“Come along, we are getting late,” the waiter turned around and gestured at the two to follow him.

Confusion overtook the Otherworlder and Vera’s mind as they looked at each other.

‘What in the world is going on here?’ Was what it seemed Vera was thinking.

‘Hell if I know!’ he answered with his gaze.

The two of them followed behind the waiter with no other choice. As they crossed by the turn, the other shadowy figures revealed themselves. A very familiar group of two men and a woman were waiting for them. They were but the other few customers that he had always seen at the cafe.

“You guys are finally here, Sugar and Spice.”

“You made us wait too long.”

“Guess unit L409 is completely assembled now.”

Each new word just made the Otherworlder more confused than before. It seemed these guys were calling him and Vera Sugar and Spice? Also unit L409, he remembered seeing that in one of the latte arts, the very first one. All of this was only pointing to one thing, regardless of much he wanted to deny it.

They were being mistaken for someone else.

“Ahaha...” the Otherworlder awkwardly scratched the back of his head and nodded. “Sorry, sorry. Let’s go.”

The group shared a chuckle and started progressing through the tunnel again, this time with the waiter in the lead. As they followed the others at the end of the row, the Otherworlder and Vera kept exchanging glances. The situation had completely turned on its head.

They had come up here prepared to fight, but were instead met with... whatever this was. While surprising, the situation was not at all a problem. In fact, it was quite advantageous for them. Not only were they safe from battles, a walking, talking source of information had decided to guide them.

By all means, it was a greatly favorable turn of events!

“Oh, well.” This time, it was Vera who spoke out first. “How long did you guys wait?”

“Hm? About thirty minutes? If you had been any later, then we would have been in trouble.” The one who answered to Vera was the only other woman in the group.

Her reply was straightforward and casual. But she had the slightest sense of formalness in her tone. No one here walked in sync, either. They all seemed to be slightly fidgety. All this coupled with the fact that they were so easily mistaken for someone else, the Otherworlder thought it safe to assume that no one here knew another beyond their ‘names.’

Such a group could have only come together for a shared cause. And the fact that a cause brought them here meant there were surely more of these groups out there. The Otherworlder and Vera had to plan out their moves while keeping this in mind.

‘They met up and are going to some other place... being late doesn’t seem to be that big a problem either...’ the Otherworlder quickly assembled the clues in his mind and spoke up.

“What was the set time again?” There was no point pretending to be a different person, so the Otherworlder spoke in his usual deadpan tone, but he tried to be more sociable with his words.

“Hm?” it was the waiter who answered. “Do you not remember or what?”

The waiter’s voice seemed rather stern.

Not remember.

It meant he was told the timings.

When? Where?

-Smack!

A soft hit struck against the back of the Otherworlder’s shin. He glanced back to see Vera placing her foot back down. He looked towards her face to see her mouthing something silently.

‘CO-FF-EE L-AT-TE’

The Otherworlder narrowed his eyes for a few seconds when realization hit. The latte art in the coffees were messages! The Otherworlder tried his best to recall the latte arts, but he couldn’t remember a lot of them.

“Wasn’t it at the fourteenth hour?” the Otherworlder said. He remembered seeing fourteenth somewhere on the coffee but did not know what it meant.

“Aah! Haha, you’re confused with the date!” the man walking directly behind the waiter spoke up, luckily saving the Otherworlder. “The fourteenth hour passed a while back.”

“I see, haha. The first letter of the last word I said to you when you first came here was ‘d’ for after ‘seven days ago.’” As if his suspicions had been cleared away, the waiter started explaining the details with a smile. “D for the date. The art made in your coffee on the next day was the number fourteen with a ‘th’ and the last word on that day was away! For the area. Hahaha”

‘That’s complex to a stupid degree!’

The Otherworlder was starkly surprised by the explanation. The system they were using to send out the information was definitely very complex, but also very smart. By gathering the people to a cafe, they reduced the suspicion of many people gathering in one place and also made an impromptu base...

“We’re almost there.” the waiter in the front said as the group picked up speed.

... And by keeping their conversation in ‘coffee,’ they eliminated any physical evidence and also any chances of tracing...

“Thank god, this tunnel was getting stuffy.”

... This was not something one could have stumbled upon with any amount of skill or magic. This was something one could only face with their luck.

-Thud.

The sounds of metal falling on the ground rang out. They had finally reached their destination. The group stepped out from the tunnel, one after the other. As the ones ahead left, the view ahead revealed itself to the Otherworlder. A wide area completely uncharacteristic of the underground channels, and on top of it, a grotesque and fleshy appendage made of stone.

The Otherworlder stepped out of the tunnel, with Vera following behind. They couldn’t take their eyes off the sculpture, that seemed too lifelike to be a mere sculpture. Ahead of them, the waiter and the other three too stood in a similar daze with their eyes fixated on the sculpture.

Almost simultaneously, the Otherworlder and Vera tore their eyes away from the sculpture and gave each other a look. There was again no need for words as their intentions were communicated with their eyes alone.

The sound of Vera’s sharp exhale spread in the room...

-BOOM!!

... And an explosion followed.