Mom, my legs won't move anymore. I'm sorry."
It was true that Shalsha wasn't very strong physically. This work might have been hard for her.
"Take your time and rest. I'm sorry I was too busy to notice earlier."
"I-in that case… I'll be the cashier. I can do that without moving around."
"All right. When you think you can't handle any more, though, speak up right away. Don't tough it out."
If we were flustered, it was in a good way, but even so, I hadn't expected this much business. There were a lot of faces I didn't really recognize. Apparently, people had come not just from Flatta but from farther away.
If this had been a ramen shop in Japan, we probably would have been able to say that we'd run out of soup and needed to close for the day, but we were a café, and since we were only open for this one day, we couldn't exactly tell people to come back some other time.
Guess I'll just have to pick up the pace.
A table opened up, so I had to let in the next customers. I opened the door with a bit of a flourish.
"Thank you for waiting! How many are in your party?"
"One."
I saw a very familiar face.
"We do seem to run into each other a lot, don't we, Beelzebub? Is your work with the demons that slow?"
"You're being rude to your customer. I've got a good ear for such information, nothing more."
Beelzebub was the sort of high-ranking demon who frightens crying children into silence, but to be honest, she was a good person. In the past, she'd really saved me.
"However, as far as I can tell, the success of your business is giving you some trouble."
"So you can tell, huh? Honestly, it's so busy I'd take help from a cat…"
Just then, I hit on a brilliant idea.
Well, actually, it was more of a plain old request.
"Hey, Beelzebub, if you don't mind, do you think you could help us serve customers?"
I clapped my hands together and begged. Petitioning a demon this way felt a bit like heathen worship.
"Hell's bells… You always instantly opt for using me as a handyman. I am a demon, I'll have you know. I'm not a being you can just casually put to work. One can only be so impertinent. —Sure, I'll help."
"Thank you so much!"
To be blunt, I'd thought things would work out if I asked Beelzebub. That was the type of person she was.
"If you bow to me like that, I really must reward you."
Beelzebub spoke a little bashfully.
"By the way, do you have a waitress uniform? I could work in what I'm wearing, but if I'm doing this, I'd prefer something frilly like that."
She was really into this. Maybe she'd wanted to try wearing the outfit? That said, Beelzebub's everyday clothes exposed her shoulders, and it was true that they weren't really suitable for a daytime café.
"I do have a spare uniform, just in case this one gets dirty. Go ahead and wear that."
"Right. I'll find an empty room and change."
Help me out, Beelzebub. I'll pay you proper wages! If you end up working overtime, I'll pay extra!