The following day, Isaac and his café resumed its usual work.
Lumine and Paimon, in their respective bespoke work uniforms, worked as his waitresses as usual, while he and Freminet stayed behind the counter.
Of course, this time, there was a new addition to the team.
"Ms. Ineffa, good morning."
Looking at the robo-maid that had just entered the café, Isaac greeted her with a courteous tone.
"How is Ms. Aino?"
Ineffa, having just returned from Nod-Krai, cleanly wiped away the snow on her person without so much as letting any of it fall on the floor of the café. Then, she turned towards Isaac and replied in her usual straight matter of fact tone.
"Aino is doing well. She is currently working on a project in the workshop and permitted me to leave."
"I see, I guess I have to thank little Ms. Aino for that." Isaac nodded lightly. Then, he gestured at the back of the café. "If you're ready to start your shift, go take your uniform in the back."
"If it doesn't fit well, then I'm sorry. I just spoke with a famous tailor last night to make a bespoke one for you, so it should come in a week or so. Until then, please tell me if I can change anything about it." He added last.
"Understood." Ineffa nodded her head before doing what Isaac had issued.
As she walked towards the back, Isaac couldn't help but heave a soft sigh. Truly, it felt great to have an employee who did anything he said without any problems.
After Ineffa had changed into her work uniform, she immediately began to clean the café with her personalized mop she had on her person.
Needless to say, this was a great addition to Isaac's team.
His employees were either too busy serving others or taking orders, leaving the cleaning to him sometimes. But now with Ineffa, that problem was now easily resolved.
Although the café isn't that messy just yet, it will soon when the afternoon wave comes around. Which, fittingly, is the most heated part of the day.
As Ineffa cleaned around the café, Isaac sat behind the counter while ruminating over another matter in his head.
'Now that I think about it...'
He then looked at Ineffa once more, and having made up his mind, he asked her, "Ms. Ineffa, do you have a minute?"
"Yes, what is it?" She replied succinctly.
He lingered for a moment before asking what he had been thinking of for a hot minute now. "Regarding Nod-Krai, are there any recent news about the Wild Hunt there?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, no." Ineffa candidly shook her head. "The Wild Hunt still haunts the outskirts and wilderness of the Nod-Krai, with the Ratniks hunting them down in return."
"I see, thank you." He nodded. After which, he immediately followed up with another question, "And the Knights of Favonius there?"
Ineffa lingered for a moment as she tilted her head for a bit. "Why do you ask, Isaac?"
"It's nothing, I'm just asking for a friend." He shrugged.
It was true. He was asking for Klee to see how their Grandmaster was doing in his expedition.
Ineffa looked at him in silence, then nodded solemnly. "The Knights of Favonius has been of great help lately, mainly with the Wild Hunt. Their Grandmaster, Varka, known as the Knight of Boreas, is the key figure in leading their charge against them."
"Varka..."
Hearing that name, Isaac thought of the figure of the mighty Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius. Righteous, strong, and a man who deeply cares for his people, that was who he was.
Isaac had to be lying if he said that he didn't admire him. On the contrary, he looked up to him.
He was, in essence, a knightly figure that Isaac deeply admires.
'That said, I guess I'm also a knight now too, right?'
Remembering the title that was supposedly being processed right now by Neuvillette, told by Furina, Isaac hummed. 'A Lochknight... These days, that title is just something you'd find in epics or legends. There hadn't been anyone that had held that title for centuries...'
And now, he was being given one to supposedly raise his status in Fontaine, if he were to be considered an official lover of the Hydro Archon.
Once he was given the title, though, there would be a knighting ceremony in Opera Epiclese. And with it, all the responsibilities of protecting the waters of Fontaine, Oceanids, and most importantly... The Archon herself.
Well, that last part was already given.
'I should really meet up with Varka to learn how to be a knight from him... The Captain taught me conviction, but Varka... He can teach me how to better protect and be a proper knight.'
Thankfully, that wasn't quite an unreachable dream. That was because...
He commanded his system, and soon, the first mission he was given recently popped up.
[Name: The Knight of Witches]
[Rank: S+]
[Objective: Give the witches who held tea parties their knight who left to protect those dear to him.]
[Rewards: Memories of a Hunter]
The mission itself was not even hiding it. The system was demanding him to deliver Varka back to the Hexenzirkel... It was easy enough, to be honest.
Not to mention the reward of the mission itself was quite enticing. So far, he had only possessed the first part of the Hunter's Memories which gave him a lot of battle experience.
If he got a second one, he would undoubtedly grow more powerful, which was a boon he would turn away.
Yet, at the same time, he felt quite apprehensive towards the notion due to the fact that each reward given by the system was, in fact, tainting him in some shape or form.
The only thing he could count on now is that, after completing the mission, he could find the angel of the Hexenzirkel and convince her to help him resolve his issue.
If not, then...
"Alright, the next wave is coming. Let's get prepared, everyone!"
Seeing the approaching new waves of customers, Isaac decided to set aside those matters for now and focus on the moment.
He'd cross that bridge when he gets there.
---
Later that night.
After completing yet another day of successful workday, Isaac prepared to close the café for the night.
But as he was doing so, he remembered something that he had forgotten to do yesterday.
"Oh, right..."
He then conjured up the system and went into the summoning section.
Indeed, it had truly been a long time since he last summoned another person in his café.
But now that he was feeling that another person should come, he decided that now would be the best time before he slept.
He sat down and looked at the familiar gambling screen.
"I missed you, gamba screen..."
He muttered to himself as his hand lovingly slid across the surface of the system window floating in front of him.
Then, placing his forefinger atop the summon button, he lingered for a moment as he thought of what kind of person would appear next.
'Since I already have people from Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, and Sumeru...'
That only leaves Fontaine, Natlan, Nod-Krai, and Snezhnaya left. Of course, there's still a possibility that he'd get other characters from nations he already has.
Though, he did doubt that he'd get any character from Fontaine seeing as he's already based here.
And so, counting one out, only three possible nations are left.
'I wonder who it could be...'
He rested his hand there for a moment, and, after a moment's notice...
He pressed it.
'Please don't be Zhongli, Please don't be Zhongli, Please don't be Zhongli...' He thought as he crossed his fingers.
He doesn't want a broke guy in his business right now.
The myriad of bright colors illuminated the surface of his system's screen, and soon, the same phenomenon began occurring around the doorframe of his café.
All sorts of bright colors glowed, and then, with a bright flash of light, a character card appeared on the system screen.
Name: Skirk
Titles: Crystallina, Void Star, Master
Power: Abyss, Seven-Shifting Serpents (Cryo)
Nation: N/A
"Ah..."
He's cooked.
Of all the people he could have gotten, it had to be the person that would most likely get him in trouble due to the sole fact that she mostly stays in the Abyss and that...
Her master is one of the Sinners of Khaenri'Ah!
"Let's not invite her for now..."
Feeling a tad bit intimidated by Skirk, Isaac decided to postpone her invite for the time being.
At his current strength, he was no match for Skirk if she suddenly regarded him as a threat for having the ability to summon her to his café.
For that, he has to combine both brain brawns. Fraudulence and power.
He had no doubt that Skirk definitely needed some relaxation for the amount of emotional stress her own master has been weighing on her.
Yet at the same time, he felt like he'd be handling a really sharp sword that would always be near his neck.
As such, he finalized his decision.
"Probably, after dealing with my matters in Mondstadt... I'll call you."
Now was not the time to entertain the apprentice of the Sinner that was out there, in the cosmos, terrorizing countless planets and civilizations.
Looking at his remaining system points, Isaac contemplated for a bit more whether to continue gambling.
'Since I'm benching Skirk for now... Let's try for another one.'
It has truly been a long time since he last gambled. So the rush of the adrenaline was, indeed, too intoxicating to resit.
Clicking on the summon button again, the same flashy animation once more appeared, which was then followed by yet another character card.
Name: Sandrone
Titles: Marionette, The Seventh of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers
Power: N/A
Nation: Fontaine
"..."
Looking at the new character he had pulled, Isaac didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
...once more, he silently postponed it.
"Let's just go to sleep..."
He didn't even wanna entertain the thought of entertaining Sandrone anytime soon.
In the near future, sure, but... Right now? Yeah, no.
With a tired mind, Isaac finally decided to sleep so that he could prepare for his trip to Mondstadt in a few days.