Chapter 78 – Bear-san Opens The Shop
Mylene-san said that she would prepare the signboard at the Commerce Guild.
Since the name of the shop was 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』, the idea of making the shop more Bear-like came up.
Everyone suggested doing something that looked similar to the Bear House, so that the customers would understand why it was named 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』.
A Bear-like shop, what sort of shop was that!?
Did I have to make the entire shop look like a bear, like the Bear House?
Many different ideas were suggested up. In the end we decided on the shop’s name and the uniform, and then the tasting party ended.
After everyone went back, I, who stayed at the shop, started to make the shop look like a 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』.
First, I made two deformed bears with earth magic and put them at the entrance. They were like character figurines.
In j.a.pan, there were character figurines called nendoroids.
I made the bears with those nendoroids as reference.
I used clay.
They were one color.
I really wanted more colors…
I tried making them while using magic to a.s.semble different kinds of colored earth.
Of course, I couldn’t really make beautiful colors, but it was cuter this way when compared to being just one color.
Magic was really convenient.
Next, I made some bears on the second floor, where they would stand out, and some more on the roof.
I figured the store would look good with that.
Then I went to the garden.
We weren’t going to do a café terrace, but since it was visible from the interior of the shop, I decided to arrange it.
A bear near a tree, a bear in the middle of a punch, a bear and her cub, and a sleeping bear. This would do for the decorations.
After that, I entered the shop and put little bears striking different poses in the center of each table.
I decorated the tables with a standing bear, a fighting bear, a sleeping bear, a running bear, bears on top of each other, a dancing bear, and a bear holding a sword.
Once I finished the tables, I made bears climb and hang randomly on the walls and pillars.
I decorated the interior of the shop by putting figurines here and there.
I thought it would be fine with this.
When I was satisfied, Karin-san came down from the second floor.
「Yuna-san, what are you doing?」
「I made it more Bear-like.」
「It’s really cute. If you saw those types of bears in the forest, you wouldn’t be afraid, right?」
Karin-san poked one of the table bears.
「Will clients come here?」
She asked worriedly.
An unknown location, a new store, a new kind of food. I guess she had those kinds of worries.
「I think they will come. I asked people to advertise it in different places too. Also, we have pizza, pudding, potato chips, fries, and Morin-san’s bread, after all.」
「The potatoes were delicious. I didn’t know that the poison was in the eyes.」
I brought them out during the taste testing, and since it was really popular, we decided that it would be sold in the shop.
Well, you wouldn’t die from the poison.
The problem was the distribution.
After the taste test, I was really worried about the stockpile of potatoes and cheese.
「The hamburger was really good, too. I didn’t know that putting the bread made by mother together with cheese, meat, and vegetables would be this good.」
「I am a little worried about the stock of cheese, you see. Depending on the sales rate, it is possible that we won’t have enough of it…」
A lot of cheese was used for the pizza.
「Where did you buy the cheese?」
「I bought it from a grandpa who was selling it in the capital.」
「In the capital? Then…」
「There isn’t a problem. I asked him where his village was, so when we start running out, I will go buy some.」
「And the potatoes?」
「They normally arrive next month, but if it isn’t in time, I will have to go and buy them myself.」
「I hope clients will come, that’s all.」
「That will depend on everyone’s efforts.」
The shop’s opening was planned to be two days after the signboard was finished.
The signboard was supposed to be finished in three days, so the shop would open in five days.
Everyone’s uniforms, except for Morin-san’s, would be prepared for that day as well.
The next day, Terumi-san and Fina came to help with the shop.
When they saw the bear figurines I made yesterday, they froze.
「Big Sis Yuna…W…W…What are those!?」
「They are bears. Everyone said that I had to make something that is Bear-like, like the Bear House, so I made them. Is it no good?」
「It’s not that! It’s terribly cute!」
Were they shocked because there were no figurines in this world?
When I thought of all the statues I had seen, there were only realistic stone statues.
「They are cute, but if it’s like this, the male customers will have problems entering.」
Terumi-san gave her impressions while looking at the figurines.
She was right.
There would be more male customers asking for pizza and hamburgers.
The girls would be asking for pudding and potato chips.
「Then, do I make a more realistic bear?」
「If you do that, the girls would be the ones having a hard time entering.」
「Then, what do I do?」
I knew that the answer wasn’t here.
Therefore, I went to find someone with experience in sales.
I asked Morin-san and her daughter, who were looking at the ingredient stockpile.
「I don’t know. I have never seen a shop this strange in the capital, after all.」
「Won’t it be okay if you just think about it after the shop opens? We don’t know how many clients will come in, after all.」
The two of them said.
Just in case, I had begun the advertis.e.m.e.nt yesterday.
I left some leaflets at the Commerce Guild, the Adventurer’s Guild, Helena’s Inn, and other places that took care of me.
I also asked Cliff to talk about it with his acquaintances.
With only this much, I didn’t know how many customers would come for the opening day.
「You’re right. For now, we don’t even know if girls will come, and it’s not decided that men won’t come in. We will think about it after opening the shop.」
The appointed day…
It was h.e.l.l.
People, people, people, people, people, people, people, people…
At the beginning of the opening day, no one came.
I wanted to help out in the background for the opening day.
We opened the store and, after we had waited for some time, the first client was the guild master of the Adventurer’s Guild.
「Hey, I came.」
「Welcome.」
「By the way, this is a strange shop.」
「Like I thought. Was it hard to enter?」
「This bear? I don’t really know. I think that it might be hard to enter for some people but…a bear that’s so well made, won’t the client be interested and want to see the interior?」
「Thanks. That’s good to know. So, what will you order?」
「What do you recommend?」
「Pizza and hamburger are the main courses. The potatoes are the side dish, and pudding is a snack. Ask your stomach.」
The method of ordering was like this: order at the counter at the back, pay, and then receive the food.
Pizza was the only thing that had to be baked after ordering, so you had to go to your seat first. It would be brought to you a little later, using number plates.
「I see. Then, since I have time and someone advised me to get the pizza, so I will go with that.」
「What will you drink? The pizza is oily, so I suggest having a refreshing drink.」
「Then, I will take Oren juice.」
「Understood. It will take some time to bake, so take this number plate and wait wherever you want.」
Immediately after Morin-san finished baking the pizza, the children brought it to the guild master.
「So this is a pizza.」
It was a S size pizza, enough for one adult.
(ED: S size = small size, probably. Literally written down as S in the raws.)
「Then, thanks for the food.」
The guild master started eating a piece.
He ate two, three pieces…
The guild master’s hands didn’t stop, and the whole pizza quickly disappeared. After he finished, he drank the Oren juice in one gulp.
「It was delicious.」
「I am happy that it pleased you.」
「Are the other things delicious too?」
「All I can say is that you will have to see for yourself. Everyone has different preferences, after all.」
「I see, what do I have to do to ask for something else?」
「You have to go to the counter and pay for a new order.」
「I see.」
The guild master got up and went to ask for a hamburger.
He ate it while looking happy, and then left the store satisfied.
After some time, people started trickling in.
They all started by timidly eating the unknown food, but when they had finished, they went back satisfied.
However, there weren’t many clients for now.
I forced myself to make 300 servings of pudding, but at this pace, it would hold out for a few days.
…There was a time when I thought this.
The people who came and ate in the morning might have talked about it.
At lunch, male and female customers came, regardless of the bear statues.
Did the guild master recommend us? People related to the guild came, and people I remembered seeing in the Commerce Guild also came.
Pizza, hamburgers, bread, and potato fries were all selling.
None of us could take a break, and we were constantly moving around the kitchen.
Lunchtime ended, and right when I thought that it would calm down, more customers came in, one after another.
The customers who came in after lunch mainly ordered pudding and potato related things.
The people who were preparing the potatoes with oil were really going through a hard time.
The pudding was in the fridge, so we just had to take them out.
The price of the pudding was a little high, even if the price of eggs had dropped. Even then, the female customers didn’t stop buying them.
The 300 servings of pudding vanished.
The last piece of bread also disappeared, so we decided to close the shop before dinner and told the customers who came to go back.
「So tired~」
「Yes, I am exhausted too.」
I kidnapped Terumi-san and Fina, who came to see how the store was doing, to make them help in the kitchen.
「Why were there so many customers?」
「When I asked, the men said that they came after hearing about it from the guild master and Helen. The girls said that Mylene-san highly praised the pudding.」
The customers who came also talked about it afterwards.
I couldn’t thank or hate the three of them.
「It is not looking good for tomorrow.」
Morin-san said, after seeing what happened today.
「Morin-san, how was it in the kitchen?」
「Let’s see…For now, we don’t have enough stone ovens for the number of pizza orders. On the other hand, after looking at the potato orders, we can do some more of them, so it’s okay. However, it will be difficult to prepare everything after the shop closes. If we don’t prepare well, it will have the same result as today.」
She was right.
The ingredients we had prepared were nearly gone.
Morin-san’s bread and the pudding.
There wasn’t enough bread dough.
「I see, then we will open the shop for lunch. We will prepare in the morning and eat our own lunch. We will close the shop before dinner.」
「You could earn money if you open for dinner, though?」
Terumi-san asked.
「In all honesty, I don’t plan to make money from this shop, so it’s okay.」
「Really?」
「It’s fine if it’s not a deficit. As it is now, it is already profitable. I am also worried about the stockpile of eggs, cheese, and potatoes.」
「You’re right, huh. There is a limit to the egg supply, after all.」
「In order to increase the opening hours of the store, the number of employees and ingredients will have to be increased as well.」
「Selling too much will cause troubles too, huh. I didn’t know that.」
「For now, Terumi-san, can you ask Liz about the number of children who can be a.s.sembled without affecting the job of caring for the birds?」
「Understood.」
「And also, Terumi-san, can you work here after lunch? Of course, I will pay you for this too.」
「Let’s see, the egg exchange finishes in the morning, so it won’t be a problem. But, is it really okay to change the opening time all of a sudden? Considering the rate of customers we had today, won’t they start coming during morning?」
That was right.
There were customers we refused due to the lack of ingredients as well.
There was a great chance that many clients would come in the morning.
「Morin-san, is it possible to open the shop in the morning just for tomorrow?」
「If we start preparing now…we could do it. But…」
I looked at Morin-san and the children.
The children were dozing off in the chairs.
They were probably really tired after their first day of service.
In this world, children also worked.
However, in every world, children were children.
They weren’t slaves, so I had to let them rest.
Hmmm, what could I do?
After some thought, I decided to prioritize the children over the customers.
「Like I thought, we will open at lunchtime starting from tomorrow.」
「Is that okay?」
「For now, we will do what we can. Terumi-san, please go to the shop where the pamphlets were displayed.」
「But, what will we do about the customers who come first thing in the morning?」
「We will ask them to come back for lunch.」
「Won’t they be angry?」
「I will do something about it.」
「Something, huh…」
Terumi-san seemed worried.
「We will also have one day off a week.」
「Day off?」
People in this world worked as much as possible, and on top of this, they didn’t have any holidays.
I had never seen inns and restaurants close, not even once.
To counterbalance this, there were periods of free time during the day when they could do whatever they wanted.
However, there was no free time in this shop.
During operating hours, you had to deal with customers, and when that was over, you had to clean and prepare for the next day. There was a lot of things to do.
「A day when we won’t open. A day when it’s fine to go shopping or sleep. It’s a day off so that you can work well on the other days.」
「Is it okay to have a day off? The sales will decrease, you know!」
「Truthfully, I wanted to have shifts of days off, but there isn’t enough people, you see. Also, at this rate, the eggs would disappear. I prepared multiple days worth of eggs today, but there are a limited number of eggs laid per day, so it’s impossible to make more than what we did today.」
「You’re right, we can’t really decrease the number of eggs we’re selling to the Commerce Guild, after all.」
I had already had them lower the number of eggs that were sold to the Commerce Guild, in order to open the shop.
「That’s why, with the current circ.u.mstances, we don’t have to force ourselves to open the shop.」
「The new thing to think about is a method of increasing the number of eggs.」
Should we hatch the eggs? Should I go back to capture more cluckers? Those were the two possibilities.
If we hatched the eggs, the number of eggs being sold would diminish.
If we had to capture more cluckers, I would have to go myself.
That was really troublesome.
I decided to think about it later.
「When you change the schedule, could you please mark the day off as well?」
「Okay.」
「After that is the store’s interior. Was there anything troublesome?」
「The customers apparently wanted to take the bears.」
That’s right, I saw some clients trying to take the bears on the tables.
However, I made it so that they were fixed to the tables and you couldn’t take them off.
「There were some customers saying that they wanted us to give the bears to them.」
「I think I will put up a poster saying that they are not for sale. Was there anything else?」
I asked the group in charge of the shop’s interior.
「The people lining up at the counter…」
「There were some who were angry because they had to wait for some time.」
「Then we will make another counter for tomorrow. There were also many customers who came just for the pudding, so we will put a fridge next to the counter to buy some time.」
The opening day finished on this note.
It seemed that Morin-san and the children had some more work to do as preparations for tomorrow.
If the bread dough and the pudding weren’t made now, they wouldn’t be ready for tomorrow.
I decided to go back, leaving everything to the pros.
Only the stone oven was needed first thing in the morning, so I made it before going back.
Author’s note:
Thank you for the 10,000 bookmarks.
I am thinking of opening an impressions column.
My mental fort.i.tude is like tofu, so please don’t make it so harsh that I will crumble.
I will count on all of you from now on too.