Chapter 8: Chapter Eight – Cuddling With the Sadist

Dear Aunt Laura, 

Bernie here. You won’t believe what’s been happening to me. First I woke up in a fantasy world weaker than a newborn baby. Then I got turned into a bunnygirl, and now I’ve become the pet of this crazy spider obsessed archmage.

Oh… and if I don’t make her some amazing espresso, she’s probably going to kill me.

I love you. If you ever happen to get isekai’ed please bring me as many volumes of Camellia Sinensis as possible. This world doesn’t have manga and it makes me wanna cry.

 

After Otrea got her fill of making me scream, she laid down holding me like her favorite teddy bear. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was the woman who was planning to kill me, I might have been able to enjoy it.

Instead I laid there frozen in terror. Each time Otrea took a deep breath or moved her hand I braced for impact. To my surprise she didn’t do anything, beyond gently petting my ears on occasion.

“Bernice,” Otrea mumbled sleepily.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Just because I’m upset with you, doesn’t mean I won’t treat you kindly. You should tell me when you want something.”

“What do you mean?”

“I sent one of my children to watch over you while you slept. You’ve only just arrived and I didn’t want you to go stumbling about in my caverns without being aware of it. It is only because they were hidden in your room that I heard you whispering happy birthday to yourself."

Can this sadistic goth magical girl really be this kind?

“I hope you’ll consider your new outfit and collar something of a birthday present from me. I know they’re probably not to your tastes but you look very adorable wearing them. If there is anything else you might want I’ll attempt to acquire it for you.”

“Why?” Were you not furious with me? Are you not going to kill me?

“Because you’re adorable, and adorable girls should always be spoiled. Of course don’t take that as me telling you I won’t punish you if you’re a bad girl. I hope you’ve learned by now that I don’t tolerate bad girls.”

Despite still being terrified of Otrea, I felt my body relax. I still believed she was a psychopath, but she was a psychopath with morals. Even if those morals really only amounted to ‘cute obedient girls should be spoiled’.

“How many pets do you have?”

“You would be my seventh.”

“Are any of them spiders?”

Otrea laughed. “I haven’t found any spidergirls yet but I’m hopeful. I have Taji and her twin sister Kuri. Harriette, an undead I helped create named Adelita, and a Dryad named Lulu.”

“I think you missed one.” I noted after counting the girls on my fingers.

“Ah… you’re right. Adelita has a second personality, Kyna. The two are fully independent and share their body equally.”

“How do you know which one you’re talking to?”

“It can be a little hard at times. Though Adelita is a bit more reserved than her counterpart. It’ll be very easy for you to tell them apart, Bernice.”

“How so?”

“Adelita hates newcomers. She’ll never approach you unless I order her to. After you’ve been here for a decade or two she might come around. Kyra on the other hand is very outgoing.”

“I assume Harriette has told you I’m not from this world?”

“She has. Wish that I’d been the one to read your mind. I should’ve considered it the moment you started talking about espresso.”

“Couldn’t you do it now? I’ve had a day to recover. I feel pretty great right now actually." 

“You may feel well, but your mind is still injured. If Harriette glanced through a week of your memories, it’ll take a week to recover. It’s one of the many drawbacks of mind-reading magic. It is why the Royal Court seriously vets those capable of using the magic. By the time a prisoner has recovered enough for someone else to look, time has passed and even more magic will be needed to see the same things. Many innocent people have died because the Mind Reader was accused of being biased.”

“That’s terrible.”

“It is. Was there some reason you brought it up?”

“Umm… well in my world we have some very terrible legends about undead. They’re basically mindless monsters that feed on the flesh of the living. I was… curious about Adelita and Kyra.”

“They don’t eat anything.” Otrea chuckled giving my ear a few soft pets. “You’re safe.”

“So the only threat to my health is your children?” Mouth insert foot.

“I would say the only threat to your health is disappointing me.” Otrea replied pinching the skin on the back of my neck.

You are reading story Reborn as a Basic Barista at novel35.com

I squealed. “I’m sorry!”

“You should be,” Otrea replied releasing me. “The truth is however, my children wouldn’t eat you unless they were ordered to.”

“… Even the young ones?”

Otrea sighed. “I guess I did a pretty good job scaring you, huh? My children are all spirits, it is because of my magic that they’ve been given physical forms. Their bodies are sustained entirely from my magic. They can eat organic things if I tell them to, but they’d never do so otherwise.”

Why are you sighing? Are you really that exasperated that I took you at your word? You lying con-artist sadistic madwoman.

“Do you have any other questions?” Otrea yawned. “If not I think it is about bedtime.”

“Should I go back to my room?”

“Nope. You’re sleeping here tonight.”

“Ah, well… goodnight then.”

“Goodnight Bernice.”

Falling asleep in Otrea’s arms turned out to be far easier than I feared it would be. After taking a moment to snuggle closer to her and get comfortable I quickly faded into dreamland.

When I eventually awoke, I was alone. Groggily I rubbed my eyes and gazed around the room, finding Harriette waiting for me by the door.

“Did you sleep well Bernice?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, now if you don’t mind please follow me to your chambers I’ve acquired you a few tomes on the Dragon Tongue. Also, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Well, discuss away.” I replied pulling on a pair of shoes that’d been left for me by the door.

“As I was searching for the tomes I’d promised you, I happened upon a few discussing alchemy. One of the greatest abilities available to alchemists is transmutation. Which is the ability to turn one substance into another.”

“Yeah?”

“So if you learned alchemy, perhaps you could turn something that is not a coffee bean, into a coffee bean.”

I felt my eyes grow wide as saucers. “Oh my god Harriette! You’re a genius.”

“It was really just a stroke of luck that I saw the book.” Harriette replied, her cheeks growing faintly pink.

“Still wouldn’t it be faster to just have an already experienced alchemist make the coffee beans for us?”

“Unfortunately you cannot create something you don’t understand. An alchemist who’s never seen, held, or tasted a coffee bean will probably not be able to produce one. Even if they could there is nearly no chance it’ll be similar to what you remember.”

“So is that the plan now? I become an alchemist and start transmuting everything I can find into coffee?”

Harriette laughed and mussed up my hair. “No. We’re going to keep searching for the coffee trees, and you’re going to study alchemy. Becoming an alchemist is a massive time investment, I want you to study it as a contingency. Simply finding a coffee tree is still our best option.”

“Okay, I understand.” I chewed my lower lip for a second before grabbing Harriette’s hand. “Umm… quick question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think an alchemist could use transmutation to create books they’ve seen?”

“You could use the skill to make paper and ink. As for the actual content of the book, that is something you’d have to add yourself.”

Ah… guess I should’ve expected that.

Pulling me forward by the hand Harriette wrapped me in a tight hug. “Sorry Bernice, I know you miss the books from your world. If we ever need to travel to a city on business I’ll see if I can’t find someone selling picture books. Just be patient ok?”

I don’t think ‘picture book’ and ‘manga’ are remotely similar… but I guess she’s trying, and I appreciate that.

“Thanks Harriette.”

“You’re welcome Bernice.”