“Heavy manual labor? Does that mean I can get off work early once I’m done moving the goods?”
The white-haired girl did her best to maintain a calm, quiet smile.
“It’s fine. Don’t let my appearance fool you; I actually have quite a bit of strength.”
She flexed her arm, attempting a gesture that highlighted her biceps to prove she wasn’t weak.
“That Cohen… she shouldn’t have sent such a young girl over here. What’s she thinking?”
Aniler looked at her doubtfully and sighed, though she ultimately agreed.
“Fine. Put on an apron. You’ll be moving goods at the back door in a bit. Kersey, take her to the changing room.”
“Ah, okay… Please follow me, Miss Rosie.”
“No need to be so formal, Kersey. Just call me Rosie.”
“To—to get this close all of a sudden… I’m a bit scared…”
Kersey led Rosie toward the changing room.
***
“I’ll just change in the bathroom.”
“Huh? You can change here.”
Kersey crossed her hands, grabbing the hem of her shirt as she prepared to pull it up.
“I don’t really like showing my body in front of others. Compared to you, Kersey, I don’t have much confidence.”
“That’s not true. Miss Rosie, you’re much prettier than I am… My body is way too fat.”
Kersey blushed and hugged herself, her two large “cotton balls” resting comfortably against her arms.
Rosie gave a faint, calm chuckle and ducked into the bathroom.
The white-haired girl quickly changed into her apron.
Noticing her nails were a bit long and thinking it might look bad to customers, she took a pair of nail clippers out of her Ring Chart to trim them.
Behind the door, the rustling sound of Kersey changing—the sound of fabric sliding over skin—reached her ears.
The white-haired girl immediately covered her ears.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she let out a long sigh.
‘The effect is a bit too good. No matter how I look at it, I’m just a cute girl.’
Indeed, this white-haired girl wasn’t a girl at all, but the youth Siloque.
The secret lay in the ring on his right ring finger.
The Plain Ring.
Unlike the cheat-level removal of unnaturalness provided by the Expulsion Ring, the Plain Ring functioned more like establishing an image for the user.
The user’s behavior had to match the image, or else it would be easy for others to spot the flaws.
In short, the effect allowed “Person A” to be perceived by others as “Person B,” while their actual internal self and appearance remained “Person A.”
It could only be purchased from Asmodi’s side, and the user had to have a similar physical build to the persona they were playing.
For example, if you were a muscular hunk and insisted on playing a cute little girl, the Plain Ring wouldn’t be able to help you “get into character.”
Its restrictions were far more numerous than those of the Expulsion Ring.
The persona Siloque had set for himself was a “gentle, elegant, and intellectual girl.”
As for the female clothing, it was something he had bought for Hill to prevent her clothes from getting dirty or damaged while dungeoneering, which was why it felt a bit tight.
It was absolutely not because he had any special hobbies.
‘According to an ancient legend, cross-dressing only happens zero times or an infinite number of times. In my case, I can do it once, but there will never be a second time.’
Siloque swore to the mirror, his will firm.
After this, he planned to tell Cass to come to the café more often to show his face and build favorability with the Main Heroine.
Siloque himself wouldn’t come back to this place, avoiding the role of a third wheel.
It was better than taking couple photos with Cass.
‘Ugh…’
Thinking of that, Siloque shook his head quickly, forcing himself to delete that memory.
However, he was only going as far as offering advice; he wasn’t kindhearted enough to seriously act as Cass’s wingman.
‘Still, I have to say, as expected of me, I’m pretty cute. If I met myself on the street before I had a girlfriend, I’d probably want to go strike up a conversation…’
Siloque’s face darkened as he laughed self-deprecatingly, seemingly unwilling to praise himself like that.
He opened LINE on his Ring Chart and sent a message to his mother, Cohen, saying he had asked his friend Rosie to help out.
[Sure thing. Little Siloque has more female friends now. Remember to thank her.]
The reply came quite quickly.
Based on her lack of follow-up questions, she was probably having a great time playing with Claude.
For the next four hours, he would just act the part of the “refined girl” Rosie, finish the job, and clock out.
***
At the warehouse back door.
“Oh, you’ve changed into your work clothes. This apron suits you quite well. If you want, I can give you one.”
Aniler was also wearing an apron, though it was strained by her robust physique.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Rosie said with a pleasant smile.
Aniler opened the warehouse gates and hopped into a small van.
She skillfully reversed it, aligning the back with the warehouse entrance, then pulled the handbrake and hopped out.
“All we need to do now is move these goods into the warehouse. If you feel tired, it’s okay to take a break.”
Aniler pointed to the van, which was packed to the brim with cargo.
“No problem. Let’s get started; there’s only half an hour left before we open.”
Rosie smiled and walked to the back of the van.
As for Kersey, Aniler had arranged for her and two veteran employees who had just arrived to do the final cleaning and organizing inside.
Aniler went to the cargo bed, and fearing Rosie might get exhausted, she picked the lightest box—which still weighed about three kilograms—to let Rosie try it first.
Rosie caught it and steadily placed the box on the designated shelf.
Aniler had originally intended for Rosie to be responsible for unloading the goods while she moved them to the shelves, but Rosie insisted on doing the most tiring part of the process.
It seemed this child hadn’t been bragging; she really did have strength.
Just as she thought this, the phone in her pocket rang.
Aniler answered and gave a happy greeting, but as the conversation went on, her expression gradually sank.
She responded with a bitter smile and hung up.
“Shopkeeper, what’s wrong?”
Rosie asked with concern.
“It’s nothing, nothing. An employee who was supposed to come had an emergency and can’t make it. It’s fine; I’ll just put in extra effort. We can get through this if we work hard…”
Before she could finish, the phone rang again.
Aniler said, “Excuse me,” and answered.
After some small talk, she hung up again, her expression incredibly grim this time.
“Haha… It seems like someone else also has something and can’t come for now… Let’s—let’s finish moving these goods first. Let’s start. Be careful not to hurt your back.”
Aniler gave a strained laugh and began the unloading work.
Fifteen minutes later.
“Whew… whew… I admit, you’re strong, Miss Rosie.”
Aniler was panting heavily, drenched in sweat.
She slowly straightened her back, and a faint creaking sound could be heard from her bones.
“Are you… are you an Explorer?”
“Yes, that’s part of the reason. But the biggest factor is that I usually exercise.”
Rosie, on the other hand, looked perfectly refreshed. Not a single drop of sweat was visible on her fair face.
“No wonder. You look so frail, yet you’re stronger than me. And I’m the tug-of-war champion of the community.”
The phone in her pocket vibrated once more.
Aniler felt a bad premonition.
It was Kersey on the other end, saying the shop was getting a bit overwhelmed.
Oh no, it was time for the lunch rush!
“Rosie, take your time with the moving. I’m going to help out first! If it’s too heavy, just leave it. Once you’re done, you can head back. I’ll have Cohen transfer your pay.”
Aniler hurried into the shop.
“Oh…”
Rosie watched the shopkeeper leave and continued moving the goods, which weighed dozens of pounds each.
A white-haired girl with slender limbs and a seemingly delicate frame was easily lifting boxes almost as big as herself with both hands.
To an onlooker, it would look like she was carrying empty cardboard boxes.
Siloque was actually enjoying the peace.
This way, he didn’t have to interact with Kersey, nor did he have to walk around in front of people in this female outfit.
Before long, all the remaining goods were moved and placed on the shelves.
He even helped the shopkeeper move the van—driving without a license—and parked it before closing and locking the warehouse roller shutter.
Doing this much should be enough.
A task that might have taken an adult an hour to complete was finished by Siloque in twenty minutes.
Thanks to Bried’s usual training, he felt like he had just done a decent warm-up.
“Shopkeeper, your car keys…”
However, the moment he stepped into the shop, he found the place in the middle of a chaotic rush.
***
Kersey was currently experiencing hell.
Although her aunt’s café had done good business before, she hadn’t expected it to be this good.
The new location was near a high school, and most of the customers were young female students.
However, there were simply too many customers.
The occupancy rate on the first and second floors was about eighty percent.
At first, the customers were fine with playing on their phones and chatting while they waited, but as time dragged on, they started to lose patience.
With only four people on-site, including the shopkeeper, they were simply unable to keep up.
No matter how busy it had been before, Kersey could always handle it and was happy to be busy, but now it was far beyond her capacity.
“Aniler! Table Two, two black teas and a Matte! Ah, I don’t even know which ones have been delivered and which ones haven’t!”
Her colleague Amy’s eyes were darting non-stop across a massive pile of order slips.
Black tea was shorthand for iced blueberry blackcurrant tea, and Matte was shorthand for Matcha Latte.
“I know, I’m working on it.” Aniler tried not to let her voice sound irritable as she brewed coffee.
Another colleague, Kirei, was busy making desserts.
The cakes were coming out lopsided and didn’t look very appetizing.
Kersey’s hands never stopped moving.
She was already spread thin just dealing with the customers who were sitting down to order.
Impatient customers were starting to complain everywhere.
Unless Kersey could turn into an Asura with three heads and six arms, she probably wouldn’t be able to handle this increasingly dire situation.
Just as Kersey was about to explode from stress—
“I’ll help. Kersey, you go deliver the food. Leave this to me.”
“Miss Rosie…”
Rosie’s snow-white hair was tied into a practical ponytail.
Her mere appearance caught the eyes of several people.
“Excuse me, who are you? A new hire?” Amy looked at the white-haired girl wearing the shop apron, her expression completely dazed.
“Hello, Miss Amy. I’m a temporary helper. Just call me Rosie.”
Rosie smiled gently and set down the supplies she had carried in—sugar, flour, cream, and the like.
Simultaneously, she scanned the order slips and the customers in the room.
“This one, this one, and this one. Please deliver these first. They’ve been waiting the longest.”
“Oh, okay… Table Five, Table Six…”
Amy was calmed by the other’s steady aura and began bringing orders to the customers.
Rosie calmly and swiftly picked up a baking tray, greased it with butter, and pressed the prepared dough into shapes using a mold.
Channeling her own magic and utilizing her [Heating] talent, she began micro-managing the process to bake a new batch of salty scones.
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