Menu No.16 - The Banished Ordo

Kazuha practically shook the soul out of my body.

“Mika! MIKA!! Are you serious?! Raiza—THE Raiza—wants to meet me?! Me?! Me?!”
He grabbed both my shoulders and rocked me back and forth like a ragdoll.

“Y-yes—stop shaking me—”

“This is a dream! A hallucination! A prank from the gods!”

“It’s . . . literally just a message,” I muttered. “She wants to see you in the cafeteria at noon. That’s all.”

Kazuha froze for two seconds, then looked at me as if I’d handed him the crown of the kingdom.

“I’ll treat you to lunch. No—DINNER. No—A WEEK OF FREE MEALS.”

“Lunch is fine.”

Asuna and Tiara were watching us from a nearby table. Asuna looked impressed.

“You, . . . you actually talked to Raiza?” she asked. “The Raiza who barely speaks to anyone? That Raiza?”

I shrugged. “She’s not scary. People who call her cold just don’t understand her.”

Tiara said nothing. No snark, no teasing, no reactions—just a quiet, unreadable stare.
For Tiara, that was strange. She was usually the first to gossip about heroes or knights.

I wondered if she was feeling unwell, but she simply excused herself and headed to the counter.

.

.

.

By noon, the guild was its usual chaotic sea of adventurers: clanking armor, the smell of bread, laughter, shouts, and the occasional explosion in the far kitchen from Arumi experimenting with spices.

And me, stuck behind the bar, fulfilling the endless flood of orders.

Since last week, the popularity of coffee had skyrocketed. Coldbrew disappeared in under an hour every morning. V60 orders stacked faster than I could brew them. My arms had become the arms of a true barista-warrior.

While pouring a steady spiral of water into a V60 filter, I caught a glimpse of Kazuha.

He was sitting with Raiza.

And stuttering.

Badly.

Tiara and Asuna sat beside him. Tiara’s posture was stiff—far more formal than usual. Asuna kept glancing between Tiara and Raiza like she expected the table to explode.

Kazuha unrolled his giant scribbled dungeon map, and Raiza examined it with a sharp, calculating gaze. From the bar, I could see her expression soften—just a little—at the sight of the messy, over-detailed inkwork.

“He’s doing well . . . ” A voice beside me hummed thoughtfully.
It was Alisa, counting coins and writing ledgers.

“Yeah, Kazuha seems quite professional.”

“Kazuha?” Alisa look me nervous. “I mean, . . . Tiara, . . . I didn’t think Tiara would actually join them.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Alisa blinked. “Oh . . . right. You don’t know yet.”

“Know… what?”

She leaned closer, lowering her voice.

“It’s about Tiara and Raiza.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Wait—HOLD ON THEY have a relationship?! A . . . a forbidden relationship?!”

“Not . . . exactly, and what do you mean with forbidden?!.” Alisa sighed. “It’s more complicated.”

She set down her quill and folded her arms.

“There used to be another great knightly order besides Ordo of Hartmann. The Stormveil Order.”

The name struck something in my memory.

“Stormveil . . . Tiara’s last name is—”

“Yes.” Alisa closed her eyes. “That Stormveil.”

She explained:

“House Hartmann and House Stormveil were once the two greatest knight families in Evos. Both were respected everywhere. Both fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the Demon Kings of the past.”

Her voice dropped darker.

“Until the incident of Striganyr Stormveil happened.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The hero who was supposed to fight Demon King Drachen decades ago . . .but instead, he betrayed the kingdom. He bent the knee to Drachen and accepted his power. And because of that, the entire Stormveil bloodline was branded as traitors.”

My breath caught.

“So Tiara’s grandfather…”

“Yes.”

Alisa glanced at Tiara—who still sat stiffly in front of Raiza, carefully avoiding eye contact.

“Tiara never speaks about it. And Raiza—being the heir of House Hartmann—never acknowledges her. Neither one wants to reopen old wounds.”

It suddenly made sense why Tiara always turned cold when Raiza was mentioned.

And why Raiza pretended Tiara didn’t exist.

“Just . . . don’t bring it up with her, okay?” Alisa whispered, before slipping away into the storage room.

I swallowed hard.

“Yeah. I won’t.”

.

.

.

Not long after, I returned to cleaning dishes—only to hear hurried footsteps.

Kazuha burst out of the private meeting room, sprinting across the guildhall with tears streaming down his cheeks and his face red like a tomato.

“She hit meeeee!!” he wailed as he ran out the front door.

Asuna chased after him, half-panicked, half-frustrated.

“Kazuha! Wait!! It’s your own fault!!”

Tiara remained seated.
Still silent, still expressionless—just watching the scene unfold.

Geez, did Kazuha really go that far? Did he ask for some ridiculous reward or something?

“What . . . happened?” I whispered.

I turned to Arumi, who happened to be walking into the kitchen.

“Kazuha was slapped,” she said bluntly.

“Oh no . . . what did he do now?”

“, He tripped and accidentally fell . . . right onto Raiza’s chest.”

“ , . . . Oh.”

.

.

.

I see Raiza emerged from the meeting room shortly after, holding Kazuha’s dungeon map and rubbing her temples.

Her eyes met Tiara’s.

“You are . . . Tiara?”

Tiara stiffened, then nodded once, coldly.

Raiza exhaled.

“Please forget what happened earlier.”

Tiara didn’t answer. She simply stood and walked away without a word.

Raiza didn’t call after her.

And Tiara didn’t look back.

I felt a weight settle in my chest.

So that was the “relationship” between House Hartmann and House Stormveil.

.

.

.

When things calmed down, I stepped outside for fresh air and returned to the kitchen to grab a few pastries. The lunch rush was easing. Conversations softened. Even the guildhall, always bursting with energy, seemed unusually tense from earlier events.

As I cleaned my brewing station, I overheard adventurers whispering:

“Did you see Raiza just now? The Dragonblade Raiza?”

“She slapped that buff guy.”

“But he touched her chest.”

“Oh. Fair enough.”

“Scary woman.”

“Beautiful, though.”

“She ordered THREE Coldbrews. She’s definitely one of us.”

I chuckled weakly.

The way they shifted from fear to admiration within seconds was impressive.

Raiza was still speaking with her knights near the center table. She scanned the room like a commander mid-mission—until her gaze accidentally crossed mine.

I stiffened.

She gave me a small nod of acknowledgment.

My heart jumped.

It wasn’t a smile.

Just a nod.

But coming from her, it almost felt like a medal.

.

.

.

Around late afternoon, Kazuha dragged himself back inside, hair messy and cheeks puffed out like a sulking tomato.

“Mika…” he croaked.

“Yes?”

“I think my soul left my body.”

“Understandable.”

“She slapped me… HARD.”

“You touched her chest.”

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO!!”

“I know.”

He slumped onto a chair.

“ . . . But Raiza praised my map. So it was worth it.”

Ah, there it is—the Kazuha energy.

“Anyway!” he said, recovering almost instantly. “You saved my life. I owe you another meal!”

“You already owe me lunch.”

“Make it two lunches.”

“No.”

“Fine—one lunch and one Coldbrew.”

Before I could respond, Tiara walked past us. Kazuha flinched, expecting her to scold him.

But Tiara simply said:

“Stop crying. It’s embarrassing.”

Kazuha froze.

Tiara kept walking.

Asuna burst into laughter.

Even I couldn’t help smiling.

Maybe, despite everything . . . Tiara was still Tiara.