Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 043

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
043: The Gift of Despair

←PREVIOUS

NEXT→

——

“So this is the cafe… It definitely looks like one,” Natsuki commented.

“Yeah. It looks just like a cozy cafe in some residential town in Japan,” Yuki added.

“Exactly. Come on, let’s go inside.”

At my suggestion, we pushed open the door and entered. Again, there were no customers in sight.

“Welc- Oh! Nao-san!!”

Aera, who had been standing behind the counter with a miserable expression on her face, immediately started to smile once she saw me. Rushing over, she grabbed onto my hands and held them tightly.

“Y-You really came back!! Thank you!”

She was looking up at me with tear-filled eyes. Behind me, I heard two voices murmur ‘Guilty’, but I pretended not to notice.

“I did tell you I’d come again. Look, everything’s fine, so calm down, OK?”

“Oh! Yes, sorry.”

“Well, let’s start with introductions. This is Natsuki, and this is Yuki.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise… And Nao, you sound strange… Like some flirt.”

“Honestly!? How could you think that of me!?”

I knew I’d softened my tone when speaking to Aera, as if she was a child… But were they expecting me to be all aloof and formal?

“Erm, you can speak to me normally?” Aera suggested, and I nodded.

“…Sorry, I didn’t realize I’d been speaking strangely. I’ll take note to speak to you just like how I speak to everyone, then.”

“It’s OK. We’re quite close in age anyway, so you can speak to me like an adult.”

Oh, is that so?

But it made sense. I mean, she’d done an apprenticeship and saved enough money to open a restaurant, so there was a chance that she could be even older than me.

“Anyway, these girls are my comrades… There’s also a beast-hybrid and another elf, but they’re busy so they can’t come today. They might drop by in the future if they have time.”

“Oh, so there are more elves. I’d love to meet them. It’s so rare to see elves in this city…”

“Oh… You’re right. I haven’t seen any other elves around.”

Aera shared that in the city where she did her apprenticeship, it wasn’t uncommon to walk down the street and spot several elves out and about. As for Rafan, Aera was the first elf I’d met, and I didn’t remember meeting many members of the other races as well.

“Well, I’ll bring her here when she’s free, but first, we need to get this restaurant back on track,” I said.

“Yes! But… How?” Aera asked, head tilted to one side.

I pointed to Yuki and Natsuki.

“First… I’d like you to make lunch for these girls. Just one set will do, they can share.”

“Sure!! Got it! But it may take some time, is that OK?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s still morning. Sure, take your time.”

“OK. Please wait.”

With that, Aera bowed and retreated into the kitchen.

“…Hmm, she’s really cute, huh?” Yuki commented.

“Yes. She looks really young, so you just want to protect her. Do you like these types, Nao-san? Are you a lolicon?” Natsuki teased.

“What an accusation!! Of course not!”

I wouldn’t deny that Aera was cute, but I totally had no romantic interest in her. OK, I mostly had no romantic interest in her.

…I mean, come on, I’m still a guy, right? It’s natural that I’d be just a little interested in cute girls.

Besides, it’d be strange if I held zero interest in girls. Also, Aera was not a loli. She was probably older than me.

“A-Anyway, we should talk about the restaurant. Any advice?”

“Hmm… Well… It looks really nice??” Natsuki commented ambiguously.

Yuki nodded in agreement as she looked around the shop.

“Yeah, the interior does look great.”

“Yes. It’s really nice and clean. I won’t mind spending an afternoon here drinking tea,” Natsuki added.

“Yep, just like a cafe…”

Before we went to Saarstat, we’d had lunch at a cafe too, and while the prices had been high in that place, it was still really popular. Maybe Aera should aim to model her shop in the same way, but it might be tough given its location?

Customers might come here to relax if they knew about it, but the concept of advertising seemed to be lacking in this world, so it might be tough to build up a reputation.

“Does this place have a menu…?” Natsuki asked.

“Not on the walls, but she has it on a wooden board.”

“Hmm, I see…”

Natsuki was frowning. While having handheld menus was common in Japan, the practice was rare in this world. And while menus allowed customers to read more about dishes…

“T-Thank you for waiting! Erm… I’ll put this on the table.”

Aera had emerged from the kitchen. With a quick glance at the counter, she decided against it and moved to place the plate of food on a table instead.

“Please enjoy!”

“Ooh, what a nice presentation. Itadakimasu.”

With that, Yuki took the first bite of food, then passed the plate to Natsuki.

“Yep, it tastes great. Above average… Yep, much much above average,” she commented.

“Yes. Probably the best-tasting food I’ve had in this city,” Natsuki agreed as she took a bite, then pushed the plate to me.

Though we’d just had breakfast and I was pretty full, I had no choice but to finish up the rest. The dishes today were different from yesterday, but it was still really tasty. The seasoning was relatively simple, but Aera’s use of various herbs was just brilliant.

“Also… May we see the menu?” Natsuki asked.

“Y-Yes! Here you go!”

Aera dashed to the counter, grabbed a menu, and came back to our table.

“…I see. Alright, please take a seat, and let’s talk about this, OK?” Natsuki suggested.

“Yes! Oh, let me get everyone some drinks! Any orders?”

“Anything is good… But may I have musook tea, please? You two alright with that?” Natsuki asked.

Musook tea? What was that? I had no clue, but I figured there must be a reason why Natsuki requested for it, so I nodded.

“OK. Please wait.”

Aera dashed into the kitchen again, as we sat down around the table and waited.

~

“OK. First, why are there no customers? That’s easy,” Natsuki stated.

“R-Really!?”

“Yes. If you’re not the owner, I think you would have realized it too, Aera-san. It’s because your shop looks too classy.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

“Agreed.”

“…Huh!?”

The cafe was located in a normal residential area, which wasn’t a place where super rich people lived. It also wasn’t along the main street, so it would be hard for people who didn’t live in the area to come across it.

In short, judging by the shop’s exterior, most people who walked past it would assume that it was a high-class, luxury restaurant.

I had been the only exception, since the shop appealed to me as a person from another world. Even so, if Aera hadn’t come outside to greet me, I wouldn’t have entered the shop as well.

Maybe I would have gone inside on my own if I’d had more money, but the regular denizens of this world probably wouldn’t have chosen to enter a shop that looked too pricey.

If only there were customers who could help spread the word that the food wasn’t as expensive as people assumed. But since Aera just opened her shop a few days ago, she didn’t have that kind of customer base. And without a customer base, she could not expect to attract any new customers.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I guess it’s true. I was so happy to have a beautiful and wonderful shop, but if I were asked to dine here as a customer myself, based on my salary… I’d also be hesitant.”

Aera lowered her head, discouraged. It must have been a big blow to her, knowing that the problem was so obvious but she hadn’t noticed it herself.

“But… I don’t have any more money to move to another location, or even to change the exterior…”

“There is no need for that,” Natsuki said.

“Exactly. You need customers to know that the food here isn’t expensive, so you just need to place a signboard of some kind outside,” Yuki explained.

It was a common strategy employed in Japan by restaurants located on the upper floors of buildings, so we were familiar with it.

Placing a signboard with a menu and pictures of the food at the base of the stairs on the first floor helped to draw the attention of people walking along the street, and maybe perk their interest enough to head up to the restaurant. Without that, people might not even know there was a restaurant there, and the owner would have to resort to word of mouth or the Internet to advertise their shop.

With the help of gestures, Yuki explained what the signboards looked like, as Aera looked on and nodded enthusiastically.

“Maybe the carpenter who helped to renovate my shop can make a signboard for me too! Thank you!”

“It may be troublesome, but it’ll be best to get a board that is painted black. That way, you can use chalk to write on it and change the contents every day. You can explain what dishes will be in the lunch special, and even draw pictures to attract attention,” Yuki continued.

“I see! That makes sense…”

It was a gamble, since most eateries in this world didn’t have the habit of explaining what food they served up in their daily specials. No, make that zero eateries, aside from the Slumbering Bear. But if Aera could write about her dishes on a board outside the shop, some people might see it and think it sounded delicious enough to try.

“So that should be enough to attract some customers…”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Aera bowed in thanks, a bright smile on her face, but Natsuki just shook her head.

“But your business will still fail.”

“…Huh?”

Aera’s smile froze in place.

——
←PREVIOUS

NEXT→

---

If you liked the chapter, please consider buying me a coffee at Ko-fi! :)