Chapter 23: Raising Ranks and… Opening a Café?

'So, I'm a Viscount now, huh.'

I looked at the fancy piece of paper in my hands stating my new rank in an extravagant font.

The meeting with the king went mostly as I had predicted.

I was invited early and had a private meeting with the king—sadly, the queen wasn't present. Such a great misfortune, indeed.

With a stoic and firm face, he looked like a man who had been through a lot in life. His eyes showed certain wisdom earned from experience, but I also knew that they were also a visual façade to make him look more majestic.

Sure, the king was decent. But he was by no means an exceptional person. As seen by the state of the kingdom and his own child. Not that I blamed him completely for it. Handling an entire kingdom was no joke.

The man who looked like a much older and more mature version of his power ranger son first tried to gauge me by acting faux annoyance and positional superiority.

But when he saw me not budge, he didn't stay for long and after giving a vague speech about the kingdom and honor as a kingdom's knight, he left.

Honestly, I was pretty sure neither of us had good first impressions of another. But it never came into play due to the short-lived conversation. He seemed annoyed with me during the entire conversation but didn't do anything to antagonize or annoy me, keeping things very formal and stiff instead.

Later that day, I was publically awarded the title of an upper-rank Viscount for my actions and achievements. They skipped one rank and promoted me to two ranks up.

But that was not as important. I already knew about it. What was important was that I finally got to see Queen Mylene for the first time and… wow, she blew everyone else by a large margin.

The platinum-blonde-haired beauty with light-blue eyes, a glamorous body, and yet a gentle and tender impression was indeed worthy of her public moniker of: 'The most beautiful lady of the kingdom'.

I couldn't help but be amused and excited when I saw her standing near the sitting king with a gentle and kind smile.

Not because she was arousing, though that was certainly a small part of it.

No, I was more amused by the fact that that smile hid a calculating and appraising gaze.

Most people often forgot a simple fact about the Queen because of her normally gentle and polite attitude. She had a very realistic and ruthless side to her.

After all, in the political arena, she was also known for her dreadful moniker, Black-heart Princess.

I don't know why, but knowing that fact only made me more interested in the woman. I hadn't known much about her from my memories of the game or my research, but after I started studying more about her using the spy drones, I learned a tad more about her.

Indeed, she had quite a few sides to herself. But in the end, she was still a generous and kind-hearted person at the core. It was only because the world forced her to act in a certain way that she did it.

I have zero guilt accepting the fact that after I learned about the reason for my attendance, most of the 'surveillance' after that was focused mainly on her. After all, it was quite easy to figure out who was the real leader of this kingdom.

It certainly wasn't the guy who had a secret hidden identity and a room devoted to that persona.

It was Mylene.

It truly was a shame that during the entire visit, I never once got the chance to talk to her alone. Perhaps that day would come one day in the future.

…

Much to my joyful surprise, that wish was granted fairly soon.

***

-A few weeks later-

"… And that's why, it is imperative that you do this, Mr. Alpenwind. This isn't just about studying or getting good grades. It's about learning the beautiful art of service."

The elegant old man with white hair and a well-kept white mustache, wearing a monocle spoke to me, trying to explain the beauty and elegance of the art of what he called 'being a gentleman' but to me looked like being a glorified waiter.

The tea professor's class was among the few subjects I didn't do very well in, relatively speaking. Reason being that they were too tedious and exceedingly bothersome for me. I couldn't use my superior strength and magic to ace it, nor could I could my high INT skill to mug things up easily. The body language, tone of voice, and all other intricate details were quite annoying to perfectly follow.

Also, much to my exasperation, Professor Ava didn't go easy on me and had asked the tea professor to give me an extracurricular activity. The flirting attempt that day had finally come to bite me in the ass after so long. And here I had thought she was just bluffing when there were no detention classes.

This led to me getting an extra assignment to "make up" for the "lower-than-expected grades" this semester in the subject.

I still had to question this event. Why was I getting into this mess when I had tried to avoid exactly these kinds of bothersome things? It was as if the world itself was trying to make me go through this. (A/N: *Sweating profusely*)

I looked at the passionate man with a tired expression.

"So, basically, you want me to open a café and serve tea and snacks in the upcoming school festival, professor?"

"Well, I suppose that's a simpler way to put it. Indeed. I think it'll be a great experience to learn humility and gentlemanliness. Don't you think so too, Mr. Alpenwind?"

The man simply smiled his usual charming smile.

I would have replied with a 'No, not really' if I hadn't known about this man.

This man… this simple looking elegant old man was quite strict when it came to his passion for teaching etiquette. Furthermore, he was a monster when it came to persuasion and teaching.

It was almost on the level that I had to wonder if he had the skill to brainwash students or something? Almost everyone in his class paid rapt attention to his lessons. The man had invoked in two of the students in my class, who were previously completely uninterested in the subject, the newfound love for tea-making in a single 10-minute lecture. The duo was now quite diligent in his subject from what I heard from rumors Eris collected as a pastime. (A/N: Any guess who the duo is? They've been featured in the fic before.)

Anyway, somehow or the other, I was stuck with a slightly bothersome task of running a café this upcoming school festival.

"I'll… think about it, professor."

I had replied at the time, not really that inclined about it.

But later, I gave it some thought and my recent endeavors, good mood, along with some positive reinforcement from Olivia and Angelica whom I had told about this and who were surprisingly quite interested in the idea, and finally not finding any better reason to not do it other than it being slightly bothersome, I decided to do it in the end.

The school was about to hold its school festival and I had quite a lot of free time until the next major event occurred.

As much as I didn't care for this academy, I still had to do the bare minimum, and… Olivia just looked too happy about doing something together with Angelica and me. I couldn't deny her after that, now could I? Why would I break the poor girl's heart for so little?

And so, that is how I opened my very own café in the Academy: Mr. Beans. Named by yours truly as an homage to one of my favorite characters from my previous world.

***

'Hn, let's see…'

The furniture was set and neatly organized to give a feel for an exotic-looking, semi-modern café. The premium set I had ordered was also ready to be used, thanks in part to my new male slav—ahem, male student helpers that I had been given by the professor to help me. How generous of him. He really didn't have to do that, but he did. And I appreciated his gesture. Finally, the ingredients and the special brewing machine I asked Eris to transport were also here.

'Yup, everything's ready. Now, all that's left is… oh, there they are.'

I looked at the two blondes approaching, wearing matching black and white waitress dresses that emphasized their features thanks to their form-fit nature. It looked quite pleasing to the eye.

'The eye-catching waitresses lure—attract the customers. Now we're all set to open.'

The two male helpers I had gotten as additional help from the professor seemed almost spellbound by the view in front. I couldn't blame them for their reaction. It was quite a sight for the sore eyes.

"Um, does it look weird on me?"

Olivia asked, fidgeting and embarrassed.

"I-I'm not used to wearing such dresses. So, I feel kind of strange…"

I gave her an appraising look, my eyes certainly not staying longer than a moment on certain areas.

"How do I say this, Livia…"

I began, causing the girl to look downcast for a moment until I continued.

"… You look gorgeous in it. It emphasizes your cuteness even more. I like it."

She blushed, averting her gaze from me. After enjoying that reaction for a little while, I turned to look at the other blonde in the matching dress.

"And you look beautiful as well, Angelica. You rock this uniform."

The girl in question simply hummed in response.

"This emphasizes my bust a little too much."

She commented, causing everyone minus me to turn to the area in question.

Indeed, I had already noticed that the instant she had come into my line of sight.

Not breaking my eye contact with her, I suggested.

"If it feels comfortable, you can try other outfits?"

"Hmm, no. It's not really uncomfortable."

She nodded to herself.

"I think I'll stick to it. I'm used to wearing such uniforms anyway."

"Really?"

Olivia asked, surprised.

"Indeed. I spent two years at the royal palace, studying etiquette. It was part of my training for… never mind that. Anyway, you look adorable in that dress, Livia. As Leon said, the style matches your genuine innocence."

Olivia, hearing a compliment from both of us seemed more at ease and cheerful now.

"Thank you. I kinda like it too."

She spoke with a bright smile that, when mixed with her protagonist halo created quite a sight.

The two extras seemed enamored by the beauties.

"Wow… are these really girls from our Academy? The high nobility is really different from the low and middle nobility. And the honor student is an Angel."

One of them muttered.

"I know right? I wish all the girls were like this. Then, maybe even we could…"

The other sniffled, remembering something painful from the looks of it.

I snapped my fingers, grabbing their and the girls' attention.

…

—[Meanwhile, in another dimension, the next chapter of the story suddenly turns to dust.]

Author: Wait, WTF?! Son of a b—! You've GOT to be kidding me!!! THANOOOOSSS!!!

Thanos: It wasn't me, bro! I swear! Why do I get blamed for it every time?! I don't even have the infinity stones with me coz you're using them as paperweights!

Author: … Ahem. Never mind, then. My bad. I'll write it again. I was just lying anyway. I never wrote that chapter in the first place. Teehee! (≧∀≦)ゞ

Thanos: … I'm going back to my farm.—

…

"So! Now that we are all set, I think we should start advertising. I reckon we'll be competing with others and it'll be better to start sooner so more people learn about us sooner. Not that this is some competition."

I turned to look at the two extra helpers.

"I know you guys were supposed to help us in making tea and stuff, but I've already made arrangements for that. So, you can either take a break and rest, check out other stalls or rooms or maybe help with serving or with advertising. What do you guys wanna do?"

The duo, now back from whatever rainbows they were imagining, paused for a moment to think, and then the blonde one, Daniel, answered.

"Uh, I was hoping to be the chef or something here since the professor asked us to help you with brewing. But, if you don't need help with that, then I guess advertising is fine too."

"Yeah, same. Honestly, I don't think I can do well in the serving department. Especially not to those entitled girls that might come here."

The faded dark-green-haired one, Raymond, added with a gloomy face.

"Hmm, gotcha. Then, you can go out and help advertise the place."

"Um, I'd also like to help!"

I turned back to see Olivia raising her hand.

"You want to help advertise the café?"

I asked.

"Yes!"

She nodded.

"Sure. If it's you, then we'll attract more customers for sure."

I smiled, causing the girl to slightly blush again.

'Though, it'll probably mostly be male customers, now that I think about it.'

My smile dropped slightly at the realization.

***