🔊 TTS Settings
~Chapter 39~
With Viscount Garnet’s full support, the counseling office “Requies” opened just fifteen days later.
Because of its nature as a counseling place, I chose a quiet alley inside the capital.
Like one of those trendy restaurants you only find if you search carefully—it was my strategy so people could visit discreetly and feel safe.
But…
“This hidden… maybe it’s just hidden from everyone.”
I’d hidden it so well that a full week passed since the opening, and not a single new customer had come.
Even on the first day, the only visitors had been the knights. And now, with joint training underway, even they couldn’t come.
Of course, “hidden spots” worked in the modern world because of SNS.
But here? With no SNS? It was just a clueless person starting a doomed business.
“This is what they call… empty like a fly-trap place, right?”
Crunch, crunch.
Omok, who had popped up at my call, nibbled on sugar-free oat cookies while rubbing salt in my wound.
“You sure talk a lot for someone eating my snacks for free, Omok.”
“N-no! I just wanted to know if I used the phrase correctly!”
“Good excuse.”
I reached out as if to take the cookie away, and Omok quickly wrapped both wings around it.
“Still, it’s amazing you used your granted ability to start a shop! I think that’s really great!”
“…Hmph.”
He sure knew what was tasty.
It was obvious flattery, but his nervous cuteness made me let it slide.
“And also, the bonus ability I gave you has reached stage two, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, but… I still can’t see the hero and heroine’s worries.”
Like Omok said, the matchmaking system was going smoothly.
Every time a pop-up asked if I wanted to play Cupid, I agreed—and the couples connected successfully.
But Richard and Lyssa still had the little lock icon floating over their heads.
“Since the main characters’ info is so important, it takes a lot of experience points. You also saw another person with that lock icon before, right?”
“Yes.”
“Have you checked if they still have it?”
“I can’t check if I can’t meet them.”
I had tried to meet Bastian a few times.
But after I returned home from the capital, Viscount Garnet slapped on an outing ban, so I couldn’t even try then.
Later, when I regained access to the knight order, I tried again, but he was always “too busy.”
“…Though somehow, he still meets Lyssa often.”
I knew it was work-related, but it was annoying that he kept refusing me.
Maybe next time Lyssa went, I should shamelessly tag along.
“Currently, you’ve connected six couples.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t know if things are progressing right. I don’t know the original story, so I can’t tell if things are on track.”
Omok fiddled with his little apple-shaped tablet as if checking my progress log.
I sighed out my frustration.
“Our service has a lot of freedom, so once the customer transmigrates, the story often changes. But considering that, you’re adapting very well and gaining experience quickly. So don’t worry.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
I exhaled with relief.
Even though I’d grown close to Richard, I still had zero information about the final villain. That had made me anxious, but Omok’s reassurance eased me a little.
“Anything else you want to ask?”
“Oh! Right, I actually called you for something else!”
I pulled out my fountain pen.
Since it was practically my lifeline, I always carried it instead of leaving it in the mansion.
“What do you want to know?”
“Not long ago, I went to a shop. The owner said he’d seen something made of the same material as this. But plastic shouldn’t exist in this world, right?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“So I started thinking…”
At the time, I brushed it off.
But every time I looked at my pen, the shop owner’s words returned.
What if he hadn’t mistaken it?
What if he really had seen something from the modern world?
That suspicion led to one possible thought.
“Could it be… I’m not the only one who transmigrated into this novel?”
I stared at Omok with excitement.
If someone else was here too, maybe I could team up with them to reach the ending.
And if they knew the original story, things would be much easier.
“Please, let it be true!”
My ideal scenario filled my mind, and I desperately wished for it.
“There’s no way that’s possible.”
Even though I clasped my hands like in prayer, Omok cut me off coldly.
What! Give me back my hope!
His tone left no room for doubt, but I couldn’t let go so easily.
“How can you be so sure? Someone might’ve transmigrated without you knowing!”
“There are strict rules. Once a customer is placed in a story, no one else can join. It’s impossible.”
“But what if—like your mistake before—someone slipped in by accident?”
“My mistake wasn’t that bad! That rule is the most important. If I broke it, I’d be fired immediately!”
Omok hopped around angrily, practically screaming that it was absolutely impossible.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you just gave me one more ally…”
I muttered sadly, feeling lonely again.
“Then what about the shop owner’s claim?”
“Did he actually touch your pen?”
“No, he only looked.”
“Then how would he know what the material was? He must’ve spoken without really knowing.”
Maybe…
But he had seemed like an experienced craftsman. I couldn’t dismiss his words completely.
“Really, there’s absolutely no chance another transmigrator exists?”
“Yes, absolutely none. If by some miracle one did, I’d become your slave for life!”
Omok declared with full confidence.
With such bold certainty, I had no choice but to accept it.
My tiny hope was crushed beneath Omok’s sharp beak of denial.
“Instead of worrying about that, focus on making your counseling office a huge success.”
“Cold-hearted bird. You just stabbed me with facts.”
But he wasn’t wrong.
The real problem now was that my ambitious new counseling office was still empty.
If customers didn’t come to me, I’d have to go to them.
“Maybe I should attend a social party…”
After all, where do lots of young men and women gather?
At social parties.
Even the name says it: “social.” People chat, lock eyes, sip tea together, dance together—and fall in love.
The problem was, I had no friends who could invite me.
Lyssa wasn’t the type to care about social events, so she couldn’t help.
“Guess I’ll just check at home if there are any invitations addressed to me.”
With no other ideas, I decided to return to the mansion.
But just as I reached for the doorknob—
Jingle—
“Um… excuse me… is the shop closed for today?”
At last—
My long-awaited very first customer had stepped through the door of Requies.
