Volume 2 - CH 27

The days passed in the blink of an eye and the first day of the school festival quickly arrived. Cyril had shown up early in the morning, but he stayed absent because of the Student Council’s play. Raymond and the rest of his classmates gathered inside the courtyard on the terrace of the café.

“At last, the school festival is finally about to begin and yet, Cyril isn’t here. It seems that the other classes are looking down on us, saying that without Cyril, our Class A cannot even be considered an opponent!” Luke said, giving a speech while scrutinizing the faces of his classmates. Seemingly in response, the rest raised their voices and echoed the sentiment, calling out: “So what if we don’t have Cyril! As if we’d lose to the other classes!”

“That’s right! We’ve been chosen to become members of Class A due to our performance in the entrance exam. Even if Cyril isn’t with us, there’s no way that we would lose to the members of the other classes! However, that is the very reason why it’s not necessary for us to feel like we have to beat them. Up until today, we did everything possible for us to do. We’re just going to demonstrate that here today!”

“Yes!”, their voices echoed, perfectly synchronized. That they answered in unison without requiring any cues served enough proof to the fact that they indeed had become one unit. Basking in this comfortable sense of unity, Raymond began his shift as a waiter.

On the first day, it wasn’t really that busy, especially before noon. The reason for this was that, naturally, the noble children’s parents were stopping by their own children’s programs. On the other hand, the servants’ parents would first visit the program of their master’s child before visiting their own. Although the situation was quite different for the commoners, it was still a given that on the morning of the first day, the most crowded places would be the programs organized by the noble courses and the market stalls. Therefore, the first day was quiet for the servant courses. Even considering Cyril’s connections, that wouldn’t have changed. At least, it shouldn’t have.

As a matter of fact, the shops of the other butler courses were empty, save for a guest or two loitering here and there. Despite this, right after Class A had opened their café, an enormous queue lined up. The number of customers had already far surpassed their highest estimates and Raymond’s classmates grumbled: “Why are there so many customers?!”

“It seems that the culprit is the crêpes; the sweet dish that Cyril had prepared. At any rate, the orders for these crêpes just keep coming in. Quickly, prepare to increase our crêpes’ production!”

“Did you say crêpes? Isn’t that the product that Cyril said we’d start selling at our café, and use it as an opportunity to make them popular with the nobles? So then, why are there suddenly people queuing up for them on the first day?!”

“Ah!”, Luke’s voice abruptly rang out amidst the cacophony of their classmates’ chatters. Suddenly attracting everyone’s attention seemed to have made  Luke feel somewhat awkward. Sensing that he knew something, Raymond pressed him for answers immediately.

“Hey, Luke, do you know something about this?”

“No, that is, it’s… Since my master had told her relatives that she liked them, I wonder if they haven’t already spread the word of this matter at several parties.”

“Even if that were the case, isn’t the crowd a bit too big?!”

‘Just what kind of influence do the relatives of Luke’s master possess?’, Raymond thought, shocked. The answer to Raymond’s question was that Luke’s master’s relatives had the power to influence the whole country, for they were royalty.

No matter the reason, the number of customers still had far surpassed their café’s maximum seating capacity. If Raymond were still his past self, he’d probably panic and end up making mistakes. However, the current Raymond was completely different from his past self. He thought about what course of action he should be taking, and ordered them by priority. Thus, he came up with an idea.

“Let’s make some numbered tickets and distribute them to the waiting customers.”

“Numbered tickets? Without distinguishing between the nobles and the commoners?”

“You’re right, that would be problematic. Let’s make it so that we can differentiate the nobles’ orders, and prioritize them, in accordance with Cyril’s plans. What do you say?”

“…Alright, let’s do that then. Chloe, please issue the numbered tickets immediately.”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

Luke agreed with Raymond’s proposal and quickly began assigning tasks to the other students. Upon hearing them, the students immediately judged what they needed to do and scattered.

Thus, Class A splendidly dealt with the exceptionally large number of customers. These numbers would, without a doubt, break the records. Everyone thought that undoubtedly, they were going to be the best program of this year’s school festival, the café even better than the party they had set up with Cyril as their Class President.

However- 

“Have you seen how wonderful Mister Cyril looked?”

“Yes, of course! He carried himself exactly like a prince, right? He was just so very lovely!”

“Ahh… Cyril’s just too cool!”

Since the time the shop had calmed down a bit in the afternoon, the shrill voices of these young Ladies reached Raymond’s ears continuously. Raymond could not only hear these voices coming from the commoner girls but also distinguished young Ladies. As for the boys…

“Hey, did you see how lovely Miss Sophia looked?”

“Yeah, of course! Her performance of a young maiden in love was the best!”

“Miss Sophia is just so beautiful…”

Sure enough, a mixture of these admiring sighs could be heard from all over, regardless of the person’s social standing. Since it was right after the end of the Student Council’s play, Raymond could understand why there were people still enamored with Lady Sophia’s role of the villainous daughter. However, Cyril had said that he was going to be the narrator. It was decided that the role of the prince was going to be performed by the actual Second Prince from the start. Despite this, voices saying that Cyril was just like a prince, were rising all around him. 

Just, what on earth did Cyril do?!

Incidentally, Raymond would only find out that Cyril truly had snatched up the role of the prince the following day, so at that time, there was no way he could have known that. And so-

“Wha-?! Is that true?!”, Luke exclaimed, as a maid who came to see him whispered something into his ear. This was the most distraught Raymond had ever seen him. It was clear that something had happened.

“Luke, I’ll take care of everything here.”

“…Raymond?”

“I don’t know what happened but it’s urgent, right?”

“Yes, but… I am the Class Vice President.”

Raymond admired Luke’s determination in not abandoning his duties even in this kind of situation but he couldn’t help but feel a little irritated as thought to himself, ‘Trust your assistant a little more!’

“Why do you think you have an assistant, huh?! Certainly, I cannot substitute Cyril, but I can definitely take care of your responsibilities, at least.”

“…You sure talk big, huh? But…thank you. Chloe.”

Taking Chloe with him, Luke rushed off somewhere. Raymond didn’t know what had happened but after seeing him panicked, he could somewhat imagine. Wishing for their troubles to get resolved without any problems, Raymond brought his classmates who were agitated by the two of them leaving back together.

Thus, the first day of the servant course’s Class A’s open café ended without any issues.

On the second day of the school festival, the number of customers of their café was just as high as – actually, it wasn’t. It was evident that the number of female customers was even higher than the day before. They seemed to have been after Cyril, but they didn’t know that Cyril, their main objective, had only stopped by the café in the morning before leaving. Raymond sighed, having his hands full dealing with the female students getting disappointed once they found out that Cyril wasn’t there; thinking to himself: ‘Just what did Cyril do?’ 

However, now that their Class A was finally united, they were able to deal with this unexpected situation as well. Despite there being even more customers, their café was running even smoother than the previous day. Above all, Luke and Chloe, who were very distraught by some matter yesterday were now working energetically, their faces bright. Raymond didn’t ask what happened, but it seemed that the problem had been resolved.

As Raymond was thinking this, Luke, who had noticed his gaze, walked up to him.

“You were a great help yesterday.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’d do the same for me.”

“I’m happy to hear you say that. But actually, I have one more favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

In response to Luke’s formal attitude, Raymond too straightened his back.

“Truth be told, I would like to temporarily take my leave for this afternoon as well.”

“Oh, so that’s what you meant? Sure, don’t worry about it and go.”

“… Are you sure it’s alright?”

“The café is running just fine. It’s a bit troublesome dealing with all the girls who are after Cyril but you leaving for a bit is no big deal.”

“…Ah Cyril, huh?”

Luke had a slightly faraway look in his eyes and all kinds of emotions seemed to be swirling together in them.

“Do you know something?”

“Yeah. Actually-”

Luke began to tell Raymond about all that had happened yesterday. And so Raymond was told about how Luke’s master, the play’s main lead, collapsed yesterday. How, due to the play’s main lead being absent, Cyril and Sophia had performed splendidly as the prince and the heroine.

Raymond too had heard the rumor that the play’s heroine wasn’t Sophia or Alicia, but the president of the Student Council; a commoner girl backed by a noble. In other words, Luke’s master was the president of the Student Council. Judging by Chloe’s state yesterday, she was her master as well. A young Lady, who was supposed to be a mere commoner with the backing of a noble, had more than two servants. Raymond guessed that most likely, she wasn’t who she was rumored to be. However, more than anything, Raymond was left startled by the words following that.

“…Cyril played the prince? Wasn’t the prince going to be played by His Highness Prince Alforth? Just what on earth happened for the real Prince to be disregarded and for a servant to take on the role of the prince?”

“I don’t know the reason either. I would say that it’s probably because it’s Cyril.”

“I see, because it’s Cyril…”

On second thought, it seemed that the Second Prince also relied on Cyril as his tutor. The fact that Cyril would replace the Second Prince as the main role wasn’t really that strange.

“Anyway, our master is doing fine now. And so, the play will be performed with the original cast for both today and tomorrow. Therefore, if possible, please let Chloe and I leave for a bit.”

“In other words, you want me to remove the shifts you two have, for both today and tomorrow?”   

“Ah, it’s no problem if you just remove my shift today and Chloe’s tomorrow.”

“I see. Then, that’s even less of an issue. You should just go and properly enjoy your master’s big moment.”

Quickly rescheduling the shifts in his head, Raymond shuffled them around so that it wouldn’t be an issue even with the two people absent. Like this, Raymond skillfully ran the café as the substitute for the Class Vice President.

On the afternoon of that same day, Raymond was once again approached by Luke who had just come back from watching the play and was working as a waiter. 

“Raymond, my master said that she wanted to express her gratitude to you since you’ve acted as my substitute. I apologize, but could you free some time for her?” 

“I’d like to say that it’s not necessary to thank me, but since it’s a request from your master, there’s no way I can refuse, is there?”

Luke informed him of where his master was seated and Raymond made his way there. The first thing he noticed was her pink-gold hair. A figure of a young Lady seated at a table with a black tea and crêpes combo appeared, the young Lady enjoying a leisurely tea break.

“I apologize for making you wait, Lady Fol. I am Raymond.”

“I apologize for calling you out here so suddenly, Raymond. I heard about you from Luke and thought that I must meet you. So, I made some unreasonable demands and had you summoned here.”

“No, please do not worry about it.”

At that time, the only thing Raymond was thinking about was how upright of a Lady she was to have just called him to express her gratitude for such a small thing.

Therefore-

“I’ll get straight to the point. Would you like to come and work for me after you graduate?

“Huh?”  Without meaning to, a dumbfounded expression made its way onto Raymond’s face.

“Oh my, it seems that I’ve managed to surprise you. Catching you off guard was well worth it.”

“…Were you trying to surprise me?”

“I admit that I wanted to surprise you. However, my offer is genuine.”

A distinct strong will was hiding in her clear blue eyes that were staring straight at Raymond as if telling him just how serious she was about her offer. However, precisely because of that, there was something that he needed to confirm.

“…Do you not know of the rumors about me?”

“If you’re talking about what happened at the New Students’ Welcome Party, I have heard about it. Moreover, I’ve also heard from Luke that without you, this café wouldn’t be running so smoothly right now.”

“Luke said that…?”

Raymond had only experienced being spoken ill of by his own friends when they had set up the New Students’ Welcome Party, so this was the first time that Raymond had felt like he was actually being valued. Happiness welled up inside him, so much so that he felt like he might spontaneously burst into tears. However, in the next moment, Raymond recalled his current circumstances and tightly pressed his lips together. 

“Although you have made me a very generous offer, I cannot accept it.”

“…Would you tell me the reason why?”

“It concerns my personal circumstances… Do you not mind hearing about them, despite them being such?”

“I want to know of your circumstances regardless,” Fol encouraged him to continue. Therefore, Raymond confided in her that although he had entered the academy after cutting down on his limited living expenses, he wouldn’t be able to afford the school fee to attend the academy next year. 

“So you are in this kind of a situation. Then, you didn’t refuse me because you would be dissatisfied with working for me?”

“Of course not. If I weren’t tied down by my familial obligations, I would have gladly accepted your offer.”

“Even though you don’t know who I am?”

“…Come to think of it, you’re right, I don’t. However, in any case, my feelings are sincere.”

Fol was the first potential master who had acknowledged him. This was the reason why she had moved him to a great degree and made him want to work for her, even if she turned out to be a mere commoner.

“It’s an honor to hear you say so. Alright then, I shall pay for all your necessary expenses until you graduate. Also, you have to decide whether you will work for me after graduation or not.”

“Wha-”

Those were some very, very unprecedented conditions. Rather than feeling happiness, Raymond, who didn’t think himself to be of such high value, felt quite wary.

“Why would you make such a proposal to me?”

“At the beginning, it was due to Luke and my patron being concerned about you. But in the end, the biggest reason is that you are the type of person who stands up after falling down.”

To make mistakes and learn from them was the principle of the royal family’s tutor. Moreover, Fol had the experience of getting out of the depths of despair caused by her looming death. The girl who knew the pain of hitting rock bottom thought highly of Raymond, who was able to crawl out of these depths by himself.

“Thank you very much for having such a high opinion of me. If you were to graciously deal with my family’s troubles somehow, I won’t refuse your offer. I look forward to working with you.”1

Thus, Raymond acquired Fol’s support and was able to continue his life as a student. It would still take a while longer before Raymond would find out that Fol was a royal.

Thank you so much for reading! Next chapter is going to be character introductions, there is some new fun info! Then we should be back to some more side story chapters, the upcoming side stories seem to be more centered around Sophia and Cyril so I hope you’ll enjoy them!