"Welcome to Checkpoint." Vilera said, angling her body towards the door.
In the next instance, she could hear the voice of her friends from many corners of the restaurant echoing her very same words.
After the door creaked open, a woman with black hair and a little girl with blonde hair walked into the restaurant.
The two customers smiled at Vilera. With the same smile, she moved her hands. "Please follow me, Dear Customer."
However, her escort didn't last long. She stopped after walking just a few steps and pulled the chair on the bar seat. "You can sit here, Dear Customer."
Claire pushed Cless' back with her hands, and before long she climbed it with her tiny body, moving as if she had a mountain to conquer. After Cless sat nice and proper on the chair, Claire pulled her own chair and sat down.
"Where's Ludwig?" She whipped her head towards Vilera.
"The boss is hunting Wyvern right now." Vilera answered the question that had been asked a few times already throughout the day. But her tone didn't rise in the slightest.
"Is that so?" Claire asked. "He works fast."
Vilera nodded at the compliment towards her boss. Once she put down the smile, she opened her mouth again. "If you have anything you want to eat from the menu, please tell Bilo, Miss Claire. Unfortunately, that's all we have right now. For more food you have to wait for our boss to return."
Claire raised one of her brows up, then she moved her head to face the menu.
Vilera moved back to her original position, but her eyes were still busy. The subject of her observation was currently one of her friends who was manning the kitchen and bar.
He stood still, stiffer than earlier. The reason why he was in that state was obvious. It was a problem which could be resolved at the root of the matter, simply escorting Claire and Cless to one of the tables in the dining area would do the magic.
However, it was the same as winning a battle but losing the war.
He could spare Bilo from spiralling into a nervous breakdown now, but what about later? What if the restaurant was packed? What if the one who sat in the bar was not people who regularly visit this restaurant but new people?
She trusted him. Just like her and the others, he had come this far from the hell called Demon Realm. So, he believed he had all the necessary tools to overcome his problem.
"Cless, what do you want to eat?" Claire put her hands on top of the head of the blonde kid.
"I want to have Lunch Set C! Also Lemonade!" The little girl beamed.
Claire moved her hands to mess with Cless's hair, then she looked at Bilo. "I want to order one Lunch Set A, one Lunch Set C, a Lemonade, and my usual Whiskey, please."
Bilo flinched before his body started to shake a little. "U-understand. P-please w-wait a little bit."
Claire let out a crisp chuckle at that moment. "You can take your time, it's fine"
"T-thank you." Bilo answered, voice too low for anyone far enough to hear. Then, he moved, stumbling his way to the kitchen.
Vilera let her head nod at Bilo's action. It's far from perfect. Scratch that, it was far from average even. But since he could get the order and moved into the kitchen, albeit with great difficulty, it was good enough in her book.
Moving her eyes from Bilo who was moving like a newborn fawn around the kitchen, Vilera looked around the dining area again. Her heart felt complicated when she saw the people who were eating, drinking, and laughing there.
She felt at ease knowing that no one gave them the stinky eyes humans of their world always gave them. Not only that, she felt welcomed, appreciated even.
But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel something heavy pressing on her chest. It could be them who laughed like that. It could be the neighbour she knew in her village, the merchant she knew, or even her parents.
But no, ever since she remembered, she never saw the people in her village or even her parents laughing like that. They always looked so serious, something she hated when she was little. Only after the village was devastated by raiders' attack and she grew up in the care of a stranger did she know the reason.
If only they were born in another world where demon kin was treated like normal rather than just another shape of monsters…
Vilera's grim walk through the memory lane was disturbed by a chime of the bell. However, the next set of customers who walked into the restaurant made Vilera freeze. After all, in her eyes, they might be the hardest hurdle for them to overcome rather than a completely new customer.
"Meow~" The red cat opened its mouth, announcing its arrival to the restaurant. The grey cats also meowed, as if it didn't want to lose. But then, as if telling that he's the main attraction in the group, the little dragon made its appearance.
"Welcome to Checkpoint."
The voice of her twins from the dining area brought clarity to her confused mind.
"Welcome to Checkpoint." Vilera pushed those words to come out of her throat. At the same time, she suppressed the shaking in her voice, trying to sound professional and calm. "Please follow me Sir, I'll escort you to your seat."
"Lead the way, Demon." The little dragon said, tone as haughty as the heaven.
Vilera moved slowly, but her mind was pushing its own limit. The group of cats and dragon should be too hard for Bilo to handle. They were not like other customers. Not because they were not humans or human-like creatures, but because they always voiced what's on their mind without thinking twice.
To protect Bilo's confidence, she decided to take them to their usual seat when they were with the red-haired human.
Unfortunately…
"Raon! Here, here! Sit here!" Cless spun on her chair, her eyes became as bright as the sun.
Vilera's step came to a screeching halt. But before she could open her mouth to salvage the situation,
"Hmm…" The dragon hummed. Then with the tone of a king granting the wishes of his people, it continued. "Fine, I'll sit there."
The dragon had chosen its seat.
The cats followed suit, they jumped into the table and let out a purr before plopping down.
Just as the dragon hovered above the seat, it opened its mouth again. "Where's the Joybringer?"
"J-joybringer?" Vilera stuttered.
"Yes! That human who always made the food!"
"D-did you mean, our boss?"
"Who else is the Joybringer?"
Vilera's mouth hung open for a few moments. But just as his head finished thinking about the response, a silhouette appeared beside her.
"Great Dragon Raon Miru, our boss is currently away. But please don't worry. He already prepared your food before he left!"
When Vilera heard the spirited voice from her side, she instantly recognize the identity of the speaker. She looked at her with the corner of her eyes, and she could see that she was also looking at her.
Through that eyecontact, no more words were needed. Vilera just sighed before she bowed away from the conversation.
"Is that so, Demon?" The dragon spoke. "Then, give us the food."
"Right away, Great Dragon."
Vilera could hear Bilo's step as well as some clankings from the kitchen. It seemed like he was really flustered. In the meantime, her twin was having a conversation with the dragon as well as with Cless.
"What's a wyvern?" Raon's childlike voice echoed through the restaurant after Valerie explained where their boss had gone.
"I know, I know!" Cless joined in with unparalleled enthusiasm. "Wyvern is like a dragon! But weaker and stupider!"
"Like me? Nothing is like me, little human!"
"It's not like you. It just looked like a dragon. They are bigger than you, but weaker." Cless explained. "I have painted a wyvern before, but I can't show you because it's in Claire's office."
"Of course nothing is stronger than me." The dragon's voice was full of pride. Even though Vilera wasn't looking at them, he was sure the dragon was puffing its chest forward.
Their conversation turned into some childish bickering, even the cats joined in. However, Vilera just moved her focus away from them. For her, listening to the customers' conversation was something a waitress shouldn't do.
Before long, the sky outside the window started to lose its luster. Vilera moved to the wall beside the door. She then put her hands on a rune inscription she saw there, and let her mana enter it.
The ruins lamps around the first floor lit up, pushing the darkness that had made its way to the restaurant away.
And as if he had hidden a spying device inside the restaurant, a blue haired man walked into the restaurant from the opened door at that very moment. But he's not alone, his usual entourage was there, even the wolf. What sent Vilera's mind reeling was the woman who walked on the back; a woman who had long green hair waving behind her as well as green roots around her body.
"Welcome to Checkpoint." Vilera greeted the group.
"Welcome to Checkpoint."
"Hey." Rimuru raised his hand to the air and waved towards her.
"Please follow me, Sir. I'll escort you to your seat." Vilera said.
"You don't need to. I'll just take the big table. More people will come later." Rimuru waved her hand.
"Please let me escort you, Sir. It's my job." Vilera said firmly.
Rimuru clicked his tongue before sighing. "Seems like Ludwig also has it hard as well. Escort us, then."
"Please follow me." Vilera said before walking away to the biggest table in the room. Once Rimuru and his party plopped into the chair, Vilera walked away.
But no, her destination was not her usual spot beside the door. She was walking towards the bar.
"Bilo, did the boss leave something with vegetables only?" She asked, her tone was in a hurry.
Looking at her, Bilo answered quickly. "No. The only vegetable dishes he makes are the side dishes for each Lunch Set."
Vilera moved her hand and massaged her temple. This is bad. The true identity of the green haired woman was a Dryad. From the first time she visited this restaurant, it was known that she was someone who ate no meat.
"W-what should we do?" Bilo's quaking voice cut through Vilera's thoughts.
"How about putting all the vegetable dishes in one set?" Vilera raised her head from the table and looked at Bilo.
"We can't do that." Bilo said, his voice suddenly became firm. "The flavour profile of each vegetable dish is the same, light and refreshing. The boss made them to cut the heavy taste of the main dish."
"What should we do? Can you make a new dish?" Vilera asked. But of course she knew it was impossible. Even if Bilo could make one, without the approval from the boss, they wouldn't dare to give it to the customer.
"Of course I can't." Bilo deflated.
At that moment, a new voice entered the conversation.
"Why don't you ask for Akane's help?"
When Vilera moved her head to look at the source of the voice, her eyes landed on Claire's face.
"Miss Akane?"
"Yes. I don't know if you know or not, but she could cook. Ludwig even proposed a partnership with her."
"W-we don't know that." Vilera murmured. "But can we really do that? She's a customer isn't she?"
"She is." Claire stopped swirling his glass around and looked at her with serious eyes. "But you should know this, Vilera. When you are seen as a leader, you shouldn't ask whether you can do it or not. You should just decide. As long as you are ready to bear the consequences, all decisions are fair."
Vilera's mouth closed, her mind also started thinking. If she decided they couldn't serve Treyni with some vegetable dish because she didn't want to bother a customer, it would mean they were turning their back from their customer. Their bosses had never done that. Not even when that old man from Miss Kushina's world came over.
In other words, they also shouldn't do so.
But if she asked Miss Akane for help, it would mean they would take her precious resting time. Common sense dictated that when someone asked someone else to use their time for their convenience, they would need to compensate them.
Any compensation she could have right now was to waive her food cost.
That would mean a dip in the restaurant's earnings.
But knowing her boss, she finally saw light at the end of the tunnel.
"Seems like I should do that." Vilera muttered to no one in particular but herself. "Thank you, Miss Claire."
"Nothing you should thank me for." Claire shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "I'm helping you because I saw just how hard you work."
Smiling at Claire's words, Vilera took a step.