Sandra immediately recognized the voice and quickly looked in their direction.
It was indeed Bartholomew, also known as Bart, the shelter's brewmaster. It seemed that he wasn't in a good mood after getting a supply from someone else...
This Gold Star Café was actually owned by Bartholomew just to cater to other people who liked coffee rather than alcohol or wine.
Anyway, Sandra hadn't been in the Springriver Manor, but she knew that Bart's winery or distillery was located there. Seeing that the shop was filled with people, she couldn't help but feel curious about the tavern he owned in that shelter.
In any case, Sandra had a good impression of Bart even after only meeting him a few times when she needed some of his tasty creations.
'What do we have here?' Sandra thought as she turned her attention to the supplier.
This person was a skinny man with a nervous look… He even stammered as he replied to Bart… "B-But the last batch was perfect!"
"Last batch wasn't mixed with sawdust!" Bart's face was red beneath his beard.
'Sawdust? No wonder he's angry.' Sandra thought.
It was at this point that Bart also spotted Sandra and groaned. "Don't even start. I know you're here to mooch."
She slid onto a stool. "I prefer the term 'sample.' But don't worry… I can pay right now."
Grumbling, Bart poured her a cup anyway.
"Thanks…" Sandra said as she took a sip.
The first sip was bliss.
"New recipe?" she asked.
"Experimental. We added cinnamon scraped from a looted stash. Only got enough for a few pots."
Sandra savored it. "You're a saint."
"And you're a pest." But there was no heat in his words. Bart just couldn't imagine how this woman spends a lot of her money just for training.
Nonetheless, he would use Sandra as a delivery service as well from to time, so he didn't really mind if she drank the cup…
"More… Hit me with the good stuff."
As she said this, Bart gestured to the barista that he'd take over…
Bart then eyed the one Spirit Stone that Sandra took out and reached for a, small, unmarked tin. One Spirit Stone was already enough to take 20 coffee drinks. It seemed that Sandra wanted to pay now for her future drinks as well.
"Fine. But this is the last of the Blackstar Blend. This is very special, and I got it from Sir Shane. He said he's growing some coffee trees in a special place called Fairy Realm. It's hard to get these… One sip and you'll feel rejuvenated..."
"Ugh… Isn't that so dramatic?" Sandra said but she watched as he poured the steaming liquid into a cup… Soon, she sniffed the rich, earthy aroma from the coffee, and it seemed that Shane's supply was still the best out there.
After being served another cup, Sandra felt quite glad that she had visited the place.
As soon as she tasted it, she couldn't help but feel energetic once again…
"Damn. This is good…" Sandra exhaled as the warmth spread through her chest. "Okay, that's worth the hype."
Bart smirked. "Told you. It's a pity that Sir Shane couldn't harvest a lot of them. I hope he can bring me in his secret farm someday."
"You have to bring me too if that's possible." She replied.
Bart just shook his head as he decided to change the topic.
"Heard the elves found Gold Deposit a few days ago... You know about it?"Bart asked Sandra since he wasn't really going out of the shelter with his limited combat skills.
On the other hand, Sandra was considered part of the scouts aside from being an aerial defense specialist.
However, Sandra hadn't heard of it as she was too busy.
"Well, I heard it runs deep too. I hope Shane's already got a team setting up extraction."
"Wow… Maybe we'll get free coffee drinks or something once it's extracted." Sandra muttered. Although the gold could not really be used to make weapons, it could be used to trade with other Neutral Shelters who still needed gold for business.
"Or a lot of whiskey…" Bart mused. "Speaking of—those merchant caravans from Neutral Shelter rolled in again. There's a lot of them and there's a couple of them that brought some weird shit this time."
"Weirder than the guy selling 'guaranteed' love potions?"
Sandra nearly choked on her coffee. "What?"
Bart nodded toward the bazaar. "Some new vendor's got 'em. Says they're low-maintenance—just feed 'em Zombie Cores and boom, instant attack dog or whatever. Low hatching requirement, apparently."
"Sounds like a Common Pet… I hope they have better ones."
"Probably. But you know that they're popular right now. Since it's a bit peaceful nowadays and we're no longer worrying about food, water, and shelter, I think it's time to bring out all those pets out." Bart replied.
Sandra nodded as she considered whether to buy another Pet Egg or now…
This time, however, another person arrived at the counter.
Sandra then turned to see Tieria…
"You got any of that Blackroot Coffee Extract left?"
Bart sighed. "You're gonna burn your tongue with that... Did you not learn?"
"Not for me. For the new recruit that I'm training…"
Sandra perked up as she heard this. "Newbie?"
Tieria's expression didn't change and nodded. "Yes… The kid showed up yesterday from that Gray Fog. He has some Technician talent… But I need to teach him some manners."
Bart then rummaged under the counter and tossed him a vial of inky liquid. "Make sure to dilute it. Last guy who drank it straight hallucinated for a couple of days."
Tieria pocketed the vial and left without another word.
Sandra and Bart just shook their heads as they didn't know that Tieria was actually in charge of handling newbies...
Bart then poured himself a shot of something amber and potent.
The two of them no longer had anything to talk about.
However, after a few moments, Bart recalled something. "You hear about the Great Tree Neutral Shelter's offer?"
"They want to set up a permanent trade post here. Full-time merchants, secure routes, and others…"
Sandra gently nodded. However, she recalled that Shane was already cooperating with a Neutral Shelter.
"And Shane's considering it?"
"Dunno. But if it means real sugar comes back on the menu, I'm voting yes."
Sandra wanted to ask more about this Neutral Shelter but suddenly, a piercing alarm shattered the calm of Eclipse Domain.
"ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS. GHOUL AND SKELETON ARCHER FORCES DETECTED APPROACHING FROM THE WEST. ESTIMATED NUMBERS: 200+. THREAT LEVEL: MINIMAL."
The voice over the loudspeaker was calm and being told that the threat level was minimal had certainly eased their tension.
"DEFENSE TEAMS HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED. PLEASE PROCEED WITH YOUR DAY."
Sandra still felt curious about this, even if the threat wasn't high… "I'll take a look."
Bart also felt that this was not a big deal, but he noticed that his Barista was already ducking under his counter. His hands were shaking as he started looking for his Safety Protection Token.
"Y-You should go! They could breach the walls!"
Bart flicked his forehead. "Did you not hear that the threat is minimal? Relax. If Shane's sending a team, it's already over."
Sandra chuckled at this as she realized that the barista was actually really new here…
In the meantime, Shane stood atop the walls, watching the distant undead enemies.
"They're finally here…" He muttered.
Below him, the gates creaked open, and ten armored vehicles came out as they started kicking up dust. Each of them was a modified war rig—half-truck, half-killing machine—mounted with rotating turrets and reinforced plates for ramming.
Aside from the soldiers inside, there were also ten Elves who would be helping them in the battle.
Of course, to ensure victory, Shane also sent out Sona the Ice Magician, and Otto the Fire Magician…
The two had been quite bored after not being able to be in action for a while… Thankfully, Shane finally gave them a mission.
At this time, Shane's radio started crackling…
"Commander, we've got visual. Standard horde—nothing fancy. Orders?"
Shane didn't take his eyes off the approaching tide of undead summons and replied.
"Crush them. Just don't let a single one get within 500 meters of the walls."
As soon as the armored vehicles arrived, the soldiers wanted to trigger the turrets but Sona decided not to use it yet.
"We'll use it later…"
Sona then gestured for the elves to attack first.
Just like that, the Elven Archers released upgraded arrows, and each shot would detonate like a grenade.
Seeing that the attack was successful, Sona was a bit disappointed as it seemed that these undead summons were just testing the waters.
Sona then raised her hands, and the ground exploded with numerous ice spikes, impaling a dozen ghouls while running…
"Disappointing… Let's lure those Necromancers out!" Otto laughed as he threw his fireball into the densest cluster of skeletons.
The explosion vaporized bones, sending a shockwave that rattled the battlefield. It seemed that his training had paid off as his spells were already on a different level…
"Haha… Shane's Mana Stone is awesome…"