The Transmigrators and the Cipher

“Ah, there are so many people, I can barely keep up.”

Claire wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked around at the almost full room, and rubbed her sore shoulders.

“It’s normal. Silvermoon Square is always crowded, and it’s also the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Theia Theocracy, so it naturally attracts many foreign tourists.”

Aliciel calmly placed several plates of omurice on the table, still full of energy.

Fortunately, neither she nor Claire were ordinary people, otherwise they really wouldn’t be able to keep up.

“Um… Head Maid, we should hire more people. Just the two of us isn’t enough.”

“Yes, indeed. Don’t worry, people will come to apply. It’s only the first day of business.”

Ciel said with a faint smile. She wasn’t in a hurry to hire people. In fact, after Claire, several other girls had come to apply. After all, a monthly salary of five hundred Star Coins was indeed very generous, and it included food and lodging. Unfortunately, Ciel rejected them all.

Looks were secondary; the key was their attitude.

Those girls were either just there to have fun and didn’t care about maid etiquette, throwing a tantrum after being reprimanded a few times; or they had bad habits, like smoking and drinking.

Aliciel directly rejected those with bad character. She valued quality over quantity. Her goal was to cultivate a top-notch maid corps!

Ting-a-ling—!

“Welcome, Master.”

Just then, the doorbell rang again. Aliciel subconsciously greeted the newcomer and then looked at them with a hint of surprise on her face.

The newcomer was a young man with short black hair and brown eyes, with distinctly East Asian features. Most notably, he was wearing a green jacket and trousers. On both sides of the zipper in the middle of the jacket were two large white characters.

Aliciel couldn’t quite understand the two characters; they seemed to be in an East Asian language. Was he a tourist from the Eastern Xuan Realm?

“Oh—!”

The green-clad young man looked around at the interior decoration with some surprise and found an empty seat by the window.

Aliciel didn’t pay much attention to him. He was just a tourist. In her perception, this young man was also unremarkable, with not a trace of magical fluctuation in his body.

She skillfully served him tea and a towel, then took his order, served him the most popular set meal, and cast a delicious spell on it. Everything went smoothly.

During this time, the green-clad young man would occasionally glance at Aliciel’s face, then quickly look away, clearly attracted by her beauty.

Even in the Theia Theocracy, a country full of beautiful women, Aliciel’s looks could be considered nation-toppling.

However, when she cast the delicious spell, the young man’s mouth twitched, and a hint of fear appeared on his face. He was clearly a little afraid of the star-purple mysterious sauce on the plate.

“Wuwuwu~~”

However, after mustering up the courage to try it, he was immediately tormented by the deliciousness of the omurice and even cried. He wolfed it down, eating even more heartily than Claire, as if he hadn’t had a full meal in days, occasionally muttering things like “I can’t believe I can eat rice here.”

After enjoying a good meal, the young man wiped his mouth, clasped his hands together, rested his chin on the back of his hands, and showed a thoughtful expression, his eyes occasionally darting around.

“Master, is there any problem that this humble servant can help you with?”

Seeing this, Ciel also bent down slightly to be at eye level with him.

“Ah? Ah, um… excuse me, who opened this maid café?”

“It was opened by this humble servant.”

“Huh? You! Then… besides this one, are there any other maid cafés?”

“Hmm… probably not. Although the waitresses in other restaurants also wear maid outfits, this is the only one that uses ‘maid’ as its brand.”

“Is that so? Then… who painted the pictures on the wall?”

“Oh? You mean ‘Mona Lisa’s Smile,’ ‘Starry Night,’ and ‘The Scream’? I painted them, but…”

“Oh oh oh oh—!”

Before Aliciel could finish, the green-clad young man cried out in excitement and reached for Aliciel’s hand, but Ciel easily dodged it.

The young man who missed his grab wasn’t anxious. He was still excited, his eyes shining, as if he had met a long-lost friend in a foreign land.

“The Heavenly King covers the earth with a tiger’s might!”

“Huh?”

Aliciel tilted her head, showing a confused expression.

“Hmm? A great hammer of eighty!”

“Master, is this some kind of code from your hometown?”

“Who was the first assassin in Japan?”

“Japan?”

“Never gonna give you up ~”

“…”

“Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river?”

“Don’t bully the young and poor?”

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s it!”

Seeing that Aliciel finally responded, the young man was overjoyed. He ignored the stares of the other customers in the shop and said excitedly:

“Fellow countryman! You must have transmigrated too!”

“Transmigrated? Hmm!”

Hearing this word, Aliciel’s expression froze. She grabbed the young man’s shoulder and dragged him towards the storeroom in the back kitchen, leaving behind a sentence.

“Claire, watch the shop for me. I’ll be right back.”

“Huh? Where is the manager going at a time like this? Don’t leave me alone!”

Ignoring Claire’s cries, Aliciel directly took the green-clad young man to the storeroom.

“Um… Miss Maid? Manager? Fellow countryman? Ouch!”

The green-clad young man, who was still immersed in joy, was suddenly dragged away and seemed a little confused. Before he could react to what was happening, he was thrown onto a box by Aliciel. The gentle and elegant maid put on a cold expression and looked down at the young man.

“It is recorded in the historical materials passed down through my family for generations that when space is distorted, a space-time rift may open, summoning people from other worlds or planets. This situation is called transmigration!

“And transmigration is divided into soul transmigration and body transmigration. The former is when a soul descends into the body of a native infant or adult, possessing the original owner; the latter is when the whole person directly descends into the new world. It seems you are the latter.”

“You… you… you…”

“I’m sorry, you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I am not a transmigrator, nor am I your fellow countryman, but a native of this land. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“It is recorded in the book that the arrival of a transmigrator is like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples on the water’s surface. It may bring disaster to the world, or it may be a source of hope, like a butterfly that starts a storm. So… which one are you?”

Faced with Aliciel, who was exuding a powerful sense of pressure and had a “kind” smile on her face, the young man was already sweating profusely, cold sweat dripping down his face.

“So, can you tell me everything you know?”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—!”