Chapter 10: Sweet Time
"Let's give applause to our new employee, Artoria..."
"Artoria Pendragon"
"Artoria Pendragon!" All of the employees gave their applause.
With the new employee, the warm atmosphere surrounded the kitchen. Ray brew coffees and teas for everyone.
Every employee knew that Ray wanted to educate the chefs, so they 'requested' that Ray do it immediately, and so he did.
Not only that the chefs can now prepare more delicious dishes, but the employees also gained 2 to 3 kg of weight in their bodies excluding Artoria and the educator himself.
No one knew how Artoria's stomach can hold meals equivalent to 3 times her mass and still has a slender body. Chika and Angeline coveted Artoria's 'ability' to sustain her figure.
After Ray concluded the class, the Owner asked him to come to his office, to continue their discussion.
"Why not do it here?" Santoso asked.
"If you want to follow our discussion, you can follow us," Greg replied while he stepped into his room with Ray in tow.
The employees followed Greg like ducklings follow their mother.
Ray and the Owner resumed their discussion with the rest of the group, making sure that they understand his plans thoroughly. Because everyone has their own part in the plans, including Greg.
Though some of them were confused at some parts, Ray patiently answered any of their questions.
Calling them impressed is an understatement.
After he completed his presentation, Greg found it a good time to say, "Ray, I think I should give the ownership of this cafe to you."
Everyone, excluding Artoria of course, knew this was coming. Ray put his heart and soul into that plan of his, something that everyone can feel. So Ray becoming the new owner was not a far off imagination.
"What? But-"
"I already made up my mind and you know that you cannot do anything about it. I know that this will put a burden on you, especially when you are still a high school student. But I just want this cafe to thrive. You knew the reason why I build this cafe in the first place and if I'm still the one in charge, I feel that this cafe will face bankrupt." Greg felt like he was being selfish, but he didn't want this cafe to end, resulting in 8 people being unemployed.
But if Greg were being honest, he didn't want to be in massive debt.
'Well, high school is easy for me so... But is this okay?' Ray thought with his concern on his face. He didn't have enough courage to run the cafe as the owner. Although, if he were to become the owner, then he will have enough leeway to do whatever he was planning to do to this cafe, like turning it into a restaurant.
Artoria was sitting on his right side, looked at Ray's face and knew what he was thinking about. She reached Ray's hand, looked at his eyes and said, "No student of mine backed out from a challenge."
That's the only sentence that he needed to gain courage. Ray closed his eyes, took a deep breath with determination he said, "Yes."
"Good. So, any disagreements?" The employees accepted Greg's decision.
Then, Greg's explained the responsibilities of a business owner, including legal and stuff.
Greg knew Ray didn't have any kind of knowledge about legal, finance, and something more advanced than high school knowledge.
What he didn't know was that Ray has Hana. Gaining knowledge is simple, especially since he can buy everything through Hana. Not to mention his [Eidetic Memory].
'Hana, can you buy me books about all those duties?'
[That would be 35.000 System Points.]
'Huh? Why is it so expensive?'
[Because the book is compiled of Finance, Legal, Business, and Marketing.]
'Hmmm... buy it and integrate it immediately.'
[Buying... Buying successful... Integrating... Integration successful]
No pain can be felt in Ray's head, despite the book itself has a thickness similar to 5 Encyclopedia Britannica books combined.
"Ray, are you okay?" Greg was puzzled why did Ray suddenly daze in front of him.
"Ah, sorry. I was thinking of something."
"Right, as I was saying..." Greg was talking about "do's and don'ts of being a business owner".
After 2 hours of discussion between them and the employees, Ray and Artoria said their farewell.
"Teacher, do you... umm..." Ray was nervous. He wanted to invite Artoria out on a date. Ray knew that Artoria doesn't know what a date is. Even so, inviting someone for a date, especially to someone that he fancied, was challenging for him.
"What is it?"
"Do you want to go somewhere with me? You know, to know the lay of the land?"
"Now that you mention it, sure." Artoria was excited to see the country of her student, or at least the city that they reside in. She knew that Ray wanted her to know him better, but she was confused about why he was so apprehensive about it.
"Great! Let's go back to the boarding house first to use my motorcycle."
"Motorcycle?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot. A motorcycle is one of the vehicles of the modern world, the thing that has 2 wheels. You sometimes see it when we walked to the cafe."
"Oh, that one that's similar to a horse?"
"Uh, yeah. But mechanical."
"Hmmm, would it be faster to use our feet instead?"
Ray has an epiphany, but he needed to ask Hana for confirmation.
'Hana, how fast I am right now?'
[About 150 KM/h.] (A/N: 93 mph)
'Okay, that's fast. By the way, unrelated question, can you connect to the internet?'
[Yes, do you need anything?]
'How much you can access?'
[Deep enough.]
'Interesting, can you help me with something?'
[What do you need, Host?]
'Can you help us avoid people from my school? Or at least people that knew about my relationship with Nadia?' Ray didn't want to risk his revenge plan to be in ruin.
[Understood.]
'Thanks for this, Hana.'
[You're welcome.]
"I think using our feet is better, teacher."
"Very well, let's go, Ray."
They walked like what a friend would do, laughing, sharing stories, etc.
Artoria shared her stories when she was still a squire, the time where she took care of a lion cub, and her time where she foregoes her humanity to drew the Caliburn, etc.
Ray also shared his past life where he was still a normal human, an ignorant human. Though it was full of sad stories, there were still some that brought a giggle from Artoria.
They went to Bogor Botanical Garden or what the locals called, "Kebun Raya Bogor". It was one of the famous tourist spots in Bogor because of its location and because it's adjoined with presidential palace compound or "Istana Bogor".
The garden itself covers an area of 87 hectares (210 acres) and contains 13,983 different kinds of trees and plants of various origins. It is also located in the city center, so it is accessible to everyone. This garden is also a common spot for couples and families alike to having fun, picnic, exercise, etc.
There is an entry ticket with different pricing depending on your citizenship. The prices are 15 thousand rupiahs for Indonesian citizens and 25 thousand rupiahs for foreigners or 1.07 USD and 1.78 USD respectively.
They managed to save 10 thousand rupiahs, courtesy of Hana.
In Artoria's perspective, the wind inside the garden was less polluted than the outside, though not as good as [Training Ground].
For her, it was the ideal time for sparing. But she presumed that it was some kind of a halcyon for Ray before being beaten up by her again. The thought itself made her giggle.
Ray got goosebumps all of a sudden. He felt like something bad will happen to him in the future.
They resumed their walk inside the botanical garden, enjoying the view while having small talks with each other.
It was moments like this that made Artoria recalled her past before becoming a King, peacefully training and enjoying the wind while sitting on the grass after combat training.
She still bemoaned the fact that she became a King. If only I didn't draw that sword from the stone, if only I didn't push Mordred away, etc, were the thoughts that have plagued her mind.
But with Ray, she didn't feel the need to think of the past. She had realized that humans made mistakes and that what makes her a human despite the truth that she's already half-way into becoming a Divine Spirit or in other another term, God.
Wielding something that's out of common sense like Excalibur and Rhongomyniad didn't make her a God in an instant. God made mistakes, but His mistakes become the truth in our life.
Artoria suddenly went quiet, making Ray anxious. He thought that she didn't like garden or didn't like him.
Ray still has negative thoughts from his past life. That is something that he cannot erase from his mind instantaneously. But his beatings from his teacher, little by little, made his mental health better.
Both of them have sour faces, thinking of their respective negative thoughts. Surprisingly, Ray was the one that got out of his stupor.
"Teacher, should we go back?" His question got Artoria out of her daze as well.
"No, it's okay. I was just thinking about something."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Artoria looked into his eyes, contemplating what she should answer. She trusted him well enough to share information about her past, but she was afraid of him being upset because of her mistakes that brought ruin to her country and hundreds of people.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I can wait until you're ready." Ray smiled to assure her that he was not forcing her anything.
For a moment, his smile was so radiant in her eyes.
"...if you don't mind, maybe I would like to talk about it." She meekly said, surprising her student.
Ray never saw her like in front of him.
'Cute.'
[Someone is approaching your location from the south.]
'Damn it.' Ray annoyingly thought.
"Do you want to talk here? or back in our boarding house?" Ray intentionally said 'our' because he thought, 'might as well since we will live together anyway.'
Artoria wanted to talk with him there, but she knew that he was not comfortable doing it inside the botanical garden.
"Let's talk about it in... our boarding house."
'Why do I feel like this?' She felt very embarrassed that she even hides her head from him. She realized that whenever Ray saying something sweet, she felt warmth in her heart and feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Okay, let's go back," Ray said as they strolled to the exit.
Ray almost met a 'problem' in their way. But because of Hana, he can avoid the disaster.
Though it was supposed to be a long walk, at least for normal people, with them running casually, it took them 30 minutes to arrive back to their boarding house.
People didn't see them "running casually". Instead, they saw them sprinting. This proves that sometimes, different people perceive differently in the same situation. Just like his 'mistake' of beating up thugs and regarded as a villain by many instead of a hero.
It was a silent run to the house. Nobody tried to initiate a conversation because they knew that after their "personal talk", something good will happen to them.
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Hello readers,
I need to be honest with you guys, I have trapped myself because of the last paragraphs that I made. Although it gave me a starting point for the next chapter, I'm not smart enough to write a serious conversation, especially something major like this.
I don't know if I should just spoiler you guys here for the result of the talk in the next chapter. Expect a full-on conversation in the next chapter, a.k.a boring chapter. But I'll try not to make it so boring.
Thank you for reading and please give a review 😁
P.S.: Should I buy a whiteboard to list ideas?
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