Hyperion Cafe is a cafe that can connect different worlds and even different times.
——Before the train pioneers left the planet, they said this to themselves.
Unlike adventurers like Walter Young, who had traveled the universe for quite some time and had even visited the Quantum Sea in his hometown, Bronya Rand, whose civilization had lost the means of interstellar communication and was even in a life-and-death situation, encountered humans outside of Yaliro VI for the first time, except for the pioneers who came to this planet on their own initiative.
Beloberg's political system is quite special. No other countries have existed on this planet for a long time. Therefore, even as the supreme ruler of Beloberg, the political education she received did not tell her how to deal with disputes about territorial sovereignty.
Of course, with Bronya's talent, even if she had never received similar education, she could understand how special it was that "an unauthorized and registered coffee shop appeared in her own sovereign territory."
Before she took office as the Grand Guardian, she was a commander of the Silver Mane Iron Guard who was active on the front lines of the battlefield for many years.
Therefore, after finishing the most important tasks at hand, she, who was always hands-on, immediately came to the cafe according to the instructions left by the pioneers of the train group.
To be honest, when she first entered the cafe, she didn't think there was anything special about it.
Although she saw a girl who looked very much like herself when she was a child, at that time, she had not yet formed a basic concept of "another world" and had no idea that "that child was herself in another world".
At the beginning, the store manager showed great enthusiasm for my arrival. He personally brewed tea for me. After learning the purpose of my visit, he took the initiative to ask other employees to go back to the second floor to avoid suspicion, creating a quiet space for me to talk with confidence.
Apart from the sleeping girl, there were only two people left in the hall: himself and the store manager.
She originally thought that this trip to the coffee shop would end happily and easily, but she never expected that after the other employees left, the manager revealed his cunning fox tail.
His face looked so handsome and gentle, and he seemed to be a little younger than herself... However, the communication with this store manager made Bronya feel tired and anxious for the first time in a long time.
He stretched out his hand, but he was unwilling to take it.
I wanted to finish talking to him about business as quickly as possible, but he kept asking me to stay here for a while longer and even made me a cup of fragrant flower tea.
I expressed my gratitude to him from the bottom of my heart, but he looked indifferent and even said something cruel, "Believe it or not, I will spank your butt."
Impolite, dishonest, unreasonable... If Bronya had been alone and without any other Silver Mane Guards by her side and encountered such a mob, she would probably have been so angry that she would have stuffed a long object (referring to the barrel of a gun) into a hole (referring to the nostril) on this guy's body.
She kept reminding herself to be magnanimous, to give way to outsiders gracefully, and not to let the title of Great Guardian be disgraced in the eyes of the store manager, but at the same time, Bronya suddenly realized something that made her deflate.
——According to the pioneer of the train group, the flaming sword that solved the star core crisis was given by the manager of this cafe.
Moreover, the thing is not the only one in the hands of the manager of this cafe.
...In other words, it is very likely that even if Beloberg used all of their current military strength, they probably would not be a match for this cafe.
So, of course—
——After the planetary core crisis, Bronya once again encountered this abnormal person who was completely beyond her understanding, and the string that had been taut for a long time suddenly broke.
Although the strong will honed on the battlefield prevented her from crying in front of the store manager, after the string that had been taut for a long time broke, a feeling of fatigue and depression from the bottom of her heart suddenly occupied Bronya's heart.
If her mother, the Great Guardian Cocolia, was still alive—
Pain and powerlessness, coupled with the fatigue and irritability accumulated over the past few days, as well as the sadness of having just lost her mother, all came flooding back at her, causing "hallucinations" to appear before her eyes that should have only occurred when she closed her eyes.
But she soon realized that it was not an illusion, nor even her own mother, but a "Cocolia" who looked very similar to her own mother.
Due to her lingering admiration for Cocolia, Bronya did not immediately believe the store manager's words when faced with this woman who looked like her mother. She took a deep breath and suppressed her personal feelings in her chest, and then she tried her best to endure it.
"Excuse me, Ms. Cocolia."
In a cold tone that perfectly fits the title of "Great Guardian" and with impeccable manners, she asked the same questions that she had asked the suspects several times during her time as commander.
"Impersonating a law enforcement officer and attempting to force an innocent citizen to commit a crime - are the accusations made by the store manager against you true?"
Ah--
The young store manager looked away and sneered with a mixture of disdain and sarcasm.
"Does this have anything to do with you?"
Cocolia's gaze suddenly turned cold. Although the girl who claimed to be Bronya Rand showed her the aura of a person in a high position, as an executor of anti-entropy, she had already faced countless leaders.
Compared with those political leaders who are still in charge of the country, Bronya Rand is still too young.
"Since you have the same name as my daughter, I'd like to advise you not to meddle in other people's business here." Cocolia said coldly, "Do you know the identity of that girl?"
"I don't know. That's not important." Bronya looked directly at Cocolia's cold face with a firm expression. "What I want to ask is what are you going to do with the child, Ms. Cocolia."
"..." Cocolia's breathing became a little rapid. She didn't know if it was because the girl who was disobeying her was so similar to Bronya, but she became a little irritated unconsciously.
"What do you know?! This is a necessary sacrifice to save the world! As long as she becomes the Herrscher, we can get hope from her to fight against the Honkai! The children in the orphanage will be able to continue to survive in this world!"
"Tsk..." She gently closed her eyes and whispered, "What am I doing... This guy is not my Bronya..."
Click, the sound of the gun barrel being loaded.
Bronya raised her gun towards Cocolia.
"I am Bronya Rand, Grand Guardian of Beloberg."
With unspeakable disappointment and loneliness, Bronya declared:
"In the name of the noble Amber King, I hereby sentence the evildoers and villains!"
Chapter 17: Get out of the way! The store manager is trying to show off!
The black and white metal barrel reflects sharp light under the light.
"Are you serious?"
Cocolia looked indifferently at the girl with a resolute expression but somewhat lonely eyes, and her hostility towards Bronya was not shaken at all.
"It is our duty as the Great Guardian to protect the citizens." Bronya said coldly, "Since this cafe is built on Beloberg's territory, Beloberg will protect every resident who sets foot in it."
Although the verdict had been issued, Cocolia could still feel that the girl in front of her had no intention of killing her.
However, her determination was clearly expressed - as long as he made a move on the sleeping girl, she would definitely stop him.
In this case, there is no point in taking action here, and Cocolia knows this very well.
She didn't think she would lose to the girl with the same name and appearance as Bronya, but Cocolia knew that the person who caused this situation was the young red-haired store manager. Although the store manager did not show the slightest hostility towards her, as long as the girl was still sitting in the store, the store manager would not allow herself to take her away by force.
Compared with Bronya Rand, this young store manager whose background she couldn't see clearly was the biggest obstacle for her to take away the Herrscher body.
Therefore, Cocolia ignored the gun barrel aimed at her chest, lowered her sight slightly, and stared at the young store manager with a meaningful look: "It seems that it is unrealistic to take the girl away here."
"Don't look at me like that." The store manager took another sip of tea and said calmly, "Although I hate you, as the store manager of a coffee shop, I will also follow the principle of treating everyone as a guest. Of course I won't allow you to attack my customers in the store, but what happens outside the store has nothing to do with me, a small store manager."
"So, if this great guardian Bronya attacks me, you will also try to stop her, right?" The corners of Cocolia's mouth curled up slightly.
"you guess?"
Her answer was a meaningful smile.
"Huh, you're really a free-spirited store manager." Cocolia turned around, turned her back to the two people in the cafe, closed the door, and left without a second thought. "I hope your store closes soon."
"Goodbye, I won't see you off." The store manager said coldly without even looking at Cocolia's back.
"Wait!" Bronya, who was a beat slow, quickly put down the gun in her hand and followed Cocolia's footsteps.
But when she opened the door, apart from the bustling Beloberg, where could she see Cocolia?
Bronya closed the door in despair. She recalled Cocolia's indifferent attitude of ignoring her, and her five fingers holding the gun handle trembled slightly.
Suddenly, she turned her head and looked at the store manager with a hint of anger that was hard to suppress.
"Is this what you want me to see? No matter which side the 'mother' is, it's always like this..."
——Hopelessly, look.
Bronya really couldn't use these few words to describe her mother, so she could only stare at the young store manager with an angry look.
"You misunderstood me." Who would have thought that the young store manager would suddenly show a disgusting expression as if he had eaten shit. "Believe it or not, if I knew that woman would come to my store in advance, I would have closed the door a long time ago."
"Tsk, what a bad luck."
"..." That blatant gesture of disgust left Bronya speechless for a moment.
She herself actually knew what kind of person Cocolia was, and it had nothing to do with the store manager.
The reason why she felt angry was not because of the store manager himself, but because she found it difficult to accept the fact that "Cocolia is hopelessly precious no matter what world it is in", so she transferred her anger to the store manager who ruthlessly revealed this fact to her.
To put it bluntly, it is just unreasonable anger.
"Are you just going to send her back to her original world like this?" She said in a deep voice, suppressing her anger with great difficulty.
“Didn’t I say it? I’m just the manager of a coffee shop. I don’t work part-time as a police station, nor do I provide services to save the world.” The manager said leisurely.
"But Cocolia is planning to harm that girl!" Bronya pointed at Mei Raiden who was still sleeping soundly, "You were the one who told me this! Are you just going to leave her alone?"
"Yeah, is there any problem?" The store manager casually glanced at Bronya, who looked righteous, and asked back with confidence.
"Tsk..." Bronya smacked her lips. "If you don't care, then let me take care of it. The followers of the Amber King will not allow innocent people to be persecuted in front of their eyes."
"You want to manage it? How?"
"Bring her back to Beloberg, of course." Bronya answered without hesitation.
"Oh~ sounds great. Do you want me to applaud you?" The store manager said expressionlessly, "And then what? Let her, a human living in another world, struggle with your civilization that is struggling to survive in the ice and snow?"
"..."
"Besides, this girl has family and acquaintances in her world. Do you want her to abandon all of that?"
"..." Speechless, Bronya bit her teeth slightly.
"Girl, you are really too young." The young store manager said meaningfully in the tone of a person who has experienced it, "You should learn from me and not get so excited when you see a little thing. As the highest ruler of a city, you will see a lot more unfair things in the future."
“Let me give you the simplest example—” The store manager raised his empty hand and clenched it into thin air.
A black and gold pistol appeared in his hand without any warning.
"You are now opening the door of this store. If the Holy Fire Judgement in my hand suddenly goes off, then you will see that within a few hundred meters, all ordinary people who are walking around will be burned to ashes by the thousands-degree flames."
"What—" Bronya's scalp tingled and she instantly rushed to the door of the cafe, her whole body stiff, not daring to move.
"And the reason is simply because you provoked me." The young store manager showed an evil smile, "The most important thing is that you can't stop me. Your frail body is as fragile as a piece of paper in front of this gun."
"Well, now I ask you—"
"Do you want me to interfere in the affairs of other worlds as I please? Or do you want me to be an honest store manager here and not care about the affairs of other worlds?" The store manager slammed the gun in his hand on the table and showed a kind smile on his face. "Don't doubt it, this is undoubtedly intimidation."
"..." Bronya clenched her fists and spoke in a hoarse and stiff voice, "Just... just stay here and be a store manager honestly..."
"You don't know me well enough to bet on whether I will cause large-scale harm to your people because of a momentary displeasure. So, compared with the matter of that girl, in your eyes, Belloberg's safety is obviously more important." The store manager laughed, "Look, you yourself are also an unfair and unjust person, so the two of us are just the same."
Chapter 18: The Great Guardian of "Can't Reject Kindness"
Bronya heard the thick sarcasm mixed in these words, her pretty face turned blue and red, and her five fingers were clenched so tightly that the knuckles turned white.
As a lawful, kind, and good child, she obviously could not accept the store manager's chaotic remarks, but unfortunately, whether from the level of strength or from the level of reason, Bronya found it difficult to retort to this sarcasm that hit her directly.
She resisted the urge to shove the barrel of the gun into the manager's nostrils and took several long, deep breaths as her chest rose and fell rapidly.
...Anyway, calm down first.
Although the communication process made her feel quite uncomfortable, Bronya knew very well that losing rationality during the negotiation process was a taboo.
If the store manager's continuous provocations were intended to let anger cloud his mind, then the moment his thoughts were dominated by anger, it also meant that his goal had been achieved.
In principle, when one of the negotiating parties achieves its goal, it also means that the other party is completely at a disadvantage in the negotiation process.
——No, if we talk about being at a disadvantage, the store manager, who showed the ability to destroy most of Beloberg, had already taken the absolute initiative in this conversation from the very beginning.
So, in this case.
What should we do to get the best possible outcome from this conversation?
Ultimately, what is the best outcome?
Should he order the cafe to close immediately? Or should he beg them not to destroy Belloberg?
The climate in the cafe was obviously not hot, but Bronya's thoughts, which had been squeezed to the limit, still caused a thin layer of cold sweat to seep out of her forehead, and irregular gasps came out unconsciously from her pink lips.
"sit down."
At this moment, the store manager's calm voice suddenly rang out. Bronya was in a trance for a moment. When she came to her senses, she suddenly realized that she had returned to her seat from the door as the store manager had said.
"I know what you're worried about."
Across a table, the store manager raised his eyes and looked calmly at the sweaty Bronya with a look without any emotion.
"Don't worry. I have no interest in your planet, nor do I intend to interfere with the rule of your Beloberg. I have made it very clear to you before. I am just the manager of a cafe and have no interest in interfering in other worlds."
Bronya swallowed with some difficulty.
"What do you want? And why are you in Beloberg?" she asked in a deep voice.
