Chapter 18 The Knights

I was hoping that Yuri would become a regular customer.

I never expected him to come to the restaurant as soon as the next day. And especially, to bring his subordinate with him.

“Is this the one who defeated the slime that the commander was talking about?”

“I thought that a young lady from the royal capital would be weaker.”

“That’s amazing!!”

When I peeked out from the kitchen, Yuri and his colleague had just arrived at the restaurant.

Yuri looked at me apologetically.

“Sorry for the noise. When I told them about this restaurant, my subordinates kept saying they wanted to go.”

“I’m glad that so many customers have come.”

Then, one of Yuri’s subordinates behind him spoke to me.

 “Um, is it true that if you take a bath, all your fatigue will go away?”

“They say it’s effective for stiff shoulders, back pain, insomnia, and all kinds of ailments!”

“It improves the quality of your sleep, and even a short sleep will relieve your fatigue. It also makes you 100 times more efficient at work.”

“That’s right. Well, I think it’s probably wrong.”

Oh, that sounds like a really suspicious sales pitch… I wonder what Yuri said to his subordinates.

“Sorry, but I’m in charge of the kitchen today, so I’ll be off.”

“Yeah. Sorry for keeping you.”

After that, they went into the bath and shouted, “Woohooo, all the muscle pain in my body has gone away! I can work now!” What corporate slaves.

After that, the knights started coming to the store in turns every day.

It seems that the knights were talking about how they could rest their bodies by coming here.

 In addition to the usual customers, the knights have started to visit the store, and the bath cafe has been bustling every day.

Today, as always, the knights are taking baths and relaxing at the tables in the cafe space. By the way, Yuri hasn’t come yet. He said he planned to come here after finishing some additional work.

They are chatting while eating the cafe menu.

“Maybe I should bring my girlfriend next time.”

“Oh, that’s nice. I think I’ll bring my wife.”

As I overheard the knights’ conversation, I immediately called out to them.

“In that case, you can get a good deal if you come on a couple’s discount day.”

“Couples discount?”

“We have some special discounts on weekdays. I think there will be a discount day next week for couples.”

In fact, after the store started to get busy, we started offering weekday discounts. There are not only couple discounts, but also ladies’ discounts and family discounts.

 　Also, we are trying to offer different bath salts and aroma oils on weekdays only.

The knights tilted their heads at my explanation.

“Why weekdays? Why not do it on a weekend when more people can gather?”

“We don’t want to attract too many people on weekends, and we make sure that customers will want to come on weekdays.”

Currently, the store is run by just me, Lina, and Luke. So we want to prevent it from getting too crowded.

So we decided to offer weekday-only baths and discounts. Thanks to this, some of the customers who used to come on weekends now come on weekdays.

It’s become less common for there to be no customers on weekdays, which is a blessing as the manager of the bath cafe.

“I see. Lydia-sama is good at management. Do you learn things like this in the royal capital?”

“Well, I guess that’s how it is.”

Actually, I’m just taking advantage of the services of a store I saw in my previous life, but I don’t need to tell him that. 

The male knight who had said earlier that he wanted to bring his girlfriend spoke shyly.

“Then, I’ll go next week on my paid leave.”

“You guys have paid leave, huh…?”

With all due respect, I had assumed that everyone had been working dozens of days in a row without any time off.

As I said this, they spoke with a wry smile.

“Only when the work day is dangerous or busy, leader gives us priority for time off, so we get quite a bit of time off. Well, on the flip side, the leader is the only one who takes on the work and can’t take time off.”

“I see. So that’s how it is.”

I’d always thought that the members were more energetic than the leader, Yuri, but that was what it meant.

Just as we were having this conversation, Yuri came into the store.

 “Oh, leader is here! We’ve already taken a bath!”

“You guys, don’t make noise in the shop.”

When he saw me, he lowered his eyebrows apologetically.

“Sorry. My members are making a lot of noise today.”

“It’s fine. They’re not that noisy, and I’m glad the shop is bustling.”

“That’s fine, then…”

He looked me straight in the eye.

“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to thank Miss Lydia sometime soon.”

“Thank?”

“Yeah. The knights are being healed here every day. Thanks to you, our work is progressing well, so I’d like to thank you somehow.”

“I’m just grateful that you come to the shop, you know? You don’t need to thank me.”

“That won’t satisfy me.”

As serious as ever. But if you say that, there’s one thing I’d like you to grant…

Since you’ve made such a suggestion, I might as well ask you. 

“Then I want you to go out with me.”

There was a loud thud as Luke tripped over something behind me.