OCOB 33

Chapter : 33

After I accepted the tea party invitation, Viola and her daughter began to truly enjoy the café on their own.

Maybe it was because they liked the strawberry latte they tried first, or maybe they wanted to check whether the other drinks were good too—but they ended up ordering every single drink on the menu.

“Thank goodness this place doesn’t have as many menu items as a franchise café…!
If this were a franchise café… wouldn’t it have become famous for drinks made from the café owner’s tears?”

While preparing their endless orders one by one, I somehow managed to keep up with the other customers’ requests as well.

Time flew by, and before I knew it, sunset was approaching.

Customers began heading toward the reed field one by one to watch the sunset.

Even the nobles who had complained about heavy footsteps were no exception—Antonio and Ash also stood from their seats.

I looked around the hall, which was gradually emptying out, and approached them.

“Are you going to watch the sunset?”

“My daughter says she’s been waiting for it all day. Bill came here before and said it was so beautiful he couldn’t stop praising it.”

“It’s a sunset even the God’s Proxy praised.”

“Then we must see it before we leave.”

Antonio put his silk hat back on and offered his hand to Ash. After straightening her dress, she took his hand.

They really were an affectionate father and daughter. Watching them for a moment, I spoke again.

“There will be a lot of people.”

“We’re already prepared for that. We’re not the sort who always throw our authority around.”

“I know. But today, I want to escort you myself—for the people who hired me, even if just for a little while.”

“You certainly know how to make someone feel good.”

“I am a businesswoman, after all.”

“Hahaha!”

Antonio’s laughter rang loudly.

“Did you train somewhere to speak so well?”

“Would you call this training?”

It was just the playful banter I picked up from years of part-time jobs. Exchanging a few friendly words with customers and leaving a good impression always gave me points with the boss.

As the saying goes, you can’t spit on someone who smiles at you.
And no one curses someone who flatters them.
People like hearing nice things.

I shrugged and led them toward the back door of the café kitchen. Beyond it was a small backyard.

Past the fence stretched a wide reed field.

The fence here was lower than elsewhere, and in front of it were a small table and chairs.

Grandma Basha must have loved watching the sunset from this spot—I didn’t even need anyone to tell me.

I’d repaired the furniture here myself with a hammer.

It was probably the table and chairs she used personally.

Since this area wasn’t meant to be shown to customers, all paths leading here had been blocked off. So there was no chance anyone else would be around.

The ground here was slightly higher than the public reed field, so we couldn’t even see the crowd gathered there.

In other words, it was the perfect place to quietly enjoy the sunset.

I remembered something Freesia had told me when we received the partitions earlier:

— “Nobles like a private atmosphere.”

I made sure to use that tip well.

“With this seat, you two should be able to enjoy the sunset comfortably.”

“Am I really allowed such kindness?”

“Of course!”

“Then I won’t refuse.”

Antonio and Ash sat at the backyard table I had shown them.

Compared to the furniture Freesia made inside the café, the table was crude—but they seemed to like it quite a bit.

They talked as the red sun slowly approached the reed field.

Most of the talking came from Ash.

She chatted nonstop—from asking if she could come again tomorrow to suggesting they hire me as the Viola family’s personal barista.

Then suddenly, the girl who had been chirping like a baby bird fell silent.

A golden sunset came rolling in like waves of wheat.

I watched them with a warm smile before quietly returning to the kitchen through the back door. With everyone’s eyes on the sunset, I wanted to rest even just a little.

Iliana and Hugh were already sprawled out in a corner of the hall.

I made drinks for them—and one for myself—and walked over.

“We’ll close at 8 today. Yesterday I noticed there weren’t any customers after that.”

“That’s a great decision, Leila. Working late like yesterday isn’t something a human should do.”

“…Is that so?”

“Of course.”

Iliana took a sip of coffee with a serious face. Since it was the kind of coffee that restored about five percent of your energy, I could see her fatigue easing a little.

“Even royal maids don’t work this hard. By the way, when are you hiring more staff?”

“Right away. Things are becoming more urgent than I expected.”

“I knew it. Freesia said that with your skills, more and more people would start looking for you.”

“Speaking of which—do you know anyone you could recommend? Someone looking for work, or maybe someone who used to work at a café… You probably know more about that kind of thing than I do, Iliana.”

Iliana stared at me intently—like a cat just before pouncing on its prey.

After scanning me from head to toe, she spoke quietly.

“If you’re looking for people who used to work in cafés, there are plenty. But they’ll never want to work in one again.”

“…Why?”

“Because they’ve already been through a disaster.”

“A disaster?”

“I knew it. I had a feeling you didn’t know anything about it.”

Iliana let out a long sigh and explained the disasters that had occurred in the Kingdom of Xenon.

“When the catastrophe happened five years ago, disasters began striking cafés and pubs. We call it God’s curse. Because…”

According to her explanation:

Strange weather and crop changes started after a sudden calamity.

Freshly harvested coffee beans would spoil once roasted, and wheat stored for brewing beer would rot.

There was nothing wrong with the raw ingredients—but the moment they were processed into coffee or beer, mold would grow or terrible odors would appear.

These incidents happened only to “drinks.”

Whenever someone found a solution and reopened a shop, misfortune followed—people would suddenly get injured or sick… and in severe cases, even die.

In the end, every café and tavern in the Kingdom of Xenon closed.

“So finding staff might be difficult. If it’s simple customer service like what I do, maybe—but finding someone to make drinks will be extremely hard.”

After finishing her coffee, Iliana stood up as customers began returning from watching the sunset.

She patted my shoulder a couple of times before heading off to greet them.

Hugh, who had been quietly listening, placed his small hand on mine.

“Master! Don’t worry too much! You’ll find someone! And… nothing like that will happen at Dragon Café!”

He tried to comfort me brightly and optimistically—but I couldn’t hear anything he said.

“…So that’s why the café building was in that condition at first… and why Millen told me to experience it myself.
That’s why people reacted so strongly when they heard a café was opening…”

Realization hit me all at once.

Customers who came once would never return, fearing they might get caught in a disaster.

Even the nobles who disliked me—it must have been because of the disasters. They couldn’t overcome them either.

And yet a mere commoner like me had boldly opened a café… of course it would bother them.

“Even the way Ash so easily suggested hiring me as a barista…”

I stopped thinking for a moment.

“Ha… haha…”

This is seriously hardcore.