The Black Iron Glory
Half Cup of Milk Tea

Chapter 83

Half Cup of Milk Tea

Claude looked at the timid Kefnie and rolled his eyes towards Eriksson. Is this the surprise?

Eriksson did not get what he wanted to say at all; he just thought he had done a favor for his friend.

"Surprise! You weren't expecting this, were you? All right, Kefnie, I'm taking Claude. Watch him! I have to see some stuff. See you soon!"

"Hey .." cried Claude, but the troublemaker was gone.

Both lovers should have stood up awkwardly. Claude has been an excellent player on earth, but he is just an inexperienced teenager now.

"Cough .. Ahem, nice to meet you, Kefnie. I thought I wouldn't meet you here" Claude cleared his throat as he tried to figure out a way to escape the situation and dealt a good blow to it.

Kefnie's already pink face turned red from collar to hairline.

"I'm happy to see you too .. Want to drink something?"

Claude looked at her half a moment, then realized she was holding a tray and wearing a maid uniform.

"You ... You .. here …"

"This is The Mermaid's tent. I'm helping my sister out tonight."

The girl spoke with an extraordinarily bold and shocking pride.

"So ..." murmured Claude.

Thank goodness she wasn't there dating anyone else. He must be thinking too much about things. Eriksson probably brought him in specifically because he heard he was working there. He thinks it makes sense. His ex has a serious crush on the little thing and his friends have read every courtesy towards him on his part as a continuation of that crush.

"What do you have? I'm a little thirsty" Claude continued, a little less awkward now that he's solved the problem.

His friends had made all these efforts, so he might as well use that opportunity to catch his breath.

"Please sit down," Kefnie said as he led her to an empty table, his face suddenly bright sun, "We have honey milk tea, honey flower tea, honey apple juice, honey cucumber juice, honey cucumber juice, mixed honey berry juice, blueberry juice honey juice, sweet orange juice– "

"Why is everything sweet?"

"It's new year's night, of course everything has to be sweet! Especially here -" The girl's cheeks flushed again. "– where all the children are looking for a partner."

Sweet drinks for a sweet night? Claude accepted his defeat before a simple reason.

"Let me have some honey milk tea then."

"alright. That's five sunars" Kefnie said, staring at Claude.

Five sunars? Claude almost spewed out the tea he had not yet drunk.

A cup of honey milk tea is usually just one sunar. It's been five times already ?! What a beautiful night! He sighed and took out some money, He shouldn't have walked here without checking the price first, he punished himself.

"thank you. Wait a minute," Kefnie chirped and left.

The tent was quite large, about 30 square meters. However, at least half of it was just counter. It stood in the center like a continent and the tables adorned the space around it like an island. A row of bar stools also hugged the table.

Kefnie came back about a minute later with his tea.

"Business doesn't look that good. The Wargod Shrine was crowded," Claude started awkwardly, trying his best to keep the awkward silence in their hearts.

The girl giggled.

"It's still morning, that's why. It'll take a lot later tonight. It'll be so crowded that I don't even have room to walk! High prices will actually attract more people, not less, as boys will take the opportunity to show off how rich they are. "

Claude looked at.

"Did you come up with this?"

"No, my sister did. He was there" Kefnie elbow elbowed toward the general counter.

"Nonsense," Claude shrugged, "You learn something new every day" Claude sipped his tea and gasped. "–Too sweet. How much honey did you put in?

"Is this really sweet?-" The girl blinked frantically. "–I added two extra spoons for you. If you think it's too sweet, I can add a little milk tea."

"Oh? You offer refills?"

"No, it's a special service because you're my first customer tonight."

His gaze glanced at him, a little confused, but doing what he asked. He poured half a potion of sugar into an empty cup and stretched it out to her.

"Please refill?"

Kefnie disappeared for a while and returned with a full cup.

"What about the others?" he asked .

"Can I ask you to join me for a drink, beautiful lady?" Claude asked in a rather dramatic voice.

The girl did not laugh at him, instead she just took a cup and took a sip.

"Whoa, this is really too sweet. This is not gonna work. Let me fill it!"

He disappeared again, returning with a full cup, and the two sat down and sipped their tea for a long, awkward moment.

"Warm tea is very good in this cold weather," said the girl as she could no longer bear the awkward silence, "My father gave me a ride on his shoulder when I was young, and I go to the earth goddess temple every year with my mother and sister. I always like to sip milk tea with them on the way home the longest. I never thought I'd end up with a guy selling tea. "

"… Sorry for reminding you …"

Claude found some habits more difficult to remove than others. If he had not moved, he would not have hesitated to listen to the girls in the bar talk about their past for a good hour or two while he doused them with a few glasses of alcohol. That made him not have to sleep in a cold bed. Now he's young again, no more than a child, and he lives in a much more conservative world. He treats her by drinking out of habit, but she keeps control of her sensual habits.

"It's not your fault" the girl half-smiled, the cup clasped tightly in her hand, her eyes elsewhere. "I often remember it. How wonderful it was when my parents were still around. We were very happy .. But, one day, Uncle Manaro told us that my father had died. Mom fell ill the same week and left us a year later.

"Suster hugged me all night, but I couldn't stop crying. He found a job and I was left at home, alone. I don't even remember how many times I soaked my teddybear. My brother kept telling me to be tough because one day I had to take care of myself. He wanted me to find a good man to take care of me. "

"I'm sure you'll do it. You're a good girl, you know; you're an adult, a good listener, and you're very cute" Claude said comfortingly.

He almost ran away. She obviously had a double crush and came back for him; a shy girl like her was not open to just anyone, especially not just boys her age, about such things. He does not want any emotional complications in his life right now, good or bad. All he wanted was to learn magic. And once he knew magic, he wanted to travel the world. He couldn't do that if he had to leave a girl.

And then there was his father's plan to send him to Nubissia with the military. . . There's no future for him and Kefnie.

"Thank you ..." The girl squeaked softly, her cheeks flushed red as she glanced at him, "Sorry, I don't know why I suddenly told you all that .. I'm so embarrassed …"

"Don't worry. We're schoolmates. What can we do if we don't listen to each other?" Claude said, putting special emphasis on the word 'schoolmate'.

"thank you. Oh, someone called!" The girl darted away, her glass still half-filled left on the table.

Claude finished his cup and watched as people began to arrive at the tent. Kefnie's right. Rich young boys and men flocked to tents in droves, would-be lovers in tow, to spend their money.

Kefnie couldn't stop and chat anymore, but he kept glancing at her every chance he had. His back began to sweat after the nineteen-minute glance, so he prepared to leave, but Eriksson and Welikro sauntered into the tent at that moment and saw him and the two cups.

"Who is this?" Eriksson asked.

"Keflio. I bought him a drink, but things got too busy that he went back to work" Claude replied.

"Looks like you're making good progress!" Eriksson smiled, "You better thank me later!"

"Where's your sister?" Claude asked Welikro instead of greeting Eriksson with an answer, "Didn't your father ask you to watch him?"

"He told me to leave because I'm 'chasing all the good boys', I think that's his word," Welikro shrugged helplessly.

Eriksson laughed out loud.

"Your father didn't ask if you could really keep an eye on him when he asked you, right? Your brother's a bear, not a human!"

Welikro's sister looks more like a bear than a woman, that's right. Unfortunately, he still has vixen. Welikro's father often regretted the fact that his daughter was not a boy, he would make her the perfect son. Unfortunately, she did not have the right jewelry, so she was instead a scary princess.

"Stop making fun of his sister. What do you want to drink? Treat me," Claude quickly interjected.

Welikro may fully agree with Eriksson, but that doesn't mean he will allow her to voice their common thoughts. No one was allowed to ridicule his sister, even with the truth that he fully agreed. It was a little in his honor because he was his sister, and that he would never tolerate.

Eriksson also knew that, so he accepted the topic change and ordered a honey blueberry juice. Welikro take mixed fruit options. Claude ordered another cup of tea, red tea this time, and asked for nothing to be added.

They sat and chatted while waiting for the night to end.

"In hindsight, why should Baron Robert greet Sir Fux? Isn't he a baron? Sir Fux was just a baronet, he had to greet Baron Robert, he was only a half-step colleague, after all, "Claude asked.

Eriksson clicked his tongue.

"Mayor Robert was the last in a limited generation of three generations. His grandfather was made an equal because he fought under Stellin IX in the civil war. Unlike your father, or Sir Fux, he didn't get his position through hard work or talent, he got it thanks to his title and the connections that come with it. Thanks to all that, he had no foundation in the city, nothing comparable to Sir Fux who was the only Whitestag member of the Council of Dignitaries, After all . "

Claude nodded while thinking. No wonder his father didn't bring Mayor Robert to the talks about a new trade route.

The new year bell rings and announces the new year, and, with it, Claude's second year in this world.