The group followed me below deck to look for sweets.
On the way down though, a thought crossed my mind which I just had to voice out.
“I remember Emilia said the ship had top of the line magic cannons or something, but it didn’t look like it was effective against that Sea Serpent? If Emilia wasn’t there, we would have been in trouble too.”
Lisa giggled, “Ehehe~ As expected of Aster to realise something like that! That was all a show actually~”
“Eh? A show?”
“Mmhmm~ I’ve seen her do it before~ When they are first attacked by a monster, she would intentionally instruct her crew to lower the power of their cannons so that she would have a chance to show off her skills. Unless the monster is something she was unable to beat on her own, of course.”
Odeta tilted her head, “Why would she do that?”
“Ehehehe~ To show off~”
Katsuki, Odeta and I stared at Lisa unblinkingly.
She raised her hands defensively, “I’m serious! She shows off her strength to the gathered audience so that people would know that she’s skilled! Plus, it’s also a good show too and people love it!”
Katsuki nodded, “I see. That way, people would also know that she’s not someone to be messed with and the guests would also be assured of their own safety as well. That is indeed quite well thought out.”
Not to mention the fact that she had almost been assassinated before, so a show of strength might dissuade more enemies from coming after her. Although it also ran the risk of her enemies knowing what she was capable of, but I think she should have other trump cards under her sleeve.
Putting that aside for now, I want my sweets! Where’s the closest cafe?!
As though reading my mind, Katsuki spoke up right then, “Mistress, the shop up ahead looks like a cafe.”
I gasped, “Where?! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
Spotting the cafe in question, I immediately made a dash towards it, only to realise there was a rather long queue of people waiting outside of it when I reached there.
The staff at the door spotted us and gave me an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, miss, but do you have an appointment? If not, I’m afraid the waiting time might be six hours.”
Are you serious?! What’s so special about this store that there’s so many people waiting for it?!
I just want some sweets! Why is it so hard to get some around here?
“Oh, Lady Aster?”
I turned to the side where the voice had come from to see Emilia standing there. She must have also gone below decks like us after her stunt with the Sea Serpent.
“Oh! Hello Emilia! I saw you kill that Sea Serpent! That was really impressive!”
“Umm… Thank you, Lady Aster… Could I ask what you are doing here alone?”
Eh? Alone?
I looked behind me to see Katsuki and the rest struggling to reach me through a crowd of people that I somehow managed to navigate through just now. I didn’t even realise there was a crowd of people there…
I turned back to Emilia, “We wanted to eat some sweets so we were planning to visit this cafe but… As you can see, there’s no way we’re getting in…”
Emilia smiled, “In that case, I can introduce Lady Aster to another cafe. They have VIP seating areas so you will definitely be able to get a seat there.”
“Oh?! That’s perfect! Where is it?!”
She smiled and gestured down the path she had come from, “It’s this way, Lady Aster. Although I suppose it might be a good idea to wait for your friends to join us first.”
It took a few minutes but the three of them finally managed to squeeze past the crowd to get to me.
“Puaah~ That was some crowd, Aster! How did you get past them so easily?” Lisa asked the moment she reached me.
Beside her, Odeta was looking at me while her eyes sparkled, “Where… Where did you learn how to move like that, sister Aster?! That was so awesome! Can you teach me?”
I poked my fingers together, “Umm… I don’t know?”
Katsuki sighed, “Mistress… Please be careful not to get lost here… We don’t know if there are any unscrupulous people around…”𝑶𝒱𝓵xt.𝒸𝑂𝓶
Looks like Katsuki knew that I had done that unconsciously to get to the cafe and wasn’t even aware of what I was doing.
I tried to change the topic, “Umm… It seems like this cafe is full so Emilia is inviting us to another cafe where we would be able to get sweets at. Shall we go?”
Lisa raised an eyebrow, “Ehhh… If Emilia is the one suggesting it, it’s probably a really expensive shop with overpriced items.”
“Nyaaa?! That’s slander! Pl… Plus… You’ve got the all inclusive VVIP package, so all food and drinks are included!”
Eh? Doesn’t that mean I can eat all the sweets I want?! Mother is really spoiling me with this!
I turned to Emilia, “Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s go!”
The Nekomata seemed a little stunned by the forceful tone of my words but she quickly recovered and started leading the way.
We eventually came to a particular store at a relatively empty part of the ship. It did not even have a signboard nor any windows to show its interior which I felt was a rather odd thing to do for a cafe. Did they not want customers?
The bell hanging above the door made a ringing noise when we entered the shop, notifying the staff of our presence.
Without waiting for someone to show us to our seat, Emilia took us inside the store and sat us at one of the alcoves that offered us privacy from the rest of the store. Not that it mattered since it looked like we were the only customers anyway.
Was this store actually unpopular or something and she wanted us to boost its sales? Oh whatever, as long as the sweets are nice!
A waiter came by and bowed to us, “Welcome honoured guests. Would you like to see our menus?”
“I want one of every sweet you have on the menu!” I told him without hesitation.
Hey! Like Emilia said, all food and drinks are included so it would be silly of me not to take advantage of that! I’m going to taste all the sweets this store has to offer so the next time I come back, I would know which one I should order in bulk! And of course I’ll be doing it to the other stores too!
The waiter seemed to be at a loss on what to do but Emilia simply nodded at him and he did not even question it.
Odeta and Lisa then gave their own orders for some tea and coffee and some simple snacks. Katsuki had to stand by my side as my maid since decorum dictated that she wasn’t allowed to sit with us.
That was fine since I had intended to leave some sweets for her anyway, that is if I remember to do that before I start eating since I wouldn’t be able to stop myself once I do…
Emilia turned back to us as the waiter left with our orders, “Please enjoy your time here, Lady Aster. If there is anything else you require, please do not hesitate to find me. I will have to excuse myself as I still have other duties to attend to.”
She bowed to us and turned to leave, only managing to take a few steps away before the door to the store suddenly burst open and two rough looking Nekomatas came into the store. Being dragged along in between them was another Nekomata that looked to have been badly beaten up.
“Boss! We found an intruder!!” One of them called out.
They dragged the beaten up Nekomata in front of Emilia and tossed him onto the ground in front of her, none of them spotting us.
I peeked out from the alcove to see Emilia frowning at the Nekomata on the ground, “What was he doing?”
“We caught him trying to sabotage one of our magic cannons, boss,” The rough looking Nekomata on the left answered her.
She reached down and pulled the injured guy up by the collar, “Who sent you?”
The male Nekomata spat at her, the spittle narrowly avoiding Emilia as she tilted her head to dodge it.
In response, Emilia dropped him back onto the ground and waved her hand at him, prompting the two Nekomata guards to start pummeling him with their fists.
A minute passed before Emilia raised her hand again, signalling the two guards to stop beating him to pull him back up to hang between them.
Emilia glared at him, “I will not ask again and it would be in your best interest to answer me, who sent you?”
The badly beaten up Nekomata coughed and spat out the blood in his mouth before showing her a bloody smile, “Fuck… You…”
Emilia gestured at him, “Send him to the brig. Get someone to get information out of him by any means. He can’t have been acting alone.”
“Yes boss!”
They then left the store without a second glance back, the only proof that that really happened were the bloodstains on the floor that the man had spat out.
Umm… What was that about and should we be worried? It should be nothing, right?
Oh whatever, where’s my sweets?!