Shanoa’s Tearoom
After seeing off the thugs, Letitia and I continued our newlywed tour of the castle town.
After walking for a while,
“—Oh?” Letitia suddenly exclaimed.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Look, isn’t that girl from our class…”
Following her gaze, I looked where she was pointing. What met my eyes was Shanoa Grain—the timid-looking girl who sat at seat number one in Class F.
“It really is Shanoa. What’s she doing in the castle town?” I wondered.
What a coincidence. To run into her in a city this large and crowded.
Curious about what she was doing, I watched her for a while. Shanoa glanced nervously around and then entered a somewhat old-fashioned building. From the atmosphere of the place, I figured it must be a kissaten, a tearoom or café.
“…She went into a tearoom.”
“How odd. There’s a tearoom inside the Royal Academy itself.”
That’s right. The Academy has a fancy, elegant tearoom for nobles. There seemed to be no reason for a student to deliberately enter an old tearoom in the castle town—
“Hey, Alban, why don’t we go into that shop too?”
“Huh? Why?”
“It must be quite the place if a Royal Academy student would deliberately enter it, no? Perhaps they serve exceptionally delicious tea.”
Ah… maybe that’s true? Letitia is obsessed with truly excellent tea and scones. I could tell she was slightly excited.
Cute. The gap between her usual self and this is irresistible.
“Alright, let’s stop in for a bit. It’ll be a nice break for our feet.”
We headed to the shop Shanoa entered and opened the door.
Karan-karan, the entry bell jingled, and—
“Welcome, please take any seat—Oh my. Are you students from the Royal Academy?”
The woman standing behind the counter, wearing an apron, spoke up. She looked to be around forty, with chestnut-colored hair and a gentle face. She seemed to be running the place. She was probably the owner.
“It is an honor to have you visit. However, I’m afraid our shop is hardly grand enough to satisfy nobles like yourselves…”
“Do not trouble yourself over that. If the tea is excellent, the establishment’s pedigree is a matter of no importance whatsoever,” Letitia replied.
“While I appreciate you saying so…”
“Besides, I believe another student from the Academy just entered, did she not?”
“Oh? Ah, that would be—”
“—Mother, I’m ready.”
A familiar voice came from the back of the counter.
Moments later, a chestnut-haired girl wearing an apron appeared. It was Shanoa.
“I’ll watch the shop, so please go rest in the back—What!? B-B-B-Baron Odrant and Madam Letitia?! W-Why are you here!?”
Shanoa slammed her back against the wall in a fit of wild panic the moment she saw our faces. She clearly never expected to run into us in her workplace.
“Good afternoon, Shanoa-san. We saw you enter this shop and simply assumed they must serve excellent tea,” Letitia said.
“H-Huh…?”
“Oh, I see now,” the owner-like woman said, realizing something. “Shanoa and I live here. This tearoom is our home, you see.”
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“…I had no idea Shanoa was of commoner birth,” Letitia said from her seat at the counter, sounding a little surprised.
I was surprised, too. I didn’t expect there to be another commoner student in the class besides Leonil.
“I’m surprised, too. But the fact that you’re attending the Royal Academy means you passed the ‘Merit Exam,’ Shanoa,” I said.
“Y-Yes. Um, I was just a little good at studying since I was young, so…” Shanoa spoke nervously while preparing our order behind the counter, as timid as ever.
Seriously, why is she so lacking in self-confidence? Passing the ‘Merit Exam’ is proof of exceptional excellence, you know? It’s not the kind of thing you pass just by being “a little” good at studying.
—Still, to have two people who passed the ‘Merit Exam’ in the same class.
Could Class F actually be packed with competent students?
…No, that’s probably overthinking it. Most of the nobles are headstrong yet utterly useless.
“Y-You’ve been kept waiting. Here are your tea and scones…”
Shanoa served us the tea and scones. A pleasant aroma drifted from the tea, and the scones were freshly baked, served with jam.
“Oh, that aroma… Is that perhaps Luhena tea leaf from the Seiran Highlands?” Letitia asked.
“W-Wow! That’s incredible! You knew right away…!” Shanoa stuttered in surprise.
“I am rather particular about tea. And this is a truly delightful scent,” Letitia said. She lifted the teacup, savored the aroma, and took a sip. Her movements were utterly refined.
“It’s exquisite…. It has the rich flavor and body of the Luhena leaf, but with none of the astringency. And it pairs perfectly with the scone.”
“No joke. I don’t know much about tea, but this is damn good,” I agreed.
“Th-Thank you very much.”
“You have a wonderful skill, Shanoa. I am quite taken with this place,” Letitia said.
It seemed Letitia was pleased. Shanoa looked a little relieved when she smiled.
Shanoa’s mother also smiled. “She’s always been a fast learner and had various talents, not just cooking. That’s why I wanted her to attend the best possible school and get a stable job in the future.”
“M-Mother, I always told you I’d inherit this shop…!”
“It’s alright, Shanoa. This shop is already—”
Just as her mother was about to say something—
“Mind if we step in, ma’am?”
Karan-karan, the entry bell jingled, and two men walked in.
…They looked exactly like the lowlifes they were.
The moment she saw them, Shanoa’s mother’s expression visibly soured.
“…Welcome,” she greeted them.
“Still the same old run-down, dingy shop, huh? Ya should just close it up already.”
“…”
“So? Are ya gonna give us an answer already? Otherwise, we’re gonna have to take a more appropriate approach.”
“Bet ya hardly get any customers, and the food must be crap. Haaah, the smell of tea always makes me wanna puke when I come here.”
“—Excuse me.”
Letitia’s ear twitched. She had heard something she couldn’t ignore.
“Listening to your conversation is spoiling the taste of my tea. If you have no intention of patronizing this establishment, would you kindly take your leave?”
“…What did you say?”
“Oh, my apologies. It’s simply that I have no wish to breathe the same air as such vulgar wretches who cannot even appreciate the scent of fine tea.”
“You… a Royal Academy student, are ya? Ha! Too bad for ya. No matter how high and mighty you are at the Academy, in the middle of the castle town, you’re—”
One of the men approached Letitia and reached out his arm.
I snapped and grabbed his arm.
“Don’t touch Letitia with your filthy hands.”
“What—GAHHH! L-Let go! It’s gonna break, my arm’s gonna break!”
I gradually tightened my grip, crushing the man’s arm. I could hear his bones groaning and creaking. The bones of a man who never trained his body are like thin sticks. I could snap them easily if I wanted.
—Just a little more pressure, and his arm would be shattered.
That was the moment I let go.
“Hick…! Whew, whew. M-My arm isn’t broken, is it…!?”
“T-This brat, how dare he—!”
“It’s a pain,” I said flatly.
“Ugh…!”
“It’s a pain, so maybe I’ll just kill you.”
That was not a threat, by the way. Killing vermin like them would be easy enough even with my eyes closed. To me, they were “less than ants.”
The men seemed to sense the danger in my gaze.
“D-Damn it, you haven’t heard the last of us…!”
“You two remember this as well. I, Letitia Barrow, have taken a liking to this establishment’s tea. Do not come near it again, understood?”
“Barrow—?! You mean the Duke Barrow’s family?! And that guy is the Baron Odrant everyone’s been whispering about lately…?!”
Oh. Just like Leonil said. My name really had spread among the commoners. Not that I was particularly happy about it.
“If you know that, then this is easy. Would you like me to give you the same treatment I gave Mauro Bertoli?”
“H-Heeek…!”
The men were thoroughly terrified and fled like rabbits.
Good riddance.
Shanoa, who had witnessed the entire scene, stood gaping for a moment.
“U-Um, well… thank you, both…”
“Don’t worry about it. By the way, who were those men? They seemed to have visited this place multiple times.” Letitia asked.
“…They are trying to seize the land, you see,” Shanoa’s mother said, her expression still grim. “They are members of the thug syndicate that controls this area. They’ve been harassing us for some time, trying to get us to sell the property.”
Her mother sighed deeply, her breath showing terrible emotional distress.
“Since they started coming here, our customers have dropped off… Honestly, I’m thinking of closing the shop.”
“N-No, Mother, you can’t! This is the precious shop Father left us…!” Shanoa pleaded.
“I know, but it’s alright, Shanoa. Your well-being and a peaceful Academy life are more important to me.”
“…………Hmph.”
Letitia, listening to their conversation, let out a small, villainess-like grunt.
“Tell me, Shanoa. I have a question for you.”
“Y-Yes…? What is it…?” Shanoa stammered.
“Are you at all interested in being the class King of Class F?”
“N-No… I’m not interested at all. I’m not the kind of person who should lead others…”
“I see. Then you can be my friend,” Letitia declared. She took a final sip of her tea and set the teacup down on the saucer with a gentle clink.
“I’ve become quite fond of this tearoom. As of today, I shall make it my regular haunt.”
“W-What… What!?” Shanoa exclaimed.
“That way, those dreadful people won’t dare to approach the place so casually, will they?” Letitia pointed out.
“T-That may be true, but…!”
“Alban, will you join me in this?” Letitia asked.
“Of course. Any place Letitia likes is a place I like. Besides… the tea here is seriously good.”
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