บท 37: I'm just that guy
"Nice to meet you, I'm Charlotte!" The woman with the monocle said as she extended her hand over the counter.
'...you better not have a spare monocle on you...' Isaac sized her up and inwardly lampooned. 'Monocles are scary.'
He then looked at Charlotte with a courteous gaze, coupled with his usual languid soft smile. "Nice to meet you, Demoiselle Charlotte. Is there..."
As if knowing what Isaac was about to say next, Charlotte interrupted him. "I'll get straight to the point— I want to know your secret!"
'That's a bit too straightforward, Miss...' Isaac kept his sincere smile. He then curled up a sly smile. "Well, to be honest, I would sometimes look up at the cosmos and just take in the tranquil night... Does this secret count?"
"What? Oh, no, no, no," Listening to Isaac, Charlotte quickly shook her head as she swayed her hands. "I meant the secret of your café! Recently, it's been given positive reviews by various accounts."
"The Captain of the Maisson Gardiennage, Some well-known merchants, and a few nobles have garnered your store's interest!" Charlotte said as she read a list that she took out from her pocket. "The list just goes on!"
"According to their review, they loved the tranquility of the café as well as barista's stark attitude and calm-inducing words." She said as she nudged her monocle. "They loved it so much that they frequented it whenever they have the chance."
"This caused some common people to believe that this café is a high-end gathering place for the wealthy— thus, they didn't dare to barge right in." She finished with this line.
Hearing Charlotte, Isaac's mind turned numb. 'Wait... Is that the reason why I'm barely getting any new customers?!'
He had never been aware of such matters.
As for his regular customers, to be honest he did found them to look rich, but never did he thought that they were THAT rich!
'I just thought that some of them were a bunch of Nouveau Riche...' He lampooned.
'Damn you, Murphy's Law...'
He then placated himself and waved his hand. With a faint smile, he shook his head. "No, they were exaggerating, surely. I'm merely someone who loves my line of work."
"And THAT'S exactly why I'm interested in your story!" Charlotte said as she brought her Kamera up. She then looked at Isaac with expectant eyes. "The ability to garner so much attention yet being also so humble and enigmatic... Now that's newsworthy!"
"Would you mind being interviewed for a while? I promise that your store would have great publicity once it's published in the Steambird!"
'An interview, eh?' Isaac thought for a moment as he grasped his chin in contemplation. 'I guess it won't be that bad.'
'Moreover, this is a great chance to attract new customers...' He controlled his facial expression from putting on a sly smirk as he thought of this.
After weighing the pros and cons, Isaac nodded his head gently before putting down his arm. "I'll be delightful to."
Hearing this, Charlotte's eyes lit up as she smiled contentedly. "Great, it's decided then! I'll meet you later after lunch!"
Without waiting for Isaac to say anything, she dashed out of the door with a gleeful smile. "Thank you!"
Ding~*
Isaac watched her in a daze before looking at the other woman that was standing at the side the whole time.
'Oh boy...' A single bead of sweat dropped from Isaac's forehead. He then smiled wryly at the woman. "Journalists, am I right? Haha..."
"You're not from this world, are you?" The woman with the large which hat blatantly and solemnly said.
'What's up with everyone being so upfront and direct today? Wait no, that's not the main concern!' Isaac didn't know what to say for a moment, however, he had more or less expected that the woman would say such a thing.
'Calm down... Perhaps it's just a test...' He calmed himself down and looked at her with a dazed expression before chuckling wryly, "Haha, Miss, I believe that its too early for jokes."
"No... I can see it." The woman crossed her arms. "Your fate in the stars... It's all so messed up!"
'Yeah, she definitely knows...' Isaac inwardly sighed. He then looked at her, and her figure reflected in Isaac's deep-amber eyes. "Fate and stars... Are you perhaps the famous Astrologist Mona Megistus? I heard that you were great at divination!"
Yes, it was none other than Mona. The hydromancer that has enough money, but can't seem to keep them with her for a while.
Hearing her name mentioned, the woman's face changed and a proud smug look appeared. She then replied with a satisfied smile, "Oh my, I guess my influence is something that have reached quite the number of people."
'Lady, you write academic papers on the Steambird, and almost everyone knows it and you.' Isaac lampooned to himself as he maintained his courteous smile. "Well, your papers do attract the interest of a variety of people."
"Indeed, it is as you say." Mona nodded her head in agreement. She then looked at Isaac's eyes. "Like-minded people tend to attract each other, after all."
"Agreed." Isaac nodded with a faint sigh. He then inquired, "We digress. About what you said earlier..."
"Ah yes," As if remembering what she was here for, Mona snapped back to her senses. She then looked at Isaac's deep-amber eyes and sized him up.
After a few moments, she nodded her head. "Yes... Now that I'm closer to you, I can see it clearly now."
She then leaned closer to him and observed him closely. Isaac was startled at first, but he didn't budged a bit. He just let this broke which to do her thing.
After observing Isaac for a few moments, Mona took out a scryglass and started divining. After a few moments, she opened her eyes as if she gained a revelation, yet a trace of confusion was mixed in.
"Your fate... Is disharmonious." Mona said solemnly before tucking her scryglass away.
'Disharmonious?' Isaac decided to probe in what she said. He then decided to make a confused expression. "You're talking about my fate? What did you divination say?"
"It's difficult to accurate put on words...' Mona said as she held her waists as she wore a contemplating look.
"Hmm, but if I were to make an analogy..." Mona grasped then her chin as she slightly lowered her head. "It's like an Aquabus entering a tunnel."
"Far away, you see an Aquabus cruising along without any problems, but once it enters the tunnel, it disappears. It would then reappear on the other side of the tunnel, but this time, the environment around it changed. It's still the same Aquabus, but the environment around it had completely changed."
"That's what I'm getting from your fate." Mona said as she sat down. "It's like you were disconnected for a lengthy period of time before reappearing again— yes, this is more accurate than what I speculated before."
Hearing her words, Isaac's mind momentarily turned numb as he directed what she said. '...this...'
'...what she sees might be my body's previous owner dying and me possessing it...' As Isaac's mind wandered, he came up with a theory. 'Yes, this might be it. She might be seeing the change in this body's fate after I possessed it...'
Of course, this was only a theory.
He then shook his head and laughed wryly. "That's... An intriguing divination."
"This is not something to be laughed off." Mona said with sharp eyes and a solemn expression. "I had never met anyone with such fate as yours... Other than Alice..." She whispered the last part to herself.
"You're overthinking things, Miss Mona." Isaac chuckled lightly. He then looked at her with a gentle smile. "However... I am quite interested. Would you mind me inquiring more about this?"
Hearing this, Mona became interested. "Really? Then— Can we collaborate? Yes, I want to study your strange fate."
'Collaborate...' Isaac mumbled this word over before shaking his head with a faint smile. "That's fine by me."
"That's great!" Mona made a relieved face. "I actually thought that I would have to coax and seduce you."
"...what." Hearing what she said, Isaac's face dropped. He then tried his best to placate himself. "Why... Why would you think that something like that would work on me?"
'It honestly would though. Just saying.' Isaac secretly thought as a hidden glint appeared in his deep amber eye.
"Well, it's because of your fate." Mona crossed her arms as she looked at Isaac with sharp and defensive eyes. "Your fate is associated with a lot of things, mostly serenity, misfortune, concealment, and night. But there are also two things that stand out."
"You have complicated emotional attachments and an uncontrollable lust after being unleashed." She pointed at him with a sharp glare. "A restrained mating beast, if you will."
"..." Isaac heard all of her accusations and couldn't help but be genuinely perplexed. He truly didn't know what to say at the moment. "Uhh..."
---
Meanwhile, outside the café, a familiar person with an iconic grayish-white hair and an ahoge was just about to enter the café when she heard the things Mona said.
Her hand then froze on the spot.
"Eh...?"
* * *
A/N: Someone clean the kitchen. The cook is back.
So... Hi everyone. Did y'all miss your cook?
I didn't get isekai'd (unfortunately), but instead, I experienced something much worse.
Exams.
For the past two weeks, I've just been grinding my lessons, and, miraculously enough, I attained high scores on my exam. (Definitely boasting)
So yeah. Now that the exams is gone, I can go back to uploading again.
Cheers.
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