Prologue - I Am The Tea Specialist of the Chivalric Order

"Yura, two cups of the usual."

"Okay, I'll have them ready soon~"

I took the order and used the hot water I had prepared in the next room to fill each cup on the tray. The reds and blacks of the brewed tea were beautiful.
The faint, sweet aroma resembling flowers blended together, and the fragrance of the tea lightly wafted in the air.
This was the smell of tea.
After pouring it out, I quickly brought the cups over to the waiting visitors.

"Thank you for waiting~"

I approached the long, wooden table where the visitors were sitting.
The two men must have come here right after training as they still had their armor over their navy blue uniform and dirt on their faces.

To begin with, this was the chivalric order's castle.
And, this place used to be a normal room before it was reconstructed into a "tea room." As such, the walls and floors were made of gray stones. Although it had been beautifully smoothed, it still felt bland.

Why did I bother making a tea room in such a place?
It was built so the knights didn't need to change their clothes and could head straight here, and it was also a means for me to earn some pocket money.

"Oh, here it comes, here it comes."

The senior knight gladly held up his cup.
The boy who seemed to be his squire sniffed the tea and looked confused.

"It has a nice aroma and the reddish-brown color is beautiful, but…"

The boy timidly brought it to his lips.
After his first sip, he whispered, "Ah, it's good."

I was glad he felt that way.
At any rate, tea didn't exist in "this world." It was only after trial and error could I produce something with a similar flavor.

About to break out into grain, I receded back into the kitchen, and the boy appeared to notice a change after drinking the tea.

"I feel refreshed for some reason… Huh? I should have been exhausted though…"

"You understand the reason why the chivalric order has such a tea room now? This drink, known as tea, can also be medicine."

"Eh?!" The boy was surprised.

"Even if there's magic that can heal wounds, there's no magic or medicine that recovers your strength, right?"

"It seems that only the ones made by that tea specialist give that kind of effect."

"That reminds me. What is a tea specialist?"

"It's the title of this place's owner and the one who makes the tea."

I still felt embarrassed by the words: tea specialist.
Although, I was the one who called myself such…
Because of certain reasons, I couldn't find an appropriate position when I had to register myself, so I made it up.

"Because she has such a rare ability, she's been hired by the knights."

Even though I escaped to the kitchen, I could still hear those two.
Uugh, knights have such loud voices…
Because of this strange power, I was taken in by the knights and became their exclusive tea specialist.

At that moment, another squire came in.

"Please bring the usual to the office."

"I understand."

I braced myself.
This temporary tea room was important, but my main business was even more so. They had called for me.

I brewed a new pot of tea with the water I had already boiled. I placed the cups on the tray that had been designed to prevent the cups from slipping, and I headed to a certain room on the first floor.
When I knocked on the door, a blond young man opened the door.

"Thanks for today, as usual, Miss Yura. Please come in."

"Excuse me."

I accepted the invitation, went inside, and headed towards the sofa set.
Two men were already seated there.

They were knights, but they weren't wearing armor. It was probably because they were doing office work now.
The color of their uniforms was closer to indigo. There were quite a few of those who were chosen to wear this deep purple, but these men all had such handsome faces that they wouldn't lose to anyone.

The knight who had his long, black hair tied at the base of his neck greeted me with a short bow.
The blond-haired knight sat down, so I placed the tea in front of the three.

I placed the first cup before the man who obviously looked to be in a higher position than the others, evident by the light blue epaulette embroidered with golden thread that hung diagonally from his right shoulder.

Just from seeing his silver hair and purple eyes, everyone knew that he was Lord Lucien, captain of the Cigle Knights.

After they each received a cup, the three silently sipped it.
I was a bit nervous.
Eventually, the captain said this simple sentence.

"…Delicious as usual."

I was relieved by his assessment. As expected, it was important to please the leader of the group.
After taking a breath, the black-haired knight, Mr. Ivar, began to speak to me.

"The reason we called you here was for the usual—a dispatch request."

Those words caused my relaxed muscles to tense back up.
As I was employed to serve tea to the knights, I also was dispatched with them.
And through this, I secretly attempted to avoid the future where a majority of this game-like world would become a wasteland.
…Although, I wasn't a combatant; I had my own ways of working.

That was right. This foreign world resembled the world of a game.
And one from my past life's memories.
I recalled this fact several months ago.