Today was a good day.
Having been working as a cashier for the Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop, Charlotte now looked healthier than she was before she t Calvin. There was always this vibrant smile on her face that truly represented the essence of the Coffee Shop's na. Yes, it was captivating.
Furthermore, the changes that she proposed for the sake of the coffee shop brought a lot of improvents to the coffee shop's foot traffic.
She proposed to abolish the ridiculous pricing to cater more to the masses and even though Ron Samuel was adamant to keep the coffee shop strictly for those that could afford its prices. It just didn't make sense to Charlotte.
Sensing that she was starting to feel suspicious as to why the coffee shop wasn't trying to make an effort to actually make money.
Ron Samuel had no other choice but to bitterly smile and accept the changes that she had proposed.
Jas, Bruce, and especially Ashlynn were delighted with the changes.
Finally, custors were pouring in. After a few days of adjustnt, it wasn't that hard for them to handle the influx of custors anymore and Ashlynn would always have this wide smile on her face whenever she was counting the coins that they had earned for the entire day.
The next morning, the staff mbers of the Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop ca early to prepare for the morning rush.
Charlotte was also there, and despite the fact that her job was being a cashier.
She still went the extra mile and helped the others clean the store by wiping the tables and chairs
"Charlotte, you don't have to help us with this... Aren't you still going to make an account of our inventory for today?" Jas stared at Charlotte with embarrassnt laded on his face.
He was doing his job, but he clearly wasn't doing it as well as Charlotte. To be honest, he was starting to think that Charlotte was the manifestation of a cleaning god.
No surfaces were safe against the onslaught of Charlotte and her damp cloth.
"It's okay. I'm quite used to making an inventory now, so I might as well help you with this." Charlotte smiled at Jas, "Ah, did you add ammonia to that bucket of water?"
"Oh... Ammonia?" Jas asked in confusion.
"Yes, it's quite useful for cleaning surfaces." Charlotte nodded.
"Are you sure? Doesn't that thing have such a strong sll? Why would you use sothing that slls so strong to clean things?"
Jas frowned.
"I was also as confused as you, sir Jas. But I learned these cleaning tricks up my sleeves back when I was still working at a matchstick factory in the Western Borough..."
"Most of us won even use ammonia in our underwear when it's that ti of the moah! What am I saying!" Charlotte suddenly blushed in the middle of her sentence as she held her cheeks in embarrassnt.
"Well anyway, if you mix a quarter of a cup of ammonia in a bucket of water. It'll clean these glass faster." Charlotte cleared her throat and continued, "But don't ever add any other cleaning solution to that bucket of water, okay? If you do that, then you'll create poisonous fus that will haunt you for the next two weeks. Trust , I've learned the hard way."
Charlotte lightly chuckled.
Jas Branzuela stared at her in shock.
"Mada, you sure are quite knowledgeable."
Charlotte waved her hand, "Not really. I just had a rough life."
The smile on Jas's face deepened, "Now that I think about it, it's been a few days since that young lass visited the shop. Where is she?"
"Ah, Cecilia? I enrolled her in one of the schools a few blocks away from us so she's not really that far from the shop. I thought it was better for her to learn things from a proper teacher than ." Charlotte promptly answered.
"Jas! What's the lolly-gagging there? Hurry up and co here! You still don't know how to create that creamy foam for a coffee latte, right?" Ron Samuel's voice could be heard from the inside.
Jas Branzuela revealed a bitter smile.
He didn't know what to say.
Charlotte noticed his awkwardness and she stared at him with a smile, "It's okay. You can leave the cleaning out here to ."
"I'm really sorry..." Jas apologized while awkwardly scratching his head as he stood up and went inside the shop.
But his expression changed the mont he stepped into the store.
Crash!
A crashing sound akin to a shattering glass rang out from outside the shop.
Jas turned to look at the source of the sound and it ca from Charlotte who had accidentally dropped one of the potted plants while she was relocating it to one of the nearby elevated shelves.
"Ah! I'm sorry!" Charlotte opened the doors of the shop and fervently apologized, "I didn't an to do it... my hands slipped."
"It's okay, it's okay... Just clean it up before the morning rush starts." Jas said these words as slowly as he could. It was as if there was sothing stuck in his throat for he found it hard to speak in front of Charlotte.
"I really didn't an it... All right, I'll go clean it up!" Charlotte was quick to leave the shop with a broom and dustpan in her hands. Then, she got to work and cleaned the ss that she had created as if nothing had happened.
anwhile inside the shop.
Ron Samuel was trembling.
The atmosphere in the shop was thick with killing intent.
Ashlynn's eyes were completely cold.
In her hands was a crystallized gem that had shattered.
"Ashlynn, didn't I tell you to bring over the mop to here in the kitchen? What's taking you so long?"
Bruce walked out of the kitchen with his eyebrows furrowed. Upon noticing that everyone was gathered behind the counters, he walked over and asked, "What the hell are you guys looking a"
He didn't manage to complete his sentence.
It was because he saw the shattered crystallized gem and he knew what it ant.
"S-S-Soone died?!" Bruce sucked a mouthful of cold air as he hissed in shock.
His eyes eventually landed on the na above the wooden plaque of the crystallized gem and his pupils constricted when he saw it.
"C-C-Calvin!" Bruce exclaid.
"Shut it." Jas coldly spat.
Charlotte was just right outside the shop and if she heard that they were talking about her husband. She would definitely join the discussion.
After all, everyone here was a witness of how much she loved to talk about her husband.
"W-What should we do...?" Bruce absentmindedly asked.
This was the first ti that a Cavalier died in his team.
Bruce had absolutely no idea what must be done.
"Those bastards..." Jas clenched his fists.
Ron Samuel raised his head and his eyes were bloodshot.
Of course, he knew what Jas was talking about!
Ashlynn also bit her lips until her teeth almost dug into them.
"The higher-ups... Why did they set the difficulty of the mission to the lowest, when it's clearly dangerous enough to kill one of us?!"
Bruce took the words out of everyone's mouth.
"All right..." Ron Samuel finally spoke.
He opened a secret drawer from one of the nearby cabinets.
A gun was inside the cabinet with a few bullets.
"Let's go and kill those higher-ups." Ron Samuel simply said.
"What?" Bruce doubted his hearing.
'D-D-Did he just said that he's going to kill the higher-ups of the church?!'
He eyed the others as if asking for their help but to his dismay, Jas and Ashlynn didn't seem to be concerned with the idea of killing one of the high-ranking officials of the church.
"W-W-Wait! Please don't be hasty, Captain! Don't cloud your decisions with emotions! You're going to kill the high-ranking official that sent this order out, then what's going to happen next?"
"The Tribunal would definitely treat our actions as treason against the state and we will be executed according to the Cavalier's Way! Do you want that to happen, Captain?"
Bruce seed to be the only sane person in the room.
But Ashlynn coldly scoffed, "Are you a coward, Bruce?"
"No? Of course, not! I'm not a coward! It's not like I do not want to bring justice to Calvin, but you guys clearly aren't thinking straight!"
Bruce retorted loudly.
"Bring justice to Calvin?" Charlotte walked in with a bucket of water in her hand.
Jas, Ron Samuel, Ashlynn, and Bruce all turned to look at her with their eyes widened like saucers.
Charlotte noticed their stares and she couldn't help but awkwardly scratch her head, "Hahaha. I'm sorry to have intruded in your conversation, but I forgot the ammonia. I'm here to retrieve it so I can clean the glass."
"But don't worry! I'll be quick!" She smiled and continued, "But what is it about Calvin? Bring justice to him? What does that an?"
Bruce's legs started trembling.
Not any of the Cavaliers spoke as they just stared at Charlotte in shock.
"Nothing..."
"Nothing bad happened, right?" Charlottle slowly asked.
Ron Samuel smiled.
He walked over to Charlotte and reassured her, "Nothing happened. We were talking about the wage that Calvin should've received. You seethe addition of Calvin in the shop really helped us a lot..."
"That's why we were thinking of increasing his wage and bring justice to him after that injustice that he had suffered for having such a low wage despite his large contributions to the shop's well-being."
Ron Samuel was unusually talkative at this mont.
But those who truly knew him as a person understood that Ron Samuel was always a talkative person whenever he was lying.
It was because he was afraid that soone might find a hole in his narrative.
Charlotte seed to have accepted Ron Samuel's explanation and the mbers of the Cavaliers simultaneously walked out of the shop with grim looks on their faces.
Ashlynn couldn't help but make a sidelong glance at Ron Samuel.
"Captain..."
"You sure are a bad liar."
Yes, Ron Samuel had never been a good liar.
The entire Ashlion Branch of Cavaliers started walking towards the Cathedral with their weapons holstered on their waists.
Bruce was still uneasy knowing that they were going into the church to deal with soone, but he had always been a loyal person.
Even if the orders were morally bugging him, so long as it was an order from the person whom he trusted the mosthe would surely do it without asking any further.
Thus, the Cavaliers of Ashlion ca crashing against the doors of the Cathedral.
They kidnapped the high-ranking official who issued that erroneous mission order and they had a single demand for that official's release.
The church must send a punitive force to deal with what had killed Calvin and also retrieve his remains if possible.
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