Chapter 87: The Opening, and The Rose-Colored Cafe
The opening of the reading cafe [Tsukuyomi] was unexpectedly popular. The system itself was unusual, so it became the topic of many conversations, but it seems that one after another people who inadvertently overstayed in cozy atmosphere appeared.
For that reason, after the third day I made a Free Pass Course. By paying a fixed amount, it’s a course that will allow one to go in and out freely all day long. Though the charge is a little bit high, it is considerably cheaper than the usual course for a whole day.
With chairs and private rooms becoming insufficient, we opened up the garden, so people can read there too on the sofas. However that course was wholly self-service, it’s just for reading. And on rainy days it becomes completely unusable.
The most unexpected of all is the ratio between men and women guests. Because it had the image of a manga cafe, I thought there’d be more men, but there were definitely more women. About eighty percent were women. It’s possible but, the reason for this might be because we specialized in story books.
It seems that the men wanted references, picture books, magic books, and practical books like fencing, they weren’t interested in story books as much. But even so, there are men who come in order to read about legends of knights, stories of adventurers, records of wars, and so on.
Since it became clear that there were a lot women, novels that were popular with the women were stocked on the bookshelves as much as possible. As soon as the various books Lindsey bought were displayed, the number of women suddenly increased even further. Because there were a lot of people who wanted to read them, who knows how many copies I made, several of the same books were lined up. My mouth can’t say what books they were. At least I want to distance myself from men who willingly read those. I feel danger for my body.
Maa, at any rate it was a great success and we earned a lot of income. Since I was able to give out the salaries for seven people properly with sufficient margin, everyone left the mansion and found their own lodging. Rebecca-san and Logan-san left a long time ago, while Will left at the same time as Wendy. Of course for the same lodging. Though not in the same room. Furthermore, Wendy was in the same room as Sylvie-san. Hang in there, boy.
「Now then, it has been a while since we went to the guild, maybe we should do our main job?」
There’s a new [Program] in my smartphone, and I also want to try out the no-attribute magic [Gravity]. Everybody else seemed to have other plans, so only Yumina is free. Because only Yumina’s guild card is blue, it seems she wanted to quickly make it the same red rank as ours.
「Then, it’s just us two, right?」
「Hai. It will be a subjugation date」
Er no, excuse me but I don’t want such a bloody date……
On the way to the guild she wanted to cling on my arm, but because it was difficult to walk she agreed to just hold hands. It’s still embarrassing in its own manner however.
When we arrive at the guild, there were adventurers gathered around lively as usual. When we try to approach the request board, a big man was standing in front of it blocking the way. In black trousers and tiger-striped vest, which he is wearing directly on his skin. A large double-edge axe is hanging on his waist, and some fashion chain necklace jangling on his neck. There’s not a single strand of hair on his head, who was broadly grinning.
「Oi brats, what are you doing in this kind of place? This place is not a kid’s playground, you know?」
It’s a face I haven’t seen before. Did this guy just come to the royal capital just recently? You can’t exactly forget if you’ve seen a guy with a bad sense of style once.
Looking around, some guys among the adventurers there are smirking. However they are not smirking at me. They are smirking at the guy in front of me.
Well now, what shall I do with that.
「You, did you not hear me!? Before you get hurt, gugya! ?」
I shot him without hesitation because his hand was reaching out for Yumina. Well, of course with paralysis bullets you know? But it’s still as painful as receiving a body blow. I think he was still conscious, so I take out my guild card and put it in front of his eyes.
「If you judge people by their appearances you’re gonna have a bad time you know?」
With his eyes wide open after seeing the Red Rank card, I drag the guy, then throw him out of the guild. I used [Gravity] to make him lighter, which was helpful. I could carry him easily.
When I returned inside the guild, the guys who were grinning some time ago were bursting into explosive laughter. As I thought, they were smirking as they anticipated that it would come to this.
「Picking a fight with a [Dragon Slayer], that guy sure has some guts!」
「Someone should’ve told him. Everyone’s bad for keeping quiet! 」
「Fool! If we had we wouldn’t be able to enjoy ourselves then, would we?」
That is for certain, and everyone bursted into laughter. Say you….
Maa, actually, it’s not the first time that I’ve been picked for fight like this. In my case, it’s probably because I don’t look strong in appearance (it’s pitiful to be the one saying so), so I’m often getting entangled with those type of bunch. Each time it happens, I’m stuck with beating them down.
Maa, oh well. Anyway, I go towards the board and start looking at the posted commissions. This time there’s only two of us, it will be safer to leave out subjugations, which require many people.
I take in my hand one subjugation request from among the red requests.
「Bloody Crab? Is it a crab?」 (tl: first is the term (kana), second is the description(kanji))
「It is a huge red crab which is a demon beast. It has four big scissors, and its trait is a very hard carapace. The shell is sold as raw materials for protectors, and it seems that its meat can be sold at a high price too you know?」
Ho-ho. It is a delicious story, as expected of a crab. Let’s accept this for the time being. Subjugation target is also just one animal, and because it’s not so far from the mine where we took down the mithril golems, we can get there easily.
Tearing off the written request, I take it to the Onee-san at the counter. Yumina is a blue rank, but I’m a red rank, so there’s no problem. It wouldn’t be possible to accept it however, if we had someone else who was also of a lower rank since there’d be more people of a lower rank.
「Ano~…… aren’t you Mochizuki Touya-san, the owner of the reading cafe [Moon Read]?」
Having received the written request, the Onee-san from reception desk nervously started talking to me.
「Haa, it is me…..」
「Ano, there is a series called [Knight Order of Rose] among the books in the Rifuziru Empire, but do you have something like a schedule for its arrival?」
While Onee-san is blushing, she approaches me excitedly. It seems she really wanted to read that book.
「E~to, is that book completed?」
「Hai! It should have already been completed with 15 volumes!」
If it is completed then it should be fine to buy it too. They might lose interest if I don’t buy new ones occasionally. should I go and buy it after returning from the subjugation?
「Then I’ll purchase them. It will be available by tomorrow, will it be all right?」
「So fast!? Waaa! I will look forward to it! Because tomorrow will be my day off, I will be able to enjoy it all day! 」
After we were seen off by the Onee-san who was being overly delighted and pleased, we leave the guild. Yumina, who has been keeping quiet all this time, was intermittently looking this way.
「Ano~… Touya-san. Do you know what kind of story the [Knight Order of Rose] is ?」
「Ah, well. It is a tale of a Knight Order of a country, there’s only men in the [Knight Order of Rose], and there is a discord with the women only [Imperial Guards of Lilium] developing in the background, and this series has lovemaking being depicted within the Knight Order… 」
Wait a minute. [Within the Knight Order]? Eh? That means, with nothing but men in the Knight Order… Catching my glance, Yumina veeery quickly averts her eyes. E, so it’s really like that?
「… The promise has already been made, so it would be bad if I don’t buy it now, wouldn’t it… 」
「It is so… Well, it will likely result with just being seen in a particular light for a moment by the bookstore staff… 」
Unuu. I can’t have Yumina go and buy it as well.
「….. At any rate, you know that book pretty well, don’t you?」
「Ah~ no, you see, I was just saying it so there’s no misunderstanding, I don’t really have such a hobby, really. I don’t read this kinds of books, really!」
Really, you say? I give a doubting look at the small lady. There is also Lindsey’s case, isn’t she being similarly influenced too? Well, it doesn’t mean that it is particularly a bad one. Each person has their hobby, right? I won’t say that out loud though.
「… As a matter of fact, I know the one who wrote that work. That’s how I came to know about that work too…… Because that person is famous, it is not being published using their real name, they’re using an alias」
「No, Touya-san perhaps doesn’t know that person. …. You can’t say it to anyone, okay? Ririeru・Rimu・Rifurizu-sama…. The first princess of Rifurizu empire」
………………………Ah ?
Wait~wait~wait~wait~just-a-minute~wait. The princess of the whole country is… writing that kind of book, you say?
「The royal families of The Rifurizu Empire and the Belfast Kingdom have known each other since olden days… I know Riri-anesama very well from olden days too. Maa, before anyone know it, she had [that kind of hobby] and eventually wrote it herself…… 」
My head aches…… I will stay away from Rifurizu as much as possible. It would be a disaster if I am even made a model or material after carelessly meeting her with misfortune. Is what I think, but I still have to go and buy that book! Kuu.
Maa, since there’s no way that an imperial princess will be in the town’s bookstore, it’ll be alright I think.
But still, it’s fine with the Onee-san at the reception, and it’s fine with the bookstore guests, I wonder if I have possibly brought too much culture to this country?… I won’t have my name go down in history, will I?
Anyway, for now, let’s go defeat the Bloody Crab. I move through the [Gate] with Yumina