With a clear path toward becoming stronger, Isis finally stopped worrying as much as before. She and Altaïr settled into helping at the tea shop, treating it as a chance to experience another kind of life.
The days were relaxed and refreshing.
When it came to serving customers, Isis was unfailingly polite, but she always seemed a little clumsy and awkward.
A young woman nearly two meters tall would stride up to a tea table, bow so forcefully that she looked ready to pitch forward, then loudly ask what the customers would like to order.
Not everyone had nerves as steady as Fugen's or the Caravaneer's. Plenty of customers were startled, and some children were even frightened to tears. In the end, Nymera always had to hurry over and smooth things out while Isis stood helplessly to one side, apologizing.
Even after experience taught her to move more slowly and lower her voice, new customers were still taken aback by her height and build, turning what should have been an ordinary interaction into an awkward one.
After all, even in Isis's homeland, the northern Old World, where people tended to be tall and sturdy, a girl over 190 centimeters would still turn heads; in Kamura Village, where almost everyone was petite, she stood out even more.
Women like Hinoa and Minoto, both over 165 centimeters tall, were already considered statuesque. To put it in perspective, even the Tiger of Kamura might not have been taller than Isis in his youth.
Just as Isis was growing frustrated, wondering whether she could even manage a waitress's job, and beginning to doubt herself, the situation took an unexpected turn.
Some customers began visiting the tea shop specifically to see Isis...
Wearing a slightly strained smile, she approached one of the tea tables. Before she could even offer a greeting, a little boy with a missing front tooth who had come with his mother ran up to her, bouncing excitedly on his feet.
"Wow! You're really, really tall!" the little boy exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "Tall lady, how did you get so tall? Mom's tiny, and Dad isn't tall either. Everyone says I'm just a little squirt!"
A vein throbbed on the forehead of the petite, round-faced mother smiling beside him.
Isis had no idea how to answer. Fortunately, Nymera used a Wirebug to zip over to her side. "Mrs. Komitsu, it's been so long! And Konosuke, you've gotten so big!"
(Komitsu was the little girl who sold candy apples.)
The mother shot her son a fierce glare for his thoughtless remarks, ordered him to sit properly, then bowed apologetically to Isis.
"I'm sorry. This child is terribly rude. I'll give him a proper talking-to."
After scolding the boy and apologizing, the young mother Nymera had called Mrs. Komitsu smiled at her and said, "We'll have the usual, please. Triple syrup, and another order to go for my husband while he minds the shop."
"Coming right up!" Nymera replied before leading Isis away.
Before Isis had fully collected herself, the table's order was ready. Nymera handed her a wooden tray holding two plates of classic plain white Dango and an entire bowl of thick syrup.
"Take it to their table and pour the syrup over the Dango. Don't worry if it spills over. That's exactly how they like it!" After rattling off the instructions, Nymera gave Isis a thumbs-up and an encouraging "You've got this!" before hurrying away to serve the other customers.
A little nervous, Isis carried the wooden tray to the mother and son's table. She set down the Dango as Nymera had instructed, then picked up the bowl of syrup under their expectant gazes.
Wouldn't it be a little rude to just splash it on like that?
With that thought, Isis bent down and tipped the bowl slightly, letting the thick golden syrup flow onto the boy's plate in a fine thread.
As she moved her arm and wrist, the syrup pooling on the plate gradually traced out an adorable design.
"It's a Felyne!" the little boy cried excitedly.
Then, with mother and son still watching expectantly, Isis drew another picture on the mother's plate.
"What's that one with the big tail?"
The boy did not recognize the creature, but his mother did.
"That's a Stinkmink," Komitsu answered before adding in amazement, "That's incredible! Are you an artist, miss?"
Isis scratched her head and replied sheepishly, "No, not really. I'm a Hunter by trade."
The boy grew even more excited. "I knew it! Anyone this tall has to be a Hunter! Dad says Hunters are really strong. Tall lady, can you lift that?"
He pointed to the decorative stone mill at the shop's entrance.
Komitsu's temples throbbed. She had just rolled up her sleeves, ready to teach the little brat some manners, when Isis said, "Sure, I can."
Then Isis walked over to the tea shop entrance and lifted the stone mill, which was so broad that a grown person could barely encircle it with both arms. As if that were not enough, she even tossed it lightly into the air...
Word always traveled fastest among children.
—--
Over the next few days, more and more customers came to the tea shop, either out of their own curiosity or dragged there by their children, asking specifically to see the "Tall Waitress" paint with syrup. Every now and then, some little brat also asked to see her toss the stone mill, but their parents usually scolded them for it.
Isis did not mind in the slightest. In fact, she was having a wonderful time.
As Altaïr watched Isis bustle around with obvious delight, drawing cats, dogs, and Cohoots in syrup on customers' Dango one moment, then setting down the bowl to toss the stone mill the next, he suddenly understood Nymera a little better.
A life like this really was hard to leave behind...
—--
When the shop closed after another busy day, Altaïr, Isis, and Nymera sat side by side on the wooden bench by the entrance, slowly eating the leftover Bunny Dango.
Over the past few days, they had grown accustomed to the Bunny Dango's cloying sweetness.
They were actually pretty tasty, weren't they?
"Isis is the new star of our tea shop!" Nymera said with a grin. "We had so many customers today, and half of them came just for her. We're almost out of honey! I need to restock from Mr. Kagero soon!"
A little embarrassed, Isis lowered her head and focused on eating her Bunny Dango without replying.
Altaïr joined in the teasing. "Yomogi asked me in the kitchen today whether you could stay a little longer. She said, 'Where else am I supposed to find a Guild receptionist who can paint with syrup and toss a stone mill?' She even said that, with your talent, you could open a whole shop for syrup art right next door."
Nymera leaned closer to Isis. "Don't listen to her nonsense. A syrup-art shop would waste your talent. Why not become an artist instead? I'll open a tea shop and cover the walls with your paintings. Customers who buy Dango can sit down and admire them!"
"And what about me?" Altaïr asked, amused.
Isis swallowed her Dango and grinned. "Altaïr used to be a guide in the Great Desert. He can advertise the shop and bring in customers."
The three of them chatted away, dreaming up a strange future in which they ran a shop together, until the sky began to darken and a figure came racing down the village path.
It was Sajji.
He bounded over to Altaïr. "Boss! Hibasa asked me to tell you that the new gear's finished. You can come try it out, meow!"
Altaïr and Isis exchanged a glance and rose from the bench.
"Mmm..." Nymera gave a lazy stretch. "You two go ahead. I'll help my mother prepare dinner. Don't come back too late."
Altaïr and Isis nodded.
—--
They returned to their rooms, changed out of their short-sleeved shirts, aprons, and cook's uniforms, then put on Armor far too heavy for ordinary people to bear.
Clad once more as Hunters, the two returned to the Smithy, where the forge burned bright and hammers rang.
(Translated by yourtl.app)