The day before the interview day.

I halted my steps on the way back home when I recalled about something.

"Wait, we also need guards, right? I’ll go to post our recruitment in the Dungeon Post, then!"

Tizmilly and my Mother exchanged glances and nodded, so I let them return to our house without me as I headed toward the Dungeon Post of The Beast Mountain.

’Since we already know each other, Lady Risa will surely give me some discount to post the recruitment there!’ Was the reason why I chose that particular Dungeon Post.

It was days already since the last time I visited that place, so I also wanted to greet them and catch up with the current news around the Divers circle.

I pushed the stone-brick building double door open and entered the Dungeon Post. The moment I entered the place, people who were inside, who mostly were relatively strong Dungeon Divers, immediately turned at me.

"Oh, who’s that, isn’t that our Dungeon Maniac Boy!"

They began to tease and ridicule me the moment they recognized my identity. It was late already, so they were here for nothing but drank beer. Every Dungeon Post sold Beer and some simple foods, so for veteran Dungeon Divers, it was their Bar.

"Haven’t seen him for a while now. Did he finally reached an enlightenment?"

"You moron! There was no such an enlightenment for a maniac like him!"

"That’s right! I knew it, you must be new here, aren’t you? Someone who regularly see him diving wouldn’t say something so baseless like that!"

They whispered between each other, but do they thought I wouldn’t hear what they were talking about?

I stared at them, and they immediately threw their head to their side and continued enjoying their beers or started whistling.

"Oh, Mister Roost!" Called someone from behind the reception table.

"It has been a while since the last time you visit this Dungeon Post. What is this? Do having a girlfriend really changed you?"

I turned to look at Lady Risa, who was grinning widely while leaning her body toward me. I approached her while sighing.

"You’re wrong. We’re not like that."

But of course, as usual, no one would listen to me in this place. Not that I hate it, mind you. Her grin only grew after she heard my denial.

"Ehh~... Come on, don’t beat around the bush. That’s not suits your big body, you know?" Lady Risa teased me while poking my shoulder playfully.

There were two other receptionists currently working behind the reception table. They also knew me for a considerable amount of time. So they joined the fray.

"I knew it! She must be into your eyes, Theo~! While your face is just above average at best, your eyes are charming!" Chirped one of the receptionist who has short, black pixie hair.

Her name is Peta. I used to call her Lady Peta.

"Make sure to invites us to your wedding later, okay?" Giggled another receptionist, this time who has tan skin.

She used to be called Sis Qlerua by the Veterans. And it’s because she was the oldest amongst the three receptionists.

I messaged my temple, exasperated by their behaviors.

"As I said..." I wanted to refute to their teases again, but in the end, I gave up.

"More importantly, I wanted to post a recruitment here," I said, immediately pushed the topic forward.

They stopped grinning like a group of silly kids and immediately straightened their postures.

"What kind of recruitment?" Lady Risa quickly grabbed a book and a pen as she inquired of the detail like a true professional.

"As expected, it is for your party, isn’t it?" Lady Peta asked curiously.

I am always alone before I brought Tizmilly with me, so it’s natural for them to think so, and when talking about recruitment in a Dungeon Post, then naturally it would be in order to form a party. However, it was not the case.

I shook my head. "No. Recently, I open a restaurant near the main road. So I wanted to hire a couple of guards in case something happened while we were operating it—"

""HUH!?""

All of them, even the Dungeon Divers, quickly looked at me as if they were looking at some anomaly monster.

"A restaurant!?" Lady Peta hissed, clutching her head as if in agony.

"Impossible..." Lady Qlerua muttered, her body frozen.

While Lady Risa looked at me in horror.

"A-are you... A d-doppleganger?" She asked me with trembling body.

I need a whole 10 minutes to explain everything to them and calmed them down. From behind, I heard sounds of people sheathing and putting their weapons back.

’Is me opening a restaurant really that world-ending?’ I thought while messaging my temples and continued while sighing.

"My restaurant growing decently everyday, and as the customers started to increase, I thought it wouldn’t be good if some ruffians mingled in and caused some chaos."

The three receptionists looked at me with apology before they responded to my explanation.

"So that’s why you wanted to recruit strong men?" Lady Qlerua asked, and I nodded in response.

"Then, I will quickly post your recruitment!" Said Lady Risa as she swiftly processed the task of posting the recruitment.

I filled all the documents she put before me as accurate as I could. Then she stored it and pulled out a recruitment post out of seemingly nowhere in no time. And the recruitment was already detailed everything, from the minimum salary I had offered, the location of the restaurant, the criteria of guards I needed, and etch.

To be honest, that’s impressive how fast she managed to do that. I clapped for her.

"Ohhh!"

Lady Risa raised her chin up to show how proud she was about her management skill.

In the end, she really gave me a discount. Normally, I would have to spend 2-5 silver coins to use the Dungeon Post posting service like this, which scaled from how dangerous or important and complicated your quest/post was. But after the discount, she halved the fee, so I only need to spend a single silver coin, which only worth a second steel sword in the Dungeon City.

I said goodbye before I leave the Dungeon Post. Finally, I could go home.

...

The night passed like a skipped scene.

Early in the morning, we went to our restaurant after we all finished our respective morning routines.

Once we reached the restaurant, we opened the door, pulled up the curtain, and do a quick swoop across the floor to eliminate every last speck of dust that might had piled overnight.

However, just as my Mother wanted to cook the cookies we would use to welcome our applicants later, a carriage stopped in front of our restaurant.

The carriage was made from expensive black wood and was also engraved with golden carvings. In the current era, possessing a car might could impress some poor people, but the true nobles still preferred classic carriage.

It was because this world’s car was not that advanced yet compared to what we had on Earth. It was still bunky and smoky, too filthy for nobles, or so they say. Not that the commoners ever cared about such needless standard.

As we looked at the carriage curiously, two female knights hoped off the coach seat and opened the door of the carriage while bowing.

Slowly, a graceful-looking girl stepped out of the carriage, her high-heels made crisp sounds everytime it stepped on the stone road.

The girl had long, fluent dark hair, with her sharp, apathetic lavender eyes.

She dresssed in young purple dress that envelloped her curves gracefully, worthy of her status as a noble lady.

It alone wasn’t a problem for us. We had the skill to receive high-class people. But we had two problems.

First, the restaurant was closed today. So we couldn’t serve her.

Second, it was the girl herself who was problematic. Especially for our Miss Villainess.

Tizmilly locked eyes with the girl and widened her eyes as she took a step toward the girl.

"... Gyllena?" Tizmilly called her hesitantly.

The girl blinked once.

"Oh... What a surprise. I never expected to encounter you here, of all place, Tizmilly, the former first daughter of the Fallburn Family," Said the girl.

She smiled, but her eyes remained cold and expressionless, but her coldness was different from Gerena’s. It felt more emotionless. Like a frozen lake.

Gyllena Layver.

That is the girl’s name.

And she was Tizmilly’s childhood friend.

Gyllena looked up at the sign of our restaurant. She tilted her head slightly with a palm propped her cheek.

"I see. So the rumored place is your doing. I never expected this when I decided to visit the restaurant."

Tizmilly frowned when she looked at her.

"Gyllena... You..." She opened her lips, but couldn’t utter what she wanted to say.

I knew her feeling, though. She must be surprised to see her childhood friend again after a long time, but because Gyllena acted like a completely different person, she wasn’t sure how to face her.

Gyllena looked at Tizmilly’s face for a beat, then sighed.

"Look at you, Tizmilly. You were the brightest among the new generation of The Dungeon City before, blessed with Magic and talent. But now... How deep has you fall?" Gyllena snorted. "With you here, I doubt this place deserved its newfound fame."

She turned around, and looked like she was about to go, so I sighed, thinking that we could be spared from trouble of dealing a troublesome person like her, but then Tizmilly approached her. Gyllena of course noticed her approach, so she halted her steps and looked at her.

"You can ridicule me as you wanted," Tizmilly faced her, and huffed. "But don’t you dare to mock Mister Roost’s restaurant!"

Gyllena’s lips formed a crescent on her face.

"Oh? Then? What you will do to me if I say I dare?" She asked Tizmilly sarcastically.

Tizmilly pointed her finger to her face. "I’ll force you to taste our best menu!"

The air grew heavy as Tizmilly’s determination raised and Gyllena’s smile widened.

I looked at my Mother to seek her help, but I immediately closed my opened mouth when I found that she was also glaring at Gyllena. Needless to say, she was also determined to prove how wrong Gyllena was.

’Mom, don’t you think that you likes our Miss Villainess too much?’

Then at that time, a group of lightly armed people came. From their appearances, they must be the Dungeon Divers that came because of my recruitment. They became confused once they notice what happened between Tizmilly and Gyllena.

After that, Carole and her friends arrived.

Well... Today was sure going to be a great day. I meant, look at how many visitors we had now.