Kays Translations

Chapter 3: A Regular Civil Servant

　Two months have passed since I opened a café in the royal capital. It is now October, and autumn is in full swing.

　I am quietly running a café in a corner of the royal capital of the Kingdom of Wernos. It is located at the end of an alleyway at the edge of the downtown area. It is a very inconspicuous location, so I chose the name “Hideout” for my store.

　If I use magic, I will be able to live a rich life without having to work. However, if I lived a life of eating, sleeping, and consuming without interacting with anyone in this world where I didn’t know anyone, it was obvious that I would soon become mentally ill.

　Human beings need someone to talk to and to give them something to live for.

　The doorbell rings and a customer enters.

　He is a civil official who works at the castle and has been coming here since it opened. He is quite well built, about 190 cm tall, with a good amount of muscles all over his body. He is about the same age as me, 25.

　He has silky black hair. Emerald green eyes. A smooth bridge of the nose. Slightly thin lips. His face is very well-shaped. His manners are elegant and he speaks beautifully. I think he probably comes from a good family.

“Mr. Henry, welcome.”

“Hello. I’d like to have some lunch today, please.”

“Certainly, sir. Today’s daily special is rice topped with tender braised pork belly.”

　Henry just nodded his head. He sat down at his usual seat at the end of the counter with a calm expression on his face. Mr. Henry doesn’t talk much, and he doesn’t smile even when I talk to him. It is not that he is not pleasant, but he is basically expressionless and uncommunicative.

　Today’s lunch is a bowl of rice topped. There’s stewed pork and rice in this world, but there is no rice bowl. In this country, rice, which is halfway between long-grain rice and japonica rice, is boiled, drained,  and made into crumbly pieces, then used as a vegetable in soups and as an accompaniment to meat dishes. It is treated the same as beans, potatoes, and squash.

　I cook it in a thick pot, Japanese style, and serve it as a staple food. It seems to be an unfamiliar way of eating for the people here in the capital.

　The rice cooked in a thick iron pot is white and firm. Place it on a deep plate, top with chunks of meat, and pour over the thick broth. Finally, chopped green onions and herbs are sprinkled on top. The pork, stewed with ginger and garlic, is so tender that you can break it up with just a spoon without using a knife.

　Mr. Henry takes off his coat, folds it carefully, and places it on the seat next to him. There were three stars embroidered with silver thread on the lapel of his coat. The three stars are the motif of the national flag of this country. Slim pants that perfectly hugged the lower half of his body. Boots that go below the knees. Civilian uniform is quite cool.

　Mr. Henry eats slowly. With a spoon, little by little, elegantly.

　Sometimes he closes his eyes and enjoys the taste and aroma. I saw that he loves my cooking.

　When he finished his meal without making any sound and without leaving any rice or meat, he slightly lifted the corners of his lips. I think that’s a smile. I check his smile without being noticed and clench my fist. It seems that he was satisfied today as well.

　I wait until he has finished eating before I serve him tea. This tea, similar to barley tea, is the standard tea of the common people in the Kingdom of Wernos. The tea shops in the royal capital also sell black tea, though it is more expensive. However, I learned from my food walk that it is not something that is served in this kind of commonplace restaurant.

　Mr. Henry has a cat tongue and doesn’t take a sip right away. He waits for it to cool down.

“Would you like to join me for tea, Mai?　I’ll treat you.”

“Then, I’ll have a cup of tea, too. But, please don’t pay for it.”

　I replied with a smile, and Mr. Henry looked at me blankly.

“I was hoping to contribute to your sales. There aren’t many customers today, but is business going well?”

“Business is going well. We don’t get many customers at this time of the day. Thank you for your concern.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear that everything is going well. I would be in trouble if this place closed.”

　Heh. Mr. Henry is still as considerate as ever.

　He always comes to the store around two in the afternoon, so there are often no customers in the store. The customers who frequent this store are all commoners. There are no commoners in this backstreet neighborhood who leisurely enjoy tea and sweets during the daytime. They are all working. He’s the only customer at this time of the day today.

　I feel sorry for Mr. Henry who is worried about the management of the store, but I do not intend to desperately try to make this restaurant popular.

　Thanks to magic, I don’t have to worry about living expenses, so as long as I get a few customers, that’s enough.  Leaving my thoughts, I noticed that the civil servant was staring at me with a straight face.

“Mai-san, is something wrong?”

“Oh, no. Sorry for spacing out while I was working. I was just thinking about what to have for lunch tomorrow.”

“I see. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

　Mr. Henry always lingers for twenty minutes over a cup of tea after eating, and then leaves.

　I wonder how busy the civil servants of the castle are. He always looks a little tired. He must be busy, but he comes to the shop almost every day. I am grateful for that.

　After Mr. Henry leaves, I practice magic until the evening when it gets busier.

　These days I’ve been busy trying to hone my magic skills every day. I have a vast amount of knowledge in my head, but I have yet to master it. To use an analogy, I have memorized a lot of English words and phrases, but I have no idea which words to use in which situations.

　I stare at the kitchen sink, strongly visualize hot water coming out of the faucet, and chant the incantation.

“Hot shower wash. With seventy-degree hot water.”

　Such magic isn’t in my grandmother’s knowledge. It is a combination of my own knowledge and hers’.

　A small cumulus cloud appeared inside the stone sink. The cloud, the size of the palm of my hand, rained hot rain hard on the dishes that had been cleaned of grease with soap. The soapy suds that remained on the plates and cups were quickly washed away. When it was finished washing away the soapy bubbles, it disappeared, and next, a typhoon that looked exactly like the one seen on satellite images, but about 15 centimeters in diameter, was produced.

“ warm winds, fifty degrees.”

　A miniature typhoon blows warm air in the sink. The dishes get drier and drier. Within minutes, the sink and dishes are sparkling clean. Magic is useful. Even a novice magician like me can make good use of it.

　I would have left for the other side a long time ago. Thanks to my grandmother who sent me out into this world, I am alive and healthy. My current life is an “extra” and an unexpected “gift.”

　My grandma sent me off with the message to smile and live. But I think it would be even better if I could make someone else smile too.

　◇ ◇ ◇

　At that time, Henry was left alone to work. He piled up all the papers he had been writing and then stood up.

“Okay, that’s it for today. Oh, I’m starving.”

　The bell had already rung seven times. The dormitory dining room has probably started to be cleaned up. It would be a pity to make the mess hall servants work now. And it was closing time at the “Hideout”. Even if it was before closing time, it would be awkward to go there twice a day.

“Now, I have to do something about dinner.”

　Henry loves the food Mai makes. He heads to the restaurant wondering what the daily special is. Whenever he finds himself doing that he makes an excuse, saying to himself, (“I just like the food she makes, not that I go there with a guilty conscience”), not that anyone needs to hear it.

　And as he makes his excuses, he can’t help but think of Mai’s bright smile, shiny hair, and smooth skin.

(What am I thinking? I don’t have the right to love anyone. If she knew what kind of person I am, I’m sure she would be scared or disgusted. Stop it. What? Don’t expect too much. I’m happy enough to see her smile and eat her cooking.)

　Henry turns off the lamp and leaves the large, dark room. There was no emotion on his handsome face. He leaves the castle and heads downtown. Among the people passing by, there were many young men and women in pairs. There was a time when he envied those who had what he could not have, but now just looks at it bittersweetly.  

“Tomorrow at noon, I can go back to the “Hideout”. If I wait, tomorrow will come again.”

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