"First of all, I think I've scolded you bluntly enough. Secondly, your planet has just emerged from a life-or-death crisis. As the supreme leader, you're concerned about the business of an outsider like me..." The store manager propped his forehead up with his hand and sighed a little weakly, "No wonder Xi'er comes to you every now and then to make trouble."
Bronya gnashed her teeth and said, "You forced me to come every day, so I had to come to your store in person before work. Do you think I really want to care about your cafe?"
"Don't spit blood at me. I just asked you to introduce a few customers to me when you are free. How can I force you to come here every day?" The manager stared at Bronya's eyes dimly. "Or, at this point, do you still doubt that this cafe will pose a threat to the safety of your Beloberg?"
Bronya was suddenly speechless, and her face, which was originally filled with anger and grievance, couldn't help but show a little guilty feeling.
Although she is relatively straightforward, she is not a fool in the true sense of the word.
After one night, Bronya had more or less realized that the manager of this cafe had never thought of using force against Beloberg from the beginning.
In other words, her suspicion itself can be said to be groundless.
Although she has taken the position of Grand Guardian, Bronya's straightforward personality means that she cannot avoid her mistakes like other politicians.
Therefore, she would visit the cafe as soon as she woke up. In addition to fulfilling her promise from yesterday, the more important point was to apologize to the store manager who had been unjustifiably accused by her.
However, after arriving at the coffee shop, I found that there were several other employees in the hall besides the manager, and I never found a chance to be alone with the manager.
Now that the store manager took the initiative to bring this up, Bronya, who had not yet been mentally prepared, suddenly felt a little guilty. Her face, which had turned red due to anger, also turned into shame as she felt guilty.
"Looking at your expression, you probably already understand that your judgment was biased." The manager tapped the bar counter lightly with his fingertips. "Of course, I admit that my attitude yesterday was a bit problematic. Do you want me to apologize to you?"
The moment the words fell, Mei Raiden and Kiana immediately showed horrified expressions, and even Bronya couldn't help but look at the manager's expressionless young face in doubt, as if she had met him for the first time.
After hesitating for a long time, Bronya decided to give in. Although she had roughly determined that the manager of the cafe was not going to harm Beloberg, considering his completely unpredictable personality, it would be better not to touch the other party's fuse for the sake of safety: "No, no need. My attitude yesterday was not that good. Since neither side wants to pursue it, let's just forget about what happened yesterday."
"It's great that you can understand this." The store manager stood up and slowly walked towards the floor-standing cabinet by the wall. He said lightly, "I think you slept well last night."
Bronya's face became more and more rosy, and the guilt in her expression became more and more obvious: "You, you figured it out?"
"It's such a big change from yesterday's dying look. I think anyone with eyes can tell." The store manager turned his back to Bronya, took out a paper box from the floor-standing cabinet, and threw it behind him casually, "Next."
Bronya raised her hands and steadily took the paper box thrown to her by the store manager: "What is this?"
"This is the lily tea that our store manager specially prepared for you yesterday. Put the tea bag in a cup and brew it with boiling water for ten minutes. You can drink it." The store manager said lightly.
"How can this be so embarrassing...?"
"don't want?"
"No..." Bronya blushed and stammered as she took the paper box. "Thank you, thank you..."
--Yes.
To apologize to the manager of the cafe, to fulfill yesterday's promise... No matter which side it was, it was not the real reason why Bronya came to this cafe early in the morning.
After truly succeeding the Great Guardian, the heavy burden and responsibility made Bronya unable to sleep well for a long time.
Although reason told her that from the perspective of efficiency, only sufficient rest could allow the body to enter the best working condition, however, due to the tortuous experiences of the past two days, Bronya, who had just taken on the role of Grand Guardian, was simply unable to fully adjust her emotions in a short period of time.
But last night, although she fell asleep unconsciously while sitting in the chair in the office, Bronya found that her sleep quality was surprisingly good. After waking up, her brain became clearer than ever before.
In the days since she became the Grand Guardian, the only place she had visited besides the office was the Hyperion Café that had suddenly appeared in Beloberg.
Then, by the process of elimination, the only thing that improved her mental state was the cup of tea that the cafe manager forced her to drink.
To be honest, the impression this cup of tea left on her was not a good one.
Because of this cup of tea, the manager started teasing her, and she left angrily after drinking the tea.
Bronya originally thought that she might never want to drink this cup of tea that brought her so much grievance and unwillingness for the second time in her life.
But after feeling the miraculous effects of this cup of tea, she had to abandon her original idea.
The apology to the store manager, the shame for betraying her original idea, and... the strange feeling of being seen through from beginning to end by this young store manager, all these complicated thoughts intertwined and overlapped together, making Bronya even have the urge to run away.
At this moment, a palm was opened in front of Bronya.
"Sincerely, twelve thousand credit points."
"..."
For some reason, after hearing the store manager's calm voice, the complicated thoughts churning in Bronya's mind suddenly calmed down.
What followed was a complete feeling of powerlessness.
Why does this annoying guy always manage to stir up girls' complicated emotions and then put on such a nonchalant expression?
Bronya couldn't help but glared at the store manager and said unhappily, "You don't need to remind me. You helped Beloberg with so many things. I won't default on this little credit."
"Stop." The store manager frowned. "How many times did I tell you yesterday that the person who saved Beloberg was the pioneer of the Star Train and had nothing to do with the manager of a coffee shop like me? Why don't you understand? Is your butt itching again?"
However, this time, Bronya did not show any fear. Instead, she crossed her arms and raised the corners of her mouth slightly: "When did I say that you helped Beloberg and were referring to the star core problem solved by those pioneers?"
The store manager was stunned, while Bronya pointed at herself calmly and said, "I am the Great Guardian of Beloberg. I inherited the will from Pramya and follow her orders. I use walls to resist the wind and snow, and use my will to protect the flames, benefiting the people of the community."
"So?" The store manager frowned. "I already know your identity. There's no need to repeat it."
"No, no, no, this is not a repetition." Bronya smiled. "I am the great guardian of Beloberg. Those who lend a helping hand to me can also be considered to have helped Beloberg in a way. I got a good sleep from you, and you, as the manager of Hyperion Café, drove away my fatigue and reminded me that only by maintaining the best working condition can I truly benefit the people of the community."
"If even this is not considered charity, then I think there is nothing in this world that can be called real help."
"Am I right, dear store manager?"
At the end, Bronya, who had been completely controlled by the store manager, showed a proud expression as if she had won, with joy in her eyes.
The store manager looked at Bronya in doubt, as if he was meeting her for the first time. He swallowed and said in disbelief: "Although I think it's unlikely, but... Could it be, Bronya, you are not a fool?"
Bronya raised her eyebrows, but did not show any expression of being broken by the store manager's personal attack. She just calmly stated the fact that was taken for granted: "Only those who cannot refute the truth will ignore the original topic and directly attack the other party's personality. In this case, has the store manager admitted that he has nothing to say?"
The store manager was silent for a moment: "...Can't you use some of your eloquence to govern the country?"
"That's a good suggestion. I will seriously consider it." Bronya smiled. "So, the manager admits that I'm right, right?"
Chapter 4 Bronya's Request for Alliance (k)
"No, why are you so persistent in pursuing this point?" The store manager showed an incredible expression, "Even if your argument is successful and I have done you a great favor, what good will it do you?"
"Yeah, it really might not be any good." The smile on Bronya's face slowly faded. She lowered her eyelids, her eyes blurred for a moment, she recalled the confusion and pain she suffered when she was still the leader of the Iron Guard, and clenched her fists calmly: "I just don't want to be kept in the dark by others anymore."
Once upon a time, she was just an heir standing behind her mother. Even when the City Builders and Silver Mane Iron Guards noticed something unnatural, she still believed in her mother and the will of the City Builders. But in the end, the existence of the Star Core and the arrival of the Star Train proved that she was just a child who was blinded.
...It's a terrible feeling to not know the answer until the very end.
Today, she has become the great guardian of Beloberg, but in the eyes of this store manager, she is still just a person who does not need to know the truth.
As a result, her position did not change at all.
Seeing Bronya's gloomy expression, the young store manager showed an expression of confusion. He frowned slightly and said, "I don't seem to be hiding anything from you?"
"But you didn't take the initiative to tell me most of the things, whether it's about this cafe, or about yourself, or why you know us." Bronya sang out, raised her eyes again, and stared straight into the eyes of the store manager, "Please don't treat me like a fool."
"I'm confused by what you said. Are we on good terms?" The store manager tilted his head, still with a puzzled expression. "I respect your needs as the supreme ruler of Beloberg. I can explain to you the origin of this cafe and why it appeared in Beloberg. However, the things I need to explain to you should not include my personal privacy."
"If these privacy matters don't include anything about us, then it's just as you said. You have no obligation to explain anything to us." Bronya narrowed her eyes, her gaze revealing a strong sense of scrutiny. "But Manager, the so-called privacy you mentioned shouldn't just be about your own affairs, right?"
The store manager turned his head away: "...I don't understand what you are talking about."
"Can you please not look away when you lie?" Bronya whispered, "If you know us, why do you pretend that this is the first time you meet us?"
"..."
After hearing Bronya's question, the store manager fell silent, and Raiden Mei and Kiana, who were sitting at the dining table, couldn't help but turn their gazes in the direction of the store manager.
Not only Bronya, but Kiana and Raiden Mei were also very curious about the answer to this question.
The store manager muttered in a low voice: "But this is the first time I meet you..."
"Please don't fool me. I admit that the first time I met you was not long ago. I have never remembered a person like you." Bronya crossed her arms and looked sharp. "But in your eyes, whether it's me, the two girls named Kiana and Raiden Mei, or even Cocolia's mother... we are all already familiar people, right?"
"Have we all forgotten you? Or is it that the ability to spy on other people's lives is unique to you?" Bronya said confidently, "It would be fine if we didn't know, but now that we have caught the outsider who was spying on our lives, I think that as the one being spied on, we should have the right to know the truth of all this."
"Uh..." The store manager hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind and said in self-abandonment, "How about you just treat me as a peeping Tom who has been spying on your lives? Then, what do you want to do?"
"Testimony alone cannot be used as evidence of conviction." Bronya said calmly, "Besides, as far as I know, you don't seem to be the kind of person who likes to peek at girls."
The store manager looked puzzled: "You say this as if you know me very well. Why do you think so?"
"Although I don't know you very well, I know that pioneer. She is not like me. With her personality, if she knew you were a peeping Tom, she would probably hit you in the face with a baseball bat the first moment they met, just like she did with Sambo." Bronya said, "Why would she rather put herself in the position of a criminal than explain the truth?"
Not a rigorous argument, but a fairly convincing one.
At least, based on the store manager's understanding of the pioneers, she would probably do the same thing as Bronya said.
"You are willing to help us, but you are not willing to be honest with us. You even often take the initiative to provoke us because you hope that we can distance ourselves from you as much as possible." Bronya stared at the store manager's eyes with a calm look. "But you seem to have a completely different attitude towards the pioneer than us. You are not opposed to her getting close to you, and you even maintain a cooperative relationship with her after being teased."
"Why? What's so special about her that's different from us?"
The store manager was helpless: "Can't you use your brain for the right purpose?"
"In my opinion, revealing the truth hidden by others is undoubtedly the right way." Bronya responded confidently.
"I think it's normal for a married man to keep a certain distance from other girls..."
"But this kind of normal behavior should only be limited to families with only one wife." Bronya interrupted the store manager's argument without hesitation. She rolled her eyes and said unhappily, "If the store manager is really as loyal as you say, then you shouldn't have more than three spouses."
The store manager secretly glanced back at the kitchen curtain and said guiltily, "I...I can't change my mind..."
"He has regained his focus... that is indeed one explanation."
Bronya turned her head and glanced at the sky outside the frosted window, her eyes narrowed and her expression suddenly became extremely cold.
"Since you are still unwilling to be honest with me, I am sorry. Even though I have made a personal judgment that this cafe is harmless to Beloberg, as the Great Guardian, I still cannot trust you. Do you understand?"
The store manager was silent for a moment: "...So?"
"Although Beloberg's regime has been closed on this planet for a long time, and has not had any experience of communicating with other regimes for a long time." Bronya's voice suddenly turned cold, "However, since outsiders who do not belong to Beloberg have appeared in our territory, as the Great Guardian, I have the power to use diplomatic means against outsiders."
"...diplomatic means?" The store manager chewed on these four words carefully, and suddenly sneered, "Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since you insist on treating this small coffee shop as a political group, then it's up to you."
The store manager put his hands on the back of his head, looking like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. He closed one eye and said frivolously: "By the way, what kind of diplomatic attitude are you going to adopt towards us? Are you going to treat us as invaders and exclude us completely?"
"Don't treat me like a fool. I'm not stupid enough to show hostility to a 'small cafe' that has far more violence than my own." Bronya narrowed her eyes slightly, and a hint of teasing suddenly flashed in her eyes. "So, under the violent coercion of your 'small cafe', although I, the great guardian, cannot trust you, I can only try my best to completely eliminate the possible threats to your cafe."
Bronya leaned forward slightly, propped up the bar counter with both hands, and looked down at the store manager:
"Therefore - in order to get you and Beloberg to stand on the same side, I, as the Great Guardian, will request an alliance with you."
"Huh?" The store manager was stunned. He looked at Bronya's condescending attitude and her confident and determined posture, and a bad premonition suddenly flashed through his mind. "Alliance? You, and our cafe?"
Bronya pursed her lips. "Although the problem of the star core has been solved by the pioneers of the train group, the long-term extreme cold wave still caused irreversible damage to the planet's ecosystem, and the existence of the rift is difficult to completely eliminate in a short period of time. Now, we have reopened the 'core' of the lower area, but the impact of the blockade on the financial situation still exists."
The store manager understood what Bronya meant and grinned silently: "You want us, a small cafe, to help you revitalize Beloberg?"
"I know you can do it, but you just don't want to do it, right?" Bronya looked straight into the manager's eyes.
"You're right, but it's a pity there's no reward." The store manager nodded with a smile, "I'm sorry, I made you waste so much saliva in vain."
"So, you also admit that you can do this." Bronya suddenly smiled, and her smile was very bright. "You can indeed help me revitalize Beloberg. The reason you don't do it is just because you don't want to. If that's the case, then things will be easy."
"So optimistic?" Seeing Bronya's confident expression, the store manager also became interested. "Tell me, what's the best solution?"
Mei Raiden and Kiana, who were sitting at the table, pricked up their ears quietly.
Bronya straightened her back and crossed her arms: "It's okay to change your mind."
"Pfft." The store manager laughed out loud, with a hint of sarcasm in his laughter. He shook his head helplessly, "So that's it. I thought that you, the wise guardian, could come up with some brilliant ideas."
Bronya raised her eyebrows: "Are you sure that your opinion will not be changed by others?"
"Unfortunately, this is not a problem that can be solved by me changing my subjective opinion." The store manager placed his elbows on the bar, crossed his fingers, and looked at me teasingly. "Since you have already said this, I will reveal a little bit of my personal privacy to you."
"Due to some personal reasons, the interference I can make in any world is quite limited. After my interference in the world exceeds a certain limit, the world will even exclude my existence itself, along with this cafe that should not appear in the normal dimension."
Those plain words were like thunder, stunning Kiana and Mei Raiden who were eavesdropping, as well as Bronya who was standing in front of the store manager.
Bronya quickly came back to her senses and said very quickly: "So, this is why you know us but we don't know you? We knew each other in the past, but the memory of that acquaintance was erased because your existence was driven away from the world?"
"No, this is indeed the first time I've met you. You don't need to doubt it." The store manager shook his head. "The reason why I know you has nothing to do with why I've been rejected by the world."
Bronya frowned: "You are still hiding something from us."
"Please spare me. The reason why I know you is really my personal privacy that has nothing to do with you." The store manager shrugged, "There must be a limit to getting to the bottom of things."
Bronya was silent for a moment, and finally gave up pursuing the answer to this question, and turned to another more important question: "Being rejected by the world... I have never heard of such a situation before. Can't this situation be resolved in a way?"
"Stop, the next thing to do is prohibited." The manager said quietly.
That cold gaze made Bronya feel a slight chill on her back.
She suddenly realized that although the manager of this cafe was bound by certain rules and could not interfere too much with the world in the normal dimension, this situation of being bound by rules was caused by the manager himself, and it was unrealistic to ask the manager to resolve this situation.
So, how about a different approach?
Since the store manager cannot interfere with the world of normal dimensions, then what if they, the people in the normal dimension, take the initiative to interfere with this cafe?
