Volume 2 - CH 47

After leaving the gates of the Beatos family, Alme started walking towards her next destination.

The second errand today is to say thank you.

She is going to thank the lady who treated her injuries that night and her husband who ran to call the police.

After the festival, she was so busy with dealings with the police and the crowds in the shop that she was completely late.

She was able to prepare a reasonable gift, so she finally got to visit today.

When she reached the main street, she took out a notebook from her bag.

Before she had gone to the temple that day, she asked the couple for their address. While checking the place she wrote down in her notebook, she walked around the street.

(“Cafe Heston” …… should be around here – oh, that shop!)

The couple apparently runs a coffee shop together.

When she asked about the location, the owner’s husband was modest, saying, “It’s a small shop,” but in actuality, it’s a prime location facing the main street.

From the point of view of Alme, who was in the back alley, he is about as senior as one can aspire to be.

She walked up to the shop she found and gazed at its exterior. The dark green stone walls are elegantly decorated with pots of flowers and grasses.

There is a terrace with a wooden deck facing the street, where you can relax and have a cup of coffee while enjoying the breeze outside and the view of the city.

Alme opened the front door while thinking that it was a wonderful shop, and the bell on the door rang.

The interior of the café is decorated with the warmth of wood and a calm atmosphere. It is indeed a peaceful and quiet space, but it may be a little too quiet.

It’s between noon and dusk, which she guessed is when most people come in, but there are only about two customers in the spacious restaurant.

She wondered about the number of customers, but decided it would be rude to pry, and decided to shake off the thought for the moment.

I’m not here to do market research, but to say thank you.

Alme walked to the counter and called out to the lady who was serving customers.

“Um, hello. My name is Alme Titty, and I’m indebted to you on the night of the festival. I’m late, but I’m here to thank you.”

“Oh my goodness, the girl from back then! I’m so glad you came to visit. Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you very much. Please excuse me.”

Alme took a seat at the counter in front of the lady.

Her gray hair, cropped above her shoulders, shakes as she smiles kindly. Her pearl earrings are elegant and pretty.

She called to the back and her husband came out to the counter. He is a calm-looking man with gray hair as well.

The couple must be in their fifties or so.

The husband smiled when he saw Alme.

“Oh, you came. Were you okay after that?”

“Yes, the temple healed my injuries and the robber was caught without incident. Thank you so much.”

“That’s good. I’m relieved.”

“I should have come earlier, but I am sorry it took me so long to say thank you. I hope this is to your liking.”

She took a thank-you gift from her bag and handed it to the couple over the counter.

She prepared a tea and chocolate set. Chocolates are a luxury item in this city, so she hoped they will be pleased with it.

Of course, a set of ice magic stones to keep it cool is also attached. It is handmade with care.

Upon receiving the item, the lady smiled.

“I received such a good thing…! I love chocolate! Thank you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t do much. Thank you. I’ll give you a cup of coffee instead.”

“Ah, I will pay for it! I would like to be a customer. Do you have any recommendations?”

“If you like sweet things, caramel coffee is recommended.”

“Then I’ll take that one, please.”

After deciding what to order, the husband began to make coffee with his accustomed handiwork.

Alme enjoyed chatting with the lady while she waited.

“‘Oh, by the way, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Alyssa Heston. That man is Will. Alme, you have an ice cream shop, don’t you? As a fellow shopkeeper, I look forward to working with you from now on.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Actually, Will and I once visited your ice cream shop. I was admiring the fact that you are so young and you do it all by yourself.”

“Huh! Was that so? I’m sorry, I was absentminded.”

The calm Mrs. Alyssa’s words caught her by surprise. She had no idea she was a customer.

Her husband, Will, returned with coffee and joined the conversation, too.

“Miss Alme, your shop used to be a juice shop, right? I heard rumors among my friends that the shop had opened again, so I went to take a look. Market research, it’s not a big deal, but I’m curious.”

“It turned out to be an interesting dessert shop, so the two of us ate it together. The coffee ice cream was really delicious. When I told him that it would be nice if we could make something like that at home, he was so disappointed.”

“Come on, don’t say that. It’s embarrassing.”

Alyssa poked Will in the side with her elbow a bit. Alme felt a little happy and proud that her fellow shopkeepers are regretting the menu. It’s a slightly different feeling than being praised by a customer.

“Here you go. Caramel coffee.”

“Thank you.”

Alrme sipped the caramel coffee served to her and enjoyed the sweetness and bitterness. After all, it tasted completely different from the coffee she had made at home.

It seems that Will felt frustrated with coffee ice cream, but Alme now understands that feeling a little more.

She wished she could make this delicious caramel coffee directly into ice cream.

“Caramel coffee is so delicious! I almost want to ask how it’s made.”

“It’s a secret. It’s the pride of our shop only…Well, it’s nothing to be proud of if the customers don’t drink it.”

Will chuckled sadly as he said this. Alyssa looks around the shop and speaks to Alme.

“Look at this shop. It’s embarrassing, but it’s become a completely deserted shop… For the time being, it’s a shop along the main street. Even Miss Alme’s shop has more customers, right?”

“Well, that kind of thing is…”

“There’s no need to be humble. The ice cream shop is being talked about right now, isn’t it? Mr. Shirotaka is a patron of your shop or something like that. It would be nice if we could talk about something like that.”

Crossing his arms, Will thought with a sour look. Rumors about Mr. Shirotaka seem to be well recognized within the industry.

It would be troublesome if the rumors were pursued, so Alme proceeded in another direction to divert the topic.

“Is there a reason why the number of customers has changed? Did you change the menu?

“No, we don’t do anything special. What’s changed is the neighborhood. There’s another coffee shop just across the street.”

“It’s a new bigger shop, all the customers flowed over there. They were taken away in no time.”

“I see……”

The three of them looked toward the street window and made reluctant noises.

Across the street, is a large shop is a conspicuous floral decoration. It is a decoration to celebrate the opening of a new shop.

“Well, I’m sure that when things settle down, the customers will come back a little by little, but it would be unfortunate if we went out of business while we were still talking about…”

“I hope that we will get a good reputation like Miss Alme’s shop. I hope there will be a rumor that our shop is as nice as Alme’s, that Misella is a regular customer, or that Sergio is a favorite of ours.”

Misella and Sergio are the captains of the Luorio army. She was told by Ena at the send-off march before. He is a handsome military man with many fans.

Associated with the military story, Falk suddenly crossed her mind.

If Shirotaka came, would the shop be lively?

But then she reconsidered, his occupation is a priest, not an advertising celebrity, it would not be a good idea to use people unnecessarily.

However, although she can’t introduce Falk as a billboard, she thought there might another way to benefit.

“I can’t introduce you to the military, but we might be able to collaborate–partner with my shop to channel customers.”

“When you say partnership, do you mean selling ice cream at our shop? Well…we are a coffee shop, after all.”

“How about combining ice cream and coffee to create a coffee float?”

“Coffee float?”

“What is it?”

When she mentioned the name of the product she came up with, Will and Alyssa expressions changed. They stared at her with a sparkling curiosity in their eyes.

“It’s a drink with milk ice cream floating on top of coffee. At our ice cream shop, ice cream on tea is a boom among the employees. It goes well with coffee, so I thought we could make it into a product to attract customers.”

“When you say milk ice cream, you mean that Shirataka-chan ice cream, right? I had it with coffee ice cream at a shop before. It was sweet and delicious.”

“Certainly, that ice cream looks like it would go well with coffee. Ice cream is sweet, so the coffee should have less sweetness and a stronger bitterness… I think it would be better if it didn’t have a sour taste.”

Will looked at the cans of coffee beans lined up behind the counter and started mumbling to himself. Looking at her sideways, Alyssa turns to Alme and said.

“Well, Will, I’m already on board with it. If we were to partner with Miss Alme’s shop, how would we serve the coffee float to the customer?”

“What if I were to deliver the milk ice cream? As long as you have a freezer, the ice cream can be stored, so I would replenish it periodically–oh, do you have a freezer?”

“Yes, it’s a small one for making ice. If it’s not the right size, we can borrow one. So, we’ll buy ice cream from Alme’s shop and make coffee floats to serve in the shop. If it works out, it will be the first new menu item at Café Heston in a long time!”

Will, who had been rummaging through the beans, returned and turned sparkling eyes on Alme.

“I would like to think about a blend that goes well with milk ice cream, so would it be okay if I asked for a prototype meeting once?”

“Yes, of course!”

“We can discuss the partnership at that time”

“I’m looking forward to it. A collaboration between our shop and the rumored ice cream shop with Shirotaka-chan ice cream! It’s going to be the talk of the town! I hope the customers will come back.”

Will and Alyssa’s expressions had changed to ones that were full of anticipation and excitement. This is the kind of look all entrepreneurs make when they start putting a new project into motion.

Alme felt as if she had new friends to fight alongside her, and her heart was filled with motivation. She really wanted to make this project work. She can’t wait for the coffee float to be released to the world.

When she thought of the word “friend,” she suddenly remembered the face of the man who was sulking after being excluded from the group the other day.

“I’d like to bring one of my friends to the prototype meeting, if you don’t mind. He’s not an employee, but he’s someone I trust, and I’d like to bring him as a taste tester.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“‘Of course you can bring the rumored Mr. Shirotaka with you…just kidding.”

Alyssa joked and laughed with a mischievous look on her face.

……Alme was indeed going to bring that very same Shirotaka with her.

With an vague reply, she averted her eyes and let it pass.