Chapter 138: Suspicion

“A-Are you alright? Are you suffering from excessive internal heat1? Do you need me to accompany you to the hospital?” The obese teenager with blood spurting out from his nose caused Ke’er to tremble all over. She held onto the menu, completely at a loss.

“Uuu… I-It’s nothing…Let me slowly…” The obese teenager felt his blood and energy surging upwards, as he covered his incessantly bleeding nose and stammered.

“A-Are you really okay, nyaa?”

“Y…Yes- Pink-chan’s the best!”

…………

“I’m sorry…I was clumsy and spilled coffee on the customer’s body.” Ke’er lowered her head in dejection.

“No worries, no worries. Ke’er did very well. Having to take up the job without learning any relevant etiquette or knowledge must’ve been quite hard on you.” Green stroked Ke’er’s head and comforted her.

“Take it easy. Practice makes perfect, doesn’t it? Look, none of the Masters are blaming you, right?”

Ke’er raised her head and looked at Green for a moment.

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“Miss Green. If Miss Blue is an Asiatic Dog, what race do the rest of you belong to?”

“Mmhmm~? Guess.” Green lightly pressed her finger against her lips as they formed a slight smile.

“Uuu.” Ke’er tilted her head in thought but gave up in the end.

“Hey~ You should set aside these questions first. There’s another customer mentioning you by name. Speaking of which, you’ve only been here for less than a day and are this popular already. Even I’m getting somewhat envious~” Said Green half-jokingly.

“What do they need…?” Ke’er received a goblet filled to the brim with coke and ice cubes from Green.

“This is for the Master at Table 16. Ah~ This Master is actually a regular in our store. You mustn’t be negligent, okay!”

“R-Really??” Ke’er gulped, her nervousness causing her heart to beat faster.

“Don’t panic. Deep breaths, deep breaths~ Hold it properly. You can do it, Pink!”

“O-Okay.”

“Remember, a master’s order is absolute. As long as it’s a request not too overboard, you have to try your best to fulfill it. Understand?” Told Green.

“Mhm.” And thus, under Green’s encouraging eyes, Ke’er carried a menu and the coke to the second floor’s VIP room.

Ke’er swallowed a mouthful of saliva as she looked at the anime-style plate hanging from the top of the door.

Was the customer one of those middle-aged men that are tough to talk with and wouldn’t take no for an answer, or possibly some fat otaku?

Carrying apprehensive emotions in her heart, Ke’er turned the doorknob.

“Creak.”

“S-Sorry for disturbing, master…I’m the maid you requested, Ke-… I mean, Pink! Uuu. P-Please take good care of me!”

“Oh? You’re finally here. Come, come, come. Come here quickly and sit with Anna~” A tender and graceful voice like the chirps of a black-naped oriole resounded, its puerile tone filled with energy and vitality.

“Eeeh?” Ke’er slightly paused upon hearing the voice and raised her head in puzzlement.

“Hello, you’re the cat-eared maid that just arrived today? ~Ehehe, let’s get to know each other. I’m Anna~ Anna as in Savanna2.” The silver-haired girl looked similar in age to herself lively jumped down from a sofa and smilingly arrived at her side.

The girl gave off the impression of a silver elf as she jumped around. Her limbs that were white like lotus roots, as well as her beautiful face that seemed to stun the heavens made one feel like she was a beautiful elf beyond the reproach of the mortal world. On top of that, her petite and young figure caused one to feel a sense of endearment for her.

“A-Are you the Master of Table 16?”

“Ehe~ That’s right. Everyone in this maid cafe is talented! The way they speak is so pleasant to the ears that Anna feels like she is returning home every time she visits. She lurveeeeeeees this place a lot~!”

“I-Is that so?” Ke’er gently but cautiously placed the coke on the table.

“Oh, thank you~” Anna gave Ke’er a sweet smile. Raising the goblet, she licked her cherry lips, revealing a set of sharp fangs in the process.

Ke’er looked at Anna who was elatedly sampling her coke. ‘That silver hair, it really feels like…’

“Eh? Don’t just stand there~ Come here and sit with Anna.”

“Eeeh? Can I?”

“Of course you can. You’re going to make Anna very embarrassed if you stare at me like that, alright~? Have a seat, have a seat.”

“Alright.” ‘Miss Green has told me earlier that a master’s order is absolute.’

“Uhm, Master. Your name is Anna, right?”

“Yassss.” Answered Anna after she had gulped down the coke in one go and smacked her lips.

“Are you a vampire?”

“Oh~ Yup.” Said Anna with a smile that suggested she was harmless to man and beast alike.

“Well, don’t be scared. I’ve already made an agreement with a human that I won’t use forceful methods to drink the blood of a living animal from now on. Moreover, I’ve already had my meal, so don’t you worry~”

“Ca-…Can Pink ask why you’ve nominated her?” Asked Ke’er in a gentle and cautious manner.

She felt somewhat puzzled as to why a regular customer would pick someone like her who had close to zero working experience as a maid.

“Oh~ The answer to this question is quite simple; I like lolis and beautiful young girls~ When you add those two pleasures together, wouldn’t that result in an even greater joy? Hehehe… Bonus points if they have beast ears too~”

“I-Is that so?”

“What do you think otherwise~ …Hmm, but from the looks of it, it seems like the blockhead suffering from late-stage male chauvinism isn’t taking care of you that well. Things have gotten so bad that even a child like you needs to come out and work?” Anna pinched her small chin, as she said while putting on the facade of a worldly elder.

“Eeeh??” Only after being stunned for quite a while, did Ke’er realize that the other party was talking about Ji Bai.

“T-That’s not true! Mr. Ji Bai is always very concerned about me, I’m only doing this out of interest…”

“Pfft… I didn’t say anything bad about him either. You don’t need to be this agitated when protecting your owner, you know?”

“Uhm…S-Sorry. Pink has spoken out of turn… How did Anna-sama know…”

“Well, I know that guy. He had mentioned it when I was chatting with him.” Those were just superfluous words from Anna. Given her authority, if she wanted to investigate a resident inside the school, it was a task as easy as stretching her hand.

“Oh, I see…” Ke’er was immersed in her own thoughts.

“Oh right, Pink. Can I address you like this?”

“O-Of course you can, dear master.”

“I’m done with my coke. Can you replenish my goblet?” Anna tapped on her goblet.

“Oh, okay.” Ke’er received the goblet from her. Just when she wanted to take a step forward, her foot slipped. This caused a gorgeous display of her secret skill, Face Planting on the ground, to happen once more.

“Gu-nyaa!”

“Be careful!” At the critical point, a group of bats gathered beneath Ke’er’s body.

Anna instantly appeared beside Ke’er. Embracing her with one hand, she held onto the falling glass goblet with the other.

“Wa-uuu…T-Thank you, Anna-sama.”

“You’re welcome…” As Anna helped Ke’er up, her gaze unavoidably swept past Ke’er’s neck.

“Thank you for your assistance, Anna-sama. Uuu…” Ke’er covered her chest with lingering trepidations in her heart.

“…That’s right. I remembered your name is Ke’er, right?”

“Did you happen to encounter any strange incidents recently?”

“Eh? Strange incidents… I don’t think so…” Ke’er shook her head, somewhat clueless as to why the other party would suddenly ask this question.

“No? For example, incidents like unwillingly being attacked by some bad guy?”

“No…” Ke’er shook her head like a rattle drum.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“With Mr. Ji Bai here, no one dares to attack me.”

“…Oh, I see.” Anna smiled, her narrowed eyes returning to normal once again.

In Traditional Chinese medicine, heatiness refers to a state where there is too much heat inside the body, resulting in heaty symptoms such as mouth ulcers, a sore throat, cough with sticky phlegm, or chapped lips. It commonly happens when there is an excessive amount of yang, or hot and masculine energy, in the body.

As Anna’s original name was Li Zi, i.e (Chestnut), the original part in this sentence was “Raise an example” since chestnut and example have the same pronunciation in Chinese. In order to convey the same meaning in the original, I’ve done the same thing here as well.