Volume 1, Chapter 19: I met a sweets guy.
A week after Café Omusubi opened.
The guests Tasia invited to the tea party dropped by one by one, and my shop opened smoothly. The sales for bread were especially amazing. On opening day, the 50 bread rolls and five loaves of bread prepared for the takeout window were sold out by evening. Although I made the same amount for the next day, they sold out around three hours after opening, and I could only apologize and ask the guests who came afterwards to come by again the next day. Just in case, I made double the amount for the third day, but it sold out in four to five hours.
I made double that amount for the next day…and slowly increased the amount every day, but the labor and energy put into bread making also increased.
There were not as many dine-in customers so it seemed I could go on a bit longer by myself, but it might be good to start scouting for employees. Even so, I was very happy that the shop was met with such excitement and popularity so early on.
I directed people who inquired about the recipe to the Ashley Company, and Alex said that the sales there were going well.
Although Café Omusubi’s image might be that of a bakery at the moment, hopefully soon customers use that as a stepping stone to come in and use the café as well.
I also wanted to slowly add more sweets to the menu. The cookies that were served as a complimentary service to the drink menu were also sold at takeout. These cookies were made during down time in bread making. The shapes were not cookie cut, but made by dropping spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet, so they had much to improve. They could be easily made, however, and their sales were slowly climbing higher. Soon I would like to make things like cake too.
The bread and cookies were sold out by evening today, too. As I calculated the amount of ingredients to order for tomorrow, wondering what to do, I spotted someone staring at me through the window out of the corner of my eye.
Oh, it’s that person again.
A man looked over here from the other side of the road, across from the shop. By again, I meant that he would gaze at the shop almost every day, his shoulders drooping slightly once he saw the empty showcase and he would leave.
He was the first customer to buy the cookies in the showcase on the second day. It was the first time a man had come to buy something, so he made a deep impression. He was also incredibly handsome. He had silver blonde hair with baby blue eyes and was always wearing a close-fitting uniform. Upon asking him, it seems it was the uniform of the chivalric order. He seemed thin and lanky at a glance, but it was clear that he was physically fit even through the uniform. Unfortunately, he usually had a complete lack of expression. I only knew he was dejected from the gloom surrounding his slouched back.
Today, too, he gazed at the showcase for a while, confirming its contents, before turning on his heels.
Watching him every day, I felt more and more pity for him. That day, the last customer had just left.
I flew out of the café and chased after him.
“E-excuse me!”
I finally caught up to his large paces and yelled straight at his back.
He turned back and his eyes widened at the sight of me, seeming to know who I was.
“…Yes?”
He asked in a calm voice. Even though I was the one to reach out, I had not thought of what to say at all, and I couldn’t speak.
“Ah…uhm…”
He stared at me blankly.
“…Are you free right now?”
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“Here, I hope it fits your taste.”
After I confirmed he was free and returned to the shop with him, I set down a dish straight out of the oven in front of him as he sat down at the counter. It was bread pudding, colored golden brown and giving off a sweet fragrance. I soaked the bread crusts left over from all the sandwiches in a mixture of egg, milk and sugar, sprinkled some dried fruits on top and baked it in a slightly deeper plate. While it was simple to make, I could vouch for its flavor.
The second I warned him how hot it was, he started eating. As expected, he covered his mouth due to how hot it was, but he kept chewing, and the tense air around him relaxed. Although his face still betrayed no emotion, the atmosphere was so warm that he looked like a dog happily wagging its tail.
He continued to silently eat the pudding, which quickly disappeared from the plate. Full with satisfaction, yet also hollow with emptiness, he stared at the empty plate for a while, the spoon still in his hand. Once I changed his already cold tea for some hot new tea, he straightened his back and took a sip.
I reached for the empty plate to take it away.
“…What is this food called…?”
He raised his head to look at me, asking in a calm voice.
“This is called bread pudding.”
“Bread pudding…”
He muttered, seeming to digest the words. I said excuse me, and reached for the empty plate again.
He finished his tea and took out his wallet, to which I frantically stopped him.
“Uhm, I made this with ingredients I happened to have on hand so you don’t need to pay me.”
“But…”
“It seems you come here often, too, and this was by my invitation.”
If this were in my previous world, it honestly wasn’t food that would warrant payment. While it was tasty, it was made from bread scraps. I only made it at home from hardened bread back then.
He insisted on paying, but compromised when I insisted on only receiving payment for the drink. He looked so apologetic that I began to feel guilty. I asked him to come again if he would like, to which he gave a strong nod and left.
From then on, Zeke Brown began to come to the shop every other day.
Apparently he first bought the cookies for his five year old baby sister, but after trying one, he couldn’t help but finish the whole bag. He panicked and came back the next day to find it sold out, then the next day, then the next…and just when he was losing heart, I called out to him.
These were sweets that this world was still unfamiliar with, yet he seemed to have a huge sweet tooth and really enjoyed eating them despite his blank face. I felt a kindred spirit in him, and I surprisingly began to look forward to making something different for him every day.
He was usually a man of few words with no expression on his face, but lately it seemed that there were small differences in his blank facial expression that showed emotion. He slowly began to talk to me about himself as well.
“Since you’re wearing the uniform, you’re part of the chivalric order then?”
“Yes. I entered once I become an adult. This will be my second year.”
When I was taught about this world in the Claude mansion before, I remember they told me that people became adults at sixteen.
“Two years after coming of age means…you’re younger than me!?”
“I’m turning eighteen this year…”
“Four years younger than me…”
“…You mean you’re twenty two!?”
“Yes…”
“That’s ridiculous…I thought you were the same age, if not younger than me.”
I was surprised to hear that he was younger as I had assumed he was older than me. I was even more surprised that I was perceived to be much younger than I actually was. Gil and Tasia also thought I was in my teens. I guess compared to European faces like theirs, a stereotypical Japanese face like mine would look much younger…
“Is it okay to be skipping work here when you’re a knight?”
“Yeah. I come by after I finish my rounds, so there’s no problem.”
“If you say so.”
He said nonchalantly, steadily reducing the number of scones by his hands as we talked.
As scones were quite plain on their own, there was whip cream and fruit jam on the side. Still maintaining a blank expression, he put together various combinations of the two as if he was experimenting with the taste.
“What do you think about the scones today?”
“They’re tasty. While they’re good by themselves, they’re even better with cream and jam. It goes well with tea.”
Although he was terse, he gave his honest opinion when asked. While blunt, his thoughts that contained neither lie nor flattery made him a valuable critic when making sweets. That this chivalrous man would become the most passionate fan of my sweets was something I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
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Maybe he took a day off from work, but he didn’t come today even at the usual time. I was a little sad, but I quickly cheered up when the other regular, Angelica from the Silas’s Magic Tools Store next door, praised the swiss roll I made today as “delicious!”
The bread sold out earlier than usual today, so I decided to close up early. The sun was down too, so I planned to leave for home after doing some of the stocking up for tomorrow when there was a hard rapping on the door. When I went to the entrance to see what was going on, a middle-aged man stood leaning against the door. He seemed ready to knock again, so I opened the door by a crack. I was immediately assaulted by a wall of alcohol.
“Ngahhh…who’re ye, miss?”
The man seemed to be so drunk, he couldn’t even articulate his words clearly.
“Ahhh whuteva, gimme some wine, wine!!”
“Excuse me! We aren’t a tavern, please go elsewhere!”
I said firmly, dumbfounded, and the man’s expression completely changed.
“Yer tellin’ me ye won’t gimme wine!? Dun shit w’me!”
Suddenly furious, the man tried to push past me into the shop, putting his weight onto the door despite his unsteady footing.
“Like I said, we’re not, ahh!!”
“Master, careful!!”
Even though he was a drunk, he was still a man, and I was pushed off balance by the door into the counter behind me. In a split second, Basil used her power to soften my fall so I didn’t hit the counter as hard.
“Master, are you okay?”
“Y-yeah.”
While I was distracted by my astonishment and the pain, the man stomped into the shop. I held a hand to my stinging back, puzzling about what to do. Should I try to persuade him to leave, or should I go get help…
I tried to think calmly, but faced with an unprecedented situation, I could only hear my pounding heart. While I was paralyzed, the man who entered the shop seemed no less furious as he stumbled towards me. Right when Basil flew in front of me to protect me,
“That’s enough.”
“O-ow ow ow!”
The familiar chivalric order uniform dove into my view. I looked up, and there was Zeke standing in front of me, twisting the arm of the drunkard upwards. I let loose a sigh of relief. He twisted the whining drunkard’s arm higher, silencing him, and brought him out of the shop.
After a while, he returned alone. I was sitting at one of the tables trying to calm myself down, and I jumped at the door opening so suddenly. I was so shocked I had forgotten to lock up.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Uhm, thank you so much.”
I tried to get up, to which he put up a hand and eased into the seat across from me.
“The drunkard appears to have been a regular at the tavern that was here before. Their memory must have been confused from all the alcohol. Well, being drunk doesn’t excuse their forceful entry, so they will be met with some punishment.”
“Punishment…”
“Usually it’s a fine. If you sue him, you might inflict a heavier punishment on him. What do you want to do?”
“O-oh, no, just the fine will be enough! As long as he reflects on it…”
Even though he was an unruly drunkard, I wasn’t assaulted or anything since Zeke came.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. After all, he didn’t break anything…”
He made a face of disapproval.
“Even if the public order on this road is quite good, you’re still a woman. While I respect you for managing the shop on your own, it is also dangerous.”
He was right. Some other day, the same, no, maybe even something worse might happen. A shop run by a single woman would probably be an easy target for criminals. I might have been a bit naive for forgetting about security despite trying to run a shop alone.
I sank into self loathing through the shock and regret.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…No, I’m sorry for lecturing like I know about it.”
“No, you’re right.”
The shop fell into silence, and the air grew murky with awkwardness. After stewing in the heavy, suffocating air, I raised my drooped head to see Zeke in deep thought with his hand on his chin. He noticed my gaze and his eyes met mine.
“All right. Will you hire me?”
“…Huh?”
He said something so ridiculous, I could only stare back at him.
“Hire you…aren’t you part of the chivalric order? Besides, this isn’t a shop that requires security at all times…”
“It’ll be fine if I quit the chivalric order, right? Also, I’m not going to be a security guard, but an employee.”
“An employee? It’s true that I was going to hire employees some time down the road, but…”
“Good, there’s no problem then. Besides…”
He suddenly stopped, and there was a hint of rare pink on his blank face. He looked a little embarrassed.
“…I like the sweets you make.”
I wonder if I’m just imagining that I feel like I’ve just been confessed to…when such a handsome man like him said that to me, my cheeks flushed despite knowing he was complimenting my sweets.
Both of us were so embarrassed that he went home while the matter of hiring him was left hazy and undecided.
…A few days later, he came to the café in his casual clothes instead of his usual chivalric order uniform, and told me he had quit the order. Please hire me, he said with his head bowed. I couldn’t refuse him, and while it was a little forceful, he became an employee at Café Omusubi.
I would later come to know that he had been a promising recruit that was even rumored to be the next Head Knight of the order, but that was a story for another day.