Volume 1, Chapter 18: I opened a café.
Around two and a half months after I came to this world.
After receiving so much help from so many people, I finally stood in front of my shop, “Café Omusubi.” After a month and a half of preparation, the café was finally ready to open.
There was an accident during the renovation, so the open date was pushed back by half a month, but I was satisfied with the design so I’ll ignore that.
For a parallel world visitor like me who had no way or knowledge of trade to open a shop, I had the help of Tasia, Gil, Alex from the Ashley Company, the Silases from Silas’s Magic Tool Store, the Claude butler Reid and head maid Mary and many, many others. Oh, of course Basil too.
I felt from the depths of my heart how important it was to be connected to other people.
That’s why I took the Japanese word for “connect,” musubi, coupled with the food of my homeland and namd the shop “Omusubi.” As a restaurant with no precedent in this world, I also named it a “café.”
The renovated interior still had the long wooden bar counter on the right upon entering. On the left were leather-covered bench seats attached to the wall, and three warm colored tables with chairs. Finally, to the side of the counter was a glass showcase placed to be visible from the outside with a height about up to my chest, forming a bay window where takeout would also be possible.
I had started prepping for the store since early morning, and now it was noontime. It was finally opening time.
I gazed up at the store front, reflecting on the events up to opening the café, and opened the wine red door decorated with a glass lattice window. I flipped the sign from “Preparing” to “In Business.”
I went behind the counter and waited for customers to come. While I simulated waiting on customers in my head and wiped down drinking glasses, the bell attached to the entrance jingled.
“Welcome.”
I said with a slight hitch in my voice, and turned to my first customer.
“Risa, we’re here!”
Smiling as they entered was Tasia and Gil. I couldn’t help but relax upon seeing the two who saw me out in the morning.
“Tasia, Gil. You two are my first customers.”
Relieved, I directed them to their seats.
“Of course! I mean, we’d been standing near the shop wai-ow!”
“Gil!”
Tasia slapped Gil’s shoulder and glared at him as if to silence his words. Apparently they had secretly waited for me to open the café. I couldn’t help but laugh in a mixture of embarrassment and joy as Gil winked at Tasia sheepishly.
After waiting for the two to sit at a table for two, I took out the menu. I have to wait on the two who came here as customers properly. Honestly, it was very embarrassing, but I should think of it as roleplay and still try to do it properly.
“Here is the menu. Today’s lunch sets are an egg and vegetable sandwich set and an omurice set. Soup and salad is provided with the lunch set, and you can also order a drink for two more ril.”
I handed them each a menu, pointed to the big chalkboard across the wall from the counter and explained the lunch set of the day.
“I think I’ll have the omurice set. Could I also have this original blend tea with it?”
“Then I’ll have the sandwich set, also with original blend tea.”
“Okay. Would you like your beverages after the meal?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Please wait for a moment then.”
I jotted down their orders on a chit and returned to the counter. Then I went to the back of the counter to the kitchen and started preparing their meals.
First, I poured some cold water into two drinking glasses. The water had some sliced lemon-like fruit in it so it smelled refreshing. I took out some salad plates and arranged salad in it, then drizzled it with some dressing. I put some cutlery on the tray and carried everything out of the kitchen.
“Thank you for waiting. Here’s your salad.”
I lined up the cutlery on the table and then placed the salad and glasses of water. The two were watching my every move with delight, so I slightly blushed. Infected by their joy, I smiled back and returned to the kitchen. I turned on the stove and started to heat the soup I prepared in the morning. Today’s soup is pot-au-feu. Then I cut the sandwiches into triangles and plated them.
Next is the omurice. I sliced a square of butter into a heated pan, which slowly melted with a sizzle. I tilted the pan to coat it with the butter and poured in some eggs mixed with milk. Now it’s a race against time. While the egg sizzled, I quickly mixed the egg on the pan with some chopsticks. After mixing for a while, I hit the pan against the stove to flatten the egg and piled some chicken rice I had kept in a heat insulated jar onto the middle of the egg, about a little more than halfway down. Still hitting the pan now and then, I wrapped the rice up with the egg. Then I took the pan away from the stove and slid the omurice onto the plate. I dribbled some homemade ketchup on the center, and the omurice was finished. Then I plated the soup and put both on the tray.
When I went to the couple, they were in the middle of eating their salad.
“Thank you for waiting. Here is your omurice and sandwich, with the soup on the side.”
I was used to their gaze this time, and I quickly set the food on the table.
“It looks delicious!”
They stopped eating their salad and looked at the sandwich and omurice they each ordered. Despite having had both at home already, Tasia and Gil’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Please enjoy your meal.”
I bowed and returned to the counter. The two seemed to be having fun trading their food every now and then. Even though they were my family, it would be bad to keep staring at them, so I turned and looked out the bay window next to the counter only to discover that walking passersby would sometimes glance over in my direction.
The bay window had a sunroof that extended outward and could serve as a shutter when folded. It had been shut until yesterday, before opening, so people who pass by often might have noticed that a new shop had opened here. In this world, they didn’t hang a flower garland on the doors of newly opened stores, so it seems word only spread by word of mouth or by people coincidentally walking by.
Today was the first day and I only expected people I knew to come in, so I was glad that people were even noticing the café. It would be nice if some passerby would come in today too.
I cleaned up the emptied salad plates from the Tasia and Gil’s table and returned to the counter to see a carriage parked in front of the store from the window. A woman got off the large carriage decorated with minute detail and came towards the bay window, so I reached for the window handle.
“Welcome.”
“Hello. I would like some bread.”
She wore a calm navy dress and had an air of elegance. As she felt similar to Mary from the Claude mansion, she must have been a maid for the noble who owned the carriage.
“There are bread rolls and loaf bread available today, which would you like?”
I asked while pointing to the corresponding bread.
“Please give me ten of each.”
“All right. The loaf bread is already cut, so would ten slices be okay?”
“Yes please.”
I softened at the sight of the woman who hesitated but still ordered with a smile, and prepared her order.
“Would you be so kind to put it in here?”
Here, people bring baskets specifically for buying bread with them. It was the same back at home where we would bring plastic containers when we went to buy tofu from the local tofu store.
I received the bread basket and placed the bread inside.
“Thank you for waiting. Will that be all?”
I asked her to confirm the contents and returned the basket.
“That will be 2.5 ril per bread roll and 1 ril per slice of bread for a total of 35 ril.”
The bread in this world (the rock hard kind) usually costs one ril. After taking into account the labor and novelty of the recipe, Alex and I concluded that the bread rolls should be 2.5 times that. It seems there must be a noticeable gap like this between prices so that the bread I sold was differentiated from the usual bread, otherwise the market might monopolize it. Once the recipe spreads, Alex said that the price would naturally come down.
As for loaf bread, such a thing did not originally exist in this world so I was troubled about the price. However, I set it to be one ril per slice, six slices per loaf for a total of six ril per loaf, which seemed about right when comparing it to the bread rolls.
I received the payment from the maid and watched her leave, my head bowed in thanks. Once the maid got back on, the carriage slowly moved away. After I watched it for a while, the window of the carriage rolled down to show Her Majesty Adele! She hid her mouth behind a fan and winked at me as the carriage drove away. It seems she put aside time to come visit today.
I found about this later, but the coat of arms for royalty was carved into Her Majesty’s carriage, so even if she had not come in person, it would still spread like wildfire that someone related to the royal family had come. Because of that, without my knowledge, Café Omusubi became known as a royal purveyor.