Door opened slowly, accompanied by the clear ring of a small bell.
A magical scent filled the air.
Yeah, I get it, this world literally has magic and all that stuff.
The sky of Caerliona was covered in thin fog outside the café. From the outside, this place looked like an ordinary building, but the moment you stepped inside, the vibe changed drastically—warm, and a little… weird.
The clock on the wall showed 06:47.
"Welcome to Café BondGia." a firm voice greeted me.
A white-haired woman, her name was Celina. Her left eye was night-blue and the right one golden. She was also wearing a monocle on her right eye.
She stood behind the cashier counter. Her posture straight, but her aura already felt like "gatekeeper of the underworld."
"Oh, hello. I'm Azei. I saw the job board outside… barista, right?"
The woman stared at me for a moment, then gave a faint smile.
"You can make coffee?"
"Obviously, I'm insanely good at it," I answered immediately.
Celina gently face-palmed. "Amazing… though that sounded like a lie. By the way, have you ever slain monsters or… at least scared off a Dark Thorn?"
With an overly cool pose, I answered loudly with confidence.
"Of course! I used to hunt wyverns and even dragons with my comrades."
(She doesn't know I meant in a game.)
Celina replied, "Starting now, you'll be working here. Which means you're definitely ready for the upcoming missions."
I nodded, pretending I understood.
Then I blurted out, shocked,
"W-wait… you mean, we take missions too?"
She casually grabbed her cup. "Yes. Sometimes we deliver goods, sometimes we chase off monsters. Depends on the payment. We're not just café staff, we're problem solvers."
She added, "Uh but most of my employees ran away saying they wanted to become adventurers."
I looked at her suspiciously. "Pretty sure this isn't a normal café."
She continued, "Ah right, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Celina, nice to meet you, I hope you enjoy working here!"
I replied, "Okay."
Yeah, I gotta look cool somehow.
"Impressive," I said with fake wisdom while eyeing Celina's monocle.
"That monocle has some special power, right?"
Celina suddenly turned serious. "This monocle… can suppress my hidden power."
I swallowed with mixed fear and awe. "A… power?"
Then she grinned.
"…Yeah that's actually not true."
I froze.
Dear god this is embarrassing, I wish I could delete my earlier admiration.
The clock on the wall showed 07:06.
"Okay! With this, the café is open again!" Celina flipped the "closed" sign on the window.
Uh I don't even remember seeing that sign earlier. Whatever. At least I have a job now.
A few minutes later, the first customer arrived.
A man stepped inside. His ears were pointed but not as long as an elf's, his hair white, and his eyes blood-red like a vampire.
He wore a white shirt with a red tie, layered with a black coat. He was also holding a brown suitcase.
"Ah, finally you're operating again, it's been a while since I visited this place!" the man said.
"Ah Mr. Fredran, I can't believe you've been our regular for two years," Celina replied warmly.
"Haha, yeah. It's been two years since I first came here. Too bad Aezher, Rein and Tom quit," the man answered.
He walked to the barista counter and ordered, "Ah I'll have milk tea. Oh, so you're the new employee? I'm looking forward to seeing the next newcomers too."
I answered quietly, "Ah yeah… Nice to meet you, my name is Kim Azei, you can call me Azei."
"Haha, nice to meet you, I'm Fredran," he replied.
I served him calmly while being kinda terrified because this was my first time seeing a vampire in person.
My first day working in Café BondGia started with someone believing a monocle had magical powers and a few odd customers like a vampire.
That night...
The fog of Caerliona was even thicker at night than during the day.
I walked home through a fairly quiet street after buying discounted coconut coffee powder and bread from the store.
"Haha the first paycheck isn't bad at all," I muttered.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed behind me.
When I turned around—
I saw two mysterious people wearing black hoods.
"They look like the template robbers you see everywhere," I muttered.
"Good evening, young man. Seems like you're new here, this is my first time seeing you," said one of them.
"No need to make this complicated, just hand over all your valuables now!"
I raised my right hand and a small flame flickered in my palm.
Without hesitation, one of them extinguished my flame with a water beam.
(A type of water magic.)
I stood frozen for a few seconds.
"In that case, I'll use my secret weapon!" I shouted loudly.
With the power of creativity, I created an onion missile.
Judging from their expressions, they were holding back laughter.
Without thinking twice, I launched the missile at them.
The missile successfully knocked them down because of the brutally painful sting.
They screamed, "Agggh! This hurts like hell!"
Seeing the chance, I sprinted as fast as I could.
Once I made it home, I collapsed on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
And that was my first experience working as a barista in this city.
I also learned that onions are way more reliable than beginner fire magic.