“One loaf of bread and three pieces of coconut bread, please.”
“Aye.”
“Also, one special paw. It’s for my little girl.”
Talia took one of the puffy brioches shaped like the head of the sole cat that she had known this fat. Chocolate was used to make the whiskers, eyes and tiny mouth. It was a 1:1 representation of the subject, so there was more than enough to eat.
She put the pieces of bread in a big paper bag along with the special paw. She then took the loaf of bread and handed it with the previous bag to the gentle-looking man. In exchange, he gave the right amount of money.
“You sure made us worry when we learned you went missing. Good to see nothing bad happened.”
Talia smiled at the slightly familiar man. “Sorry for the trouble.”
The man began to go while waving at her. “As long you are fine. Now, I should go before the two girls at my place starve.”
Talia looked at the back of the man leaving. When he was nowhere to be seen, she could not help but sigh a bit in front of the situation she was currently in.
From behind the counter, she admired the interior of Sun Bread, Cathia’s bakery. The floor was covered in a mix of shiny brown and yellow bricks. The counter was in the back of the store with a space in front for the customers to wait for their orders. The walls were also made of decorative bricks. It was not necessarily very big nor luxurious, but still perfectly clean and cosy. The smell of bread and pastries made the whole atmosphere welcoming.
Talia had remembered that she had been working here, but it didn’t occur to her she was STILL working. But, she was not really to blame. She had worked as a Protector for 50 years after all. When someone had to fight against spaceships, ancient demons and so on, it could not be helped if they forgot that they had to work in a peaceful shop when they came back.
It was currently 9 in the morning. The sun had risen since a while now and quite a few customers had already passed by. Most of them were relieved when they had seen the safe cute poster girl. Some even bought more than usual to celebrate.
Talia was loved by them. She was polite and honest while still remaining shy. Of course, her personality changed slightly, but none of them seemed to know her enough to notice anything.
She rested her arm on the counter and looked at the mascot, Fluffy Paw, who was sitting at the entrance on a wooden stool. Looking at the mass of fur, she was a bit worried that it would overheat because of the sunny weather. However, it seemed calm and sleepy. Talia shifted her gaze to the outside.
‘At least, I can see Sanya today. Just a shame she wakes up when I work...Nevertheless, this is quite a unique uniform that I have on.’ She was currently wearing a uniform that Cathia had made a bit more than a year after Talia had started working here. It was a one-piece dress made of golden orange fabrics with black laces. The sleeves were cut a bit above the elbows. She also had black thigh high stockings to cover her bare legs. The overall resulted in an increase of the cuteness high enough to have made Sanya pause the first time she had seen her in it.
She stretched out the hem around the neck and smiled wryly. ‘I don’t even want to imagine the faces of the guys at the Stellar Temple if they were to see me like this. The all-so mighty First Ylas behind the counter of a bakery in a cute uniform...Well, I still prefer this job over anything else.’
Suddenly, the door from the entrance opened, bringing Talia back to reality. She raised her head to greet whoever was coming in. “Welco-”
“...”
“...” Talia froze due to either the shock or the fact that such a coincidence could not be possible. She looked at the man wearing an opened shirt showing the lines of his delicate, yet firm body. The skin had a sunny color making it vivid with life. His slightly short pure white hair was like shining. One could almost see a rainbow if looking at it from a specific angle. His eyes were like crystals, making people want to look at them. His grey trousers were a perfect fit for his tall figure that was reaching more than a head taller than Talia. There was also one more detail that made him stand out. The dragon necklace around his neck with the Roman number “II” engraved on the gem inside the dragon head.
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The silence was still unbroken between the two people, until the man smirked and bent forward, covering his mouth with his palm while holding his stomach.
“Pffff!”
“...Barostl, the hell you are doing here?” Talia’s face was still calm. But, redness took over her cheeks with a vein popped up on her temple.
The man raised his hands trying to calm the incoming tempest. “Calm down, calm down. I’m here because I got a mission. Also,”
A very thin rectangular object appeared in his hand, a big smile on his face. One face of the object lit up. “Say hi to your colleagues!”
“I spared you even though you told me to kill you last time. Don’t worry, I will immediately make your wish come true.” Talia invoked her sword in her hand, ready to obliterate space alongside this little punk.
But, Barostl made the rectangular object, some kind of recording device, disappear. He then waved his hands in defeat with his usual grin. “I don’t want to die anymore, so no thanks.”
Talia stood still a second before also making her sword go away. She heaved a sigh before looking at him with a fed up look. “I really hate your luminous side’s jokes. Anyways, I didn’t detect any spatial distortion. Did Lord himself send you?”
Her spatial hypersensitivity made her able to sense abnormal changes in space even those kilometers away from her. However, if the one doing them was someone at the level of Lord, then she would have to be in a radius of a few dozens of meters to feel it. When Lord had given the communication device last time to Sanya, he had been worried that Talia was living not so far from her.
Barostl nodded with a happy face. “Indeed. I have to spend some time to review the overall situation in this world. I plan to tour around, analyzing the political, economic and geographic aspects and so on and so forth. This is the boring yet important task that has been given to this Barostl.”
“...I know a Ylas is basically an all-purpose Protector, but still. Is everything so calm in the other worlds? What is the situation with the Circle?”
Barostl put his hands on the back of his head. “They are still salty about what happened with their failure 7 years ago. They once again tried to negotiate with Lord if he could share his otherworld teleportation technology. He told them to stop begging like wimpy brats and to go home! It was so hilarious!"
Talia sighed with a wry smile. “What a bunch of opportunists. If it was not for this other guy, they would not even dare to approach Lord. I really wonder how they went beyond mortal.”
The two of them stayed like this in silence for a few seconds. They had gone through a lot of things together, so this kind of silence was fine sometimes.
All of sudden, a voice came from the back of the store. “Talia! You’re here?”
Sanya entered from the door several meters away from Talia. She held a plate in her hands with some kind of sweets on top of it. She noticed the man on the other side of the counter. “Oh, a customer? Sorry.”
Talia was about to introduce him, but she was too slow. “Oh! Sanya, right? I heard a lot about you.”
Sanya tilted her head while furrowing her eyebrows. She didn’t know who he was, but it seemed he did for her. She then saw the necklace and opened her eyes wide open. “You are a Protector of Worlds?”
Barostl came closer and stuck a pose. “Yep! Former First Ylas and now Second Ylas. My name is Barostl!”
“I see. I’m Sanya Cliff. Nice to meet you.” She returned the greeting while smiling. It was rare for her to see people who had worked with her girlfriend. After all, there were in another dimension.
However, his next words were unexpected. “I know, I know! You’re quite famous at the base for taming this blue beast.”
“Barostl, continue and I will tell Turiul that you are bullying me.”
“Haha.” His mouth was laughing, but his eyes sure didn’t.
“Anything but this, please.”
Sanya didn’t know who this Turiul was. However, she seemed to hold quite the influence over them.
Barostl leaned forward to look at the different types of food behind the glasses. “Before going, how about you give your friend some delicacies from this world? It can be considered as part of my mission to taste the local products.”
Talia narrowed her eyes. “You have money, right?”
He lifted his body and looked upward with a proud expression. “Of course not!”
“...Aah.” Talia sighed and took out her purse. She took some coins from it and put them into the cash register. Then, she put balls of fluffy bread and a few more things in a paper bag.
“Here, my treat. This is a bakery, so you might as well try the bread. Go to a pawn shop after this and make some money. However, don’t sell something too precious or too dangerous.”
He took the bag with one hand while waving with the other. “I know, I know. How many years do you think I have been doing this? Then, bye the two of you.”
He gave a few scratches to Fluffy Paw’s head when he passed by. Sanya slightly bowed her head while still being a bit lost. When the mysterious man was nowhere to be seen, she turned to Talia. “What is he doing in our world?”
“Reconnaissance. We usually send a member to see the state of a world some time after the Surge of Energy. However, to send someone like him...Hope he remains with his bright side.”
Sanya didn’t understand the last part, but she had more important things on her hands. Well, in her hand to be precise. “Anyways, I made this yesterday evening. I had to let them in the fridge for the entire night. You still had not taken a break, right? I will take over, so rest a bit and let me know your feedback on these.”
Talia felt moved. Her mouth arched upward as she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. “Thanks!”
She took the plate but remained behind the counter. Her huge stamina allowed her to not be tired even after working only for a few hours. Besides, being next to Sanya was the best resting spot she could ever find.