Chapter 9: Barista Emily (1)

As I expected, there was nothing special about being a librarian.

“I’d like to borrow these.”

“Three books confirmed. Please show me your ID.”

I checked the ID of the person who wanted to borrow and wrote it down on paper.

“You can borrow it for a week, and if you want to extend it, you have to come in person to extend it. You know that, right?”

“Of course. How long have I been using this library? Don’t worry.”

I shone a special symbol on the back of the book on the crystal. The crystal flashed green for a moment.

It means that the loan has been completed.

If you try to go out without scanning it on this crystal ball, you won’t be able to go out.

The library is a repository of knowledge, and books are quite important in this world.

Because there is no internet, information is limited, and books are the only answer to fill that information and knowledge.

That’s why there is a barrier throughout the library.

It was already 12:30.

From 12:30 to 1:30 is basically lunchtime.

Originally, I was going to make it myself, but for the first week, I decided to eat the food provided by the duchy.

It was said to be tasteless in the original work, but it may be different in reality.

No matter how much I like cooking, it’s impossible to make it every day. It’s also annoying.

“I think today’s lunch menu wasn’t bad. What was it?”

I slowly got up from my desk.

I changed the status message in front to [Lunchtime] and went outside.

Anyway, there is a barrier, so I don’t have to worry about theft even if I’m not there.

The restaurant was not far away. The library itself is located near Emily’s mansion, in the center of the family.

“Oh. This is the restaurant? It’s better than I thought.”

I thought it would be shabby because it was a place where servants ate, but it wasn’t like that at all. It had a clean atmosphere like a normal restaurant in Korea.

There were even three menus.

[Mepros forepaw rice cake, Arden seasoned vegetables. Rice.]

[Fish cake soup, fish cake, Arden seasoned vegetables, chili heisen, rice.]

[Corn soup, bread, Fruline salad, mixed meat stir-fry]

“Why is there fish cake soup here? Is it because the author is Korean?”

That’s a valid point.

Even iced Americano, which appears later, is rarely eaten in Europe. In addition, Korean-style materials often appear.

Anyway.

“What should I eat?”

After thinking for a while, I decided to eat the third menu, the corn soup set.

Corn soup, salad, and stir-fried meat are basically guaranteed to taste good. It’s rather more difficult to make it taste bad. You can think of it as Korean stir-fried pork.

“Please scan your ID.”

As the server said, I scanned my card on the crystal ball. It’s like a proof that I work inside the duchy.

Several plates are placed on a rectangular tray. It’s like eating school food at a university.

I haven’t tried it though.

Sniff.

“Oh. It smells good.”

Overall, the scent was good. My expectations were rising.

First, I scooped up the soup and took a bite.

Salty and savory taste. And…fi, fishy?

“Ugh. Cough. Cough. W, what’s wrong with this?”

How can corn soup taste fishy?

I thought I was mistaken, so I ate it again, and it was definitely fishy.

Why?

With an unanswerable question hidden, I moved on to the salad.

Droop,

“Why isn’t this crunchy?”

The salad was limp and droopy. It was like seeing myself tired and falling asleep after finishing my part-time job.

Even the sauce had no taste. It seems that no seasonings such as sugar were added.

I put my hope in the last stir-fried meat.

It’s just stir-fried meat, so it can’t taste bad, right?

Chew.

“Ugh.”

The smell was terrible.

It smelled worse than pork.

In the end, I covered my nose and solved my lunch to fill my stomach. After that, I ran out of the restaurant and returned to my room.

“Coffee. Coffee. I need coffee.”

I urgently brewed hand drip and drank it. It wasn’t delicious because I used the extra coffee beans that I had ground in the morning to drink it quickly.

Still, it’s enough to wash away the smell of meat.

“Sigh. I’m alive.”

At least the Muelia duchy respects the servants, so I thought it would be quite edible.

But that expectation betrayed me.

“Ah, should I just make my own food from tomorrow?”

I also assist in the restaurant, and my hobby is cooking, so making lunch is not that difficult.

It’s a bit annoying, but it’s better to make it myself than to eat this kind of food.

“Okay. Let’s just eat it until tomorrow. Maybe it was just bad today.”

I decided to believe it for one more day.

So I put a peppermint candy in my mouth to get rid of the coffee smell and sat down at the desk.

After that, my work was the same as in the morning.

Sitting still at the desk, helping with loans and returns, and checking the book application forms written by people.

That doesn’t mean that everything is easy.

“Sigh. My muscles are going to ache.”

There were some limitations to organizing books with the crystal ball.

One of them is that there must be a book on the book cart placed in front of the bookshelf.

So, the books in the library are attached with symbol stickers for organization, which means that if you want to organize the t-12 book, there must be a book on the book cart in front of the t bookshelf.

But people didn’t follow that, and in the end, I have to organize all the books on the book carts on the first and second floors and operate the crystal ball.

Rattle.

I pulled the book cart and went up to the second floor.

It’s bearable because it’s enchanted with lightweight magic, but it’s hard to repeat this several times.

Fortunately, there is a separate time for organizing books. So you can concentrate on it 20 minutes before leaving work.

“Ugh. Is this the end?”

I organized the book cart in the last z-1 row and touched the crystal ball.

“Activate.”

The book cart trembled. The books piled on top flew in the air all at once and were placed on the bookshelf.

“Whew, that’s it. Let’s go home now.”

I dragged the empty book cart and went down to the first floor. There were not many people because there were about 5 minutes left until the closing time.

I was about to go back to the desk.

Slide. Slide.

Someone was sitting at the desk. It was Emily.

Could it be that she didn’t like the coffee I had in the morning?

Suddenly, my heart started pounding like crazy.

I know a lot about Emily from the original work, so I know she’s not a bad person, but I can’t help it.

I am an ordinary, ordinary person. No. I’m a commoner who is not even ordinary.

The other person is a powerful person who can play with my life as she pleases.

This is how a herbivore feels in front of a predator.

“Miss, what brings you here…”

“You’re here. I was waiting for you.”

“Yes?”

She takes her eyes off the book. As I stared into her white eyes, my concentration was momentarily disturbed.

Because she was so beautiful.

As expected of the appearance that seduced the prince with only her face in the work.

“Please spare some time after work. I have something to say to you personally.”

“Ah, that. If it’s a complaint as a librarian, you can do it now.”

“No. It’s not a complaint…yes. A deal. I’m going to propose a deal.”

“A deal?”

I was suddenly curious.

What kind of deal would she, who only likes books, propose?

‘The most likely thing is about Yona.’

I couldn’t guess anything beyond that.

“You can tell me now.”

“It’s working hours now. I can’t interrupt you.”

When I checked the time, there were still about 5 minutes left. There was no one inside the library with a higher position than her.

Nevertheless, she says she will wait those 5 minutes.

“Yes. I understand.”

“Then I’ll be waiting inside.”

She closed the book she was reading and went inside.

I checked that she disappeared from my sight and sat down at the desk. Her warmth still remained.

“She waited for me?”

Her warmth doesn’t remain just by sitting for a while. Even the scent of her perfume that she uses remained.

“Ah, what is it? What do you want from me?”

I’m nervous for no reason.

The fact that she waited for me here and that she wanted to see me after work. I know that it’s all her consideration, but the distant wall of status blocks my way.

Have you ever seen it?

The appearance of a person who was executed by hanging and whose head was cut off.

It was quite shocking to see only the head hanging on a long spear.

It was when I came out of the house on the first day and was walking around, and I saw it from afar, and the crime was insulting a noble.

I was so nervous to hear that he was beheaded for not greeting a noble when he passed by.

You must not forget.

Medieval Europe is a barbaric era where the human rights of the weak are not considered.

So time passed.

It was time to close the library, so I rang the bell inside three times.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Then the servants who were reading books inside slowly came out.

“Goodbye.”

“Yes. Good work.”

After greeting, I changed the sign to [Off Work].

“Don’t be nervous. Let’s go. I don’t think anything big will happen.”

If I had really been rude, she would have pointed out my rudeness on the spot. She said it wasn’t a complaint as a librarian.

So I faced Emily.

“From now on, please teach me coffee.”

“…Yes?”