Chapter 123

Working Girl Ellis

"Ellis, I have a favor to ask."

"That's rare. What is it Frau?"

Frau's request was simple enough, just to make an extra Sleep ring and Spirit ring.

"Well alright, but what are they for?"

"Actually Ellis,"

It turned out that Frau was having a hard time forgetting all the wonderful china in Pottery City Ceramics, especially the teaware. It had gotten to the point where she absolutely wanted to show some of those superb tea pots to Aiful and Credia.

Fe-rin should be able to carry three people easily, and he is capable of forming his own barrier. But that doesn't change the fact that a long flight would be hard for an ordinary person to endure. That was where the Sleep ring would come in. The essential point here would mean giving the two girls a day off.

"I wonder if it's no good Ellis."

"It's fine, but what about the Teahouse?"

"I suppose it would be closed for the day..."

Ellis thought for a moment. Maria had put her foot down and refused to let her leave this city until the messenger from the kingdom arrived. This could be a good way to kill some time.

And so the next day.

As per Frau's request, Ellis made the two rings for her trip, but she then went on to change into her own custom-made maid uniform. And then with cord string she strapped Rchin onto her back.

"Shall we get going then Frau?"

"Ellis, what's with those clothes?"

"I'll be running the Teahouse today while they're gone. Do you have a complaint?"

Today Frau would be going to Ceramics, Reeve would be acting on Ellis's orders to investigate messages being relayed between the capitol and the northern area, Claire was working on building Mogemoge-kun unit 2 for the Workshop Guild, and Katie had been over at the live house since morning. So Ellis decided to run the Teahouse since she was bored.

After the two girls arrived at the Teahouse, Aiful and Credia were initially surprised to hear Ellis's offer, but they quickly lowered their heads and thanked her for her thoughtfulness.

Fe-rin returned to his normal size at the back of the store, and Frau, Aiful, and Credia hopped on after changing into pants and boots suitable for horseback riding.

"Well then we're heading out Ellis."

"Have a safe trip, and don't forget about souvenirs."

"I'll be sure to bring back some delicious pickles."

And so Fe-rin flapped his wings and quickly disappeared on the horizon.

"Yo, Aiful, we'd like one set please."

The first to enter the store today was the Buzz, Doug combo. They had just gotten off their early morning patrol.

"Please wait one moment."

The two men felt something was off though when they heard a different from usual voice respond to them. And then when their tea and cake set finally came out, it was a pretty blonde girl who came out holding the large tray.

"Geh, Ellis. What are you doing with that stuff?"

"Isn't it rude to go 'Geh' as soon as you see me? Aiful and Credia are out for the day. That's why I'm filling in as the shopkeeper. By the way, you uncles seem to be doing pretty well for yourselves to have tea so early in the morning."

"Nonono, you look nice Ellis. Super cute. The Guardian Dragon hanging off your back is also a great touch."

"Why thank you Doug."

Thinking that they had found something interesting, the duo quickly ate their cake and drained their tea before leaving the store.

After some time had pa.s.sed, the next two customers were the two guild masters Baltis and Theseus.

"Oi oi oi, don't worry about it my honorable adviser. We can handle a little part-time selfishness."

"Hey there, would it be possible to gather up the neighborhood girls and open up shop? It sounds like you've woken to something strange."

Ellis wanted to hurl when the two of them came in talking about something disgusting. But she was working now and knew how to keep a business smile.

"Welcome uncles. What would you like to order?"

"You."

"You."

"Welcome back you s.h.i.tty old men."

Ellis set the two's tea down on the table hard without saying anything more. After returning to the back of the store, she came back carrying two pots of Lorenburg tea bearing the Warren's Jewelry Box flag on it. She then placed those in front of the two of them as well, still wearing her business smile on the surface, but you didn't need to know Ellis to notice that her smile wasn't reaching her eyes.

"Alright uncles, that will be 7,000 ril."

"My fellow honorable adviser, when did 750 ril plus 5500 ril become 7000?"

"I suppose when it includes a tip?"

Despite the two's interactions, they enjoyed sipping on their tea while watching Ellis hard at work. After a satisfying break, each of them left behind a 10,000 ril bill behind.

Next up were the three masters of Gentleman's Street,

"Oho, it's just like the master was saying. Those clothes suit you Ellis."

"My my, you look like a doll more than ever before. I'd like something to eat Ellis."

"Ellis in those clothes looks even more beautiful than I could have imagined,"

Margherita, Marilyn, and Machel each marveled at how Ellis looked in uniform.

"Welcome big sisters. Will each of you be having a set?"

Ellis guessed their orders, and after running back to pick up a tray, separated out the food for the three older women. She then walked back into the store to do some washing. Her appearance was cute and funny even from the women's perspectives.

Flint and Maria were the next to arrive. As Ellis was still busy washing some dishes, Machel stood up from her chair and walked to the back of the shop.

"Lady, let me take care of this while you go help your customers."

Even though Machel was helping her by doing the dishes, Ellis still forewent taking an order and instead immediately carried over two tea sets to Flint and Maria.

"Hoh, so it's just like Theseus said. There really was something cute at the shop today."

"So this was that cute thing. I wonder what kind of wind is blowing through today."

Two people familiar with Ellis's black heart started saying some unnecessary things, so Ellis went ahead and fired back.

"I wonder if those are words that should be said when a pretty little girl is forced to do hard labor like this, uncle, auntie."

Ellis walked back into the store as her two customers enjoyed a cup of tea alongside a rousing round of laughter.

"Thanks Machel. You saved me."

"No no, you're always helping us out, so this is the least I can do."

Ken walked into the building carrying a box with him there.

"Aiful, I brought over an additional cake. ...….! What are you doing here Milady!?"

Ken's surprise almost caused him to drop the cake box he was carrying.

"Pardon me. I'm watching the shop today."

Customers continued to visit the shop one after another as the day continued on. Apparently Buzz and Doug were running through the streets telling everyone they pa.s.sed that there was something interesting at the Teahouse today.

Just as Ellis's eyes began to roll around in their sockets as the shop became busier and busier, Claire came in with Pi-tan resting on top of her head. She had apparently predicted that just such a thing was going to happen and decided to help out after finishing her work with Mogemoge-kun.

"I knew it would be like this. I'll help out, so let's continue to work hard until closing time."

"Thank youuuuu! You saved me!"

Thus on this day the two girls worked together serving tea in their local tea shop. Unfortunately the news that Claire was also wearing a maid uniform soon spread as well, and the afternoon became packed with youngsters from the Workshop Guild who all showed up at once. Soon both of the girls' eyes were swimming in their skulls.

Meanwhile in Ceramics. Since Frau had already introduced herself as a member of the Merchant Guild the last time she stopped by, she was able to buy up goods without issue this time. And just as Frau had guessed, Aiful and Credia really did have a wonderful eye. The three of them went around to various shops, browsed the sales, gave their impressions at the teahouses they visited, and picked out their own fine china to have.

"Mother, wouldn't these be perfect for those old men?"

Credia picked out a couple of boorish yet somehow tasteful cups.

"Let's see, it might be nice to change up the cups we use depending on who the customer is."

Aiful had picked out a variety of different cups and plates, each sporting a beautiful design on milk-white pottery. Just imagining how the store would shine if she were to decorate it with these was fun for her.

Frau was following behind these two with a wide smile spread across her face. Whenever she walked through the city, Ellis was always thinking of new tricks or get-rich-quick schemes to pull, Reeve preferred staying at home, Katie would always wander off, and Claire just had the worst taste. That's why she always did the shopping by herself, but here she had finally found a shopping group to go along with her.

"How about we go shopping in Marsfield or Wisdom next time?"

The two girls happily nodded at Frau's proposal. And so their shopping trip continued until noon.

"We're back."

When Frau and the other two came back to the Teahouse, Ellis and Claire were sitting collapsed on top of each other completely tired out. Sitting next to them were Rchin, who had managed to work his way out of Ellis's piggyback cord, and Pi-tan, who had hopped off of Claire's head, both looking pretty bored.

"Aiful, that, today's sales...."

Ellis weakly pointed over towards the register. There was more than three times the day's usual sales inside.

"Ellis, let's do this again please."

Due to exhaustion, Ellis wasn't able to reply to Frau's radiant smile. However, that radiant smile showed Frau's strong intentions to go out shopping again. Ellis regretted everything about this.

While this day was just supposed to be for killing time, it ended up being the most work Ellis had had to do since she first reincarnated.