Working and Dreaming

"Is Hilde here?"

"Yo, Hilde. Looking good today."

"Good evening, Hilde."

"Good day, everyone. I'll go get changed first."

Hilde pushed open the dessert shop's door, smiled as she greeted her coworkers and the manager, then quickly crossed the hall and entered the staff changing room.

She untied the sash at her waist.

The plain white shirt slid down along the line of her shoulders and pooled by her feet. In the full-length mirror to one side, the girl's petite yet slender figure was reflected—her waist supple and firm, her skin tinged a faint red after exercise, like fine glaze.

A black-and-white dress with a lace-trimmed skirt hung in the wardrobe. It was the staff uniform for this dessert shop.

To be honest, it was basically something like a maid outfit.

The fabric brushed over her arms, from her waist to below her collarbones. The front was propped up into curves that did not exist. Then she lightly raised her toes and pulled slightly loose white stockings over her legs, fastening garters at the tops to keep them in place.

Looking at the girl in the mirror, dressed up like a porcelain doll, a strange sense of embarrassment rose in her heart.

It kind of feels like fetish wear...

No, wait. In this world, maids seem to count as a proper profession, right?

So this really was just an ordinary work uniform.

Besides, this body had nothing in front or behind—no chest, no butt. No matter how she dressed up, there was nothing feminine about her in other people's eyes, so there was no need to overthink it.

"All right. Time to work seriously."

After reassuring herself inwardly, Hilde pushed open the changing room door and stepped into the hall.

The shop gradually began to get busy.

Almost every seat in the hall was filled, and there was even a long takeout line at the counter.

Hilde got into work mode, helping maintain order and clearing tableware.

Her petite figure wove back and forth through the crowd.

"Hilde, new guests at table three. Go take care of them!"

"Okay."

Hilde carried the menu over to table three. Just as she was about to ask for their order as usual, she suddenly froze.

Isolte smiled and waved at Hilde.

She was the guest at table three.

She had specifically gone home, changed into a plain white dress with a pale blue ribbon tied around her waist, and put on a pair of light sandals. Her whole person was like a lotus rising from the water, a pleasure to the eye.

"Why are you here?" Hilde asked curiously.

"I came to see how you work. How is it? Is it hard?"

"It's all right. My coworkers are all good people, and the manager takes pretty good care of me too."

It had to be said, a child's appearance really was quite easy to like.

As long as one did not deliberately do things that made people uncomfortable, no one would go out of their way to make things difficult... except for other children.

"There aren't any strange customers, are there?"

"How could there be? Even if there were, they wouldn't get away with anything. What do you want to eat? My treat."

"Huh? Really?"

"Employees get a discount."

"Then I won't hold back."

Isolte did not stand on ceremony too much. She directly ordered the dessert she usually ate.

Dessert time after daily training was one of her few forms of entertainment. Because she exercised so much, she did not have to worry about getting fat.

After bringing Isolte's dessert over, Hilde excused herself and left, continuing with her work.

After all, this was the shop's busiest time.

Isolte ate her dessert while watching Hilde weave through the crowd.

That petite figure kept bustling about, her childish face full of earnest responsibility toward her work.

She really was...

Too cute.

As Isolte watched, a smile unconsciously appeared at the corners of her mouth.

By the time the busiest period passed and the customers in the shop gradually thinned out, Hilde came back to check on Isolte, only to find that she had already left early.

There was a note pressed beneath the plate, with the words "See you tomorrow" written on it.

Hilde smiled knowingly.

Isolte was a good person.

[A blue-gray sky]

[An earth-yellow land]

[The wind blowing over the wild grass carried the rusty tang of blood.]

[An endless wilderness stretched to the horizon where heaven and earth met. There were no buildings in sight, no signs of human habitation. Nothing but sky, earth, and wind.]

Hilde silently watched everything before her. This was already the second time she had had this dream.

The same scenery. The same utter emptiness.

Meaningless.

The view in the dream moved forward with her footsteps, but Hilde had no idea where she was supposed to go.

However, just as Hilde thought today's dream would end just as meaninglessly, a small town appeared at the edge of her vision.

The town was not large. Standing at the entrance, she could barely see any figures on the streets.

But Hilde...

No, it should be said that Hilde in the dream did not seem puzzled by this at all.

After entering through the town gate, she seemed extremely familiar with the place and soon arrived at the entrance of a tavern.

There were just as few people inside the tavern.

A few people who looked like adventurers were gathered together, drinking and saying something.

When they saw Hilde appear, one of them whistled with great interest, but his pale-faced companion pulled him back and whispered something in his ear.

And so, very soon, the two of them disappeared from the tavern.

Hilde did not care what they were saying. She walked straight up to the bar and laid two silver coins out from her pocket.

"Two bowls of wine, and a plate of fennel beans."

What the hell? Was this a Kong Yiji cosplay?

No, wait, who was Kong Yiji?

Hilde's mind became confused again.

Meanwhile, Hilde in the dream ate the fennel beans and sipped the wine, as though she were waiting for something.

The fennel beans and wine steadily dwindled.

Just as the beans and the wine were about to run out, the sound of footsteps and horse hooves came from outside the tavern.

"All of you stand by here. I'll handle the negotiations."

"But, Captain, that person is..."

"No one is to take any action without my order. Anyone who doesn't understand will be dealt with by military law."

A slightly hoarse voice came from outside the tavern.

Hilde in the dream set down her wine cup.

"Creak—"

The tavern door was pushed open.

An old grandmother with reddish-brown hair, dressed in knight's armor, walked in from outside.

For some reason...

Hilde felt that wrinkled face...

Seemed a little familiar.

But she definitely did not know this person.

Though the color of that hair was exactly the same as Lilia's.

"Long time no see, big sister."

"After hiding for so long, have you finally decided to give up?"

"Or are you planning to wipe all of us out here? With your strength, you should be able to do it easily."

As the old-grandmother-like knight spoke, she pulled out the seat beside Hilde and sat down on her own.

Big sister?

This person looked at least over seventy, right?

Why would she call her big sister?

What year was it right now...

"I just didn't expect the king to send you to negotiate with me. Does he think that as long as it's you, I couldn't possibly refuse?"

"Besides, I wanted to catch up for old times' sake once in a while."

The Hilde in the dream said it casually.

Her tone sounded careless.

"Long time no see, Aisha."

Hilde's eyes flew open.

She sat up in bed, gasping for breath.

She quickly swept her gaze around. The room, shrouded in night, was silent, with only a faint chill seeping in through the window that hadn't been shut tight.

Dawn had yet to break. It was still far too early.

She touched her back and realized she had broken out in a cold sweat without noticing.

Her heart was pounding violently.

What exactly had that conversation in the dream just now been about?

Had that really only been a dream?

Why had Aisha's name appeared?

Aisha...

If she remembered correctly, that should be the fourth child of the Greyrat family, her own little sister.

It was the name Paul had given to Lilia's child.

It was too strange.

And what was with that face?

The Aisha in her memories was still only a tiny baby.

It felt as though something bad was about to happen.

Hilde hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she gave up on going back to sleep. She got out of bed, sat down at the table, and took out the letter paper she hadn't used up before.

This was already the second time she had had a dream like this. Though she didn't know what it meant, she decided to keep an eye on it for now.

She planned to write down the contents of the dream.

But Hilde hadn't expected that her ominous premonition would come true so quickly.

The next day, after training ended.

Hilde discovered that her sword was gone.