Arnia Academy was a place where learning took precedence over social status.
By imperial decree and school regulations, nobles and commoners alike were supposed to be equal within its walls. However, no matter what the rules said, it was not something hot-blooded young students could easily accept.
Behind closed doors, nobles resorted to all manner of underhanded methods to torment commoner students, accustomed as they were to keeping them beneath their feet.
But there were always exceptions.
When the shield of school regulations was combined with the sword of overwhelming strength, there were times when no amount of trickery would work.
Like right now, for example.
“...Tch.”
The blond student glanced at Yulia before turning away. The one who had demanded proof of caffeine’s effectiveness reluctantly backed down and left the shop with his friends.
Yulia had never once lost first place in swordsmanship.
Her diligence and perseverance were so famous that even the students at the academy called her relentless, and when it came to swordsmanship, she was undoubtedly the sort of person who would never utter even the smallest lie, even with her life at stake.
Proof?
If Yulia, who was obsessed with training, said it worked, then it worked.
The blond student undoubtedly knew that as well.
“I came for coffee.”
Yulia spoke calmly, as though nothing had happened.
Well, it really did seem as though nothing had happened. She had resolved the entire situation with a single sentence.
“You said you’d make me coffee that wasn’t bitter.”
“You came at the perfect time. I prepared something because I thought you might.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
I added an appropriate amount of the syrup I had made the previous night to a cup, then poured freshly brewed coffee over it.
As the syrup mixed with the warm coffee, a pleasant hazelnut aroma gently spread through the air.
I stepped out onto the terrace and handed the finished coffee to Yulia.
For the moment, I had left Isaac to handle the shop alone. Thanks to how relentlessly busy we had been lately, his skills had improved enough that I could trust him with it.
“It smells good.”
Yulia wrapped both hands around the cup and gave a faint smile.
At least the aroma seemed to satisfy her.
What truly mattered, of course, was whether she liked the taste.
“How is it?”
“Hmm. It’s too sweet.”
“Ah. So you don’t like it?”
“No. I like it better this way. It’s good.”
She was surprisingly talented at keeping me in suspense.
I chuckled as I watched Yulia drink her coffee.
The last time, she had grimaced because it was too bitter, but now she seemed to have no trouble drinking it at all.
‘Isn’t that coffee hot?’
Yulia kept taking large sips of coffee that had only just been brewed.
I was pleased that she was enjoying the syrup I had made, but I could not help worrying that she might burn her mouth.
After all, Yulia was destined to become one of this world’s heroes.
For the sake of my own safety, I needed her to drink coffee, grow stronger, and protect the world. I found myself worrying that even the slightest problem with her body might interfere with her swordsmanship training.
“Give me another cup.”
“...You already finished it?”
“Yeah. But this won’t have some kind of negative effect on my training, will it?”
“Well, I think one more cup should be fine.”
I quickly made another cup of coffee and sat across from Yulia again.
Earlier, she had focused solely on drinking her coffee. This time, however, she drank more slowly and occasionally glanced at me.
It seemed she had something she wanted to say, so I decided to speak first.
She was not the sort of person who easily revealed what she was thinking, so I figured that would make it easier to keep the conversation going.
“From what you said earlier, I guess the coffee really did help with exercise. You came back to our shop too.”
“To an extent. It definitely helped me stay awake. I usually start getting sleepy around three in the morning, but that night, maybe because I drank coffee, I was able to train longer.”
“When do you sleep if you train that late?”
“I make up for the lack of sleep while I’m doing mana training. I can’t sleep deeply, but it’s enough to relieve some fatigue.”
I already knew that Yulia trained by cutting into even her sleeping hours.
The only reason I asked was because nothing held Yulia’s interest quite like the subject of training.
“Wow. Impressive. At this rate, you might become a Swordmaster in no time.”
“I still have a long way to go. But my goal is to become a Swordmaster before graduation.”
“Is there a reason you want to become one?”
“I just like swinging a sword. And I want my mother to acknowledge me for it. If I don’t become a Swordmaster by then, she won’t recognize me.”
Her mother, Clover Aberen, had risen from impoverished commoner origins to become a great merchant.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that she had created something from nothing, and perhaps because of that, she held exceptionally high expectations for her daughter.
The mother and daughter were unmistakably alike.
Yulia’s relentless nature had probably been inherited from her mother, and that was likely why Aberen wanted her daughter, who resembled her so closely, to inherit the family business.
She had probably judged Yulia to be far more capable than her sons.
‘They could resolve things so easily if they each gave in just a little. But of course, they had to be alike in their stubbornness too....’
Thinking that made me remember my own past.
Unlike Yulia’s mother, my parents had supported me in pursuing whatever I wanted to do.
They might have been less than thrilled to see their son working at a café, but when I told them I was interested in coffee and enjoyed it, they encouraged me.
Perhaps that support had ultimately become one of the driving forces behind the success of my café business.
‘When the business started doing well, my parents were happier than anyone. It would have been even better if I could have shown them the World Championship trophy.’
Unfortunately, both of my parents had passed away a few years before I entered the competition.
Even if they had lived longer, I would never have been able to show them the trophy after the plane crash brought me into this world.
When my parents died, I used to think about things like that.
If I had succeeded just a little earlier, maybe they could have enjoyed that happiness for longer....
Of course, Yulia’s situation now was different from mine back then.
Still, I could understand, at least to some degree, the feelings of a child who wanted recognition and support from a parent.
It was not much, but perhaps because of that, I felt compelled to offer her some encouragement myself.
“Yulia, you’ll definitely become a Swordmaster before you graduate.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, that’s....”
Because I had seen it.
But I could hardly tell her that.
“You said our coffee helps with training, right? Then I’m sure you will.”
“...That’s ridiculous.”
Perhaps the small change caused by coffee would create a butterfly effect and allow her to become a Swordmaster even sooner.
If that happened, Yulia might reconcile with her mother earlier as well, and I might even establish a connection with the Aberen Merchant Company.
‘That’s just what I hope will happen, though....’
In any case, perhaps because we were talking about training, Yulia spoke about herself more comfortably than before.
I already knew all of it, but hearing it directly from Yulia rather than through a game screen gave me an entirely different feeling.
Coffee occasionally created strange situations like this.
When two people sat across from one another with a cup of coffee between them, it somehow created an atmosphere where all sorts of conversations flowed naturally.
“Thanks for the coffee. I’ll get going.”
Yulia rose from her seat.
I expected her to turn around without another word, but she hesitated for a moment.
Then, looking somewhere other than at me, she spoke in her usual calm tone.
“Also... I’m sorry about the end-of-term party. I think I slapped you too hard. If something like that happens again, I’ll hit you a little less hard next time.”
It was an abrupt apology.
The logic of it seemed slightly questionable, but now that I knew why I had been slapped in the first place, I decided not to dwell on it.
Either way, simply receiving an apology from Yulia of all people was remarkable enough.
“Come again. You still have plenty of money left on the prepaid ledger.”
“Yeah. I’ll come again.”
Yulia walked away with her characteristic dignified stride.
I thought she would soon disappear from sight, but she abruptly stopped again and stared intently at something.
‘What is she looking at?’
Naturally, I followed her gaze.
She was staring at the ‘Now Hiring’ notice attached to our shop door.
“What is it, Yulia? Are you interested in applying to work here?”
“...Of course not.”
Yulia glared at me for no particular reason.
Then she quickly disappeared.
***
Isaac looked gloomy as he calculated the day’s sales after closing.
Normally, he would have been making a fuss about how much more we had earned than the day before, but today he was unusually quiet.
“Young Master. We have a serious problem. Sales dropped by two gold compared to yesterday. We need to come up with some sort of countermeasure....”
“You were depressed over a drop of only two gold? Good grief, I thought something serious had happened. You don’t have to react so sensitively to a difference that small. Fluctuations like that are common in business.”
“What happened this morning keeps bothering me. That blond student, remember? I think the lost sales came from the customers who left because of the commotion he caused.”
Isaac’s analysis was probably correct.
Several customers had grown tired of waiting and left when the blond student started picking a fight with me.
“Are you just going to leave it alone?”
“What do you want me to do? Take your sword and put on a show of force? Threaten anyone who dislikes me so they won’t come here and cause trouble?”
“That’s not what I mean. You said academy students were supposed to be one of our main customer groups, didn’t you? If things like this keep happening because of your reputation, it could have a major impact on our sales in the long run.”
“Oh? Isaac, you’re thinking faster and faster these days.”
“My mind isn’t the only thing getting faster. I’ve been training my swordsmanship even harder lately, so my sword swings have gotten much faster too. Would you like me to show you?”
“No, thanks. I understand what you’re worried about, but you don’t need to concern yourself too much with that.”
“As expected, you already have a countermeasure prepared, Young Master.”
It was something I had been concerned about for quite some time.
That was why I had repeatedly asked myself the same question.
‘Just how many academy students harbor resentment toward me?’
After meeting that blond student today, I realized something.
The question itself was wrong.
I needed to change it entirely.
‘Is there even a single academy student who actually likes me?’
My reputation as a scoundrel was already firmly established.
Even setting aside the end-of-term party, which I knew little about, the reputation of Maxim Edwell as I knew him was abysmal.
Still, just as Isaac had said, I could not simply ignore the students I had targeted as our primary customers.
Changing the image they had of me might be difficult, but at the very least, I needed to make them view our shop favorably.
I had managed to bring Yulia to our shop, hadn’t I?
Surely I could do the same with the other students.
“Originally, I planned to run a promotion aimed at academy students.”
“...A promotion?”
“Things like events or special offers that students would enjoy. The idea is to capture their interest, then manage them afterward so they keep coming back to our shop.”
“Oh! Then are we starting tomorrow?”
“No. I changed my mind.”
“Did you come up with an even better plan?”
“The plan is already underway.”
“W-When did it start?”
“The moment Yulia said the word ‘prove’ this morning.”
The blond student and his friends had not been the only ones in the shop at the time.
Other students had definitely witnessed what happened.
“You don’t know how popular Yulia is at the academy, do you?”
Rumors traveled quickly.
Especially in an academy packed with students.
***
To the commoner students of the academy, Yulia was someone to admire.
Despite her humble origins, she surpassed noble students who had received elite education from childhood, making her a symbol of hope to them.
Of course, Yulia was the daughter of a great merchant, but when it came to the factional struggles within the academy, what mattered above all else was one’s birth.
That was why, to the commoners, Yulia was practically a shining beacon and could hardly avoid being popular.
The nobles were not much different.
Their interest took a different form, but they frequently went to desperate lengths to crush Yulia somehow and prove themselves superior to her.
And a few days later.
A similar struggle was unfolding in front of our shop.
“Yulia really drinks coffee here before training?”
“I’m telling you! She said herself that the coffee here helps with training, and that she could even prove it! If a swordsmanship genius says so, doesn’t that mean it must be true?”
“I heard it clearly too. Apparently Yulia’s been drinking coffee from this shop lately and has gotten even stronger. Honestly, I don’t really believe it. But just in case, maybe I should try it....”
It was when I returned after having a late lunch that doubled as dinner.
We had deliberately eaten outside the shop’s busiest hours, so normally it should have been quiet.
Yet quite a few students had gathered in front of our café.
‘Rumors inevitably get exaggerated.’
Now my task was to do whatever I could to turn the students in front of me into regular customers.
They might visit once or twice because of the rumor, but whether they continued returning depended on me.
I had eaten well and my stomach was full.
Time to do some selling to the students.
I headed inside.
With so many students suddenly arriving, Isaac should have been frantically busy by now.
I expected him to start complaining the instant I walked in, asking why I had taken so long and saying he had nearly worked himself to death.
But.
My prediction was completely wrong.
‘Why the hell is she working here?’
Yulia was wearing one of our shop aprons and helping Isaac.
Thanks to Yulia handling the register and serving customers, Isaac was able to focus much more comfortably on brewing coffee.
‘...What exactly is going on here?’
Had I interviewed her somehow and simply forgotten?
Either way, it looked like Isaac had finally gotten his junior.