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n“Fei-san, one reemiyen and stir-fried vegetables please.” Ryouma

n“…Is something the matter, Boss? You just got back, but you look so tired.” Fei

n“It’s a long story… ” Ryouma

nAfter spotting a lost child, Bell-san and I took the child in our care and looked for the parents, but no matter how much we checked the area, we couldn’t find them. In the end, we had to bring the child to the guards. But then another problem came up.

nThe lost child refused to separate from Bell-san.

nFrom the start, the kid was already about to cry, but Bell-san was used to children and she was able to console him, but… Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Who would’ve thought that kid could cry so much. Anyway, the guards were all like me, and well… As men with no childrenof our own, we all eventually gave up.

nIn the end, we had to leave the kid to Bell-san. I helped out a little by buying food, but after a while, she saw the clock and started to become troubled.

nThe church had opened a bazaar to sell the dolls made by the children and items donated to the church. The reason she was troubled was because it was almost time for her turn to watch over the bazaar. But at the same time, she couldn’t just leave the kid behind nor could she leave him to someone inexperienced like me.

nSo the natural conclusion was – of course – for me to take over her shift.

n“Why would it end up like that?” Fei

n“Actually, she told me it would be enough if I just informed the church, but I thought I would be able to help if it’s just a little. For some reason, though, the moment I started helping out, everything became hectic and all sorts of annoying people appeared.” Ryouma

nMost people shopped with good behavior, but there were some problem people too. To make things worse, a group of drunks joined in. “Cheers to Tekun-sama!” They would say, while trying to enter the closed church… They’ve already come of age, so they’re not exactly a bunch of rowdy youngsters, so I wish they’d drink moderately and act their age.

nMoreover, the people watching over the church were mostly made up of the church orphans. Of course, there were volunteer adults and guards too, but with all the trivial things piled up, we ended up having too few hands. I myself look like a child, so they thought I was one of the church orphans. And there was clearly a lot of hurdle for young women (obviously normal citizens) to deal with drunk uncles with good physique unless they were used to it already.

nSo, out of good will, in order to not allow them and the guards to lose face, I decided to take the front lines and deal with the customers while making sure to pay attention to the situation. From time to time, I would run to the storehouse to get an item and then go back to deal with the customers. When push came to shove, I had to jump out and hold a customer down.

nBut there were children watching, so I had to restrain myself. Besides, while that customer may have been a nuisance, I couldn’t exactly treat him like the thugs that troubled my store before.

nPutting it bluntly, I ended up having to put more effort in order to not hurt the guy too much.

nI’ve always been living a stress-free life since coming here, so it’s been a while since I’ve been stressed so much… I wonder if this is proof that I’ve been slacking too much. But then again, if I were to start feeling like I did back then, that would also be bad.

n“In any case, good work out there. Here. You’re reemiyen and stir-fried vegetables. Sorry to keep you waiting.” Fei

n“Thank you very much.” Ryouma

nAnyway, let’s eat.

nAfter paying, I took my tray and found a seat. The Semroid Troupe were performing regularly atop the stage, so there were a lot of people in the food court. It wasn’t like this morning when it was easy to find a seat.

n“Ryouma-sama!” Serge

n“Ah, Serge-san!” Ryouma

nAs soon as someone called me, I saw Serge-san raising his hands. He was mixed in with the normal customers and was also eating.

n“If you’re looking for a seat, this table is free.” Serge

n“Thank you very much.” Ryouma

nI accepted his offer and sat on the same table as him.

n“You’re eating too, huh.” Ryouma

n“Yes. From here I can see how our stalls are doing and the food here is also delicious and affordable. Most of the employees also eat here.” Serge

n“I’m happy to hear that. …Your stall seems to be doing well too.” Ryouma

nThe stalls of the Morgan Company were also filled with customers.

n“Thanks to your efforts, there’s no end to the customers. It’s also because we’ve put up stalls where people gather, but that aside… Oh, that’s convenient. Please take a look.” Serge

n“?” Ryouma

nLooking at the direction he pointed at, I saw a customer arguing with a stall employee. In the customer’s hand was a music box.

n“It’s fine, right? Just give me one more.” Customer

n“My deepest apologies. But this product is currently limited to 3 per customer.” Employee

n“That’s why I’m begging you. Can’t you do something about that? Look. I have a daughter and a son, and I have two married older brothers too. I want to buy them some nice souvenirs.” Customer

n“…Customer. If I may ask, how many times have you visited our store already?” Employee

n“Hah? This is the first?” Customer

n“Really? Because I feel like this is your second time already…” Employee

n“Aren’t you just imagining things?” Customer

n“Really?” Employee

n“…Fine.” Customer

n“Thank you for understanding.” Employee

nThe customer put down the music box and quickly left the premises.

n“What was that?” Ryouma

n“He probably wanted to resell. Ever since starting to sell music box, people like those have started to appear. We’ve limited the number that can be sold to a customer to prevent them from buying everything up, but there are a lot of resellers like that who keep coming back.” Serge

n“Is that alright?” Ryouma

n“Don’t worry. We’ve prepared a lot of employees, so people like that shouldn’t be able to influence normal customers. We’ve already taken resellers into consideration and have thought up a plan. If word of the music box were to spread through selling, we’ll be able to use that to open up the market.” Serge

nThere were normal customers around us, so Serge-san omitted some of the details, but I could feel his overflowing confidence.

n“Everything is within predictions, in other words.” Ryouma

n“We’ve established a department that specializes in music boxes, and Dinome’s Workshop is also eagerly producing music boxes. The workshops at Kereban were also interested in, so we were able to greatly increase the number of craftsmen producing them.” Serge

n“Greatly increase?” Ryouma

n“The magic tool workshops of Kereban aren’t limited to just Dinome’s Workshop. He has his connections too and other workshops that he trusts. There are also workshops that have been struggling financially that he was able to buy up.” Serge

n“This sure has turned into something crazy.” Ryouma

n“These workshops and the apprentice craftsmen will all be placed under Dinome-dono, so the contents of their work and the management won’changed at all. It’s not really that big of a deal.

nCurrently, Dinome’s Workshop has successfully reduced its burden in producing music boxes, while other workshops have been alloted work, allowing them to deal with their financial issues. As for the sales of the products and the financing, please allow me to take care of that.” Serge

nMy deal with Dinome-san is that he will be the one to publicly appear as the developer of the music box. As long as he keeps that part of the deal, I have no right to say anything even if he merges companies or increases the number of craftsmen. If anything, being able to form a win-win relationship is something to be happy about.

n“I believe this takeover will also bring much profit to you, Ryouma-sama. The magic tools that can be forged at Dinome’s Workshop are limited to the neutral, fire, water, and light elements. But with the introduction of more craftsmen under Dinome-dono, demand of other elements can now be met should the need arise.” Serge

nI see. If Dinome-san keeps his end of the deal, it seems this turn of events will prove convenient to me.

n“I believe it won’t be long before he asks you if there’s something you want.” Serge

n“I guess I’ll have to think about it then. Should I use this opportunity to develop something new?” Ryouma

nAs food for thought, I could give him an idea and have him develop a magic tool. That idea would then given birth to another idea. …Eventually, I’m sure I’ll run out of materials, but for now, this looks to be an infinite loop.

nSerge-san seems to have thought of the same thing, as he’s wordlessly smiling at me like that.

n…Ah, I’m done.

n“Gochisōsamade**a.” Ryouma

n“Oh? Done eating already? That was fast.” Serge

n“I’m an adventurer, after all.” Ryouma

nSpending too much time eating will quickly use up one’s lunch break and might cause one to miss out on his meal.

nSo I quickly eat while talking. It’s an indispensable skill I picked up while working as a salary man in my previous life.

n“I’ll go buy some drinks. What would you like?” Ryouma

n“Can I ask you to get me some of that ‘Barley Tea’?” Serge

n“Sure.” Ryouma

nI bought two cups of barley tea from the store and then came back.

n“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here.” Ryouma

n“Thank you very much. …Fuu… Ahh, this kind of tea is good too. It has a different aroma to black tea and herb tea, but I can’t get enough of it.” Serge

n“I’m glad you like it.” Ryouma

n“Still…” Serge

nSerge-san glanced at my store.

n“Your store sure sells a lot of strange things, Ryouma-sama.” Serge

nNow that he mentions it, he’s right.

nThere are 8 products being sold at my store:

nWater

nFruit Juice

nBarley Tea

nReemiyen

nStir-Fried Vegetables

nDante Seed.

nSesame Pastry

nHot Dog

nFor water, juice, and barley tea… We’ve already prepared them beforehand, so it’s just a matter of pouring them. As for the other 5 products, they were picked out according to the results of the survey.

nOf the stranger things among our products, there’s Barley Tea and Dandelion Coffee. Just as Serge-san said earlier, Black Tea and Herb Tea are most common in this country, and you won’t find any barely tea here. Dandelion Coffee might be a thing somewhere, but it’s definitely not something normal in this country either.

nAnd then there’s Reemiyen. Due to the dangers and costs of travels, people aren’t able to travel to different countries as easily. Because of that, save for a very small group of entrepreneurs, most people would see foreign culinary as something unusual. Moreover, Fei-san and Leelin-san’s homeland, Zilmar, is a rather chaotic country that barely even engages in diplomatic relationships. Just recently, there were a lot of people who ordered Reemiyen out of curiosity.

nAnd there’s Dante Seeds, which are a delicacy in one region, and Sesame Pastry, which is also a rare dessert. As such, 4 out of 8 of the products we sell, that is half of all of our products, appear as ‘strange’ to your everyday citizen.

nThis is the result of analyzing the survey we gave out during the social gathering.

n“As expected, people will get tired if you just sell the usual. From the looks of things, it seems people order those 4 strange products the most.” Serge

nWhen I looked around me, I noticed that he was right and many customers were indeed eating those unique dishes.

n“Wow, so this is Zilmar Cuisine.” Customer 1

n“Pasta mixed with soup… This is pretty unique.” Customer 2

n“It’s hot. But it sure tastes good when paired up with this cold barley tea.” Customer 3

n“So semisa could actually be turned into jam like this?” Customer 4

nFrom the murmurs I heard around me, it seems the customers liked the products a lot.

n“By the way, what will you be doing in the afternoon?” Serge

n“The ice sculpture to be used on stage is due today.” Ryouma

nSince Soldio-san started teaching me, I also found more opportunities to talk with the members of the troupe. I once mentioned I could sculpt something out of ice and they showed much interest. When I showed it to them in person, the leader of the troupe and the person responsible for building the stage was inspired, and the next day, much to my surprise, they handed me a written proposal which suggested to include the ice sculpture among the stage decorations.

nThe Semroid Troupe would will be displaying the performances of the sword dancers and the acrobats during the day, which required a lot of movement, so the ice sculpture will be brought in when the sun sets. It will be brought in during the evening when music was the focus in order to help set the mood.

n“I’ve already prepared some magic tool lighting under the sculpture to light it up.” Ryouma

n“My subordinates informed me. It seems like it’ll be quite a sight to behold.” Serge

n“I plan to sculpt something that can be put on display, but as for whether I will have the leisure to watch or not…” Ryouma

n“True. From the looks of things, I doubt you’ll be able to take your time. As far as business goes, though, busyness is a good problem to have.” Serge

nWe laughed and talked like that until we emptied our cups.

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