episode_0092

“Job posting… done. The deadline is 3 weeks. Will I be able to find someone in 3 weeks? Or is it hard to find people in the countryside? Well, if I can’t find anyone, I’ll just do it alone. It’ll be much easier than when I was a part-timer at the emergency room. Alright then, let’s go with this!”

Click.

Successfully posted a job listing on the internet.

I was worried about whether I could find someone to work at the café in this countryside, but just this morning, I heard the lively chatter of two young women next door, so it seemed like I wouldn’t have any trouble finding someone.

“Oh, come to think of it, I should probably move my stuff, right?”

Thinking about my neighbors made me realize that I had been too busy with contracts and other things lately to think about it.

In a small town like this, where people are scarce compared to the city, it was inevitable to be closed off, and therefore, there was a possibility that they wouldn’t welcome a stranger like me.

From the perspective of opening the café in 3 weeks, I couldn’t just sit still.

The residents of this town were soon to be my future customers, so I had to at least move my stuff.

But I didn’t have the equipment to make rice cakes, but I did have a machine to make cakes.

“Well, if there are no rice cakes, I can just make cakes instead, right? Let’s bake a cake today.”

Whether it was due to my exceptional cooking skills, the oven’s performance manipulated by the status window, or the synergy between the two being beyond imagination, my skills were noticeably improving with each menu I created.

As I got more accustomed to it, I would be able to create even more delicious things in the future, and guests who had tried the menu items in my shop wouldn’t be able to forget the taste and would continue to visit.

“Hehehe, I’m looking forward to this…”

I already had confidence in the taste, and this confidence would only grow as time went on.

With the certainty that everything I made with my own hands would be delicious, I started making the cake, imagining the neighbors who would become regulars after eating this moving cake.

※

While Stay was busy baking the moving cake, two figures, Mir Ryuin and Mei Luina, were bustling in the dark alley outside the café.

“Stay is coming to our house to make a moving cake? We can eat a cake made by Stay himself? In this world. I should prepare the matching tea right away…”

“Stay is going to give moving cakes to the neighbors… Oh, the next-door neighbors will receive them too, right?”

Of course, in the suspicious alley where only suspicious people would enter, Mir Ryuin and Mei Luina, dressed in black hoodies and black robes, were discussing the moving cake that Stay was baking.

“Even though it’s a different building, it’s still the next door, and we’re so close that we can share everything through the windows, so Stay should give it to the neighbors, right?”

Naturally, depending on where you live, you could receive or not receive the moving cake, and Mei Luina, who had a place in a different building than Stay, next to Mir Ryuin, was at a disadvantage.

“Hmph. Who would go to a different building to deliver a moving cake? Even I, who doesn’t care about these trivial common sense things, know that moving cakes should only be given to people living in the same building. It’s best not to harbor false hopes, Mei Luina.”

In the naturally divided hierarchy based on whether you could receive Stay’s moving cake or not, Mir Ryuin, who lived in the same building as Stay, had the upper hand.

“Ugh…! Th-that’s just something you say when you’re turning a regular cake! Miss Stay is trying to promote the cake for the store! To promote it, you have to put in the effort, so she’ll definitely come to our house next door!”

“Hmm… Is that so? Well, that’s for Stay to decide. Unlike me, who is confirmed to receive the cake, you, uncertain if you can receive it as the next-door neighbor, should just pray for your good fortune, shouldn’t you?”

“Ugh…! Th-that’s blasphemy!”

“I hear that kind of thing often. They say it’s a talent to even blaspheme the gods. And isn’t it funny that you, who are now talking about gods, are a fake saint hiding behind a mask?”

“T-that’s…”

In the current situation, it was impossible for Mei Luina, who was just Stay’s next-door neighbor, to win a verbal argument against Mir Ryuin, who lived next to Stay.

In her excitement, Mei Luina even resorted to the ultimate divine blasphemy skill, but it was futile against Mir Ryuin, who was one of the few who knew Mei Luina’s true nature.

After all, Mei Luina herself was a fallen saint who had long abandoned the gods.

Unable to find the right words in the face of such a sharp-tongued opponent, Mei Luina was left speechless, and Mir Ryuin, with a face full of mockery, began to unleash a full-force verbal attack.

“Well, even if Stay’s moving cake reaches you, Mei Luina, who lives next door, before that, Stay will have already visited my house first. And you, as the next-door neighbor, will see that in real-time, won’t you? And even if you receive the cake from Stay, can you truly be happy? Hehehe…”

“Ugh…!”

Each word from the sharp-tongued Mir Ryuin was mercilessly piercing Mei Luina’s heart.

However, Mei Luina, a woman who survived in the Vatican solely on her own abilities, knew that a clumsy fighter could not survive in a real battle, and she quickly found a way to counterattack, fueled by her anger.

“S-so what!? Even if Mir Ryuin can’t meet Stay, it’s the same for you!”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? It’s true! If you were thinking of meeting Stay… No, if you had the courage to meet Stay, you would have met him already! But the fact that you haven’t done so means that Mir Ryuin also lacks the courage to meet Stay, right?”

“Argh…!”

Turning her anger into momentum, Mei Luina’s single counterattack swiftly struck at Mir Ryuin’s weak spot.

In truth, Mir Ryuin didn’t have the courage to meet Stay because she didn’t know what he would say to her. Just hearing Stay’s words through others, “I don’t like those three people,” was shocking enough to send her into a panic. If she were to hear those words directly from Stay, she would crumble to the ground and wail in despair.

This was Mir Ryuin’s conviction, and that’s why she lacked the courage to meet Stay and was too afraid of their reunion.

But more than her fear of reuniting with Stay, her fear of his absence was even greater, which is why Mir Ryuin had come to this rural area where he was.

“When I meet Stay, I’m afraid I’ll hear him say he doesn’t like me! Even if I don’t hear it directly from his mouth, I can tell by his expression or body language. We are S-class awakened beings with highly developed senses. That’s why I’m still too scared to meet Stay in person and instead, I’m lurking around in this alley, wondering if he even has the right to say such things to me.”

Just like Mir Ryuin, Meiruina was in a perfect position, so her words were not only piercing Mir Ryuin’s heart but also hurting her own heart.

However, knowing that it’s much better for both parties to be right rather than just herself being right, Meiruina, who had learned this fact surviving in the Papal Palace, willingly accepted the pain in her heart and pressured Mir Ryuin.

“Ugh, I hate to admit it, but you’re right. I was just too excited at the thought of getting the cake. I have to meet Stay. I have to face him. No one in the world would say ‘leave it at the door’ when receiving a cake······!”

Due to Meiruina’s counterattack hitting the mark, Mir Ryuin was able to momentarily snap out of her reverie and began to worry about whether she would be able to receive the cake due to Meiruina’s counterattack.

“W-well, you’re just like me······.”

Mir Ryuin, who wasn’t one to just take things lying down, timidly tried to resist.

“Yes, that’s right. But isn’t it better for Mir Ryuin, who is confirmed to receive the cake, than for me? Because I’m someone who doesn’t even know if I can receive the cake until the day arrives. Isn’t Mir Ryuin, who lives next door but doesn’t have the courage to meet Stay and receive the cake, at a bigger loss than me?”

Meiruina, who was prepared for a showdown, didn’t tolerate such timid resistance.

Despite Mir Ryuin being in a completely advantageous position, Meiruina swiftly turned the situation around and confidently took the lead in the verbal battle, aiming to achieve a victory filled with wounds.

“Even though you live next door, you’re probably the first person in the world to taste Stay’s cake, but you can’t receive it because you lack the courage······ It’s so pitiful that I, as a saint, can only sigh! Ahaha!”

A mocking laughter filled with malice and anger, completely unbecoming of a saint.

But what pierced Mir Ryuin’s heart the most wasn’t Meiruina’s malice, anger, or mocking laughter, but the fact that her words were undeniably true.

Mir Ryuin wasn’t a fool who would lose her composure and make an unbearable declaration like ‘Hah! I’ll meet him if I can!’

Nevertheless, Mir Ryuin couldn’t bear it, and she was always a researcher who found solutions.

“T-transformation······.”

“What?”

“Just use transformation magic. If you use transformation magic, there won’t be any worries about meeting Stay!”

“I-is that so······?!”

Yes, just like now.

“Haha! Watch me transformed, exchanging sweet nothings and cakes with Stay through the window while you writhe in defeat, Meiruina!”

Thus, by finding the solution of transformation magic, Mir Ryuin once again gained absolute superiority.

But no one present knew what consequences this solution of transformation magic would bring.